, 1874-05-13
ACADEMY or SCIENCES.
Paper by Mr. Bross on the
; Mississippi Floods. g.,
Mr.. Colbert on the Velocity o1
: Light.
The .Agassiz Memorial.

,s> The Agassiz Memorial.
y AregYlar meeting of tho Chicago Academy ot
sclcncoa WAS hold Inst evening. A far at.
4 tondanco WAS proBont. DR.. II. a. johnson
presided.
|'1 Tho Recorder, DR.. Bridge, reported nutnbor
4 OF additions to tho museum OF the Academy, as
also to thelibrary. H., - $ .t-,;
:Dr. Bridge. reported, from q committee ap-
1 pointed for the purpose, that tile constitution
and bylaws Of tho Academy had been restoreil.
|..' THE PENDULUM.
The General Oom.nittao reported the succcss-
j full experiment with the: pendulum aud R,nr-
antced that II could DO unr{or,nea under lonH
4 fayorabo olrcumstancea. Tho report was tllod.
a vota ofthanks' WIS. oil motion Of MIR. Col
bnFs. given to Drs Bridge and Durham and Mr.
Dlatchtorh-t ia to sRy, 1t waa noarly passed,
when aoniobody discovered TINT thnnlki1tg mom-
bora was. contrary 10 tho practice OF tho Acade-
| eidulty OF these gontlemon in 1nahnEng tho
pendulum experiment:
re- u-.f f4o,,,orf VELOCITY Log or ltanr;
light which was oloaoly followed liz Thought
| tle'roviyal Of Oil old ,And abandoned. theory OF
! neaalrlnK tho velocity Of light, by 1noans OF re-
aectod light on the Garth from the n,oonH surface,
[0s
Byi calculation, no lad proven that il q mass
Of light equal to that Of tho 'Anu- III brjll,aucy
and only IS feet.in diameter could be gsneratel
| tt;would he Observable On tho moon. The Chi
| bon and oxygen enough to maintain auoh light
TOR three nlontha. The theory was q build o,e,.
bntho believed i would ut some future time be
| Attempted, and with euccoBa. - q
- ~; THE MISSISSIPPI FLOODS. i
-! aoy Broas read M interesting; paper. On the
M,ssias!ppi Hoods. Calling attention to tho vast
loss Of life and property. ha said he Desired to
Eain from tue Academy aome ldea ~ to how tue
tu.uro. could DO, prevented, either by
tue statos now affected, or by tho
General Government. Tho present inundation
originated IN series Of heavy rains In the
rise in the Ohio River. # was plain, thorofore.
that II the MssIsa,ppl itself and the Missouri
sens down IN unusual amount Of water at: the
same time, the calamity would have been vasty
rising 'auch as' this might never actually happon,
the country below Cairo oould noyor be oon1sid-
ered!sate until thoroughly guarded against auoh
. contingency. The late Col: Foster had shown
square mi!os which composed. the Valley Of the
mississippi must " find ita way to tho
gulf only through this channel. Any unusual
climatic causes might bring, on: general Hood.
surplus water on tho surfaco' was moro suddenly
prccipitatel into tho streams by artlHoial drain
ago. The drainage Of tho Kankakee swalnps had
neoossitated the preservation Of navigation on
tenn Of locka and dana. Tho anme PRINCIPLES ap-
Piled to the tributaries Of the Mississippi.
Lovees had boon relied on:to protect the aaj ja- !
cent country from tho rise Of the Mississ.ppl,
but scarcely q Baaaon PASSED but O break IN
the loyeo occurred at sorno point. g: !:
Uol. Foator: had maintained, contrary to- tho ,
general opinion, that tho rapid current OF tho
river bud tho power to push it's sediment for
RI In f11non tf dam t.
30 that there. would be no danger OF bavinE to
raise the lovoos continually. a number Of steam
bont Captatns: on tho other hand, hnd beon in
ono' a.. Y A. 10y =, fId gays an
Almost parallel caae Waa to be found In tho
River Po, which only few years ago rose aboyo
ita leYaos, aud destroyed the surrounding ooun-
tho Nils, and:in!many places it was from is to 70
feet above the level OF the surrounding coun-
try, 10 thoroughly secure tho country against
inundatlon. would require some q, 600 miles OF
Bloughs Or bnyoua might bo loft open to furnish
~ outlet. They wera ths provia,ons that ..Na--
ture lad made to relieve tho PRESSURE: Tho
9e osar e anbo nsea not
IN view Of tue vast extent of the Miasssippi
Valley; Of the fact that tho river Is
likely to riss higher. as. tho ;. coun-
cultivation; Of the inadeauate protection hith:
erto afforded BY, loveos. What can be done oron-
der tho lower districts along tho river, great iu
extont and almost invaluable for their sugar
from any future foods that may be likely to
oocnr2 This question ! beg to submit to the
wisdom Of the Academy, with tho hope that you,
may DO able to contribute something towards ita
solution for 1t has already become 10 my iudg-
ment not only ofscientiAo, but Of nutioaaf, I'M
rRoF. ANDREWS
said he had no doubt that tho difficulties In COM
brought down by the Missouri River was onor-
NOUS. He had found sapllngB covered to q
height Of OF, 4 foot around tIloir rootB since
their appearance above ground, and this in four
Tbs Msssap sor 'rs aa pushing S saha iso,f fss nto
tho Gull 1onle 100 foet year.. He could see II
method BY which pormauent results could be OBJ
,taiued. At. present. all he could look for waa
finally yield to tho Inevitable. which was tie
change Of bed by the riyer The oraBiona of tho
lake STORE In tho north, could bo only temporari-
ly restrained: by plling:. Piling, to be per1na-
sya cGtaa st .ss srko deeper than tho
r. Bridge thought, that. by removing all the
bars betwoon tho mississippi and the baYous tie |
head Of wator wonld be oqualized. '7
: Prof. Andrews Thought tho bapouR should be !
leyeed aud kept opan to the Gulf.
! Prof 4. D: Hager, formerly Slate Geologist OF |
Vermont atated. that many OF tho most pictur- |
esquo formations Of Vermont were owing to The |
case with the Queoohy River. Williams Rvor bad ,
been,so TILED: up; that u cut pasbage through
rocky formation, and thnn returned to its old |
course recently:., Bo he believed tho Mlusieaippi
Ill human efforts, run into the Gull, at 10 dis
tant date, through one Of the bayoua.
81 Pr hauch saId 1t had already partially full
GEOLOGICAL :. PHENOMENA. IL; 90
prot. Andrews mado some remarks on the aub-
tooe Of geological phenomena. He called atten-