Ijromfthtgs of j&ttttties. 



BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



DECEMBER 14, 1853. 



Dr. Stevelly in the chair. 



Professor M 'Coy read a paper " On Experiments to determine the Effect of Pres- 

 sure in Modifying the Temperature of Fusion, with their Applications to Geology ;" 

 in which he drew attention to the great apparent difficulties of reconciling the pre- 

 cision of the equinoxes and rotations of the earth's axis, Avith theoretical views sup- 

 posed to follow from a consideration of experiments on central heat. He then 

 described the instruments and mode of procedure adopted by Mr. Hopkins, of Cam- 

 bridge, in his recent successful experiments, which proved that the great mass of 

 the earth might be solid, although heated far above the temperature required to fuse 

 all known rocks at the surface. 



DECEMBER 21, 1853. 



Mr. Patterson, President, in the chair. 



Mr. A. O'D. Taylor read a paper on " The Gigantic Birds formerly found in 

 the Mauritius and adjacent Islands." Having glanced at the subject of geogra- 

 phical distribution, he mentioned the JEpyornis of Madagascar, a bird which M. 

 St. Hilaire, of Paris, supposes to have been from 9f feet to 13 feet in height. 

 This conclusion had been arrived at from inspecting some immense eggs and bones 

 found in the alluvial deposits of that island. The Dodo of the Mauritius was next 

 noticed ; it was exterminated by the year 1679, and now the only sources of infor- 

 mation regarding it are the rude descriptions of unscientific voyagers, three or four 

 oil paintings, and a few bones. It appears that two species of brevi-pennate birds 

 were to be found in Bourbon during the 17th century ; one of which was men- 

 tioned by a French visitor in 1669, and by him called the " Oiseau Bleu ;" and 

 another species was described by a Captain Castleton, who touched there in 1613. 

 It is also known that a very large bird, called from its habits the " Solitaire," in- 

 habited the neighbouring island of Rodriguez, in the early part of the 18th cen- 

 tury. These four last-named species seemed to have been destroyed chiefly, if not 

 entirely, by the agency of man, from whose destructive powers escape was impos- 

 sible ; for these birds had no means of defence in the shape of dangerous talons or 

 otherwise ; they were supplied with merely rudimentary wings, and the isolated 

 tracts over which they ranged were exceedingly limited. It cannot, however, be 

 positively affirmed that the iEpyornis of Madagascar is extinct, as that island has 

 been scarcely explored in any parts by scientific men, and it is not impossible that 

 the iEpyornis, or some allied species, may yet be discovered in the lonely central 

 tracts. In illustration of the subject, Professor Carlile exhibited some bones of the 

 " Dinornis," sent from New Zealand to Dr, Dickie. Professor Carlile explained 

 the peculiarity of structure in these osseous fragments, their formation, indicating a 

 more simple or less advanced stage of development than now obtained amongst 

 VOL. I. Q 



