90 Mr WhewelPs Address to the British Association 



When this observation is compared with that of Lamarck and 

 Senebier upon the Arum Itahcum, and of Huber upon the Arum 

 cordifohum, there appears a most striking difference in the ipe- 

 riod of the disengagement of the caloric ; Hkewise in the quantity 

 of caloric, which in the case of the Arum cordifolium rose from 

 19° to 44% therefore 25°. Senebier found in Geneva the highest 

 temperature in the Arum Italicum to be developed at aquarter 

 before seven in the evening. On the contrary, according to Bory 

 de St Vincent, the greatest elevation of temperature of the Arum 

 cordifolium in Madasgacar shows itself in the morning after 

 sunrise about seven o'clock; and from eight oVlock the tem- 

 perature gradually declines until the flower decays : so that in 

 the evening the temperature of the flower differs but little from 

 that of the atmosphere. 



The Caladium pinnatifidum, which in Berlin shows the 

 highest temperature of its flower about ten o'clock in the even- 

 ing, grows wild in the shady forests of Caraccas. Hence it is 

 possible that the periods of its disengagement of caloric, as well 

 as the periods of its blooming, generally regulate themselves ac- 

 cording to the peculiarity of the vegetation of the plant, as well 

 as according to the climate of its native country. 



ADDRESS DELIVERED IN THE SENATE-HOUSE AT CAMBRIDGE, 

 JUNE 25. 1833, ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF 

 THE THIRD GENERAL MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIA- 

 TION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. By the BcV, 



W. Whewell, M. a. Fellow and Tutor of Trinity Col- 

 lege^ and one of the Secretaries of the Association. 



The British Association for theAdvancement of Science, meets 

 at present under different circumstances from those which ac- 

 companied its former meetings. The publication of the volume 

 containing the Reports applied for by the meeting at York, in 

 1831, and read before the meeting at Oxford last year, must 

 affect its proceedings during our sittings on the present occasion ; 

 and thus we are now to look for the operation of one part of 

 the machinery which its founders have endeavoured to put in 

 action. Entertaining the views which suggested to them the 



