Terebratula aspera (Schlotheim) of the Eifel. President Haughton says, "It is therefore highly probable that the coalbeds of Melville Island are very low down in the series, and do not correspond in geological position with the coal-beds of Europe, which rest on the summit of the carboniferous beds." The coal itself in some respects resembles some of the gas-coals of Scotland, which form a system older than that of the South Welsh coals. The corals, collected apparently from the same beds, are a curious mixture of silurian and carboniferous types. "The same blending of corals has been found in Ireland, the Bas Boulonnais, and in Devonshire." He concludes by saying, "I do not believe in the lapse of a long interval of time between the silurian and carboniferous deposits,-in fact, in a Devonian period." Mr. Lesley described the subconglomeritic or false coal measures, first recognized stratigraphically by Dr. R. M. S. Jackson in Northwestern Virginia, in 1841, and botanically by Leo Lesquereux, in 1851; the system being best developed in Wythe and Montgomery Counties in Southern Virginia, in Southeastern Kentucky, and in Nova Scotia. He considered it probable that this earlier carboniferous era, illustrated in Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere further east by workable coalbeds, would determine the age of the Arctic coal-field. carbonaceous slate deposit of the lowest Devonian rocks, such as have been searched for coal in Perry and Juniata Counties, Pennsylvania, and have actually yielded thin coal-seams in Western New York, may better represent the German Devonian coal-measures. The Stated Meeting, March 16, 1860. Present, sixteen members. President DR. WOOD, in the Chair. Letters were read from the Oberlausitzischen Gesellschaft, dated Görlitz, Dec. 21, 1859, requesting information; from the Chicago Historical Society, dated February 29, 1860, desiring to form and sustain friendly relations with the Society; and from the Editor of the Gas Light Journal, dated New York, March 13, 1860, offering to sell a printing press, said to be the one on which Benjamin Franklin worked when a boy of fourteen years of age. On motion of Mr. Fraley, the offer was declined. On motion of Dr. Bache, the Chicago Historical Society was placed on the list of corresponding societies. The following donations for the Library were announced: Reinwald's Catalog. Annuel. Vol. ii. Paris, 1859.-From the Author. Bulletin Soc. Geog. Paris, xvii. Jan. to June, 1859.-From the So. Robinson's Armagh Cat. of 5345 Stars. 8vo. 1859.-From the Aut. Cat. of Printed Books of N. Y. Hist. S. Lib. 8vo. 1859.—From So. Journal of the Franklin Institute, No. 411.-From the Institute. Mayor Henry's 2d An. Mes. Phil. 1860.-From City Councils. African Repository. March, 1860.-From Amer. Col. Society. Saggio di Ditterologia Messicana di Luigi Bellardi. Part 1. 4to. Torino, 1859. From the Author. Mr. Lea read a letter from Dr. James Lewis, of Mohawk, N. Y., accompanied by drawings descriptive of a self-registering thermometer, registering on a fillet of paper, with a pricking point, at intervals as short as fifteen minutes if desired. REGISTERING THERMOMETER. BY JAMES LEWIS, The apparatus, for convenience of description, may be divided into three parts. First. The Thermometer, consisting of a bundle of iron and brass wires (No. 13 wire measure), which bundle comprises, within a length of about 15 inches, the equivalent of about 45 inches of iron wire antagonized by an equal length of brass wire. These wires are arranged around a centre, instead of being placed in alternate pairs each side of a centre, for the purpose of making each individual wire contribute its share of stiffness to the stiffness of the whole bundle; also for the purpose of giving equal rigidity to the circular plates which connect the wires at their extremities, so as to avoid as much as possible the elasticity which is being constantly multiplied by arranging the rods at unequal distances from the centre in a straight line each side of the centre. The whole number of rods or wires in the bundle is eleven, six of these (in three pairs) are iron, and on these the force of compression is exerted. The force of extension is applied to four brass wires (two pairs), arranged alternately with the iron wires around the centre, and also to a single brass wire in the centre (which single brass wire is the equivalent of a pair). It will be seen that the above arrangement makes the first pair of iron rods form the base of the Thermometer, and the last (single) brass wire the terminus. The base of the bundle of rods is secured against a proper foundation in a pendant position: on this foundation is placed the support for the fulcrum of a very strong lever, bearing on knife edges. The short arm of the lever is connected with the central brass wire of the bundle, and multiplies the difference of the rates of expansion of the two metals composing it eight times; a second lever still further repeats this five times. The long arm of the second lever, by means of a chain (made of flat links and rivets), communicates movements to a pulley resting on friction wheels, which pulley is made in two parts, one of which is eight times larger than the other (allowance being made for the semi-diameter of the chain on the smaller portion of the pulley). A slender silk cord runs over the larger part of the pulley and sustains a delicate weight, which is guided between two slender parallel rods (brass wire No. 32 wire measure), which parallel rods are kept in tension by means of springs. The above comprehends the essential features of the Thermometer. All the parts should be constructed with as much nicety of adjustment as a fine watch, and with the exception of the two metals in the rods, and perhaps the knife edges and shafts or pivots of the friction wheels, the whole work should be of brass, of a uniform quality and temper as near (Continued on page 316.) BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE LATE THOMAS NUTTALL. THOMAS NUTTALL, an Englishman by birth, but an American by his scientific labors and reputation, was born in 1786, in the market-town of Settle, in the West-Riding of Yorkshire, of parents apparently in humble circumstances. At an early age, and scarcely possessing anything more than the rudiments of education, he was apprenticed to the printing business, either in his native town or in the city of Liverpool, where he had an uncle engaged in the same occupation. Nuttall resided several years in Liverpool, working as a mere journeyman printer. A misunderstanding with his relative, upon whom he was somewhat dependent, induced him to leave that city and go to London in search of employment. There he met with troubles and pecuniary embarrassments, being sometimes, as he has related himself, so destitute of money as to be uncertain, on going to bed, where he would get his breakfast next morning. A love of the natural sciences, he said, and perhaps also a hope to improve his position in the world,-brought him to the United States in 1808, when only twenty-two years of age. Young Nuttall was endowed with a strong, clear intellect; his mind was of a meditative cast, and his thoughts were more particularly bent towards the contemplation of the great works of Nature, which became the objects of his investigations for the remainder of his life. Those who remember him, at the period of his arrival in Philadelphia, speak of him as being already a well-informed young man, possessing the language and history of his country, and somewhat familiar with some branches of natural history, and even with Latin and Greek. Such an acquisition of knowledge in a youth of twenty-two, who, at a tender age, had been removed from the benches of a village school to be apprenticed to a mechanical occupation, VOL. VII.-2 N calls forth the natural inquiry, "How did that young man find time to study?" The inference may justly be this: his hours of rest from labor, his hours of recreation and sleep were diligently employed in the pursuit of knowledge. Nay, at the very printing-case do we fancy to see him carrying books and stealthily devouring their pages. These studious habits, which elevated him finally to the high rank he attained in sciences, followed him throughout his long career. When, in 1824, Prof. Torrey was preparing for publication his Flora of the Northern and Middle States, which he dedicated to his friend Thomas Nuttall, with high compliments, the printer who was engaged upon it asked the Professor who was that Nuttall so frequently referred to in his work, adding that he had once worked with a printer of that name, who spent the greatest part of his time in reading books, and he would not be surprised if he were the same man. Prof. Torrey rejoined, "that his surmise was correct; the printer of former times had proved a most arduous laborer in the field of science, and was now a distinguished botanist, and an officer of one of the first scientific institutions of the country." Nuttall landed at Philadelphia in the spring of 1808. "In the ship Halcyon," does he say, emphatically, in the beautiful preface to his Sylva, "I arrived at the shores of the New World; and after a boisterous and dangerous passage, our dismasted vessel entered the Capes of the Delaware, in the month of April. The beautiful robing of forest scenery, now bursting into vernal life, was exchanged for the monotony of the dreary ocean and the sad sickness of the sea. As we sailed up the Delaware my eyes were riveted on the landscape with intense admiration. All was new; and life, like that season, was then full of hope and enthusiasm; the forests, apparently unbroken in their primeval solitude and repose, spread themselves on either hand as we passed placidly along. The extending vista of dark pines gave an air of deep sadness to the wilderness. The deer, brought to bay and plunging into the flood from the pursuit of the Indian, |