1815.] ~ Royal Societys >. 9 > 455% 
the pyramidal form, and hence the appearance of the crystalline 
texture. ‘These phenomena were observed and described long ago 
by Le Blanc; but he ascribed the appearance of crystals at the 
under part of the body to the deposition of crystals from the liquid. 
But the following experiments of Mr. Daniel render this opinion 
not so probable. He put bismuth and antimony in very diluted 
nitric acid ; after some days the bismuth exhibited the cubic tex-. 
ture, which is so striking in native bismuth, and the antimony: 
exhibited the appearance of rhomboids. A number of similar’ 
experiments with other bodies were related, all tending to-prove 
the accuracy of the conclusion which Mr. Daniel had drawn. ; 
On Thursday, Nov. 23, the remainder of Mr. Daniel’s paper 
was read. He showed that the action of water and different solvents 
upon crystals was a much more delicate test of their structure than 
mechanical division. He showed that the supposition, that the inte- 
grant molecules of bodies are spheres, will explain the structure of 
alum crystals ; the octahedral crystal, and all the other crystalline 
forms which it assumes being deducible from the arrangement of 
such spheres according to the action of gravity, merely bythe ab- 
straction or non-formation of certain angles by the removal of a 
certain number of molecules, while the arrangement of the rest is 
not altered ; but the rhomboidal crystal of carbonate of lime, and 
the four-sided prism of sulphate of magnesia, cannot be deduced 
from the arrangement of spheres. Oblong spheroids, however, are 
capable of producing these forms. No other form of the particles 
but these two are capable of accounting for the structure of crystals. 
LINNEAN SOCIETY. ; 
On Tuesday, Nov. 7, the Society met after the long vacation. 
A paper by Mr. Johnson was read, giving further information re- 
specting the fossil remains of an animal found at Lynn, in Dorset- 
shire. 
A notice from Mr. Sowerby was read, pointing out the advan- 
tages of watering fruit-trees. 
Part of a paper by Don Felix Brotero was also read, on the 
genus passiflora. 
On Tuesday, Nov. 21, the remainder of Don Felix Brotero’s 
paper was read. 
There was also read an account of a considerable number of 
specimens of cinchona, by Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq. They 
had been taken in a Spanish ship, and came into the possession of 
the author of the paper. He was able to distinguish different 
varieties of known species. Five specimens were not referable to 
any known species, bat appeared new. ‘The yellow bark of the 
shops is obtained from the cinchona hirsuta of the flora Peruviana. 
There was also read part of a paper by Dr, Eric Acharius on two 
new genera of lichens. 
