376 Royal Sociely, 



January, returned, and was observed to be more tiian usually gay 

 in the e\'ening, having received some jiresent. A few days after 

 she was seized with a fit, and died on the 15th. Her body 

 was opened, and an impregnated ovum was found in the uterus; 

 but it was so extremely small, that although the uterus was ma- 

 cerated in spirit of wine, it would have escaped observation, 

 had not Mr. Bauer with his powerful microscope discovered and 

 delincatetl it. His drau'ing and description accompanied Sir 

 Everard's remarks. The two parts destined to become the head 

 and heart were distinctly visible; and SirE. considers this a de- 

 monstrative proof that, contrary to the received opinion, im- 

 pregnation may take place witliout the existence of the cata- 

 inenia. He says that every time animals are in heat an ovum 

 passes from the ovarium into the uterus; and he related a case 

 of a woman having had three children (being married at seven- 

 teen) previous to menstruation. In the case alluded to, how- 

 ever, it appears that the woman was at sea, a situation not alto- 

 gether natural. 



May 8. Sir E. Home furnished some additional remarks on 

 the nature and effects of an infusion of colchicnm auhimnale and 

 er.u virdiciriale on the human constitution in cases of gout, and 

 their effects on animals. He observed that the sediment of the 

 eau mcdiciiiale is excessively drastic and severe on the constitu- 

 tion, while that of the infusion of colcliicum is about half the 

 strength of the former ; and that tiie clear tincture of both is 

 equally efficacious in curing gout, without being so dreadfully 

 destructive to the animal constitution. The result, therefore, of 

 these new experiments is, that the clear fluid, either of the vinous 

 ififusion oi colcliicum or of the eau, mcdichuile, maybe taken, uitii 

 equal advantage to the healtli, and much less injury to the body; 

 but that of the colck'icum is much milder. 



T. A. Kniglit, esq. F.R.S. detailed a series of experiments on 

 the shrinking of timber ; he made various sections of different 

 kinds of wood, in order to ascertain in what direction it should 

 slirink most, and found that the greatest contractions always 

 take place next the medulla. He drove cvlindrical pieces into 

 the medullary parts of various trees, and, on exposing then) to 

 heat, invariably found that, however tightly driven at first, tliey 

 always fell out of the wood. To this ci'cumstance he ascribes 

 the cracks or clefts observed in oak and other trees, which have 

 been hitherto a-cribed to the effects of frost. 



May 15 and 22. A letter from. Dr. John Davy to Sir Hum- 

 phry Davy was read, containing an account of many new and 

 curious experiments and observations on the temperature and 

 specific gravity of the sea, made during a voyage to Ceylon. 

 Dr. Davy is disinclined to believe that the zones have any peculiar 



temperature. 



