336 OUTLINES OF PERIODICAL LITERATURE. 



David Brewster, F.R.S. Richard Taylor, F.L.S. and Richard Phillips, 

 F.R.S. 8vo, London, 1838. 



The current year begins with No. 71, vol. xii of the Third Series of this 

 Periodical which, from the excellence of its management and its merits, has 

 long been regarded as a work possessing much influence and authority. Our 

 intention is to make the Analyst a source of reference to the most important 

 of its valuable contributions to philosophy and the sciences. 



January Researches on the Maximum Density of Liquids, extracted 



from two Memoirs of M. Despretz are given in a translation, and his expe- 

 riments with the results prove — that sea-water, and all aqueous solutions, 

 acid, alcoholic, saline and alkaline, have a maximum of density ; and that 

 this maximum sinks much quicker than the freezing point, the variation of 

 which, as well as that of the density, is nearly in proportion to the quantity 

 of matter added to the water. In an investigation, through a series of elabo- 

 rate formulae, Mr. Torey endeavours to show mechanically the cause of 

 elliptical polarization ; and, next in order, come Mi - . Kennedy's observations 

 upon the (Economy of several species of Hymenopterous insects. These 

 are Cratomus megucepha/us, Spyga -l-gutlala, Tr\])oxy\onJigulits, T. clavice- 

 rum, Crabro spinipeclus, Stigmus troglodytes, Diodontus insignis, D. gracilis, 

 D. corniger, Pemphrcdon lugubris, P. morio, P. unicolor, Psen atratum, Ody- 

 nerus quadratus, O. bidens, Hylreus signalus, Chelostoma Jlorisomnis, Osmia 

 bkornis, O. spinolosa, and Heriades campanularum. Some new facts are re- 

 corded here by Mr. K. who appears to be a well-informed and indefatigable 

 observer. We bespeak attention to Mr. Bird's observations on induced Elec- 

 tric currents, with his description of a magnetic contact-breaker which, we 

 hope with him, will be found eventually of service to the chemist for electro- 

 lytic purposes, and for conveniently applying voltaic electricity in the treat- 

 ment of diseases. Article V. is a contribution from Sir D. Brewster, on a 

 singular development of Polarizing Structure in the Crystalline Lens after 

 death, and on the cause, the prevention, and the cure of cataract : may the 

 proposed method prove eminently successful. In addition to the two already 

 known combinations of iodine and mercury — the yellow iodide and the scar- 

 let biniodide Mr. Hunt gives an account of a third, the tritiodide of mercury, 



with a process for its evolution. Mr. Walgon propounds a new mode of 

 exhibiting the colours of thin plates, and Mr. Simon has discovered a new 

 vegetable base in the root of the white hellebore, along with veratria : he 

 calls it Jervine, and applies to it some very peculiar properties. A method 

 of analysing Organic Compounds is submitted by Mr. Rigg, with reference 

 more particularly to agriculture, to horticulture, and to some of those manu- 

 factures wherein vegetab'e products are employed. Dr. Falconer's and 

 Captain Cautley's joint account of a Fossil Monkey from the Sewalik Hills 

 is illustrated by two plates with nine figures : this, and the notice of Frag- 

 ments of the Sivatherium, make an important contribution to fossil zoogra- 

 phy. The record of meteorological observations at Bermuda by Col. Emmett, 

 with his notice of an Aurora Borealis in low latitudes, is followed by Mr. 

 Lubbock's communication on the wave-surface in the theory of double re- 

 fraction, and by Mr. Noad's experimental remarks on the peculiar voltaic 

 conditions of iron and bismuth. We are furnished with a most interesting 



