1821.] Royal Society. .V,s«i'^otq W 



for astronomy. Sir H. Davy then alluded to the electro-magner 

 tic experiments of Oersted, and the award of the Copleian m^dsj 

 to that philosopher. 



The subject of chemistry next claimed the attention of the 

 President; and he justly remarked, that to point out all the 

 objects worthy of inquiry in this branch of science would require 

 many sittings of the Society. Among the more important desi- 

 derata, were mentioned the knowledge of the nature of the com- 

 binations of the principle of the fluor spar, and the metalhzation 

 of ammonia, together with the connexion between mechanical 

 and chemical phenomena in the action of voltaic electricity.. 

 Sir H. Davy then congratulated the Society on the rapid advance^ 

 made in the theory of definite proportions, since it was first 

 advanced in a distinct form by the ingenuity of Mr. Dalton, aijd 

 he stated the promise which it affords of solving the recondite 

 changes in the particles of matter, by laws depending upon their 

 weight, number, and figure. As connected with definite propor- 

 tions, the crystallizations, or regular forms of inorganic matter, 

 were next noticed, and were observed to depend upon the motion 

 of the combinations of elementary particles, to which the laws 

 of electrical polarity and the polarisation of light seemed to have 

 relation. Alluding to the difficulty of framing an hypothesis to 

 account for the origin of the primary arrangements of the crystal- 

 line matter of the globe. Sir H. Davy stated the two principal 

 facts which present analogies on the subject : One, that the form 

 of the earth is that which would result, supposing it to have been 

 originally fluid ; and the other, that in lavas, masses decidedly 

 of igneous origin, crystalline substances similar to those belong- 

 ing to the primary rocks, are found in abundance. 



The President then noticed the regular gradations which occ^r 

 in the phenomena of nature, from the motions of the great 

 masses of the heavenly bodies, to the imperceptible changes 

 which produce the phenomena of crystallization ; and when this 

 ends, the series of animated nature governed by a distinct set of 

 laws, begins ; and as important objects of investigation, the 

 functions and operations of organized beings were pointed out ; 

 as, for instance, those refined chemical processes by which the 

 death and decay of one species afford nourishment for another 

 and higher order; by which the water and inert matter of the 

 soil and the atmosphere are converted into, delicately organized 

 structures, filled with hfe and beauty. 



In vegetable physiology, the motion of the sap, the functions 

 of the leaves, and the nature of the organs of assimilation, were 

 mentioned as phenomena still remaining for investigation ; and 

 in animal physiology, the subjects were stated to be still more 

 varied, obscure, and of a higher order; and a hope was expressed 

 by the President, that the philosophers of the schools of Grewe 

 and Hunter would not cease their efforts for the improvement of 



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