308 Edinburgh Institute. 



and wines, of course, are inore safely admissible than spirits, 

 either in their pure or diluted stales : all these fermented 

 liquors, however, contain more or less alcohol, and in this 

 proportion are they more or less safe or injuritjus*. The 

 learned doctor here presented a moral and physical 

 thermometer, or a scale of the pro>rress of temperance and 

 intemperance produced by different liquors ; and, having 

 submitted some conjectures respecting; the action of spirits 

 on the stomach productive of intoxication, proceeded to the 

 consideration of some of the unhappy effects of intempe- 

 rance : — loss of tone of the stomach and its dia,estive powers 

 • — disorganization of the functions which prepare, assimi- 

 late, and convey the animal juices for the nourishment and 

 health of the bodv — hard, scirrhous, enlarged and ulcerated 

 liver, jaundice, dropsy, &c. &c. 



[To be continued ] 

 EDINBURGH INSTITUTE. 



At a general meeting on Wednesday, the 14th of Ajiril, 

 the following among other communications were received. 



I. jiccount of a view Guji-lock and Breech, invented by 

 Mr. James T/iomso?), Gun-maker, Parliament Square. 



Mr.Thomson exhibited to the meeting a beautiful fowling- 

 piece, with his improvement, which is applicable to fire- 

 arms of all kinds, and consists of a circular pan, with a cy- 

 linder closely titled to the outside. This external cylinder 

 serves to cut off any superfluous powder, by which means 

 the pan can never be over-primed. It also keeps it per- 

 fectly water proof; and tiie jiowdcr being left quite loose, 

 it never fiils to explode. This improven)ent appears to be 

 well worth the attention of Government, as it ensures the 

 action of every musket, however far troops may be required 

 to march in the midst of dew or heavy rain. 



II. Description of a Galvanic Battery, on an improved 

 Construction, invented hy Mr. Jackson; communicated ly 

 James Millar, M.D. 



Those uho have been engajrcd in Galvanic experiments 

 are weW aware or the inconveuiences that arise from the 

 loss of time, the great attention requisite, and the consider- 

 able expense which is incurred, even when they are con- 

 ducted on no very extended scale; and brilliant and rapid 

 as the progress of Galvanism has been, it is perhaps owing 

 to such circumstances that the number of those who have 



• By recent experiments, Mr. Brande hai tstimated dilTerent fluids at cer- 

 tain degrees. Vide Phil. Trana. for 18 i i. 



been 



