bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
XXV.—An Experimental Analysis of the Plumage of the Brown Leghorn Fowl
Authors: Greenwood A. W. , Blyth J. S. S.
Published: June 2016

General Summary

1. The plumage of the Brown Leghorn fowl is analysed and the extent of its dependence on the activity of the thyroid and gonad is discussed.

2. Hypothyroidism results (a) in a diminution in the amount of melanin and a coincident increase in the red pigment; (b) in an increase in the amount of fringing due to a lack of barbule formation. The female pattern tends to disappear.

3. Hyperthyroidism in the male gives exactly the opposite effect—i.e. the melanin increases in amount while the red pigment and fringing tend to disappear. In the female the effect of hyperthyroidism is slight, and with moderate doses of thyroid there is practically no modification of the female pattern of pencilling and no melanin appears in the breast. The neck hackle, however, becomes darker and shows a decrease in fringing.

4. From these results, together with what is known concerning the effect of gonad on plumage, a hypothesis is advanced, that whereas the plumage typical of the male is developed independently of the gonad and depends for its maintenance on a certain level of thyroid functioning, both gonad and thyroid play a part in regard to that of the female; the former stimulates the latter to a higher level of activity than that present in the male and so indirectly causes a hyperthyroid effect on the feathers. At the same time it modifies this condition by acting directly on the feathers and restricting the deposition of melanin.

5. The fact that in both sexes the plumage in the young chick is similar to that of the female puts this theory in question. There is evidence to show, however, that yolk may have a modifying effect on plumage similar to that of the ovary, and thus the doubt regarding the validity of the hypothesis can be removed by the suggestion that the chick plumage develops under the influence of the yolk in its own yolk sac. This second theory gains confirmation by a study of the atypical plumage which is occasionally met with in growing females, and also by a consideration of the type of plumage developed in juvenile females following the successful implantation of testis.
1. Notice of a Roman Practitioner's Medicine Stamp, found near Tranent.
Authors: Simpson
Published: June 2016

At several of the stations throughout Western Europe that were formerly occupied by the colonists and soldiers of Rome, small engraved stones have been found, the inscriptions upon which shew them to have been used as medicine stamps by the Roman doctors who, many centuries ago, practised in these localities.

These medicine stones or stamps all agree in their general characters. They commonly consist of small quadrilateral or oblong pieces of a greenish-coloured steatite, engraved with a legend on one or more of their edges or borders. The inscriptions or legends are in small capital Roman letters, cut intagliate and retrograde, and consequently reading on the stone itself from right to left, but making an impression, when stamped upon wax or any other similarly plastic material, which reads from left to right.
1. Notice of a Tertiary Fossiliferous Deposit, underlying Basalt, on the Island of Mull.
Authors: Duke of Argyll
Published: June 2016

This paper, in its perfect form, appears in the Transactions of the Geological Society. The abstract read by His Grace on this occasion was illustrated by a number of drawings and specimens.
1. On the Geology of the Eildon Hills.
Authors: Forbes J. D.
Published: June 2016

The author first refers to a paper by Mr Milne, in the 15th Volume of the Edinburgh Transactions, on the Geology of Roxburghshire, in which the general features of this district are accurately described. The present paper contains a notice of some minuter particulars regarding the formation of the Eildon group and their boundaries obtained by detailed personal examination in 1849.
2. On certain Salts of Comenic Acid.
Authors: How Henry
Published: June 2016

The author commenced his paper with a few observations on the comparative progress of the different departments of organic chemistry, and remarked that the subject of the polybasic acids is not so completely studied as could be wished, and that he had chosen his subject for investigation in the hope of adding some information on that point.
3. On the Crystallization of Bicarbonate of Ammonia in Spherical Masses.
Authors: Wilson G.
Published: June 2016

The author exhibited these spherical concretions, which had formed in a subliming chamber, where carbonate of ammonia from gas liquor was condensed; apparently in consequence of a local whirl affecting the condensing particles. They were formed of acicular crystals, confusedly grouped, without a trace of radiation or of any regular arrangement.
3. On the Quantities of Mechanical Energy contained in a Fluid Mass, in different states, as to Temperature and Density.
Authors: Thomson William
Published: June 2016

Letpbe the pressure of a fluid mass when its volume and temperature arevandtrespectively, and let Md v + N d tbe the quantity of heat that must be supplied to it to augment its volume byd vand its temperature byd t. The mechanical value of the work done upon it to produce this change is the excess of the mechanical value of the quantity of heat that has to be added above that of the work done by the fluid in expanding, and is therefore
4. On a Mechanical Theory of Thermo-Electric Currents.
Authors: Thomson William
Published: June 2016

It was discovered by Peltier that heat is absorbed at a surface of contact of bismuth and antimony in a compound metallic conductor, when electricity traverses it from the bismuth to the antimony, and that heat is generated when electricity traverses it in the contrary direction. This fact, taken in connection with Joule's law of the electrical generation of heat in a homogeneous metallic conductor, suggests the following assumption, which is the foundation of the theory at present laid before the Royal Society.
2. On the Mechanical action of Radiant Heat or Light: On the Power of Animated Creatures over Matter: On the Sources available to Man for the production of Mechanical Effect.
Authors: Thomson William
Published: June 2016

On the Mechanical Action of Radiant Heat or Light.

It is assumed in this communication that the undulatory theory of radiant heat and light, according to which light is merely radiant heat, of which the vibrations are performed in periods between certain limits of duration, is true. “The chemical rays,” beyond the violet end of the spectrum, consist of undulations of which the full vibrations are executed in periods shorter than those of the extreme visible violet light, or than about the eight hundred million millionth
3. Note on a Method of procuring very rapid Photographs (with Specimens).
Authors: Stuart John
Published: June 2016

The following method of taking collodion portraits and views, is so easy in manipulation, and so rapid in its results, that it is worthy of the notice of every lover of photography. By means of an apparatus adjusted to the lens of the camera, so as to open and close it instantaneously, views can be taken with sufficient rapidity to delineate vehicles in motion, assemblies of people, and even the waves of the sea.
1. On the Analysis of some Scottish Minerals.
Authors: Scott A. J.
Published: June 2016

In this paper, the author detailed the analysis of some minerals which were placed at his disposal through the kindness of Dr Anderson, in whose laboratory they were examined by him.
Some Observations on the Charr (Salmo umbla), relating chiefly to its Generation and Early Stage of Life.
Authors: Davy John
Published: June 2016

The observations contained in this paper are given under several heads: 1st, on the roe and milt of the Charr; 2dly, on the time required for hatching the ova, and on the young fish in progress after exclusion; 3dly, on some agencies and circumstances supposed likely to exert an influence on both.
1. On a Modification of the Process for the determination of Nitrogen in Organic Compounds.
Authors: Kemp Alexander
Published: June 2016

Two methods are at present followed by chemists for the analysis of organic bodies containing nitrogen. In the first of these the nitrogen is directly separated from the substance, and measured in a pure state; while in the second method it is converted into ammonia, collected and weighed, its amount being calculated from the known composition of this latter substance.

In accordance with the first-named mode of proceeding, the substance is burned at a high temperature, in contact with oxide of copper, chromate of lead, or some other body capable of yielding oxygen, when the carbon of the organic substance becomes converted into carbonic acid, and its hydrogen into water, while all the nitrogen is given off in a free state.
1. On the Optical Phenomena and Crystallization of Tourmaline, Titanium, and Quartz, within Mica, Amethyst, and Topaz.
Authors: Brewster David
Published: June 2016

1. The first part was on the distribution ofTourmaline in Mica.—When liquids or gases have been confined in mica, they have often easily escaped and spread between the plates. Crystals, both of tourmaline and quartz, are found in mica, contemporaneous with it, and of considerable size. Such crystals generally have the faces of the hexagonal prism parallel to the laminæ of the mica.

But other crystals of tourmaline formed subsequently, and between the laminæ, are very different. They are hexagonal plates, with faces perpendicular to the axis of the prism. Some of the fluid which deposited them has penetrated between the laminæ, and there deposited hexagonal plates, often in circular groups round the cavity.
2. On the Production of Crystalline Structure in Crystallized Powders by Compression and Traction.
Authors: Brewster David
Published: June 2016

The author, after alluding to the influence of compression and dilatation in producing the doubly refracting structure in solids of all kinds devoid of it, and in modifying it where it exists, mentioned that the phenomena to be described have no relation to those alluded to.

In experimenting on thedouble reflexionand polarization of light discovered by him in the chrysammates of potash, and magnesia, murexide, and other crystals, he found that they could be spread out on glass by hard pressure, like grease or soft wax; and that in the case of dark powders, he could thus obtain a transparent film, exhibiting double reflexion and polarization from its surface, as well as if it had been a large crystal.
1. On Nitric Acid as a source of the Nitrogen found in Plants.
Authors: Wilson George
Published: June 2016

The author, after referring to the opinions of those who contend that plants derive their nitrogen only from ammonia, shewed, in justification of the belief, that they also derive that element from nitric acid:—

Firstly, That nitrates are largely offered to plants, both as they grow wild, and as they are artificially cultivated.

Secondly, That plants do not refuse the nitrates thus offered to them.

Thirdly, That the nitrates which enter plants do not, if properly diluted, do injury to any class of them.
2. Chemical Notices.
Authors: Gregory
Published: June 2016

1.On the new compounds of Cobalt described by Frémy and others.

Claudet in London, and Genth in Germany, about the same time observed a new compound of cobalt, with the elements of ammonia and chlorine. Frémy, about the same time, announced a far more extended investigation, the result of which was the discovery of no less than five series of salts, in some of which the base, with oxygen acids, was formed of oxides of cobalt along with more or less ammonia, and, with hydrogen acids, was formed of cobalt with more or less ammonia. In other series, salts of oxides of cobalt, for the most part previously unknown oxides of this metal, seem to have combined with more or less ammonia.
2. On the Physical appearance of the Comet 3, of 1853.
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

Referring to the general descriptions which had been published in scientific journals and elsewhere of the appearance of this comet, the author pointed out,—1st, That the colour which had been attributed to it was merely the adventitious tint due to the twilight atmosphere through which it was seen. 2dly, That what had been described as the nucleus of the comet, and of so many thousand miles in diameter, nine days before the perihelion passage, was merely the head, composed of the same light, vaporous transparent matter as the tail; and subject to the same remarkable compression and conden-sation on approaching the sun.
3. On a General Method of effecting the substitution of Iodine for Hydrogen in Organic Compounds, and on the properties of Iodo-Pyromeconic Acid.
Authors: Brown James
Published: June 2016

Following up his researches on pyromeconic acid, read before this Society in 1852, the author described a method which he had recently discovered, through his experiments on iodo-pyromeconic acid, of generally obtaining iodine substitution for hydrogen compounds.
2. Notice of the Completion of the Time-Ball Apparatus.
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

The electric time-ball, erected on the Calton Hill last October by the Government, and placed under the author's charge, has now been at work for five months. But the work has necessarily been of an experimental or tentative character; for before the accuracy of the signals could be guaranteed, it was necessary to have experience of the machinery in all weathers; and, moreover, the present strength of the Observatory establishment, and the nature of pre-existing occupations, prevented the experiments being made every day.
3. On the Mechanical Value of a Cubic Mile of Sunlight, and on the possible density of the Luminiferous Medium.
Authors: Thomson William
Published: June 2016

The velocity of light being 192,000 miles per second, and the mechanical value of sunlight incident perpendicularly on a square mile at the earth's distance being 83 × 5280 × 5280 foot pounds; the mechanical value of all the energy potential and actual, kept up in the space of a cubic mile by sunlight crossing it, is= 1200 ft. lbs. at the earth's distance. Similarly the mechanical value of a cubic mile of sunlight near the sun is found to be 1200 × 46,000=55,000,000 foot pounds.
1. Farther Experiments and Remarks on the Measurement of Heights by the Boiling Point of Water.
Authors: Forbes J. D.
Published: June 2016

This paper is in continuation of one printed in vol. XV. of the Royal Society's Transactions. The object of it is to test the correctness of the method of observation, and of calculating the results, there proposed; and to compare both with those of more recent authors, particularly of M. Regnault of Paris, and of Dr Joseph Hooker.

The author finds the results of his subsequent observations in 1846 in the Alps, up to heights considerably above 10,000 feet, to agree well with those previously published, made in 1842. They combine in showing a sensibly uniform fall of the boiling point at the rate of 1° for 543 feet of ascent, which differs only 6 feet (in defect) from his previous determination.
1. Some Observations on the Salmonidæ.
Authors: Davy John
Published: June 2016

These observations are given in seven sections:—

In the 1st, the author treats of the air-bladder of these fish, and the contained air, which he found, in every instance that he examined it, to be chiefly azote.

In the 2d, he points out a mistake he had fallen into in the instance of the female fish, as regards its abdominal aperture, which, in a former paper he had described as open only for the passage of the ova; on further examination made on the larger species, he has ascertained, that though virtually closed, except during the spawning time, it is not absolutely, either by a membrane or adhesion.
2. On the Structural Character of Rocks. Part III., embracing Remarks on the Stratified Traps of the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.
Authors: Fleming
Published: June 2016

The author referred, in the first instance, to the character of stratification, illustrating the subject by specimens displaying the intermittent character of the carrying agent and of the supply of material, pointing out the Hailes Quarry as furnishing the best example in the neighbourhood of the repetitions of strata. He then stated the views of Townson, Whitehurst, and Jameson, as to the relation of the trap rocks to the sandstones with which they are interstratified. He then took notice of a statement in vol. xiii. of the Transactions of the Society, recorded by Lord Greenock, that Edinburgh may be considered as avalley of elevation, the trap rocks in the neighbourhood dipping outwards as from a common centre.
3. On the Accuracy attainable by means of Multiplied Observations.
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

On opening any astronomical work of the present day, we are at first startled by, and then familiarized with, the excessive precision of the numbers set down. In our Nautical Almanac, for example, although referring to a period three or four years subsequent to the date of publication, the declinations of the stars and planets are set down to tenths of a second of arc, and their right ascensions to hundredths of a second of time.
1. On the Occurrences of the Plague in Scotland during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.
Authors: Chambers Robert
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author adduced, from contemporary chroniclers and diarists, all the visits of the Pest or Plague which occurred in Scotland after 1560; namely, in the years 1568, 1574, 1585, 1587, 1597, 1607, 1622, and 1645. He cited, from the same sources of information, the notable instances of scarcity and famine; namely, 1563, 1568, 1574, 1578, 1587, 1596, 1598, 1612, 1622, 1642–3. It thus appeared, that while there were several instances of famine not followed by the Pest, there was scarcely one instance of the Pest which was not immediately preceded by a famine. So far the opinion of modern medical writers, that deficient nutrition in the community is one of the predisposing causes of pestilential fevers, may be considered as borne out by facts.
2. On the Physical Geography of the Old Red Sandstone Sea of the Central District of Scotland.
Authors: Sorby Henry Clifton
Published: June 2016

The author endeavours to show that in the Old Red Sandstone period there extended across Scotland a branch of the sea or strait, whose northern shore was somewhere in the line of the mica schist rocks which extend from Aberdeen to the mouth of the Clyde, and its southern in the direction of the Greywacke rocks that run across from St Abb's Head to Wigtonshire. In this, at the earlier part of the period, there were considerable tidal currents; but when the upper beds were deposited, they were more or less completely absent, and there were present such as were chiefly due to the action of the wind.
1. On the Turkish Weights and Measures.
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

In this paper a short account was given of the comparison of the oka with the imperial grain weight, and of the arsheen with the inch.

The oka was stated to be 19,807 grains, so that 18 cantar of 44 oka each make one ton one pound.

The length of the arsheen was determined by comparison with the ebony standard of Sultan Selim.

The extreme length, as obtained by contact, was 29·890 inches, but the ends had evidently been tampered with; on that account the divisions of the rod were referred to; these gave results varying from 29·944 to 29·949, and therefore the mean, 29,946 inches, may be taken as the true length of the Turkish arsheen.
2. Observations on Polyommatus Artaxerxes, the Scotch Argus.
Authors: Lowe W. H.
Published: June 2016

Polyommatus Artaxerxes, or the Scotch Argus, is an insect not only of great local interest, but has attracted, and continues to attract, the notice of entomologists all over the world. Among the English, and still more among the foreign students, who annually throng our University, there are always a considerable number who arrive in Edinburgh anxious to see “the rare butterfly from Arthur's Seat,” or who are commissioned by entomological friends to obtain it. Besides, there are the still more destructive emissaries from the London and provincial dealers in insects, who infest the hill during the season in which it is found. But although the situation in which this insect is principally taken is extremely circumscribed, I am not aware that its numbers are materially diminished by this continuous drain upon them.
1. On certain cases of Binocular Vision.
Authors: Rogers William B.
Published: June 2016

The object of this paper was to ascertain, by a geometrical construction, the optical appearance presented by the binocular vision of a straight line and a circle, or of two straight lines. The problem discussed was, accordingly, the geometric one of the intersection of a cone with a plane, or of two cones with each other: and the conclusion arrived at was that the apparent image is always a conic section. The author took no account of theperspectiveof the presented combination of images, nor of the union or disunion of the extremities of the respective images when their lengths are different.
1. Observations on the Diatomaceous Sand of Glenshira. Part II. Containing an Account of a number of additional undescribed Species.
Authors: Gregory William
Published: June 2016

The author, after referring to his former paper on this subject, stated that he had continued the investigation, and that the number of undescribed forms besides those formerly figured had proved so large, that the present paper does not conclude the subject, but that a good many forms remain for a future communication. He added, that even now, after he had explored 600 slides of it, new forms were still occasionally found.
Opening Address.
Authors: Terrot
Published: June 2016

The Council of the Royal Society have, in the course of the last year, taken into serious consideration the state and prospects of the Society, and have deliberated upon many propositions having for their object to render our ordinary meetings more interesting, and generally to increase the efficiency and usefulness of the Society. Among other schemes of this nature, they have adopted one, in conformity with which I have now the honour of addressing you.
2. On a Roche Moutonneé on the summit of the range of hills separating Loch Fyne and Loch Awe. In a letter from the Duke of Argyll.
Authors: Forbes
Published: June 2016

Polished and rounded surfaces of rock are, under their more ordinary conditions, of very frequent occurrence in Argyllshire. By “their more ordinary conditions,” I mean principally two—viz., Where they occur on the existing coast-line, either at, or not far above the present level of the sea; secondly, Where they occur in valleys, or the lower flanks of the hills,—whether under the boulder clay, or on surfaces naturally exposed.
1. On the Functions of the Spinal Cord.
Authors: Bennett Hughes
Published: June 2016

The object of Dr Bennett's communication was to unite two separate kinds of research, which of late had been directed towards advancing our knowledge of the structure and functions of the spinal cord. From these it would, he thought, appear, that the views considered to be so firmly established by the genius and labours of Charles Bell, required great modification. Dr Bennett then gave a sketch of these views, and of the present opinions of physiologists regarding the functions of the spinal cord.
3. Notice of a Collection of Maps.
Authors: Johnston A. K.
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author reported the progress made by the committee appointed to select and purchase a series of chartagraphic works for the library of the Royal Society, and the means adopted for their arrangement and classification. The collection already comprises 534 separate sheets of the best existing maps, chiefly of the several countries of Europe, but embracing the survey of India, in so far as published. The maps are placed in cases resembling volumes, so indexed as to admit of being indefinitely extended, and easily consulted. Specimens of the different works were exhibited, and the author presented a rapid sketch of the progress of surveying and mapping, from the sixteenth century to the present time.
2. On a Case of Lateral Refraction in the Island of Teneriffe.
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

In his astronomical visit to Teneriffe last summer, the author was instructed to inquire into the lateral oscillation of stars, as seen by Baron Von Humboldt in his ascent of the mountain. During a month's residence on the place of the alleged observation no approach to anything of the sort was ever noticed, although a powerful equatorial, with a twelve-foot telescope and high magnifying powers, was employed to detect any irregularity in the motions of the stars. The author concluded, therefore, that the anomalous movements described by Humboldt could not have been produced by any general or cosmical action of the atmosphere, or of light or heat, which astronomers were bound to consider.
2. On a Dynamical Top, for exhibiting the Phenomena of the Motion of a System of invariable form about a Fixed Point; with some suggestions as to the Earth's Motion.
Authors: Maxwell Clerk
Published: June 2016

The top is an instrument similar to that exhibited by the author at the meeting of the British Association in 1856. It differs from it in being of smaller size and entirely of brass, except the ends of the axle; and in having six horizontal adjusting screws and three vertical ones, instead of four of each kind.
Notices of deceased Fellows
Authors: Home David Milne
Published: June 2016

The Chairman said:—Before the papers in our to-night's programme of business are taken up there is a statement which, at the special request of the Council of this Society, I have to make from the chair. I have been requested to allude to the deaths of three much esteemed Fellows of this Society, which have occurred since our last ordinary meeting—Professor Macquorn Rankine of Glasgow University; the Very Rev. Dean Ramsay, Edinburgh; and Archibald Smith of Jordanhill. The Council think that it is only a fitting tribute to the memory of our deceased colleagues that I should express regret at the loss which we, in common with others, have sustained, and that I should also briefly allude to their connection with this Society and with science, leaving to a future occasion the duty of giving a fuller biographical account of each.
4. Note on the Zodiacal Light
Authors: Forbes George
Published: June 2016

A peculiarity was observed about the vernal equinox in 1871 in the shape of the zodiacal light, which deserves to be recorded. The appearance resembled a thin cone (such as is usually seen), extending to a great height, and-rising out of a broad low cone situated at its base. This was not an effect of sunlight, for it was visible hours after sunset. It was not peculiar to any time or place, for it was seen constantly in all parts of the south of Europe, viz., in the Bay of Biscay, all along the Mediterranean, in Malta, and in Sicily. It seems not unlikely that there are periodic changes in the appearance of the zodiacal light. Hence it is well to mention any such peculiarity. I have also to confirm what has so often been stated by other observers, that the direction of the axis of the cone is not always in the direction of the ecliptic, but changes its direction from night to night.
2. On the Thermal Conductivity of Ice, and a new Method of Determining the Conductivity of Different Substances
Authors: Forbes George
Published: June 2016

The value of the coefficient of conductivity for ice is an important desideratum in several branches of physics; and it derives additional importance from an application, explained in the second part of this communication, to the determination of the thermal conductivity of different substances in absolute measure. The brilliant researches of Neumann, and some ingenious experiments by M. Lucien De La Rive, afford us at present the only two determinations that we possess of this important quantity. The value found by Neumann is 0·114, while De La Rive makes it 0·138. The discrepancy justifies the publication of experiments on a some-what large scale, which gives us a close approximation to the truth.
3. On the Effect of Heating one Pole of a Magnet, the other being kept at a Constant Temperature
Authors: Marshall D. H. , Knott C. G.
Published: June 2016

The following are a modification of some experiments conducted in the summer of 1871, and communicated to the Society on the 15th of January 1872. These consisted in heating a magnet uniformly throughout, and then noting the change in magnetic strength. Those conducted this winter consisted in heating one pole of a magnet, while the other was kept at a temperature as nearly constant as possible, and then noting the change of magnetic strength in both poles. The arrangement adopted was the same in both series of experiments, only being double in the latter. It consisted in having a magnet set magnetically east and west, each end of which passed through a cork fitted into a hole made in the side of a copper pot, one of which was filled with oil and heated by means of a brass Bunsen, while the other was filled with water at the temperature of the air of the room. The temperatures of both ends of the magnet could thus be ascertained by means of mercurial thermometers.
4. A Theory of Volcanic Eruptions
Authors: Vaughan Daniel
Published: June 2016

From researches which have much engaged my attention for nearly twenty years, I am convinced that silica performs a very important part, not only in the formation of the earth's crust, but also in leading to violent subterranean movements. The low specific gravity of silicic acid, and of the rocks in which it predominates, would (if much of the internal earth were fluid) give rise to certain results, which I traced in an essay published in 1856, and also in a paper which was brought before the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1861.
5. On the Placentation of the Sloths
Authors: Turner
Published: June 2016

After referring to the paucity of information on the placental characters of the sloths, and to the various inferences which had been drawn by anatomists from Carus's figure of the placenta of Bradypus tridactylus, some holding that it was cotyledonary and non-deciduate, others that it might have intermingled with it maternal deciduous substance, the author proceeded to describe his dissection of the perfectly fresh gravid uterus of a specimen of a two-toed sloth. This specimen, which was presented to him by Dr David Ridpath, only possessed six cervical vertebrae, and was referred to the Cholœpus Hoffmanni of Peters.
4. On the Physiological Action of Light. No. III
Authors: Dewar James , M'Kendrick John G.
Published: June 2016

Since the date of our last communication, we have continued our investigations, with the following results:–

1. The light from a beam of uncondensed moonlight, though of weak intensity, and almost entirely free from heat rays, is still sufficient to alter the electro-motive power of the nerve and retina.

2. We have examined the phenomenon in the eyes of the following animals:—(1.) The common newt (Triton aquaticus). (2.) The gold-fish (Cyprinus auratus). (3.) The rockling (Motella vulgaris). (4.) The stickleback (Gasterosteus trachurus). (5.) The common edible crab (Cancer pagurus). (6.) The swimming crab (Portunus puber). (7.) The spider crab (Hyas coarctatus). (8.) The hermit crab (Pagurus Bernhardus), and (9.) The lobster (Homarus vulgaris).
5. Note on the Various Possible Expressions for the Force Exerted by an Element of one Linear Conductor on an Element of another
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

In the Quarterly Mathematical Journal for 1860, I gave a quaternion process for obtaining in a very simple manner, from Ampère's experimental data, his well-known expression for the mutual action between two elements of currents. As one of the data the assumption was made, after Ampère, that the action is a force whose direction is that of the line joining the middle points of the elements, i.e., it was assumed that the necessary equality of action and reaction holds, not merely for two closed circuits but, for each pair of elements of these circuits.
2. Continuants—A New Special Class of Determinants
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: June 2016

A determinant which has the elements lying outside the principal diagonal and the two bordering minor diagonals each equal to zero, and which has the elements of one of these minor diagonals each equal to negative unity, may be called a Continuant.
2. On a Method of Demonstrating the Relations of the Convolutions of the Brain to the Surface of the Head
Authors: Turner
Published: June 2016

The outer surface of the skull does not correspond in shape to the outside of the brain. If it had corresponded there would have been no difficulty in determining the form of the brain from an inspection of the form of the head.

The shape of the brain does correspond to the wall of the cranial cavity. This wall is formed by the inner table of the cranial bones, which table, though separated from the brain itself by the cerebral membranes, is moulded upon the exterior of the organ.
1. Biographical Notice of J. S. Mill
Authors: Fraser
Published: June 2016

John Stuart Mill was born in London on the 20th of May 1806, and died at Avignon on the 8th of May 1873. He was of Scotch descent. He was connected with Edinburgh not only as having been an honorary member of this Society, but because his father, James Mill, the historian of British India, and author of the “Analysis of the Human Mind,” received his academical education here. His grandfather was a small farmer, at Northwater Bridge, in the county of Angus, of whom I find nothing more recorded. The father, by his extraordinary intellectual promise when a boy, drew the attention of Sir John Stuart, then member for Kincardineshire, by whom he was sent to the University of Edinburgh, at the expense of a fund, established by Lady Jane Stuart and some other ladies, for educating young men for the Church of Scotland. Towards the end of last century, James Mill attended the classes in Arts and Divinity. He was a pupil of Dalziel, the Professor of Greek, whose prelections he attended, I believe, for three sessions, and his philosophical powers were called forth by Dugald Stewart's lectures in Moral Philosophy.
10. On the Stresses due to Compound Strains
Authors: Niven C.
Published: June 2016

In the treatment of questions which relate to the equilibrium vibrations of elastic solids, it is usual to suppose the substance to start from a state without strain, and in general to consider only the case of small distortions, for which squares and products of the space-variations of displacement may be neglected. The mathematical solution depends, in the first instance, on the expression of the work done in distorting an element. This, as was first done by Green, is expressed in terms of six functions of the distortions termed strains.
2. Note on the Perception of Musical Sounds
Authors: M'Kendrick John G.
Published: June 2016

Certain individuals appear to be incapable of appreciating musical sounds. They cannot distinguish one melody from another; and if by many repetitions of the melody in their hearing, they at last appear to know it, the addition of one or more of the parts of the harmony again renders the music unrecognisable to them. The question naturally arises, Is this defect owing to any peculiarity in the structure of the internal ear of persons so constituted which prevents them hearing certain sounds, or is it to be referred to the condition of the brain? On the other hand, many have what is termed a “fine ear,” by which we understand the faculty of appreciating, remembering, and, in some cases, of successfully imitating musical sounds. Have those individuals the organ of hearing more delicately developed?
2. Note on the Submerged Fossil Trees of Granton Quarry
Authors: Christison Robert
Published: June 2016

It may interest those who are acquainted with the history, structure, and composition of the Craigleith fossil trees, described in the two papers recently read to this Society, to learn that an opportunity has occurred for examining comparatively specimens from the submerged fossil trees of Granton Quarry. The specimens were preserved by Mr Hawkins, engineer of the Granton harbour, and have been, through his kindness, not only subjected to examination, but also presented for preservation to the Botanic Garden collection.
6. Further Note on Continuants
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: June 2016

In my paper on Continuants, recently communicated to the Royal Society, it was shown that the order of a continuant may be depressed if the first element of the main diagonal be unity, viz., thus:—

and from the definition it is evident that

Hence we have
4. Concluding Remarks
Authors: Home David Milne
Published: June 2016

I have been requested by our Secretary to announce formally from the Council, that this is the last meeting for the Winter Session.

You will have seen from the billet, that our President, Sir William Thomson, was to have been in the chair to-night, and to have closed the session with some remarks suitable to the occasion.
3. The Development of the Ova, and the Structure of the Ovary, in Man and other Mammals
Authors: Foulis James
Published: June 2016

After an historical introduction, in the course of which the author gave an abstract of the important observations of Pflüger and Waldeyer, he proceeded to state his own observations on the development of the ova and structure of the ovary in calves, kittens, and the human female. The following general conclusions have been arrived at by the author in the course of his investigations :—

The corpuscles of the germ epithelium are derived by direct proliferation from those columnar corpuscles which invest the median side or surface of the Wolffian body, and which are continuous with the layer of columnar corpuscles that lines the pleuro-peritoneal cavity of the embryo in the early stages of development. The stroma of the ovary in the early stages of development is produced by a direct growth out from the interstitial tissue of the Wolffian body immediately beneath the germ epithelium on the median side of the Wolffian body.
2. On the Application of Angström's Method to the Conductivity of Wood
Authors: Knott C. G. , Macfarlane A.
Published: June 2016

This was an account of a series of experiments made in the Natural Philosophy Laboratory of the University, to test the applicability of Angström's method of periodic variations of temperature to the determination of low conductivity. The wood was cut into discs of a standard thickness, and these were very tightly secured together, after the interposition of copper-iron thermo-electric junctions (of very fine wire). One series of discs was cut parallel, the other perpendicular, to the fibre. The results were obtained very easily, and accorded satisfactorily with those obtained by more laborious methods.
2. The Phenomena of Single and Double Vision, as shown in the Stereoscope
Authors: Wyld R. S.
Published: June 2016

When we direct the axes of the two eyes to any definite object, its different parts affect corresponding parts of each retina, and the object appears single. When we squint, or do not look direct at the object, its images affect non-corresponding parts of the two retinæ, and the object appears double. The more widely the axes of the eyes are deflected from the object, the further asunder the double objects seem; and the less the axes are deflected the less distant from each other the double objects appear. Thus, when we hold the finger in front of the eyes while we look at a distant candle or gas jet, the flame appears single and the finger double. When we turn the eyes to the finger it appears single and the flame appears double.
Presentation of the Neill Prize to Charles Wm. Peach
Authors: Geikie
Published: June 2016

The Council having awarded the Neill Prize for the Triennial Period, 1871–74, to Mr Charles William Peach, for his contributions to Scottish Zoology and Geology, and for his recent contributions to Fossil Botany, Professor Geikie, on the presentation of the medal, addressed the President as follows:—

Sir,—The Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh has awarded the Neill Prize for the triennial period, 1871–74, to Mr Charles William Peach, and on the part of the Council I am requested to describe briefly to the Society on the present occasion the nature of his scientific work, which has been judged well deserving of one of the Society's medals.
2. On the Structure and Systematic Position of Tristichopterus alatus, Egerton
Authors: Traquair R. H.
Published: June 2016

The cranial osteology and the dentition of Tristichopterus have been hitherto entirely unknown, and we were but imperfectly acquainted with the structure of the pectoral fins. Consequently great doubts have prevailed with regard to its affinities, though it was supposed to be allied in many respects to Dipterus. A suite of specimens from John O'Groat's, in the Edinburgh Museum of Science, collected by Mr Peach, the original discoverer of the fish, subsequent to the publication of Sir Philip Egerton's description, throws great light on the previously unknown points of its structure, as well as on its affinities.
1. Observations relative to Mr Edward Sang's “Remarks on the Great Logarithmic and Trigonometrical Tables calculated in the Bureau du Cadastre under the direction of Prony,” published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Session 1874–1875
Authors: Lefort M. F.
Published: June 2016

Mr Edward Sang, in the above cited article, makes most flattering mention of the works which I have published on the subject of Logarithms, and particularly on the great operations performed in the end of the last century under the direction of Prony. I cannot but thank him, yet without wishing to intervene in any way in the controversy between him and the editor of the scientific periodical “Nature.” But I owe it to him, as well as to the honourable Royal Society of Edinburgh, to give explanations on several points of fact and of doctrine which he regards as deducible from my writings; writings which he has misinterpreted, doubtless from an incomplete knowledge of the French language. In preparing the following note I am aware that I am exposed to a danger of the same kind, and therefore count upon Mr Sang's indulgence, as he may assuredly count upon mine.
3. On some Remarkable Changes, Additions, and Omissions of Letters in Certain Cognate European Words
Authors: Neaves
Published: June 2016

The subject of comparative philology has always interested scholars, but latterly the study has been carried on in a more scientific manner, and I may also say with more success, than at any former period. One great object in prosecuting the study is to detect the various disguises which words radically the same are apt to assume in different languages or dialects. The great scholars of two centuries ago were fully alive to the importance of this inquiry, and although they sometimes indulged in too great a latitude of conjecture, there is scarcely an etymological affinity now generally admitted of which traces and indications are not plainly to be found in the works of those learned men, and more particularly in the writings of Salmasius, the greatest of them all.
1. The Theory of the Causes by which Storms Progress in an Easterly Direction over the British Isles, and why the Barometer does not always indicate real vertical pressure
Authors: Tennent Robert
Published: June 2016

Upwards of three years ago the author laid a paper before two members of the Scottish Meteorological Society. The question taken up was, why horizontal movement takes off vertical pressure; and the conclusion arrived at was, that every such horizontal current, owing to its passage over a resisting surface, and by means of rapid upper currents, caused removal of air and lifting, and thereby diminished pressure. It was inferred that the barometer which represented this was consequently an “effect” and not a cause of wind.
5. Farther Researches in very perfect Vacua
Authors: Dewar  , Tait
Published: June 2016

The paper commences with an account of various methods of producing very perfect exhaustion of a receiver, especially that recently devised by the authors, in which the absorbent power of charcoal is made use of. An attempt is made to calculate the amount of exhaustion thus producible.
V.—A New Hydrate of Orthophosphoric Acid
Authors: Smith Alexander , Menzies Alan W. C.
Published: June 2016

Our purpose was, by a systematic study of the solubilities concerned, to ascertain whether any hydrates of orthophosphoric acid, other than a semi-hydrate, 2H3PO4,H2O (Joly's hydrate), exist. The solubilities of phosphoric acid and Joly's hydrate at various temperatures had not previously been measured. Crystalline, anhydrous phosphoric acid and Joly's hydrate were prepared in pure form. The solid was stirred in a thermostat with water until equilibrium was reached at each temperature, and the concentration of the solution was determined. The diagram (fig. 1) shows the results. AB is the curve of solubilities of Joly's hydrate from −16° to 29·35°, its melting point. BC contains the melting points of Joly's hydrate, depressed by phosphoric acid.
IX.—Observations on some Spark-Gap Phenomena
Authors: McWhan John , Clark George A.
Published: June 2016

In a recent note to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Dr Dawson Turner remarks on a peculiarity observed by him in the behaviour of an inductioncoil spark-gap when a piece of mica, glass, sulphur, ebonite, etc., is placed between the terminals, near or against the + one. The surprising variety of the phenomena exhibited on the interposition of a solid dielectric plate between the two poles of such a coil (or between the poles of an influence machine) may make, in view of Dr Turner's note, the following observations of some interest. The observations in question were made during the course of an inquiry into the causes of the Lullin effect (according to which a thin dielectric plate interposed between two sparking terminals not opposite to one another is, as a general rule, perforated at the negative pole), and the apparatus employed consisted essentially of the details shown in fig. i., viz. of a motor-driven influence machine whose terminals were connected through a battery of Leyden jars in cascade to a specially designed spark-gap which allowed of any three-dimensional motion of the electrodes being accurately measured, and of any desired type or form of electrode (spherical, conical, disc type, etc.) being inserted at will.
X.—The Structure of the Reproductive Organs in the Free-Martin, with a Theory of the Significance of the Abnormality
Authors: Hart D. Berry
Published: June 2016

The apparent prodigality with which Nature provides for the reproduction of plants and animals has a marked exception in the case of sterile organisms, often produced on a large scale, in which every function except that of propagation may be carried on in a quite perfect manner. The cases of the sterilisation of an organism are best seen in insects, but I wish at present to consider its occurrence high up in the animal kingdom in the well-known case of the Free-Martin, an apparent sterile cow born co-twin with a potent bull.
XVI.—On a New Species of Cactogorgia
Authors: Simpson Jas. J.
Published: June 2016

Amongst the unnamed Alcyonaria in the collection of the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, is a beautiful colony belonging to the genus Cactogorgia, which Mr Eagle Clarke has kindly handed me for identification and description.

In 1907 (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin.) I established the genus Cactogorgia for several small colonies from the Indian Ocean, and referred these to three separate species, viz. celosioides, alciformis, and expansa. Thomson and M'Kinnon, in Trans. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), 1909, have described another species from the Seychelles under the name of Cactogorgia lampas, and the present colony must also be referred to a new species. This we propose to name Cactogorgia agariciformis, n. sp., on account of its very definite mushroom-shape.