15G 



Monday, 2d January 1837. 

 Dr ABERCROMBIE, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The following Donations were presented : 



The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for 



the year 1837 — JBy the American Philosophical Society. 

 The Nervous System of the Human Body ; as explained in a series 



of papers read before the Royal Society of London. By Sir 



Carles Bell, K.G.H., F.R.SS.L. & E Bxj the Author. 



Tijdschrift voor Natuurlijke Geschiedenis en Physiologic door J. 



Van der Hoeven, M.D., en W. H. De Vriese, M.D. Vol. iii. 



Part ] . — By the Editors. 

 The article Mammalia, or a Treatise on Quadrupeds, (from the 



Encyclopaedia Britannica). By James Wilson, Esq. F.R.S.E. 



— By the Author. 

 Report by a Committee of the Royal Society regarding the New 



Dioptric Light of the Isle of May — By Professor Forbes. 



The following gentleman was duly elected an Ordinary 

 Fellow : 



John Archibald Campbell, Esq. 



The following communications were read : 



1. On Tea Oil. By Robert D. Thomson, M.D. Commu- 

 nicated by Dr Christison. 



A species of fixed oil, familiarly used in China for the same eco- 

 nomical purposes for which olive oil is employed in Europe, has 

 been ascertained by recent travellers in China to be produced in all 

 probability by the tea-piaut, or another species of the same natural 

 family. The author assigns reasons for believing that it either is, 

 or may be, obtained from the seeds of various species of the two 

 genera Thea and Camellia. It has been hitherto almost unknown 

 in Europe. It is when fresh quite free of smell, of a pale yellow 

 tint, without any sediment when long kept. It resists a cold of 

 40° F., but at 39° becomes like an emulsion. Its density is 927. 

 It is insoluble in alcohol, sparingly soluble in ether. It bums with 

 a remarkably clear white flame. It consists of 75 parts of elaine, 

 and 25 of stearine ; whence the author infers its elementary com- 

 position to be, oxygen 9.853, carbon 78.619, hydrogen 11.527. 

 He is inclined to think that this oil might prove an important ar- 

 ticle of commerce in the East, because in its properties it is superior 



