es, it is plausibly com he wine was of anterior at fire of London, which When the bottin their contents peat Sir Rolet Age of Greek wi have lately examined two p of gaine Marsala from Sicily une contained 25.5, the other t. of alcohol: this, therefo the Lissa, stand higher as to al than any of the wines set down table of the strength of wi living buman Fished in the Philos. Tran for perations-on In regard to this table, it may be diately after remarking, that in Sir Humphry ice of se- Lectures on Agricultural ariely (octavo edition), and in De Elements of Experimental (7th Edit. Fol. 11, p. 259), quantity of alcohol is port win quoted from the above table 35,83 per cent.-where 25,83 per cent. The Committee for managing the Taterloo subscription have resolved to the widows of the soldiers who fell the Battle of Waterloo an annuity of by two half-yearly payments, as as they remain unmarried. Tanner and brazier China and glass Linen Kew Palace... Windsor Cottage.. Disbursements and enter 137 19 0 21,278 13 84 Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte.. 2,614 0 9 Gardens 4,575 5 0 Treasury and Exchequer fees 29 10 Next morning she was again found in a deep sleep in this state she remained for seven days, without motion, food, or evacuation; but at the end of this time, by the moving of her left hand, and by plucking at the coverlet of the bed and pointing to her mouth, a wish for food being understood, it was given her. This she took, but still remained in her lethargic state till Tuesday, the 8th of August, being six weeks from the time she was seized with the lethargy, without appearing to be awake, except on the afternoon of Friday, the 30th June. For the first two weeks, her pulse was generally about 50, the third week about 60, and previous to her recovery at 70 to 72. Though extremely feeble for some days after her recovery, she gained strength so rapidly, that before the end of August, she began to work at the harvest, on the lands of Mr. Arkley, and continued without inconvenience to perform her labour. The account is drawn up by a clergy man of the parish, and is accompanied with the medical report of the surgeons who attended; to whose attestations are added those of Mr. Arkley, the proprie tor of Donninald, and Lyal, the father, and is in every respect entitled to the fullest credit. Mr. Playfair read a paper on Barome ter Tubes. Mr. Playfair observed, that the difficulty which had been hitherto most severely felt, in making barometrical observatious in mountainous or remote countries, proceeding from the fragility of the instruments, which being necessarily made of slender and very brittle materials, were frequently brokes, and the opportunity of making observations disappointed, after much Jabour had been bestowed on the at tempt.. Metal, from its want of transparency, could not be used in the common manner; still, however, it might be so applied as to become available with so considerable a degree of accuracy as to render the instrument of the greatest utility. The plan proposed by the Professor was to adopt iron tubes of one quarter of an inch calibre, and of the usual length of the barometer tubes that these should be accurately bored, and closed at one end mer cury, if carefully poured into them, would be tolerably free from air; but if necessary, any air that might be car ried down with the mercury, could be expelled entirely, by means of an iron wire, which was often used even with glass tubes, or by means of heat: the tube thus prepared, could be carried with perfect safety any where. To use it, it was only necessary to place the finger on the open-end, and to invert it in a cup of mercury; when the tube being suspended, and allowed to remaiu until the oscillation subsided, the finger might again be gently re-placed on the open end, and the tube reinverted, when the quantity of mercury deficient would afford the data of calculation. This quantity might be measured with accuracy by means of "s float, having a graduated stem, and lead to an approximation sufficiently near the truth for all useful purposes. struments are now in the hands of the workmen with the view of putting the invention to the test. April 29. Mr. Hugh Murray read an essay "On the Ancient Geography of Central and Eastern Asia, with Illustrations, derived from recent Discoveries in the North of India." Mr. M. conceived that the ancients, particularly Ptolemy and Pliny, knew more respecting this quarter, of the world than is generally supposed. The modern discovery respecting the course of the rivers of the Punjab, and their union into one, before falling into the indus, is a mere restoration of Ptolemy's map of these rivers. The western tributaries, so erroneously delineated by the moderns till the Caubul mission, are represented by him with nearly equal precision. Mr. M. conceives that Ptolemy's statements, carefully analysed, from a pretty correct outline of central and eastern Asia. Thus the extensive tract of the Sacarum Regio, bounded on the south by India, from which it is separated by the Imaus (Hemalleb), corresponds in all its features with Little Thibet. Scythia extra Imaum, bounded by India beyond the Garges, from which it is separated by the Mous Emodus, will then be Great Thibet, extended indefinitely into Tartary. Serica, then, bounded on the south partly by India beyond the Ganges, and partly by Siam (Sinarum Regio), will, under some modifications, be China. The very character of the Seres, mild, timid, unwarlike, jealous of foreigners, and carrying on trade only at fixed frontier stations, represents exactly and exclusively the modera Chinese. Mr. M. then endeavours to show, that the prevailing systems of d'Anville, Gosselin, &c. are founded on an undue contempt of ancient authorities, and upou some slight resemblances of name, which, compared with the grand and pernianent features of nature, cannot be allowed much weight in such an investigation, i At the same meeting Dr. Brewster laid before the Society a Paper on a new optical and mineralogical Property of calcareous Spar. Having formerly shewo (Phil. Traus. 1815. p. 270) that the colours exhibited by some specimens of calcareous spar were produced by a thin film or interrupting stratum which divided the polarised light into its complementary tints; Dr. Brewster examined several new specimens which possessed this property, in order to as certain the axes of this film. In the course of this examination he discovered that a prism could be cut out of a rhomboid of this kiud, which, when combined with another prism of common calcareous spar, exercised such an action upon the transmitted light, that the combined prisms possessed one of the properties described by Huygens and Newton, that is, none of the four images vanished in any position of the second prism, but contiqued visible during the whole of its revolution. The combined prisms however recovered their usual property when the opposite face of the first prism received the incideat pencil. Hence it follows, that the pencils were depolarised by the interrupting film; and Dr. B. has shewn that the film has all its axes constantly inclined 45° to those of the mass which contains it. As the particles of the film are not symmetrically combined with those of the mass, they are not joined by their poles, and consequently they do not come into optical contact, light being always reflected at the junction. Some specimens possess two and even three sets of films or veins, each set being parallel to the common sections of the three surfaces which contain the solid angle. May 6. Dr. Brewster read a Paper on the Communication of double Refraction to Glass, and other hard and soft substances that refract singly, by mechanical Compression and Dilata tion." Having inferred from the optical properties of heated glass, that its doubly refracting structure was owing to a variation of density, Dr. B. en: deavoured, by means of screws, to produce the same mechanical change upon glass, and he found that in every case the glass was converted into a doubly refracting crystal while the pressure was continued. He next took long plates of glass with polished edges, and found that by slightly bending them with the hand, the convex or dilated side had the same structure as one class of doubly refracting crystals, while the concave or compressed side had the same structure as the other class. Muriate of soda; flour spar, diamond, obsidian, semiopal, born, tortoise shell, amber, gunt copal, caoutchouc, rosin, phosphorus, the crystalline lens, and the sclerotic coat of fishes, and other substances that have not the property of double refraction, receive it by compression or dilatation; while no effect whatever is produced upon doubly refracting crys tals by the most powerful pressure. Many curious results were obtained by. inclosing the glass in fluid metal and observing the changes which it underwent from the contraction of the metal in cooling. Upon the preceding princi ples is founded a chromatic dynamome, er for measuring the intensity of forces, and various instruments for indicating differences of humidity and temperature by the expansions or contractions which they produce. The second part of this paper related to the communication of double refrac tion either transiently or permanently to animal jellies, by gradual induration, or by mechanical compression or expan May 20. The conclusion of Dr. Murray's Paper on the Analysis of Sea" Waler was read. He gave also the res sult of an analysis of a salt which is formed in the large way from the brine of sea water, which seems hitherto to have escaped observation. It is a sulphate of magnesia aud soda which crystallizes in ́ very regular rhombs, occasionally trun cated on some of the edges and angles. It contains a much smaller quantity of water of crystallization than either sulphate of soda or sulphate of magnesia; is less disagreeable to the taste, and differs from both in all its other propers › ties. It has not hitherto been applied to any useful purpose, but it may probably form a very excellent purgative salt. A Barometer was exhibited to the Society with a communication from Mr. Kennedy, suggesting a mode of render ing this valuable instrument more portable, and less liable to damage by the concussion of the mercury against the upper part of the tube: this it is proposed to prevent by introducing a small bell-shaped bulb of glass, attached to a spiral spring and fastened to the top of the tube. This improvement appears to be calculated to prevent the accidents which so frequently occur in the use of this instrument. Dr. Gordon communicated certain observations to the Society, tending to establish the pathological fact, that the appearance called the buffy coat, or inflammatory crust, is not confined to venous blood, but is also occasionally seen on arterial blood, in similar states of the system. Dr. G. had himself an opportunity of seeing this appearance on arterial blood in one instance; and three other instances, in which it had occurred, were mentioned to him by Dr. Gregory, Mr. Ashburner, and Mr. Wishart. Dr. Gordon also stated to the Society, that by a series of observations on the muscles of the living human body, during surgical operations,-on the muscles of limbs immediately after amputation, and on the muscles of several of the lower animals, in a variety of circumstances, he conceived he had established, that the muscular fibre, during its contraction, does not exhibit the slightest appearance of rugæ, but remains perfectly straight; and that it does not undergo any perceptible enlargement in its transverse diameter. A few months ago, Messrs Graham and Railton discovered, upon their premises in Mansion-house-street, an old well which was full of burned wood; upon removing this, and a quantity of black mud beneath it, they found several bottles of a globular shape, with short necks, the exteriors of which were con siderably decomposed, from the loss of alkali, and the silicious earth peeled off in films. One of these contained some excellent wine, having the flavour and appearance of Malaga; the others were full of a liquor which appeared to have been port wine, but the spirit was almost entirely converted into vinegar, and the vegetable matter was in a state of putrefaction. The colour was that of tawney port. The white wine contained 18 per cent. of alcohol, while the red afforded only three per cent. It is curious, that in regard to the former, the wine and cork were more sound than the bottle. From the antiquity of the premises, the quantity of burned wood in the cellar, the ancient form of the bottles, the perishing state of the glass, and other circumstances, it is plausibly con jectured, that the wine was of anterior date to the great fire of London, which occured in 1666. When the bottles were opened, and their contents examined, there were present Sir Robert Graham, Mr. Joseph Railton, Dr. Cooke, and myself. A large quantity of Greek wine, under the name of Lissa, or Dalmatian, wine, has lately been imported into this country; the quantity of alcohol which it contains is in some samples as high is 26 per cent.; in others it amounts to 24. It contains a remarkable large proportion of malic acid. I have lately examined two samples of genuine Marsala from Sicily: the one contained 25.5, the other 26.3, per cent. of alcohol: this, therefore, and the Lissa, stand higher as to alcohol. than any of the wines set down in my table of the strength of wines, published in the Philos. Tran. for 1611. In regard to this table, it may be worth remarking, that in Sir Humphrey Davy's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry (octavo edition), and in Dr. Henry's Elements of Experimental Chemistry (7th Edit. Vol. II. p. 259), the largest quantity of alcohol is port wine, as misquoted from the above table-it is stated as 35,83 per cent.-whereas it should 25,83 per cent. be W. T. BRANDE. |