13 



before treated of, the observations were contined to those 

 of the Normans, wliich became predominant, with collateral 

 remarks on those of the inhabitants of Wales and Scotland. 

 He traced, in a brief manner, the settlement of the Nor- 

 mans in the province of Neustria, their subsequent civili- 

 zation, and invasion of England. He then noticed their 

 contempt of the English, their endeavours to establish the 

 French language on the ruins of the Anglo-Saxon, the in- 

 troduction of the institution of chivalry, its principles, and 

 its beneficial eflects on the age in which it flourished ; the 

 introduction of f;\mily surnames and courts of arms, the 

 superior magniticence of the Normans, the curfew bell, and 

 its prevalence in different countries of Europe, as well 

 as in England, its introduction not being intended as a 

 mark of servitude. He then dwelt on the personal cha- 

 racter of the Normans, producing some curious and amusing 

 evidences in support of the delineations given of them. He 

 next made observations on the languages of this period, as 

 well those spoken by the descendents of the Ancient Britons 

 and Caledonians, as on the Anglo-Saxon, and Norman- 

 French ; noticing the gradual and almost imperceptible 

 changes in the Anglo-Saxon, and its general prevalence. 

 He next made some observations on the domestic economy 

 of the people of England in this period, their diversions, 

 particularly the tournaments, hunting, hawking, and gaming, 

 and concluded with a review of the subjects treated of in 

 this and the preceding lecture. 



February 3. — Mr. W. H. Weekes delivered a Lecture 

 on the further combinations of Carbon in the solid and gaseous 

 forms. In commencing this lecture — the concluding one of 

 a series of five, on carbon and its combinations — Mr. W. 

 remarked, that the devotion of so much time to a single 

 subject of chemical itnestigation, had probably appeared to 

 many as almost unwarrantable, but that so manifold and im- 

 portant were the unions of this abundant and interesting 

 material of nature, that time alone regarded, he had not 

 rendered justice to the subject, even to the amount of one 

 half of its claims upon the society's attention. The following 

 presents an outline of Mr. W.'s lecture, conclusive of the 

 above named series : — Various sources of carbon recapi- 

 tulated. — Yielded in the gaseous form from the surface of 

 the human body, witli an illustration of the mode of col- 

 lecting this exhalation, and experiments therewith. — Fur- 

 nisiicd during the respiration of animals. — One of its unions 

 with oxygen demonstratiid to possess acid properties. — 

 AValcr clccomposcd by red hot charcoal. — Theory of the 



