bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
VI.—On the Lateral Sense Organs of Elasmobranchs. II. The Sensory Canals of the Common Skate (Raia batis)
Authors: Ewart J. C. , Mitchell J. C.
Published: January 2013

In the paper on the sensory canals of Læmargus, communicated to the Royal Society in July last, it was pointed out that the arrangement of the sensory canals differed considerably in the Batoidei from that in Selachoidei, and it was mentioned that the sensory canals of the skate would be next described.

The skate has been selected chiefly because the sensory canals are more typical than in the torpedoes and the whip and sting rays. In the torpedoes some of the canals are in a vestigial condition; while in the rays proper they have in most species undergone great specialisation. But another reason is, that an account of the development of the lateral sense organs in the skate is likely ere long to be published; and, further, the skate will be more easily obtained and kept under observation than the rays, when physiologists eventually direct their attention to the lateral sense organs of Elasmobranchs.
XVII.—Electrolytic Synthesis of Dibasic Acids
Authors: Crum Brown A. , Walker James
Published: January 2013

In our former paper we described the results obtained by electrolysing concentrated aqueous solutions of the ethyl-potassium salts of normal saturated dibasic acids. The chief products were shown to be diethyl compound ethers of the same homologous series, and the formation of these compound ethers was shown to occur in accordance with the equation: 2C2H5·O·ĊO·R˝·CO·O- = C2H5·O·CO·R˝R˝CO·O·C2H5 + 2CO2. We now find that precisely similar results are obtained by electrolysing the corresponding compounds derived from saturated dibasic acids with side chains. We have thus been able to effect the synthesis of acids of the succinic acid series, in which hydrogen is symmetrically replaced by alcohol radicals of the form CnH2n+1.
XXII.—On the Present State of Knowledge and Opinion in regard to Colour-Blindness
Authors: Pole William
Published: January 2013

At the meeting of the British Association in Edinburgh, in August 1892, the President of the Biological Section, Professor W. Rutherford, M.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., gave an able opening address on “The Colour-Sense,” in which he took occasion to speak at some length on that remarkable defect of vision called Colour-Blindness. After alluding to the large share of public attention it had lately attracted, both on scientific and popular grounds, he pointed out the unsatisfactory nature of certain statements lately put forward, and gave good reasons why the views still largely held on it in this country required revision.
XXV.—On Lepidophloios, and on the British Species of the Genus
Authors: Kidston Robert
Published: January 2013

Though the genus Lepidophloios, in regard to species, is a comparatively small one, yet it derives considerable importance from its occurring throughout the whole of the Carboniferous Formation, as well as in the peculiar characteristics of the plants comprised in it.

The fragmentary condition in which the specimens are usually found has given rise to the creation of several genera, which can all be shown to merely represent different conditions of growth and preservation of one generic type. There are, also, other points in the structure of Lepidophloios which require further investigation, and the object of the present paper is to attempt to clear up some of these, about which much confusion still exists.
XXIX.—On the Variations of the Amount of Carbonic Acid in the Ground-Air (Grund-Luft of Pettenkofer)
Authors: Stewart C. Hunter
Published: January 2013

The chemical examination of ground-air, i.e., the air which is contained in the pores of the soil, was first made by Boussingault and Levy in 1853. Their results, however, attracted little attention till Pettenkofer, in 1857, pointed out that the determination of the amount of carbonic acid in the air of a given soil might be used as a means of estimating the organic decomposition going on there. In 1871 he first published his results, and since that time the subject has been worked at by many investigators both from the agricultural and hygienic point of view, including in the latter class Fleck at Dresden, Eodor at Buda-Pesth, Hesse in Saxony, and Nicholls in America. As researches of this nature have not attracted much attention in this country, a short account of the modus operandi may be interesting as a preliminary.
III.—On the Constitution of Codeine and its Products of Decomposition
Authors: Anderson Thomas
Published: January 2013

During the last few years, great progress has been made in the study of the organic alkalies, and the discovery of methods by which these substances can be artificially produced, and the long train of investigations by which it has been followed, has greatly extended our previous information, and afforded us some definite ideas regarding their constitution. The advance made has, however, related entirely to the volatile bases produced by artificial processes, and our knowledge of the natural fixed alkaloids stands very much where it did some years since, and is still very imperfect, and in regard to many entirely fragmentary; so much so, indeed, that of all the alkaloids of this class described in chemical works, there are not perhaps a dozen of which the constitution can be considered as definitely fixed, and not half that number of which we know the products of decomposition. The fact is, that the interest attaching to the artificial bases has altogether diverted the attention of chemists from the natural alkalies, which have not hitherto proved a very productive field of inquiry; at least the researches to which many of them were subjected ten or fifteen years since, proved comparatively unfruitful in their results.
VI.—Some remarks on Theories of Cometary Physics
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: January 2013

While the physical appearances of comets have ever excited such intense curiosity and interest, all the theories concerning them are generally confessed to be insufficient to explain them; and, certainly, if we may judge from the various views advocated by different writers, and the anomalous forces gratuitously brought in to support the different hypotheses—it is so.

This unsatisfactory state of things, so different from that in which is the theory of the motions of comets,—seems to be owing partly to the difficulty of making the necessary observations by reason of the undefinable nature of the bodies themselves, and partly from the untoward circumstances under which the observations must be made, as well as the rareness of any opportunities offering. Hence, theories are built upon accounts handed down from old astrological times when men's prejudices would have prevented them, even if their means had been ample, which they were not, from giving any satisfactory and trustworthy accounts of the phenomena displayed by the heavens of their day.
X.—On the Economy of Heat in Expansive Machines, forming the Fifth Section of a Paper On the Mechanical Action of Heat
Authors: Rankine William John Macquorn
Published: January 2013

(39.) A machine working by expansive power consists essentially of a portion of some substance to which heat is communicated, so as to expand it, at a higher temperature, being abstracted from it, so as to condense it to its original volume, at a lower temperature. The quantity of heat given out by the substance is less than the quantity received; the difference disappearing as heat to appear in the form of expansive power.

The heat originally received by the working body may act in two ways: to raise its temperature, and to expand it. The heat given out may also act in two ways: to lower the temperature, and to contract the body. Now, as the conversion of heat into expansive power arises from changes of volume only, and not from changes of temperature, it is obvious, that the proportion of the heat received which is converted into expansive power will be the greatest possible, when the reception of heat, and its emission, each take place at a constant temperature.
XI.—Notes on the Geology of the Eildon Hills, in Roxburghshire
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

The following remarks, being the result of a careful examination of a small district of country characteristic of the relations of the trap formations, are perhaps worthy of being recorded; although the general features of the county of Roxburgh have been very clearly stated in a paper by Mr Milne, published in the 15th volume of the Edinburgh Transactions.

The outburst of porphyritic trap forming the conspicuous small group of the Eildon Hills, may be stated to be surrounded by the characteristic greywacke of the south of Scotland. It forms an elongated patch on the map, extending from the west end of Bowden Muir in the direction of the town of Selkirk, and running from west-south-west to east-north-east (true) towards Bemerside Hill, on the north bank of the Tweed. The breadth is variable, probably less than is generally supposed; but it cannot be accurately ascertained, owing to the accumulated diluvium which covers the whole south-eastern slope of this elevated ridge. On this account, my observations on the contact of rocks have been almost entirely confined to the northern and western boundaries of the trap, although the other side was examined with equal care.
XIII.—On certain Salts and Products of Decomposition of Comenic Acid
Authors: How Henry
Published: January 2013

The study of the organic acids appears scarcely to have advanced of late years pari passu with the other branches of organic chemistry. It seems, indeed, as if the development of each of the different departments of the science had been, to a certain extent, periodical; each engrossing the labours of investigators to the temporary exclusion of the others, themselves to be renewed when some new experiments should reawaken an interest in them.

However this may be, the subject of the natural and artificial bases has proved so productive of interesting results as to have recently become the chosen and almost exclusive field of inquiry, notwithstanding several investigations which have thrown much light on one class of organic acids, namely, that represented by the general formula Cn Hn O4. With the exception of this section, the history of the organic acids remains very imperfect, and in many cases we have but a meagre account of a few of their salts.
XV.—On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from Mr Joule's Equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault's Observations on Steam
Authors: Thomson William
Published: January 2013

Sir Humphrey Davy, by his experiment of melting two pieces of ice by rubbing them together, established the following proposition:—“The phenomena of repulsion are not dependent on a peculiar elastic fluid for their existence, or caloric does not exist.” And he concludes that heat consists of a motion excited among the particles of bodies. “To distinguish this motion from others, and to signify the cause of our sensation of heat,” and of the expansion or expansive pressure produced in matter by heat, “the name repulsive motion has been adopted.”
XVIII.—On some remarkable Marine Invertebrata new to the British Seas
Authors: Forbes Edward , Goodsir J.
Published: January 2013

The animals, either wholly new, or new to Britain, described in the following communication, were taken during a yachting cruise, with our indefatigable friend Mr Macandrew, among the Hebrides, in the month of August 1850. During this voyage, which lasted three weeks, a series of observations were conducted by means of the dredge and the towing-net. Not a single new form of testaceous mollusk was procured; our exertions were amply rewarded, however, by the discovery of several remarkable Ascidians and Radiata, some of them so curious in themselves, and so important in their zoological bearings, that we have thought it desirable to lay an account of their characters and anatomy before the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
II.—A Fundamental Theorem regarding the Equivalence of Systems of Ordinary Linear Differential Equations, and its Application to the Determination of the Order and the Systematic Solution of a Determinate System of such Equations
Authors: Chrystal George
Published: January 2013

Systems of ordinary linear differential equations are of great importance, both from a practical and from a theoretical point of view. They figure largely in dynamical problems; and Jacobi has shown that the general problem of determining the order of any system of ordinary differential equations whatever can be reduced to the problem of determining the order of a linear system with constant coefficients. Nevertheless, the present state of the theory of such a system still leaves something to be desired. It is true that a logical and systematic process for the solution was given by Cauchy. This consists in first replacing the system by another in which only first differential coefficients occur, by introducing as auxiliary variables the successive differential coefficients of the various dependent variables up to the highest but one, and then reducing this system to the “normal form” by calculating the differential coefficients as linear functions of the dependent variables. It happens, however, when we attempt to do this, that we are led to a system consisting partly of differential equations of the form

where fr, denotes a linear function of x1, …., xs, partly of a number of non-differential equations connecting the remainder of the variables with x1, …., xs. The order of the system—that is to say, the number of independent arbitrary constants required for its complete solution—is the number of differential equations in the normal form; but no rule is readily deducible from the method for determining beforehand how many of the equations in the normal system will be differential equations, so that we cannot predict the order of the system without actually going through the labour of reduction. Moreover, the normal form is in practice often not the most convenient for the purposes of solution.
III.—On Bird and Beast in Ancient Symbolism
Authors: Thompson D'Arcy Wentworth
Published: January 2013

The following essay, except for one or two slight corrections and additions which I have since interpolated, was read before the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh in June 1894. Very shortly thereafter, M. Jean Svoronos published in the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique (Janv.–Juillet, 1894) a learned paper “Sur la signification des types monétaires des anciens,” in which he demonstrated with an elaborate wealth of illustration the astronomic significance of many coin-types, the precise point that the greater part of this essay of mine was written to prove. Beginning with coins on which a beast- or bird-emblem is figured together with the symbol of a star, and passing on to others where the star-symbol is omitted, M. Svoronos shows clearly that in a very varied series of coin-types, the Lion, the Bull, the Eagle, the Horse, and so forth, represent not merely these creatures themselves, but their stellar namesakes: in short, that, in more or less obscure and occult shapes, astronomic emblems are imprinted on a vast range of ancient coins, just as in open and acknowledged forms they are visible, for instance, on the coins of Antoninus Pius. So clearly is all this put forward by M. Svoronos that my paper might well have remained unpublished were it not that I think I take the case somewhat further than he does. For, whereas M. Svoronos is content to demonstrate the symbols of individual constellations, I have attempted also in certain cases to show that the associated emblems correspond to the positions relative to one another of the heavenly bodies, in some cases to the configuration of the sky at critical periods of the year or at the festival seasons of the cities to which the coins belong. In some other respects, also, I have attempted to carry to a further issue the general considerations suggested by the astronomic hypothesis.
VI.—Experiments on the Transverse Effect and on some Related Actions in Bismuth
Authors: Beattie J. C.
Published: January 2013

Clerk Maxwell, in his Electricity and Magnetism, vol. i. § 304, makes the following remark about the rotatory coefficient:—“It should be found, if anywhere, in magnets which have a polarisation in one direction, probably due to a rotational phenomenon in the substance.”

The current which should arise from such a coefficient was first observed by Hall. He passed a current through a strip of metal; he then found two points on opposite sides of the strip, which, while the current was flowing, were at the same potential, and which therefore indicated no current when joined to a galvanometer. The plate was next brought into a uniform magnetic field, and when everything was steady the two points previously at the same potential were no longer so, and a current flowed through the galvanometer. This effect is observable in all conductors.
XIII.—The Strains Produced in Iron, Steel, and Nickel Tubes in the Magnetic Field. Part I.
Authors: Knott C. G.
Published: January 2013

On July 20th, 1891, I communicated to the Society a short note on the effect of longitudinal magnetisation on the interior volume of iron and nickel tubes (see Proceedings, 1890–91, pp. 315–7). These earliest results of observation of a new and interesting phenomenon in magnetic strains were obtained during my last few months' residence in Japan. In following out the lines of research therein suggested, I have been fortunate in having had placed at my disposal by Professor Tait the resources of the Physical Laboratory of Edinburgh University. I desire here to record my great indebtedness to him for the interest he has taken in the work, and for his many helpful suggestions. In surmounting the many experimental difficulties met with at every turn, I had the invaluable co-operation of Mr A. Shand, a senior student in the Physical Laboratory. Various results obtained since 1892 have been communicated in short notes from time to time (see Proceedings, 1891–2, pp. 85–88, 249–252; 1893–4, pp. 295–7; 1894–5, pp. 334–5; see also B. A. Reports, 1892 and 1893); but it was not possible to regard these as altogether satisfactory. It was only in May of last year (1895) that the many sources of error were finally got rid of, and the apparatus perfected. The present paper deals entirely with the results obtained since then. In these later experiments I was ably assisted by Mr A. C. Smith, a student in the Physical Laboratory.
XIV.—A Revised Description of the Dorsal Interosseous Muscles of the Human Hand, with Suggestions for a New Nomenclature of the Palmar Interosseous Muscles and some Observations on the Corresponding Muscles in the Anthropoid Apes
Authors: Hepburn David
Published: January 2013

The main features of the scope of this paper are indicated by its title, from which it will be seen that I do not regard the current descriptions, which appear in textbooks of human anatomy, as providing an adequate conception either of the attachments or of the functions of the muscles at present named “Dorsal and Palmar Interosseous.” It may seem strange, in connection with such an exact (and, according to some, exhausted) science as human anatomy, that it should be possible to doubt the accuracy of modern text-books concerning such an apparently elementary consideration as the description of a group of muscles in the human hand; but we must bear in mind, first, the ease with which a statement is handed on from author to author without renewed investigation, if only, in the first instance, it has been stamped with the approval of a recognised authority, and second, that these descriptions were originally constructed with little or no reference to the facts of comparative anatomy. It is only by a series of careful comparisons that we can arrive at a proper understanding of the homologies of individual muscles or of groups of muscles in the human subject.
XV.—The Temperature Variation of the Magnetic Permeability of Magnetite
Authors: Barton Edwin H.
Published: January 2013

1. Relation to Magnetic Survey.—After being engaged for sometime, in conjunction with Professor Thorpe, upon the Magnetic Survey of the United Kingdom, Professor A. W. Rücker, F.R.S., put forward his theory of Terrestrial Magnetism.

In connection with this theory, it was desirable to determine the permeabilities of various rocks, both at ordinary and at high temperatures.

2. The investigation which forms the subject of the present paper is an instalment in this direction. Professor Rücker proposed this undertaking and indicated the plan to be followed. It was then carried out under his supervision at the Royal College of Science, London.
XVI.—The Weather, Influenza, and Disease: from the Records of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for Fifty Years
Authors: Gillespie A. Lockhart
Published: January 2013

In the following pages I have attempted to analyse various groups of figures derived from the records of the Royal Infirmary. When appointed Medical Registrar to the Infirmary in October 1891, it occurred to me that it might lead to interesting results if the admissions into the Medical Wards were contrasted with the varying states of the atmosphere, a sufficiently long time being taken to avoid the fallacies attendant on statistical generalisations from insufficient data. At first my intention had been to investigate the influence of the weather on the diseases of the principal systems, but as the work progressed I found that the repeated attacks of Epidemic Influenza so modified the results that I had perforce to take up the study of that disease in addition. The Infirmary year begins on the 1st of October; and, although the figures might have been calculated with some trouble for the year from the 1st of January, they have been left for the most part in their original form. The period to which most of the figures relate comprises the seven years from 1st October 1888 to 30th September 1895. Each case is noted as on admission, and each death as it occurred. Most of the figures are given as weekly totals. The year 1888–89 is included because no epidemic of Influenza occurred during it. In each of the other years epidemics were present.
XXI.—On the Curves of Magnetisation for Films of Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel
Authors: Beattie J. C.
Published: January 2013

By films of iron, nickel, and cobalt are here meant electrolytic deposits of these metals on platinised glass. The magnetic properties of such films are interesting in various ways. For example, when they are longitudinally magnetised, we have the case of a magnet where the ratio of length to breadth is very great, and where, consequently, the demagnetising force is very small, e.g., with a film of a 5000th part of a millimetre in thickness, and 5 mms. in length, we have a ratio in length to thickness of 25,000: 1; at the same time the film is so small that it can be tested in very high uniform fields.
XXIII.—On the Genus Anaspides and its Affinities with certain Fossil Crustacea
Authors: Calman W. T.
Published: January 2013

The genus Anaspides was founded in 1894 by Mr G. M. Thomson of Dunedin, New Zealand, for the reception of a very remarkable Schizopod Crustacean which he had discovered in a fresh-water pool at an altitude of 4000 feet on Mount Wellington in Tasmania. The very striking peculiarities of the animal, the absence of a carapace, the presence of plate-like gills attached to the bases of the thoracic legs, and the possession of an auditory organ in the peduncle of the antennules, led its discoverer to regard it as the type of a new family of Schizopods, the Anaspidæ, while suggesting that it might be entitled to “even higher specific rank.” I have had an opportunity of examining three specimens of Anaspides presented to the Museum of University College, Dundee, by Dr Chas. Chilton of New Zealand, and from the dissection of one of these I have been able to supplement, in some important points, Mr Thomson's account of the external anatomy of the animal. I wish also to call attention to the remarkable resemblance, indicative I believe of close affinity, which Anaspides bears to certain Palaeozoic Crustacea belonging to a group hitherto supposed to be unrepresented among living forms. The present paper has been prepared under the direction of Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson.
XXII.—Researches on some of the Crystalline Constituents of Opium
Authors: Anderson Thomas
Published: January 2013

Since the year 1803, when Desrone discovered the substance which afterwards received the name of Narcotine, the chemical investigation of opium has engaged the attention of many skilful and distinguished chemists, and in their hands has proved the source of a series of substances, unprecedented in their number and the variety of their properties. Up to the present time, there have been detected in it no less than eleven different substances, one acid, and ten, either basic or indifferent, all presenting definite characters and crystalline form, besides various imperfectly characterised substances, described under the names of caoutchouc of opium, resin of opium, extractive, and the like.
XXIV.—Defence of the Doctrine of Vital Affinity
Authors: Alison William Pulteney
Published: January 2013

Having expressed a decided opinion that there are, in all living bodies, chemical as well as mechanical phenomena, which, in the present state of our knowledge, ought to be designated as Vital, and referred to the operation of laws, distinct from those that regulate the chemical changes of inanimate matter, and observing that this opinion is controverted, and that the view of the chemical phenomena of life which I have maintained, is rejected as unphilosophical and delusive by two authors of high scientific reputation—Baron Humboldt and Dr Daubeny,—and that the judgment of other authors of acknowledged character on this subject is not clearly expressed, and seems to me to involve it in unnecessary obscurity, I am led to hope that some farther explanations may be of some use in establishing the first principles of a Science which, as it appears to me, has suffered, in several instances, not so much from want of facts, as from hypothetical and erroneous inferences, drawn from facts that are already known.
XXV.—On Meconic Acid, and some of its Derivatives
Authors: How Henry
Published: January 2013

In a paper on Comenic Acid, read before this Society in April of last year, and since honoured with a place in its Transactions, I mentioned my being engaged in an investigation on Meconic Acid; the details of the experiments referred to form the matter of the present communication.

My object in undertaking this subject was to ascertain if products corresponding to those described as derived from comenic acid were formed under similar circumstances in the case of meconic acid. I also thought it probable, that as the former is itself a derivative of the latter, the changes undergone by meconic acid in some reactions, would be found to result in substances apparently the immediate derivatives of comenic acid. This remark refers to the action of heat on meconate of ammonia; and it will be seen that the expectation was realised. A similar result was found in other instances, where it had not been anticipated.
XXVIII.—On the Computation of the Specific Heat of Liquid Water at various Temperatures, from the Experiments of M. Regnault
Authors: Rankine William John Macquorn
Published: January 2013

Correction of M. Regnault's Experiments for the Effect of Agitation.

The discovery by Mr Joule of the fact, that mechanical power expended in the agitation of liquids is converted into heat as the visible agitation subsides, renders a certain correction necessary in calculating the results of experiments on specific heat in which such agitation has occurred.

Of this kind are the experiments of M. Regnault on the apparent specific heat of liquid water at different temperatures. Water at a high temperature, T3, was emitted from a boiler into a calorimeter containing water at a low temperature, Tl, and the resulting intermediate temperature of the whole mass, T2, was used as the means of calculating the ratio of the mean specific heat of water between T3 and T2, to its mean specific heat between T2 and T1. Now, the upper part of the boiler contained steam at a high pressure, so that the hot water was expelled with great force.
XXIX.—On the Red Prominences seen during Total Eclipses of the Sun. Part I
Authors: Swan William
Published: January 2013

The red prominences seen during total solar eclipses, are conspicuous rose-coloured objects which appear round the dark edge of the moon, as soon as the last rays of the sun have disappeared. In preparing my account of the total eclipse of the 28th July 1851, it was at first my intention to have stated some hypothetical views which I had formed regarding those remarkable objects, and other appearances I had observed during the total phase of the eclipse. I found, however, that the mere description of phenomena extended to so great a length, as to render such a course inexpedient; and I have since delayed resuming the subject, in order that by comparing a number of other observations with my own, I might be enabled, either to confirm or to modify my views.
XXXV.—Observations on the Speculations of Dr Brown and other recent Metaphysicians, regarding the Exercise of the Senses
Authors: Alison W. P.
Published: January 2013

In offering to this Society a few remarks which have occurred to me on this fundamental department of Mental Physiology, I beg in the first place to explain, that my reason for doing so is merely this, that in consequence of certain unguarded expressions, and, as I think, hasty reflections, the opinions of Dr Brown, and likewise of Sir James Mackintosh, and of Lord Jeffrey, and other more recent writers on this subject, have been supposed to be irreconcileably at variance with those of Dr Reid and Mr Stewart; i. e., with those which are usually called the leading doctrines, or essential characteristics, of the Scotch School of Metaphysics, in this fundamental department of the science. And when such difference of opinion is believed to exist among men of generally acknowledged talent, who have studied this subject, and nothing like an experimentum crucis can be pointed out, to compel us to adopt one opinion and reject another,—the natural inference is, that there is something in the study itself, which renders it unfit for scientific inquiry,—that what is called the study of the Mental Faculties granted to our species is, in fact, only a record of the vacillations of human fancy and ingenuity, in the invention and demolition of hypotheses,—and that the subject is one on which it is in vain for our minds to dwell, with any hope of applying the principles of Inductive Science, and acquiring any insight into the laws of Nature, regulating the phenomena presented by the last and greatest of her works, similar to that which is the object and the reward of all other scientific inquiries.
XXXVII.—On the Optical Phenomena and Crystallisation of Tourmaline, Titanium, and Quartz, within Mica, Amethyst, and Topaz
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

The existence of certain minerals imbedded in others,—the optical phenomena which they exhibit,—their form and mode of distribution, and the mechanical influence which has been exerted during their formation on the mineral that contains them, are among the most curious and instructive facts in physical science.

The dissemination of perfectly-formed crystals of titanium, both in the form of titanite and anatase, in Brazilian crystals of quartz, is a fact so well known that I shall take no farther notice of it, but shall proceed to give an account of a series of facts of a much more general and interesting character, which I have had occasion to observe, during an extensive examination of minerals, undertaken with a different object.
XXXVIII.—On the Production of Crystalline Structure in Crystallised Powders, by Compression and Traction
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

The influence of compression and dilatation in producing the doubly refracting structure in solids of all kinds, whether crystallised or uncrystallised, which do not possess it, and in modifying that structure in all crystals which do possess it, has been long known; but with this class of phenomena, those which I am about to describe have no connection whatever.

In the course of experiments on the double reflexion and polarisation of light which I discovered in the chrysammates of potash and magnesia, murexide, and other crystals, I was surprised to find that these substances could be spread out upon glass by hard pressure, like grease or soft wax, and that in the case of chrysammate of potash and other bodies, when the powder could scarcely be distinguished from snuff, I obtained a transparent film, exhibiting the phenomena of double reflexion and polarisation from its surface, as perfectly as if I had been using a large crystal.
XII.—The Absolute Thermal Conductivity of Nickel
Authors: Baillie T. C.
Published: January 2013

The experiments described in this paper were commenced with the view, not only of determining the absolute thermal conductivity of nickel, but also of comparing the results found by Forbes's and Ängstrom's methods for the same specimen. Although some readings were taken for Ängstrom's method, that part of the investigation was not completed, because it was found that the experimental errors — unavoidable, on account of the necessity of measuring rapidly changing temperatures—would be too great for the results to be of any value. The thermal conductivity of a portion of the bar of nickel used for Forbes's method was determined by a direct method involving the determination only of steady temperatures, and the results so obtained are given in the latter portion of this paper.
XVI.—On the Path of a Rotating Spherical Projectile. II.
Authors: Tait
Published: January 2013

The first instalment of this paper was devoted in great part to the general subject involved in its title, but many of the illustrations were derived from the special case of the flight of a golf-ball. Since it was read I have endeavoured, alike by observation and by experiment, to improve my numerical data for this interesting application, particularly as regards the important question of the coefficient of resistance of the air. As will be seen, I now find a value intermediate to those derived (by taking average estimates of the mass and diameter of a golf-ball) from the results of Robins and of Bashforth. This has been obtained indirectly by means of a considerable improvement in the apparatus by which I had attempted to measure the initial speed of a golf-ball. I have, still, little doubt that the speed may, occasionally, amount to the 300, or perhaps even the 350, foot-seconds which I assumed provisionally in my former paper:—but even the first of these is a somewhat extravagant estimate; and I am now of opinion that, even with very good driving, an initial speed of about 240 is not often an underestimate, at least in careful play. From this, and the fact that six seconds at least are required for a long carry (say 180 yards), I reckon the “terminal velocity” at about 108, giving v2/360 as the resistance-acceleration.
III.—On the Eliminant of a Set of General Ternary Quadrics.—(Part II.)
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

(26) Of the various determinant forms thus far obtained the most promising is that of §8 or that of §14; and to these it is desirable now to return in order to obtain an expression for the eliminant in the ordinary non-determinant notation. In doing so it will also be well to make a slight change in the coefficients of the three quadrics, viz., to write f, g, h for 2f, 2g, 2h, as in this way the diversity in the cofactors of the determinants occurring in the last three rows of either form of the eliminant disappears.
VII.—Notes on the Dynamics of Cyclones and Anticyclones
Authors: Aitken John
Published: January 2013

The vertical movements of the earth's atmosphere from which the energy is derived which causes the horizontal movements of the air which we call winds, and by means of which the moisture evaporated from the surface of land and water is collected and carried to the higher regions of the atmosphere, where it is condensed to cloud and again distributed in the form of rain over the earth's surface, are of great interest, and a thorough knowledge of the laws governing these vertical movements is necessary to enable us to arrive at a correct forecast of the coming weather over any area.
X.—The Hessian of a General Determinant
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

(1) There being n2 independent variables in a general n-line determinant, the Hessian of the determinant with respect to the said variables must be a determinant with n2 lines: and as a general n-line determinant has all its terms linear in the elements involved, it follows that each element of the Hessian being a second differential-quotient cannot be of a higher degree in the variables than the (n − 2)th, and that consequently the degree of the Hessian itself cannot exceed n2(n − 2). The object of the present short paper is to show that this degree is attained by the n(n − 2)th power of the given determinant being a factor of the Hessian.
XI.—The Differentiation of a Continuant
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

(1) The continuant

is conveniently denoted by

and, when the elements b1, b2, b3 of the variable minor diagonal are each equal to 1, a further simplification is obtained by leaving them out;—thus,

stands fo
XIII.—The General Form of the Involutive 1-1 Quadric Transformation in a Plane
Authors: Tweedie Charles
Published: January 2013

§ 1. In a communication read before the Society, 3rd December 1900, Dr Muir discusses the generalisation, for more than two pairs of variables, of the proposition that: If

then

If we interpret (x, y) and (ξ, η) iis points in a plane, it is manifest that the transformation thereby obtained is a Cremona transformation. It has the special property of being reciprocal or involutive in character; i.e., if the point P is transformed into Q, then the repetition of the same transformation on Q transforms Q into P. Symbolically, if the transformation is denoted by T. T(P) = Q, and T(Q) = T2(P) = P; so that T2 = 1, and T = T−1. Moreover, if the locus of P (x, y) is a straight line, the locus of Q (ξ, η) is in general a conic.
XI.—The Histology of the Blood of the Larva of Lepidosiren paradoxa. Part I. Structure of the Resting and Dividing Corpuscles
Authors: Bryce Thomas H.
Published: January 2013

The material for the observations recorded in this paper has been kindly lent to me by Mr Graham Kerr, Professor of Zoology in the University of Glasgow. It consisted of some of his beautiful series of cut embryos, and of some freshly-sectioned material which I stained specially for the purposes of the research.

The blood corpuscles of the embryo Lepidosiren are exceptionally favourable objects for the study not only of the morphology of the blood, but also of cell structure. The karyokinesis in the red corpuscles presents features of considerable interest—and the phenomena are presented to the observer on such a scale as to render them almost diagrammatic.

In the present paper I shall deal with the structure of the corpuscles and the mitotic phases in the erythrocytes, reserving for a future communication the results of studies on the origin and histogenesis of the elements.
XVI.—The Eliminant of a Set of General Ternary Quadrics.—(Part III.)
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

(41) The invariance of the equations

with regard to the group of cyclical substitutions,

and the consequent invariance of the eliminant with regard to the reduced group consisting of the last two substitutions, has been already referred to. When the eliminant is expressed in terms of the three-line determinants formable from the array of coefficients, the invariance in question is self-evident, as each of the twenty-eight parts composing the expression is invariant by itself. For convenience this form may be repeated from § 31 with a slightly improved notation.
XXXIV.—On the Structure and Affinities of a Lepidodendroid Stem from the Calciferous Sandstone of Dalmeny, Scotland, possibly identical with Lepidophloios Harcourtii (Witham)
Authors: Seward A. C. , Hill A. W.
Published: January 2013

The unusually fine stem which forms the subject of this paper was found by Mr T. Kerr, of Edinburgh, in rocks of Calciferous sandstone age exposed in a railway cutting at Dalmeny, Linlithgowshire. Mr James Bennie, of the Geological Survey of Scotland, called the attention of Mr Kidston to the fossil, and the latter very generously placed part of the specimen in the hands of one of us for investigation.
XXII.—Vanishing Aggregates of Secondary Minors of a Persymmetric Determinant
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

(1) The persymmetric determinant of the nth order

being such that in every case the element in the place r, s is the same as the element in the place r − 1, s + 1, and therefore having only 2n − 1 independent elements, viz., the elements a1, a2, …., a2n−1 forming the first row and last column, is conveniently denoted by

As it is a special form of axisymmetric determinant, any known relation between minors of the latter must of course hold in regard to the corresponding minors of the former.
XXIII.—Change of Electric Resistance of Nickel due to Magnetisation at Different Temperatures
Authors: Knott C. G.
Published: January 2013

Since Lord Kelvin showed that the resistance of the magnetic metals was influenced by the state of magnetisation of these substances, a good deal of work has been done in investigating more carefully the extent and nature of the relation. It does not appear, however, that any attempt has been made to discover how change of temperature affects this influence. Twelve years ago in Japan I set one of my Japanese students to the construction of an apparatus suitable for making this research. A few preliminary experiments were made; and leaving Japan shortly after, I brought the apparatus with me in the hope of continuing the work in this country. Not till this summer, however, did I find leisure to return to the problem. The results obtained I wish now to lay before the Society.
XXIV.—A Contribution to the Craniology of the People of Scotland. Part I., Anatomical
Authors: Turner William
Published: January 2013

Up to the present time no systematic account of the cranial characters of the people of Scotland has been published. Incidental references to, and measurements of, a limited number of Scottish skulls may indeed be found in the writings of various authors, as in Sir Daniel Wilson's Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, in Drs Davis and Thurnam's Crania Britannica, and in Professor Cleland's Memoir on Variations in the Human Skull. Measurements of five Scottish crania are recorded by Sir W. H. Flower in the Osteological Catalogue (Man) of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, four of which were found amongst the ruins of an ancient Culdee Monastery at St Andrews, and the fifth is said to be that of a Highlander. Dr Barnard Davis, in his Thesaurus Craniorum, gives the measurements of a somewhat larger number, six of which were from Caithness, and one is stated to be a Scottish Highlander. The same skulls have been remeasured and described by Dr J. G. Garson.
IX.—Specific Gravities and Oceanic Circulation
Authors: Buchan Alex.
Published: January 2013

In the report on Oceanic Circulation, based on the observations made on board H.M.S. “Challenger,” and other observations, which was published in the beginning of 1895 as an Appendix in the Summary of Results, Second Part Challenger Reports, the specific gravities dealt with were all at the standard temperature of 60° Fahr., the standard density being that of distilled water at 39°·2 (4° C). By this method of treatment the question of the salinity or saltness of the water is approximately stated, unquestionably one of the most important questions affecting the physics of the ocean. But the movement of the water, or oceanic circulation, as resulting from different densities, can only be represented by stating, not the specific gravity reduced to the uniform temperature of 60°, but the specific gravity at the observed temperature at all points in the ocean at which observations are made. In this paper these specific gravities are viewed in their relations to the circulation of the waters of the ocean.
XXIII.—The Development of the Müllerian Ducts of Reptiles
Authors: Wilson Gregg
Published: January 2013

We have already accounts of the development of the Müllerian ducts of reptiles from Braun (1), Mihalkovics (2), Hoffmann (3), and Wiedersheim (4). All of these writers agree in saying that the Müllerian ducts arise quite independently of the segmental ducts; but in view of recent attempts to show that in the other groups of vertebrates there are forms in which the Müllerian ducts are derived from the segmental ducts, it seemed expedient to reconsider this conclusion, and I have accordingly examined the development of the ducts in Crocodilus biporcatus, Chelone viridis, and Lacerta agilis.

As regards the derivation of the Müllerian ducts from cœlomic epithelium, I can only confirm the above-mentioned authorities; but I am able to supplement what they say as to the first foundation and the formation of the anterior end. I find that the anterior end is formed in reptiles, very much as in amphibians, by a modification of the cœlomic epithelium in the region of the pronephros. Backward growth proceeds independently alike of the segmental duct and of the epithelium of the body-cavity posterior to the ostium abdominale.
XXIV.—On a Development of a Determinant of the mnthOrder
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

(1) The theorem in question concerns the finding of an expression for a determinant of composite order in terms of compound determinants or permanents of lower order; or, more definitely, the expression of a determinant of the mnth order as an aggregate of determinants or permanents of the mth order, each of whose elements is a determinant of the nth order.
XXX.—Non-Alternate ± Knots
Authors: Little C. N.
Published: January 2013

1. The following paper is a contribution to the theory of non-alternate ± knots, together with a census of these knots for Order Ten; that is, all the knots are given which have in reduced form just ten crossings, and in which the thread does not proceed alternately over and under.

The census was begun in the fall of '93, and carried so far that the forms were drawn. The matter was then laid aside and taken up anew in the spring of '99.

2. Having postulated an endless one-dimensional continuum which may change its length and form in any way, subject only to the condition that it can never have a double point, and consequently no one portion can be made to break through another, I understand by a knot a continuum which can not be brought to a circular form.
XXXI.—The Meteorology of Ben Nevis in Clear and in Foggy Weather
Authors: Buchanan J. Y.
Published: January 2013

The publication by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1890 of the hourly observations made at the observatory on the summit of Ben Nevis along with corresponding observations at five different hours at Fort-William at the sea level was an important contribution to meteorological science. As I held at the time the Lectureship in Geography at the University of Cambridge it furnished a welcome supply of facts for the illustration of important points in physical geography. What struck me most at the time in the study of this work was the unique character of the observatory of Ben Nevis itself, without reference to its companion at the sea level, as a first-class observatory in a locality where the atmosphere is for the greater part of the year completely saturated with moisture. Being also situated on a true peak, and that the highest point in the British Islands, the observations may fairly be taken to represent the meteorology of the clouds, or at least of such clouds as are in contact with mountain slopes, and in any case they must afford rich material for the study of the physics of the atmosphere.