the last week in March. The exhibition opened Tuesday, March 26, at 10 o'clock, A. M., and closed on Friday, the 29th, at 10 o'clock, P.M. Pictures of scenery among the mountains of New England were exhibited.

April 4, a special meeting was held to hear and discuss a paper by Prof. H. F. Walling on some recent views of mountain struc

ture.

April 10, a communication from Prof. A. Lakes, on an ascent of Long's Peak, was read and an account of some barometrical observations in the White Mountains was received from Prof. F. W. Clarke.

CINCINNATI SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY.-This Society held its regular meeting in its building, corner of Broadway and Arch streets, on Tuesday evening, 3d inst. This was the occasion for annual reports by the retiring officers, and the election of their successors. The report of the Treasurer showed a balance in the treasury of over $40,000, so invested as to produce an annual income of $3,500. The financial matters of the society have been very carefully managed by the Trustees, and hence these gratifying results. The Society owns its own buildings, and has no outstanding debts whatever.

The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows: President, V. T. Chambers; Vice-Presidents, Prof. I. F. Judge and S. S. Cotton; Treasurer, I. A. Wright; Recording Secretary, Florien Giasque; Corresponding Secretary, I. W. Hall; Librarian, I. C. Shroyer; Custodian, Dr. I. H. Hunt. The Curators elected were as follows: Mineralogy, Dr. R. M. Byrnes; Palæontology, Ed. O. Ulrich; Botany, Davis L. James; Conchology, Prof. A. G. Wetherby; Entomology, I. W. Shorten; Ornithology. Charles Dury; Icthyology, Dr. D. S. Young; Herpetology, Frank W. Langdon; Comparative Anatomy, Dr. A. J. Howe; Astronomy, Prof. Ormond Stone; Physics and Chemistry, Prof. R. B. Warder; Meteorology, Prof. Geo. W. Harper; Microscopy, Fred. Eckstein; Archæology, Dr. H. H. Hill. The Society will now issue a regular quarterly journal of proceedings, the editors being Prof. I. F. Judge, Prof. G. W. Harper and Prof. A. G. Wetherby. The buildings are situated at the corner of Broadway and Arch streets, Cincinnati, Ohio, and are always open to the public.A. G. W.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.-March 21. W. Wright Hawkes, LL.D., delivered a lecture on the so-called Celtic monuments of Brittany.

ELMIRA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE.-March 15. Dr. W. H. Gregg remarked on time and the evolution theory, and F. Collingwood made a communication on the new moon of Mars versus the nebular hypothesis. Scientific progress in 1877 was then discussed, a phonautograph was exhibited, and singing and talking with Blossburg by telephones was listened to by the members.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.-This body convened in Washington at the Smithsonian Institution, on Tuesday, April 16, and remained in session four days, adjourning on Friday the 19th. The following papers were read before it :

Formation and Structure of Alacrane Reef in the Yucatan Bank," by Prof. Alexander Agassiz, of Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.; the Theory of Water-Spouts," by Mr. William Ferrel, of the United States Coast Survey; "Report on the Orbits of the Satellites of Mars," by Professor Asaph Hall, of the Naval Observatory; Mr. Raphael Pumpelly read a paper on "the Relation of Loess and Drift to Secular Disintegration;' "the Characteristic Invertebrate Forms of the Central ZooGeographical Province" by Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr. Dr. J. E. Hilgard, on "An Optical Ocean Salinometer." "Plan for Measuring the Velocity of Light," by Prof. Simon Newcomb, of Washington; "On the Force of Effective Molecular Action," by Prof. Wm. A. Norton, of New Haven, Conn.; "Remarks on the value of the result obtained for the Solar Parallax from the English Telescopic Observations," by Prof. C. H. F. Peters, of Clinton, N. Y.; "On the Vertebrate Fauna of the Permian Period of the United States, by Prof. E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia, Pa.; “On the discovery of Oxygen in the Sun," by Dr. Henry Draper, of New York City; "On Complex Inorganic Acids, by Dr. Wolcott Gibbs, of Harvard University, Mass.; “On improvements in methods of deep sea dredging, by Mr. Alexander Agassiz; "On Boyle's and Mariottes Laws," by Prof. Wolcott Gibbs; "On the Abrasions of the N. W. Coast of America," by Prof. Geo. Davidson, of San Francisco, Cal.; Photometric comparison of the Components of Close Double Stars," by Prof. E. C. Pickering, of Cambridge, Mass.; "On the Duplication of Geographical Names," by Dr. F. V. Hayden, of Washington; "Characteristics of some of the Lower Spectral Lines, by Prof. S. P. Langley, of Allegheny, Pa.; "A New Element of the Cerium Group, Prof. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, Ky.; “On the Primary Zoö-Geographical Divisions of the Globe and their Relations," by Dr. Theodore Gill, of Washington; "On the Laws Governing the Movements of the Rocky Mountain Locusts," by Prof. C. V. Riley, Entomologist of the Department of Agriculture; "Photometric Measures of Certain Faint Stars and Satellites," by Prof. E. C. Pickering; "Recent Displacements in Utah, by G. K. Gilbert.

At the conclusion of Mr. Gilbert's paper, the Secretary read the address of the venerable and revered President, Professor Joseph Henry, to the Academy. After reading a number of papers by title, the proceedings concluded with a paper entitled "Supplementary notice on the paper whence came the inner Satellite of Mars?" read at the October session, 1877, by the venerable Professor Stephen Alexander, of the College of New Jersey, Princeton, N. J.

On the evening of the 17th, Prof. Arnold Guyot, of Princeton, N. J., read a paper on the Life of Louis Agassiz in America. Dr. Elliott Coues, in the absence of the author, read a Memoir of Prof. Jeffries Wyman, by Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr.

Communication was made by a representative of the subscribers to the fund, amounting to $40,000, presented to Professor Joseph Henry as a testimonial of their high appreciation of his services and his unselfish devotion to the cause of science, the principal of which is finally to go to the National Academy of Science, to form a fund to be known as the Joseph Henry Fund, the interest of which is to be devoted to assist the original research. The academy now holds a similar fund, "the Bache fund," the principal of which was left to the academy by its first President, Prof. A. Dallas Bache, and the income from it has been applied to the assistance of investigators in many of the most important branches of science. The list of contributors to the "Henry" fund, which is made up mainly in sums of $1000, embraces the names of well known persons in the large cities of the United States.

AT A MEETING of the Jewett Scientific Society of Lockport, N. Y., Jan. 25, 1878, Mr. A. F. Goodman read a paper on the sword-fish and its habits. Dr. S. F. Clark presented a paper recording his observations on ants. Feb. 8th, Mr. M. S. Burnett delivered a lecture on evolution, and Dr. A. W. Tryon remarked on the process of petrifaction.

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB, May 8.-Prof. C. E. Hamlin read an account of Mt. Katahdin, Mainę, illustrated by a model of the mountain. The councillors presented reports of their plans for the summer's work. A meeting of those wishing to form a section of exploration was held May 11th. On Saturday, May 18, 1878, an excursion was made to Blue Hill, Milton, Mass. On Wednesday, July 10, 1878, a field meeting will be held at the Fabyan House, White Mts., N. H.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, April 16th.-Elial F. Hall read a paper entitled Gerard Mercator, his life and works, while addresses were made by the President of the Society, and others upon the state of geographical knowledge before Mercator.

SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, April 3-The regular exercises were contributions towards a history of Maryland Cambari, by Mr. Uhler; a paper on Nitrosulpho-benzoic Acids, by Mr. Hart; Theory of Groups, by Dr. Story.

BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, April 17.-Mr. Richard Rathborn made an address on the late Prof. C. F. Hartt, and his Brazilian explorations.

TROY SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION, April 15.--Dr. R. H. Ward read a paper on microscopic ruling and engraving.

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS, May.-Descriptions of new genera and species of Isopoda, from New England, by O. Harger. Notice of new fossil reptiles, by O. C. Marsh.

BULLETIN OF HAYDEN'S U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. IV, No. 2. May 3-The geographical distribution of the mammalia, considered in relation to the principal ontological regions of the earth, and the laws that govern the distribution of animal life, by Joel Asaph Allen. Description of new extinct vertebrata from the Upper Tertiary and Dakota formations, by E. D. Cope. Notes on a collection of fishes from the Rio Grande, at Brownsville, Texas, by David S. Jordan, M.D. A catalogue of the fishes of the fresh waters of North America, by David S. Jordan, M.D. Description of a Fossil Passerine Bird, from the insect-bearing Shales of Colorado, by J. A. Allen. (Plate I.) The Coleoptera of the Alpine Regions of the Rocky Mountain, by John L. LeConte, M.D. On the Orthoptera, collected by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A., in Dakota and Montana, during 1873-74, by Prof. Cyrus Thomas. On the Hemiptera collected by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A., in Dakota and Montana, during 1873-74, by P. R. Uhler. On the Lepidoptera, collected by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A. in Montana, during 1874, by W. H. Edwards. An account of some insects of unusual interest from the Tertiary rocks of Colorado and Wyoming, by S. H. Scudder.

THE GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. April.-The age of the world as viewed by the geologist and the mathematician, by T. M. Reade. Geological time, by C. L. Morgan. What must be explained before the preservation of deposits under till is explained? by J. Young. Note on Penæus sharpü, by H. Woodward.

QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.-April. On the phenomena accompanying the maturation and impregnation of the ovum, by F. M. Balfour (with an important résumé of latest discoveries). Notes on the structure and development of osseous tissue, by E. A. Schäfer. On the endothelium of the bodycavity and blood-vessels of the common earth-worm, as demonstrated by silver staining, by D'Arc Power. Experimental contribution to the etiology of infectious diseases, with special reference to the doctrine of Contagium vivum, by E. Klein. On the nature of fermentation, by J. Lister.

ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE ZOOLOGIE.-March 7. F. E. Schulze continues his researches on the structure and development of sponges (family Aplysinida). The development of feathers, by T. Studer. Fertilization of the egg of Petromyzon planeri, by E. Calberla. On the formation of the egg and the amles of Bonellia viridis, by F. Vejdoosky.

UOTING the words of Pliny we can say: "Maximum in rebus humanis, non solum inter gemmas, pretium habet adamas." As far as our reliable records reach back into the dim and mystic ages, we find the diamond occupying a prominent position in the estimation of man. Above all other of its qualities, which at present determine its value, the superior hardness to all substances then known, seems to have impressed the Ancients. There appears to be but little doubt, that at very early ages the East Indians and the original inhabitants of the Chinese Empire knew the value of diamonds over all other gems. It is supposable, too, that the art of cutting was known to them, although it was not employed in the western countries until many centuries later.

Some doubt may appear whether the ancient Hebrews really possessed the diamond. In translations the word "shamir" is rendered as diamond. We find that the breast-plate of the High Priest contained a "diamond" in the second row of precious. stones. We furthermore find, however, that these twelve stones. "were according to the names of the children of Israel," "like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes." It seems improbable that they should have been able to engrave the diamond. Other passages occur where the diamond is used as a symbol of greatest hardness. One allusion is made that shows its application in the art of engraving; Jeremiah says: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond; it is graven upon the table of their heart." Corundum was known to the Hebrews, and 1Among all human things, not only among gems, the diamond is the most precious.