54 Auah/ses of Books. [J as. 



fine stem, and this only extending for a few degrees, correspond- 

 ing to the range which may be supposed likely to be ever re- 

 quired. The thermometer which he has employed the most 

 -frequently has a scale of 3 - 98 inches to every degree of Fahren- 

 heit, and has a thread of 22 inches. Upon comparison with the 

 common barometer, it was found that a difference of 1° Fahren- 

 heit is occasioned by 0*589 on the barometer; 30-603 on the 

 barometer is equal to 213*367 on the thermometer; and 28*191 

 on the barometer is equal to 209-263 on the thermometer. The 

 author gives a very minute description of the apparatus, and the 

 mode of constructing it ; from which we may conclude that eveiy 

 circumstance has been attended to which can contribute to its 

 accuracy and convenience. The whole apparatus, consisting of 

 -the thermometer, the boiler, a stand, and a cover to protect it 

 from the weather, is so contrived as to go into a tin cylindrical 

 box, two inches diameter, and 10 deep, and weighs 1 lb. 4-J-oz. 

 The experiments that Mr. Wollaston has hitherto been able to 

 make with the new instrument afford a very convincing proof of 

 its accuracy ; the height of Shooter's Hill, of Hampstead, and 

 of the top of St. Paul's cupola, agreeing with the estimates 

 formed by Gen. Roy within a foot or two. Although the instru- 

 ment is principally adapted for measuring only small differences 

 of altitude, yet, by making a series of observations, and adjust- 

 ing it after each experiment, by forcing up a globule of the mer- 

 cury into a bulb that is left for this purpose at the top of the 

 stem, it may be employed for ascertaining the heights of the 

 highest mountains. 



Sir E. Home's paper on the impregnation of the female in the 

 class mammalia, a subject which had eluded the researches of the 

 most eminent physiologists, and, among others, of Haller and 

 Hunter, affords a valuable addition to our knowledge. He for- 

 tunately met with a case of a young woman who died seven days 

 after her first and only sexual intercourse ; and, having first 

 hardened the uterus and its appendages in alcohol, it was 

 minutely examined. One of the ovaria exhibited a small fissure 

 on its most projecting part; and upon opening it he found "a 

 cavity filled up with coagulated blood, and surrounded by a 

 yellowish organized structure." Upon examining the cavity of 

 the uterus itself, its inner surface was found to be lined with an 

 exudation of coagulable lymph ; and among the fibres of this 

 lymph, near the cervix, the ovum was detected ; it was of an 

 oval form, one portion of it white, and the other semitranspa- 

 rent; but by the action of the alcohol the whole became 

 opaque. The os tincee was closed with thick jelly, but the open- 

 ings into the Fallopian tubes were pervious. 



From this, and other analogous cases, the author has adopted 

 an idea respecting the nature of the corpora lutea which is new, 

 but for which he adduces some powerful arguments. The corpus 

 luteum was supposed by Haller to be the effect of impregnation ; 



