182 



their histories, is a stone, covered with sculptures and 

 inscriptions of the ante-Columbian era, on wliich the word 

 ORINX, or as some read, ORINS, is the only one legible. 



Again, the tradition of the island of O'Brazil is still 

 vividly preserved, both by the Irish and the Welsh, and it 

 is by this name the latter indicate the country alleged to have 

 been discovered by their Madoc. So strong was the belief 

 in this tradition in Ireland, in the seventeenth century, that a 

 patent is said to have been taken out for the island, when it 

 should be discovered, and a pamphlet, purporting to be an ac- 

 count of its discovery, obtained circulation in London in 1675. 



From these considerations the author inferred, that per- 

 haps the story of St. Brendan, who is said to have spent 

 seven years in the land of promise, at the other side of the 

 Atlantic, may not have been altogether without foundation , 

 and that if so, it is not improbable that Christianity may 

 have been introduced into the new world by Irish eccle- 

 siastics of the 6th century. 



Professor Kane read a paper " on the Ammoniacal and 

 other Basic Compounds of the Copper and Silver Families." 



Having verified Berzelius' formula for the ammoniacal 

 sulphate of copper cu SO3 4- ^ NH3 -f ho., Dr. Kane pointed 

 out, that, from the circumstances of its formation, and others, 

 the real formula must be (NH3H0 + SO3) + nhs-cw^ ; and 

 that by heat it loses NH3.H0. and leaves a compound NHs.a/ 

 o 4- SO3. ; by still more heat there remains 2 SO3 + ^ cu o 

 -f NH3 or CWO.SO3. + (NH3.CW o) SO3. and by water there is 

 formed the ordinary basic sulphate c^^o.so3 -|-3 cwo -|-4ho. 



Dr. Kane describes likewise a new basic sulphate as SO3 

 + 8 cw o -|- \2 HO. and he arranges these two salts as 



1 = cw 0.SO3 CM o + 2 (cw o + 2 ho). 



2 zz CM 0.SO3. CM o 4- 6 (cm + 2 ho). 



and seeks to establish an analogy with the ordinary salts of 

 the same family, as 



zwo. SO3HO + 6. HO and cu 0.SO3.CM 4- 6 cm o 



