New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-19
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON.
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.
pprs,nryr AID FOREIGN ASSOCIATES ELECTED

rny TELEGRAPH TO THE TRiBUSE.l
WASHINGTON. April 1S.-Af the BUSINESS "oo'"e
NJ the National Academy of Sciences, this morning,
Professor O. G. Marsh. of New-Haven, the paleon-
tooglst was elected President Professor MARSH
had been Acting President of the Academy since
the death of Professor Rogers. Professor o'oDs oi
Harvard, had been mentioned az eau ''ua'o' nu'
he declined TO run against Professor HarSh' Inv
Committee on Election of Foreign Assoclates-con-
si,tno of Professors Agassiz, J D. Dana. w. Gibbs,
Asaph Hall, and s. Newc 'mb-rec Commended tno
following candidates; Professors Adams. OF Eng
land. the astronomer Otto Struve' the
Prussian astronomers Arthur Cayley' INC
mathematician of Cambridge Unyer sity
,lansius. the German physicist; Dumas, Secretary
of the French Academy Of Sciences; Heimnoi'z'
Kirohoff, the spectroscopst; Pasteur, the frehc"
biologist; Stokes the English physicist; Sylvester
the English mathematician, now at johns Hopkins
University Hooker, he English naturalist; Oh
William Thomson Auvers the German as'roho-
mer; Bertrand chemist Huxley, Virchow, Berthe
lot, Boussingaut, geologist; Chevteui, he Can-
dole, K5liker, Neumann, Oppolzer. the Austrian
astronomer; Rchtho.en grologist; ana Wurtz
chemist. All were elected except Neumann
The list of papers announced to be read to-day
was a. follows: "Maxrma and Minima Tde-predict-
ing Machine w. Ferrel; Measurement of wave
Lengths By Heat" Professor S.P.Langley; "On the
Spectrum of an Argand Gas-burner. Professor Lang
ev , " Efficiency of Storage Batteries Professor
George F. Barker; photographs of the Great Comet
of Professor G. II. Peters: Progress In Spec
trum Photography" Professor II. A. Rowland;
"SOme Experiments upon Method Oh forInlpga
Visible Image OF the Solar Corona" A. w. wright;
"On the Phosphorescence of Sulphate OF Quinlhe'
A. w. Wright. Only the first two were READ To-
day. considerable time being occupied by the read
svbfR n we
down for Yesterday. These were on the Compost
ton of the Venom of serpents" by s. Weir Mitchell
and f. T. Reiohert; and " On Changes in the Prop
arties of Atoms and Atomic Groups caused by
change IN po,ton of the Molecule," by Professor
Ira Remsen.
DIR. Mtchelps paper excited great interest and
elected much favorable comment from Professor
Barker and others Tho paper began win sia'e-
ment that about year ago experiments were to
sumed IN the direction begun by Dr. Mitcheh
| IL 1862 and with definite end III view. Inc ei-
| periments are not yet completed, but remarkable
| discovery in toxicology has been made, when IL
was thought best to announce at the present nino.
The nature and scope of this discovery are suineu
| ND by its authors as followsi
"a representing Single poison. Ne hsre oeen able 10
show mat the venom OF tls 70 canone snd
| & putrefacient akin TO goOuliu, anu much more
|
ma destroyng the power the blood 70 clot; audi
thrd resembling LlDlmsn anu mooas y, the p1fe-
snake, o. Adamanteas-copperaead AgSs"oao" o'n pa
tir and mocoason IoL'oSPnss, oeis nydrobromo
acid (33 per cent?, sodium hyrar, potassium hyiae,
and. as Lacer4a has shown by potassium p'rHhA"S"
nate. u ,
| DIR Mitchell said it had been somewhat difficult
TO procure large quantities of the venom oil sepents
| owing 10 a natural prejudice among people against
catching and handling yeno'nous eipcnts IN a h'o
| state he had one rattlesnake, however. eight anu
a half feet long, from which he had obtained poison
| in considerable quantities by inducing the reptile
| 10 bite the edge Of plate. A. an example oil the
vlrucnce of the poison. which 10 described as AKIN
to plobulus "and which is the essential poisonous
element in serpentS venom" he remarSed that one
twentieth of grain was suili eient TO kill pigeon
I IN two hours 1t has been held by some chemists
| that the venom of serpents contains an alSalold
| nosou. but the experiments and researches OF Dr
| Mitchell are believed 10 prove cDnclusiyely that
| such is not the
| The tlde.predictiug machine was set up in view
of the audienc- aud described by Mr.. Ferrell with
| the aid oil diagrams. The machine - q very in
| ccnous and certainly very complicated piece OF
| mechanism and it is probable that very few who
heard the description and explanation OF 1t were
| much the wiser. 1t has been tested by practical
use, however. aud has proved success Inc In
| giReT says:
A eompar1son between the tideprelioted curves and
| those recorded toe tido-gauge OF Apollo BINDER
Bombay for some days dnrlng 1870. mas oeeh ma 49,, c
ne curves agreeing witnin very close limits An luta
of the suyng that will he effected Dy tue machine my
he Gathered the fact tnat tile curves computed Dy
an cTnerf ,lculutOr 90 include the number OF
c1npnents comprised IN toe machine, cDuld not Dc
worked less tnan four or ve months Tor no ear
hides nj ~ port Tlcsr nc run of ny tDe machine
i'm about iour nodrs, AID then only REQUIRE tue helg1ts
hn very great IN any work who're whole tide-curyc
Is OF serv &C. and will be Of great value IN engneefng
| alfunsy In Ive a Is IA
sry such IN constructing the ionndatlOhs OF guy
walls. embanknents, docksls, etc, Tue wnole tils
during whlch the MOfA Gan o' P'oSo0''o" '0'"e '' -"
a glance FOR every ilue'
The tide predictor was used IN tho preparation
20 the tide tables for S82 for fifteen Indian ports,
including Bombay. Aden, Kurrachee, Bcypore
Madras and RauRoOn. Professor Langleys paper
ON the measurement OF wave lengths OF heat was
highly scientific and also very interesting. Wine
engaged in observations IN California with the pris-
matte spectrum Professor Langley reached a point
beyond winch 1t appeared to be impossible TO 90.
Anplvinr the various formulas which have been in
use for the purpo es OF measurement, he found that
| they gave results which were manifestly erroneous
| ITpon his return to Allegheny Observatory he was
| enab. ed TO continue his experiments and Obserya-
tons and after many trials and failures at last snc
oeeded in producing results which he believes TO b,
correct.
Remarks on the paper were made by Professor
Rowland and Young, who dwelt upon the extreme
difficulty of separating the rays in the spectrum be-
yond certain point. and The consequent necessity
of using great caution in the statement of results
obtained.
The paper on the Genesis of MetalIferous Veins,
by Pro essor Leconte, which was read yesterday by
Professor Able has bern sent TO n scientific peri
odical for publication. Professor Leconte maintain
that the structure the mode OF occurrence and th,
contents OF meta liferous veins leave no longer any
room for doubt that they have beer
formed by deposit from solutions II any doub
, had fingered on this subject it was thoroughly dis
sInaed by the phenomena of dep sit still IN prog