Batli Lilerai-y and Philosophical Society . 377 



temperature. It appears that the temperature of the sea is ge- 

 nerallv Iiighest about noon, and is hii^her during a storm; btit in 

 this case the period of highest tempeiature is sonneuhat later. 

 One ol)servation seems highly important, namely, that shallow 

 water is colder than deep ; and that, in consequence of tiiis dif- 

 fL'rence of temperaHire, seamen may discover at night when they 

 approach either shoals, banks, or the sliore. Dr, D. found that 

 on approacliiiig the coast the water was always two degrees 

 colder than when in the open sea. He enumerated the causes 

 which influence the temperature of the ocean, such as tempests, 

 currents, and the solar rays. Many other remarks and experi- 

 ments mentioned in this letter may prove useful to navigators. 

 The author, however, strongly recommended the general use of 

 the thermometer to seamen, by means of which he thinks many 

 new and highly important phajnomena may still be discovered. 



Mr. Sewell, of the Veterinary College, in a letter to the Presi- 

 dent, stated his having discovered a method of curing horses 

 which are lame in the fore feet. He observes that many fine 

 horses, in consequence either of being over-driven, or their own 

 ardent spirit, often Ijccome lame in one of the fore feet, and are 

 consequently consigned to the cart or the butcher. It occurred 

 to him that this- lameness might originate in the nerves of the 

 foot, near the hoof; and in consecjuencc lie immediately ampu- 

 tated about an inch of the diseased nerve, taking the Ubual pre- 

 caution of guarding the arteries and passing ligatures, 8cc. By 

 this means the animal was iustantlv relieved from pain, and the 

 lameness perfectly cr.-cd. Mr. Seweil has already cvued three 

 horses by this operation. The Society then adjourned till the 

 5th of June. 



b.VlH LITERARY AND rHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



April 2S. Dr. Wilkinson stated to the Society, that the pro- 

 j)erties of arsenic, of which so little is as yet known, had occu- 

 pied much of the attention of the late Professor Tennant of Cam- 

 bridge ; and that previous to his death he had informed Mr.Gregor, 

 an eminent chemist in Cornwall, that from an analysis he had 

 made of vvootz or Indian steel, he had ascertained that its pe- 

 culiar hardness arose from a combination of arsenic. 



An account of some experiments by Colonel Beaufoy, on the 

 strength of diftercnt kinils of wood, was read, and a diagram of 

 the apparatus employed, exhibited. In these experiments the 

 different jjieces of wood were secured to a firm block of timber 

 at one end, and the weights were applied at the other end, to 

 which a quadrant was also attached, by means of which the an- 

 gles of curvature could be jisccrtained till a fracture took place. 



The 



