126 MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



morning before ; and it is a remarkable proof of his great powers, 

 that by the next day he had so mastered the intricacies of this ab- 

 struse essay, in which, too, a new method of notation is introduced, 

 that he was able this day to explain it in an abbreviated form to the 

 section, and this he did in a manner that received the warmest 

 thanks of IMr. Jerrard himself. — Mr. Phillips presented a most inter- 

 esting report of experiments, by which he ascertained that a much 

 greater quantity of rain falls in the upper parts of the atmosphere 

 than on the ground. He selected York minster as the place of his 

 experiments. During a shower, he had three rain guages placed, 

 one on the top, a second on the ground, and a third half way down ; 

 the higher you went from the ground the greater the quantity of 

 rain. — Colonel Sykes read a paper on a mode of ascertaining the 

 heights of mountains, by observing the temperature at which water 

 boils. — Mr. M'Cullagh read a paper on the reflection and polariza- 

 tion of light, which was distinguished for the wonderful mathe- 

 matical power it exhibited. — Mr. M'Gauley concluded his papers 

 on electro-magnetism. The researches of the reverend gentleman 

 met with the fullest approbation of the section. 



Section B. — Chemistry and Mineralogy. — Papers read. — Mr. 

 Snow Harris, on the electricity evolved by the evaporation of hot 

 w^ater. — Mr. Hartopp on the use of hot air in the manufacture of 

 pig iron. — Dr. Apjohn, on the specific heats of gases. — Dr. Dalton 

 on the use of symbols to indicate the constitution of chemical com- 

 pounds. — Professor Powell, on specimens of chemical substances for 

 optical purposes. — Mr. Mallet, on the bleaching of certain varieties 

 of turf for the manufacture of paper. — Professor Davy, on the rela- 

 tive value of ^''irginian and Irish tobacco. — Mr. Moore, on the coro- 

 sion of lead pipes by contact with organic matter. 



Section C. — Geology a?id Geography. — M. Agassiz exhibited 

 the 5th part of his work on Fossil Ichthyology, and offered some ex- 

 planatory remarks. — Dr. Trail read a sketch of the Geology of Spain. 

 — Mr. James Smith noticed other authors, including an account of 

 a fossil forest, and a statement regarding some fossil fish found in 

 the Lias. 



Section D. — Zoology and Botany. — In this section much interest- 

 ing conversation took place. IMr. IVIackay calculated from the num- 

 ber of layers found in a piece of Irish yew, that the tree must have 

 been as old as the Christian aera. Dr. Litton stated that the age 

 assigned by tradition to the celebrated yew tree at Mucrus, Killar- 

 ney, was verified by the botanical inquiries into the number of the 

 layers. 



Section E. — Anatomy and Medicine. — In this section many very 

 important papers were read, on strictly professional subjects. The 

 most generally interesting, perhaps, was that of Dr. Corrigan, who 

 detailed some very curious acoustic indications of the morbid state 

 of the circulation. 



Section F. — Statistics.-— Colonel Sykes read a paper on the state 

 of education in the Deccan ; Mr. Stanley, on the state of education 



