bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
XXII.—Notice of the Completion of the New Rock Thermometers at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and what they are for
Authors: Smyth Piazzi
Published: January 2013

On the 26th of last month the full year appointed by Government Contract for the testing of the new Rock-Thermometers having expired, and they having approved themselves at all points, been accepted, and set fairly afloat on a new course of observation,—I hasten to announce the event to the Royal Society, Edinburgh, who have long had a lively interest both in these instruments and in the problems they have been employed upon.
X.—On the Oxidation Products of Picoline
Authors: Dewar James
Published: January 2013

The combined researches of Anderson and Williams on the basic compounds contained in coal tar have led to the discovery of two well-defined series of organic bases, called respectively the Pyridine and Chinoline series, the members of both of which possess the properties of nitrile bases. The isomerism between the pyridine and the aniline series of bases excited considerable interest at the time of its discovery. The subsequent researches of Williams on the products of the distillation of chinchonine led to the discovery of bases having the same composition as the members of the pyridine and chinoline series of coal tar. When first discovered they were supposed to be identical. Since that time, however, a careful examination and comparison of the tar series of bases with the chinchonine series has led Mr Williams to the interesting discovery that the two lutidines, as also the two chinolines, are in reality not identical, but isomeric. This introduces a greater complexity into the study of the constitution of these compounds.
XX.—On the Anatomy and Histology of Pleurochæta Moseleyi
Authors: Beddard F. E.
Published: January 2013

Two specimens of the worm which forms the subject of this memoir were brought to Professor Moseley, in 1872, by a coolie trained for the purposes of collecting by Dr. Thwaites, F.R.S., the distinguished curator of the Peradeniya Gardens at Kandy; each was found at the bottom of a deep burrow, in company with a single egg-case, in the neighbourhood of that town. Professor Moseley entrusted me with them for study and description, and I have to thank him for much valuable assistance during the course of my work, which was carried on in the Oxford Natural History Museum.
VI.—The Elementary Composition of Nitroglycerine
Authors: Hay Matthew , Masson Orme
Published: January 2013

Nitroglycerine is commonly described as the tri-nitric ether of glyceryl, and the formula C3H5(O.NO2)3 is accorded to it. This theory of its composition is based (1) upon its mode of formation; (2) upon the statement, made by Railton, Williamson, and others, that it is decomposed by potash into potassium nitrate and glycerine; (3) upon several estimations of the nitrogen which it contains, and one comparative estimation of its carbon. The second argument cannot be accepted, as it has been shown by one of us that the decomposition does not take place in the way stated; and the analytical results which have been obtained by the various investigators are so incomplete and mostly so imperfect, and differ so greatly among themselves, that they cannot be taken as affording any proof of the composition of the substance. It seemed to us, therefore, desirable that some accurate estimations should be obtained, not only of the nitrogen but of the carbon and hydrogen. A brief résume of previous analytical results will show that this is the case.
VII.—Report on the Tunicata collected during the Cruise of H.M.S. “ Triton ” in the Summer of 1882
Authors: Herdman W. A.
Published: January 2013

This collection was sent to me for examination some months ago by Mr Murray. It may be conveniently divided into two very natural groups:—

1. Ascidiacea, including the forms dredged or trawled from the bottom of the sea.

2. Thaliacea, including the free-swimming pelagic forms captured by the tow-net at or below the surface.
XI.—On Superposed Magnetisms in Iron and Nickel
Authors: Knott C. G.
Published: January 2013

The experiments which form the subject of this paper are designed, in the first place, to test the relation pointed out by Maxwell between Joule's discovery of the lengthening of iron in the direction of magnetisation, and Wiedemann's later researches into the twisting of iron under the influence of longitudinal and circular magnetisations, and, in the second place, to investigate the corresponding properties of nickel.
XII.—On the Relative Electro-Chemical Positions of Wrought Iron, Steels, Cast Metal, &c, in Sea-Water and other Solutions
Authors: Andrews Thomas
Published: January 2013

The experiments contained in this memoir were made by the author with the galvanometer on wrought iron, steel, cast metal, &c, bars and plates, arranged in galvanic circuit in sea-water and various other waters and solutions, to determine the relative electro-chemical position of these metals under such circumstances.
XV.—On the Formation of Small Clear Spaces in Dusty Air
Authors: Aitken John
Published: January 2013

The dust particles floating in our atmosphere are every day demanding more and more attention. As our knowledge of these unseen particles increases, our interest deepens, and I might almost say gives place to anxiety, when we realise the vast importance these dust particles have on life, whether it be those inorganic ones so small as to be beyond the powers of the microscope, or those larger organic ones which float unseen through our atmosphere, and which, though invisible, are yet the messengers of sickness and of death to many—messengers far more real and certain than poet or painter has ever conceived.
XX.—Philosophy of Language
Authors: Blackie J. S.
Published: January 2013

The Universe, as we have it, is an organised system of rational or reasonable forces and forms; of which the former are the product of the plastic, self-energising, productive power within, the latter the external presentation or manifestation of that power.
XXIII.—An Example of the Method of Deducing a Surface from a Plane Figure
Authors: Cremona L.
Published: January 2013

Let there be given, in a plane π, six (fundamental) points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, of which neither any three lie in a right line, nor all in a conic; and consider the six conics [1] ≡ 23456, [2] ≡ 13456, [3] ≡ 12456, [4] ≡ 12356, [5] ≡ 12346, [6] ≡ 12345, and the fifteen right lines 12, 13,…, 16, 23,…, 56.

There is a pencil of cubics 1223456 (curves of the third order, having a node at 1 and passing through the other fundamental points); their tangents at the common node form an involution, viz., they are harmonically conjugate with regard to two fixed rays. Five pairs of conjugate rays of this involution are already known; for instance, the line 12 and the conic [2] have conjugate directions at the point 1, for, they make up a cubic 1223456.
XXI.—On the Expiatory and Substitutionary Sacrifices of the Greeks
Authors: Donaldson James
Published: January 2013

I have to explain at the outset that the title of my paper has been chosen for the sake of brevity. Both the words “expiatory” and “substitutionary” are liable to be misunderstood and abused in argument. I shall, therefore, avoid the word “expiate” as much as possible; but as I cannot do without a frequent use of the words “substitution” and “substitutionary,” I merely note at present that there are various modes of substitution and various purposes served by it, and that it is very important in an argument to state accurately both the mode and the purpose.

The object of my paper is to place the two prevalent theories of the origin of sacrifice in juxtaposition with the facts which we have in regard to Greek sacrifices, in order that we may see what light the facts may throw on the theories. For this purpose I first state the two theories.
XXII.—New General Formulœ for the Transformation of Infinite Series into Continued Fractions
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

In Crelle's Journal, vol. x., Stern devotes fifteen pages (pp. 245-259) of his Theorie der Kettenbrüche to the examination and elucidation of the following problems:—

as continued fractions of the form

where a1, a2, a3, … are independent of x.
XXIV.—The Igneous Geology of the Burntisland District
Authors: Allan Douglas A.
Published: January 2013

The district examined in the course of the research embodied in this paper is the south-eastern part of the county of Fife, lying between the coast-towns of Aberdour and Kirkcaldy, and stretching inland to a roughly semicircular boundary enclosing Auchtertool, Raith and Chapel. The area within these limits, amounting to approximately 30 square miles, was mapped on a scale of 6 inches to a mile, and the chief results of the field-work are shown in the map on Plate III.
V.—Studies in Irregular Nutrition. No. I. The Parasitism of Cuscuta reflexa (Roxb.)
Authors: Thomson John
Published: January 2013

This piece of work was undertaken as the result of certain observations made during class-work on irregular nutrition. This particular species of Cuscuta was being successfully grown at the time in Glasgow Botanic Gardens, and my sincerest thanks are due to Mr Banks, the Curator of the Gardens, who has very kindly allowed me to have abundant material at all times, and has also provided me with various host-plants upon which to grow the parasite. He has also allowed me to make observations on the plants growing in the Gardens, and to take photographs whenever I wished.
X.—A Human Blastocyst in situ.
Authors: Stump C. Witherington
Published: January 2013

The specimen to be described in this paper was presented to the embryological collection of the Anatomy Department of the University of Sydney by Dr A. A. Palmer of the Public Health Service of New South Wales.

It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge indebtedness to Dr Palmer, not only for his kindness in making over the specimen to the Department, but also for his swift recognition of its interest.
XIV.—On a Class of Alternating Functions
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

A glance at the expression

is sufficient to verify the fact that it is symmetric with respect to a, b, c, d, and also with respect to α, β, γ, δ. It is likewise, although not quite so evidently, an alternating function with respect to the interchange

that is to say, if a and α be interchanged, and at the same time b and β, c and γ, d and δ, the function is not altered in magnitude, but merely changes sign. With a little trouble, indeed, the expression can be transformed into

or say
XVII.—On the Fossil Flora of the Radstock Series of the Somerset and Bristol Coal Field (Upper Coal Measures)
Authors: Kidston Robert
Published: January 2013

My attention for the last few years having been specially directed to the vertical distribution of the Carboniferous Fossil Flora, it is my intention to publish a series of papers dealing with this subject.

While carrying on these investigations it has been necessary, in addition to visiting public and private collections, to visit several of the coal fields for the purpose of collecting specimens, as in almost no case have the smaller and less attractive species been secured, and, as a rule, only what strikes the ordinary collector as being “a fine specimen” is preserved, to the exclusion of many less striking but often more valuable examples. Hence our public collections, and, with few exceptions, also our private collections, give a very imperfect idea of the richness of the flora of the Carboniferous Formation of Britain.
XIX.—On the Minute Structure of the Eye in certain Cymothoidæ
Authors: Beddard Frank E.
Published: January 2013

The structure of the eye in Isopods has been less studied than in any other group of Arthropods; the only modern descriptions of the minute anatomy of the eye in these crustaceans known to me are by Grenacher of Porcellio, by Bullar of Cymothoa, by Bellonci of Sphæroma, by myself of the genus Serolis. I have lately had the opportunity, while engaged upon my Report upon the “Challenger” Isopoda, of investigating the eye in several species of Æga and allied genera. The structure of the eye in these Isopods differs very materially from the descriptions given by Grenacher and Bullar, but agrees very closely with the structure of the eye in Serolis.
XXII.—On the Partition of Energy between the Translatory and Rotational Motions of a Set of Non-Homogeneous Elastic Spheres
Authors: Burnside W.
Published: January 2013

At the suggestion of Prof. Tait, an attempt has been made in this paper to apply the method used by him in § 21 of his paper on “The Foundations of the Kinetic Theory of Gases” to a case of the question of the distribution of energy in a system of non-homogeneous impinging spheres.

The problem may be stated as follows:—Given a very great number of smooth elastic spheres, equal and like in all respects, whose centres of figure and centres of inertia do not coincide, and the sum of whose volumes is but a small fraction of the space in which they move, it is required to find the ultimate distribution of energy among the various degrees of freedom when by collisions the system has attained a “special state.”
V.—On the Connection between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action. Part. I.—On the Physiological Action of the Salts of the Ammonium Bases, derived from Strychnia, Brucia, Thebaia, Codeia, Morphia, and Nicotia
Authors: Brown A. Crum , Fraser Thomas R.
Published: January 2013

There can be no reasonable doubt that a relation exists between the physiological action of a substance and its chemical composition and constitution, understanding by the latter term the mutual relations of the atoms in the substance. There are numerous indications of such a relation, and attempts have been made to express it formally in certain cases. Thus it has been long observed, that the salts of the same base have a common physiological action, and it has been pointed out by Mr Blake that, with some exceptions, the salts of isomorphous bases have a similar action. A corresponding likeness in physiological action may be traced in salts having the same acid, but beyond these generalisations we are not aware that any approach has been made to the statement of a law connecting the physiological action of a substance with its chemical constitution.
VIII. New Series for the Quadrature of the Conic Sections, and the Computation of Logarithms
Authors: Wallace William
Published: January 2013

The Quadrature of the Conic Sections, and the Computation of Logarithms, are problems of considerable importance, not only in the elements of Mathematics, but also in the higher branches of that science. On this account, every successful attempt to simplify their resolution, as well as any new formulæ which may be found applicable to that purpose, must always be interesting, and must in some measure contribute to the improvement of mathematical knowledge.
IX. Remarks on a Mineral from Greenland, supposed to be Crystallised Gadolinite
Authors: Allan Thomas
Published: January 2013

Among a parcel of minerals which I procured last spring, there are specimens of two very rare fossils; one of them, the Cryolite, the other I believe a variety of the Gadolinite. The former, is accurately described in the different mineralogical works, and I have little to add to the information contained in them. But the Gadolinite appears to be very imperfectly known, and has never yet been described as a crystallised fossil.
II.—General Theorems on Determinants
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: January 2013

The rows of a determinant of the nth order having been separated into two sets, one containing the first p rows and the other the rest, if each minor of the pth degree formed from the first set be multiplied by a minor, called its complementary, formed from the second set, and the result have its sign chosen in accordance with a certain law, it is well known as an elementary theorem that the aggregate of the products thus obtained is equal to the original determinant.
III.—Chapters on the Mineralogy of Scotland. Chapter Sixth.—“Chloritic Minerals.”
Authors: Heddle
Published: January 2013

There is no department of natural science which is so defective in its general scheme of arrangement as mineralogy; and its sectional grouping is, if possible, still more defective.

Such correlations as are expressed by the terms, “the Micas,”—“the Felspars,”—“ the Garnets,” &c., are only admissible if the substances united in such groups are included under one general formula, and function in a more or less similar manner as rock-formers.
II. Description of a New Darkening Glass for Solar Observations, which has also the property of polarising the whole of the transmitted Light
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

It will be readily admitted by every person who has been accustomed to solar observations, that an apparatus for diminishing the intensity of the sun's light, without distorting or colouring the resulting image, is still a desideratum in Practical Astronomy.

Dr Herschel is the only person who has given any degree of attention to this subject. When he applied his powerful telescopes to examine the surface of the sun, he found that the ordinary method of attenuating the light by smoked or coloured glasses, was of no avail; and it was in the prosecution of his experiments for determining the relative advantages of differently coloured glasses, or of combinations of differently coloured glasses, that he was conducted to those splendid discoveries respecting the invisible rays, which have formed an epoch both in Chemistry and Optics.
V. On the Origin of Cremation, or the Burning of the Dead
Authors: Jamieson John
Published: January 2013

As far as we can judge from historical records, the primeval mode of disposing of dead bodies, was by inhumation. It has been observed in another essay, that according to Pliny, the ancient Romans did not burn their dead, but consigned them to the earth. It must be admitted, however, that by some the mode of cremation had been preferred in a very early period of their history; as we cannot otherwise account for the prohibition, which Plutarch ascribes to Numa, as to the burning of his body.
XIII. Account of the remarkable Case of Margaret Lyall, who continued in a State of Sleep nearly Six Weeks
Authors: Brewster James
Published: January 2013

My Dear Brother,

The inclosed account was drawn up at the request of Robert Græme, Esq. when all the circumstances were fresh in my own recollection, and that of all with whom I had occasion to confer on the subject. Since you requested me to send you a correct copy of the whole case, I have renewed my inquiries among the friends of the young woman, and submitted my account to several persons, who were most capable of supplying any omissions, or correcting any mistakes. I can confidently vouch for the general accuracy of the statement; but would not wish its credibility to rest entirely on my single testimony.
III.—Report on Fossil Fishes collected by the Geological Survey of Scotland in Eskdale and Liddesdale. Part I.—Ganoidei
Authors: Traquair Ramsay H.
Published: January 2013

I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Ramsay, Director-General, and of Professor Geikie, Director of the Scottish Branch of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, for the privilege of examining and describing a remarkable collection of fossil fish-remains from the Lower Carboniferous rocks (Calciferous Sandstone Series) of Eskdale and Liddesdale. Most of the specimens were collected by Mr Arthur Macconochie, one of the collectors attached to the Scottish Geological Survey; and Mr Walter Park of Brooklyn Cottage, Langholm, has also willingly co-operated in the search, so far as the district of Eskdale is concerned. I have myself also had the pleasure of twice visiting Eskdale, along with Mr Macconochie and Mr B. N. Peach, and on these occasions I obtained a few specimens for my own collection.
VI.—On a Special Class of Sturmians
Authors: Chrystal
Published: January 2013

If Sn be a rational integral function of x of the nth degree, and Sn-1 Sn-2… S1 S0 a series of such functions of the n — 1th, n—2th, &c., degrees, so related to Sn that, when any one of the whole series S0 S1…. Sn vanishes, the two on opposite sides have opposite signs, and farther Sn-1 and Sn have always opposite signs when x is just less than any real root of Sn = 0, then S0 S1… Sn-1 may be called a set of Sturmians to Sn. It is obvious that the problem of finding such a set of functions admit of an infinite number of solutions. The first discovery of such a set was made by Sturm, and the researches of Sylvester, Hermite, and others have shown how other solutions of the problem may be obtained.
XV.—On some new Species of Fossil Scorpions from the Carboniferous Rocks of Scotland and the English Borders, with a Review of the Genera Eoscorpius and Mazonia of Messrs Meek and Worthen
Authors: Peach B. N.
Published: January 2013

In the progress of the Geological Survey of the South of Scotland, specimens referable to the genus Eoscorpius have been gradually accumulating. In 1876 J. Bennie, Fossil Collector to the Survey, obtained an example from the Coal-measures of Fife. Since then fragments have been disinterred by him and by A. Macconochie, also Fossil Collector to the Survey, from the Calciferous Sandstone series in the counties of Edinburgh, Berwick, Roxburgh, Dumfries, and Northumberland and Cumberland. It was not till the spring of last year (1880) that they began to be found in such a state as to necessitate a description of the fossils. In the summer of that year A. Macconochie obtained an almost entire example from the neighbourhood of Langholm, in Dumfriesshire. This year (1881) J. Bennie has secured several good though fragmentary specimens from the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, while A. Macconochie has sent in several from the counties of Berwick and Northumberland. In my capacity of Acting Palæontologist, I have had an opportunity of studying these remains, and by the permission of A. C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., Director General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, and Professor A. Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland, I have been allowed to describe them.
XVII.—On the Constitution of the Lines forming the Low-Temperature Spectrum of Oxygen
Authors: Smyth Piazzi
Published: January 2013

I had added (at p. 140 of my paper on “Gaseous Spectra”) to the “small dispersion” account therein given of the above mentioned spectrum of luminous oxygen gas,—that two, if not four, of its very few and scanty lines appeared, when viewed with much higher dispersion, to be double; but that I hoped to give a more exact account of them, after completing some arrangements then in progress for increasing both the dispersion and magnifying power of my spectroscope.
I. Experiments on the Motion of the Sap in Trees
Authors: Walker John
Published: January 2013

The discovery of the circulation of the blood in animals was soon followed by conjectures concerning the existence of a like circulation in the sap of vegetables. These conjectures gave rise to the first improvements in vegetable physiology, which may be dated from the appearance of a set of queries concerning the motion of the juices of plants, published in the Philosophical Transactions, anno 1668. These queries immediately engaged Dr Beale and Dr Tonge, and afterwards Dr Grew, Mr Willoughby, Mr Ray, and Dr Lister, to enter upon the subject; who, in a great variety of observations, struck out the first considerable discoveries in the vegetable œconomy.
IV. On the Use of Negative Quantities in the Solution of Problems by Algebraic Equations
Authors: Greenfield William
Published: January 2013

By the introduction of letters into algebra, to denote all the quantities, both known and unknown, involved in an equation, this very important advantage was gained, that the final equation exhibited both a general rule for the solution of all similar problems, and also the limitations within which such problems were possible.
VII. An Improvement of the Method of correcting the Observed Distance of the Moon from the Sun or a Fixed Star
Authors: Elliot Thomas
Published: January 2013

Problem

Having the apparent distance of the Moon's centre from a fixed Star, or from the centre of the Sun, together with the apparent altitudes of their centres, to find the true distance.

Solution

The difference between the apparent and true altitudes, and the angles which the Moon and Star make with the zenith and each other, must be known before the several corrections of distance are computed.
X. Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe.
Authors: Hutton James
Published: January 2013

When we trace the parts of which this terrestrial system is composed, and when we view the general connection of those several parts, the whole presents a machine of a peculiar construction by which it is adapted to a certain end. We perceive a fabric, erected in wisdom, to obtain a purpose worthy of the power that is apparent in the production of it.
IV. An Essay upon the Principles of Historical Composition, with an Application of those Principles to the Writings of Tacitus
Authors: Hill John
Published: January 2013

Few literary exertions put the author's abilities to a severer test than the composition of history. The poet may create a subject for himself, or he may adopt one that is but imperfectly known. In the composition of an epic poem, he instructs and pleases by exhibiting such a train of actions as might have taken place, and, unless he violates probability, his invention may bid defiance to restraint. If his work be imperfect, he has himself to blame, as those very powers which give the form to his subject, gave it first its existence.
V.On the Dramatic or Ancient Form of Historical Composition
Authors: Richardson William
Published: January 2013

In comparing ancient with modern historians, we meet with one remarkable circumstance in which they differ. The ancient historians are dramatic, the modern narrative. The ancients exhibit eminent persons delivering long speeches, adorned, as the occasion may require, with all the graces and force of eloquence. This is seldom done by the moderns. If it is ever necessary to give an account of what may have been delivered on an interesting subject by an eminent speaker, they tell us, excepting in such works as may be accounted translations, or in such histories, as those of Buchanan and Guicciardini, written manifestly after the models of antiquity, That he made use of such or such arguments; and, adhering strictly to the narrative form, they never venture on the bolder task of displaying him in his own person, delivering a long oration.
VI. A Grammatical Essay on the Nature, Import, and Effect of certain Conjunctions; particularly the Greek ΔE.
Authors: Hunter John
Published: January 2013

It is a maxim in physics, that “an effect ought not to be “ ascribed to the joint operation of many causes, if fewer “ are adequate to the production of it.” Frustra fit per plura, quod fieri potest per pauciora. This maxim is no less just when applied to language. It is equally unphilosophical in grammar and in physics, to multiply without necessity the principles from which the phænomena are to be explained.
V. Notice of the Fossil Fishes found in the Old Red-Sandstone formation of Orkney, particularly of an undescribed species, Diplopterus Agassis
Authors: Traill T. S.
Published: January 2013

It is well known to those who have paid attention to the progress of Fossil Ichthyology that, until the publication of M. Agassiz, the distinctive characters of the orders, genera, and species of Fossil Fishes were but imperfectly understood. Vague analogies were relied on to connect them with the types of living genera, and the looseness of the received specific characters rendered it difficult for the geologist to determine whether the specimens he collected were previously recognised, or still nondescript. It is obvious that useful characters of fossil species are chiefly to be obtained from those portions of their structure least subject to alteration from decay; and as the exterior scaly envelopes of the primeval fishes are usually the portions best preserved and most easily recognised in their rocky sepulchres, M. Agassiz was naturally led to study these with minute attention. This acute observer speedily discovered that, in the form and connections of the scales, he had a general character which would enable him to connect into very natural groups, species differing from each other in size and form. On this basis he has established his four Orders of Fossil Fishes—the Ganoidei, the Placoidei, the Ctenoidei, and the Cyclodei—divisions named from the appearance of the scales.
XIV. Experimental Researches on the Production of Silicon from Paracyanogen
Authors: Brown Samuel M.
Published: January 2013

In a Memoir on the Preparation of Paracyanogen submitted to the Royal Society some weeks ago, I laid down the proposition, that two equal and similar molecules may enter into the state of chemical union, the combination produced being indissoluble by every known agent of analysis; and I endeavoured to establish this proposition partly on certain abstract physical considerations, and partly by a series of experiments on the production of paracyanogen by the decomposition of the bicyanide of mercury under pressure and at high temperatures.
XV. On the Anatomy of Amphioxus lanceolatus; Lancelet, Yarrell
Authors: Goodsir John
Published: January 2013

The genus Amphioxus was instituted by Mr Yarrell for the reception of a singular little animal which he received from Mr Couch. The characters of this genus, as given in the History of British Fishes, are, “Body compressed, the surface without scales, both ends pointed; a single dorsal fin extending the whole length of the back; no pectoral, ventral, anal, or caudal fins; mouth on the under part of the head, narrow, elongated, each lateral margin furnished with a row of slender filaments.”
XVI. On the Action of Water upon Lead
Authors: Christison Robert
Published: January 2013

In an experimental inquiry into the action of water on lead, published by me in 1829, in continuation of some previous researches by Guyton-Morveau, it was stated as the general result, that all very pure waters, such as distilled water, rain, and melted snow, act upon lead,—dissolving a trace of it, and causing the formation of an insoluble carbonate of lead in large quantity. It was like-wise shewn, that this action is prevented by the existence of neutral salts in solution; so that most terrestrial waters, as they contain saline matter, act feebly and only in circumstances favourable in other respects. Farther, it appeared to flow from comparative experiments, that this preventive power depends upon the acids of the salts, and not upon their bases;—and that their energy as preventives, that is, the minuteness of the proportion required to annihilate the action, is in the ratio of the insolubility of the compounds which the acids of the salts are capable of forming with oxide of lead.
XIX. On the Quarantine Classification of Substances, with a view to the Prevention of Plague
Authors: Davy John
Published: January 2013

To all those who have paid any attention to the subject of quarantine, it is well known that certain articles are held to be susceptible of conveying the contagion of plague; that certain others, in regard to this property, are considered doubtful; and that others are held to be unsusceptible of retaining and communicating it.

Are these distinctions accurate? Are they founded on well-established facts? On these questions I shall have the honour of submitting some remarks to the Society, with the hope of drawing attention to a subject of much importance, and hitherto, in a scientific point of view, strangely neglected.
XXVI.—On the Optical Phenomena, Nature, and Locality of Muscæ Volitantes; with Observations on the Structure of the Vitreous Humour, and on the Vision of Objects placed within the Eye
Authors: Brewster David
Published: January 2013

Although some of the phenomena of Muscæ volitantes may be seen by persons of all ages, and with the best eyes; and though those which are more peculiarly entitled to the name are exceedingly common beyond the middle period of life; yet no account has been given of them that has even the slightest pretension to accuracy. M. De La Hire, in his Differens accidens de la Vue, describes these Muscæ as of two kinds; some permanent and fixed, which he ascribes to small drops of extravasated blood upon the retina; and others, as flying about, and changing their place, even though the eye be fixed. The first kind, he describes as like a dark spot upon a white ground; and the second, as like the knots of a deal board. Some parts of them, he says, are very clear, and surrounded with dark threads, and are accompanied with long fillets of irregular shapes, which are bright in the middle, and terminated on each side by parallel black threads.
XXXI.–On the Bebeeru Tree of British Guiana
Authors: Maclagan Douglas
Published: January 2013

About three years ago, I received from my friend Dr Watt of West Coast, Demerara, specimens of the bark of a tree, native of British Guiana, which had been found by Mr Rodie, late surgeon R.N., to contain a vegetable alkali, and to possess some value as a remedy in the intermittent fevers of that colony. Mr Rodie made known his discovery by means of a letter which he published in the year 1834. I made some experiments with the piece of bark, at that time in my possession; but the conclusions at which I then arrived did not appear to be worthy of being published. It was obvious to me, however, from the results which I obtained, that Mr Rodie's statement was so far correct, that the bark did contain a bitter matter, having all the general characters of a vegetable alkali, and capable of forming neutral compounds with acids. The exhaustion of my original little store of materials prevented me from proceeding farther, till last year, when,through the kindness of Dr Watt, I received a barrel of the bark, and likewise of the fruit of the plant.
XXXIII.—Description of a New Self-Registering Barometer
Authors: Bryson Robert
Published: January 2013

Although many proposals have been made to obtain a series of hourly meteorological observations by mechanical means, this desideratum has not, from various causes, been completely attained. The chief obstacle to be overcome, in such self-registering instruments, is the great amount of friction, which necessarily vitiates all the results, more especially in delicate instruments, such as the barometer and thermometer.

Dr Robert Hooke was the first to propose a self-registered series of meteorological observations, by an instrument, which he quaintly called a Weather-wiser; but no further notice is taken of this contrivance than a short description in one of his tracts, bearing the date 5th December 1678, which would lead us to believe that the instrument was never used. The late Alexander Keith, Esq. of Ravelston also proposed a similar contrivance, a description of which is contained in this Society's Transactions, Vol. 4th. This contrivance, from the constant friction excited by the marker on the revolving paper, seems likewise to have been abandoned.
XXXVI.—Account of a Repetition of several of Dr Samuel Brown's Processes for the Conversion of Carbon into Silicon
Authors: Wilson George , Brown John Crombie
Published: January 2013

The object of the following paper is to lay before the Royal Society the results of a repetition of several of Dr Samuel Brown's processes for the conversion of carbon into silicon. The greater number of these processes were published in the Society's Transactions for 1840–41; and certain additional ones have since appeared in a separate form. The latter were much simpler, and more readily performed, than those made public at an earlier period; and to one of these we first directed our attention.
I. Account of the Life of Lord Abercromby
Authors: Mackenzie Henry
Published: January 2013

The life of which I am about to give some account to this Society cannot be called a literary one; of literary lives only it is perhaps the proper business of the Royal Society to record the particulars; but it has been in the practice of allowing a wider range to this customary notice of its deceased Members. Of the lives of such as were eminent in station or in usefulness, in abilities or in virtue, it has been accustomed to hear a narrative, which, though not important to learning, is interesting to humanity. Under this title, it will indulge me with a short account of the life of Lord Abercromby.
III. An Inquiry into the Geometrical Character of the Hour-Lines upon the Antique Sun-Dials
Authors: Davies T. S.
Published: January 2013

Il resterait à résoudre une problème plus générale, à trouver la courbe hectémoreale sur la sphère même, et sur un cadran quelconque.

Delambre, Conn. des Temps, an. 1820, p. 341.

The nature of these lines, though a subject of repeated investigation, has never been accurately determined. The loci of the points which divide the semi-diurnal arc into n equal parts, have almost invariably been considered as great circles, and their projections upon a plane, which are the dial-lines in question, in consequence viewed as straight lines. Clavius was the first to point out, and to prove, the error of this opinion; and Montucla (or rather Lalande) not only denied that they were circles at all, but affirmed they were curves of a very fantastical kind—“tres bizarre.” This latter opinion, which is partly true and partly false, seems rather to have been inconsiderately hazarded, than derived from any satisfactory course of reasoning. They are not great circles, it is true; but, as Delambre has replied, “il y a beaucoup d'exageration à donner une forme tres bizarre à des lignes qui, dans aucun des cadrons qu'on a tracées de cette manière, n'ont jamais pas s'ecarter sensiblement de la ligne droite.”
VII. On the Horary Oscillations of the Barometer near Edinburgh, deduced from 4410 Observations; with an Inquiry into the Law of Geographical Distribution of the Phenomenon
Authors: Forbes James D.
Published: January 2013

1. The science of Meteorology must be ranked, at the present moment, among the most rising branches of natural knowledge. The transition from the hasty generalization which always marks the embryo state of science, to the application of sober inductive analysis, is one so important, and so truly interesting, as to repay amply the philosophical abstinence which it imposes. No more important lesson, indeed, can be learned, than from the very examples of crude speculation, which, for centuries, the progress of this subject has afforded among the multitudes whose scientific acquirements are limited to the art of consulting a weather-glass, or registering a thermometer, little imagining that the very science they affect to cultivate, ranks among its phenomena the interwoven effects of remote and recondite causes,—a science which, to use the words of Mr Herschel, is “one of the most complicated and difficult, but, at the same time, interesting subjects of physical research: one, however, which has of late begun to be studied with a diligence which promises the speedy disclosure of relations and laws, of which, at present, we can form but a very imperfect notion.”
XIV.—Description of Asofœtida Plants (Narthex Asafœtida, Falconer) which have recently borne Flowers and Fruit in the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh
Authors: Balfour J. H.
Published: January 2013

By means of my correspondents abroad, and more particularly through the kind offices of Dr Christison, I have been enabled from time to time to cultivate in the Botanic Garden some of the rarer plants of the Materia Medica. Several of these, such as the Jalap plant, the Quassia, and the Aconitum ferox, have been already described and figured by me. The present is an interesting addition, and at the suggestion of Dr Christison I have brought it under the notice of the Royal Society.
XV.—On the Constitution of Oil of Cajeput
Authors: Schmidl Maximilian
Published: January 2013

The constitution and properties of the essential oils attracted considerable attention during the earlier period of the investigations in organic chemistry, and several of them have contributed in no small degree to the development of the general doctrines of that department of the science. A majority of these substances, however, may be said to be still almost unknown, all the information we possess regarding them being restricted to a single analysis, made on what was obviously a mixture, or to a few observations of a general and often indefinite character. The complex nature of many essential oils, and the want of experience and easy processes for the separation of their constituents, have hitherto deterred chemists from attempting their minute examination, but the progress of the science has increased our knowledge of the methods of investigating these substances, and renders it important that their true constitution and position in the chemical system be definitely fixed. With this object I have taken up the investigation of Oil of Cajeput; our information regarding which is confined to a single analysis made by Blanchet and Sell, some five and twenty years ago.
VII. An Account of a Singular Halo of the Moon
Authors: Hall William
Published: January 2013

Dear Sir James,

I Send under cover the representation of a very singular Halo of the Moon, (See Pl. V,), seen here on the night of the 18th of February last, about 10 o'clock, and this I have hitherto delayed, in order, if possible, to gain farther information in the neighbourhood concerning it.

During the short continuance of the small halo, which did not exceed 10 minutes after I got notice of it, I could not lay my hands on any other instrument to take the angles, but a Sisson's theodolite, which, unluckily, having been constructed so as not to admit of a vertical angle so great as the moon's altitude then was, I laid it aside, not recollecting that it might have measured several of the smaller angles. But I observed sundry marks, from which I took the angles as exactly as I could next day.
XI. Description of a Barometer, which marks the Rise and Fall of the Mercury from two different Times of Observation
Authors: Keith Alexander
Published: January 2013

In August last, I read to this Society the Description of an Air Thermometer intended to record the various degrees of heat at every instant; and mentioned my intention of constructing a barometer, which would, in the same manner, record the variations of the weight of the atmosphere: Both which I proposed to adapt to one piece of clock-work.

This piece of machinery appearing too complicated and expensive for general use, I contrived a thermometer, which marks the extreme points of heat and cold from any two times of observation. Of which instrument I also lately read an account, and produced the machine itself.
XIX. On the Mineralogy of Disko Island
Authors: Giesecké Charles
Published: January 2013

Disko Island, (see Plate XV ), is situated in front of a bay in the continent of Greenland, within Davis' Strait, known by the name of Disko Bay, which is sometimes called, particularly in the old Dutch charts, Sydost Bay. This name is derived from an immense curvature, screened by innumerable islands, made in the continent by the sea. Disko Island is situated in 69° 14ʹ of N. latitude. It is distant from the continent towards the south 12 German miles; on the west and north it is surrounded by the sea of Davis' Strait; and on the east, it is separated by a narrow sound, distinguished by the name of Waygat by the Dutch, and by the Greenlanders Ikareseksoak. It stretches northward from 69° 14ʹ to 70° 24ʹ; and its greatest breadth, which is from Fortune Bay on the west, to Flakkerhuk, so named by the Dutch, on the east, is 10 German miles.
XXIV. On the Application of Analysis to the Discovery of Local Theorems and Porisms
Authors: Babbage Charles
Published: January 2013

Those who have devoted much of their attention to mathematical inquiries, must have had frequent occasion to admire mire the unexpected and intimate connection which subsists between branches of their science apparently the most remote and unconnected with each other; and repeated observation will have convinced them, that no researches, however recondite or abstruse, should be neglected, because they appear to stand isolated and detached from the body of the science. These reflections appear to have been felt with strongest force, by those who have most contributed to its advancement, and were particularly insisted on by Maclaurin, in the Preface to his Geometria Organica. The present Paper will add another example, to instances already numerous, of the latent affinity between departments of mathematics, usually regarded as the most opposite.
XXV. Observations on the Errors in the Sea-Rates of Chronometers, arising from the Magnetism of their Balances; with Suggestions for removing this source of Error
Authors: Scoresby William
Published: January 2013

The value of the Chronometer for finding the Longitude at Sea, being, by the experience of many years trial, fully established, I am induced to offer to the Royal Society some remarks on the change of rate observed in this instrument, when on ship-board. This change of rate, that had usually been supposed to arise from the motion of the ship, has recently heen attributed, by Mr Fisher, who accompanied Captain Buchan in his Voyage towards the North Pole in the year 1818, ‘to the magnetic action exerted by the iron in the ship upon ‘the inner rim of the Chronometer's balance, which is composed of steel.’ I apprehend, however, that it will be very easy to show, that although the alteration of rate may be, and most probably is, owing to magnetism, yet the magnetic action of the iron in the ship, excepting in cases where chronometers are placed in immediate contact with large masses of iron, can contribute but in a very small degree to the error in question.
XXVI. Report on a Communication from Dr Dyce of Aberdeen, to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, ‘On Uterine Irritation, and its Effects on the Female Constitution.’
Authors: Dewar H.
Published: January 2013

The communication received from Dr Dyce chiefly consists of a description of a singular affection of the nervous system, and mental powers, to which a girl of sixteen was subject immediately before puberty, and which disappeared when that state was fully established. It exemplifies the powerful influence of the state of the uterus on the mental faculties; but its chief value arises from some curious relations which it presents to the phenomena of mind, and which claim the attention of the practical metaphysician. The mental symptoms of this affection are among the number of those which are considered as uncommonly difficult of explanation. It is a case of mental disease, attended with some advantageous manifestations of the intellectual powers; and these manifestations disappearing in the same individual in the healthy state.
XXXIII. Electro-Magnetic Experiments and Observations
Authors: Traill Thomas Stewart , Scoresby William
Published: January 2013

The interesting discoveries of Oersted, and the subsequent researches of Ampere, Arago, Davy, and Von Buch, which promise to throw a clearer light on the mysterious nature of Galvanism and Magnetism, induced us to undertake, and pursue conjunctly, a series of Electro-magnetic experiments. In prosecuting our inquiries in this new branch of scientific investigation, we have observed various interesting facts, some of which appeared to us new, while others did not seem to have been detailed so fully as their importance merited.