56 Royal Society.— Glasgow Literary Society. 
The sittings on the 19th and 26th were suspended on account 
of the death of the Queen. On the 30th, being St. Andrew’s 
day, the annual election of the President, Council, and other 
Officers took place; and the Copley Medal was presented to 
Robert Seppings, Esq. for his papers relative to improvements in 
ship-building ; accompanied with a suitable speech by the vene- 
rable Presiddent. 
Dec. 10. A paper entitled ‘‘ Observations on the Decompo- 
sition of Starch by the Action of Air and Water at common Tem- 
peratures,” by M. Theodore de Saussure, was commenced. The 
reading was continued on 
Dec. 17. Some starch boiled in water was, for two years, ex- 
posed to a temperature between 68° and 77° under a glass jar. 
About one-third of it was, at the end of that time, found con- 
verted into saccharine matter, presenting all the properties of 
sugar made from starch by the action of sulphuric acid. The 
author also fourd, on examination, that a species of gum was 
formed, like that obtained by roasting starch, and another sub- 
stance which he denominates amidine, which remained insoluble 
in water and acids, and gave a blue colour with iodine. When 
air is present, during the exposure, water and carbonic acid gas 
are given off in considerable quantities, and charcoal is deposited : 
when air is excluded no water is formed, only a little carbonic ” 
acid and hydrogen are liberated, and no carbon is deposited. 
The author could not determine whether the quantity of sugar 
produced was effected by the presence or absence of air. 
A paper by C. Babbage was also read at this meeting, On the 
Solution of certain Problems relating to Games of Chance, cal- 
culated to show that some questions supposed, hitherto, to defy 
analytical investigation may be subjected to algebrate reasoning. 
Dec. 24. A paper by Capt. Duff, R.N. was read, On the Pre- 
vention of the Dry Rot in Timber. ‘The author proposed that 
experiments should be instituted, to ascertain whether the water 
of peat mosses employed to impregnate sound timber, and also 
timber partially decayed by dry-rot, would save the one, and pre- 
vent the further ravages of the dry-rot in the other. He rests 
his suggestion on the well-known fact, that wood submerged in 
peat-moss is preserved sound for ages. 
GLASGOW LITERARY SOCIETY. 
Dee. 10,1818. Anaccount of some very interesting experiments, 
performed by Dr. Ure, on the body of a criminal executed at 
Glasgow on the 4th of Nov. last, was read before this Society. 
The paper commences with some appropriate general physiolo- 
gical views relating to the application of galvanism, in which the 
author 
