154 



derived from the information you were so kind as to send me, 

 relative to a cromlech being found within a sepidchral cairn 

 at Phoenix Park, namely, that it was used for purposes of 

 interment. But the question is, if such a conclusion admit 

 of an universal application ? The cromlech has been found 

 in the north of Europe, placed on the very summit of a se- 

 pulchral cairn, as Sjoborg, in his systematic work, has 

 pointed out, and in this case, it appears more like an occa- 

 sional appendix to the cairn, destined, from its peculiar 

 structure, to the celebration of sacrifices in honour of the 

 dead. I am satisfied however, that the cromlech original- 

 ly subsisted most frequently independently of any cairn 

 whatever ; and if, in this isolated state, human ashes have 

 occasionally been discovered in connexion with it, other in- 

 stances might be cited, in which very careful excavations 

 have not afforded any evidence that this monument had a se- 

 pulchral use. A safer conclusion, therefore, remains, that 

 the cromlech was most frequently connected with purposes 

 of interment, although not necessarily so ; and that in gene- 

 ral it was raised for sacrificial objects." 



Dr. Kane read a paper on the sulphates and nitrates of 

 mercury, particularly the basic salts formed by ammonia. 



In a former paper Dr. Kane had shewn, that by the ac- 

 tion of ammonia on the chlorides of mercury, there were 

 generated compounds involving the radical N1I2, (amidogen,) 

 and the design of the present paper was to develope the 

 function of the ammoniacal element of the oxygen salts of that 

 metal. It was found, however, that from the diversity of the 

 results of former chemists regarding the common basic saUs 

 of mercury, it became necessary to re-examine them in order 

 to establish some fixed points to wliich the constitution of 

 the ammoniacal bodies might be referred. 



Among the numerous formulae which have been assigned 

 to Turbith mineral. Dr. Kane has found h^o. SO3 -f- Sii^ro 



