46 Royal Society, 



gree of perfection that all its principles of action were fully developed 

 and realized in practice ; and, although the art of constructing these 

 machines has been very greatly improved since Mr. Watt's time, 

 and their applications widely extended, no important inventions 

 have been established in practice, except high-pressure engines, and 

 particularly those of Mr. Woolf, which are still used in the same 

 form as he first made them. — The remainder of the subject will con- 

 sist of technical descriptions of the structure of such steam-engines 

 as are now in use, and as they are made by the best engineers j this, 

 with their applications to various purposes, and the principles which 

 should be followed in making such applications, will form the subject 

 of another volume." 



XL Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Nov. 15. — T^R» KIDD and Dr. Richardson were respec- 

 *-* tively admitted Fellows of the Society. 



The Croonian Lecture, by Sir E. Home, Bart. V.P. was 

 read, entitled, " On the muscles peculiar to organs of sense in 

 particular quadrupeds and fishes." 



The author selected for the subjects of this lecture the pecu- 

 liarities in the muscular structure of the tongue of the Xariffa 

 or Camelopardalis Giraffa, an inhabitant of Soudan in Africa; 

 and a muscle belonging to the eye of the Cobitis anableps, a 

 fish inhabiting the rivers of Surinam, and called by the natives 

 " the four-eyed fish." 



The tongue of the Giraffa, besides being an organ of taste, 

 has many properties of the elephant's proboscis. The latter is 

 incapable of elongation it is true, while the former may be ex- 

 tended to seventeen inches in length. The author observes, that 

 some mechanism must exist by which this elongation can be 

 performed, but that an opportunity of examination after death 

 would be requisite to decide on its nature. The tongue of rein- 

 deer offers the same analogy, which however he has not been 

 able to trace for want of time. The chameleon can dart out 

 its tongue to the extent of twelve inches, and, for this purpose, 

 as well as to direct its motion, it has a conical bone inclosed in 

 a muscular tube, the fibres of which are circular, and aid 

 by their pressure to make the bone slide forwards. The 

 Xariffa wants the receptacle for water, which the camel and 

 dromedary possess, it being needless for it as it lives on 

 succulent plants ; neither has it the padded hoof to fit it 

 for travelling in sand, but two toes defended by a horny co- 

 vering, 



