58 Royal Society of Ed'mhurgh. 



t^raphv of the North Eastern part of Asia, exaiiiinitig the ques- 

 tion whether Asia and America are united ? which lie concludes 

 in the affirmative : of course that no nortii-west passage, so often 

 souglit for, exists. 



Dec. I S. A paper bv James Smithson, Esq. was read, on the Co- 

 louring Properties of certain matters. Among the substances ex- 

 amined were litmus, the colouring matter of violet, the blue paper 

 employed to cover loaf-sugar, the blue of hyacinth, the mulberry, 

 the corn-poppv, and sap green. Mr. Smithson thinks it probable 

 that some vegetable colours may be produced by combining th'Mf 

 principles. 



A paper bv Mr. .Tohn Daw was read the same evening, giving 

 an account of some observations made on Adam's Peak, in the 

 Island of Cevlon. The print of a foot of immense size which is 

 shown on the top of this mountain as that of Adam, who is fabled 

 to have fallen on this island when cast down from Paradise, Dr. 

 Davv believes to be an artificial formation designed by priestcraft 

 to impose on the vulgar. The niouiitain is above 6(K)0 feet high, 

 Is composed of gneiss, and contains feltspar and garnets. 



ROYAL SOCIETV OF EDINBURGH. 



On November 17th, the first meeting of the Society for the 

 season, a paper on Muriatic Acid, by Dr. Ure of Glasgow, was 

 read. After giving a condensed view of the chlorine controversy, 

 he proceeded to detail a series of experiments which he had ex- 

 ecuted last summer, for the purpose of deciding the opinions of 

 chemists on this fundamental doctrine. Having proved the com- 

 position of dry sal ammoniac, in whatever way prepared, to be 

 idejitical, and to be definitely fixed, by the concurrence of his 

 own experimental results with those of M. Gay Lussac, at 32'3 

 ammonia -f 67'7 muriatic acidgas ; he exposed thin laminae of the 

 pure metals, silver, copper, and iron, ignited in tul)es of green 

 glass out of contact of the air, to the action of the vapour of the 

 above salt in a state of complete siccity, and found in each case, 

 the metal converted into a muriate, whilst a portion of water, 

 nearly equal to one-sixth of the weight of the dry salt made its 

 appearance. Thus by the formation of muriates which require no 

 water of composition. Dr. Ure succeec'ed in liberating the water 

 of composition of muriatic acid gas and muriate of ammonia. 



The principle of his experiments is therefore totally different 

 from that of Dr. Murray's, recorded in his System of (-hemistrv, 

 and so keenly censured by Berzelius in his comparisoyi of the 

 old and new theory. '' I combined," says Dr. Murray, " over 

 dry mercury, dry ammoniacal gas, with muriatic acid gas ; and 

 having collected the salt formed, I exposed it to heat in a retort, 

 and found water to be expelled, and condensed in the neck of 



tl-.e 



