S5$ 



ejection of 

 British shells. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



otter is generally accounted a very timid animal; commu- 

 nicated by Mr. Luskey, of C red i ton. 



At this meeting also, Mr. Laskey (who is at present with 

 his regiment at Scotland, and who is well known in the 

 scientific world as an eminent conchologist), presented to 

 the Society a very valuable and well arranged collection of 

 British shell*, and likewise a curious mineral from New- 

 Holland. 



fcoyal Society. 



Ammonia con- 

 tains oxigen. 



^o hidrogen in 

 potash. 



Sulphur and 

 phosphorus. 



Carbon. 



acid. 



Boricic acid. 



Muriatic acid 



Royal Society. 



IN the Bakenan Lecture read in December last, before 

 the Royal Society, Mr. Davy has given an account of va- 

 rious experiments on ammonia, sulphur, phosphorus, char- 

 coal, the diamond, plumbago, and the fluoric, boracic, and 

 muriatic acids. The results seem to prove, 



1. That ammonia contains oxigen, which he had ven-. 

 tared to infer from facts detailed in his Dakerian Lecture 

 for 1807; and that in the action of ammonia and potassium, 

 it is the ammonia that is decomposed, and that there is not 

 the slightest evidence in favour of the existence of hidrogen, 

 in the metal of potash. 



2. That sulphur and phosphorus contain hidrogen and 

 oxigen, and that they are probably combinations of these 

 matters with bases, which have never yet been obtained 

 pure; and that they are analogous in their constitution to 

 the oily bodies, except that these last have for their base6 

 the carbonaceous element, 



3. That charcoal in its purest form contains hidrogen ; 

 and the diamond probably a slnall quantity of oxigen; and 

 that the purest form known of the carbonaceous element 

 seems to be in plumbago, where it is alloyed with iron. 



4. That the fluoric acid may be decomposed and recom- 

 posed, and that its basis is analogous to the sulphureous 

 basis. 



5. That the boracic acid is likewise susceptible of der 

 composition and ^composition ; and that it furnishes a pe- 

 culiar basis, which is more analogous to charcoal than to 

 any other species of matter. 



(j. That muriatic acid gas in its common form contains 

 at least one third of its weight of water; and that, when 



the 



