470 Scientific Intelligence ^ Sfc. 



The council of the Society, according to the usual custom, have 

 now to lay before the members a general report of the proceedings 

 of the present session. It is one whose course has been attended by 

 the same unanimity among the members, and the same progressive 

 increase of their number, which have so justly formed a subject of 

 congratulation on former occasions. But it is one which has not been 

 marked by any unusual or remarkable event, such as distinguished 

 the two preceding sessions. In one of these, a debt of nearly £800 had 

 been discharged : in the other, the unfinished portions of the building 

 had been completed. Our history, during the past session has not 

 been of embarrassing circumstances overcome, or of serious difficulties 

 surmounted, but is one of cheerful and prosperous advancement, less 

 eventful, but not less gratifying, furnishing less to record, but not 

 less on which to frame our pleasing recollections of the past, and our 

 happy anticipations of the future. The grounds on which this con- 

 clusion rests, it will now be the duty of the council to lay before you, 

 with that brevity which is most befitting when communicating to 

 their fellow-members an abstract of occurrences, of which many of 

 them are already cognizant. 



During the past year, an opinion has been gaining ground among 

 many of our townsmen, that an extension of lectures, an extension 

 adapted to the increasing commerce and manufactures of the town, 

 would be highly beneficial. The council of the Society, while they 

 felt unwilling to introduce any changes in the course they had 

 hitherto pursued, and which had been so eminently successful, were, 

 at the same time, most desirous of extending, as widely as possible, 

 the utility of the Museum, and of interesting a still larger number 

 of their townsmen in its prosperity. They, therefore, agreed that 

 for the present session, papers on Natural Philosophy and Statistics 

 should be admissable, in the same manner as those on Zoology, 

 Botany, Mineralogy, and Topography, and that when a sufficient 

 number of persons were enrolled, as desirous of reading exclusively 

 on these subjects, particular nights should be set apart for the purpose. 

 By this arrangement the original constitution of the Society remains 

 unchanged, and preparation has been made for adapting it to the 

 altered situation of the community among which it has been estab- 

 lished. 



_ ^ 



III. — Pharmacy, ^'c. 



1. Adulteration of Iodine. — Stieren has detected several adultera- 

 tions of iodine, by dissolving the latter in spirit. The impurity 

 remains undissolved, consisting sometimes of iron, silica, and alu- 

 mina, at other times of iron, containing carbonaceous matter. Buch* 

 ner has found glance coal. — Buchjier's Repert, v. 230. 



2. Volatile Oils. — Volter and Dann have made a set of experi- 

 ments to determine the relative produce of oils to the raw material 

 employed. The following is the result. We use the German 

 measures, which approach nearly our own, the Nuremberg pound 

 being equal to -9592(36 lb. Troy, the lb. or civil pound consisting of 

 l6 ounces. Multiplication by this number gives the equivalent in 

 English. 



