236 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



of all speculative views, that new names will be derived from 

 some simple and invariable property, apd that mere arbitrary 

 designations will be employed, to signify the class to which 

 compounds or simple bodies belong. 



I'V.':. 



Iceland crystal. 



Ember-goose. 



Qualities of 

 SQund. 



SaENTlFIC NEWS. 

 Wernerian Natural History Society, 



T the meeting of this Society on the 27th of April, 

 Professor Jameson read a paper concerning the geognostic 

 relations of the Iceland doubly-refracting crystal. The 

 secretary communicated an account of the habits of the co-^ 

 lymbus iramer, or ember-goose, by Dr. Edmonston of 

 Lerwick. And Dr. Gordon read an interesting paper, con- 

 sisting of observations and experiments on the qualities of 

 sensation of sound ; on the different modes in which sono- 

 rous vibrations are communicated to the auditory nerve ; on 

 the ideas of the distance, and of the angular position of 

 sounding bodies with respect to the ear, which are asso* 

 ciated, by experience, with the different qualities of sounds; 

 and on some of the more remarkable differences in the sense 

 of hearings both original and accidental, which are occa- 

 sionally observed among individuals, and, iii particular,' itfft* 

 the musical ear, -?.': 



Albnmen of 

 seeds affords 

 nutriment to 

 the plant. 



J^eport of the Proceedings of the Mathematical and Physical 

 Class of th^ French Institute, continued from p. 159. 



Mr, Mirbel has continued his researches into the physio- 

 logy of plants. Hitherto it had been acknowledged indeed, 

 that the albumen of seeds commonly served to nourish the 

 young plant after germination ; but this opinion required 

 the support of positive observations, and Mr. Mirbel ap- 

 pears to have removed all doubts respecting it by an expe- 

 riment as simple as ingenious. The embryo in the seed of 

 the onion bends as it unfolds itself, so as to form an elbow 

 that rises out of the ground, while the plumula and radicle 

 jemain concealed in it. If at this stage of vegetation 9. 



mark 



