Analysis of Scientific Books. 399 



whose powers appear to commence nearly where ours terminate, 

 may have the faculty of hearing still sharper sounds which at 

 present we do not know to exist ; and that there may be other 

 insects hearing nothing in common with us, but endued with a 

 power of exciting, and a sense that perceives, vibrations of the 

 same nature indeed as those which constitute our ordinary 

 sounds, but so remote that the animals who perceive them may 

 be said to possess another sense, agreeing with our own solely 

 in the medium by which it is excited, and possibly wholly un- 

 affected by those slower vibrations of which we are sensible. 



vii. On the Compressibility of Water. By Jacob Perkins, Esq. 



The experiments of Canton long ago demonstrated the elas- 

 ticity of water. In this communication Mr. Perkins details to 

 the Society some less exceptionable means of determining the 

 compressibility of water than any hitherto employed. A 

 small metallic cylinder, flattened at one part so as to yield to 

 expansion within, is closed and water-tight at the lower end. 

 At its upper extremity is a small aperture closed by a very 

 sensible valve opening inwards. This instrument, called by the 

 author a Piezometer, being perfectly filled with water, the 

 weight of which was accurately known, was put into an hydrau- 

 lic press, and subjected to a pressure of about 326 atmos- 

 pheres. When it was taken out and weighed, there was^found 

 an increase of water amounting to 3.5 per cent. I. 



II. An Historical and Practical Treatise on the Internal Use of 

 the Hydrocyanic or Prussic Acid in Pulmonary Consumption y &c. 

 Second Edition. By A. B. Granville, M.D., F.R.S., &c. 



There are several circumstances which induce us to notice 

 Dr. Granville's book. The first part of it affects scientific 

 arrangement ; and the subject of which it treats was first 

 brought before the British Public in this Journal. We also 

 wish to point out an error or two into which the Doctor has 



