1828.] 



Monthly Theatrical Report. 



317 



crowd to see Yates's pleasantries. No one 

 knows better how to sustain and satisfy po- 

 pularity. A succession of amusing and petit 

 performances are carried on through the 

 week, and the manager and the public do 

 justice to each other. 



The King's Theatre fills with the filling of 

 the town. But Pasta is the sole attraction 

 a powerful one, undoubtedly ; yet some- 



thing more is due to the audience, and is ne- 

 cessary to the theatre. Sontag is promised, 

 and doubted. It turns out that she has two 

 months in the summer at her disposal, when 

 she will, probably, if she has the usual fo- 

 reign fondness for English gold, honour us 

 at the rate of a hundred and fifty guineas a 

 song. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



DOMESTIC. 

 ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Dec. 6, 1827. T. H. Hall, and W. 

 Phillips, Esqrs., were admitted into the So- 

 ciety. A paper, by Professor Airy, was 

 read on the corrections in the elements of 

 De Lambre's solar tables, required by the 

 observations made at Greenwich. From the 

 investigations of this gentleman, it appears 

 that erroneous estimates had been made of 

 the masses of some of the planets, Venus 

 and Mars in particular, and of the moon. 

 The differences arising from these causes 

 having been pointed out, and the correc- 

 tions suggested, the latter were found to 

 agree with observation in a most satis- 

 factory manner. Dec. 13. Dr. Roget com- 

 municated a paper, which was read, from 

 J. Prinsep, Esq., assay master of the mint 

 at Benares, on the measurement of high 

 temperatures for which see the Va- 

 rieties. Also, a paper was read from 

 Sir G. S. Gibbes, M.D. on alimentary sub- 

 stances. 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 



Dec. 14, 1827 The beneficial results 



produced by this society are now beginning 

 to be appreciated, and astronomers are daily 

 becoming more anxious to forward the ob- 

 jects it has in view. At this meeting, a 

 large mass of observations, extending over 

 a period of thirty-three years, was forwarded 

 from Major Hodgson, surveyor-general of 

 India. It is by collecting and digesting de- 

 tached observations, as well as by the pro- 

 ceedings of fixed observatories, that astro- 

 nomy must receive much greater advance- 

 ment. A paper was read on the computa- 

 tion of the geocentric places of the planets 

 for ephemerides, by J. F. Littrow : the pro- 

 cess was devised by M. Gauss, to avoid the 

 very laborious calculations required by the 

 usual method. M. L. communicated the 

 formulae, which give at once the geocentric 

 right ascensions and declinations, as well as 

 the distance, of the planet from the earth, 

 in terms of the co-ordinates of the earth and 

 planets at the instant of observation. An 

 instrument, to illustrate some of the pheno- 

 mena of rotation, contrived by Mr. Atkin- 

 son, of Newcastle, was exhibited by Mr. 

 Riddle. 



LIXN^EAN SOCIETY. 



Dec. 1, 1827 A paper, by Mr. J. Main, 

 on the locomotive power of the snail, was 

 read. The belly of the snail being perfectly 

 smooth, there are no appendages to do the 

 office of feet, and the whole of the body 

 moves at once, and not in parts successively. 

 By placing the animal on a piece of glass, 

 Mr. M. was enabled to detect a muscular 

 motion ; but this, instead of being from head 

 to tail, was the reverse so that the animal's 

 motion cannot be caused by impulses in the 

 direction of its progress. He offers two con- 

 jectures as to the cause of the animal's mo- 

 tion that the body is moved forward by 

 the retromissive discharge of slime, which, 

 being emitted simultaneously from every 

 part of the under surface, may exercise a 

 force adequate to the propelling of the ani- 

 mal; or from its power of forming its 

 lower surface into segments of circles along 

 the whole of its length, and thus, by assum- 

 ing a vertical vermicular action on the plane 

 of the sustaining surface, impelling the body 

 forward by alternate contraction and expan- 

 sion. As dry air deprives the animal of 

 motion, the author is inclined to consider 

 the first surmise the more probable An 

 extract of a letter from Dr. Rigby was 

 read, on the ova of the hirudo medicinalis ; 

 also an account, by the Rev. L. Guilding, 

 of margarodes, anew genus of insects, found 

 in the neighbourhood of ants'-nests. These 

 insects issue from what is called the ground 

 pearl, and appear to be parasites on the ants. 

 The entire want of a mouth is remarkable 

 in this new insect, the food being absorbed 

 by tubes in the fore-claws: it also possesses 

 the extraordinary power of throwing out 

 long filaments when in dry situations, sup- 

 posed to be for preserving itself, by obtain- 

 ing moisture. 18. Three new species of 

 land-tortoise were exhibited by Mr. Bell ; 

 and a portion of Dr. Hamilton's commen- 

 tary on the Hortus Malabaricus, was read. 

 Jan. 15, 1828. Some specimens of ianthinae, 

 washed ashore in July last, in Oxwick Bay, 

 near Swansea, many of them picked up 

 alive, and yielding a beautiful dye, were 

 exhibited by L. W. Dillwyn, Esq. Speci- 

 mens of medusae were found with them. A 

 description was read of three new species of 

 plants, natives of New Grenada^ by M. 

 Gondot, professor of botany at Bogota. 



