66 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



wanting for the appliance of these powers to the investigation of 

 this and other radiant agencies. The phenomena thus brought to 

 light confirm the views entertained by the author relative to the con- 

 stitution of matter as being spheres of power, for the operation of 

 which the conception of a solid nucleus is not necessary ; and leads 

 to the presumption that the influence of magnetism on bodies which 

 exhibit no magnetic properties consists in producing in them a state 

 of electric tension tending to a current ; while on iron, nickel, and 

 other bodies susceptible of magnetism, currents are actually esta- 

 blished by the same influence. 



The author states that he is still engaged in the prosecution of 

 these inquiries. 



" On the Action of the Rays of the Spectrum on Vegetable 

 Juices : " being an Extract from a Letter by Mrs. M. Somerville to 

 Sir John F. W. Herschel, Bart., dated Rome, September 20, 1845. 

 Communicated by Sir John F. W. Herschel, Bart., F.R.S. 



In the experiments of which the results are here recorded, the solar 

 spectrum was condensed by a lens of flint glass of seven inches and 

 a half focus, maintained in the same part of the screen by keeping a 

 pin-hole or pencil-mark constantly at the corner of the red rays, 

 which were sharply defined by being viewed through blue spec- 

 tacles ; and the apparatus was covered with black cloth in order to 

 exclude extraneous light. Thick white letter-paper, moistened with 

 the liquid to be examined, was exposed wet to the spectrum, as it 

 was found that the action of the coloured light was thus rendered 

 more immediate and more intense, than when the surface of the 

 paper was dry. 



The action of the spectrum at the junction of the lavender with 

 the violet rays was found in some cases to be different from what it 

 is with either of these colours separately, indicating a break in the 

 continuity of action, and suggesting the idea of a secondary spec- 

 trum. In many instances the yellow and green rays exert a power- 

 ful influence on vegetable substances, an influence apparently un- 

 connected with heat; for the darkening is generally least under 

 the red rays and immediately below them, where the calorific rays 

 are most abundant. The action, in a great number of cases, pro- 

 duces insulated spots in different parts of the spectrum, but more 

 especially in the region of the rays of mean refrangibility, in which 

 neither the calorific nor the chemical powers are the greatest. The 

 point of maximum intensity is sometimes altered by the addition 

 of acids, alkalies, or diluted alcohol. But altogether, as the author 

 states, the action of the different parts of the spectrum seems to be 

 very capricious, the changes of colour produced being exceedingly 

 irregular and unaccountable. 



XV. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



ACTION OF NITRIC ACID ON WAX. 



WHEN wax is boiled in nitric acid, the same phenomena, accord- 

 ing to M. Gerhard t, result as when the acid is made to act 



