1814.] Royal Society. '229 



The bone? of the slieleton are not petrified, but retain the usual 

 constituents of fresh bone ; and when first exposed to the air were 

 rather soft, 'i'he skull and vertebrae of the neck are wanting. The 

 seven true ribs and three of the false ribs of the left side remain ; 

 but on the fight side these bones are destroyed, though the sternal 

 part of tlie true ribs adhere to those on the left side. The sternum 

 is not visible, l^eing probably sunk into the stone. The dorsal 

 vertebrae are all visible, though not perfectly well defined. The 

 forearm and finger bones of one hand remain, and one clavicle. 

 The pelvis is pretty entire, and so are tlie thigh bones. The legs 

 are so twisted in, that the fibula i^ sunk in the stone. 



As to the age of this skeleton, there are no data to form a correct 

 estimate, thongli in all probability it is not very recent. The ap- 

 ])earance of the stone shows decidedly that it does not owe its origin 

 to any calcareous deposition similar to calcareous tuff; but that its 

 formation is analoijous to that of common sandstone. It contains 

 traces of phosphate of lime, which seems to demonstrate its animal 

 origin. 



On Thu!-sday, the 17th of February, a paper by John Davy, 

 Esq. On Ariimal Heat, was read. The author made a set of ex- 

 ])erimcnts in oi^er to determine the specific heat of arteriid and 

 veni^us blood. He employed chiefly the blood of lambs. Two 

 methods of experimenting were followed. 1 . The relative times of 

 cooling of equal bulks of arterial and venous blood were deter- 

 mined. The specific gravity of the venous blood was 1*050 ; that 

 of the arterial, 1-047. This method gave the specific heat of 

 arterial blood aiiout 0-93; and that of venous blood, 92. 2. These 

 two kinds of blood were mixed with water, and the change of 

 temperature marked. The results differed somewhat in difterent 

 experiments. Arterial blood by this mode of experimenting came 

 out of the specific heat 0-95, venous blood 0*94 nearly. It appears 

 to me that tiiese experiments of Mr. Davy are liable to two objec- 

 tions, which must prevent us from putting full confidence in the 

 results which he ol)tained. 1. It is probable that a chemical action 

 takes place between blood and water; therefore the specific heat of 

 blood cannot be accurately determined by mixing it with water. 

 Suppose we were to mix alcohol and water : the temperature of the 

 mixture would not enable us to determine the specific heat of 

 alcohol. Neither, 1 am persuaded, would such a mixture enable us 

 to determine the specific heat of blood. 2. Mr. Davy, in his expe- 

 riments, often drew the venous blood of the animal on one day and 

 the arterial on another. Now experiments of this kind never lead 

 to accurate results. Whenever you begin to tamper with an animal 

 you throw it into an unnatural state, and then it is impossible to 

 calculate what sudden changes may be produced on its blood. Mr. 

 Davy made a set of experiments to determine the temperature of 

 arterial and venous blood in animals. The arterial blood was always 

 hottest. In the .sheep it was 104° or 105°, while tlie venous was 



