Morning journal and courier., 1888-11-14
surENTHFrO MEN.


 Annual Meeting of the National Acad-
 emy of Science Begins in North SheE-
 Held HaII-Papers Read-The Session
 Continued To-Day.
 The annual meeting of the National Acad- emy of Science was begun yesterday morn ing at the North Sheffield hall. Among those present from ont of the city was Prof.
 Asaph Hall of the National Astronomical ob- servatory, Prof. WoIcott Gibbs of Harvard
 university, Prof. E. D. Cope of Philadelphia,
 Prof. Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian
 institute; Major J. W. Powell, director of
 the United States Geological survey; Gen.
 Francis A. Walker, president of the Massa-
 chusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. J. s. Billings, dirictor of the United States Army
 Medical museum at Washington, and others equally well known. The members of the academy from Yale are: Professors W. H.
 Brewer. G. J. Brush, J. D. Dana, E. G. Dana, J. W. J. Gibbs s. W. Johnson Elias Loomis, O. c. March, H. A. Newton, s. J. Smith, A. E. Verrill and A. ". Wright
 Nothing but reorganization of the society was done at the morning session.
 The first paper at the afternoon session, which commenced at 3 o'clock, was by Prof. Brewer, entitled "A finished breed of horses" The professor put forward some interesting facts. He said that the English thorough bred is 8 finished breed, and it has undoubt- edly arrived at the summit of its excellence. There has been practically no new blood in this breed since 1760. This breed has been completed and finished in two senses: first, as to its grade, heredity, blood, and charac- ter; and secondly, ss to it's speed, in which the limit has been undoubtedly reached. We have faster horses than our grandfathers, but it is not likely that our grandchildren will have faster breed than we have how. The English thoroughbred is a race horse and has but one point, speed, which is bred in him. All other points are secondary. The main point is to win in the race, and the value of thoroughbred depends entirely on his performances. Unlike the deciding of the value of COWS, etc., as to their breed, is the value of the thoroughbred determined. No matter what his color if he only wins. That is all that is asked. The winning horse is the admired one.
 Comparison was made between the draft
 horse and the thoroughbred. The value of
 the former is determined by the quantity of
 work he does.
 The owners of the thoroughbreds wish him to win by the smallest possible margin. They are as afraid of having them show their full speed as political parties are of the records of their candidates. Horse-racing is old, but the breeding is not. This breed may be said to have been begun in the reign of James I. This matter of breeding covers a vast amount of literature. Horse racing came in as the principal sport of the gentry of Great Britain, and the rulers encouraged it as it was supposed to furnish more mate rial for warfare. In 1791 the first race cal- endar was published. How the thorough bred is bred, where skill and art are re- quired, is very simple in science. For 120 years list of the winning sires has
 been published. The value of the sires de- pends upon the value of his offspring. In kt,an oooI-, S1- foI list of the winners, and the number of races won by each horse. Betting is not essential to horse breeding. All horses have Arabian blood in them. The keeping of records is an American idea. We have heard of the marvellous speedof thoroughbreds in England, but there is no records of such. These stories are undoubtedly those of fisherman who always catch very large fish, but when the measurement is made it is found they fall several inches shorter than the fishermen would have you believe. Weight is the base of hereditary worth in England, while in this country weight and speed are essential.
 In the case of brothers there has been
 steady increase of speed. The fastest record Is 2.08%. Less than a dozen horses have even trotted in less than 2.14.
 The best record in running was made in
 Ss. Louis, the time being 1892.
 The speaker showed table on which were the number of horses in the last few years
 which had made record within five seconds
 of this time.
 The nearest that any horse has come to
 this record is 1:40, which was done this year. A very large number of horses have made their record but once. There are many that have made as fast time as those who have records, but in not winning the race they get no record. The record as it now stands may be lowered. When said that speed had reached it's maximum didn't think but what better time would be made. Ithink about 1:39 will be the speed of runners. Hereafter breeders will be expected to keep up this high stan dard of excellence rather than to making better time. I believe the thoroughbred has finished his evolution. In order for thor oughbred to make his best time all condi- tions must be favorable; he must have a good rider and a fine track.
 The second paper, "A Systematic Study of the Action of Denfnitely Related Chemical Compounds Upon Anemoids," was read by Wolcott Gibbs, of Cambridge.
 The next session will begin at II o'clock this morning. The programme is as follows:
 The Lunar Eclipse. July 9, 1888 E. S. Holden, Berkley, Cal.
 The Zone Undertaking of the Astronomische Ges- ellschafr. By Leines Bass; presented by A. Hall.
 The Rainfall of the North Atlantic ocean. Prof. Elias Looms of Yale.