bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
XIII.—A Method for Determining the Molecular Weights of Dissolved Substances by Measurement of Lowering of Vapour Pressure
Authors: Menzies Alan W. C.
Published: June 2016

Although various methods have from time to time been described for determining the molecular weights of dissolved substances by measurement, not of boiling-point elevation, but of the reduction of vapour pressure of a solvent due to the presence of a dissolved substance, none of these methods has come into general use. The method here proposed, operating on this principle, offers the possibility of simply determining the molecular weights of non-volatile solutes in any of the ordinary solvents with an accuracy at least equal to that of the ebullioscopic methods, and in an apparatus at least as easily manageable.
XV.—Illustration of the Modus Operandi of the Prism
Authors: Green George
Published: June 2016

§ 1. IT was proved by Gouy and Lord Rayleigh that interference may be observed by the aid of the spectroscope even if the incident light were entirely irregular, consisting, for instance, of an irregular succession of impulses. This means that the “regularity” of the emergent light arising from an impulse is due to the spectroscope itself, and the extent to which interference may be observed is limited only by the resolving power of the instrument used. The greater the resolving power, the more homogeneous is the light in any part of the spectrum. The question regarding the modus operandi of the prism has been further dealt with by Professor Schuster in his paper “On Interference Phenomena” (Phil. Mag., vol. xxxvii., 1894) and, later, in his explanation of Talbot's bands by consideration of group-velocities (Phil. Mag., vol. vii., 1904).
XVI.—The Theory of Wronskians in the Historical Order of Development up to 1860
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: June 2016

The previous history of Wronskians being not at all lengthy, was included in the chapter on “Miscellaneous Special Forms” (History, i., chap, xvi.), and is to be found there under Wronski 1812, Wronski 1815, Wronski 1816–17, and Schweins 1825 (pp. 472–478, 482–485).

The name dates only from 1882, being first suggested on p. 224 of my Text-book on Determinants.
XXVI.—On the Accuracy attainable with a Modified Form of Atwood's Machine.
Authors: Dalton John P.
Published: June 2016

A careful determination of g by means of the ordinary type of Atwood's machine does not, as a rule, lead the average student in a Physical Laboratory to a better result than 930 or 940 cm/sec2. From the point of view of successful teaching, it is somewhat unfortunate that, after bestowing reasonable care and attention to his work, a student should be unable to obtain a result approximating satisfactorily to what he knows to be the correct figure. Not unnaturally he takes it for granted that the actual numerical result obtained from his experimental labours is quite immaterial as long as the processes involved are clearly comprehended, and to him Experimental Physics is anything but an exact science. On the other hand, to set before the ordinary student a complicated apparatus specially designed for reaching an accuracy of 0·1 per cent, would be proceeding to the other extreme, and one could hardly expect much benefit to be derived from its use.
XXXII.—On the New Genus of Iron-bacteria, Spirophyllum ferrugineum (Ellis). (A reply to criticism.)
Authors: Ellis David
Published: June 2016

In 1907 I had the honour of reading a paper before this Society in which a new genus of iron-bacteria was described. This organism was first discovered in Renfrew, near Glasgow, and subsequently observed in various samples of iron-water from different parts of the country. At Renfrew this organism was at the time of its discovery the sole bacterial occupant of the ironwaters of this neighbourhood. In most samples of these waters—and I have examined hundreds—only the remains of iron-bacteria can be obtained, but occasionally the samples are found to contain iron-bacteria in process of growth and multiplication. After a little experience, it is possible to ascertain which streams contain iron-bacteria in this favourable condition. At Renfrew such streams were then common, and so gave me an opportunity of tracing the life-history of this species. The results of this investigation seemed to me to justify the conclusion that I had obtained a new genus of iron-bacteria.
I.—Further Experiments with the Ewing Ball-and-Tube Flowmeter
Authors: Awbery J.H. , Griffiths Ezer
Published: June 2016

The Ewing Flowmeter is a device which may be inserted in a circuit through which liquid is flowing, to give a continuous indication of the rate of flow of the liquid.

The authors, acting on behalf of the Engineering Committee of the Food Investigation Board, have carried out some further experiments, the results of which confirm and supplement those of Sir Alfred Ewing, described by him to the Society in June 1925 (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xlv, p. 308). They have also endeavoured to discuss the results by applying the theory of similitude.
XI.—The Effects of Implantation upon Ovarian Grafts in the Male Mouse
Authors: Tamura Y.
Published: June 2016

I. A series of experiments is described in which ovaries from litter sisters at the age of from 8 to 20 weeks old were grafted on to the surface of the kidney of male mice.

II. The grafts were examined at periods varying from 10 to 35 days after operation. It was found that in the majority of cases the graft had retained the typical ovarian structure; in one case corpora lutea were present (35 days after transplantation).

III. It is suggested that the survival of the graft is dependent primarily upon its vascularisation, and secondarily upon the degree of activity of the germinal epithelium.

IV. It is assumed that if the germinal epithelium is unimpaired it proliferates; proliferation occurs first sometime before the 10th day, and continues until the graft has attained the stage at which it was at the time of operation.

V. The original large follicles begin to degenerate soon after transplantation; the medium-sized and small ones develop for a certain period of time, but afterwards also undergo degeneration.

VI. Graafian follicles undergo degeneration at various stages of development.

VII. Interstitial tissue appears to be derived from the follicular cells of the atretic, or more probably of the primary and medium-sized anovular follicles.

VIII. It is concluded that the presence of the testis does not affect the vitality of the ovarian graft.
XIII.—After Images of Coloured Sources
Authors: Smith W. J.
Published: June 2016

A sensation of light is recorded in the brain not only when the retina is flooded with incident light, but also when the latter is withdrawn. There appears a heterogeneous pattern of bright areas, known as the chaotic light or the self light of the retina. Although no stimulus is given to the eye, certain processes must continue in the retina which excite a sensation of light in the brain. This jumble of white or coloured impressions has no definite form in the field of vision, unless the eye has previously been directed on to a particular defined object. The brain concentration involved in this action causes the patch of self light to reproduce more or less in form and dimensions the object fixated. This representation of the object is known as an after image.
XV.—The Life and Work of Nicolas Théodore de Saussure
Authors: Gibson R. J. Harvey
Published: June 2016

Nicolas Théodore de Saussure was born in Geneva on October 14, 1767, the son of Horace Bénédict de Saussure, the celebrated naturalist, Alpine explorer, and professor in the University of Geneva. As a boy Théodore was educated by a private tutor and afterwards by his father, in preparation for entry into the Academy of his native city. His studies embraced medicine, mineralogy, and natural history, and he also acquired a keen interest in experimental chemistry from reading the earlier works of Lavoisier.
XVII.—A Case of Partial Sex-Transformation in Cattle
Authors: Calder A.
Published: June 2016

Cows which develop the behaviour and conformation of the male are known as “bullers.” Information obtained from breeders, veterinary surgeons, and butchers would seem to indicate that the phenomenon of partial sex-transformation in the cow is by no means of rare occurrence. The appearance of this condition is recognised by breeders as indicative of the onset of functional sterility, and any animal showing signs of becoming a “buller” is usually separated from the breeding-stock and prepared for the butcher before the assumption of the male secondary characters has reached a marked degree of expression.
XX.—The Theory of Orthogonants and Latent Roots from 1881 to 1918
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: June 2016

The increased interest taken in Orthogonants during the period 1880–1900 is more than maintained in the period which we have now reached. Out of considerably more than 100 writings sought out and examined, as many as 65 have been found to deal directly with the theory of orthogonal substitution, and 35 to be more closely concerned with the practical applications of it. These numbers, 65 and 35, are what have to be set over against 38 and 12 in the earlier period referred to, note, however, at the same time being taken that the contrast is unfairly heightened by several papers of the first period, chiefly Magyar, having been received only in time to be joined with those of the second. These Magyar papers, it may be added, make also an appreciable contribution in the matter of quality.
XXI.—Submergence and Postural Apnœa in the Swan
Authors: Paton D. Noël
Published: June 2016

Paul Bert (1) (1870) and later Richet (2) (1894) investigated the apnœa in diving produced in the duck (Anas Boschas var. domesticus) by submergence of the head in water.

In 1911 Frances M. Huxley (3), while studying this apnœa, discovered that it is largely a postural reflex and that it could be induced without submergence. She also showed that in this reflex a labyrinthine and a cervical element are involved, and later I (4) showed that in most ducks the former, but in some the latter, predominates and that they are cooperative, acting together.
XXVI.—Some Further Notes on the Salmon (Salmo salar) of the Moisie River (Eastern Canada)
Authors: Menzies W. J. M. , Macfarlane P. R. C.
Published: June 2016

In December 1925 a paper was read before the Society by one of us on the salmon of the Moisie in 1922 and 1923. Since that date scales and measurements of 182 fish taken on June 25, 1923, and of 143 fish caught between June 18 and July 12, 1924, have been received from Mr J. S. Adams, Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S.A. The scales have been read and measured under the microscope, and the results we now place on record.
VI.—Mental Measurement: The Probable Error of some Boundary Conditions in Diagnosing the Presence of Group and General Factors
Authors: Black Thomas P.
Published: June 2016

1. Let x1, x2, x3 represent three mental activities; r12 the correlation coefficient of x1 and x2; r23 that of x2 and x3; r31 that of x3 and x1.

J. Ridley Thompson has shown (Brit. Journ. Psychol., 1919, vol. ix, p. 335) that if

F(r)≡r122 + r232 + r312 + 2r12r23r31

be greater than 1, a “general factor” is undoubtedly present in the three activities.
VII.—The Correlation between Product Moments of any Order in Samples from a Normal Population
Authors: Wishart John
Published: June 2016

1. A problem of considerable importance in the theory of statistics is the determination of the accuracy with which a given sample of observations determines the characteristics of the population from which it is derived. Any parameter of this distribution can only in practice be estimated from the sample, and the degree of latitude in our choice of the right function enables considerations of suitability and efficiency of the particular moment statistic to be taken into account. As well as this, however, the probable errors of such frequency constants, or, to be more complete, the distribution of the constants in all possible samples, must be determined. These problems were formulated many years ago by Karl Pearson (1), and his important researches have stimulated and suggested much subsequent work.
IX.—On the Relation of Fertility in Fowls to the Amount of Testicular Material and Density of Sperm Suspension
Authors: Hutt F. B.
Published: June 2016

1. Fertility tests of eight partially castrated cocks and three controls show that within quite wide limits of fertility and of testis size the fertility of the male fowl is not in any way dependent upon size of the testis.

2. The average density of sperm suspension was found to be approximately four million spermatozoa per cubic millimetre for the thirty-six samples examined from ten males.

3. The variations in the average density of sperm suspension from different birds ranged from 825,000 to over 7,000,000 cells per cu. mm., but within this range the density of sperm suspension bore no relation to fertility.

4. The number of sperm per cubic millimetre of semen appears to be entirely independent of the size of the testes within the ranges covered by this experiment.

5. Compensatory hypertrophy to a degree approximating to the normal weight of both testes was observed in the retained right testes of cocks castrated unilaterally on the left side at one week of age.

6. Exceptions to the rule of compensatory hypertrophy included birds with subcutaneous testis grafts and two in which one whole testis and part of the other had been removed.

7. It is suggested that fertility in the male fowl is dependent upon the physiological efficiency of the spermatozoa rather than upon their quantitative production.
X.—Studies in Embryonic Mortality in the Fowl. I. The Frequencies of Various Malpositions of the Chick Embryo and their Significance
Authors: Hutt F. B.
Published: June 2016

1. An examination has been made of 11,797 eggs which had failed to hatch, among which were 5050 embryos which had died after the eighteenth day.

2. Four major malpositions of the chick embryo are described and the frequency of each given.

3. It is concluded that one of these, in which the head is buried between the legs, definitely prevents hatching. In the material examined, this abnormality was responsible for 9·25 per cent. of the mortality among embryos of eighteen days or over.

4. It is suggested that the other three malpositions usually result fatally, by reason of their preventing pulmonary respiration in the embryo as well as by mechanical hindrance.

5. Of the embryos over eighteen days, nearly 56 per cent. were in one or another of the four major malpositions.

6. Possible causes are discussed, and the suggestion made that some of the abnormal positions result from an incorrect orientation of the embryo established early in cleavage.
XI.—Studies in Embryonic Mortality in the Fowl. II. Chondrodystrophy in the Chick
Authors: Hutt F. B. , Greenwood A. W.
Published: June 2016

1. Among 7135 chick embryos of nine days or over, obtained from unhatched eggs from three poultry farms, 112 cases of chondrodystrophy were observed. From 1900 eggs set at this Department, 124 chondrodystrophic embryos were obtained.

2. The mortality caused by this condition varied in different flocks from 0.80 to 7.96 per cent. of the embryos dying after the eighth day; at this Department it was responsible for loss of 6.5 per cent. of the eggs set.

3 The incidence of chondrodystrophic embryos was found to be greatest in January and February, and to decline steadily thereafter to an almost complete absence in June.

4. The occurrence of chondrodystrophy appears to be independent of breed of fowl, sex of embryo, and age of dam.

5. The number of these abnormal embryos produced by individual hens ranged from 1 to 28.

6. Evidence is advanced in support of the theory that the causal agency is an hereditary physiological abnormality in the dam which, under certain unfavourable conditions, results in the production of chondrodystrophy in the embryo.

7. It is shown that the incidence of chondrodystrophy appears to be inversely proportional to the amount of sunshine, and the suggestion is made that lack of direct sunlight is a factor in the etiology of the abnormality.
XXI.—The Influence of Air and Moisture on the Budde Effect in Bromine
Authors: Ludlam E. B. , Mooney R. B.
Published: June 2016

A survey is given of recent work on the action of light on bromine vapour, both dry and in presence of air and moisture.

Suggested explanations of the facts are discussed. It is concluded that the influence of water is due to a “poisoning” of the walls of the vessel, which prevents them from catalysing the recombination of bromine atoms.
1. Description and Analysis of Gurolite, a new Mineral Species.
Authors: Anderson T.
Published: June 2016

The mineral described and analysed by the author was found at Stow, in Skye, where it occurs associated with apophyllite, stilbite, and other zeolitic minerals. It is found principally in a compact basalt, different from that in which these minerals are most abundant, and which appears to have been produced by a different eruption of basaltic matter.
4. On the Mechanical Action of Heat. Note as to the Dynamical Equivalent of Temperature in Liquid Water, and the Specific Heat of Atmospheric Air and Steam.
Authors: Rankine W. J. Macquorn
Published: June 2016

In the author's paper on the Mechanical Action of Heat (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., Vol. XX., Part I), the calculations depending on the dynamical equivalent of temperature in liquid water were founded on the experiments of De la Roche and Bérard on the ratio of the apparent specific heat of atmospheric air under constant pressure to that of water. The equivalent thus obtained was about one-tenth part less than Mr Joule's. Since then, the author, having become acquainted with the details of Mr Joule's experiments, has come to the conclusion that Mr Joule's equivalent is correct to aboutof its amount, and that the discrepancy in question originates chiefly in the experiments of De la Roche and Bérard.
2. Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Baden Baden.
Authors: Muspratt Sheridan
Published: June 2016

The author, after mentioning that no analysis of this water is to be found in any English work, and the great multitudes who resort to it, described briefly the situation of the Ursprung or original spring, the chief one at Baden, which was known to, and esteemed by, the Romans.

It has a temperature of 153·5° F., and contains, in the imperial gallon, 181·120 grains of solid matter. The predominating ingredient is chloride of sodium or common salt, which amounts to 132·6 grains in the gallon.
1. On some new Marine Animals, discovered during a cruise among the Hebrides with Robert Macandrew, Esq., of Liverpool, in 1850.
Authors: Forbes Edward
Published: June 2016

The animals either wholly new, or new to Britain, described in this communication, were taken during a yachting cruise with Mr Macandrew, of Liverpool, among the Hebrides, in the month of August 1850. During this voyage, which lasted three weeks, a series of observations were conducted by means of the dredge and towing-net. Not a single new testaceous Mollusk was procured; but several remarkable Ascidians and Radiata were discovered, some of them so curious in themselves, and so important in their zoological bearings, that the authors of this paper thought it desirable to lay an account of them before the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
4. On the Compressibility of Water.
Authors: Rankine W. J. Macquorn
Published: June 2016

The results of the experiments of M. Grassi on the above subject (Comptes Rendus XIX.) follow sensibly this law.

The compressibility of water is inversely proportional to the density, multiplied by the temperature as measured from the absolute zero of a perfect-gas thermometer, viz.:—a point 274°·6 below the ordinary zero of the centigrade scale, and 462°·28 below that of Fahrenheit's scale.
3. On Carmufellic Acid.
Authors: Muspratt Sheridan , Danson
Published: June 2016

In this paper the authors, after mentioning the various researches hitherto made on cloves and the substances therein discovered, describe the preparation of the new acid.

20 lb. of cloves are extracted by boiling water, and the decoctions, after being concentrated to six gallons, were acted on by nitric acid, first in the cold, afterwards with the aid of heat. The action is brisk, and irritating vapours are given off, which affect the eyes strongly.
2. On the Total Solar Eclipse of July 28, 1851, as seen on the west coast of Norway.
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

The author, who was in the party of Dr Robinson, Mr Alan Stevenson, and others, mentioned the very kind manner in which the Hydrographical Department had not only lent its instruments, but even caused them to be altered and adapted for the occasion, and also spoke of the liberal conduct of the Board of Northern Lights in conveying the observers to the station selected. This was on the Bue island, on the western coast of Norway, in lat. 61° 9' 42”, and long. E. 27m0s.
2. On the Computation of the Specific Heat of Liquid Water, at various Temperatures, from the experiments of M. Regnault.
Authors: Rankine W. J. Macquorn
Published: June 2016

The experiments of M. Regnault having been made by introducing water at a high temperature from a boiler into a calorimeter, containing water at a low temperature, and power exercised by the steam in the boiler in expelling the water was converted into heat by fluid friction, thus producing a rise of temperature in the calorimeter, for which allowance ought to be made in calculating the specific heat of liquid water from each experiment. Mr Joule's determination of the dynamical value of the specific heat of liquid water at low temperatures affords the means of calculating the correction required in each case.
4. Recent Observations on the direction of the Striæ on Rocks and Boulders.
Authors: Smith James
Published: June 2016

Mr Smith of Jordanhill next read a paper on the direction of the striae on rocks and boulders in the West of Scotland.

It had generally been supposed that the cause, whatever it was, which lodged the erratic block beds in their present position had proceeded from the north and west.

This was true with respect to the basin of the Clyde and the east coast of Scotland; but on the western coast of Argyllshire, at Loch Crinan and Appin he had observed that the strike side (stoss seite) of the rocks pointed to the east, and the lee side (lee seite) to the west, shewing that, in these cases, the direction of the moving force was from east to west.
4. On the Red Prominences seen during Total Eclipses of the Sun. Part I.
Authors: Swan William
Published: June 2016

The object of this communication is to discuss the evidence afforded by various observations of the eclipse which occurred on the 28th July 1851, as to the nature of the rose-coloured prominences which are seen round the moon during the total phase of solar eclipses.

In order to render the inquiry into the nature of the red prominences as complete as possible, the author has not confined himself to the consideration of such hypotheses only as have been formally stated regarding them; but has also included in his examination such other views as he thought might probably be entertained regarding those remarkable objects.
4. On two New Processes for the detection of Fluorine when accompanied by Silica, and on the presence of Fluorine in Granite, Trap, and other Igneous Rocks, and in the Ashes of Recent and Fossil Plants.
Authors: Wilson George
Published: June 2016

The author, after alluding to his previous communications to the Society in reference to fluorine, stated that he had always attributed the slight indications of the presence of this element in plants, which his own investigations and those of others had yielded, to the amount of silica which was contained in vegetable ashes. The presence of silica, which throws special difficulties in the way of detecting fluorine, had also prevented him from seeking for it in trap rocks and other mineral masses. Recently, however, he had put in practice two processes, which were applicable to all bodies containing silica and a metallic fluoride, which are decomposed by boiling oil of vitriol.
1. On a supposed Meteoric Stone, alleged to have fallen in Hampshire in September 1852.
Authors: Wilson George
Published: June 2016

The object of this communication was to exhibit to the Society a mineral which had been publicly described as a meteoric stone, picked up by a witness of its fall. The author had been induced, by the published account of the alleged fall of the stone, to make inquiry concerning it, and had ascertained that no one had witnessed its descent; and that the only evidence in favour of its being a meteorite was the fact of its having been noticed for the first time in a garden-path, the morning after a thunder-storm.
1. On a Simplification of the Instruments employed in Geographical Astronomy.
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

These instruments include all of that smaller class employed by travellers and navigators in determining latitudes and longitudes, and in making surveys.

At sea, the only instrument which can be employed, is some form of the double-reflection instrument, as the sextant, or rather the reflecting circle; and as this is able to compass all the requirements which may be made of it there, great advantage will result in economy, portability, and despatch, if it can be made also to serve the purposes of a traveller by land.
2. Observations on the Amount, Increase, and Distribution of Crime in Scotland.
Authors: Makgill George
Published: June 2016

The author read some “Observations on the Amount, Increase, and Distribution of Crime in Scotland,” being the results of an analysis of the Official Tables of criminal offenders for the ten years ending 1850, and of the Prison Board Returns, compared with various statistical data.

The criminal tables of Scotland confirm, in many important particulars, the observations of M. Guerry, M. Quetelet, and Mr Joseph Fletcher, as to the causes of the occasional fluctuations in the amount of crime, the chief of which appear to be—1st, Scarcity of the chief articles of subsistence; 2d, Disturbances of commercial credit, and of the labour market; 3d, Political excitement.
1. Remarks on the Torbanehill Mineral.
Authors: Traill
Published: June 2016

The Torbanehill mineral is so very peculiar that I cannot call it either a bituminous shale or a coal, to both of which it has a considerable resemblance.

After comparing it carefully with a great variety of English and Scottish coals, and with many varieties of bituminous shale, I conclude that it is a mineral hitherto undescribed by systematic mineralogists, and propose for it the name of BITUMENITE.

It appears to me to have been formed by the impregnation or injection of shale with liquid bitumen. Its colour is blackish-brown. Its specific gravity = 1·284.
2. Notice of the Blind Animals which inhabit the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.
Authors: Wilson James
Published: June 2016

The author commenced with a general sketch of the natural character and condition of the great cave, as it is the peculiarities of their local position which constitute the most remarkable feature in the history of the animals by which it is inhabited. The cave descends through the uppermost rocks of the “Barrens” to those which are nearly or quite upon a level with the Ohio. Though called a cave, it is in fact a series of underground galleries, branching from and inosculating with each other in various directions, the total length of windings being almost incalculable, and even the direct distance from the entrance to the termination extending many miles.
On the supposed Sea-Snake cast on shore in the Orkneys in 1808, and the Animal seen from H.M.S. Dædalus in 1848.
Authors: Traill
Published: June 2016

The discussions which arose about four years ago on the animal reported to have been seen on 6th August 1848, by Captain M'Quhae, the officers and crew of H.M.S. Dædalus, in the Southern Atlantic, between the Cape of Good Hope and St Helena, about 300 miles off the African shore, recalled my attention to the materials I had collected respecting the vast animal cast ashore on Stronsey, one of the Orkneys, in 1808.

I was not there at the time, but copies of the depositions made by those who had seen and measured it were transmitted to me by order of Malcolm Laing, Esq., the historian of Scotland, on whose property it was stranded; and I obtained other notes from several individuals resident in Orkney.
1. On the Impregnation of the Ova of the Salmonidæ.
Authors: Davy John
Published: June 2016

The author has been induced, he states, to make inquiry on this subject, in consequence of a recent averment, founded on a reported experiment, that the ova of the trout taken from the abdomen of the parent fish, and not afterwards mixed with the milt, have proved prolific.

He first gives an account of many trials made to test the accuracy of the conclusion that the ova of the Salmonidæ may be impregnatedab externo, the results of all which have been negative, and remarkably contrasted with those in which, after exclusion, the milt and roe have been mixed,—impregnation having been effected and the eggs rendered prolific.
3. On the Mechanical Action of Heat.
Authors: Rankine W. J. Macquorn
Published: June 2016

In investigating the phenomena of the free expansion of gases in the previous part of this paper, they had been considered as expanding, without receiving or giving out energy in any form; so that the equation taken to represent their condition was

This condition was realized in the early experiments of Mr Joule, where, by the sudden opening of a stopcock, air previously confined in one vessel was allowed to fill another also; but it is not exactly realized in the experiments now in progress by Messrs Joule and Thomson, for which the correct equation is
5. On the Mechanical Energies of the Solar System.
Authors: Thomson William
Published: June 2016

In this paper it is shown, that by the sun's heat there is an emission of mechanical energy from the solar system, amounting in about 100 years to as much as the whole energy of the motions of all the planets. The principal object of the paper is to investigate the source from which this vast development of energy is drawn. It is argued, that either a store of primitive heat must be drawn upon, or heat must be generated by chemical action (combustion), or heat must be generated by other forces than those of chemical action, that is, by forces of moving masses. Any store of primitive heat that can be drawn upon in solar radiation, must be entirely within the sun.
3. Notice of Ancient Moraines in the Parishes of Strachur and Kilmun, Argyleshire.
Authors: Maclaren Charles
Published: June 2016

The first of the moraines referred to is in Glensluan, a valley near Strachur, about two miles and a half in length, and two-thirds of a mile in breadth. It is bounded on the east, west, and south sides by mountains from 800 to 2000 feet in height. At the north or lower end, where it opens into Glen Eck, there is a series of mounds of clay and gravel, crossing the valley like embankments, and spread over a space of about 1800 feet in length, and from 350 to 600 in breadth.
2. On Superposition.
Authors: Kelland
Published: June 2016

The object of this paper was to defend the method of demonstration employed by Euclid from some of the charges which have been at various times brought against it. In particular, it was shown that the method is not deficient in variety of demonstration of the same fact. This position was illustrated by the exhibition of twelve totally different demonstrations of the problem, “To cut three-fourths of a square into four pieces which shall form a square.”
3. On the Colouring Matter of the Rottlera tinctoria.
Authors: Anderson
Published: June 2016

The Rottlera tinctoria is a large tree which is found distributed over the whole Indian peninsula, and is particularly abundant in the hill jungles of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar. The fruit, which is about the size of a pea, is covered with curious stellate hairs and red glands, which are easily separated by rubbing, and form without further preparation the colouring matter which is sold in the bazaars. It is a perfectly uniform brick-dust coloured powder, which repels water, and is scarcely soluble in that fluid. Alcohol and ether extract a red colouring matter, as do also the alkalies and their carbonates.
1. Experiments on Colour as perceived by the Eye, with Remarks on Colour-Blindness.
Authors: Maxwell James Clerk
Published: June 2016

These experiments were made with the view of ascertaining and registering the judgments of the eye with respect to colours, and then, by a comparison of the results with each other, by means of a graphical construction, testing the accuracy of that theory of the vision of colour which analyses the colour-sensation into three elements, while it recognises no such triple division in the nature of light, before it reaches the eye.
1.—Account of Experiments to ascertain the amount Prof. Wm. Thomson's “Solar Refraction.”.
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

After alluding to the excessive difficulty of ascertaining the presence and nature of a resisting medium in space, by planetary or cometary perturbations, the author reminded the meeting of the statements made in those rooms last year, that one of the consequences to which the dynamical theory of heat had led him, was the necessity of the existence of a medium filling space; that such medium was but an extension of our own atmosphere, and must experience a condensation in the neighbourhood of the sun; and that there must consequently arise a certain refraction of any heavenly body seen through such medium.
3. Researches on the Amides of the Fatty Acids.
Authors: Rowney Thomas H.
Published: June 2016

The author in this paper gives the details of an examination of the compounds obtained by the action of ammonia on some of the oils and fats.

The method employed was to mix one volume of the oil, two volumes alcohol, and four volumes of strong aqua ammoniæ in a stoppered bottle, and placing it in a moderately warm situation, the stopper being tied down. Occasional agitation is required. After a time, varying with the oil employed, there is formed a whitish solid matter, which increases in amount as the oil diminishes. Finally, the whole becomes nearly solid.
2. On a Problem in Combinations.
Authors: Kelland
Published: June 2016

This was a problem proposed some years ago by Professor Forbes, when discussing the question of the distribution of the stars. Simple as it is, no prior notice seems to have been taken of it, nor is the author aware that the full solution has yet been given. The problem is this:—“There arendice, each of which haspfaces,pbeing not less thann; it is required to find the number of arrangements which can be formed with them; 1st, “that no two shall show the same face; 2d, that no three shall show the same face, and so on.” The only part of this problem of which the solution has yet appeared is the first, and the result isp(p−1). … (p−n+1). The author supplies the solution of the remaining portions.
3. Occurrence of Native Iron in Liberia, in Africa.
Authors: Hayes A. A.
Published: June 2016

Dr Hayes states that there is evidence establishing the fact thatpure nativeiron exists abundantly in the country back from the central part of the colony of Liberia. Early travellers state that the natives of Africa find ironoreso pure, that they heat and hammer it into form. Explorations by the Liberians show that the inhabitants of towns are engaged in manufacturing iron, and an intelligent native has recently shown how it is done. Last year a mass was sent home by a working blacksmith, who cut it with a chisel from a mass of larger size connected with rock. This proved to be native iron, malleable and ductile, yet unequal in its molecular structure. The general arrangement of the particles is unlike that of any artificial iron known, and there are among the iron particles of crystalline and transparent quartz, octahedral crystals of magnetic oxide of iron, and one of the silicates of soda and lime. No traces of carbon exist in connection with it, and no piece of artificial iron has yet reached Dr Hayes whichdoes not contain carbon.
1. Geometry, a science purely experimental.
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

After remarking that the perfect strictness of the demonstrations in Geometry is generally admitted, the author of the paper cited the almost universal belief in the soundness of Euclid's reasoning as a notable example of wide-spread credulity. He then enunciated the proposition that our knowledge of the truths of geometry is altogether derived from experience.
4. On the Transmission of the Actinic Rays of Light through the Eye, and their relation to the Yellow Spot of the Retina.
Authors: Wilson George
Published: June 2016

In 1849 the learned Swiss philosopher Wartmann stated, in his “Deuxième Mémoire sur le Daltonisme”, p. 40, that “the eye arrests the chemical radiations which accompany the more refrangible rays.” He founded this conclusion on experiments made with guaiac resin; but as this substance is by no means very sensitive to actinic influence, it seemed desirable to test the question whether the eye can transmit the chemical rays of light, by an appeal to those highly impressibleactinolytes(as they may be called) which the recent progress of photography has revealed to us.
1. On the Prismatic Spectra of the Flames of Compounds of Carbon and Hydrogen.
Authors: Swan William
Published: June 2016

While the prismatic spectra of the blue portions of an oil-lamp or coal-gas flame, exhibit a number of bright lines, separated by dark intervals, the spectra derived from the bright light of these flames are perfectly continuous. Apparently inconsistent results are in like manner obtained when the flames of different compounds of carbon and hydrogen are compared. Thus, lines are easily seen in the spectrum of the flame of alcohol, which are invisible in that of the flame of oil of turpentine.
4. Analysis of Craigleith Sandstone with a Preliminary Note by Professor George Wilson.
Authors: Bloxam Thomas
Published: June 2016

One object of the Laboratory of the Industrial Museum is the prosecution of investigations likely to throw light on the economic value of materials employed in the useful arts. It has been impossible this winter to do more than make a small beginning by instituting an examination into the properties of certain of our building stones; and as the results obtained in the case of the sandstone of Craigleith Quarry have an interest for geologists as well as for architects and builders, they are laid before the Society, as all similar results of any scientific value will be in future.
1. On the Ovum and Young Fish of the Salmonidæ.
Authors: Ayrton William
Published: June 2016

The paper contained a series of observations on the development of the embryo in the salmon, made on ova procured from an establishment for the artificial propagation of this fish, at Overton, on the river Dee. The author's observations commenced about the 37th day after impregnation, and were continued from that period to the time when the vitellus becomes finally absorbed.
1. On the Crania of the Kaffirs and Hottentots, and the Physical and Moral Characteristics of these Races.
Authors: Black
Published: June 2016

After exhibiting Crania of these races recently received from South Africa, along with two British crania of normal size and form, and stating their respective measurements, facial angles, and principal diameters, the author reviewed the observations of Natural Historians and Anatomists on the skulls and physical characteristics of the races above mentioned. Camper's facial angle was compared with that of Blumenbach, showing the differences, and how far the adult Negro and the orangoutang receded from the higher cranial types; and also how, according to Mr Owen, the facial angle depends upon whether it is taken in the young or adult state.
6. Theory of Linear Vibrations. Part VI. Alligated Vibrations.
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

This part of the paper contains an inquiry into the action of a vibrating body upon a linear elastic series, as representative of the action of a sound-emitting substance upon the air.

It results that when one end of a linear elastic series is attached to an oscillating substance, all the internal oscillations of which the system is capable when one end of it is fixed, are called into existence; the number of these being equal to the number of the elements in the system, and their periodic times being mutually incommensurable; and that to these is added another, isochronous and synchronous with that of the oscillating substance.
2. Note on the Thermal Equivalents of the Oxide of Chlorine
Authors: Dewar James
Published: June 2016

Two years ago the author submitted to the British Association a preliminary report on the subject, which has not been prosecuted, owing to the exhaustive investigations of Professor Thomsen of Copenhagen, on thermal values. In the paper referred to, the results are calculated on the assumption of hydriodic acid evolving 15,000 heat units for equivalent in aqueous solution. The above number is much too high, according to Thomsen's recent experiments, who gave 13,170 as the true number.
3. On the Resemblances which Microscopic Objects in Dichroite and Amethyst have to some of the lower forms of Organic Life
Authors: Scott J.
Published: June 2016

When examining with the one inch object-glass of a compound microscope some pieces of Strathpeffer Albert coal, I happened to place on the stage a crystal of dichroite, and was surprised to observe its surface covered with circular impressions. Their resemblance to some which I had previously noticed on iron pyrites associated with Albertite, led to a further inspection, which showed that they were due to globular bodies of various colours distributed throughout the crystal in layers parallel to the respective faces.
1. Note on Ångström's Method for the Conductivity of Bars
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

If we assume the excess of temperature above that of the air, v, to be the same throughout a transverse section of the bar, the equation for the flux of heat is—

where cρ is the water equivalent of unit volume of the bar, k its thermal conductivity, a its side, and hv the quantity of heat lost by radiation and convection from unit surface of the bar per unit of time, when the excess of temperature is v.
3. On the Formation of Coal, and on the Changes produced in the Composition of the Strata by the Solvent Action of Water slowly percolating through the Earth's Crust during long periods of Geological Time
Authors: Thomson R. W.
Published: June 2016

The author commences by adverting to a very generally recognised geological difficulty—viz., that of accounting for the disappearance of the mineral from the carbonaceous matter in the processes which have resulted in the formation of coal-beds as we now find them. Coal-beds have undoubtedly their origin from decaying vegetable matter; and the deposition is unquestionably traceable to at least three different sources—viz., the carrying down by rivers of drift wood, and its deposition in deltas and estuaries at their mouths; the accumulations of dead forest trees, &c., falling for successive generations where they had grown; and the growth of peat. But in all of the three methods it is clear that the vegetable matter must have been mixed up to a very large extent with earthy matter, which earthy matter has since disappeared, so as to leave carbonaceous deposits in a comparative state of purity. The explanation of this disappearance has hitherto completely baffled geological ingenuity, and the author, in offering the present solution of the enigma, ventures to hope that he has successfully grappled with the difficulty.
1. On the Mud Banks of Narrakal and Allippey, two Natural Harbours of Refuge on the Malabar Coast
Authors: Robertson George
Published: June 2016

In the course of an examination of the harbours and river mouths of India, which I have recently been making for the Government of that country, instructions were sent me to examine the backwater communication of the Malabar coast, with special reference to the possibility of taking advantage of the anchorage at such localities as Narrakal and Allippey, and opening out communications between them and the backwaters. As these anchorages are so remarkable, and the phenomena connected with them are probably known to but few members of this Society, and the places themselves perhaps never visited by any member present, I have thought a short account of these mud harbours of refuge would be of some interest.
1. Notice of a Singular Property exhibited by the Fluid enclosed in Crystal Cavities
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

The subject of the following communication is a phenomenon unexpected and peculiar; it presents analogies to the phenomena of magnetism and electricity, in so much as it is an exhibition of repulsion; but it is distinguished from these by the absence of attraction, or what is called polarity. So far as I am aware, it is the only known example of repulsion exhibited independently of magnetic or electric excitement, and seems to open up an entirely new field for physical research. On these accounts I was exceedingly desirous to have it brought without delay to the notice of scientific men, and I have to thank our Secretary for-giving me the present opportunity, although at the inconvenience to him of it having to accompany a long and interesting paper on another subject.
2. The Electrical Conductivity of certain Saline Solutions, with a note on their Density
Authors: Ewing J. A. , MacGregor J. G.
Published: June 2016

In the note on the density of the solutions prepared for the purpose of determining their electrical conductivity, it is shown that the ratio of the weight of salt dissolved in unit weight of water to the excess of the density of the solution thus formed over that of water (unity), is not constant, but increases, with greater or less rapidity, from the more dilute to the more dense. The work of previous experimenters on the electrical resistance of liquids is then reviewed at some length. Their chief difficulty has always been the electrolytic polarisation of electrodes.
1. Notice of two Fossil Trees lately uncovered in Craigleith Quarry, near Edinburgh
Authors: Christison R.
Published: June 2016

The late Mr H. T. M. Witham read in 1830 to this Society, and published three years afterwards in greater extension, an inquiry of much interest respecting two fossil trees found in Craigleith Quarry, a mile and a half from the north-west outskirts of Edinburgh. The general points of this inquiry are, that trees of very great size lie, completely fossilised, in the very compact sandstone of the quarry, at a great depth below the rock surface, slightly inclined to the-dip of the strata, with their structure so finely preserved in the fossilising material as to be beautifully shown before the microscope, and recognised as that of the Pinaceous Family, and of the section to which belongs the existing Araucaria. These trees have been generally known to fossile botanists by the name of Araucarioxylon Withami. An opportunity having occurred this year of confirming and extending the inquiries of Witham, it has been thought right to take advantage of it, again through the medium of the Royal Society.