The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-05-13
THE ACADEMY Of SCIENCES
Annual Meeting of Southern
California Scientists
PRES'T KNIGHTS ADDRESS
The Existing Conditions. Notable Work
Achieved...A Glance Forward
the Third Tlms-A Number Of New
acknowledgements

The annual meeting Of the Academy
of Sciences Of Southern California was
held last night in the assembly room or
the chamber of commerce. The meeting
was largely attended, and after the
presidents address there We're some
spirited contests for the election OF
officers.
w. Ii. knight for the third time was
elected president of the academy, the
Rev. j, c.. Neven and w. A. Spalding
also being nominated for that honor Il.
A. Shields was elected first Vice-preSi-
dent. DIR. e. A. Praeger second vice.
president, George H. Bonebrake treas
urer and b. II. Baumgardt reelected
secretary.
The following were appointed an ex-
ecutive committee: Dr. A. Davidson.
]. D. Hooker, DIR. w. H. Fales. Abbot
Kinney, Prof. Foshay and Maj. e. w.
Jones.
The president was appointed to nomi-
nate a special committee of three to
consider the question of incorporation
and the revision of the bylaws and
constitution of the academy.
r. r. Baumgardt, the chairman of the
astronomical section, introduced the
following interesting report:
This section was organized october Z,
1895, and held its first working session
October Is of the same year. The first
meeting was held, pursuant to a coll,
at the residence and observatory Of DR..
II. NJ Bishop, corner Hoover and Adams
streets Five meetings have been held
since that time. The subjects taken up
for consideration have been as follows:
Comets. considered from new stand
point, promulgated In a lecture before
the Swedish Academy of Sciences by
Prof. Hugo Gylden, the royal astrono-
mer of Sweden, and translated especial
ly for the astronomical section of the
Southern California Academy of
Sciences; variable stars, and the differ
ent explanations to account for their
maxima and minima; the meteoric
showers of 1899; the constitution of the
sun, in which new theory was pre-
scented to account for the source of it's
heat; Arcturus. in which a detailed de-
scription was given of it's physical con-
dition based upon its spectrum, it's pro-
rer motion in its translation through
space, and the theoretical and practical
methods used in computing its distance
in semi-diameters of the earths orbit
based upon it's paralax.
The section has met with unprece-
dented success and bids fair to become
an important factor in the dissemination
Of astronomical knowledge throughout
Southern California. AS an illustra ton
Of the interest shown in the work I'M
dertaken by this section, l may men
ton that at the last meeting one men,
her came all the way from Santa Ana,
one from the Soldiers Home and one
from Pasadena to attend. 1t is proposed
that the June meeting of the section
be held in the Lowe observatory, and, as
Saturn is at present in opposition, 1t
is probable that the planet will be taken
up for consideration and studied with
the aid of the 16-inch refractor of that
observatory. The active members of the
section are as follows: Mr.. j. Fl. Vos-
berg. DR.. Bush. Mr.. VIM. II. Knight, DIR.
II. NJ. Bishop. Mr.. and Mrs. John Z. Mer-
rill Miss Maud Foster Mr.. and Mrs. Ag-
ne nj
+. X. Upham. Miss Elsie Hasse. Rev.
Henry A Lewis Miss Calverwell Mrs
Williamson, Miss Caroline M. Seymour,
Nine. Rose Wiesecke. Mr.. j. d. Hooker,
Prof Lewis Swift and Mr.. r. II. Baum
gardt twenty-three in all. The wonder
full success of the now world famed AS
Economical society OF the Pacific has
set an example of what can be accom-
plished by the cooperation and united
action of professional and amateur as
tronomers In comparatively new
community. While it is true that the
Astronomical section of the S. c. A. S.
does not number among it's members
such men as Holden, Rurnham. Bar
nard and Shaeberley, yet do the active
members of this section feel a justifia BILE
hope that by hard work and application
the section may be able to do something
for the advancement of its beloved
science AS a child of the Southern Cal
ifornia Academy of Sciences this sec
lIoH Will always try TO make itself
worthy of its parentage. Before closing
may add that Mr.. J. d. Hooker has fit
ted up a hall in his residence on Adams
street capable of accommodating sew
eral hundred people. which he has ten
dered to the section to use for it's meet
1ngS, so that the section has now a
permanent place of meeting through
the generosity and public spirit of Mr..
Hooker"
The retiring president VILLAIN H.
Knight delivered the following inter-
esting address:
Three factors determine the ga reer of
each human being, namely: Heredity.
environment and education OF these
factors environment exercises a para
mount influence in shaping the destiny
of communities. 1t is the special pro-
vince of our Academy of Sciences to
engage in those Investigations which
VIII acquaint us with our environment.
enable us to learn the reasons why we
are here and to study the modifying
effect of the physical conditions which
surround u.s. We shall question the
geologist and ask him why the Sierra
Madre range was upheaved a vertical
mile. an altitude thrice that of the Allie
gheny mountains; why it has an east
and west trend while other mountain
ranges have northerly and southerlv
course; why its southern face has steep
and bare declivities while the northern
slopes are gradual and forest-covered.
We shall ask him why Mount Whitney
200 miles north Of us, towers to the ma
jessie height of $4,000 feet, while Death
valley. only sixty miles from it's summit.
occupies the lowest depression on the
globe not covered with water, being 400
feet below the level of the sea. We shall
interrogate the mineralogist and in
quire why vast beds of iron ore
and great coal deposits lie in
the neighborhood of veins of
precious metals on the high
mesas east of us, while in other parts
of the world those classes of minerals
are generally ASSOCIATED. We shall
ask him why the oil-bearing strata of
this region are tilted, broken and come
to the surface, while in the Ohio valley
the great oil basins lie under horizontal
ana impervious rocks We shall ask the
meteorological why the winters of South
ern California are but a continuous
spring, while 1000 miles east of us the
plains are blanketed with snow and
swept with boreal blasts; why our sum-
ners are daily tempered with cool and
reIreshing breezes while the denizens Of
other sections swelter in sultry and in
tolerahie heat; why one-half of our
year Is rainless. and we are exempt from
the destructive tornado and cyclone.
we snail ask the botanist why the
Rracerui pepper, the tall eucalyptus and
the dense underground Of the hills re-
tain their green foliage unmindful Of tho