bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
IV. On a New Analysis of Solar Light, indicating three Primary Colours, forming Coincident Spectra of equal length
Authors: Brewster David 
Published: January 2013

The decomposition of white light by prismatic refraction, as effected by Sir Isaac Newton, has, for more than a hundred and fifty years, been received as a demonstrated truth by the most distinguished philosophers of all nations. Various attempts indeed have been made, both in his day and in ours, to overturn this beautiful generalization, but they have been made by persons not only ignorant of the subject, but unacquainted with the first principles of physical research.The analysis of light by the prism is perfect, in so far as it goes, and was demonstrated by Newton in the case of spectra produced by the single refracting medium which he employed. It was left, indeed, to his successors to discover the different dispersive powers of bodies, and the irrationality of the coloured spaces, and thus to establish the principles of the Achromatic and the Aplanatic Telescopes. These discoveries presented no points of objection to the views of Newton. They were entirely of a supplementary character, and were calculated to establish more firmly his general doctrine respecting the composition of light.
VI. A Description of a Fossil Tree discovered in the Quarry of Craigleith, near Edinburgh, in the month of November 1830; with a Short Account of a Fragment and Branch found in 1831
Authors: Witham Henry 
Published: January 2013

In the month of November 1830, a small portion of a magnificent fossil stem was discovered in the quarry of Craigleith, in this vicinity, and more and more of it was brought into view as the working of the quarry proceeded.In December following, I communicated to the Natural History Society of Northumberland a description of that part of the petrifaction which had then been uncovered. This description will appear in their Transactions.At that period a considerable part of the stem had been brought into view, and since that time the remaining portion, and the roots, have been exposed.
IX. Account of some Experiments in which an Electric Spark was elicited from a Natural Magnet
Authors: Forbes James D. 
Published: January 2013

Notwithstanding the intimate connexion which has long been known to exist between magnetism and electricity, we may safely say, that, only fifteen years ago, the announcement of the excitation of a luminous spark from a natural magnet would have been received with astonishment and even with incredulity.After the great discovery of electro-magnetism, in 1819, by Professor Oersted, the extreme improbability of such a discovery was indeed removed; but, even after that period, until the recent researches of our distinguished countryman Mr Faraday, every attempt having failed to procure the feeblest trace of electricity from the obdurate magnetic mass, so striking a result, which comes home to the comprehension of those least accustomed to interest themselves in the less palpable results of scientific enquiry, could scarcely have been looked for with any degree of confidence.
IX.—Description of the Plant which produces the Ordeal Bean of Calabar
Authors: Balfour John Hutton 
Published: January 2013

It has been long known that in various parts of Africa, the natives are in the habit of subjecting to the ordeal of poison parties who are suspected of crimes. On the east coast, we meet with Tanghinia venenata, yielding the Tanghin poison-nut of Madagascar; and on the west coast, seeds and barks of different kinds have been employed as ordeals,—the sources of which, however, have not been hitherto fully ascertained.Dr Kirk, naturalist to the Livingstone Expedition, states, that the Manganja tribe, in the south-east of Africa, believe in a God, and in medicine, or the ordeal which he directs as the means of discovering crime. If the ordeal causes vomiting, it shows innocence; if it acts by the bowels, crime, and the person is put to death. But the doctors have a good knowledge of which to give, for there are different plants used.
XI.—Upon the Thyroid Glands in the Cetacea, with Observations on the Relations of the Thymus to the Thyroid in these and certain other Mammals
Authors: Turner William 
Published: January 2013

In the writings of comparative anatomists, considerable difference of opinion is expressed respecting the position and relations of the thyroid gland in the Cetacea, and some authorities even have asserted that it does not exist in these Mammalia.John Hunter states that he has examined several porpoises, balænæ, and other cetacea, yet “could not observe anything like a thyroid gland.”Meckel believed that he found, in a fœtal porpoise (D. phocœna), eight inches long, a thyroid gland. He describes it as half an inch broad, two lines thick and high, and of equal depth and thickness both on the middle and sides of the air-tube, in the same position as that in which the gland is found in other mammals. From this examination, however, of so young a fœtus, he does not feel disposed to affirm that, contrary to the opinion of Hunter, it exists in full grown cetacea. In a subsequent paper he mentions incidentally, that in the dolphins the gland is formed of two quite separate lobes. Cuvier states that he has found the gland very distinct in many dolphins and porpoises. In these animals it was divided into two parts, and suspended from the trachea opposite the upper border of the sternum, and some distance from the larynx. Carus describes the gland in the dolphin and porpoise as consisting of two parts, entirely separate from each other. It is difficult to say, however, from the text, whether he is giving the result of his own observations, or simply adopting those of Cuvier. Dr Martyn repeats the statement that the cetacea do not possess a thyroid, and he ascribes the supposed absence of the voice in these animals to the want of this glandular structure.
XVIII.—On a Method of Reducing Observations of Underground Temperature, with its Application to the Monthly Mean Temperatures of Underground Thermometers, at the Royal Edinburgh Observatory
Authors: Everett Joseph D. 
Published: January 2013

A few years since I was engaged in the performance of some calculations under the direction of Professor W. Thomson of Glasgow, having reference to the observations of underground temperature made at the Royal Edinburgh Observatory. In this paper I propose to describe a modification of Professor Thomson's method, which, while retaining a sufficient degree of accuracy, will be simple enough for general adoption. The objects proposed are—1st, To express the variations of temperature at a given depth in terms of the time of year.2d, To deduce the conducting power of the soil.
V. Determination of the Latitude and Longitude of the Observatory at Aberdeen
Authors: Mackay Andrew 
Published: January 2013

Dear Sir,Some time ago I promised to send you the result of a series of observations, made to determine the situation of this place. Having, however, been much hurried of late, I am only able at present to transmit you the determination of the latitude, deduced from a series of observations of the sun's meridian zenith distances. With respect to the longitude, as soon as it is in my power, I will reduce some observations of occultations, and of the late solar eclipse, and send you the results.
VI. An Account of certain Motions which Small Lighted Wicks acquire, when swimming in a Bason of Oil; together with Observations upon the Phenomena tending to explain the Principles upon which such Motions depend
Authors: Wilson Patrick 
Published: January 2013

Dear Sir,I now sit down to give you some account of the little hydrostatical lamp, which I so briefly mentioned to you in a former letter. As I am far from being fure whether what I have to offer upon this subject may be entitled to the notice of the Edinburgh Royal Society, so I will refer this point to your determination, after you have had leisure to consider the contents.
XV. Experimental Researches regarding certain Vibrations which take place between Metallic Masses having different Temperatures
Authors: Forbes James D. 
Published: January 2013

1. On the 17th January 1831, Mr Arthur Trevelyan communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh a paper, entitled “Notice regarding some phenomena observed during the Cooling of certain Metals placed in contact with Lead.” This was the first account published of the remarkable discovery made by that gentleman, of a most curious class of phenomena, which till then was unknown to the scientific world. This paper was afterwards published, with some additions, in the 12th volume of the Transactions of that body, under the title of “Notice regarding some Observations on the Vibrations of Heated Metals.”2. Mr Trevelyan had, in February 1829, first observed the phenomena just alluded to, which consist in certain tremulous motions accompanied by sounds, often highly musical, excited in many metals while hot, placed in contact with lead or tin, at a lower temperature.
XIX.—On a Mode of Taking the Density of Vapour of Volatile Liquids, at Temperatures below the Boiling Point
Authors: Playfair Lyon , Wanklyn J. A. 
Published: January 2013

The interest awakened by Gay-Lussac's great discovery of the simplicity in the relation of the volumes of gases has greatly increased in recent times, when chemists have discovered that, in a large number of instances at least, the formula of a body, as deduced physically from its vapour density, exactly coincides with that deducible from chemical considerations of its reactions, and from the nature of the products arising in consequence of them.The processes at present used for determining the vapour densities of bodies, are those of Gay-Lussac and Dumas.
IV.—Miscellaneous Observations on the Blood
Authors: Davy John 
Published: January 2013

On a fluid of so much importance as the blood, observations with any pretension to accuracy can hardly be too often made and repeated, more especially when we consider its great instability, its little uniformity, and the differences of opinion entertained by physiologists respecting some of its most remarkable properties.Such is the persuasion which has influenced me in engaging in the present inquiry, and in submitting its results to the Society.
VII.—On the Motion of a Heavy Body along the Circumference of a Circle
Authors: Sang Edward 
Published: January 2013

In the year 1861 I laid before the Royal Society of Edinburgh a theorem concerning the time of descent in a circular arc, by help of which that time can be computed with great ease and rapidity. A concise statement of it is printed in the fourth volume of the Society's Proceedings at page 419.The theorem in question was arrived at by the comparison of two formulæ, the one being the common series and the other an expression given in the “Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine” for November 1828, by a writer under the signature J. W. L. Each of these series is reached by a long train of transformations, developments, and integrations, which require great familiarity with the most advanced branches of the infinitesimal calculus; yet the theorem which results from their comparison has an aspect of extreme simplicity, and seems as if surely it might be attained to by a much shorter and less rugged road. For that reason I did not, at the time, give an account of the manner in which it was arrived at, intending to seek out a better proof. On comparing it with what is known in the theory of elliptic functions, its resemblance to the beautiful theorem of Halle became obvious; but then the coefficients in Halle's formulæ are necessarily less than unit, whereas for this theorem they are required to be greater than unit.
IX.—Some Observations on the Cuticle in relation to Evaporation
Authors: Davy John 
Published: January 2013

Though it is generally admitted that the cuticle performs an important part in retarding and regulating evaporation from the surface of the body, yet I am not aware of any inquiry hitherto made to determine the fact with exactness.On account of the importance of the subject, I have been induced to engage in it. The experiments instituted for the purpose have all been of a very simple kind and easily made. They were on the similar parts of dead animals, detached immediately or very soon after the animals had been killed. From one specimen in each instance, the cuticle with the cutis, or the cuticle alone, was removed; whilst from the other these parts of the integuments were left entire. Each was carefully weighed, and then suspended, exposed to the air, side by side. Day after day, with occasional interruptions, or hour after hour, the weighing was repeated, and the result in the loss sustained was noted down. The experiments were made, when not otherwise mentioned, as just described, in a room in which, except in the height of summer, there was commonly a fire by day, its temperature during the day and night varying from about 50° of Fahr. to 55° and 58°. The animals affording the subjects of the trials were the trout, frog, toad, hare, rabbit, pig, thrush, common fowl, blue tit. Even at the risk of tediousness, I shall give the results of the weighing in some detail,—exactness in such trials being the first thing necessary.
VIII.—On the Meteorology of the English Lake District, including the Results of Experiments on the Fall of Rain, the Temperature, the Dew Point, and the Humidity of the Atmosphere, at various Heights on the Mountains, up to 3166 feet above the Sea Level,—for the years 1851, 1852, and 1853
Authors: Miller John Fletcher 
Published: January 2013

The experiments on the rain-fall in the lake district valleys were commenced in 1844,—the mountain gauges were planted in the spring of 1846,—the hygrometrical observations were instituted at the beginning of the year 1852,—and the entire investigation was brought to a close at the end of the year 1853, when its main objects were considered to have been satisfactorily answered and attained.The tabular observations and general results of the inquiry up to the close of the year 1850, were communicated to the Royal Society of London in four papers, which are published in the Philosophical Transactions of that body. The fifth and concluding paper (comprising the observations, &c. for the years 1851—53 inclusive) I have now the honour to present to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
XVIII.—Experiments on Colour, as perceived by the Eye, with Remarks on Colour-Blindness
Authors: Maxwell James Clerk 
Published: January 2013

The object of the following communication is to describe a method by which every variety of visible colour may be exhibited to the eye in such a form as to admit of accurate comparison; to show how experiments so made may be registered numerically; and to deduce from these numerical results certain laws of vision.The different tints are produced by means of a combination of discs of paper, painted with the pigments commonly used in the arts, and arranged round an axis, so that a sector of any required angular magnitude of each colour may be exposed. When this system of discs is set in rapid rotation, the sectors of the different colours become indistinguishable, and the whole appears of one uniform tint. The resultant tints of two different combinations of colours may be compared by using a second set of discs of a smaller size, and placing these over the centre of the first set, so as to leave the outer portion of the larger discs exposed. The resultant tint of the first combination will then appear in a ring round that of the second, and may be very carefully compared with it.
XXV.—On the Possibility of combining two or more Probabilities of the same Event, so as to form one Definite Probability
Authors: Terrot  
Published: January 2013

(1.) The inquiry which, with its results, I propose to lay before the Society, was suggested by the following passage in the very popular Treatise on Logic by Dr Whately, now Archbishop of Dublin.“As in the case of two probable premises, the conclusion is not established except upon the supposition of their being both true, so in the case of two (and the like holds good with any number) distinct and independent indications of the truth of some proposition, unless both of them fail, the proposition must be true: we therefore multiply together the fractions indicating the probability of the failure of each—the chances against it—and the result being the total chances against the establishment of the conclusion by these arguments, this fraction being deducted from unity, the remainder gives the probability for it.
XXXIV.—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 J. C. 
Published: January 2013

To those who study the progress of exact science, the common spinning-top is a symbol of the labours and the perplexities of men who had successfully threaded the mazes of the planetary motions. The mathematicians of the last age, searching through nature for problems worthy of their analysis, found in this toy of their youth, ample occupation for their highest mathematical powers.No illustration of astronomical precession can be devised more perfect than that presented by a properly balanced top, but yet the motion of rotation has intricacies far exceeding those of the theory of precession.
II.—Circular Magnetisations accompanying Axial and Sectional Currents along Iron Tubes
Authors: Knott Cargill G. 
Published: January 2013

The experiments now to be described have for their object the investigation of the magnetic induction in an iron conductor under the influence of a current passing through it. The method of experiment was briefly in this wise. An iron tube was magnetised circularly by a current passed from end to end along its entire length; and the induction so produced in the iron was measured in terms of the current induced in a coil of wire wound longitudinally round the walls of the tube.In the experiments four tubes were used, all of the same length and nearly the same external diameter. The internal diameters of one pair were approximately double those of the other. The various dimensions are given accurately in the following table, the tubes being distinguished as A, B, a, b. Each diameter measurement is the mean of eight measurements taken across different diameters.
VI.—On the Lateral Sense Organs of Elasmobranchs. II. The Sensory Canals of the Common Skate (Raia batis)
Authors: Ewart J. C. , Mitchell J. C. 
Published: January 2013

In the paper on the sensory canals of Læmargus, communicated to the Royal Society in July last, it was pointed out that the arrangement of the sensory canals differed considerably in the Batoidei from that in Selachoidei, and it was mentioned that the sensory canals of the skate would be next described.The skate has been selected chiefly because the sensory canals are more typical than in the torpedoes and the whip and sting rays. In the torpedoes some of the canals are in a vestigial condition; while in the rays proper they have in most species undergone great specialisation. But another reason is, that an account of the development of the lateral sense organs in the skate is likely ere long to be published; and, further, the skate will be more easily obtained and kept under observation than the rays, when physiologists eventually direct their attention to the lateral sense organs of Elasmobranchs.
XXV.—On Lepidophloios, and on the British Species of the Genus
Authors: Kidston Robert 
Published: January 2013

Though the genus Lepidophloios, in regard to species, is a comparatively small one, yet it derives considerable importance from its occurring throughout the whole of the Carboniferous Formation, as well as in the peculiar characteristics of the plants comprised in it.The fragmentary condition in which the specimens are usually found has given rise to the creation of several genera, which can all be shown to merely represent different conditions of growth and preservation of one generic type. There are, also, other points in the structure of Lepidophloios which require further investigation, and the object of the present paper is to attempt to clear up some of these, about which much confusion still exists.
VI.—Some remarks on Theories of Cometary Physics
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi 
Published: January 2013

While the physical appearances of comets have ever excited such intense curiosity and interest, all the theories concerning them are generally confessed to be insufficient to explain them; and, certainly, if we may judge from the various views advocated by different writers, and the anomalous forces gratuitously brought in to support the different hypotheses—it is so.This unsatisfactory state of things, so different from that in which is the theory of the motions of comets,—seems to be owing partly to the difficulty of making the necessary observations by reason of the undefinable nature of the bodies themselves, and partly from the untoward circumstances under which the observations must be made, as well as the rareness of any opportunities offering. Hence, theories are built upon accounts handed down from old astrological times when men's prejudices would have prevented them, even if their means had been ample, which they were not, from giving any satisfactory and trustworthy accounts of the phenomena displayed by the heavens of their day.
X.—On the Economy of Heat in Expansive Machines, forming the Fifth Section of a Paper On the Mechanical Action of Heat
Authors: Rankine William John Macquorn 
Published: January 2013

(39.) A machine working by expansive power consists essentially of a portion of some substance to which heat is communicated, so as to expand it, at a higher temperature, being abstracted from it, so as to condense it to its original volume, at a lower temperature. The quantity of heat given out by the substance is less than the quantity received; the difference disappearing as heat to appear in the form of expansive power.The heat originally received by the working body may act in two ways: to raise its temperature, and to expand it. The heat given out may also act in two ways: to lower the temperature, and to contract the body. Now, as the conversion of heat into expansive power arises from changes of volume only, and not from changes of temperature, it is obvious, that the proportion of the heat received which is converted into expansive power will be the greatest possible, when the reception of heat, and its emission, each take place at a constant temperature.
XI.—Notes on the Geology of the Eildon Hills, in Roxburghshire
Authors: Forbes James D. 
Published: January 2013

The following remarks, being the result of a careful examination of a small district of country characteristic of the relations of the trap formations, are perhaps worthy of being recorded; although the general features of the county of Roxburgh have been very clearly stated in a paper by Mr Milne, published in the 15th volume of the Edinburgh Transactions.The outburst of porphyritic trap forming the conspicuous small group of the Eildon Hills, may be stated to be surrounded by the characteristic greywacke of the south of Scotland. It forms an elongated patch on the map, extending from the west end of Bowden Muir in the direction of the town of Selkirk, and running from west-south-west to east-north-east (true) towards Bemerside Hill, on the north bank of the Tweed. The breadth is variable, probably less than is generally supposed; but it cannot be accurately ascertained, owing to the accumulated diluvium which covers the whole south-eastern slope of this elevated ridge. On this account, my observations on the contact of rocks have been almost entirely confined to the northern and western boundaries of the trap, although the other side was examined with equal care.