354- Mr. H. E. Strickland on the Structural 



bluish-green precipitate, which completely dissolves up in 

 forty-eight hours, provided the solution be not highly concen- 

 trated, to a brilliant emerald-green fluid, which is not affected 

 by acids or by standing, but the colour of which changes to 

 greenish yellow, without precipitation, by ammonia. 



By very careful and repeated analysis, the reduction pro- 

 cess having been adopted for the metal, I found the propor- 

 tion of the constituents to be, taking the average, — 



Cobalt 64>'64> per cent. 



Sulphur 35-36 



from which it is obvious the substance is a sub-sulphuret, that 

 its constitution is Co 2 S, a rather remarkable result, consider- 

 ing that the iron compound, doubtless of simultaneous forma- 

 tion, is different. 



The cobalt pyrites has the specific gravity of 5*4<5. It is 

 used by Indian jewellers for staining gold of a delicate rose- 

 red colour; the modus operandi which they follow I have 

 been unable to learn ; it is a secret with them, which they 

 are unwilling to disclose. 



LVII. On the Structural Relations of Organized Beings. 

 By H. E. Strickland, M.A,, F.G.S.* 



[" PROPOSE to make a few observations on the Relations 

 *- which subsist between different organized beings in re- 

 spect of the similarities of their physical structures. This 

 limitation will exclude — first, the relations between individuals, 

 such as that of parent to offspring, for in individuals of the 

 same species the essential points of structure are not similar, 

 but identical; and secondly, the relations between an organized 

 being and the external circumstances of soil, climate, or food, 

 to which it is adapted, in other words, between structure and 

 function ; for these adaptations of the one to the other, how- 

 ever interesting and admirable in themselves, are not relations 

 of similarity. 



On comparing together the innumerable species of organ- 

 ized beings, we find their structures to present every possible 

 degree of variation, from an almost perfect identity to the ut- 

 most amount of difference which the mind can conceive any 

 two organized bodies to possess. These agreements and dif- 

 ferences are not however devoid of laws and principles ; they 

 admit of being classed under certain general heads, and we 

 thus discover the traces of Divine workmanship not merely 



* Read before the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, March 10, 1845, and 

 communicated by the Author. 



