[ 426 1 

 PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



[OCT. 



DOMESTIC. 

 ROYAL SOCIETY. 



June 21. Thomas Telford, Esq. was ad- 

 mitted a member. A paper on the theory of 

 the diurnal variation of the needle, by S. H. 

 Christie, Esq., was concluded. A paper on 

 the variation of the needle, by Captain Sa- 

 bine, and another on a new vegetable prin- 

 ciple, by M. Frost, were then read, and the 

 society adjourned to the second Thursday in 

 November. 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 



June 8. Some remarks on the astrono- 

 mical observations of Flamstead were read 

 by F. Baily, Esq., who recommended more 

 attention to be bestowed upon a work which 

 Lad hitherto served as a basis for the obser- 

 vations of all subsequent astronomers. An 

 ephemeris of the positions of the four new 

 planets, at their ensuing oppositions, com- 

 puted by himself, was transmitted by Mr. 

 Taylor, jun., of the royal observatory. A 

 paper on a new period of eclipses was read, 

 by Mr. Utting ; and a series of observations 

 were communicated from Major Hodgson : 

 1 . On the transit of mercury over the sun's 

 disc. Nov. 4, 1822. 2. Occultations of stars 

 by the moon, particularly of the pleiades, 

 March 17, 1823. 3. A set of equal attitudes 

 for determining the time at Futty Ghur. 

 . 4. Transits of moon and moon culminating 

 stars, at the same place. It was stated in a 

 letter from professor Harding, of Gottingen, 

 that he had discovered in Serpens a small vari- 

 able star, of which the period seemed about 

 eleven months. Results of his computations, 

 relative to the solar eclipse of November 28, 

 last, were communicated from Mr. G. Innes, 

 of Aberdeen. A description of an instrument, 

 called a tangent sextant, was given by Cap- 

 tain J. Ross. A method of making the ne- 

 cessary computations for deducing the longi- 

 tude from an occupation of the moon, by 

 Lieutenant Drinkwater of the navy, was 

 read after which several optical and astro- 

 nomical instruments of his own construction 

 were exhibited to the society by professor 

 Amici. 



FOREIGN". 



INSTITUTE ACADEMY OP SCIENCE*. 



June 18. M.M. Lamarck, Bosc, and dc 

 Blainville, reported on the memoir by M.M. 

 Raspail and Robineau Desvoidi, entitled Re- 

 searches into the Natural History of the Al- 

 cyonalle of ponds almost the last link be- 

 tween the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 

 They were requested to continue their re- 

 searches. M.M. Cordier and Brochant de 

 Villiers made a highly commendatory report 

 upon a geological paper of M. Bonnard. 

 25. M.M. Lucroix and Andreossy reported 

 on the work of M. Denaix, entitled an Essay 

 on Methodical and Comparative Geography, 

 of which he was encouraged to continue the 

 publication. M.M. Chaussier and Magendie 

 reported on a memoir of Dr. Roberts, rela- 

 tive to a woman who had a teat on her left 

 thigh, with which she nourished her own 

 child and several other infants. M. Cuvier 

 read a memoir on the saru of the an- 

 cients. July 2. M. Gambart, of Marseilles, 

 announced that on June 21 , he had discovered 

 in one of the feet of Cassiopea, a new comet, 

 invisible to the naked eye. M. Pons wrote 

 from Florence that, on the 20th of June, he 

 had discovered a small comet nearly in the 

 same situation as the above. M. Beudant, 

 in the name of a commission, reported on 

 four mineralogical memoirs of M. Berthier, 

 which were ordered to be printed in the col- 

 lection of memoirs, by persons not members 

 of the academy. 9. The same honour was 

 this day conferred upon a paper, entitled a 

 Geological Examination of the Question, 

 whether the Continents which we now in- 

 habit have been frequently overflowed by the 

 sea ? by M. Constant Prevost. M.M. Cuvier 

 and Cordier were the reporters. 10. In the 

 name of a commission, M. G. Cuvier reported 

 on the bones collected in the grottos of Os- 

 selles, near Besanyon. M. Berthier was 

 then elected member of the section of mine- 

 ralogy, in the place of M. Ramond, and the 

 loss which the academy had sustained by the 

 death of M. Fresnel was announced* 



VARIETIES, SCIENTIFIC AND MISCELLANEOUS. 



Meteorology. It was mentioned in ourlast 

 number that a spurious quadruple rainbow 

 had been observed in one of the islands of the 

 Baltic. A singular atmospheric phenomenon 

 was witnessed by many persons in Kent, in 

 August last ; it was a rainbow which, in 

 addition to the usual number of prismatic 

 colours, added to them, immediately beyond 

 the violet ray, a ray of green, and then ano- 

 ther very faint ray of violet. 



Jones's Steam Engine. The great, in- 

 deed it may be said, infinite utility of the 

 steam-engine, has given rise to innumerable 

 plans for its improvement : some merely 

 theoretical, others which have been found 

 adapted to practice. Of Mr. Perkins's inven- 

 tion we have already given an account. The 

 following description of a new modification 

 of this machine, by Mr. Jones, is extracted 

 from Newton's journal : the peculiar COST*- 



