384 A)ialyses of Books. [Not. 



1815, and published under the title of " An Inquiry into the 

 Causes of the Motion of the Blood." This pubhcatiou attracted 

 the attention of physiologists, and the views which were given 

 in it have been generally acknowledged to be both important 

 and new. The object of the present paper is to show that the 

 lungs possess a considerable degree of elasticity, and that thia 

 elasticity, together with the muscular action of the diaphragm, 

 constitute the great agents of respiration. 



In the living body, the lungs fill the chest, and are pressed 

 against its walls by a pressure nearly equivalent to the whole 

 weight of the atmosphere. When an opening is made into the 

 thorax, the lungs immediately collapse in consequence of their 

 elasticity, because now the pressure of the air is removed, as it 

 acts both upon the inside and outside of the lungs at the same 

 time. The author inserted a glass tube into the windpipe of a 

 recently killed animal. This tube terminated in a glass globe 

 capable of holding about two quarts. From its extremity, ano- 

 ther glass tube proceeded in a vertical direction, and about three 

 feet in length. Water was poured into this upright tube till it 

 stood about a foot above the level of the water in the globe. 

 The chest of the animal was then opened. The lungs collapsed, 

 and the water rose higher in the tube. An additional quantity 

 of water was poured into the tube till the elasticity of the lungs 

 was overcome, and they again completely filled the thorax. The 

 height of this column of water was observed, and considered as 

 indicating the amount of the elasticity of the lungs. In oxen it 

 exceeded a foot and a half; in calves, sheep, and large dogs, it 

 varied from a foot to a foot and a half ; and in rabbits and cats 

 from six to ten inches. 



IV. Oil the Action of CrystaUized Bodies on Homogeneous 

 Light, and on the Causes of the Deviation from Newton's Scale 

 in the Tints which mam/ of them develope on Exposure to a Pola- 

 rized Ray. By J. F. W. Herschel, Esq. F.R.S. Lond. and Edin. 

 — This paper appears to me of too much importance to be 

 abridged. It will, therefore, be given entire in a future number 

 of the Annals of Philosophy. 



V. A Case of the Human Fa-tus found in the Ovarium of the 

 Size it usually acquires at the End of the fourth Month. By 

 A. B. Granville, M.D. F.R.S. — The lady in whom this remarka- 

 ble conception occurred had been the mother of seven children, 

 and was in the 39th year of her age. The foetus was found in 

 the left ovarium. From the drawing it appears to have been 

 perfect. Both the fallopian tubes were impervious, except about 

 halfway. The uterus was enlarged, and nearly of the same size 

 as when it contains a foetus of four months. The foetus was 

 surrounded by a chorion and amnios, and attached to a placenta, 

 as in other cases. Portions of the corpus luteum surrounded the 

 foetus. The death of the mother seems to have been occasioned 

 by haemorrhage. The increased size of the foetus burst the 



