[ 44-9 ] 

 LXV. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



THE following are abstracts of papers which have been read before 

 the Royal Society during the present session. 



Feb. 4. — " Remarks on several Icebergs which have been met with 

 in considerably low latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere." By Capt. 

 Horsburgh, hydrographer to the East India Company. 



The journals of the ships belonging to the East India Company, the 

 author observes, during the whole of the last century, contain no ac- 

 counts of icebergs having been seen in the course of their navigation 

 in the southern hemisphere, although several of these ships proceeded 

 into the parallels of latitude 40°, 41°, and 42°. But, during the last 

 two years, it appears that icebergs have occasionally been met with 

 by several ships in their passage, very near the Cape of Good Hope, 

 between the latitudes of 36° and 39°. The particulars relating to 

 these observations are detailed in the paper. The most remarkable 

 occurred in the voyage of the brig Eliza from Antwerp, bound to Ba- 

 tavia, which on the 28th of April, 1828, fell in with five icebergs in 

 latitude 37°31'S., longitude 18^ 17' E. of Greenwich. They had the 

 appearance of church steeples, of a height from 250 to 300 feet; and 

 the sea broke so violently against these enormous masses, that it was 

 at first suspected they might be fixed on some unknown shoal, until, 

 on sounding, no bottom could be discovered. 



It is remarkable, that, in general, icebergs seem to be met with in 

 low latitudes nearly at the same period of the year, namely, in April 

 or May, in both the northern and southern hemispheres, although 

 the seasons are reversed in these two divisions of the globe. In order 

 to account for the origin and accretion of the southern icebergs, the 

 author thinks it probable, that there exists a large tract of land near 

 the antarctic circle, somewhere between the meridian of London and 

 the 20th degree of east longitude, whence these icebergs have been 

 carried in a N. and N.E. direction, by the united forces of current, 

 winds, and waves, prevailing from S.S.W. and S.W. Bouvet's and 

 Thompson's islands arc not of sufficient magnitude ; and Sandwich 

 land and Kesgnelin's island are too remote to be the source of the 

 icebergs lately observed in the vicinity of the Cape. From their un- 

 precedented descent during the last two years, it is most probable 

 that the disruption of these masses of ice from the places of their for- 

 mation, was the efli'ect of some powerful cause, of rare occurrence, 

 such as an earthquake or volcano, which has burst forth and convulsed 

 the inaccessible regions of the south, leaving no other testimonials of 

 the event, than some few fragments of ice, .scattered at a distance in 

 the Indian Ocean. 



March 4. — " On the progressive improvements made in the efficiency 

 of steam-engines in Cornwall; with investigations of the methods 

 best adapted for imparting great angular velocities." By Davies 

 Gilbert, Esq. 



The practical adaptation of the steam-engine to mechanical purposes 



is considered by the author as due to Mr. Nevvcomen, whose inquiries 



N. 6'. Vol. 7. No. 42. J?<//f 1830. 3M were 



