bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
XVIII. Abstract of a Paper accompanying a Suite of Volcanic Rocks from the Lipari Islands, presented to the Royal Society
Authors: Allan Robert
Published: January 2013

Having frequently had the pleasure of examining the very interesting and highly valuable collection of volcanic specimens brought from Iceland, and presented to the Royal Society by Sir George Mackenzie, I was gratified in an opportunity which was afforded me, at the close of 1830, of visiting the Lipari Islands, the only other great repository of obsidian in Europe, and of there collecting the suite of specimens which I have now the honour of presenting to the society. Unfortunately, it is far from complete as a geological series; for the difficulties occasioned by the tempestuous state of the weather, and the impossibility of getting to the more remote islands in a small boat during the month of December, limited my movements extremely, and forced me to confine my observations to the two principal islands of the group, viz. Lipari and Vulcano. I do not therefore pretend to give any geological account of these islands, or even of the two on which I landed. My object in collecting, and consequently also in presenting to the Society, this series of specimens, was to afford the means of comparing with each other the productions of the two great obsidian districts of Europe; those from Lipari, which are now on their table, with the Iceland suite already in their possession.
I.—An Account of some Experiments on Radiant Heat, involving an extension of Prevost's Theory of Exchanges
Authors: Stewart Balfour
Published: January 2013

1. This paper consists of two parts, the first of which is confined to describing the experiments performed; while in the second it is attempted to connect these with certain theoretical views regarding Radiant Heat.

2. The experiments were made with a fourfold object; at least, for the sake of clearness, it is well to class them into four distinct groups:—

Group I. Contains those experiments in which the quantities of heat radiated from polished plates of different substances, at a given temperature, are compared with the quantity radiated from a similar surface of lamp-black, at the same temperature.

II. Those in which the quantities of heat radiated at the same temperature, from polished plates of the same substance, but of different thicknesses, are compared with one another.

III. Those in which the radiations, from polished plates of different substances at any temperature, are compared with that from lampblack at the same temperature, with regard to the quality or nature of the heat radiated.

IV. Those in which the same comparison is made between the radiations from polished plates of the same substance, but of different thicknesses.
II.—On the Constitution of Flame
Authors: Swan William
Published: January 2013

If we examine the flame arising from the combustion of any of the hydrocarbons, such as that of coal-gas, or of a common candle, it will be found to consist of several portions easily distinguishable by the eye, and in which the matter composing the flame exists in very different conditions. There is, first, a central non-luminous region, in which the gases are not yet ignited; secondly, a blue conoidal envelope, extending from the wick or burner, and gradually thinning out towards the top of the flame; thirdly, a more or less luminous conoid, thin towards the bottom of the flame, where it is enveloped by the blue conoid, but thicker towards the top. And fourthly, a faintly luminous outer envelope, completely surrounding the other portions of the flame, and greatly developed towards the top.
VII.—Inquiries about Terrestrial Temperature; to which is added an Index to M. Dove's Five Memoirs on the Temperature of the Globe
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

1. To find the numerical law according to which the temperature of a place varies with its latitude, is an empirical problem which has, since the middle of the last century, from time to time engaged attention.

2. Lambert, Mayer, and Kirwan in the last century, De Humboldt, Brewster, Kämtz, and Dove in the present, may be cited amongst those who have investigated formulæ which express, with more or less accuracy, the mean temperature of a place in terms of its latitude.

3. The formulæ proposed are mostly reducible to two types—a variation depending upon the cosine of the latitude simply (that of Sir D. Brewster), and one depending on the square of the same quantity (that of Mayer).
XXVII.—On the Action of Uncrystallised Films upon Common and Polarised Light
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

In a paper on the Polarisation of Light by Refraction, published in the “Philosophical Transactions” for 1814, I have shown that when a pencil of light is incident on a number of uncrystallised plates, inclined at the same or different angles to the incident ray, all their surfaces being perpendicular to the plane of the first incidence, the transmitted pencil will be wholly polarised, when the sum of the tangents of the angle of incidence upon each plate is equal to a constant quantity, depending upon the refractive power of the plates and the intensity of the incident pencil.
VI.—Note on Confocal Conic Sections
Authors: Talbot H. F.
Published: January 2013

A short paper of mine on Fagnani's theorem, and on Confocal Conic Sections, was inserted in the twenty-third volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society. Some of the conclusions of that paper can, however, be obtained more simply, as I will now proceed to show.

I will, in the first place, resume the problem—

“To find the intersection of a confocal ellipse and hyperbola.”

Since the curves have the same foci, and therefore the same centre, let the distance between the centre and focus be called unity, since it is the same for both curves. Let a, b, be the axes of the ellipse, A, B, those of the hyperbola. Then we have 1 = a2 − b2 = A2 + B2, which equation expresses the condition of confocality.
VIII.—Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of the Conduction of Heat in Bars. Part II. On the Conductivity of Wrought Iron, deduced from the Experiments of 1851
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

39. In the first part of this paper, read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in April 1862, and published in their Transactions, I explained the principles of a method devised by me in 1850 for ascertaining the absolute conducting power of substances capable of being formed into long bars; and I also stated the general results of experiments made in 1851 on the Conductivity for heat of wrought Iron.

40. I explained in Art. 14 of that paper, that the publication of the results had been for ten years withheld, partly in consequence of the state of my health which completely interrupted the experiments, but still more from the defective graduation of some of the thermometers used, which made it necessary to submit the instruments to a careful scrutiny, and to repeat with the duly corrected numbers the whole of the elaborate projections of the curves and calculations from them, on which the accuracy of the final results of course depends.
XI.—Researches on Malfatti's Problem
Authors: Talbot H. F.
Published: January 2013

The problem which bears the name of the Italian geometer Malfatti, by whom it was first proposed and solved, has long attracted the attention and exercised the ingenuity of mathematicians, and has been made the subject of many careful and elaborate researches.

The great attention which has been bestowed upon this problem has arisen partly from its intrinsic difficulty, but chiefly on account of the extreme simplicity of the solution finally obtained by Malfatti, which seemed to open new views of geometrical research, and gave reason to hope that simple solutions might in like manner be found of many other geometrical problems usually accounted very difficult or insoluble.
XV.—On Variability in Human Structure, with Illustrations, from the Flexor Muscles of the Fingers and Toes
Authors: Turner Wm.
Published: January 2013

Deviations from the usually described arrangements of the parts, of which the human body is composed, have from time to time attracted the attention of the anthropotomist. In many anatomical text-books, as well as in sundry memoirs specially devoted to the subject, numerous examples of such variations have now been recorded. To the scientific anatomist these have always had a certain value, but of late years this department of anatomical inquiry, more especially in connection with variations in the muscular system, has had additional importance and interest attached to it, on account of the attention which has been directed to the correspondence, or want of correspondence, in the muscular arrangements in man and the other mammalia, more particularly the apes.
I.—On the Impregnation of the Ova of the Salmonidœ
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

From time to time it has been asserted, that the function of impregnation of the ova of these fish is performed after the manner of that of the cartilaginous, viz., before exclusion. The instances related in proof are commonly of a vague kind, and such that little credit can be attached to them. Recently a more precise example has been adduced,—how the ova of the trout, taken from the abdomen of the parent fish, and placed in a “running stream” apart, included in a perforated box, in due time were hatched, producing young fish. The particulars of the experiment, and the result, were published in the spring of last year, and in more than one of the provincial papers; and Dr Robertson of Dunkeld was named as the institutor and reporter of the trial.
III.—On a New Hygrometer or Dew Point Instrument
Authors: Connell A.
Published: January 2013

How convenient soever the wet bulb thermometer and the various organic hygrometers may be for giving indications, by simple inspection, regarding the relative states of dryness and humidity of the atmosphere, it is scarcely possible, in conducting meteorological observations, to dispense altogether with instruments calculated for affording more direct information respecting the amount of aqueous vapour present in the air at any particular time.
XII.—Researches on some of the Crystalline Constituents of Opium. Second Series
Authors: Anderson Thomas
Published: January 2013

In pursuing the investigation of the crystalline constituents of opium, which formed the subject of a previous communication to this Society, I have succeeded in obtaining from the same mother liquor which formed the raw material of my previous researches, a considerable quantity of papaverine, the base recently detected by Merck, and of meconine, the indifferent crystallizable substance discovered by Couerbe in the year 1830. The former was encountered quite unexpectedly in the precipitate from which narcotine and thebaine were prepared by the process described in the first series of these researches. The latter was only obtained after many fruitless trials, in which I was induced to persevere by the desire of comparing it with the substance discovered by myself among the products of the decomposition of narcotine by nitric acid, and described under the name of opianyl. The composition of that substance, as determined by my analyses, approximates very closely to that of meconine; and though the formula assigned to the former is double that obtained by Couerbe from his analysis of the latter, the sole reason for adopting the higher atomic weight was, that the mode in which opianyl was obtained by the decomposition of narcotine, afforded satisfactory grounds for establishing its true constitution.
XIII.—On the Products of the Destructive Distillation of Animal Substances. Part III.
Authors: Anderson Thomas
Published: January 2013

In the preceding parts of the investigation of the products obtained by the destructive distillation of animal substances, I have entered fully into the method of treating the raw material, and have shown the existence in it of not less than three different series of bases; one, that of which methylamine is the type; a second, of which picoline is an example; and a third series, not yet further examined, to which the provisional name of pyrol bases has been applied. Besides these, aniline is also met with, but whether as an isolated substance or accompanied by the other members of its series, cannot be determined, as none of them possess sufficiently distinctive reactions to permit their detection in a complex mixture.
XIV.—Further Experiments and Remarks on the Measurement of Heights by the Boiling Point of Water
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

In 1843 I presented a paper to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, giving an account of experiments made on the boiling point of water in the Alps, under various barometric pressures. My object was twofold: first, to describe an apparatus which I considered more practically available than those previously in use; and, secondly, to give a simple, and, as I believed, new formula for computing heights from such observations.

With reference to the second point, I became aware, some time after the publication of my paper, that Sir John Leslie had proposed to compute heights by the thermometer, assuming the change of the boiling point to be exactly in proportion to the height ascended. While cheerfully conceding to Sir John Leslie priority on this point, I submit that he did not bring forward experiments to justify its practical adoption.
XV.—Some Miscellaneous Observations on the Salmonidœ
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

The interests connected with the natural family of the Salmonidæ, both in relation to river-sport, the pleasant recreation of angling, and to material wealth, in the instances of the migratory kinds, are so considerable and fully admitted, that I trust no apology is required for submitting to the Society any observations in the least likely to contribute to a more intimate knowledge of the species, whether as regards their structure or their habits.
XXVIII.—On a Proposition in the Theory of Numbers
Authors: Stewart Balfour
Published: January 2013

Problem. If p be one of the roots of the equation xm − 1 = 0, (not 1,) then (1 − p)(1 − p2) …. (1 − pm − 1) = m, provided m is a prime number.

If m be not a prime number, and if , the same will hold for all roots p = p1α, where α is a number < m and prime to m. But for all roots p = p1α, where α, or one of its prime factors, is also a prime factor of m, the product (1 − p)(1 − p2) …. (1 − pm − 1) will be equal to 0.
XXIX.—On the Prismatic Spectra of the Flames of Compounds of Carbon and Hydrogen
Authors: Swan William
Published: January 2013

The phenomena presented by the prismatic spectra of flames have occupied the attention of many and excellent investigators. In most instances, however, no attempt has been made to procure accurate measurements of the positions of the bright lines which many of the spectra exhibit; and much in this field of observation, therefore, remains to be accomplished. I purpose, from time to time as I shall have leisure, to make a series of observations, whose object shall be the actual numerical determination of the positions of the bright lines in the spectra of flames; and I have commenced the series with an examination of the spectra of the flames of compounds of carbon and hydrogen. In an investigation into the phenomena of flames, the compounds of carbon and hydrogen claim our first attention, as constituting the most important means of artificial illumination; for it is scarcely necessary to remark, that, with the grand exception of sun-light, the combustion of these substances is the source of nearly all the light and heat from which we derive such extensive benefits in the arts and in domestic economy. It will be found, moreover, that the spectra of carbohydrogen flames possess, in common, remarkable features, which seem as yet to have received little attention, but which promise to be of service in explaining the general phenomena of artificial light.
XXX.—On the Laws of Structure of the more Disturbed Zones of the Earth's Crust
Authors: Rogers H. D.
Published: January 2013

Having, several years ago, in the course of a prolonged investigation of the geological structure of the Appalachian chain of the United States, conducted partly in co-operation with my brother, Professor W. B, Rogers, as a purely scientific inquiry, partly by myself, in connection with a Government Survey of the State of Pennsylvania, discovered what we deemed important laws, applicable generally to all corrugated tracts of strata; and being prepared, by observations since made in the United States and in Europe, to extend their application, and give them a more general expression, I have thought that I could not select a more suitable subject for my first communication to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, than this portion of descriptive and dynamic geology, which has engaged much of my attention, theoretically and practically, for these many years. In presenting an outline of the views already arrived at, and published by us as a necessary part of the further generalizations since reached, I will refrain from repeating, in historical detail, what we have already written, but will give our conclusions in the form and with the brevity most compatible with clearness, referring to the printed papers and communications where the special topics included in this more general summary may be seen.
XXXII.—On the Urinary Secretion of Fishes, with some Remarks on this Secretion in other Classes of Animals
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

Notwithstanding the progress made of late years in animal chemistry in connection with comparative anatomy, I am not aware of any observations that have yet been published on the urinary secretion of fishes. The neglect of this inquiry probably has arisen from several circumstances,—the nature of the element inhabited, the peculiarities of the urinary organs, the difficulty of collecting the matter voided, and its having no well-marked distinctive qualities obvious to the senses.

For some years, as leisure and opportunities offered, I have given attention to the subject, and in the paper which now I have the honour to submit to the Society, I beg to communicate the observations I have made. Few and imperfect as these are, they are given mainly with the hope of attracting notice to the inquiry and of inducing others more favourably situated to engage in its prosecution.
XXXIII.—On the Minute Structure of Involuntary Muscular Fibre
Authors: Lister Joseph
Published: January 2013

It has been long known that contractile tissue presents itself in the human body in two forms, one composed of fibres of considerable magnitude, and therefore readily visible under a low magnifying power, and marked very characteristically with transverse lines at short intervals, the other consisting of fibres much more minute, of exceedingly soft and delicate aspect, and destitute of transverse striæ. The former variety constitutes the muscles of the limbs, and of all parts whose movements are under the dominion of the will; while the latter forms the contractile element of organs, such as the intestines, which are placed beyond the control of volition. There are, however, some exceptions to this general rule, the principal of which is the heart, whose fibres are a variety of the striped kind.
XXXVI.—On the Application of the Theory of Probabilities to the Question of the Combination of Testimonies or Judgments
Authors: Boole George
Published: January 2013

1. The method for the solution of questions in the theory of probabilities applied in this paper, is that which was developed by the author in a treatise entitled, “An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on which are founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities.” The practical object of the paper is to deduce from that method certain conclusions relating to the combination of testimonies or judgments. Beside this, however, it will have a speculative reference to some more general questions connected with the theory of probabilities; and especially to the following question, viz.: To what extent the different modes in which the human mind proceeds, in the estimation of probability, may be considered as mutually confirming each other,—as manifestations of a central unity of thought amid the diversity of the forms in which that unity is developed.
VII.—On the Latest Phases of Literary Style in Greece
Authors: Blackie
Published: January 2013

In the two papers which I had the honour of reading to the Society in the spring of 1890, my object was, in the first place, to combat the vulgar idea that modern Greek is a corrupt and barbarous language, almost as far removed from classical Greek as Italian is from the dialect used by Horace and Virgil; and, secondly, to show that, between the two distinct strata in which Greek had flowed down continuously from Constantinople in A.D. 333 to the present day,—the literary structure used by educated men, and the Greek of the popular ballads used by the uneducated masses,—a compromise had been achieved by that great scholar and patriot, Adamantius Coraes. This compromise was made on the principle that the unity of action on which Greek nationality depends, requires that the learned classes should cheerfully adopt those few idiomatic peculiarities which had asserted themselves in the thought and expression of the great mass of the people; while the great body of the language bore visibly the stamp of those whose genius in Church and State had shaped it forth in the Attic and Byzantine periods. On this basis the modern Greek language was left at the death of Coraes in 1833. But it is not to be imagined that a formative rule of this kind, in the mode of national speech, could be established at a stroke.
XI.—On Borolanite—an Igneous Rock intrusive in the Cambrian Limestone of Assynt, Sutherlandshire, and the Torridon Sandstone of Ross-shire
Authors: Horne J. , Teall J. J. H.
Published: January 2013

The remarkable development of igneous rocks associated with the Torridon sandstone and Cambrian strata in Assynt, Sutherlandshire, forms one of the striking geological features of that region. In the various papers descriptive of the ancient sedimentary formations of the North-West Highlands by former observers, references are made to the lithological characters of these crystalline rocks and to their mode of occurrence.
XVIII.—On Impact, II
Authors: Tait
Published: January 2013

[Since this second instalment of my paper was read to the Society my attention has been called to a remarkable investigation by Hertz; in which the circumstances of collision of two elastic spheres are fully worked out, under the special limitations that both are smooth, and that their deformations are exceedingly small. This forms a mere episode in the paper, which is devoted mainly to the statical form of the problem of deformation; as, for instance, the case of the ordinary apparatus for the production of Newton's rings. But it contains a definite numerical result; giving for the duration of impact between two iron spheres of 50mm diameter, which encounter one another directly with a relative speed of 10mm per second, the value 0s·00038. This seems to be the earliest reckoning of the time of collision. The experimental verification of Hertz' formulæ was undertaken with success by Schneebeli, who obtained results in close accordance with them. His mode of measuring the duration of impact was defective, though ingenious.
XIX.—A new Algebra, by means of which Permutations can be transformed in a variety of ways, and their properties investigated
Authors: Sprague T. B.
Published: January 2013

In the course of investigations that I have lately been making into the transformation of permutations, I have found it convenient to employ several new symbols of operation, which combine with each other according to laws that differ materially from the ordinary algebraical laws; and it is my object in this paper to explain those laws, and give a few examples of the manner in which various propositions relating to permutations may be demonstrated by means of my symbols.
XXVI.—On the Fossil Flora of the South Wales Coal Field, and the Relationship of its Strata to the Somerset and Bristol Coal Field
Authors: Kidston Robert
Published: January 2013

The Coal Measures of the South Wales Coal Field fall into three well-marked divisions:—

I. The Upper Pennant or Upper Penllergare Series.

II. The Lower Pennant Series.

III. The White Ash Series.

In 1885 I paid a visit to this Coal Field, with the object of studying its Fossil Flora, hoping by this means to ascertain the relative position of the Welsh Coal Measures to those of the other Coal Fields of Britain.
XXXI.—On the Partition of a Parallelepiped into Tetrahedra, the Corners of which Coincide with Corners of the Parallelepiped
Authors: Brown Crum
Published: January 2013

It will be convenient first to fix a form of notation for the corners of the cube. With the origin within the cube and rectangular co-ordinates parallel to three edges meeting in a corner, the eight corners lie each in one of the eight octants, and may conveniently and symmetrically be represented thus:—

Or, calling any corner A, the corners distant √2 from A (the length of the edge being 1) and taken positively, i.e., contrary to the watch-hand way, as seen from A, are B, C, D (see figures).

So that, passing from corner to corner along an edge, we change both letter and sign, along a face diagonal we change letter but not sign, along a body diagonal we change sign but not letter.
XXXIII.—I. On the Estimation of Carbon in Organic Substances by the Kjeldahl Method. II. Its Application to the Analysis of Potable Waters
Authors: Stewart Charles Hunter
Published: January 2013

An easy and yet accurate method of determining carbon and nitrogen in organic substances has long been a desideratum, especially among those engaged in the application of chemistry to biological, hygienic, and agricultural questions. For the determination of nitrogen the method of Dumas, with its numerous modifications, is still the only one applicable in all cases, but the time required for it, and the manipulative dexterity necessary, has prevented its wide application for the above-named purposes. The method of Will and Varrentrap, though less generally applicable, is easier, and, until the publication of Kjeldahl's method, was most frequently used in applied chemistry. Kjeldahl claims for his method the same applicability and as great accuracy as the Will and Varrentrap method, with the added advantage of greater ease in working.
I.—On the Volcanic Geology of the Vivarais (Ardêche)
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

The limited district of country which I am about to describe, is one of those which may rank amongst the least frequented in the civilized part of Europe, yet which might justly claim for France the character of romantic beauty which travellers on her beaten highways commonly, and not without reason, deny to her.

The modern department of the Ardêche, corresponding in part to the ancient province of the Vivarais, includes country of very dissimilar features, the southern and eastern part, forming the right bank of the Rhone near Viviers, being comparatively flat; whilst the north-western boundary is the irregular chain of the Cevennes, including the localities more immediately to be described. This chain is not so remarkable for its absolute height, although that be considerable, rising at the Mont Mezenc, in the neighbouring department of the Haute Loire, to an elevation of 5750 English feet above the sea, as from forming the separation of a remarkably elevated tract stretching to the north and west, and which suddenly subsides, at the point of which we now speak, into the wide champaign country of the Lower Rhone, possessing a very different aspect, soil, climate, and population.
V.—Dissertation on a Peruvian Musical Instrument like the Syrinx of the Ancients
Authors: Traill Thomas Stewart
Published: January 2013

The attention which has of late years been paid to the elucidation of the manners and arts of the ancient inhabitants of America, has been productive of the most convincing proofs of the communication between the Eastern and Western Continents at remote but unknown epochs. The learned and highly-interesting researches of Humboldt on the antiquities of the New World, have irresistibly led him to this conclusion, which has farther been strengthened by the researches of later travellers. The comparison of the idioms of the Asiatic and American tongues, has hitherto not afforded very direct proof; because the philologist has not yet been put in possession of a sufficient number of materials to make the comparison with advantage. Our ignorance of the languages and customs of Central Asia is a great bar to such studies, and needs not any other illustration than the fact that a highly-polished nation, with a literature and arts hitherto almost unknown in Europe, should have existed for ages in Central Asia. Our countryman, Dr Gerard, stimulated by the humane desire of extending the blessings of vaccination to Thibet, has been for some time in that country, and has discovered in its language an Encyclopædia in forty-four volumes, of which the medical part alone fills five volumes; and he finds, that the art of Lithography, so new in Europe, has been practised from time immemorial in Kinnaour, a principal city in Thibet, where he found it employed to display the anatomy of the human body.
VIII.—Note as to the Dynamical Equivalent of Temperature in Liquid Water, and the Specific Heat of Atmospheric Air and Steam, being a Supplement to a Paper On the Mechanical Action of Heat
Authors: Rankine William John Macquorn
Published: January 2013

(33*.) In my paper on the Mechanical Action of Heat, published in the 1st Part of the 20th Volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, some of the numerical results depend upon the dynamical equivalent of a degree of temperature in liquid water. The value of that quantity which I then used, was calculated from the experiments of De la Roche and Bérard on the apparent specific heat of atmospheric air under constant pressure, as compared with liquid water.

The experiments of Mr Joule on the production of heat by friction, give, for the specific heat of liquid water, an equivalent about one-ninth part greater than that which is determined from those of De la Roche and Bérard. I was formerly disposed to ascribe this discrepancy in a great measure to the smallness of the differences of temperature measured by Mr Joule, and to unknown causes of loss of power in his apparatus, such as the production of sound and of electricity; but, subsequently to the publication of my paper, I have seen the detailed account of Mr Joule's last experiments in the Philosophical Transactions for 1850, which has convinced me, that the uncertainty arising from the smallness of the elevations of temperature, is removed by the multitude of experiments (being forty on water, fifty on mercury, and twenty on cast iron); that the agreement amongst the results from substances so different, shews that the error by unknown losses of power is insensible, or nearly so; and that the necessary conclusion is, that the dynamical value assigned by Mr Joule to the specific heat of liquid water, viz.:—772 feet per degree of Fahrenheit, does not err by more than two or at the utmost, three feet; and therefore, that the discrepancy originates chiefly in the experiments of De la Roche and Bérard.
XII.—On a New Source for obtaining Capric Acid, and Remarks on some of its Salts
Authors: Rowney Thomas Henry
Published: January 2013

The following examination of capric acid and some of its salts, was made in the laboratory of Dr T. Anderson, to whom I am much indebted for his kindness in procuring for me the materials to work upon, and also for advice during the progress of this investigation. Capric acid has been found by Chevreul and Lerch in the butter of the cow and goat; by Redtenbacher, amongst the volatile oily acids he obtained by acting on oleic acid with nitric acid; by Gerhardt and Cahours, by the action of nitric acid on the oil of rue; and by Görgey in cocoa-nut oil;—from all these sources it has been obtained only in small quantities, and always along with other acids of the series to which capric acid belongs.
XVI.—On a Method of Discovering experimentally the Relation between the Mechanical Work spent, and the Heat produced by the Compression of a Gaseous Fluid
Authors: Thomson William
Published: January 2013

1. The important researches of Joule on the thermal circumstances connected with the expansion and compression of air, and the admirable reasoning upon them, expressed in his paper “On the Changes of Temperature produced by the Rarefaction and Condensation of Air,” especially the way in which he takes into account any mechanical effect that may be externally produced, or internally lost, in fluid friction, have introduced an entirely new method of treating questions regarding the physical properties of fluids. The object of the present paper is to show how, by the use of this new method, in connection with the principles explained in my preceding paper, a complete theoretical view may be obtained of the phenomena experimented on by Joule; and to point out some of the objects to be attained by a continuation and extension of his experimental researches.
IV.—Two Glens and the Agency of Glaciation
Authors: Argyll
Published: January 2013

The group of questions which are connected with the Glacial Age seem to me to be among the most interesting and the most difficult in the whole science of geology. They include the question of Time—since, perhaps, the only hope we have of even reaching any unit of time in geological changes lies in the phenomena of the Glacial Age, The question of the comparative slowness or suddenness of great physical changes is not less directly involved. Bound up with this again is the question of the sudden or slow destruction of the extinct forms of life, and the introduction of new forms to replace them. The connection between Cosmical and Terrestrial causes of change comes directly into our view, and then the nature and operation of the terrestrial forces which were brought into play. I am very sceptical as to many of the solutions which have been proposed for most of these questions, and still more for the theories which profess to answer them as a whole. There is nothing to be done but to accumulate evidence in detail—to observe facts well, that is, completely—and avoid looking only at such of them as tell in favour of some preconceived hypothesis.
VII.—On the Relation between the Variation of Resistance in Bismuth in a Steady Magnetic Field and the Rotatory or Transverse Effect
Authors: Beattie J. C.
Published: January 2013

Kundt has shown that the transverse effect in iron, cobalt, and nickel is proportional to the magnetisation. Such an effect, where the magnetisation appears in the first power, we shall call a Hall effect. In applying the same method to bismuth, he found that no transverse effect was given by the thin plates of the electrolitically deposited metal used by him. That this absence of transverse effect is not characteristic of all bismuth so prepared has been shown experimentally. The question is, What relation, if any, exists between it and the magnetisation? To settle this it is necessary to compare the transverse effect in any given plate with some other effect in the same plate whose relation to the magnetisation is known. Such an effect is the variation of resistance. Goldhammer has shown that this latter is proportional to the square of the magnetisation.
XVIII.—On Torsional Oscillations of Wires
Authors: Peddie W.
Published: January 2013

About two years ago I communicated to this Society a paper on the above subject, which was printed in the Philosophical Magazine (1894). The object of the investigations therein discussed was the determination of the law of decrease of torsional oscillations when the range of oscillation was large in comparison with the palpable limits of elasticity. An equation of the form

where y represents the range of oscillation, and x represents the number of oscillations which have taken place since the commencement of the observations in any one experiment, was found to give an exceedingly close representation of the results. The values of the quantities n, a, and b depend on the magnitude of the initial oscillation, and on the previous treatment of the wire. It was also found that, when the oscillations were allowed to die away to a sufficient extent, the value of n tended to diminish. The oscillations were practically isochronous.
XXII.—Observations on the Phonograph
Authors: M'Kendrick John G.
Published: January 2013

1. Since I had the honour of showing the phonograph to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, at a special meeting in November 1894, the instrument has occupied a good deal of my time and attention, and I now venture to give the general results of the investigation.

2. The instrument chiefly studied has been the machine used in this country known as the “Commercial Phonograph.” Any records taken by myself have been obtained with the ordinary apparatus forming part of the “commercial” speaker arm, but I have always reproduced these with the aid of the so-called “musical” arm. The commercial machine, or, to give it a better name, the English model, is so geared that the wax cylinder, inch (197 mm.) in circumference, makes two revolutions in one second, while the spiral grooves described on the cylinder are inch (⅛ mm.) apart. A spiral line about 136 yards in length may be described on the cylinder, and the recording or reproducing point travels over this distance in about six minutes.

3. I have also used the American model, which resembles in all essential particulars the one just described, except that the grooves on the cylinder are inch (¼ mm.) instead of .
XXI.—On the Total Eclipse of the Sun, on July 28, 1851, observed at Göteborg; with a Description of a new Position Micrometer
Authors: Swan William
Published: January 2013

Having long desired to witness a total eclipse of the sun, I resolved to proceed to some place in the line of the moon's shadow, for the purpose of observing that which took place on the 28th of last July.

Various reasons induced me to prefer the town of Göteborg in Sweden to any other station. It had interesting historical associations connected with eclipses: and there was something pleasing in the prospect of seeing the red prominences, which excited so much attention at the eclipse of 1842, at the very spot where they were observed, probably for the first time, in 1733; but a more important ground of preference, was its proximity to the central line of the moon's shadow, and its being directly accessible from England.
XXVII.—On the Centrifugal Theory of Elasticity, and its Connection with the Theory of Heat
Authors: Rankine William John Macquorn
Published: January 2013

(1.) In February 1850, I laid before the Royal Society of Edinburgh a paper, in which the laws of the pressure and expansion of gases and vapours were deduced from the supposition, that that part of the elasticity of bodies which depends upon heat, arises from the centrifugal force of the revolutions of the particles of elastic atmospheres surrounding nuclei, or atomic centres. A summary of the results of this supposition, which I called the Hypothesis of Molecular Vortices, was printed in the Transactions of this Society, volume xx., as an introduction to a series of papers on the Mechanical Action of Heat; and the original paper has since appeared in detail in the Philosophical Magazine.
XXXIII.—Contributions to a Knowledge of the Phenomena of the Zodiacal Light
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: January 2013

When preparing to make a night journey over one of the plains of South Africa, in the month of June 1843, a friend called my attention to the peculiar appearance of the sky in the west, as offering a very decided proof, “agreeably with theory,” that there was no “Solar atmosphere” to be seen at that season of the year.

On looking in the direction mentioned, the last portion of the twilight was just visible, and forming a peculiarly level line above the place where the sun had set, for an extent in azimuth, of perhaps 40°, and at a height of about 5°. All the gorgeous colours which had attended the setting of the sun had long since vanished, and there only remained sufficient light within the flattened arc described, to make the space included between it and the horizon appear light blue, while all the rest of the sky had attained a deeper colour, nay was almost black, and thickly spangled with small as well as large stars.
XLI.—On Nitric Acid as a Source of the Nitrogen found in Plants
Authors: Wilson George
Published: January 2013

The source from which plants obtain nitrogen, which is now recognised as one of their most important elements, has, from the first recognition of its importance, been matter of dispute. Latterly, however, chemists and physiologists have pretty unanimously come to the conclusion, that a large (perhaps the largest) part of the nitrogen of vegetables is derived from ammonia; whilst much discussion has been carried on as to the question, Is any part of their nitrogen yielded by nitric acid?

The most able advocate in this country of the claims of ammonia is Dr Gregory. The most able advocate of the claims of nitric acid is Professor Johnston of Durham, and the opposite conclusions to which accomplished chemists like these have come in reference to the point in dispute, have perplexed botanists, who know not which view to prefer. The extent to which they are pressed by this dilemma, has been so strongly represented to me by Dr Balfour, that I have engaged to bring the subject, as I now do, before this Society. I shall sedulously avoid discussing the question in a polemical spirit; and, as the shortest and most satisfactory way of doing justice to the rival views, I shall select Dr Gregory's clear and concise statement, as representing the opinions of those who deny that nitric acid is part of the food of plants; and then proceed to state what appear to me conclusive proofs that nitric acid does supply plants with nitrogen.
III.—On some Nuclei of Cloudy Condensation
Authors: Aitken John
Published: January 2013

I have to apologise for placing this communication before you in a somewhat incomplete form. My work has been much interrupted in the past, and it will again shortly be stopped for a considerable time. I have therefore decided to place before you the results so far as they are worked out.
IV.—The C Discriminant as an Envelope
Authors: Macdonald James A.
Published: January 2013

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the conditions under which the C discriminant of a system of curves furnishes a curve which at every point of its length is touched by a curve of the system.
XIV.—On Torsional Oscillations of Wires
Authors: Peddie W.
Published: January 2013

This paper is in continuation of two others, on the same subject, previously communicated to the Society. In the First Paper (Philosophical Magazine, July 1894) it was shown that the formula

where n, a, and b are constants in any one experiment, represents with accuracy the relation between y, the range of oscillation, and x, the number of oscillations which have taken place since torsion was first applied and the wire was left to itself, so that the oscillations gradually diminished. The apparatus employed, and the method of observation used, were identical with those described in the Second Paper above referred to. The wire which was experimented upon was the same as that used on the previous occasions. Its length, as given in the First and Second Papers, was 89·1 cm. A measurement made on the date 19.10.1897, in the course of the last series of experiments described in the present paper, showed that the length had become 89*3 cm. This increase was doubtless due to the fact that the heavy lead oscillator had been left attached to the wire during the whole of the intervening period. On the date given, it was also found that, with the same oscillator as was used in the experiments first described, ten oscillations were performed in 81 seconds, when the range was large, while 79 seconds were occupied when the range was small. This observation verified the result stated in the First Paper, that the period slightly increases as the range increases. It also showed that the wire was practically in the same condition as it was at first, in so far as elastic qualities are concerned; for the corresponding periods were only slightly less in earlier experiments, the difference being largely accounted for by the slight increase of length of the wire.
II.—Two Historical Fallacies: Heather Beer and Uisge Beithe
Authors: Maclagan Robert C.
Published: January 2013

Using Bellenden's translation of Boece, he tells us, “Attoure in all the desertis and muris of this realme growis aue herbe, namit hadder, but any seid, richt nutritive baith to beistis and fowlis; specialie to beis. This herbe, in the moneth of July, has ane floure of purpure hew, als sweit as huny. The Pichtis maid this herbe, sum time, ane richt delicus and hailsum drink. Nochtheless, the maner of the making of it is perist, be exterminioun of tlie said Pichtis out of Scotland; fur they schcw nevir the craft of the making of this drink but to thair awin blud.”
V.—A Development of a Pfaffian having a Vacant Minor
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

(1) The simplest possible case of the development referred to in the title is one which is seen to follow instantly from the determinant definition of a Pfaffian. Thus, by the said definition,

and therefore

the result reached being that a Pfaffian with certain zero elements is expressible as a determinant. It should be noted that, as in many instances where this form of definition is used, there is an ambiguity as to sign : it is of less importance to note that here the appropriate sign is –.
VI.—Contributions to the Craniology of the People of the Empire of India. Part II. The Aborigines of Chúta Nágpúr and of the Central Provinces, the People of Orissa, the Veddahs and Negritos
Authors: Turner Wm.
Published: January 2013

It is my intention in this, the second part of my memoir on the Craniology of the Races of India, to give the results of my examination of skulls obtained from the districts occupied by the aboriginal tribes in Chúta Nágpúr, the Central Provinces, the people in the province of Orissa, and to compare them with the skulls of some other aboriginal people.

The majority of the specimens described belong to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and through the courtesy of the Trustees I was permitted to have them on loan for purposes of study. Many of these crania had been those of persons who had died in jail. The names, tribes, and castes, and not unfrequently the age, stature, and other physical characters, had been recorded in the prison books, and were embodied in the lists which were sent to me along with the skulls by the authorities of the museum. Several of these skulls were especially interesting, as having been presented to the museum by Colonel Dalton, the author of the valuable treatise on the Ethnology of Bengal, Other specimens in the museum had been obtained from the Medical College, Calcutta, and several were presented by Professor D. B. Smith; in all probability they were from bodies which had been used for anatomical purposes. Mr W. H. P. Driver also had presented a series of crania from Ranchi.
XVI.—The True Shape, Relations, and Structure of the Alimentary Viscera of the Porpoise (Phocœna communis), as displayed by the Formal Method
Authors: Hepburn David , Waterston David
Published: January 2013

Introductory.—Among the toothed whales (Odontoceti) the porpoise is the best-known representative of those members of the genus Delphinus or true dolphins which present a rounded muzzle as distinguished from a snout, and consequently it has already frequently been subjected to anatomical examination of a more or less detailed character. As in the case of all the Cetacea, however, the rapidity with which decomposition affects the various tissues and organs has hitherto proved a barrier to a prolonged and systematic examination of them, while, even under the most favourable conditions, the increasing putridity of the carcase has seriously militated against the recording of accurate observations.