394 Society of AfUiquarics. — Bolany. 



certain circumstances, be rcccvcre<l unaltered ; and when- 

 ever a portion of it is converted into potash some nifroaen 

 alwavs disappears. — The discussion concerning the nature 

 of nitrogen he reserved for ihc conchisinn of the loelure. 

 His general inference from the experiments in this section 

 was, " that potassium and sodium can willi no more pro- 

 priety be considered as cowpdunds than any of the anciently 

 known metals, and that llity belong to the san^e order of 

 substances." 



In the course of his investigation Mr. Davy described a 

 new and curious gas composed <if tellurium and hydrogen, 

 which is soluble in water, which combines with the alkalis, 

 ■a-nd has the characters of a weak acid: a new fact added to 

 those alreadv known concerning sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 aiainst the idea of oxygen being the acidifying principle. 



SOCIETY OF ANTiaUAr.lKS. 



This Society met at the same time and on the same 

 evening as the Royal Society. A curious paper by Doctor 

 Willan, on " New Fire," Avas read, detaihng the process 

 of igniting wood bv friction, and the superstitious customs 

 of the Northern nations in preserving such fire nnextin- 

 gnished ; with many incidental particulars of ancient man- 

 ners and customs connected with this ceremony. Some 

 letters from Sir C. Cornwallis, when at the court of 

 Spain as tninisier to .lames I., were ;dso read; but they 

 contained little that was either verv novel or very interesting 

 respectina; the manners of that country. The ceremony of 

 the bull-tea=;ts has been often described, and is already suf- 

 ficiently known. 



LVIII. bifelligence and Misce Hansons ylrticles. 



BOTANY. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Sir, JCaAViXG lately had occasion, for a particular purpose, 

 to ascertain the pmlxibie number of plants, that have been 

 described, it mfiv perhaps save soine of your botanical 

 readers, who, hke me, know of no other n)ode of satisfying 

 their curiosity than bv counting the number of species in 

 the most complete enumeraiion published, the pain of un- 

 dergoing a like tedious process, if I put on record in your 

 excellent publication the result of my labour. 



The 



