1817.] Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. 323 
Article VII. 
Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. 
ROYAL SOCIETY. 
On Thursday, Feb. 27, a paper by Sir Everard Home, Bart. 
was read, giving an account of a number of fossil bones of the 
rhinoceros found in a lime-stone cavern near Plymouth by Mr. 
Whitby. Sir Joseph Bankes had requested Mr. Whitby, when he 
went to superintend the lreakwater at present constructing at Ply- 
mouth, to inspect ali the caverns that should be met with in the 
lime-stone rocks during tne quarrying, and to send him up any 
fossil bones that might be found. ‘The fossil bones described in this 
paper occurred in a cavern in a lime-stone rock on the south side 
of the Catwater. This lime-stone is decidedly transition. The 
cavern was found after they had quarried 160 feet into the solid 
rock. It was 45 feet long, and filled with clay, and had no com- 
munication whatever with the external surface. The bones were 
remarkably perfect specimens. They were all decidedly bones of 
the rhinoceros ; but they belonged to three different animals. They 
consisted of teeth, bones of the spine, of the scapula, of the fore 
legs, and of the metatarsal bones of the hind legs. They were 
compared by Sir Everard with the bones of the skeleton of a rhi- 
noceros in the possession of Mr. Brookes, which is considered as 
belonging to the largest of the species ever seen in England. The 
fossil bones were mostly of a larger size, though some of them be- 
longed to a smaller animal. Several of them were analysed by Mr. 
Brande. He found one specimen composed as follows :— 
POSURE OF PITRE sa ho up o:0'9:0 wo sss 410,50 OO 
RUAN IOMAGES OF AIDING ya bs cinco 24 4.0:9 gaie-n sb. 6) 0.6) 
WRUAUOUSGL SUSE LGB IL ss. 5 or e'a 28m a6 (a's Racare is ks,8, 07a 2 
Water eseevee eevee eeevneveee eevee eeee ee 10 
100 
The teeth as usual contained a greater proportion of phosphate of 
lime than the other bones. These bones were remarkably clean and 
perfect, and constitute the finest specimens of fossil bones ever 
found in this country. 
At the same meeting, two papers by Thomas Knight, Esq. were 
announced as presented to the Society : a paper on the Construc- 
tion of Logarithms, and a papef.on the Functions of Differences. 
On Thursday, March 6, a paper by the Rev. Francis Hyde 
Wollaston was read, describing a thermometer constructed by him 
for determining the height of mountains instead of the barometer. 
It is well known that the temperature at which water boils dimi- 
nishes as the height of the place increases at which the experiment 
is made, and this diminution was suggested, first by Fahrenheit, 
x 2 
