34 
Eblanine is anhydrous, and contains no nitrogen. 
The mean of 4 analyses gave as the composition in 100 
parts, : 
Carbon;2k 5.) (ORR 
Hydrogen,. . . ~5.609 
Oxygen, . . . 19.116 
The composition, calculated according to the formula 
C,, H, 0,, would give 
Carbon, .. .S@k8. 7% 75.79 
Hydrogen," - 7 oo 
Oxyzen#)oaa-aiea 18.91 
But as we have as yet no means of ascertaining the atomic 
weight of eblanine, this result must be viewed merely as an 
approximation. 
Eblanine cannot be confounded with any known sub- 
stance, and must rank as a curious addition to the list of 
compounds produced in the destructive distillation of wood ; 
to which must also be added, aldehyd, a substance lately 
discovered by Liebig, but first pointed out as existing in 
pyroxilic spirit, by Mr. Scanlan, who obtained it before the 
discovery of Liebig was known in Dublin. 
Sir William Betham read the first of a series of papers 
**On the Cabiric Mysteries and Phoenician Antiquities.” 
In this paper the author stated his conviction that the 
Cabiri were a secret society or brotherhood, who concealed 
their acquirements in science and the arts from all but the 
initiated ; that this society originated with the Phcenicians, 
and was for a very long period confined to that people and 
their colonies; that the arts of navigation, mining, &c., the 
science of astronomy, and indeed all other branches of know- 
ledge with which they were acquainted, were enveloped by 
them in mystic fables and allegories, to conceal them from 
the vulgar; and that from these was derived the whole sys- 
tem of mythological theology of the Greeks and ‘Romans. 
