313 



Proceeding of Learned Societies. 



[MARCH, 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Dec. 1, 182? Two new fellows were 

 elected ; and a paper read on the Geology 

 of Quebec, and its vicinity, by J.T. Rigsby, 

 Esq., M. D. 21. The reading of a paper 

 was begun on a group of slate rocks in York- 

 shire, between the rivers Lune and Wharfe, 

 from near Kirby-Lonsdale, to near Mai- 

 ham, by Mr. Phillips Jan. 4, 1828. Six 

 new fellows were elected, and the reading of 

 Mr. Phillips's paper concluded. A collec- 

 tion of fossil vegetables, from the Northum- 

 berland and Durham collieries, were pre- 

 sented by W. Hutton, Esq. ; from whom a 

 notice was read on the occurrence of chloro- 

 phoeite in basaltic dykes in Northumberland, 

 and of carbonate of strontian in the lead 

 measures near Hexham. 



FOREIGN. 

 INSTITUTE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Nov. 19 & 26, 1827 M. Legendre an- 

 nounced a discovery of M. Jacobi, of Ko- 

 nigsberg, who has materially improved the 

 important theory of elliptic functions. He 

 submitted some of the principal results of 

 these theorems of M. Jacobi, and stated the 

 labours of this young mathematician on the 

 theory of numbers. M. de Mirbel read a 

 memoir on the origin, the development, and 

 the organization of the liber (the inner bark 

 of plants) and the wood. M. Cagniart de 

 Latour read some new experimental and 

 theoretical researches on the properties of 

 sound. Dec. 3. MM. Dumeril, Girard, 



and F. Cuvier reported rather favourably on 

 M. Chabrin's memoir concerning the pro- 

 gressive motion of men and other animals. 

 M. Biot read a memoir on the figure of the 

 earth, confirming the conclusions to which 

 the other observers and mathematicians had . 

 arrived, but proving the variation of gravity 

 along the same parallel, and that on the 

 same meridian the variation is not uniform. 

 10. MM. Gay Lussac, Vauquelin, and 

 Chevreul reported on the work of MM. Du- 

 mas and the younger Roulay a memoir on 

 the formation of sulphuric ether : the report 

 was highly complimentary, and recom- 

 mended the publication of the paper by the 

 academy, among the productions of persons 

 not members of then: body. MM. Dupuy- 

 tren and Dumeril delivered a report on the 

 interesting memoir of Dr. Lenn, of Geneva, 

 relative to a new application of laryngo- 

 tracheotomy. M. G. St. Hilaire read a 

 memoir on a small species of crocodile living 

 in the Nile, its organization, its habits, and 

 the motives which led the ancients to adore 

 it under the name of Suchus. M. Cauchy 

 read a memoir on the development of func- 

 tions in rational fractions : on this subject, 

 M. Lacroix referred to a paper of Eulers, 

 inserted in the Transactions of the Academy 

 of St. Petersburgh 17. MM.Desfontaines, 

 Mirbel, and Cassini reported on M. A. 

 Brongniart's memoir, entitled new observa- 

 tions on the spermatic granules of vegetables, 

 which was recommended to the approbation 

 of the academy, and ordered to be inserted in 

 the " Recueil des Savans Etrangers." 



VARIETIES, SCIENTIFIC AND MISCELLANEOUS. 



New Thermometer. The incorrectness 

 of the thermometers hitherto employed for 

 measuring high te rape ratu res, having led 

 Mr. Prinsep, assay master of the mint at 

 Benares, to make numerous experiments 

 on the subject, in the course of his inquiries 

 a remarkable fact presented itself in the 

 change which occurred in a spring, con- 

 structed on the compensation principle, and 

 formed by two slips of metals the one of 

 silver, the other of gold originally quite 

 pure, and united without any alloy. In 

 the course of a few years, although it had 

 never been subjected to a very high tem- 

 perature, the surface of the gold became 

 converted into an alloy of silver, the im- 

 pregnation extending gradually to a con- 

 siderable deptli in the gold, and destroying 

 the sensibility of the instrument to changes 

 of temperature. After trying various plans, 

 he gave the preference to the one founded 

 on the following principle viz. that the 

 fusing points of the pure metals are fixed 

 and determinate that those of silver, 

 gold, and platina comprehend a very exten- 

 sive ran^e of temperature, and that, be- 

 tween these three fixed points in the scale, 



as many intermediate ones as may be re- 

 quired may be obtained by alloying the 

 three metals together in different propor- 

 tions. When such a series of alloys has 

 been once prepared, the heat of any furnace 

 maybe expressed by the alloy of least fusi- 

 bility, which it is capable of melting. The 

 determinations afforded by a pyrometer of 

 this kind will, independently of their pre- 

 cision, have the advantage of being iden- 

 tifiable at all times and in all countries : 

 the smallness of the apparatus is an addi- 

 tional recommendation, nothing more being 

 requisite than a little vessel, containing in 

 separate cells the requisite number of py- 

 rometic alloys, each of the size of a pin's- 

 head. The specimens melted in one expe- 

 riment need only to be flattened under the 

 hammer, in order to be again ready for 

 use. For the purpose of concisely regis- 

 tering the results, the author employs a 

 simple decimal method of notation, which 

 at once expresses the nature of the alloy 

 and its correspondence with the scale of 

 temperature. As the distance between the 

 points of fusion of silver and of gold is not 

 considerable,, Mr. P. divides this distance 





