bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
VII. On the Influence of the Air in determining the Crystallization of Saline Solutions
Authors: Graham Thomas
Published: January 2013

The phenomenon referred to has long been known, and popularly exhibited in the case of Glauber's salt, without any adequate explanation. A phial or flask is filled with a boiling saturated solution of sulphate of soda or Glauber's salt, and its mouth immediately stopped by a cork, or a piece of bladder is tied tightly over it, while still hot. The solution, thus protected from the atmosphere, generally cools without crystallizing, although it contains a great excess of salt, and continues entirely liquid for hours and even days. But upon withdrawing the stopper, or puncturing the bladder, and admitting air to the solution, it is immediately resolved into a spongy crystalline mass, with the evolution of much heat. The crystallization was attributed to the pressure of the atmosphere suddenly admitted, till it was shewn that the same phenomenon occurred, when air was admitted to a solution already subject to the atmospheric pressure. Recourse was likewise had to the supposed agency of solid particles floating in the air, and brought by means of it into contact with the solution; or it was supposed that the contact of gaseous molecules themselves might determine crystallization, as well as solid particles. But although the phenomenon has been the subject of much speculation among chemists, it is generally allowed that no satisfactory explanation of it has yet been proposed.
IX. Chemical Examination of the Oxides of Manganese
Authors: Turner Edward
Published: January 2013

It was originally my intention, in entering on this inquiry, merely to ascertain the composition of the ores, the mineralogical characters of which have been so ably delineated by Mr Haidinger in the preceding paper. I had advanced however but a short way in the investigation, when my progress was arrested by doubts both as to the manner of conducting the analyses, and as to the mode of calculating their results. In this uncertainty I found it necessary to extend my original plan, with the view of supplying by my own researches what appeared to be not sufficiently established by the labours of other chemists. I have accordingly divided the essay into two parts; attempting in the first division to ascertain the atomic weight of manganese, and the composition of the artificial oxides of that metal; and in the second, applying the facts thus established to illustrate the chemical constitution of the native oxides described by Mr Haidinger.
XII. On the Combination of Chlorine with the Prussiate of Potash, and the presence of such a compound as an impurity in Prussian Blue
Authors: Johnston James F. W.
Published: January 2013

It has been long known that the Prussian blue of commerce contains an admixture, in greater or less quantity, of alumina, sulphate of potash, and common alum, one or all of them being easily detected in every specimen. The sulphate of potash and the alum may be separated by frequent boiling in water, but they are seldom in such quantity as to render this process necessary. The alumina may be removed by digestion in muriatic acid, and the washing consequent upon this mode of treatment will free it from all the soluble impurities.

When the alkalies or earths are digested with Prussian blue, in order to form the common Prussiates, and the yellow solution is evaporated, it almost uniformly happens that after the first or second crop of crystals is separated, there remains a dark brownish-red liquid, which either does not crystallize at all, or gives crystals of the required prussiate of a dirty brown colour, and mixed with a greater or less portion of a red matter, either massive, or in small, red, four-sided needles and prisms. This may be observed in preparing the prussiates of lime or soda by the common process, but has been more frequently taken notice of in forming the cyanide of mercury; because the least colouring matter in this salt is at once perceptible, and because in the preparation of it, a partial loss is of greater consequence. To the presence of a portion of this red salt, particularly in extemporaneous prussiates, I attribute those differences in the colour of the precipitates which they give with the metallic oxides, and which have led some to doubt the accuracy of their indications. The grounds of this opinion will appear in the sequel of the present paper.
XIII. On a Mass of Native Iron from the Desert of Atamaca in Peru
Authors: Allan Thomas
Published: January 2013

When in London in spring last year, Mr Parish had the kindness to show me some specimens which he had just received from his son, Mr Woodbine Parish, his Majesty's Consul-General at Buenos Ayres, among which I was surprised and much pleased to find two masses of native iron, exactly similar to the celebrated Siberian block, made known to the scientific world through the exertions of Pallas, having the same vesicular structure, and containing the same straw-yellow coloured olivine firmly imbedded.

I immediately suggested to Mr Parish the propriety of losing no time in making this discovery known, and thereby secure to his son the merit of bringing it before the public; and in order to do this in the most effectual manner, I advised him to present one of the masses to the Royal Society of London, and the other to the Royal Society of Edinburgh; and it is with pleasure that I now find myself deputed to carry his wishes with respect to this Society into execution, by presenting one of the masses as a donation to this institution in the name of his son.
XVI. Account of the Constituents of various Minerals
Authors: Thomson Thomas
Published: January 2013

I have been occupied for about two years past, assisted by the practical pupils in the laboratory belonging to the College of Glasgow, in analysing the most important specimens in my mineral cabinet, which seemed to me to require further elucidation. As my practical pupils are seldom fewer than six, and as they are employed the whole day, from nine in the morning till dinnertime, during the whole year, about six weeks in the summer excepted, which I have been in the habit of spending in the country, the number of analyses which has accumulated within that time, has become so great, and some of the results are so curious, that I have selected a few out of the number, for the gratification of the mineralogical public. It may be requisite to mention, in the first place, that when a pupil comes into my laboratory, the first thing which he does is to transcribe a set of practical rules, which I have drawn up for the benefit of my pupils. He is then set to analyse an easy mineral, with the composition of which I am already acquainted. I either shew him myself the different steps of the analysis, or request some of the farther advanced pupils to superintend the progress of the analysis, and ensure its accuracy.
XVII. Account of a remarkable peculiarity in the Structure of Glauberite, which has one Axis of Double Refraction for Violet, and two Axes for Red Light
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

In the optical and mineralogical classification of crystals which I published in the article Optics in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, I have arranged Glauberite among those in which I discovered two axes of double refraction. The specimen which I used, however, was so small and imperfect, that I could not measure the inclination of the lines of no polarisation, or ascertain with any accuracy the laws of its action upon light. Mr William Nicol, whose ingenuity is already well known to this Society, put into my hands two specimens of Glauberite, which he had skilfully prepared for showing its system of polarised rings; and, by the use of these, I have been enabled to detect a very remarkable property in this mineral.
XIX. On certain new Phenomena of Colour in Labrador Felspar, with Observations on the nature and cause of its Changeable Tints
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

Sir Isaac Newton's theory of the colours of natural bodies, is perhaps the most ingenious and lofty of all his speculations. It was devised, however, at a time when the doctrine of light had made comparatively but little progress, and before the discovery of various principles on which the colours of bodies must depend, or by which, at least, they must be extensively modified. The different dispersive powers of transparent substances;—the irrationality of the spectrum;—the action of striated surfaces;—the decomposition of polarised light;—the reflection of coloured light at the confines of equally refracting media;—and the absorption of common and of polarised rays,—are principles which embrace within their individual range a great variety of facts to which the Newtonian theory of colours bears no relation.
XX. On the Composition of Blende
Authors: Thomson Thomas
Published: January 2013

It is nearly a century since chemists began to suspect the nature of the well known mineral usually distinguished by the name of Blende or Pseudo-Galena. Brandt, in 1735, showed that zinc was one of its constituents. In 1744, Funck demonstrated that it was an ore of zinc. Margraaff soon after actually extracted zinc from it. It was impossible to subject it to heat in an open vessel, without perceiving that it contained sulphur. But chemists did not succeed in their attempts to combine zinc and sulphur together. This led them to conclude, that in blende the zinc and sulphur were united together by the intervention of iron.
XXII. On Asbestus, Chlorite, and Talc
Authors: Thomson Thomas
Published: January 2013

Notwithstanding the great progress which Mineralogy has made of late years, towards the division of minerals into accurate and well defined species, there are several groups which occur in the oldest mineral systems extant, and which have continued to the present time with very little alteration or improvement. I allude to the minerals classed under the names of Asbestus, Chlorite, and Talc. As these minerals, with the exception of certain varieties of talc, have never been observed in crystals, the important labours of the crystallographer have not been able to throw any light upon them. But, as all mineral species are chemical compounds, and as each species consists of the same constituents united in the same proportions, I thought it not unlikely that an accurate chemical analysis of the different varieties of minerals, at present classed under the names Asbestus, Chlorite, and Talc, would be likely to throw considerable light on their nature, and would inform us whether they constitute peculiar mineral species, or are only varieties of species already well defined and characterized. I propose, in this paper, to give an account of the result of this investigation.
XXIII. Observations to determine the Dentition of the Dugong; to which are added Observations illustrating the Anatomical Structure and Natural History of certain of the Cetacea
Authors: Knox Robert
Published: January 2013

The following observations as to the dentition of the Dugong were made rather more than two years ago, and the inquiry as to the succession and character of the teeth in this interesting animal, and as to the exact composition of its skeleton, was then fully gone into, and all the facts to be now stated proved satisfactorily to myself at least. Notices of these opinions and facts more or less perfect, have been in several ways submitted to the public, both in this country and on the continent; but, as the whole matter was in some measure controversial, tending to call in question the accuracy of a theory as to the dentition of the dugong, promulgated and supported by an anatomist of the highest reputation, I hesitated whether or not the matter to be discussed merited being brought before this Society. Recollecting, however, that the opinions and statements opposed to my own views, had found their way into the pages of a work, of such importance and authority in itself, as to impress readily in the minds of most readers an easy credence as to the exactness of whatever researches there find a place, I hesitated no longer as to the course to be adopted.
XXVI. Description and Analysis of some Minerals
Authors: Thomson Thomas
Published: January 2013

1. Anhydrous Silicate of Iron.

This mineral was given me for examination by Patrick Doran, an Irish mineral-dealer, who discovered it in Slavcorrach, one of the Morne Mountains, on the north-east coast of Ireland, forming so conspicuous an object at the southern extremity of the county of Down.

The colour is dark brown, with something of the metallic lustre.

The mineral is foliated, and breaks easily into four-sided prisms, seemingly right; though the summits are very obscure.

The fragments are strongly attracted by the magnet, but they have no poles.
III. A General View of the Phenomena displayed in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh by the Igneous Rocks, in their relations with the Secondary Strata; with reference to a more particular description of the Section which has been exposed to view on the south side of the Castle Hill
Authors: Greenock
Published: January 2013

The country in which Edinburgh is situated has no great elevation above the level of the sea, presenting a gently undulating surface, except where hills of igneous origin, in groups, or perfectly insulated, rise abruptly through the strata, which consist of the sandstones and shales of the coal-formation, with occasional beds of limestone, which they overlie, and this country is more or less covered by old and new alluvial deposits.

The views suggested by these hills to the penetrating genius of Hutton, who may be justly considered the founder of modern geology, first led to the knowledge of the true nature and origin of the trap-rocks. Their analogy to those produced by existing volcanoes, and the phenomena observed in their relations with the secondary strata, leave no doubt as to their having been poured out from the interior of the earth in a fluid or viscid state, through fissures in the strata occasioned by subterranean convulsions—not, however, in the open air, like currents of lava from recent craters, but in sheets or masses at the bottom of the sea, their cooling and consolidation having evidently been slow and gradual, under great pressure, such as might be produced by a large volume of superincumbent water, as was ably illus trated by the experiments of the late Sir James Hall; or by their having been originally formed as dykes, at considerable depths, either below or among the strata.
VI. On the Force of the Latin Prefix Væ or Ve in the Composition of Nouns and Adjectives
Authors: Williams
Published: January 2013

The Society has lately been delighted with the discovery of organic remains in our vicinity, which prove, that, at some distant period of unrecorded time, the fertile plains of Mid-Lothian must have furnished food and habitation to beings very different from those which now draw life and enjoyment from their productions. Yet it must be regretted, that, in the conclusions derived from the existence of such remains (with the exception of a few general principles, leading us to regard with deeper feelings of awe and reverence Him who has made all things so wonderfully and fearfully), we have little with which we can sympathise, and still less that can link our existence with that of those of which we see nothing but these imperishable monuments. I confess, however, with the partiality naturally felt by every man for that study to which he may have principally devoted his time and attention, that I regard with far deeper feelings those fleeting sounds—those επεα π˥εζοεν˥α—which, after passing from lip to lip uninjured during the lapse of so many ages, are, when carefully examined, found to have been component parts of those languages, falsely denominated dead, and which can be usefully adduced in illustration of the written records of those mighty spirits who have as yet as far surpassed us in the science of mind, in the purity of their taste, and the perfection of language, as we have surpassed them in the severer sciences—in unfolding the mysterious powers of matter—in discovering the laws according to which they operate—and in subjecting them to the dominion of man. It is with these feelings, and also from a wish to contribute to the great work now so admirably carried on by the German scholars, and by some distinguished fellow-labourers in this country, that of uniting the present and the past, the remote and the near, by proving the consanguinity of the great Caucasian branch of the human family, that the following statement has been drawn up on the force of the Latin particle ve or (as it was written by the more ancient Romans) vae.
XI. On the Refraction and Polarization of Heat
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

The experiments to be detailed in this paper, which chiefly go to establish properties of heat wholly unlooked for, or only suspected to exist, having been made entirely by means of an instrument of great delicacy—the thermo-multiplier of MM. Nobili and Melloni, I shall premise some account of its application to the investigation of some more familiar modes of action.
XIX.—On a Formula representing the Mean Height of the Barometer at the Level of the Sea
Authors: Hansteen Christopher
Published: January 2013

Sir,—You have communicated to me, that the Royal Society of Sciences in Edinburgh has done me the honour to elect me as a corresponding member. I beg you to render my humble thanks to the Society, and to assure, that it shall be my earnest wish to fulfil every task in my power which the Royal Society should demand.

That this letter may not reach your hands without any scientific communication, I subjoin the following:—From November 1822 to April 1824 inclusive, I observed the height of the barometer in Christiania, and found the mean reduced to 0°R., and to the level of the sea =757m·763 = 335‴·913 lign. de Paris. As the mean height of the barometer observed at Paris by Bouvard, and reduced to 0°, and the level of the sea is = 337‴·53, I was surprised at the great difference of l‴·62 between Paris and Christiania. If p denotes the pressure of the atmosphere at the level of the sea, m and h the density of the mercury and its height in the tube, g the force of gravity, we have p = mgh, and, in another place, p′= mg′h′. If p′ = p is gh = g′h′, or h′ = . If, in the first place, the latitude is = ϕ, in the second, = ϕ′, we have ; h−h′ = h, 0·0025911 (cos 2 ϕ – cos 2 ϕ′). Taking ϕ = 0′, ϕ′ =90°, we have h−h′ = l′′′·74; and when ϕ = 48°·50′ (Paris), ϕ′ = 59°·55′ (Christiania), we have h−h′ = 0′′′·32. But the observations have given for Paris and Christiania h−h′ = l′′′·62; consequently, the mean pressure of the atmosphere is not the in different latitudes (“Magazin for Naturvidensk.” 1824, page 282–291).
XXII.—An Attempt to Elucidate and Apply the Principles of Goniometry, as published by Mr Warren in his Treatise on the Square Roots of Negative Quantities
Authors: Terrot
Published: January 2013

1. The symbol is called an impossible or imaginary quantity, because, in analogy with the received laws of algebraic symbolism, it must mean such a quantity as, being multiplied into itself, gives for a product –1. Assuming, then, that every quantity must be either plus or minus, it follows that the square of every real quantity must be plus; and hence , which gives its square minus, is called an imaginary or impossible quantity.
XXXII. On the Products of the Destructive Distillation of Animal Substances. Part I
Authors: Anderson Thomas
Published: January 2013

In April 1846, I communicated to the Royal Society a paper on a new organic base, to which I gave the name of Picoline, and which occurs in coal-tar, associated with the Pyrrol, Kyanol, and Leukol of Runge. In that paper I pointed out that the properties of picoline resembled, in many respects, those of a base which Unverdorben had previously extracted from Dippel's animal oil, and described under the name of Odorine; and more especially mentioned their solubility in water, and property of forming crystallisable salts with chloride of gold, as characters in which these substances approximated very closely to one another. And further, I detailed a few experiments on the odorine of Unverdorben extracted from Dippel's oil, with the view of ascertaining whether or not they were actually identical, but on too small a scale to admit of a definite solution of the question.
XXXVI.—An Account of Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat;with Numerical Results deduced from Regnault's Experiments on Steam.
Authors: Thomson William
Published: January 2013

1. The presence of heat may be recognised in every natural object; and there is scarcely an operation in nature which is not more or less affected by its all-pervading influence. An evolution and subsequent absorption of heat generally give rise to a variety of effects; among which may be enumerated, chemical combinations or decompositions; the fusion of solid substances; the vaporisation of solids or liquids; alterations in the dimensions of bodies, or in the statical pressure by which their dimensions may be modified; mechanical resistance overcome; electrical currents generated. In many of the actual phenomena of nature, several or all of these effects are produced together; and their complication will, if we attempt to trace the agency of heat in producing any individual effect, give rise to much perplexity. It will, therefore, be desirable, in laying the foundation of a physical theory of any of the effects of heat, to discover or to imagine phenomena free from all such complication, and depending on a definite thermal agency; in which the relation between the cause and effect, traced through the medium of certain simple operations, may be clearly appreciated. Thus it is that Carnot, in accordance with the strictest principles of philosophy, enters upon the investigation of the theory of the motive power of heat.
XXXVII.—Theoretical Considerations on the Effect of Pressure in Lowering the Freezing Point of Water
Authors: Thomson James
Published: January 2013

Some time ago my brother, Professor William Thomson, pointed out to me a curious conclusion to which he had been Ied, by reasoning on principles similar to those developed by Carnot, with reference to the motive power of heat. It was, that water at the freezing point may be converted into ice by a process solely mechanical, and yet without the final expenditure of any mechanical work. This at first appeared to me to involve an impossibility, because water expands while freezing; and, therefore, it seemed to follow, that if a quantity of it were merely enclosed in a vessel with a moveable piston, and frozen, the motion of the piston, consequent on the expansion, being resisted by pressure, mechanical work would be given out without any corresponding expenditure; or, in other words, a perpetual source of mechanical work, commonly called a perpetual motion, would be possible. After farther consideration, however, the former conclusion appeared to be incontrovertible; but then, to avoid the absurdity of supposing that mechanical work could be got out of nothing, it occurred to me that it is necessary farther to conclude, that the freezing point becomes lower as the pressure to which the water is subjected is increased.
The Mid-Station on Ben Nevis
Authors: Omond R. T.
Published: January 2013

In the year 1896 the Directors of the Ben Nevis Observatories arranged that a temporary observing station be opened at the hut on the road half-way up the hill. A barometer, rain-gauge, and set of thermometers were provided, also a Richard barograph, thermograph, and hygrograph. The hut stands on steeply sloping ground facing westward, and is 2190 feet above sea-level. The barometer and barograph were placed in the hut; and two Stevenson screens for the thermometers, the thermograph, and the hygrograph were placed on the hill-side in its vicinity along with the rain-gauge. Though the site was not an ideal one for the purpose, being on the side of a hill and not on a peak, it was considered that valuable information as to the condition of the air between the level of the sea and that of the summit might be obtained by occasional periods of observation at this Mid-Station. This expectation has been realised, especially as regards the distribution of temperature in summer.
XIII.—The Plant Remains in the Scottish Peat Mosses
Authors: Lewis Francis J.
Published: January 2013

An investigation of the peat mosses in some districts of the Scottish Highlands was made in 1905, with a view of comparing the features found there with those already recorded from the Southern Uplands in 1904. The salient feature met with in the Southern districts was the existence in all the older mosses of an upper and lower forest-bed, with a zone of Arctic plants intercalated between. The existence of this Arctic plant bed, stretching at the same horizon through the peat in districts widely separated, indicates a lowering of temperature which must have obtained over much greater areas; for the conditions implied by the presence of an Arctic vegetation at low levels in the South of Scotland would suffice—precipitation being great enough—to produce glaciation in the Highlands.
XXXI.—Encystment of Tardigrada
Authors: Murray James
Published: January 2013

The object of this paper is to discuss the recently discovered encystment of Tardigrada, as far as our imperfect knowledge permits; to compare the process with that observed in certain low groups of the Acarina, in which the Tardigrada are generally considered to have their nearest relatives; then to inquire whether these new facts throw any light on certain puzzling facts in the physiology of the Tardigrada and Acarina, such as the retrogression which produces the simplex forms of Tardigrada, and which is said to accompany each moult of the Acarina; and lastly, if they contribute anything towards settling definitely the systematic position of the Tardigrada.
IV.—Bishop James Kennedy: An Anthropological Study of His Remains
Authors: Waterston David
Published: January 2013

James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrews from 1440 to 1465, was a man of great importance and eminence in the political as well as in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland. He was the third son born to Sir James Kennedy of Dunure and his wife, the Princess Mary. His father belonged to a widely connected family, which traced its descent from Walter the sixth High Steward of Scotland, and through him was related, though indirectly, to the Royal family of Bruce. On his mother's side the Bishop was of Royal descent and was even more widely connected, for the Princess Mary was a daughter of Kobert the Third and elder sister of James the First of Scotland, and was four times married. Sir James Kennedy was her second husband, for she had been married to the great George Douglas, Earl of Angus. The Bishop was the third son born of her marriage to Sir James Kennedy, and after the death of the Bishop's father she married William, Lord of Graham. (Her fourth husband was Sir William Edmondstone of Culloden.)
III.—A Petrified Lower Carboniferous Lepidodendron showing Rooting Organs identified with Calamopsis Solms-Laubach
Authors: Long Albert G.
Published: January 2013

Synopsis

Lepidodendron calamopsoides sp. nov. is described from petrified protostelic stems formerly considered identical with Levicaulis arranensis Beck. The stems range from 2 to 20 mm. diameter and some possess leaf-cushions usually about 10 × 1 mm.

Three specimens are known showing the transition from stem to rooting organs. Secondary xylem has only been seen in the transition region and rooting organs. The latter resemble Calamopsis dubia Solms-Laubach now considered to be part of the closely related Lepidodendron saalfeldense.
VI.—On the Cupule Structure of Eurystoma angulare
Authors: Long Albert G.
Published: January 2013

Synopsis

Three cupules of Eurystoma angulare are described; they bear one, six, and ten attached ovules respectively. The cupules are built up of several terete branches which dichotomise in successive planes at right angles. Where an ovule is borne a small number of dichotomies are adnate basally so forming an ovuliferous syntelome.
IV.—Some Specimens of Protoclepsydropsis and Clepsydropsis from the Calciferous Sandstone Series of Berwickshire
Authors: Long Albert G.
Published: January 2013

Synopsis

Protoclepsydropsis kidstoni (Bertrand) Hirmer is a small fossil fern with a slender stem about 3 mm. diameter bearing petioles of a Clepsydropsis type in a ⅖ phyllotaxy.

Larger isolated Clepsydropsis petioles from the same rocks probably belong to a larger related plant. In these the petiolar bundle is sometimes oval in cross section with protoxylem groups nearer one tangential surface. Occasionally roots are borne on these petioles. A resemblance to the petioles of Asterochlœna laxa Stenzel is pointed out.
VIII.—Some specimens of Mazocarpon, Achlamydocarpon and Cystosporites from the Lower Carboniferous Rocks of Berwickshire
Authors: Long Albert G.
Published: January 2013

Synopsis

A detached sporophyl and megasporangium of Mazocarpon pettycurense Benson is described. It formed twelve megaspores.

Achlamydocarpon scoticum sp. nov. is described from detached sporophylls and megasporangia. The latter opened by means of three slits in the distal region so making pollination possible.

A specimen of Cystosporites devonicus Chaloner and Pettitt is recorded from ash beds at the base of the Cementstone Group.
II. Observations on the Comparative Anatomy of the Eye
Authors: Knox Robert
Published: January 2013

The following observations, which I have the honour to present to the Society, have arisen out of an inquiry into the structure and distribution of the nervous system throughout the animal creation. It will readily be imagined, that the nerves supplied to the organs of sense, did not fail strongly to attract my attention, and that those belonging to so important an organ as the eye, were considered by me as worthy of the most minute investigation. It was impossible to proceed in this inquiry without submitting the organ itself to a very careful examination, in executing which, several important facts presented themselves, which I believed to be novel, at least, to lead to views respecting the physiology of the eye, different from those generally adopted. It became my duty to search into authors of the present and of the past age, and to collect into view whatever had been previously written on the subject; but leisure being altogether wanting for such an undertaking, I have thought it best to describe what I have myself seen.
V. Notice respecting the Vertebra of a Whale, found in a Bed of bluish Clay, near Dingwall
Authors: Mackenzie G. S.
Published: January 2013

My Dear Sir,

The Vertebra which I now send to you, was found about two years ago, on the property of Mr Mackenzie of Hilton, in Strathpeffer, county of Ross; and that gentleman desires me to present this interesting relic of some cetaceous animal to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
XVIII. Observations on the Germination of the Filices
Authors: Macvicar John
Published: January 2013

Since the perfecting of a Natural Arrangement has become the grand object of scientific pursuit, it has been found necessary to enter more minutely than was required by an artificial system, into modifications of structure and function. Botanists have no longer rested satisfied with observing plants in their fully developed forms, but have also had recourse to several other periods in the existence of vegetable life, the observance of which gives much insight into the organisation of the individual. Of these there is none more important than germination, which is often the only means afforded for ascertaining the structure of the seed. This is the case with all the cryptogamic tribes, the seeds of which are generally so minute, that many of them must be brought together before they be distinctly visible.
XXI. On the Determination of the Species, in Mineralogy, according to the Principles of Professor Mohs
Authors: Haidinger William
Published: January 2013

A. Justly celebrated Naturalist was of opinion, “that every “distribution of mineral bodies, which is instituted before the “determination of the species, must be mere confusion; while, “after having established it, according to fixed principles, no “kind of distribution can be absolutely faulty.” The distribution itself varies, along with the different principles of classification, introduced for the purpose of obtaining a systematic arrangement, conformable to the views of Natural History, of Chemistry, or of other sciences; but the Species remains that unique and unalterable point to which every system, and in fact every inquiry, must be referred, if we wish to avail ourselves of the prerogatives of the human mind, and preserve our information in a scientific form.
XXVI. An Examination of Dr Parr's Observations on the Etymology of the word Sublimis
Authors: Dunbar George
Published: January 2013

In the course of some inquiries into the affinity and structure of the Greek and Latin languages, I was led to analyse the superlative degree of both, and to trace, as I thought, some connection between it and the word Sublimis. While engaged in the investigation, I was naturally led to examine the common theories respecting the etymology of this remarkable word, and, in particular, the origin assigned to it by the late Dr Parr, and to weigh, with more attention than I had previously done, the arguments and proofs he had advanced in support of his opinions. All that I knew of them, till lately, was by verbal report, as I had not seen the abridged statement of them in an Appendix to the Notes of the 2d edition of Mr Stewart's Essays.
XXXI. Description of a new Register Thermometer, without any Index; the principle being applicable to the most delicate Mercurial Thermometers
Authors: Blackadder H. H.
Published: January 2013

On a former occasion, I had the honour of describing and exhibiting to this Society a new Registering Thermometer, by means of which the atmospheric temperature may be ascertained at any given instant during absence. In the construction of the instrument then described, a sliding index within the tube is indispensable; and, whenever such an index is employed, the diameter of the tube, and consequently that of its bulb, must be such as to render the instrument defective, when great accuracy and attention to minute fractions is requisite, such as in barometrical measurements, and various delicate experiments. Besides, though an instrument made with such an index may be so constructed as to perform with great accuracy, still, inasmuch as it is a complication, it is defective, and is more or less liable to error, as its construction may have been moire or less perfect.
I. Tableau de la Plaine de Troye Accompagné d’une Carte, levée géométriquement, en 1785 et 1786
Authors: Chevalier M.
Published: January 2013

Ala suite du voyage d'Italie, j'attendois à Venise une occasion favorable pour entreprendre celui de la Grèce. Le Chevalier Zuliani, nommé Ambassadeur de la République auprès de la Porte Ottomane, alloit incessamment partir pour sa destination; je lui demandai une place sur son vaisseau, et je fus assez heureux pour l'obtenir. Cet Ambassadeur, qui réunit à toutes les qualités d'un habile negociateur, le gout le plus décidé pour les arts et pour les sciences, avoit aussi reçu dans son vaisseau le célèbre Docteur Spallanzani, l'un des plus ingénieux naturalistes de ce siècle, que l'Empereur Joseph II. envoyoit dans le Levant, pour enrichir la science de la nature de découvertes nouvelles.
XVII. On the Application of the Hot Blast, in the Manufacture of Cast–Iron
Authors: Clark Thomas
Published: January 2013

Among persons interesting themselves in the progress of British manufactures, it can scarce fail to be known, that Mr Neilson of Glasgow, manager of the Gas Works in that city, has taken out a patent for an important improvement in the working of such furnaces as, in the language of the patent, “are supplied with air by means of bellows, or other blowing apparatus.” In Scotland, Mr Neilson's invention has been extensively applied to the making of cast-iron, insomuch that there is only one Scotch iron-work where the invention is not in use, and in that work, apparatus is under construction to put the invention into operation.
XXI. Researches on Heat. Second Series
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

1. The first series of these researches, in the exact form in which they are printed, were laid before the Royal Society on the 19th January 1835. The whole of the experiments there described were made, and the paper written and printed, within a space of time little exceeding two months. This haste, unfavourable to composition, I considered as a less evil than postponing for a period of time, which must have been considerable, the publication of a class of facts which might be said almost to embrace a new science. The professional duties which pressed upon me during the whole continuance of those experiments, then called imperatively on my attention, and during the remainder of the Session my time was devoted to them. The summer I devoted to a foreign excursion, some of the results of which I afterwards digested; and it was not till the commencement of the winter session which has just closed, that I prepared, with a fresh stock of health and spirits, to reinvestigate the whole subject of the Polarization of Heat, and to assign numerical values to the effects, whose existence I had before been contented to prove.
XXIII. On one Source of the Non-Hellenic Portion of the Latin Language
Authors: Williams
Published: January 2013

Payne Knight, no mean name among philologers, after a masterly and convincing proof, that neither Zenodotus nor Aristarchus, the great critics of the Alexandrian school, could be acquitted of the charge of “scarcely credible ignorance” of the primitive form of the Homeric language, thus proceeds :—

“The grammarians and critics of Alexandria were all guilty of the same fault. They never investigated the original sources of the language, but classed among anomalous dialects and poetic licenses every thing that was not in unison with their own usual style of speaking. In their age there existed many clews to the inquiry, which have now disappeared, but which, at that time, might easily have been found in written records, and in the rude and semi-barbarous languages of Italy and other countries adjacent to Greece. Had any one, however, suggested to Aristarchus that the true form and character of the Homeric dialect was to be extracted from the Latin, Tuscan, or Oscan languages, he would in my opinion have been as much astonished as if he had heard of the claims of the Irish antiquary, who affirmed that the Homeric poems had been translated furtively from the “Gaelic into Greek.”
I.—On a Possible Explanation of the Adaptation of the Eye to Distinct Vision at Different Distances
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

It is unnecessary to detail to this Society the various ingenious hypotheses which have been proposed to account physiologically for the accommodation of the eye to distinct vision at different distances. In later years, these different theories have been so circumstantially and correctly recapitulated in systematic works (as for instance in Young's Lectures and in Müller's Physiology), that it would be a waste of time to copy and recite them here. I will only do so, then, so far as may be necessary to justify the attempt I have now to make, and to strengthen my views by those of others, as far as they bear upon them.
II.—On the Modification of the Doubly Refracting and Physical Structure of Topaz, by Elastic Forces emanating from Minute Cavities
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

While examining, in polarised light, the form and structure of the numerous crystals which I had discovered in the fluid cavities of Topaz, my attention was particularly called to certain optical phenomena exhibited in other parts of the specimen. These phenomena, when first presented to me, were very indefinite in their character, and very imperfectly developed; but after a diligent examination of nearly 900 specimens of topaz, I succeeded in obtaining the most satisfactory exhibition of them under various forms, and in various degrees of intensity.
III.—On the Existence of Crystals with different primitive forms and physical properties in the Cavities of Minerals; with additional Observations on the New Fluids in which they occur
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

In 1823 and 1826 I communicated to the Society two papers on the nature and properties of two immiscible fluids, which I discovered, in contact with each other, in the cavities of topaz and other minerals. Although the facts contained in these papers were of so extraordinary a nature as to be received with scepticism by some, and with ridicule by others, yet I am not aware that, during the twenty years which have elapsed since their publication, any person has either repeated my observations, or advanced a single step in the same path of inquiry. In shewing to strangers some of the leading phenomena of the two new fluids, my attention has been frequently recalled to the subject; but it was not till last spring, when I discovered cavities in topaz filled with the most beautiful crystals of various form, that I was induced to undertake a new investigation of their nature and properties.
VII.—Miscellaneous Observations on Blood and Milk
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

The condition of the alkali in the blood—of that portion on which its alkaline reaction depends—has been the subject of much speculation, and of many experiments. Enderling is one of the latest inquirers who has given it his attention. After having made an analysis of the ashes of the blood, he has come to the conclusion, that the alkali in it is in combination with phosphoric acid, the former predominating in the form of the tribasic phosphate of soda.
XI.—On the Sums of the Digits of Numbers
Authors: Terrot
Published: January 2013

The general properties of numbers, considered without reference to the notation in which they are expressed, have been very fully investigated by several of the most distinguished mathematicians. Little attention, however, has been paid to the particular properties resulting from the principle of the modern notation, which is the expression of every number in a series, a + bn + cn2, &c. where a, b, c, are the digits, and n the local value or root of the notation. Having been led to examine some of these results, and to account for them, I am now desirous of laying them before the Society. I do not flatter myself that they possess any great practical importance; but as I have reason to believe that they are new, I trust the Society will not think them entirely unworthy of their attention.
XXV.—On Bipartite Functions
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

If a row of n elements be taken, and closely following this array, but separated by a bar from it, we write n rows of n elements each; and closely following either outside column of this square array, but separated by a bar from it, we write n columns of n elements each; and closely following an outside row of this second square array, but separated by a bar from it, we write n rows of n elements each; and so on, passing from the rows or columns of one array to the columns or rows of the next, and ending not with a square array, but, as we began, with a single line of elements, we have the matrix representation of a bipartite function.
XXXI.—Observations on Atmospheric Electricity
Authors: Smith C. Michie
Published: January 2013

The following observations on atmospheric electricity were made on the top of Dodabetta, between 3rd and 12th January 1885. The position of the electrometer, when not otherwise stated, was at a height of about 5 feet above what remains of the walls of the bungalow formerly used as a meteorological observatory. Dodabetta is the highest hill in the Neilgherries, and the bungalow was built exactly on the top, which is in latitude 11° 24′ 5ʺ·40 N., longitude 76° 46′ 44ʺ·39 E., and at a height of 8642 feet above mean sea-level. The top is free from trees, and my tents were slightly below, and at a sufficient distance off to prevent them interfering in any way with the accuracy of the readings.
XXXII.—Note on Ectocarpus
Authors: Rattray John
Published: January 2013

The group of the Phæosporeæ was first recognised by Thuret in 1850. It includes algæ that vary greatly in size, habit, external appearance, and mode of branching, some possessing a flat thalloid appearance with or without a long stalk (e.g., Laminariæ), others being filamentous and much branched (e.g., Ectocarpus, Sphacelaria, Chordaria, &c). The great majority of the genera included in the group are marine or brackish water forms, but recently E. Flahault has described, under the name of Lithoderma fontanum, a fresh water species from the neighbourhood of Montpellier.
XXXIII.—Anatomy and Physiology of Patella vulgata. Part I. Anatomy
Authors: Gibson R. J. Harvey
Published: January 2013

The following research was undertaken chiefly with the object of furnishing a complete memoir on the morphology and physiology of Patella vulgata. A number of isolated observations on various organs are recorded, but no systematic account has as yet been written, so far as the writer is aware. He has endeavoured to incorporate these observations in such a general account, having first convinced himself of their accuracy so far as lay in his power.
XXXIV.—Detached Theorems on Circulants
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

1. If in a circulant the places (r, s) and (p, q), owing to the cyclical permutation, be occupied by the same element, then the complementary minor of this element in its first place is to its complementary minor in the second as (−1)r+s: (−1)p+q.

To prove that the complementaries are as (−1)r+s:(−1)p+q is the same as to prove that the cofactors are identical. And as the cofactor of an element of a determinant is not altered by the transposition of rows and columns provided the determinant itself is not thereby altered, it is evident that all we have to show is that the element in the place (r, s) may by transposition of rows and columns be made to take the place (p, q), and the determinant remain in outward form the same as before. Now it is a known property of the circulant that this can be done by first bringing the element in the place (r, s) into the pth row by cyclical transposition of rows, and thereafter making an exact similar set of transpositions of columns. Thus the theorem is established.
II.—On Dew
Authors: Aitken John
Published: January 2013

The immense amount that has been written on the subject of dew renders it extremely difficult for one to state anything regarding it which has not been previously expressed in some form. It has been examined over and over by minds of every type, and from every point of view; so that every possible explanation of the different phenomena seems to have been given, and so many passing thoughts recorded, that from the literary point of view the whole subject seems exhausted. As a necessary result, these different treatises are in many respects contradictory; and it would be quite impossible to construct anything like a consistent explanation and account of our subject, from the very voluminous writings of those who have treated it from the purely literary point of view, and whose ideas have been evolved from their inner consciousness, according to what seemed to them the fitness of things, and without questioning nature as to the truth of their conclusions. On the scientific side of the subject, however, the writings are not so voluminous, and additions to it are still required to enable us to determine which of the many conflicting opinions are correct.