10 ] 

 XIX. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



June 27. — OiR E. Home furnished a supplement to his former 

 paper on the structure of the feet of animals which liave prr.r 

 gressive motion contrary to the action of gravity. Mr. Bauer 

 having made very accurate drawinj^s from higlily-magnified views 

 of the feet of such animals, Sir E. has tr.us been enabled to correct 

 liis former observations, and even to extend them to insects. It 

 appears that mb.nv of these animals have from one to three 

 suckers on each foot, wiiicli, makinc,- a vacuum, ctud^lc the ani- 

 mal to proceed securely along a cieling with its back towards the 

 earth. Some species of insects, particularly grasshoppers, have 

 their feet sup|>lied with another a])paratus, that is, round elastic 

 balls, which yield on pressure, and serve to break the violence of 

 their fall from long leaps. On examining the structure of the 

 flea's feet no balls were discovered, as this insect's body is so 

 light as not to require them. Sir E. thinks that this structure 

 of the feet of insects must furnish a ncvv' and important basis of 

 the classification of insects; and he anticipates great advantage 

 to science from the researches aiid discoveries of Dr. Leach, of 

 the British Museum, in this department of natural history. 



July 4. — J. Barrow, K^q. communicated a paper on the means 

 of arresting or destroying the contagion of the plague, by Dr. 

 Bernardo Antonio Gomez. The Portuguese government being 

 anxious to prevent the plague from entering Portugal, encouraged 

 Dr. Gomez to make some experiments, chiefly vith the view ot 

 ascertaining whether the common methods of fumigating letters, 

 or immersing them in vinegar, if received from countries where 

 the plague was supposed to exist, were sufficient to destroy any 

 contagious matter which might adhere to thera. Dr. G. pro- 

 ceeded to examine the effects of fumigating a sealed lett?r with 

 chlorine, having first made two or three longitudinal cuts in it; 

 and the result proved that such fumigation must be perfectly 

 sufficient, as every part of the letter retained the odour of the 

 gas, which was even stronger a day or two after than at the time, 

 He next made some experiments with vinegar, which, as well as 

 the chlorine, changed tlic colour-of the ink. He related the re- 

 sult of more than 22 experiments made with sulphuric, muriatic, 

 and nitric acids, with burning sulphur and nitre together, &c. 

 In order to ascertain the effects of these different acids, ho 

 caused letters to be impregj^ated with the odour of putrid flesh, 

 which he found that they expelled completely ; but the chlorine 

 he considered as the best and most efficacious of these applica- 

 tionsj even should the letters jjot be cut or perforated. The fu- 

 migating 



