177 



produced. A similar result followed from sowing twelve seeds 

 of maize, brought from Peruvian graves by Mr. Cumiug. 

 In the following year (1842) the same committee sowed some 

 seeds taken out of an Egyptian shoe found at Thebes, in 

 Egypt, and presented by Colonel York, but not one of these 

 came up. Barley gathered in 1798 produced no result. A 

 great number of other seeds, of various plants and trees, were 

 experimented upon ; and, generally speaking, their vitality 

 was found extinct, unless they had been gathered within the 

 last two or three years. Vegetation took place chielly in 

 those species which were oleaginous, and rarely in such as 

 were (like the cereals) of a farinaceous character. Such is a 

 brief abstract of the reports (nine in number) of the committee 

 above mentioned, Avho certainly spared no pains in the con- 

 ducting of their experiments. With regard to the compara- 

 tive qualities of mummy wheat, a letter received by him from 

 an experimental agriculturist in Hampshire, was read to the 

 Society. The writer set forth that he had sown some seeds 

 said to have been taken from a mummy, which had now yielded 

 such an increase as to cover half an acre. The number and 

 weight of grains taken from an ear of tliis wheat exceeded 

 considerably those taken from the common wheat of this 

 country ; but it was ground with difficulty, and the flour did 

 not make good bread : moreover, tlie straw was coarse and 

 strong. Mr. Yates concluded by saying that he had conferred 

 with some eminent nurserymen on this subject, who coincided 

 in the view taken of it by himself. 



Dr. Thomson read a letter from Mr. Hartnup, detailing 

 observations made by him on the 8th instant, at the Liver- 

 pool Observatory, on the new star discovered by Mr. Hind on 

 the 6th, and examined by him under ditferent magnifying 

 j)owers, from 92 to 1133. As the power was increased, he 

 thought the new star lost its brilliancy more rapidly than other 

 stars with which it was compared. The position of the star 



2 A 



