1814.] Philosophical Transactions, Part I. ISM. 4jf» 



London, as being the only one of the kind hitherto observed. Mr. 

 Koriig's description, as for as I am aide to judge, is very j re 

 and sufficiently minute. This skeleton was found in that part of 

 Guadaloupe called Basse Terre, in a kind of lime-stone rock 

 extending along the shore about a mile in length, and within high- 

 water mark. The block was raised !>y the French, and destined for 

 Paris. Sir Alexander Cochrane altered its destiny, and the Lords 

 of the Admiralty presented it to the British Museum. This rock is 

 of lime-stone, and varies in appearance in different parts. In 

 general it resembles sand-stone, and has a yellowish-grey colour ; 

 but in certain places it more nearly resembles compact lime-stone. 

 It consists of yellow grains mixed with others of a flesh-red colour. 

 The red grains are the detritus of a milleporc, and probably the 

 millepnra miniucea of Pallas. It contains also shells ; one of these 

 is a helix, approaching to the helix acuta of Martini ; another is a 

 variety of the turbo pica of Linnaeus. The skeleton wants the head 

 and neck. The seven true ribs of the left side arc complete ; the 

 upper part of those of the right is likewise found on the left side, 

 and probably the sternum is concealed in the stone. A portion of 

 the bones of both arms is lost. The metacarpal bones of the left 

 hand, and part of those of the fingers, remain. Vestiges of the 

 vertebra? are visible all along. The superior part of the os sacrum 

 is distinct. The bones of the right thigh and leg are in good pre- 

 servation ; those of the left arc partly lost. _ Ail the bones are 

 broken in various directions, and filled with lime-stone ; the swelling 

 of which within the bones probably occasioned the fractures. These 

 bones are soft, and still retain animal matter, besides the phosphate 

 of lime, as is evident from the smell they emit when burnt. 



10. A New Method of deducing a first Approximation to the 

 Orbit of a Comet from three Geocentric Observations. By James 

 Ivory, A.M. — Newton was the first person that proposed a method 

 for determining the orbits of comets; but his method, for a reason 

 afterwards pointed out by Boscovieh, did not answer. Much labour 

 has been bestowed on this difficult subject by the Continental philo- 

 sophers. The methods of Boscovieh, Laplace, and L( ,vndre, Mr. 

 Ivory considers as the only ones of practical utility ; but his own 

 method h ' i- as much simpler and easier than theirs, and 

 duced tojw much simplicity as the nature of the case will admit. 

 But for an account of this method we I I vokuti I 

 the Transactions itself, as any abridged statement of it could in: 

 attended with any utility. 



11. On thu Affections of Light t\ 



lies. By David Bjewstey, LL.D. K.K.S. 

 LMin. — A pretty full account oi rer hayi 



already given in the AnunU of 1 all be tb< 



this place. The paper is divided into five parts. 1. The first , 

 treats of th< Poka Power of the iitg 



through an agate cut in a plane perpend'. is 



id. The pencil of polarized ■ ■ i 



