384 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. [May, 



the residue being azote. This, Dr. Davy presumed, was atmo- 

 spheric air, deteriorated by respiration, and altered by the 

 absorption it had undergone while in the body. He had found 

 in the lungs, after death, in various cases, from 9 to 12 per cent, 

 of carbonic acid. 



March 11. — A paper was read " On the Parallax of « Lyrse;" 

 by J. Brinkley, DD. FRS., &c. In this paper Dr. Brinkley 

 wholly opposes and controverts the statements of Mr. Pond re- 

 specting the subject of his paper, as given in the Phil. Trans, 

 for 1823, and noticed in the Annals for September last, p. 226. 



March 18. — The Lord Bishop of Limerick was admitted a 

 Fellow of the Society ; and the name of the Earl of Orford was 

 ordered to be inserted in its printed lists. 



A paper was read, entitled, " An Account of Experiments on 

 the Velocity of Sound, made in Holland. By Dr. G. A. Moll, 

 and Dr. A. Van Beck." 



This paper commences with some observations on the New- 

 tonian formula for the velocity of sound, as modified by La- 

 place : and the authors then proceed to consider the effect of 

 the wind on that velocity ; which, in their own experiments, 

 they contrived to annihilate. These experiments were made on 

 the plains of Utrecht, at two stations 9964 feet distant from 

 each other ; and the velocity ascertained by determining the in- 

 terval between the flash and the report of guns by means of 

 clocks with conical pendulums, dividing twenty-four hours into 

 10,000,000 parts. The states of the barometer and thermo- 

 meter were noticed, and the humidity of the atmosphere deter- 

 mined by means of Daniell's hygrometer. The general result 

 is, that at the temperature of 32° the velocity of sound is 

 1089 - 7 feet per second. Various detailed tables of the experi- 

 ments and attendant circumstances are annexed to the paper. 



March 25. — Major-General Sir John Malcom, GCB. was 

 admitted a Fellow of the Society ; and a paper was read, on the 

 Geological Distribution of Fossil Shells, in continuation of that 

 already published in the Phil. Trans.* by L. W. Dillwyn, Esq. 

 FRS. 



A letter from Thomas Tredgold, Esq. Civil Engineer, to 

 Thomas Young, MD. For. Sec. RS. was likewise read : 

 it contained an account of a series of experiments on the elas- 

 ticity of steel at different degrees of temper ; describing the 

 apparatus with which they were made, and giving their various 

 results. 



April 1. — The reading was commenced of " An Inquiry re- 

 specting the nature of the luminous power of some of the 

 Lampyrides; L. splendid 'ula or Glow-worm, L. Italioa, or Fire- 

 fly, and L. noctiluca : bv Tvveedie John Todd, MD. : commu- 

 nicated by Sir E. Home," VPRS." 



April 8. — The reading of Dr. Todd's paper was resumed and 



* See Anneckiot March, p. 177« 





