100 



transformed by a process of the nature of catalysis, the product 

 having as yet escaped discovery. 



" That carbonate of soda injected into the liver after death does 

 not effect a disappearance of hepatine, but even in moderate quantity 

 holds the saccharine metamorphosis completely in check. 



" That there is probably a close connexion between the dis- 

 appearance of hepatine, the production of fat, and the state of the 

 bile." 



February 7, 1861. 



Major-General SABINE, R.A., Treasurer and Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Right Hon. the Earl of Ellesmere and Professor Harkness 

 were admitted into the Society. 



The BAKERIAN LECTURE was then delivered by Professor 

 TYNDALL, F.R.S., " On the Absorption and Radiation of Heat 

 by Gases and Vapours, and on the Physical Connexion of Radia- 

 tion, Absorption, and Conduction." 



The Lecturer gave an account of the researches which form the 

 subject of a paper with the above title, communicated by him to 

 the Society ; and in explaining the methods followed, he exhibited 

 the apparatus which he had employed in his experiments. The fol- 

 lowing is an abstract : 



(Abstract.) 



The apparatus made use of in this investigation consists of the 

 following parts : 



1. A copper cube C, containing water kept constantly boiling, 

 and one of whose faces, coated with lampblack, forms the source of 

 radiant heat. 



2, A brass tube 2*4 inches in diameter, which is divided into two 

 portions, a and /3. 



a. The portion of the tube intended to receive the gases and 

 vapours ; it is stopped air-tight at its two ends by plates of trans- 

 parent rock-salt, and is attached to a good air-pump, by which it 

 can be exhausted at pleasure. The length is 4 feet. 



