142 Royal Society. 



tendant's Office, Trincomalee, between the 1st of September, 1843, 

 and the 29th of February, 1 844." By Joseph Higgs, Master At- 

 tendant. Communicated by the Lords Commissioners of the Ad- 

 miralty. 



2. " On the supposed Properties of the Electric and Magnetic 

 Fluids." By W. F. Stevenson, Esq., F.R.S. 



The author is of opinion that electricity is a single undecom- 

 posable fluid, and that the distinction usually made into vitreous 

 and resinous, or positive and negative electricities, is derived alto- 

 gether from the direction of its motion and the circumstances under 

 which it is presented ; and, according as it is found on a conducting 

 or non-conducting body, it is positive in the former case and nega- 

 tive in the latter. The quality of the electricity is, according to the 

 author, modified by the form of the conducting body, which, when 

 globular, opposes its escape ; but, when pointed, facilitates its pas- 

 sage in a current. He considers the magnetic fluid as obeying the 

 same law as the electric fluid, that is, moving in a current, which 

 when aided, and not interrupted, will always be found positive, or 

 having a north pole, at that end of the conductor or magnet where 

 the fluid is escaping ; and negative, or with a southern polarity, at the 

 opposite extremity. 



3. " De I'Education des Animaux ; faisant suite a I'ouvtage public 

 en 1842, et qui a pour titre Es-ai sur I'Education des Animaux." 

 Par St. Leonard de Lille, Menibre de diverses Societes scientifiques, 

 et de I'Ath^nee des Arts de Paris, et son Employe des Finances. 

 Premiere partie de I'lnstitut et de I'lntelligence, Education et Civi- 

 lisation. Communicated by J. F. Daniell, Esq., For. Sec. R.S. 



The present paper purports to be the sequel of a work, already 

 published by the author, on the subject of the education of animals. 

 It is the first part only of the paper which is here presented, and 

 contains preliminary observations on the nature of the inquiries 

 which the author proposes to enter into in the subsequent parts. It 

 is divided into three chapters ; the first comprising some general 

 remarks on the objects to be attained in the education of animals, 

 and some criticisms on the opinions of preceding writers relating to 

 the subject; the second treating principally of Instinct and its cha- 

 racteristic features, as contrasted with Intelligence and Reason ; 

 and the third entering into various metaphysical disquisitions on the 

 nature and peculiar sphere of action of the different intellectual 

 faculties, both those which are common to man and the lower 

 animals, and those which are peculiar to the former. 



June 13. — 1. " On the Action of the Sun's Rays on Lithic Acid." 

 By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. Lond. and Edinb. 



The author, after adverting to the composition of guano, and re- 

 marking that its nitrogenous part diflfers from the urine of the sea- 

 fowl, from which it is derived, chiefly in containing little or no 

 lithate of ammonia, but a large proportion of the oxalate, describes 

 an experiment made for the purpose of determining whether the 

 oxalic acid existing in guano may not be formed from the lithic 

 acid of the urine, in consequence of the operation of the sun's rays. 



