• "' , DESIDERATA, ETC. XVll 



in the different stages of its manufacture, with the hot and cold 

 blast, was enti'usted to Dr. Dalton, Dr. Henry, and Mr. H. H. 



Watson. 



Dr. Turner was requested to undertake experiments on the 

 Amount of Heat evolved in Combustion and other kinds of 

 Chemical Action. 



Dr. Daubeny suggested the following points with reference 

 to Mineral Waters, as peculiarly worthy of investigation by 

 British Chemists. 



1. The chemical composition and physical properties of the water 

 drunk in places subject to peculiar endemics, as Goitre. 



2. The nature of the organic matter present in hot springs. 



3. The evolution of Nitrogen from springs of ordinary temperature, 

 as well as from thermal ones. 



4. The state in which Alkali exists in certain thermal waters. 



5. The means by which Silica is held in chemical solution. 



6. The geological relations of the country in which thermal waters 

 are found. 



7. An exact estimate of their temperature, taken with accurate instru- 

 ments at different periods of the year, together with the amount of 

 water discharged in a given time. 



8. Is Carbonate of Potash, in reality, a very rare constituent of 

 thermal waters, or may not the Carbonate of Soda have been often 

 mistalcen for it ? 



Dr. Dalton and Mr. Wm. West were requested to investigate 

 the presence and proportion of substances present in minute pro- 

 portions in atmospheric air, according to a plan proposed by 

 the latter. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Committee for procuring data on the question of the 

 permanence of the relative level of Land and Sea on the coasts 

 of Great Britain and Ireland, received a grant of 500/. in order 

 that the subject might be satisfactorily investigated, by ascer- 

 taining with great accuracy the differences of level of a number 

 of points in two straight lines at right angles to one another, 

 and terminating on the sea-coast*. 



The attention of observers was directed to the discovery of 

 Plants of any kind in strata older than the coal formation. 



The observation of divisional planes in Stratified Rocks, 

 (cleavage, joints, fissures, &c.) in relation to the surfaces of 



* These measures are in course of execution. 

 VOL. V. — 1836. b 



