CALL FOR MEETING.

BOSTON, Oct. 3, 1890.

Dear Sir: The stated semi-annual meeting of the Association will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boylston Street, Boston, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 1890, at 10 o'clock A.M.

Topics heretofore discussed will still be in order if called up by any member; and, in addition, the Board have the pleasure to announce the following:

Mr. EMILE H. KLABER of Boston, Mass., will present a paper on the MANIPULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE IN MILLS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CHARGING THE SAME WITH MOISTURE.

Mr. F. E. SAUNDERS of Lowell, Mass., will read a paper on the EFFECT UPON THE COTTON FIBRE OF ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES IN HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE.

Mr. W. H. DODGE of Mishawaka, Ind., will present a paper on ROPE DRIVING.

Mr. F. M. MESSENGER of North Grosvenor Dale, Conn., will give a report on a series of TESTS OF SPINDLE OILS.

Copies of these papers will be printed in advance of the meeting, and will be supplied to any member who shall apply for them to the secretary.

By order of the Board of Government,

AMBROSE EASTMAN,

Secretary.

PROCEEDINGS.

Pursuant to the foregoing notice, the regular semi-annual meeting of the Association was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boylston Street, Boston, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 1890, at 10 o'clock A.M.

The President, Mr. WALTER E. PARKER, Occupied the chair. The President submitted the following nominations of new members, recommended by the Board of Government, for election:

The foregoing names were then voted upon separately, and each nominee was duly elected to membership in the Association.

The President announced that the regular programme was next in order, and accordingly called upon Mr. F. E. SAUNDERS of Lowell, who read the following paper:

TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY.

ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES.

PER CENT. OF VARIATION OF WATER VAPOR, IN GRAINS. LOSS AND GAIN IN COTTON FIBRE.

By F. E. SAUNDERS, Lowell, Mass.

One of the problems that our manufacturers are trying to solve is that of atmospheric changes, their effect upon cotton fibres, and the best methods to adopt in our mills in order to control them. It is safe to say that it is a very difficult question to solve, from the fact that it is of such a complex nature. For instance, the temperature and humidity in our mills may be at one point, and in a few hours a change in the weather has resulted in adding to or taking from the moisture in the atmosphere. In presenting a paper before the Manufacturers' Association, it is for the purpose of treating the subject in a practical manner, so that we may better understand how to regulate our work, when these changes take place. When a physician is called to treat a difficult disease, he at once takes a diagnosis of the case, and then applies the remedy. In the subject before us, quite a number have taken careful observations of these atmospheric changes that are constantly occurring, and yet are at a loss where to apply the remedy. The time may come when we shall be able to control these changes so far as to, in a measure, eliminate the effects of electricity.

MOISTURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

It may be of general interest at this time to give the temperatures and humidities of the several localities of Europe and America. The absolute moisture of the atmosphere varies with the temperature, both in the course of the year and of the day. In summer there is a maximum at 8 in the morning and evening, and a minimum at 3 P.M. and 3 A.M., because the ascending current of air carries the moisture upwards. The absolute is greatest in the tropics, where it represents a pressure of 25 mm; while in our latitude it does not exceed 10 mm. The relative moisture, on the other hand, is at a minimum in the hottest, and at its maximum in the coolest, part of the day. It varies also in different regions. It is greater in the centre of continents than it is on the sea or the sea-coast. That the dryness diminishes with the distance from the sea, is shown by the clearer atmosphere of continental regions. In Platowskya, Siberia, the air at a temperature of 24° was found to contain a quantity of moisture only sufficient to saturate at 3°. The air might, therefore, have been cooled through 27° without any deposit of moisture. In some parts of East Africa the springs of powder flasks exposed to the damp atmosphere snap like twisted quills; paper becomes soft and sloppy, by the loss of glaze; and gunpowder, if not kept hermetically sealed, refuses to ignite. On the other hand, in North America, where the west and north-west winds blow over large tracts of land, the moisture in the air is less than in Europe. Evaporation is, therefore, more rapid than in Europe; clothes dry quickly, bread soon becomes hard, newly built houses can be at once occupied. European pianos soon give way there, while American-built pianos are very durable on this side of the ocean. Evaporation is quicker, the drier the air, as will be observed by consulting the hygrodeik readings of the several mills.

DIRECTION OF WINDS.

It is a well-known fact that the temperature and absolute humidity is much evener in Lancashire, England, than in New