386 Scientific Intelhgence. [May, 
decrement of temperature. This may be the case in the ocean, 
but circumstances concur, I am persuaded, to modify this law as 
applied to the approach to land. I kept an exact register of the 
temperature of the sea on my passage from the Mull of Galloway 
to Liverpool, and on my voyage from Leghorn to Civita Vecchia; 
and think J have clearly proved that there is an increase of tem- 
perature in the sea off the mouths of rivers. The mean of 14 
observations made in St. George’s Channel is 52°8°. On 
approaching N.W. buoy, the temperature was 55°, and suc- 
cessively rose to 60° Fahr. as we approached the river Mersey : 
here we were among sand-banks. Again: the temperature of 
the Mediterranean continued nearly uniform at 70°3° Fahr. ; but 
off the river Ombrone, in Italy (even 10 miles at sea), the temper- 
ature rose to 71°5°. The experiments were made with care, and 
frequently repeated. I have the honour to be, 
Your very humble servant, J. Murray. 
Xil. On Galvanic Shocks. By Mr. John Woolrich. 
(To Dr. Thomson.) 
SIR, ' Lichfield, Feb. 1, 1819. 
In the last (fifth) edition of your System of Chemistry, I 
observe the following statement, vol. i. p. 174. Speaking of 
the properties of the galvanic battery, and the power of the 
plates im giving shocks, after remarking that the shock from 
several hundred pairs of plates is so violent as to be painful, 
you say, “ Even in that case, if three or four persons cute hold 
of each other’s hands and form a chain, and if the two persons 
at the extremities touch each an end of the pile, they alone feel 
the shock, while the ixtermediate persons are sensible of nothing.” 
I have frequently formed a chain of eight or ten people, all of 
whom have felt the shock. As I conceive this erroneous state- 
ment has crept into your work through the pert of compilation, 
nothing further need be said respecting it. would take the 
hberty, however, of suggesting to you the propriety of noticing 
the error in the errata of the unsold copies ; and, perhaps, a short 
notice of it also in your Annals of Philosophy would be adviseable 
for the benefit of those who have already purchased your last 
edition of Chemistry. I am, Sir, with great respect, 
Your most obedient servant, 
Joun Woo ries, 
XIII. Notices communicated by C. Johnson, Esq. 
(To Dr. Thomson.) 
SIR, Lancaster, Feb. 27, 1819. 
1. Meteorological Journal of Lancaster for 1818.—I transmit 
> ‘ . * 
you Mr. Heaton’s table of the results of his meteorological jour- 
nal for 1818. It contains no account of the quantity of rain, 
because one of two observers who used to furnish this informa- 
tion has removed, and the other has had the misfortune to injure 
his rain guage. . 
