bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
2. On a New Method in the Conic Sections
Authors: Russell J. Scott
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author institutes an examination of the various methods of conceiving and constructing the conic sections, the different standards of comparison to which they have been referred, and the means by which their properties have been developed and expressed in the ancient and modern schools of mathematics. He finds that the constitution of the curves in plano by means of their remarkable properties, and the demonstration of their other properties from the constitution so obtained; have been noticed by Eutocius in the 6th century, and by him referred to Apollonius, although the formal adoption of the plane method is generally referred to a recent date.
Discussion of one Year's Observations of Thermometers sunk to different Depths in different localities in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh
Authors: Forbes
Published: June 2016

These observations were made, at Professor Forbes's suggestion, at the expense of the British Association. They are still continued, and the present notice contains only a first approximation to the solution of the problems which they are intended to give.

The chief aim of the experiments is to ascertain the progress of Solar Heat in the Crust of the Globe, and has no immediate reference to the question of central heat; the depth to which the experiments extend being inadequate to afford decisive results on that head.
1. Notice of some observations made during the Storm of January 1839
Authors: Russell John Scott
Published: June 2016

The author stated, that the paper consisted principally of communications made by members of this society, which had been placed in his hands. Many points in the statistics of the storm had been noticed with great accuracy; and it is important, in the present promising condition of our knowledge of the statistics and philosophy of this branch of meteorology, that such communications should be arranged and preserved, for the purpose of furnishing materials for its improvement. The author went on to explain the views of the nature of storms which had been successively propounded by Franklin, Espy, Redfield, and Reid. He then read various communications of observations, from Sir John Robison, Professor Christison, Mr Nichol, Mr Stevenson, Professor Wallace, Mr Hunter of Thurston, Mr Scott, Sir David Brewster, Mr Russell, Mr Bald, and other gentlemen, who had, with himself, taken an interest in the subject. The paper concluded with deductions of a general nature from the facts observed.
2. On Fresnel's Law for the Intensity of Reflected and Refracted Light
Authors: Kelland
Published: June 2016

The object of this memoir was to remove from the molecular theory, difficulties in which the recent investigations of Mr Green appear to involve it. The question at issue is the ratio of the densities of the ether within and without a refracting medium. The usual mechanical hypotheses would appear to lead to the conclusion that the former density is the greater; whilst from the molecular hypothesis the latter appears to be the truth.
2. Memorandum on the Intensity of Reflected Light and Heat
Authors: Forbes
Published: June 2016

“At the meeting of the Society on the 4th February, I remarked, on the occasion of Professor Kelland's paper on the Intensity of Reflected Light, that it was almost without a parallel in science, that a quantitative physical law like that of the intensity of the reflection of light at different angles, should have first been divined by the rare sagacity of Fresnel, and confirmed by the very different but elaborate mathematical investigations which Mr Green of Cambridge and Professor Kelland have applied to the subject, whilst scarcely any attempt has been made towards its verification by direct experiment.
2. Investigation of analogous properties of Co-ordinates of Elliptic and Hyperbolic Sectors
Authors: Wallace W.
Published: June 2016

The object of this paper is to investigate, for the ellipse and hyperbola, a series of propositions analogous to those which, in the circle, constitute the calculus of sines.

Any diameter of an ellipse, or a transverse diameter of a hyperbola, is expressed by a, its conjugate diameter by b, and the ratio of these diameters, viz. by c. The nature of the curves is exbpressed by this formula, In the ellipse, c has the sign +, but in the hyperbola the sign −.
4. On certain circumstances affecting the Colour of Blood during Coagulation
Authors: Newbigging P. K.
Published: June 2016

The author described in this paper certain anomalous appearances presented by venous blood when left in contact with coloured porcelain. When blood drawn from a vein is either allowed to coagulate in a porcelain cup, or after coagulation is left in it for some hours, the dark purple tint characteristic of venous blood is found to be altered to the bright arterial hue, wherever it was in contact with any elevated device of the green colour, which is communicated by means of protoxide of chrome. In one instance the same effect was produced by a device of a crimson tint; but in more than sixty trials with this and every other variety of colour used in ornamenting porcelain, the author could observe no such effect as was invariably produced by patterns of a green tint.
2. On General Differentiation. Part I
Authors: Kelland
Published: June 2016

“As early as the time of Leibnitz, it was suggested that a general form might be discovered for differential coefficients, somewhat in the same way as that which applies to expansions. Notwithstanding this suggestion, the difficulty of the subject appears to have deterred mathematicians from engaging in it, until a few years since M. Liouville published a series of memoirs, in which its principles are developed, and theorems deduced applicable to the solution of a variety of difficult and important problems. Amongst a mass of particular results, the generalization of each of which would probably give a distinct aspect to the science, M. Liouville appears to have selected that one which is the most readily applicable to practice, and which, at the same time, affords conclusions remarkably convincing of its completeness.
2. Results of Additional Experiments on Terrestrial Magnetism
Authors: Forbes
Published: June 2016

“The author commences with some remarks on the degree of accuracy attainable by portable magnetic apparatus, and particularly by the use of dipping needles of moderate dimensions. A six-inch needle by Robinson of London, belonging to the Society, together with the Hansteen apparatus for horizontal intensity, were the chief instruments employed by him in a tour through Germany in 1837, in which (though magnetic investigations did not form his primary object), he endeavoured to obtain the approximate value of the elements of dip and intensity for several important stations, and also to carry out into the Eastern Alps the investigations he had already, in 1832, conducted in Switzerland.
Additional Remarks on the fatal effects of air admitted into the Veins of the Neck during Surgical Operations
Authors: Bell Charles
Published: June 2016

“He stated some interesting facts from veterinary practice. But the principal addition he desired to make was the notice of certain experiments made on the human subject after death, and which Dr Reid repeated and verified.

“A small incision being made in the lower part of the neck, the external jugular vein was found flat; but an incision being made into it on raising the shoulder and clavicle of that side, the vein opened. On holding open the integuments so that the wound might hold fluid, milk was poured into it: the milk remained stationary as in a cup; but on elevating the shoulder and clavicle, the milk descended into the vein and disappeared.
2. On the Theory of Waves. Part II
Authors: Kelland
Published: June 2016

The present memoir is a continuation of that which the author presented to the Society in April 1839. It is divided into four sections. In the first (which is marked Section 4, in continuation of the preceding memoir) the general problem of wave motion is treated of, and the equations to the surface are obtained by two different processes, giving results which agree with those obtained in the former memoir. In the second, the problem of wave motion in a canal of constant width and constant depth in the direction of the width, but of variable depth in the direction of motion, is treated by the method of the variation of parameters. The following are the approximate results:—1. The length of the wave diminishes directly as the depth diminishes. 2. That the velocity of transmission at any point is directly proportional to the square-root of the depth at that point. 3. That, in a channel uniformly and gradually shelving, the whole time of transmission of the wave from end to end, is exactly double what it would be if the depth were uniform; and, 4. That the elevation of the crest of the wave is inversely as the depth of the fluid.
2. On the Preparation of Paracyanogen, and the Isomerism of Cyanogen and Paracyanogen
Authors: Brown Samuel
Published: June 2016

After a short statement of the discovery of paracyanogen by Professor Johnston, and of its leading properties, the author proceeded to shew how, with certain precautions, cyanogen may be converted entirely, or nearly so, into the isomeric form paracyanogen. This he accomplished by exposing bicyanide of mercury suddenly to the temperature most favourable to the production of paracyanogen, which he found to be a low red heat, and employing also pressure, by confining the cyanogen gas which is at first expelled. By these means he succeeded in resolving the salt almost entirely into mercury and paracyanogen, the latter of which amounted in some trials to more than nine-tenths of the cyanogen contained in the bicyanide. The pressure required was not quite two atmospheres, namely 1.74.
1. On the Sea-Level of the Neapolitan Coast
Authors: Forbes John S.
Published: June 2016

This paper is intended to give an account of the more recent researches of the Italian antiquaries and geologists connected with the well-known temple of Jupiter Serapis at Pozzuoli, which have been verified in several particulars by the author, by personal inspection, and extended to other parts of the western coast of Italy, where traces of marine lithophagi have been found at a height, as alleged by Niccolini, of even 250 feet above the present sea-level.

The most interesting modern observations are those of Niccolini on the actual change of relative level of the sea and land, ascertained by a fixed gauge which he has observed frequently between 1823 and 1838. In that time the land appears to have risen through a height of 112 millimetres or 4½ inches; and this change has been progressively and not suddenly effected.
1. On the Parallel Roads of Glen-Roy, with an Examination of Mr Darwin's Theory of their Formation, Part II
Authors: Lauder T. D.
Published: June 2016

This paper consists of a critical investigation of a recent paper by Mr Darwin upon this subject, and the author's object is to prove that Mr Darwin's views are untenable; and that his own explanation of the appearances in Glen-Roy, given in his paper in the Transactions of this Society, and ascribing them to successive subsidences of a fresh-water lake, is still the only view reconcilable with the facts.
2. On the Parasitic Fungi found growing on the Bodies of Living Animals. Part 2
Authors: Bennett John Hughes
Published: June 2016

The author's object was, 1st, To confirm and extend the investigations of Gruby concerning the mycodermatous vegetations growing in the crusts of the cutaneous disease called Porrigo lupinosa;—2d, To describe a plant he had himself found growing on the living membrane and tubercular matter of Phthisis pulmonalis;—3d, To describe the structure of a plant found infesting the skin and gills of the gold-fish;—and, 4th, To inquire into the pathological state which furnishes the conditions necessary for the growth of fungi in living animals.
2. Geological Notes on the Alps of Dauphiné.
Authors: Forbes
Published: June 2016

The district proposed to be described, in so far as it was studied by the author in two journeys in 1839 and 1841, is an out-lyer or appendage to the main Alpine chain, which occupies a considerable portion of the old province of Dauphiné, and the modern departments of the Hautes Alpes and Isére. It is bounded, roughly, by the rivers Arc and Isére on the north, and by the Durance and the Drac in other directions. Its nucleus is essentially granitic, against which sedimentary deposits of limestone, of different ages, and especially of lias and chalk, repose in highly elevated or contorted strata; and it not unfrequently happens, that the dislocation of strata has been so great, that the gneiss or granite rocks are superimposed upon the secondary formations.
1. On the Theoretical Investigation of the Absolute Intensity of Interfering Light
Authors: Kelland
Published: June 2016

This Memoir is the prosecution of a subject on which the author had previously touched in a paper which is printed in the seventh volume of the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. It has for its object the investigation of the quantity of light which is received on a screen of unlimited dimensions, after passing through a certain aperture, or suffering reflexion at two mirrors. The end for which the investigation is undertaken is to ascertain the constant which must be introduced in using Huygens's principle.
2. On the Quarantine-Classification of Substances, with a View to the Prevention of Plague
Authors: Davy John
Published: June 2016

In this paper, the author, after having noticed the ordinary quarantine classification of substances, into susceptible, non-susceptible, and doubtful, states as the result of his inquiries conducted in Turkey and the Mediterranean, that the distinctions involved in this arrangement have been made in a very unsatisfactory manner, not after careful research and deliberation, but rather during a period of panic, and hastily, in comparatively remote and ignorant times, and by men, for the then state of knowledge, ill qualified for the task, even had they entered upon it with all the calmness and caution that the subject required.
2. Notice of the occurrence in Scotland of the Tetrao medius, shewing that supposed species to be a hybrid
Authors: Wilson James
Published: June 2016

There exists in several northern continental countries a peculiar kind of grouse, called by foreign naturalists Tetrao medius, on account of its exhibiting, as it were, a combination of the characters of the wood-grouse or capercailzie on the one hand, and of the black-cock on the other. It is never found except in countries inhabited by the two species last named; and as it presents a union of their characters, several naturalists have inferred that it is not itself a distinct kind, but a hybrid, resulting from the casual intercourse of the other two.
2. On the Growth and Migration of the Sea-Trout (Salmo Trutta)
Authors: Shaw John
Published: June 2016

The author has here pursued the same course of experimental enquiry regarding the sea-trout, as that formerly followed in relation to the salmon. Having obtained impregnated ova, from a pair of spawning fish, he conveyed these ova to his experimental ponds. This was on 1st November 1839, and the young were excluded from the egg in 75 days. They resembled salmon of the same age, but were somewhat smaller and paler. They took two years to grow about seven inches, and the majority were then converted into smolts. But about one-fourth did not assume the silvery lustre; and this peculiarity, Mr Shaw thinks, distinguishes a like proportion even in the rivers.
3. Researches in Hydrodynamics. Second Memoir. On Waves
Authors: Russell J. Scott
Published: June 2016

The object proposed by the author of this paper, was to present, in a complete form, the results of investigations into the phenomena of Waves, in which he had been engaged for several years. A part of the experiments referred to in the paper, had been carried on by Sir John Robison, conjointly with the author of this paper, as a Committee of the British Association. The others were new, and had been carried on by himself, for the purpose of completing and giving that systematic form to our knowledge of the subject, which was attempted in this paper.
2. On a new Self-Registering Barometer
Authors: Bryson Robert
Published: June 2016

From the nature of the instrument, it is impossible to give an intelligible abstract of the paper. The paper, with a description of the instrument, and a statement of its indications for some months, is published in the Society's Transactions.
3. Chemical Examination of the Tagua-Nut, or Vegetable Ivory
Authors: Connell
Published: June 2016

This remarkable nut is now well known as being extensively carved into ornaments, having the high polish and general appearance of the finest ivory.

It is a seed or nut of a palm called Phytelephas macrocarpa, which is found on the banks of the Magdalena river, in the republic of Columbia.

For analysis the fine turnings of the vegetable ivory were employed. These were well rubbed in a mortar successively with cold and hot water, and were then heated with hot alcohol.
2. On a remarkable Oscillation of the Sea observed at various places on the coasts of Great Britain, in the first week of July 1843
Authors: Milne David
Published: June 2016

This phenomenon was observed on the 5th July and three following days. It did not occur on all parts of the coasts of Great Britain. In England, it was observed only on the south shores of Cornwall and Devonshire. In Scotland, it was observed on the east coast; and there it was seen at a great many places, between Eyemouth in Berwickshire and the Shetland Islands.

It was only on the 5th July that the oscillation occurred on the Cornish and Devonshire coasts. It prevailed on the Scottish coast, however, from the 5th to the 7th July inclusive.

The phenomenon consisted of a flux and reflux of the sea, beyond what could be accounted for by ordinary tides, or any wind prevailing at the time. The water suddenly rose up and sunk down from 2 to 5 feet in perpendicular height, producing effects more or less striking, according to the shelving character of the shore.
2. Account of a Repetition of Dr Samuel Brown's Processes for the Conversion of Carbon into Silicon
Authors: Wilson George , Brown John Crombie
Published: June 2016

The authors commenced with an account of the trials they made with the Cyanide of lead; which, according to Dr Brown's most recent announcement, is resolved by his process into gaseous nitrogen and silicon. In the first place, however, they could not succeed in obtaining a pure cyanide of that metal. For whether they decomposed the cyanide of potassium, or the hydrocyanate of ammonia containing an excess of hydrocyanic acid, by neutral acetate of lead, by this salt acidulated with acetic acid, or by tribasic acetate, they constantly obtained a compound containing a large quantity of a hydrated basic acetate of lead; and they were not more successful when they substituted other salts of lead for the acetate as a precipitant, such as the nitrate, basic nitrate, nitrite, chloride, or iodide.
1. Inquiry into the Aborigines of the British Islands. Part 2. On the claims of the Cymric and Gaelic races to be thus considered
Authors: Ware S. Hibbert
Published: June 2016

In the first part of the present memoir, it was shewn that Cæsar divided Gaul into three parts, of which one was inhabited by the Belgæ, another by those who, in their own language, were called Celtæ, but who, by the Romans, were named Gauls, and a third by the Aquitani. These three nations, according to the Roman historian, differed from each other in language, custom, and laws; but it was remarked by the author, that they also differed from each other in physical characters,—the Belgæ possessing what is named a Cymric type, the Gauls proper a Gaulish type, and the Aquitani an Iberian type. All these three races were to be distinguished from the zanthous, light-haired, Germanic tribes of the West of Europe, not only by the dark colour of the hair and eyes, but by other particulars, as the form of the head, &c.
2. On the Geology of Cockburn-Law and its Neighbourhood
Authors: Stevenson William
Published: June 2016

The author, in the first part of his paper, described the nature of the formations, and in the last part offered his views in explanation of the appearances.

In describing the formations, he enumerated, first, those of aqueous, and last those of ligneous origin.

I. The former consist of the greywacke, the old red sandstone, and the coal-measure formations.
1. On the Representative Relationships of the Fixed and Free Tunicata, regarded as two sub-classes of equivalent value; with some general remarks on their morphology
Authors: Macdonald John Denis
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author maintains the proposition, that the class Tunicata may be conveniently divided into two sub-classes, viz., the Fixed or Stationary, and the Free or Locomotive, of at least nearly equal value in a zoological point of view, in opposition to the opinion commonly entertained, that the so-called Pelagic Tunicata compose a group only commensurate with the groups of the Compound, the Social and the Simple, into which the Fixed Tunicata have been divided by Milne-Edwards and others.
2. On the great Refractor at Elchies, and its powers in Sidereal Observation
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

The telescope here referred to is the largest and best ever erected in Scotland, for exact sidereal observation; and the author having paid a visit last September to its liberal and hospitable owner, J. W. Grant, Esq., of Elchies, Morayshire, had an opportunity of trying its powers on double stars, and describes the results of the trial in his paper.
3. Notes on the Anatomy of the Genus Firola
Authors: Macdonald John Denis
Published: June 2016

These notes are intended to form an appendix to the author's paper on the anatomy and classification of the Heteropoda, read before the Society last session. He finds the relationship between Firola and Firoloides even closer than he had supposed, and that, with the exception of gills in the former genus, nearly every anatomical point occurring in one, may be distinctly traced out in the other, only differing in relative characters. The author describes in detail the anatomy of Firola, illustrating his description by a drawing.
1. Notes on the Geology of Lüneburg, in the kingdom of Hanover
Authors: Watson Robert Boog
Published: June 2016

Lüneburg is the capital of the old Hanoverian duchy of the same name. It stands on the small navigable river Ilmenau, about thirty miles S.E. from Hamburg, and about 150 feet above the sea. The country around is a flat sandy heath, from which the gypseous limestone rock of the Kalkberg rises, not unlike Dumbarton Castle, to a height of 180 feet above the plain.
1. Accompanying Note to Portions of Lead from the Roof of the Lower Storey of Nelson's Monument, injured by Lightning on the evening of 4th February 1863
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

The portions of sheet-lead above mentioned had attracted my attention on the days following the 4th of February, when engaged in repairing some damage which had then occurred to the electric wires connecting the Nelson Monument and the Observatory; and finding that plumbers (employed by the Town-Council) were removing the old lead and substituting new in its place, and being also encouraged by Professor P. G. Tait, who with me visited the spot, to believe that the markings which had been discovered were electrically of unusual interest, I lost no time in applying to Mr J. D. Marwick, town-clerk, for those portions of the leaden covering which contained the marks in question, with the View of presenting them to the Royal Society.
2. On the Most Volatile Constituents of American Petroleum
Authors: Ronalds Edmund
Published: June 2016

It was shown by this paper that the gases dissolved in American petroleum, and which gave to it such a high degree of inflammability, were composed of the lower members of the marsh gas series, having the general formula,

and to which the liquid products have already been referred.

The gases evolved from the Pennsylvanian oil were collected at a temperature of −1° Cent., as they floated, mixed with air, over the surface of the liquid in the casks in which it is imported into this country and the hydrocarbons were shown by eudiometrical analysis to have the composition of a mixture in nearly equal proportions of the hydrides of ethyl and propyl.
1. On the Anatomy and Physiology of the Mitral, Tricuspid, and Semilunar Valves in Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes
Authors: Pettigrew James B.
Published: June 2016

The writer begins his communication by giving a brief description of the structures in which valves are found, and takes occasion to comment on the nature and properties of the veins and arteries, and on the arrangement of the muscular fibres in the ventricles, as these necessarily influence, to a greater or less extent, the action of the valves. He also adverts at some length to the shape of the venous, arterial, and auriculo-ventricular orifices, and to the fibro-cartilaginous rings by which the latter are surrounded; as well as to the dilatations or sinuses which are found behind or to the outside of the segments constituting the semilunar valves in the veins and arteries, and to the shape of the ventricular cavities, which, as he points out, bear an important relation to the valves, inasmuch as they determine the direction in which the blood acts upon them ; precise information on these points being, according to the author, indispensable to a just appreciation of the subject under investigation.
1. On the Celtic Languages in their Relation to each other, and to the Teutonic Dialects
Authors: Skene W. F.
Published: June 2016

Mr Skene in his paper gave a sketch of the various views which had been entertained regarding the Celtic languages, and advocated the opinion that these languages belonged properly to the Indo-European class. He gave an outline of the distinctive peculiarities of the two branches of the Celtic languages, the Welsh and the Gaelic, and discussed the leading theories regarding the lost Pictish language, only five words of which were now extant. Mr Skene had, as the result of his investigations, arrived at the conclusion that the Pictish language occupied a place between the Welsh and the Gaelic—that it was a Gaelic dialect partaking largely of Welsh forms.
2. The Law of Aëriform Volumes extended to dense bodies
Authors: Macvicar J. G.
Published: June 2016

In this communication the author proceeds to show that when dense bodies, whether liquids or solids, are regarded as consisting of certain molecules, the volumes of these molecules are either equals, halves, or doubles, &c, as in aëriforms.

This he proves by showing that the densities of bodies in general, as determined by the balance, are proportional to the numbers which express the weights of their molecules.
1. On Variability in Human Structure, with illustrations from the Flexor Muscles of the Fingers and Toes
Authors: Turner William
Published: June 2016

The author, after referring to variations in the external form of the body in different individuals, and to the relations between external form and internal structure, proceeded to discuss the subject of variability in the different organic systems. He showed that internal structural variations conferred upon the individual characters as distinctive as any peculiarities in external configuration. It was argued that in the development of the individual a morphological specialisation occurs, both in internal structure and external form, so that each man's structural individuality is an expression of the sum of the individual variations of all the constituent parts of his frame.
7. On the Nature of Antozone
Authors: Catton Alfred R.
Published: June 2016

Many of the properties of ozone are very similar to those of peroxide of hydrogen. Thus ozone, like peroxide of hydrogen, is in many cases a powerful oxidising agent. In other cases, however, it acts as a deoxidiser. Thus ozone deoxidises peroxide of hydrogen and peroxide of barium with the production of water and oxide of barium. Peroxide of hydrogen also deoxidises oxide of silver, the peroxides of manganese and lead, permanganic and chromic acids, &c. Again, ozone is decomposed catalytically by dry silver leaf and by several oxides, such as the peroxides of manganese and lead, &c.
4. On the Use of Graphic Representations of Chemical Formula
Authors: Brown A. Crum
Published: June 2016

The idea of atomicity, or the definite equivalence of chemical atoms, is the necessary consequence of the theory of replacement. It was employed by Frankland to explain the nature of the organometallic bodies, and its application was further extended by Kolbe to a large number of organic substances.

It is, however, to Kekulé that we owe the complete generalisation of this idea and its systematic application to all classes of compounds. This first rendered it possible to represent, as it is often advantageous to do, the constitution of compounds by completely dissected formulæ.
4. On some Congenital Deformities of the Human Skull
Authors: Turner Wm.
Published: June 2016

1st, Scaphocephalus.—After making reference to his previous papers, more especially to that in which he had described several specimens of the scaphocephalic skull, in which he had discussed the influence exercised on the production of deformities of the cranium, by a premature closure or obliteration of the sutures, and to the recent memoirs of Professor von Düben of Stockholm,† and Dr John Thurnam, the author proceeded to relate two additional cases of scaphocephalus to those he had already recorded. He had met with one of these in the head of a living person, the other in a skull in the Natural History Museum of the University of Edinburgh.
3. Note on the Compression of Air in an Air-bubble under Water
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

In an air-bubble of moderate dimensions the pressure is very little greater than that of the atmosphere; but, as the difference of pressures within and without a bubble is proportional to its curvature, it appeared to me possible that the so-called solution of air in water might be due in some degree to the extreme compression of the air when divided into small bubbles invisible perhaps even under the microscope.
5. On the Fairy Stones found in the Elwand Water near Melrose
Authors: Brewster David
Published: June 2016

On the banks of the Elwand Water, which runs into the Tweed, about two miles above Melrose, there is a picturesque glen called the Fairy Dean, which has become a favourite place of resort, from its association with the incidents in “The Monastery” by Sir Walter Scott. It has acquired an interest of a different kind from certain mineral concretions which have received the name of Fairy Stones, from their being found in that part of the rivulet which runs through the Fairy Dean.

When the Waverley Novels were not acknowledged by their author, facts or incidents to which they referred, were always welcome subjects of conversation at Abbotsford; and on one occasion when I happened to mention that singular stones were found in the Fairy Dean, Sir Walter Scott expressed a desire to see them, and to know how they were formed.
2. On a New Property of the Retina
Authors: Brewster David
Published: June 2016

In a paper on hemiopsy, the author had shown that the parts of the retina affected with this disease were susceptible of luminous impressions and insensible to visual ones, and that the light by which they were impressed was derived by irradiation from the adjacent parts of the retina. The parts of the retina affected with hemiopsy were, however, so small, so irregularly distributed, and the phenomenon of such short duration, that it was difficult to study it and deduce any satisfactory results.
5. Notes more especially on the Bridging Convolutions in the Brain of the Chimpanzee
Authors: Turner Wm.
Published: June 2016

The late Professor Gratiolet, in his elaborate and beautifully illustrated memoir, “Sur les Plis Cérébraux de l'Homme et des Primates,” attaches great weight in his differential diagnosis of their cerebral characters to the presence or absence of one or more members of a series of convolutions, which he designates as the plis de passage. When present, these convolutions bridge over the external perpendicular fissure of the hemisphere, and connect the parietal and temporal with the occipital lobes. By various anatomists in this country they are called bridging, connecting, or annectent convolutions. In the brain of the Chimpanzee M. Gratiolet states that the first bridging convolution is altogether wanting; that the second is present, but concealed under the operculum of the occipital lobe; that the third and fourth are superficial.
1. On the Geological Structure of some Alpine Lake-Basins
Authors: Geikie Archibald
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author reviewed the arguments by which the geologists of Switzerland endeavour to prove that the so-called, “orographic” lakes are essential parts of the architecture of the Alps. He showed from detailed sections of one or two lakes, particularly of the Lake of the Four Cantons, that the amount of denudation, which the surrounding rocks had suffered, demonstrated that the lakes must be greatly younger than the plication of the strata of the Alpine chain; that from the known effects of subaerial denudatoni, the lakes must be, in a geological sense, quite modern; and that the Alpine lakes possessed no distinctive features which entitled them to be considered apart from the numerous lakes which are scattered over northern Europe and America. He regarded the enormous development of lakes at the present period in northern latitudes as a fact which could not be explained by reference to subterranean movements.
3. Note on Aggregation in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital
Authors: Duncan Matthews
Published: June 2016

In this paper it is pointed out that deliveries are a better means of arriving at an estimate of the healthiness of an hospital than amputations; that the deliveries in the Dublin Hospital are remarkably valuable because of their great number (nearly 200,000), and of the length of time of the hospital's operation (above 100 years); and that the evidence derivable from them relative to the danger of confinement, as regulated by the amount of aggregation, or number brought together at the same time, has never been properly taken.
4. On the Equilibrium of Vapour at a Curved Surface of Liquid
Authors: Thomson William
Published: June 2016

In a closed vessel containing only a liquid and its vapour, all at one temperature, the liquid rests, with its free surface raised or depressed in capillary tubes and in the neighbourhood of the solid boundary, in permanent equilibrium according to the same law of relation between curvature and pressure as in vessels open to the air. The permanence of this equilibrium implies physical equilibrium between the liquid and the vapour in contact with it at all parts of its surface. But the pressure of the vapour at different levels differs according to hydrostatic law. Hence the pressure of saturated vapour in contact with a liquid differs according to the curvature of the bounding surface, being less when the liquid is concave, and greater when it is convex.
5. On Thebo-lactic Acid
Authors: Buchanan J. Y.
Published: June 2016

Thebo-lactic acid was discovered in Turkey opium by Messrs T. & H. Smith, the eminent morphia manufacturers of this city. It was examined by Stenhouse, and found to have the same composition as lactic acid, from which, however, it was supposed by the Messrs Smith to differ in the crystalline form of its copper and morphia salts. At present we are acquainted with three isomerie lactic acids, two of them differing from each other chemically, whilst the third is distinguished by its power of rotating the plane of polarisation of light. The last named acid, having been but recently discovered, it is impossible to say whether it possesses any decidedly distinctive chemical properties or not. The other two, namely, the ordinary or ethyliden—and the ethylen-lactic acids, possess perfectly distinct chemical properties, determined by the different relative position in each of the alcoholic hydroxyl.
3. On the most general Motion of an Incompressible Perfect Fluid
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

This is a quaternion investigation into the circumstances of fluid motion, especially with reference to the case of vortices. The method employed is very similar to that which I gave to the Society in 1862 (Proc. R.S.E. April 28).
1. Facts as to Brain-Work; in Illustration of the New and Old Methods of Philosophical Inquiry in Scotland
Authors: Laycock Thomas
Published: June 2016

A few words in explanation are needed. In my summer course of lectures on Medical Psychology and Mental Diseases delivered in the University, I have to investigate the human mind in its practical relations to the body, and especially I have to teach how each influences the other, so that the physician, or any intelligent person, may be able to modify these relations beneficially. The starting-point in these inquiries is the fundamental fact of experience, that no changes in the mind or the consciousness of whatever kind can or do arise, or continue, without a corresponding series of changes somewhere in the brain-tissue.
2. Theory of Construction of the Great Pyramid
Authors: Christie John
Published: June 2016

In his early investigations on the principles of construction of the Great Pyramid, the author was forcibly struck with the following fact—viz., that if a perpendicular be drawn through the apex of the Pyramid to its base, and the unit angle with the horizontal thrown up from the base on each side of this perpendicular, the angle comes out on the faces of the Pyramid at the openings of the north and south ventilating air-channels; at the same time he was led to the conclusion that one-tenth of the base line, and the same tenths also applied to the faces of the Pyramid, ruled the entire structure.
3. On Green's and other Allied Theorems
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

In this paper an attempt is made to supply, at least in part, what the author has long felt as a want in the beautiful system of quaternions, so far as it has yet been developed. To apply it to general inquiries connected with electricity, fluid motion, &c, we require to have means of comparing quaternion-integrals taken over a closed surface with others extended through the enclosed space—and of comparing integrals taken over a non-closed surface with others extended round its boundary.
3. Note on Professor Bain's Theory of Euclid I. 4
Authors: Smith Wm. Robertson
Published: June 2016

In a paper communicated to this Society last session, I pointed out that the proof of Euc. I. 5, given by Mr Mill, is unsound; endeavouring, at the same time, to show that this is no mere accident, but that it is impossible to give a mathematically correct analysis of the processes of Synthetic Geometry on any theory that holds figures to be merely illustrative, and does not admit that intuition in the Kantian sense—i.e., actual looking at a single engraved or imaginary figure—may be a necessary and sufficient step in a demonstration perfectly general.
4. A Simple Mode of Approximating to the Wave-Length of Light
Authors: Leitch W.
Published: June 2016

The fundamental phenomenon or fact of the science of optics is vision, that is, the perception we have of distant objects through the eye, or by the sense of sight. That vision is an effect transmitted to the mind by the object seen, is a necessary truth, involved in the definition of the term, and independent of all theoretical views beyond the consciousness of that perception.
6. On the Oxidation Products of Picoline
Authors: Dewar James
Published: June 2016

The author in this paper details the results of a series of experiments, commenced three years ago, on the oxidation of the pyridine series of bases. These bodies are readily attacked by permanganate of potash; and the oxidation products of picoline thus obtained are ammonia, carbonic, nitric, oxalic, acetic, and dicarbopyridenic acids, along with a very small quantity of some solid base, possibly a condensed base.
9. Notes from the Physical Laboratory of the University
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

After passing through the usual routine work of acquiring skill in the fundamental operations, several of my students have remained long enough in the laboratory to make investigations in various branches of Physics. A great many of these inquiries related to matters already thoroughly known; but some have claims to notice as dealing with subjects on which our information is as yet incomplete. These I propose, from time to time, to lay before the Society. Their value as scientific results must depend on the skill and care of the experimenters.
5. Note on an Ice Calorimeter
Authors: Brown A. Crum
Published: June 2016

The principal upon which this calorimeter is founded is, that a contraction of a definite amount takes place on the conversion of ice at 0° C. into water at 0° C., and that a definite amount of heat is required for this conversion. Early in the year 1866 I sent a description and drawing of the instrument to Messrs Kemp & Co., instrument-makers here, with an order to have it constructed. Some mechanical difficulties occurred which prevented its completion at the time.
1. On the Pentatonic and other Scales employed in Scottish Music
Authors: Neaves
Published: June 2016

Lord Neaves adverted to the peculiarity which had been observed in many Scotch airs, that they are composed on a pentatonic scale, and do not make use of the fourth or seventh of the gamut. It has been said that these airs can be played on the black notes of the pianoforte, which means that they can be played on the key of F# major, of which the fourth and seventh are represented by white notes, but are not needed. He also observed that this class of airs could be played on the white notes of the piano, both in the key of F and in that of G.
3. Laboratory Notes by Professor Tait - 1. On Thermo-electricity
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

Messrs J. Murray and J. C. Young have been carrying out experimentally the idea mentioned in my former note on this subject. (Proc. Dec. 1870.) Their first sets of observations, of the results of which I subjoin a specimen, were made with an iron-silver and an iron-platinum, circuit working opposite ways on a differential galvanometer. The resistances (including the galvanometer coils) were in this particular experiment 53·1 and 25·9 B.A. units respectively, so that but very slight percentage changes could be produced in them by the elevation of temperature of the junctions.
1. Account of the Extension of the Seven-Place Logarithmic Tables, from 100,000 to 200,000
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

In this paper the details were given of the computations made for extending the Table of Seven-Place Logarithms to 200,000 and of the precautions taken to ensure accuracy in the printed work.

The calculations were originally intended for a Nine-Place Table to One Million; and the manuscript shows the logarithms to fifteen places, with their first and second differences for all numbers from 100,000 to 200,000.
2. On the Place and Power of Accent in Language
Authors: Blackie
Published: June 2016

Professor Blackie then read a paper on “The Place and Power of Accent in Language.” On the subject of accent and quantity, he remarked, especially in relation to the learned languages, the greatest confusion had prevailed, and the existing practice was altogether unreasonable and anomalous. In articulate sound four things had to be distinguished—volume or bulk, force or emphasis, elevation and depression, and prolongation or duration.
2. Note. On the Use of the Scholastic Terms Vetus Logica and Nova Logica, with a Remark upon the corresponding Terms Antiqui and Moderni
Authors: Lindsay Thomas M.
Published: June 2016

During the earlier part of the middle ages, or until the middle of the eleventh century, students of logic had a very incomplete knowledge of the logical works of Aristotle. They knew the translations which Boethius had made of Porphyry's Εἰσαγωγὴ of Aristotle's περὶ κατεγορίων, and of his περὶ ἑρμηνείας, and they knew little else. Their labours did not go beyond the reproduction of, and commenting on, these old Greek writings.

Towards the beginning of the twelfth century, however, the gradual diffusion of knowledge had brought with it acquaintance with the remaining treatises of Aristotle's Organon. The old translations of Boethius were recovered, and new translations were made. We are told that “Jacobus Clericus of Venetia translated from Greek into Latin certain books of Aristotle, and commented on them, namely, the Topica, the Analytics Prior and Posterior, and the Elenchi, although,” adds the chronicler, “an earlier translation of these same books may be had.”
3. Note on a New Scotch Acidulous Chalybeate Mineral Water
Authors: Dewar James
Published: June 2016

It is generally known that this country is extremely deficient in well-marked chalybeate waters. Plenty natural waters, containing small proportions of iron, are to be met with in the United Kingdom; but, with the exception of those of Tunbridge Wells, Harrogate, Sandrock (Isle of Wight), Heartfell, near Moffat, and Vicarsbridge, in the vicinity of Dollar, they contrast very unfavourably with those of the numerous spas of the continent of Europe. If we restrict ourselves to an examination of the chemical characters of the above-mentioned Scotch chalybeates, we observe that the iron is present in large quantities in the form of sulphate, along with sulphate of alumina, on which account they are more nauseous to invalids, and are at the present time rather unpopular.
Opening Address, Session 1871–72
Authors: Christison Robert
Published: June 2016

At the commencement of this, the 89th session of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, I beg to congratulate you on the successful issue of that which has just come to an end. The number of our members has increased, in consequence both of a low proportion of deaths among us, and likewise of an increase of new members beyond the average; so that, from 326 at the same period last year, the Society has grown to 331 at the present time.

We may appeal with equal, and even more, satisfaction to the success of our late meetings; which, in the first place, were carried on a full month longer than usual before exhausting the list of communications approved by your Council as worthy of being read before you; and which, in the second place, attracted from first to last unusual attendance and interest, on the part both of ourselves and of our visitors, by reason of the variety and value of the inquiries communicated at them.
2. On Vortex Motion
Authors: Thomson William
Published: June 2016

This paper is a sequel to several communications which have already appeared in the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. It commences with an investigation of the circumstances under which a portion of an incompressible frictionless liquid, supposed to extend through all space, or through space wholly or partially bounded by a rigid solid, can be projected so as to continue to move through the surrounding liquid without change of shape; and goes on to investigate vibrations executed by a portion of liquid so projected, and slightly disturbed from the condition that gives uniformity. The greatest and least quantities of energy which a finite liquid mass of any given initial shape and any given initial motion can possess, after any variations of its bounding surface ending in the initial shape, are next investigated; and the theory of the dissipation of energy in a finite or infinite frictionless liquid is deduced.