Royal Society. 301 



his friends" repeated these experiments vviih the like effect. 

 The second part was oa the cause of sea sickness, which 

 ihe lecturer attributed to the pressure of blood upon the 

 brain ; and observed that the sickness was always most vio- 

 lent when the vessel pitched most, or rather at the moment 

 when she descends from the wave on which she had beea 

 elevated. In this case respiration is difficult ; but whea 

 effected, it assists the circulation, and gives relief to the 

 sickness. The stomach he also found to be slightly de- 

 rantred, probably from the same cause, or from the actiou 

 of The system to resist the effects of the unnatural motiou 

 of the vessel. The third and las: part illustrated the ad- 

 vantages of riding on horseback and in carria.ocs, which 

 enables the svstem to propel the blood Irom the heart. 

 Dr. W. related a case of a gentleman, who, finding him- 

 self very ill, ordered his coachman to drive him to the resi- 

 dence of a fashionable physician, who fortunately happened 

 not to be at home; he then resolved on driving to another, 

 who also happened to be absent : by this time he had con- 

 siderably recovered from his depression, and determined on 

 going home, and taking the same exercise next day, which 

 he did, and speedily recovered without any aid from tJrugs. 

 The reading of the Bakerian Lecture on some new elec- 

 tro- cheuiicaPrescarches on metallic bodies, and on the 

 combinations of hydrogen, by Mr. Davy, commenced 

 November 16, and was continued on the 23d, and the con- 

 clusion postponed to a future meeting. 



Mr. Davy stated his objects in delivering thi^ lecture, to 

 be the elucidation of various important parts of chemistry 

 by new experiments, and the communication of some new 

 facts respecting metallic bodies, and their combinations in- 

 timately related to the general philosophical theory of the 

 science. In the first section he discussed the various hypo- 

 thetical notions that had been formed respecting the metals 

 of the fixed alkalis, particularly those of MM. Gay-Lussac 

 andThenard, M. Curadau, and M. Rltter. Me brought 

 lt)rward many experiments to prove that potassium and 

 podium, by combustion, produce merely dry potash and 

 soda ; and that they neither form water nor carbonic acid ; 

 and he establishex the fact, that the potash formed by the 

 combustion of jrotasslum in muriatic acid gas contains lcf« 

 water than that which is considered by M. Berthollel as the 

 dry alkali. He showed that when pol.issium is made t«» 

 att upoij ammonia, it is the volatile alkali, and not the 

 pietal, which is litcompounilciljiox Jiic potassium can, under 



ccitaln 



