Part 1 — Regular Meeting, August 7th, 1865.
Reading edition
President in the chair.
Nine members present: Dr. C. T. Jackson, visitor.
Donations to the Cabinet: Three boxes of shells; Duplicate fossils of the U. S. Exploring Expedition; Types of Dana’s Geology; Fossils from the Upper Missouri; Miscellaneous fossils of the United States, received from the Smithsonian Institution; Trachytic porphyry from the “Basalt” Cliff, three miles from the Big Tree Grove, Calaveras, presented by Dr. Jackson.
Donations to the Library: Annual Report of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Cambridge, 1864; Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for January, February and March, 1865; Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, June-September, 1864; Review of American Birds, by Prof. S. F. Baird; Proceedings of Albany Institute; The Law of Increase and the Structure of Man, by F. A. Liharyik; Oration and Poem delivered at the Commencement of the College of California; Proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society of London; Meteorological Results, Toronto, 1860-2; Magnetical Abstracts, Toronto, 1854-60, 1856-62.
Dr. Ayres remarked the appearance of a species of Barracouta, (Sphyrena Argentea,) on the coast of California, off Point Conception.
Dr. C. T. Jackson read the following paper, relative to the Big Trees of Calaveras County.
MEASUREMENTS OF THE HEIGHT AND CIRCUMFERENCE OF TWENTY-FIVE OF THE “BIG TREES,” (SEQUOIA GIGANTEA,) IN CALAVERAS COUNTY, BY DR. CHARLES T. JACKSON AND MR. JOSEPH B. MEADER, AUGUST 2d AND 3d, 1865.
Instruments made use of:—
1. Sir H. Douglass’ Reflecting Semicircle; (Cary).
2. A Reflecting Level; made by J. H. Temple, of Boston.
3. A common Measuring Tape.
The horizontal point was fixed upon each tree, and the angle measured by the Reflecting Semicircle, and protracted by it.
The circumference of the trees was measured above the swell of the roots, about six feet, where the stem takes its proper form.
Several measurements, originally made with too high an angle, were taken over again with a longer base, so as to avoid the error of refraction in the glasses of the mirrors.
We trust, therefore, that the following measurements will be found to be correct.
NAME OF TREE. HEIGHT. Feet. CIRCUM. Feet.
Arbor Vitæ Queen 258 31
Pride of the Forest 260 50
Andrew Johnson 273 32
Bay State 280 48
Edward Everett 265 46
Henry W. Beecher 291 45
William C. Bryant 305 49
Abraham Lincoln 281 44
Mother of the Forest[15] 305 63
Daniel Webster 270 49
General Jackson 320 42
General Scott 327 45
General Washington 284 52
Beauty of the Forest 258 —
Two Sentinels 315 —
Old Kentucky 277 45
Mother and Son 269 64
T. Starr King 366 50
Trinity 308 48
Salem Witch 310 —
Henry Clay 241 44
Empire State 275 50
Vermont 259 44
Granite State 286 50
John Torrey, (Nobis) — 50
(All the above-named trees are the Sequoia Gigantea.)
A Sugar Pine, (P. Lambertiana) 165 —
A Yellow Pine, (P. Engelmann) 232 27
Another of same species 220 19
The stump of the “Original Big Tree” measured in six diameters, gives for mean, 23 ft. 1⅓ in., diameter inside of the bark,—which was two feet thick.