478 Royal Society : — 



errors ; one in denying any deviation towards the equator, the other 

 in his calculation of the amount of the deviation towards the east. 



This is followed by an investigation of the motion or direction of 

 flight of a cannon-ball or shell fired in a northerly or southerly 

 direction, from which it appears that a large shell will be subject to 

 a de^^ation from the true line of projection, in consequence of the 

 earth's rotation, amounting to no less than 22 feet. 



The author then refers to the well-known experiment of M. Fou- 

 cault for proving sensibly the rotation of the earth, and shows from 

 calculation that the errors which would be sufficient to vitiate the 

 results in this experiment are so extremely minute and so difficult of 

 avoidance by any perfection of manipulation which can be employed, 

 that its performance cannot perhaps be safely adduced as proving 

 such rotation. 



The. author illustrated his views by the exhibition to the meeting 

 of a model apparatus, in which the vertical and horizontal motions 

 may be variously combined, but which could not be intelligibly de- 

 scribed without a series of complicated drawings unfitted for the 

 compass of a mere abstract. 



April 17. — The Lord Wrottesley, President, in the Chair. 



The following communication was read : — 



" On the Condition of the Oxygen absorbed into the Blood during 

 Respiration.*' By George Harley, M.D. 



The author commences by explaining, that his researches were 

 instituted with the view of ascertaining whether the doctrine main- 

 tained by Magnus in regard to the gases interchanged in the lungs 

 during respiration were correct — namely, that the gases in question 

 enter into no chemical combination with the constituents of the 

 blood, either in passing to or from the tissues and organs of the 

 body, but form merely a physical mixture with the circulating liquid. 

 The principal object of the inquiry was to determine the following 

 points : — ^ 



1 . Has blood the property of chemically combining with the re- 

 spired oxygen ? 



2. "Which of the constituents of the blood enter into combination 

 with oxygen ? 



3. Do these constituents, by combining with oxygen, simply 

 become oxidized, or do they also yield carbonic acid gas ? 



4. What are the agents which control these changes ? 



After describing the method of investigation, and the apparatus 

 employed, the author proceeds to relate a few of the analyses which 

 he considered as the most conclusive. Instead of confirming the 

 riew of Magnus, that gases enter into no chemical combination with 

 blood, his results led him to conclusions of an opposite character, 

 which serve to confirm the more generally received doctrine. 



In one set of experiments a certain quantity of fresh oX'blood 

 was first shaken with renewed portions of air until it had become 

 thoroughly saturated with oxygen, then introduced into a graduated 

 glass vessel with 100 per cent, of ordinary air, corked carefully up, 



