bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
XXI.—On the Determination of the Curve, on one of the coordinate planes, which forms the Outer Limit of the Positions of the point of contact of an Ellipsoid which always touches the three planes of reference
Authors: Plarr G.
Published: January 2013

The question is the following:—We consider the solid angle formed by three planes at right angles to each other, and into the space of this single octant we introduce a given ellipsoid, and cause its surface to be tangent to each of the three sides of the solid angle. The position of the points of tangence will of course be variable in each plane according to the orientation given to the axes of the ellipsoid, but it is evident that on each of the planes the positions of the point of contact will be unable to outpass certain limits so long as the ellipsoid fulfils the condition of remaining tangent simultaneously to the three planes: these limiting positions of the point of contact in one, as for example, of the planes, will form a certain curve, and the proposed question will be: the determination of that curve, the limiting curve as we shall call it in the Sequel.
XXV.—Critical Experiments on the Chloroplatinate Method for the Determination of Potassium, Rubidium, and Ammonium; and a Redetermination of the Atomic Weight of Platinum
Authors: Dittmar W. , M'Arthur John
Published: January 2013

The analytical methods referred to in our heading are infected with numerous sources of error, amongst which until lately the uncertainty of our knowledge of the combining constant “Pt” played a prominent part. This uncertainty, it is true, has been removed to a great extent by Seubert's investigation “Ueber das Atomgewicht des Platins,” Liebig's Annalen (for 1881), vol. ccvii. p. 1 et seqq. The value 194·8 for Pt, which he ultimately adopted, falls in well with his analyses of the chloroplatinates of potassium and ammonium, and there can be no doubt that his chloroplatinates were close approximations to the ideal substances. Hence his atomic weight 194·8 must be admitted to be nearer the truth than the value 198 of Andrews, which, until lately, was so generally employed by chemists in the calculation of their analyses. But it does not follow that in, for instance, the determination of chloride of potassium “as metallic platinum,” the factor 2KCl : Pt = 0·7657, calculated from Seubert's Pt, gives a more correct result than even the factor 0·75252, which follows from K = 39 : Cl = 35·5, and Pt = 198.
II.—On the Motion, Equilibrium, and Forms of Liquid Films
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

I. On some Transformations in Films when brought in contact with Surfaces of Glass.

(1.) Let a film be formed on the rim of a cylindrical wine-glass, at or very near its margin; cover it immediately with a watch-glass, and holding the latter firmly in its place, invert the whole, so that the film is placed in a vertical position. The film will now attach itself to the watch-glass at the lowest point where it is in contact with the margin of the wine-glass, and will run up the concave surface of the former. At the same time, the film will leave the margin of the wine-glass at its upper edge, and retreat into the glass, running down its inner surface. A film of the form of the segment of a sphere will thus be produced, which, with the upper portions of the inner surfaces of the watch-glass and wine-glass, will form a hollow filled with air, as shown in fig. 1. This state of matters will remain the same, in whatever position we now place the wine-glass, the figure which has thus been produced being one of equilibrium. The phenomenon produced arises from the fact, that when the original film is first taken up on the margin of the wine-glass, a drop of liquid always remains in the bottom of the glass, and when the glass is inverted, so as to bring the film into the vertical position, this drop runs down the inner surface of the glass till, reaching its lowest point, it brings the film into close contact with the watch-glass; the film now attaches itself to and spreads itself over the surface of the latter in a similar way to what takes place when a bubble blown from a pipe is brought into contact with any smooth surface, whilst the original system of equilibrium being now disturbed, the upper part of the film is put in motion, and a new system of equilibrium is formed.
IV.—On the Burning Mirrors of Archimedes, with some Propositions relating to the concentration of Light produced by Reflectors of different forms
Authors: Scott John
Published: January 2013

As the reputed fact of Archimedes having burned the Roman ships engaged in the siege of Syracuse, by concentrating on them the solar rays, has not only been doubted but disbelieved by some of the most eminent scientific men, I shall briefly give the evidence on both sides.

The burning of the ships of Marcellus is mentioned by most of the ancient writers who refer to the machines which Archimedes employed in the defence of his native city, and their statements have been repeated by succeeding authors, without any doubts having been expressed until comparatively recent times. Our earliest authorities on the subject are Diodorus Siculus, Lucian, Galen, Dion, and Pappus.
II. A Geometrical Investigation of some curious and interesting Properties of the Circle, &c.
Authors: Glenie James
Published: January 2013

Dear Sir,

As the following paper refers in a great measure to the general theorems published by your father, I now commit it to your care, and that of my friend Mr Playfair, Professor of Natural Philosophy. I wish it to be communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and, if approved of, to be inserted in their Transactions as soon as possible. Indeed, I trust, that even simple as it is, it will not be altogether unacceptable to that learned body.

I am,

Dear Sir,

Most sincerely your, &c.

Jas Glenie.
V. An Account of a very extraordinary Effect of Refraction, observed at Ramsgate
Authors: Vince S.
Published: January 2013

The phenomenon about to be described, was seen on August 6. 1806, about seven in the evening; the air being very still, and a little hazy. The tops of the four turrets of Dover Castle usually appear above the hill, lying between Ramsgate and Dover; but, at the above-stated time, not only the tops were visible, but the whole of the Castle, appearing as if it were situated on the side of the hill next to Ramsgate, and rising as much above the hill as usual.
VII.—On some New Bases of the Leucoline Series. Part III.—The Action of Iodide of Methyl on Tetracoline, Pentacoline, Hexacoline, Heptacoline, and Octacoline
Authors: Robinson G. Carr , Goodwin W. L.
Published: January 2013

In the first paper read before this Society “ On some New Bases of the Leucoline Series,” and published in the Society's “ Transactions,” it was stated that amongst other methods proposed for separating the members of the series and identifying the higher bases, was the process of converting the mixed bases into methyl-iodide compounds by digesting them with the iodide at a high temperature, and separating by fractional crystallisation the bodies so produced. It was found, however, that repeated crystallisation of these bodies could not be effected without great risk of their decomposition. This process was, therefore, abandoned in favour of fractional distillation.
IX.—The Solar Spectrum in 1877–1878, with some practical idea of its probable temperature of Origination
Authors: Smyth Piazzi
Published: January 2013

Although the Spectrum whose linear record is now presented to the Royal Society, Edinburgh, is unfortunately not so perfect as it might have been with better apparatus (but which I did not possess)—yet it represents the labour and expense connected with two voyages in 1877–1878 to Portugal; and many weeks work there in both years, with the sun in a more favourable position for observing really solar, and not telluric, or atmospheric, phenomena, than is ever, at any time, obtainable in Great Britain.
X.—On the Structure and Affinities of the Platysomidæ
Authors: Traquair Ramsay H.
Published: January 2013

The genera, which I at present include under the family term Platysomidæ, are the following:—

1. Eurynotus, Agassiz.

2. Benedenius, Traquair.

3. Mesolepis, Young.

4. Eurysomus, Young.

5. Wardichthys, Traquair.

6. Cheirodus, M'Coy.

7. Platysomus, Agassiz.
XII.—On the Carboniferous Volcanic Rocks of the Basin of the Firth of Forth—their Structure in the Field and under the Microscope
Authors: Geikie
Published: January 2013

The geographical area embraced in the present memoir forms a well-marked basin traversed along its centre by the estuary of the Forth. It is bounded on the north by the chain of the Ochil Hills, on the south by the range of the Pentland and Lammermuir uplands. Towards the west it joins along a low watershed the basin of the Clyde, while eastwards it dips under the waters of the North Sea. Within this defined space the Carboniferous rocks occupy what may be described as one great synclinal trough, varied by innumerable smaller synclines and anticlines. Save where cut out by powerful dislocations, their lower members rise up along the margins of the basin, while their highest portions cover a smaller area in the centre. The older formations forming the northern and southern boundaries of the area belong chiefly to the Lower Old Red Sandstone, in the Lammermuir district to the Lower Silurian. The Carboniferous rocks everywhere rest upon them unconformably.
I. On the Action of Transparent Bodies upon the differently coloured Rays of Light
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

From the intimate connexion of the present subject with the improvement of the Achromatic Telescope, it must be admitted to be one of the most important in Optics; while, from the minuteness of the effects which are to be observed and compared, it is unquestionably one of the most difficult. From this cause very little progress has been made in the investigation. The irrationality of the coloured spaces, in prismatic spectra, formed by different substances, has not even been mentioned in any of our elementary treatises on Natural Philosophy, and there are some philosophers who have scrupled to receive it as a truth established in Physics.
III. Observations on the Fire-Damp of Coal Mines; with a Plan for Lighting Mines, so as to guard against its Explosion
Authors: Murray John
Published: January 2013

Explosions in mines, from the kindling of the inflammable gas called Fire-Damp by the miners, have always occasionally occurred. Of late they have become more frequent in some of the coal-mines in this country, particularly those in the districts of the Tyne, and the Wear, in the North of England, and have been attended with such fatal consequences, as to have forcibly called public attention to the subject. In an explosion in one mine, about two years ago, ninety-two persons were killed; in another, which occurred soon after, thirty-two lost their lives; in one which happened within these few months, fifty-seven persons were destroyed; and recently, it has been affirmed, that several hundred lives are lost annually from this cause. From the state of the mines, particularly in the accumulation of wastes, the collection of water, and the increasing depth of the workings, there is reason to fear, too, that such accidents will become more frequent. Humanity loudly calls, therefore, on every effort being made to obviate the calamity; and even as a national concern, the immense loss of property in the mines, and the probability which has been suggested, that the working of them must ere long be abandoned, give to the subject the highest claims to consideration.
IV. On the Lines that divide each semidiurnal Arc into Six equal Parts
Authors: Cadell W. A.
Published: January 2013

The divisions of the day which different nations have employed, are denoted by hour-lines of various kinds on the sphere. Of these hour-lines, drawn on a supposition that neglects the inequalities of the Earth's motion, there are three kinds.

The first kind denotes hours counted from the meridian, equal to each other at all declinations of the sun. These lines are great circles on the sphere, passing through the poles of the equator, and every pair intercepting a similar arc on each of the parallels. Of this kind are the hour-lines of sidereal time, counted from the meridian, and the hour-lines of solar time, counted from the meridian.
II.—On some Transformations connecting General Determinants with Continuants
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

§1. It is well known that by a simple transformation of a determinant we may cause a zero to take the place of any one of the elements. The theorems of Hermite and Horner, for example, for depressing the order of a determinant may each of them be viewed as the result of repeated transformations of this kind, the operation being continued until all the elements of a row or column except one are replaced by zeros.
III. On the Causes which affect the Accuracy of Barometrical Measurements
Authors: Playfair John
Published: January 2013

Though the labours of M. De Luc, and of the excellent observers who followed him, have brought the barometrical measurement of heights to very great exactness, they have not yet given to it the utmost perfection it can attain. Some causes of inaccuracy are still involved in it; of which we ought, at least, to estimate the effects, if we cannot correct them altogether. The allowance made on account of the temperature of the air, implies in it a hypothesis that has not been examined, nor even expressed, and many other circumstances that affect the denfity of the atmosphere, have either been wholly omitted, or improperly introduced. The object of the present paper is to correct, the errors that arise from these causes, or, where that cannot be done, to assign the limits within which those errors are contained.
VI. An Account of the Method of making a Wine, called by the Tartars KOUMISS; with Observations on its Use in Medicine
Authors: Grieve John
Published: January 2013

In an age like the present, when few things in nature feem to have eluded the researches of philosophy, when the communications of learning are as well established as those of commerce, it may appear somewhat surprising, that one of the most important productions of milk should still remain, in a great measure, unknown to the most enlightened parts of Europe.
II. A Dissertation to prove that Troy was not taken by the Greeks
Authors: Maclaurin John
Published: January 2013

It cannot well be disputed, that, till the Greeks were possessed of the art of writing, they could have nothing that deserved the name of history. When that art was introduced among them is uncertain; but there is reason to believe, it was not known to them at the time of the Trojan war, as there is no mention of any writing in all the works of Homer; for the tablets, of which he speaks in one passage, did not contain any writing, but only marks or signs. At any rate, it cannot be supposed, that writing was much known or practifed, at that time, or indeed for long after. It appears from many charters, and other deeds, in this country, that men of the first families and fortunes in it could not, a few centuries ago, write their names; yet it is clear, from our having the use of coined money in commerce, and of cavalry in war, as well as from several other circumstances, that we were more civilized in those days than the Greeks could pretend to be when they first invaded Asia.
III. On the Plane and Angle of Polarization of Light Reflected at the surface of a Crystal
Authors: Kelland P.
Published: January 2013

The present Memoir is, to a certain extent, a continuation of one which the author presented to the Society in December 1838, and which has since been published in the thirteenth volume of the Transactions. Other motives, however, than the desire of completing the subject, have influenced him in producing the following analysis. A very important point in the hypothetical conditions which Fresnel assumed to hold with respect to polarized light, has, of late, been warmly combated in various quarters. Fresnel supposed that light polarized in a given plane consists of vibrations of such a nature that the motion is perpendicular to that plane. Neumann and other writers contend that the very opposite is the fact. We hope to be able to offer evidence of some little weight in favour of the former view; at the same time we do not pretend to shew the actual impossibility of the truth of the latter.
VIII. Examination and Analysis of the Berg-Meal, or Mineral Flour, found in the Parish of Degersfors, in the Province of West Bothnia, on the confines of Swedish Lapland
Authors: Traill Thomas Stewart
Published: January 2013

In 1832 or 1833, a peasant, in felling a tree in the forest about forty miles above Degersfors, laid bare a substance strongly resembling meal, which, tempted by its appearance, he baked with a mixture of rye-flour, and used as bread. “All the world,” says Mr Laing, “of this and the next parish, flocked to the spot to take their part of this extraordinary blessing of meal, produced in the earth at a time when they were reduced to bark bread. The functionaries of the district at last heard of it, and gave orders that it should not be used until they had ascertained that it was safe. Some of it was sent to Stockholm to be analyzed.” Mr Laing has stated, in his Tour, that it was said to consist chiefly of finely pulverised flint and felspar, with a residuum of organised matter; but the proportions, or the regular analysis, he could not learn.
IX. Farther Researches on the Voltaic Decomposition of Aqueous and Alcoholic Solutions
Authors: Connell Arthur
Published: January 2013

Since my last communication to the Society on this subject, I have continued my experimental investigation of the proposed law which limited the direct action of the voltaic current to the solvent, in solutions of primary combinations of elementary bodies in the more important solvents. All my farther researches have confirmed the rule in regard to aqueous solutions; and I feel now fully convinced of its truth, although, in the mean time, I have had occasion to see a different view advocated by some other experimenters, to whose opinions I shall afterwards advert. Neither have I seen any grounds for altering my views in regard to alcoholic solutions. In regard to ether, some experiments which I shall afterwards mention, have satisfied me that it would be improper at present to include that solvent in any general rule.
XVII. On the Parasitic Vegetable Structures found growing in Living Animals
Authors: Bennett John Hughes
Published: January 2013

That the eggs of numerous parasitic animals may be deposited in the textures of living beings, and that these develop themselves in such textures, and draw thence their nourishment, has been long known. But that, under particular circumstances, certain cryptogamic plants are capable of germinating and fructifying in the living tissues of animals, and especially in man himself, is a discovery of recent date.
XX. On the Theoretical Investigation of the Absolute Intensity of Interfering Light
Authors: Kelland P.
Published: January 2013

The subject of the following Memoir has been already touched on in a communication which I made to the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and which appears in the seventh volume of their Transactions, Art. IX. For the better understanding of what follows, it is desirable to state briefly the contents of that paper. Its object is to estimate the quantity of light which is received on a screen of unlimited dimensions, after passing through a certain aperture, or suffering reflection at two mirrors, as in the case of the interference experiment, so as to exhibit the appearance of bands.
XXIII.—On the Growth of Grilse and Salmon
Authors: Young Andrew
Published: January 2013

The history of the habits and development of the salmon has been for ages a subject of dispute, even among men of science and experience. The general theory which prevailed regarding its earlier stage of existence was, that the spawn deposited in the autumn or beginning of winter, produced by development the smolts which were seen descending to the sea in the course of the next ensuing spring.

In regard to its after state, some supposed that the smolts which descended the rivers in spring or early summer returned as grilses that same season. Many doubted this theory, and maintained that it was impossible, or very improbable, that they should return so speedily in that greatly enlarged condition; their only argument, however, being founded on the unlikelihood of such a rapid growth.
XXVII.—On the Specific Gravity of certain Substances commonly considered lighter than Water
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

That the common varieties of wood which float in water, owe their apparent lightness to air contained in their structure, is generally admitted by those who have paid any attention to the subject. By means of the air-pump, the fact is clearly demonstrated. Under the exhausted receiver, after a certain time, the time varying with the quality of wood, all the different specimens which I have tried have sunk; I may mention two or three in particular, as examples. A piece of oak, weighing 29.7 grs., sank in distilled water, after having been subjected to the air-pump three days;—a piece of deal, weighing 16.3 grs., similarly acted on, floated ten days;—and a portion of the pith of the elder, weighing only .133 grain, floated seven days.
XXVIII.—Biographical Notice of the late Sir Charles Bell, K.H.
Authors: M'Neill John
Published: January 2013

The pleasure which honourable and enlightened minds must feel in acknowledging their obligation to the individuals who have advanced useful knowledge in any department of science,—who have contributed to the means of promoting human happiness, or of alleviating human suffering, has, in all times, led men to seek an opportunity of recording their sentiments of admiration and of gratitude towards the distinguished instructors of mankind. They have felt, too, that the time when one of these guiding lights has been quenched, when a contributor to the treasury of knowledge has just terminated his labours, is peculiarly fitted for the discharge of this duty. The whole amount of his contributions is then presumed to be before them, and they are restrained by no fear of offending his delicacy by their praise, or of having their own feelings hurt by a misconstruction of their motives.
XXXV.—Chemical Examination of the Tagua Nut or Vegetable Ivory
Authors: Connell Arthur
Published: January 2013

This remarkable seed or nut is now well known in London, as a substance extensively carved into a variety of ornaments, and capable of receiving as high a polish as the finest ivory; which it also greatly resembles in colour. I lately obtained various specimens both of the nut in its natural state and of the fine turnings produced in the process of working it, being desirous of submitting them to a chemical examination.

The nuts in my possession vary in size from a pigeon's to a hen's egg, and have a somewhat angular shape. They are covered with a brown epidermis, and have an outer shell of an inch thick, and consisting of an outer white and an inner brown layer. The inner mass of the nut is remarkably close grained and homogeneous to the naked eye; and when cut and polished exactly resembles animal ivory. The hardness is considerable; the white mass yielding with some difficulty to a knife. Thin portions are translucent. The density of the white mass is 1.376, at 53° F.
XXXVIII.—An Analytical Discussion of Dr Matthew Stewart's General Theorems
Authors: Davies Thomas Stephens
Published: January 2013

During the century which has nearly elapsed since Dr Matthew Stewart published his General Theorems, many eminent geometers, both English and Foreign, have attempted to discover their solutions. Those attempts have, however, been rewarded with but limited success, and by far the most general and the most difficult of them remain still without a single published remark in the way of discussion or solution. Dr Stewart did not, as far as I know, make allusion to them himself in any of his subsequent writings, though he describes them as “of considerable use in the higher parts of mathematics;” and we learn from the preface to Mr Glenie's Demonstration of the 42d Proposition (Tract, 1813), that in conversation, Professor Dugald Stewart, in 1805, stated that, “he had not been able to find amongst his father's posthumous papers one word respecting them; that he had, oftener than once, observed mention made of them, in terms of admiration and respect, by some of the first mathematicians on the continent of Europe; but that as both they and the geometers in this country had tried their strength on them without success, and they had so long remained without demonstrations, he never expected to see them demonstrated.” This circumstance, of neither any demonstrations nor even memoranda, on the subject being found amongst Dr Stewart's papers, is readily accounted for by Professor Playfair, in his biography of that distinguished geometer (Edin. Trans. vol. i. p. 74), in the description which he gives of the habits of study of Dr Stewart. “He rarely wrote down any of his investigations till it became necessary to do so for the purpose of publication. When he discovered any proposition, he would put down the enunciation with great accuracy, and on the same piece of paper would construct very neatly the figure to which it referred. To these he trusted for recalling to his mind, at any future period, the demonstration or the analysis, however complicated it might be.”
XLII.—On the Conversion of Relief by Inverted Vision
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

Under the name Conversion of Relief, an expression first used by Mr Wheatstone, I include all those optical illusions which take place in the vision of cameos and intaglios, of elevations and depressions, whether they are produced with opaque or transparent bodies,—on surfaces with or without shadows,—in reflected or transmitted light,—while using one or both eyes,—or by erect or inverted vision. In these various forms of the phenomenon, the illusion is modified by certain secondary causes, which were regarded both by Mr Wheatstone and myself as primary causes; so that we were led away, each in a different direction, from the right path of inquiry.
III. A Biographical Account of Mr William Hamilton, late Professor of Anatomy and Botany in the University of Glasgow
Authors: Cleghorn Robert
Published: January 2013

In writing the life of a person who himself published nothing, it is extremely difficult to satisfy the expectation of his particular friends, without incurring the charge of adulation from the rest of the public. How far I have succeeded in doing justice to Mr Hamilton's merit, without insensibility or exaggeration, must be determined by those who knew him, and by those who can appreciate the worth of such professional remarks as I shall lay before them in the sequel. Mr William Hamilton was born in Glasgow July 31. 1758. Having finished the usual course at the Grammar School, he went to Glasgow College in 1770, and continued there studying with great diligence till 1775, when he became Master of Arts at the age of seventeen.
X. On a New Electrometer, and the Heat excited in Metallic Bodies by Voltaic Electricity
Authors: Harris William Snow
Published: January 2013

1. In the course of some inquiries concerning the power of metallic substances to conduct intense electrical explosions, an account of which was honoured by a place in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1827, I sought to obtain a comparative measure of the conducting power, in the heat evolved by the metal, at the time of transmitting the charge. The instrument employed for this purpose, was, in principle, that of a common air thermometer, the given metal, the subject of experiment, being drawn into a wire, and passed air-tight across its bulb. This simple contrivance, I have since extended to the general purposes of an electrometer, so as to estimate the force of any ordinary electrical accumulation. The results arrived at with voltaic combinations, seem, for the most part, of much practical utility; and therefore some account of them may, I trust, be found worthy of the attention of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
XI. On the Law of the Diffusion of Gases
Authors: Graham Thomas
Published: January 2013

It is the object of this paper tor establish with numerical exactness the following law of the Diffusion of Gases:

“The diffusion or spontaneous intermixture of two gases in contact, is effected by an interchange in position of indefinitely minute volumes of the gases, which volumes are not necessarily of equal magnitude, being, in the case of each gas, inversely proportional to the square root of the Density of that gas.”

These replacing volumes of the gases may be named equivalent volumes of diffusion, and are as follows: Air, 1; Hydrogen, 3.7947; Carbureted hydrogen, 1.3414; Water-vapour, 1.2649; Nitrogen, 1.0140; Oxygen, 0.9487 ; Carbonic acid, 0.8091; Chlorine, 0.6325, &c.; numbers which are inversely proportional to the square roots of the densities of these gases, being the reciprocals of the square roots of the densities, the density of air being assumed as unity.
X.—On an Unusual Drought in the Lake District in 1859
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

In a former communication to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, I gave an account of an unusual fall of rain in the Lake District in the month of January last year. That occurrence was followed by its opposite in May, June, and July; not for a long period, not since 1826, has the district suffered more from want of water than in those months.

This drought is best shown by the following table, in which will be found the rain-fall for the several months of the year at five different places, only a few miles remote from each other. The table will also show the remarkable contrast as to excess and deficiency of rain during the period. It may be premised, that at Ambleside, where the drought appears to have been felt as much as anywhere, the ordinary fall of rain for the months in question is about three times as great; thus for May (our driest month of the twelve), taking the average of the preceding eleven years, it is 2·37 inches, for June 4·22 inches, for July 5·27 inches, making a total of 12·36 inches, against 4·54 inches of the months of drought.
XII.—On the Climate of Edinburgh for Fifty-six years, from 1795 to 1850, deduced principally from Mr Adie's Observations; with an Account of other and Earlier Registers
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

1. The late Mr Alexander Adie, optician, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, was so generally known to be a zealous and careful observer of meteorological instruments, that an attempt to combine the results deducible from his labours carried on (though with one long break) over more than forty years, cannot be otherwise than interesting.

2. The plan of superintending the careful reduction of the thermometrical part of Mr Adie's registers occurred to me a long time ago, but circumstances prevented the execution of it until two or three years since, when, through the kindness of Mr Adie and his family, the whole of the manuscript observations, commencing with 1795, were put into my hands, and the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh provided sufficient funds for the employment of computers for reducing them.

3. The work has proceeded with frequent interruptions, but is at length complete. Before I proceed to detail the particulars of the reductions and their results, I will give a short account of the earlier observations on the climate of Edinburgh which I have been able to trace, some of which perhaps have hitherto escaped notice.
XVI.—Notes on the Mountain Limestone and Lower Carboniferous Rocks of the Fifeshire Coast from Burntisland to St Andrews
Authors: Brown Thomas
Published: January 2013

In this paper I shall first refer to the circumstances under which the following observations were made.

I had gone in the autumn of 1856 for a few weeks to Elie on the Fife coast, and was induced, as a means of relaxation and exercise in the open air, to pay some attention to the geology of the neighbourhood, resuming for a brief interval what was once a favourite pursuit. About a mile to the east of the village, I found a stratum well deserving attention—a thin bed of limestone—dipping inland a little beyond the cliff on which stands the ruined Castle of Ardross. The fossil shells which it contained were of unusual form, and beautifully preserved; there were fish remains of two or three species, and a small group of crustaceans still more remarkable. Among the fish I thought I could detect the large scales of an Irish species—the Holoptychius Portlockii—and among the crustaceans there were the valves of Dithyrocaris, a genus particularly characteristic of the Irish beds. At once the question arose whether these fossils might not serve as links connecting this Ardross bed with the Irish series. The point was of the more importance, that our leading geologists had been differing widely as to the true position of our Scottish coal strata in the geological scale. The lamented Professor Edward Forbes had assigned them a place comparatively high, while Sir Roderick Murchison, with surer judgment, had taken the opposite view and put them beneath the Newcastle coal-field.
XVII.—On the Reduction of Observations of Underground Temperature; with Application to Professor Forbes' Edinburgh Observations, and the continued Calton Hill Series
Authors: Thomson William
Published: January 2013

1. Every purely periodical function is, as is well known, expressible by means of a series of constant coefficients multiplying sines and cosines of the independent variable with a constant factor and its multiples. This important truth was arrived at by an admirable piece of mathematical analysis, called for by Daniel Bernouilli, partially given by La Grange, and perfected by Fourier.
II. Observations on the Natural History of Guiana
Authors: Lochead William
Published: January 2013

Dear Sir,

Allow me at present to trouble you with a few general observations on natural history, which I had an opportunity of making while on a botanical excursion, with my friend Mr Anderson, to the Dutch colony of Demerary. Guiana is a country but little known in Europe, though its animals and vegetables have added considerably to the catalogue of natural productions. It is not however the organic kingdom which I mean at present to touch upon; all I aim at is to give you some idea of the face of the country, as leading to the knowledge of its formation and present state. It is not a field for the mineralogist, as its interior is unexplored. But to the geologist, who wishes to trace revolutions of the latest date, it is not uninteresting to contemplate such a recent and singular country as Guiana.
IV. Observations on the Trigonometrical Tables of the Brahmins
Authors: Playfair John
Published: January 2013

In the second volume of the Asiatic Researches, an extract is given from the Surya Siddhanta, the ancient book which has been long, though obscurely, pointed out as the source of the astronomical knowledge of the Brahmins. The Surya Siddhanta is in the Sanscrit language: It is one of the Sastras, or inspired writings of the Hindoos, and is called the Jyotish, or Astronomical, Sastra. It professes, as we learn from Mr Davis, the ingenious translator, to be a revelation from heaven, communicated to Meya, a man of great fanctity, about four millions of years ago, toward the close of the Satya Jug, or of the Golden Age of the Indian mythologists; a period at which man is said to have been incomparably better than he is at present; when his stature exceeded twenty-one cubits, and his life extended to ten thousand years.
V. Some Geometrical Porisms, with Examples of their Application to the Solution of Problems
Authors: Wallace William
Published: January 2013

The nature of those mathematical propositions, which were called Porisms by the ancient geometers, is now no longer a matter of uncertainty. The relation which they bear to other mathematical truths, the way in which they may at first have been observed, the kind of analysis to be employed in their investigation, their application to the solution of problems, have all been considered by some eminent mathematicians of the present age.
X. Description of a Thermometer, which marks the greatest Degree of Heat and Cold, from one Time of Observation to another, and may also register its own Height at every Instant
Authors: Keith Alexander
Published: January 2013

Thermometers have hitherto been defective for meteorological purposes, in so far as they only point out the degree of heat at the moment of inspecting them, but do not show what the difference of temperature has been, from the time of one observation to that of another: Nor has any instrument been yet constructed, so far as I have been able to learn, which will record the intermediate degrees of heat.

The ingenious Robert Hook, in the end of the last century, mentions his intention of making a thermometer for the above purpose ; but it does not appear that it was ever executed: Neither does he explain how it was to have been done.
XXII. Account of the Erection of a Granite Obelisk, of a single Stone, about seventy feet high, at Seringapatam
Authors: Kennedy Alexander
Published: January 2013

On the 19th of February last, I had the honour of reading to this Society, some notices of the mode of working and polishing granite, by the natives of India.

One object of that paper was, from a view of the immense masses, which Indian artists are still in the habit of rendering obedient to their simple instruments, to deduce the probability of the similarity, if not of the identity, of the means now in use among them, with the processes by which the architects of the ancient world, raised the stupendous monuments which we still see in existence; and, as an instance of the very recent exercise of these arts, I mentioned the erection of a granite obelisk near Seringapatam, to the memory of the late Josiah Webbe, Esq. who died in the year 1805.
XXVIII. Description of some Indian Idols in the Museum of the Society
Authors: Cadell W. A.
Published: January 2013

The figures, sculptured in full relief, and here represented by the four drawings in Plate XXIV., are idols brought from India in the year 1800, by Francis Simpson, Esq., which I had the honour of presenting to the Society at his request.

According to information with which I have been favoured by gentlemen conversant with the literature of India, these idols are Cali, Suria and Buda.
XXVIII. Observations on the Formation of the Chalk Strata and on the Structure of the Belemnite
Authors: Allan Thomas
Published: January 2013

Of the various rocks of which the Earth's surface is composed, there are some which present very satisfactory indications of their origin; while others, when considered in that respect, seem to be placed almost beyond the reach of hypothesis. The Granite and Trap rocks, by extending their ramifications among their contiguous neighbours, distinctly avow, not only a subsequent formation, but, in many instances, they present the most unequivocal marks of an igneous origin. The Limestones and Sandstones, however, are equally constant in their indications of aquatic deposition, although, at the same time, the assistance of another agency may sometimes be inferred, when their consolidation and position are taken into the question. Of all the rocks with which I am acquainted, there is none whose formation seems to tax the ingenuity of theorists so severely, as the White Limestone or Chalk, in whatever respect we may think fit to consider it.
XXXII. On the Mineralogy of the Faroe Islands
Authors: Trevelyan W. C.
Published: January 2013

In compliance with your request, I send you a few notes of some of the principal geological facts I observed in Faroe, which may serve as a supplement to Sir George Mackenzie's and Mr Allan's accounts of these islands, which, as far as they extend, I found perfectly correct.

The Coal in Suderoe, which was not visited by them, is situated between two thick beds of hard clay, resembling the Clunch-clay of this country; to which succeed beds of trap. In some parts, pieces of petrified wood are very abundant in the superincumbent clay, and also nodules of ironstone; and in the coal, pieces of wood resembling charcoal. The coal has the same degree of inclination as the other beds, dipping towards the south-east, at an angle of about 4° or 5°; being the same as the dip in the other islands, excepting in part of Myggenæas, where it is much greater, being near 45°.
XIII. On the Determination of the Position of Strata in Stratified Rocks
Authors: Necker L. A.
Published: January 2013

It has always appeared to me, that the study of the stratification of rocks and of mountain masses, ought to be one of the principal objects of a geological observer. Many of the most important facts in geology have been ascertained by the consideration of the position of strata. Among these facts, the relation existing between the direction and the inclination of the strata and the unstratified rocks, to whose presence the change in the position of the beds from an horizontal to an inclined, and sometimes even to a vertical situation, is now generally attributed, is one of the most conspicuous. It is only by an accurate determination of the position of the strata in any mountain-chain that the real direction of the line of elevation of that chain or its mineralogical axis may be determined.
XIV. On the Equations of Loci traced upon the Surface of the Sphere, as expressed by Spherical Co-ordinates
Authors: Davies Thomas Stephens
Published: January 2013

During the researches which I have made upon this subject since the composition of my former paper, printed in the first Part of this Volume, so many and so varied inquiries arising out of it, and essentially connected with it, have presented themselves, that I have been compelled to make a total change in the plan I had then laid down for the completion of the present section of my communication. I found that many subjects to which I there alluded might, with propriety, be omitted in the present case, as constituting little more, in reference to principles, than illustrations, however interesting they might be when viewed as properties of geometrical figures. On this ground, therefore, I have cancelled a considerable number of properties of the Spherical Conic Sections, and retained only one or two for the purpose of illustrating the method of discussing the properties of those curves. The remarks I intended to make upon the singular points of spherical curves, the geometrical signification of certain symbols, and other inquiries collateral to these, have grown into systems of themselves, or been attached to other dissertations (either wholly or partially completed), to which they seemed to be as closely allied as even to the present subject.
IV.—Notice of an unusual Fall of Rain in the Lake District, in January 1829
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

The rain experienced in January of this year has so much exceeded the average quantity, considerable as that is in the Lake District, that I have been led to consider it worthy of record, especially keeping in mind, that as regards risks from floods, it is not the ordinary, but the extraordinary that is to be guarded against in the construction of all works with which water is concerned as an element of danger.

It may not be amiss to premise, that the year preceding, as to weather, was chiefly remarkable for the mildness of the first quarter, for its high summer temperature, for the unusual cold experienced in November, and this succeeded by a mild December. January set in with weather of the same character, and was without any marked peculiarity, excepting its mildness, till the 9th, when rain commenced, and, with the exception of two or three days, continued to fall more or less heavily till the end of the month.
V.—Some Observations on the Coagulation of the Blood
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

In a recent work of an elaborate kind, displaying much ability, its author, Dr Richardson, has endeavoured to prove that the cause of the coagulation of the blood is of a chemical nature, and referable to the escape of a volatile matter, and that the volatile matter is ammonia.

It is not my intention at present to consider the various circumstances which he brings forward in favour of his conclusion. I shall restrict myself to a few observations which I have made, the results chiefly of trials instituted for the purpose of testing his speculations, and of satisfying myself, if possible, on the subject.
VI.—Researches on Radiant Heat. Second Series.
Authors: Stewart Balfour
Published: January 2013

1. The first part of this paper describes the following groups of experiments:—

Group I. On the effect which roughening the surface of a body produces upon its radiation.

II. On the nature of that heat which is radiated by rock-salt, at 212°F.

III. On the radiation of glass and mica, at high temperatures.

The second, or theoretical portion, of the paper, has reference to the law which connects the radiation of a particle with its temperature, and to Dulong and Petit's experiments on this subject.

There is also an addition of a later date than the rest of the paper on General Diathermancy.
VIII.—Memoir on the Spermogones and Pycnides of Filamentous, Fruticulose, and Foliaceous Lichens
Authors: Lindsay W. Lauder
Published: January 2013

The following Memoir contains the results of researches made during the last three years. My investigations were originally directed to British lichens only, but they have subsequently and gradually embraced lichens from all parts of the world. The majority of Scotch species examined were collected by myself while on botanical tours in various parts of Scotland during the last ten years. Lowland species were collected chiefly in the counties of Perth, Edinburgh, and Dumfries; but also in Forfar, Fife, and others of the midland counties. In order to study alpine species I made a special tour among the highest of our Scotch mountains in the summer of 1856. I then visited the Braemar Highlands, Ben Lawers, Ben Nevis, and the Coollin Hills, in Skye. I have likewise studied the lichens of Don, now in the possession of Mr M'Nab, of the Ptoyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh; the lichens collected by Maughan, M'Millan, and others, in the Herbarium of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh; those collected by the late Alexander Menzies, in the Menziesian Herbarium belonging to the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh; those collected by Borrer, Hooker, Carmichael, Gardiner, and others, in the magnificent Hookerian Herbarium at Kew; and I have also examined the valuable herbarium of the University of Edinburgh, under the care of Professor Balfour, and the herbarium of Dr Greville.
XXII.—Some Observations on the Albino
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

Amongst the natives of Ceylon, the occurrence of the Albino, the offspring of dark-skinned parents, is not very uncommon. In looking over my note-books, kept whilst I was in that island, between the years 1816 and 1820, I find mention made of five several examples. Now that the subject of species and varieties is attracting so much attention, perhaps the particulars I then collected of these abnormal instances of the human race may not be altogether without interest, even if given a little in detail.
XXVIII.—On some Derivatives from the Olefines
Authors: Guthrie Frederick
Published: January 2013

Some years ago I commenced an examination of the behaviour of the so-called olefines towards certain compound halogens. I was induced to this by the conviction that the bodies resulting from the union of a group of unequally chemico-negative elements with an olefine, would place an instrument of great power into the hands of systematic chemists, especially of synthesists. My expectations have been more than realized. The few olefines which I have examined in their relation to compound chemico-negative groups have given rise to a series of new bodies remarkable alike for their great number and for the elegance and importance of the reactions attending their formation and recompositions.