June Donations; Hemingray well core samples

PROCEEDINGS.

                                                                                         ANNUAL MEETING, April 5, 1887.

President Dun in the chair, twenty members present.

Minutes of the January Meeting were read and approved.

Miss Susan Griffith and Dr. S. H. Collins were proposed for election to active membership.

Dr. N. E. Jones, of Circleville, Ohio, was recommended by the Executive Board as Honorary member.

The following named persons were then elected:

Corresponding members, Rev. Stephen D. Peet, Clinton, Iowa, and Prof. O. P. Hay, Irvington Indiana; Honorary member, Prof. E. W. Claypole, Akron, Ohio; Active members, Mrs. Thomas Emery, Mrs. Herbert Jenney, Mrs. W. D. Holmes, D. B. Gamble, Jerome R. Clark, R. S. Fulton, J. K. Martin, Charles T. Greve, W. D. Holmes, W. F. Gray, E. Y. Mosier, Dr. A. L. McCormick.

The minutes of the Executive Board for December, January, February and March were read.

Reports of the various officers and curators were called for and the following reports were submitted:*

Davis L. James, Secretary; H. P. Smith, Custodian; S. E. Wright, Treasurer; Prof J. W. Hall, Curator of Geology; George Huntington, Curator of Entomology; Curator of Botany, Miss Nettie Filmore; Curator of Zoology, Charles Dury; Curator of Osteology, Dr. O. D. Norton; Curator of Anthropology, Prof. George W. Harper; Curator of the Photgraphic [sic] Photographic Section, George Bullock; Curator of Conchology, Mrs. M. C. Morehead; Curator of Microscopy, George B. Twitchell; Librarian, Prof. George W. Harper.

The resignations of Messrs. G. N. Merryweather and William Lytle Foster were received and accepted.

The Annual Election was then announced, and the chair appointed Messrs. Karl Langenbeck and H. P. Smith, tellers.

The following officers were then elected to serve for one year:

President, J. Ralston Skinner; First Vice-President, William Hubbell Fisher; Second Vice-President, Davis L. James; Treasurer, S. E. Wright; Secretary, William H. Knight.

Members at large for the Executive Board:

W. A. Dun, M. D., George Bullock, Prof. George W. Harper, F. W. Langdon, M. D.

Librarian, Miss Nettie Fillmore. Trustee for two years, Julius Dexter.

The election of Curators was postponed to the next meeting.

Mr. Fisher moved that the thanks of the society be tendered to Dr. Dun for his efficient services during the past year. Carried.

The society then adjourned. Donations for the month were as follows:

From Dr. W. A. Dun, plate of "Cincinnati Warbler" framed; from F. W. Langdon, beetle; from Prof. J. W. Hall, Naturalist's Directory 1884. Ohio Centennial Report; from Henry A. Shepherd, "Antiquities of the State of Ohio," from Capt. M. M. Murphy, Ripley, O., Mastodon tooth, five stone axes, twenty-four flint arrow-heads, three rough agates, miscellaneous fossils; from J. G. Shepherd, Mason, O., miscellaneous fossils and fungi; from Lars Sundt, mammoth tooth.

                                                                                        SCIENTIFIC MEETING, May 3 , 1887.

President Skinner in the chair; twenty-four members present.

The minutes of the March meeting were read and approved.

A communication from E. W. Claypole thanking the society for his election to honorary membership was read. Also, from Messrs. O. P. Hay and Stephen D. Peet, returning thanks for their election to corresponding membership.

Dr. O. D. Norton read an interesting letter from a friend who had been examiming [sic] examining the phosphate works near Beaufort, S. C.

The dredges are bringing to the surface from the depths of the river the teeth and bones of sharks and other animals of enormous size. Specimens of huge sharks teeth were exhibited.

Mr. Horace P. Smith read a paper on "Color Perception and Color Blindness," illustrated by colored diagrams on the black-board, giving the latest scientific theories of the action of light on the optic nerve.

Pertinent to the subject Dr. Heighway spoke of the rapid and beautiful changes of color produced by the chameleon. He also spoke of the colors caused by the diffraction of light by ruled lines upon steel plates. These bands were ruled so delicately that 100,000 occupied but one inch.

Mr. Wm. Hubbell Fisher called attention to a work on Bird Colors, by Robert Ridgeway, containing a nomenclature of colors and a comparative vocabulary of color in different languages.

Dr. Dun stated that the railroad companies of Pennsylvania were required by law to examine certain employees, engineers, brakesmen, etc., annually, in regard to color perception, for it had been discovered that the defect of color blindness could be acquired unconsciously, where it had not before existed; yet cases had come to light where engineers had performed their duties for years without accident, who possessed this defect in a marked degree.

Dr. Christopher thought that so-called color blindness was often due to color ignorance — a lack of training in the knowledge of colors. He spoke of the difficulty of distinguishing the various colors of the stars. It was an interesting fact that many of the telescopic double stars showed complimentary colors.

A paper was read by title, by request, as follows: "A Pre-liminary Catalogue of the Amphibia and Reptilia of the State of Indiana, by O. P. Hay, M. A."

W. B. Carpenter was proposed for active membership.

Dr. N. E. Jones, of Circleville , Ohio, and Erasmus Gest, of New York City, were elected Honorary members, and Miss Susan Griffith and Dr. S. H. Collins, active members.

An election of Curators resulted as follows:

Curator of Geology, J. W. Hall, Jr.

" " Entomology, George B. Twitchell

" " Botany, Miss AnnaBrown.

" " Zoology, Dr. D. S. Young.

Curator of Osteology, Dr. O. D. Norton.

" " Anthropology, Dr. W. A. Dun.

" " Photography, D. W. Huntington.

" " Meteorology, Prof. G. W. Harper.

" " Microscopy, Dr. Charles E. Caldwell.

" " Physics and Chemistry, Dr. W. S. Christopher.

" " Ornithology , Charles Dury.

" " Conchology, Mrs. M. C. Morehead.

Donations for the month were as follows: From C. L. Faber, specimens agatized wood and rough agates, gold ore, crystalized pulin wood, septaria, fluorite, opalized-wood, carnelian wood, chlorastrolite, amazon stone, natrolite, aragonite, silver ore, malachite, amethyst; from Davis L. James, Ohio Agricultural Report 1873, '77 and '78 (2 vols.), Ohio Railway Report 1874, Report of Department of Agriculture 1871, Ohio Statistics 1874, Land Office Report 1876; from Prof. P. Herbert Carpenter, Eton College, Note on Structure of Crotalocrinus, Carpenter (pamphlet); from Miss L. C. Smith, specimens of Marine Shells, Beetle.

Adjourned.

                                                                                             SCIENTIFIC MEETING, June 7, 1887.

President Skinner in the chair, twenty-three members present.

The minutes of May were read and approved.

The resignation of Mr. George Bullock, Member at Large of the Executive Board, was received and accepted.

Mr. Allen Collier resigned his membership in the society.

Dr. Walter A. Dun read his address as retiring President. His topic was "The Identification of the Utica Shales at Cincinnati." Sections of several of the deep wells recently drilled near Cincinnati were shown, and a large number of drillings from various wells exhibited.**

Mr. Davis L. James read a paper by Prof. Joseph F. James, of Oxford, Ohio, giving an account of a deep well recently drilled at Oxford. The drillers reached 1,345 feet, when the well was abandoned, with 180 feet of water in the hole.

The following persons were proposed for election to active membership:

John Monteith, Dr. T. A. Reamy, Warren T. Morehead, Dr. E. G. Betty, Miss Belle Woods, Miss Louise Stewart, Miss Louise Horsely, Charles Schuckert, E. O. Ulrich, Charles P. Fennel, Dr. James G. Hyndman, Omar T. Joslin.

Mr. William B. Carpenter was elected to active membership.

The President appointed Rev. Raphael Benjamin and Davis L. James a committee to audit the Treasurer's accounts.

Dr. O. D. Norton suggested that some appropriate document of or relating to the society be handed to the Chamber of Commerce to be placed in the corner-stone of their new building. It was suggested and agreed that a number of the Journal be selected for that purpose.

Mr. William Hubbell Fisher offered the following amendment to the By-Laws:

"In the last clause of Section I, Article VI of the By Laws, immediately after the word "active," insert the word "corresponding." The clause amended to read as follows: "Active, Corresponding and Life Members, and invited guests, only, shall be privileged to read papers before the Society."

It was announced that Dr. S. J. Mills, Mr. J. F. Woods, Mr. Mr. E. R. Quick and Mr. A. W. Butler had been nominated by the Executive Board for Corresponding membership.

Mr. Smith announced that arrangements had been made for an exhibition to be given by the Botanical and Microscopical sections of the Society, at the Museum, Tuesday, June 14th, at 8 P. M.

A vote of thanks was tendered the President, Mr. Skinner, for securing for the use of the Society a copy of Audobon's Birds of America. The copy is to be loaned to the Society.

Donations for June were as follows: From Dr. W. A. Dun, Cecropia moth, precious garnets, sections of Freeman Ave. and Hemingray gas wells; from Louis A. Piatt, Newport, Ky., Nest of Oriole; from Dr. O. D. Norton, Vertebra of Megalodon, flint chips; from Prof. E. W. Claypole, Akron, O., Organic Variation Indefinite, not Definite in Direction (pamph.); from W. R. Lighten, Leavenworth, Kan., specimen of Camptosorus rhizophyllus; from Franklin Institute, through Mr. Wm. H Knight, miscellaneous publications of Institute; from Academy of Natural Science, through Mrs. Wm. H. Knight, miscellaneous publications of Academy; from Rev. Raphael Benjamin, Cecropia moth; from Baron F. Von Thumen, Gerz, Austria, Monograph, "Die Phoma Krankheit der Weinreben; from Prof. S. Lockwood, Freehold, N. J., Monograph, "Raising Diatoms in the Laboratory;" from Edw. R. Skinner and Dr. S. J. Mills, Toledo, O., Cast of Head found by Mr. Forbes in Florida; Paul Esselborn, Fossil Coral; from Dr. J. S. Neave, Dresden, O., specimen of Lepidodendron; from Dr. A. E. Heighway, Sr., specimens of tremolite and talc, wood bored by beetle.

Adjourned .

*These reports will appear in subsequent pages of the Journal.

**NOTE — Dr . Dun's paper will appear in a future number of this Journal.