236 [Recess, 



effect of the magnet was at the moment of its demagnetization ; it 

 then affected the tone of the sounds momentarily, and the position 

 of the crispations strongly, both when the approximated poles were 

 similar and when they were dissimilar, hut in the greatest degree 

 when they were similar. 



Influence of Electrolytes in the Circuit. 



43. No new effects were observed on interposing in the circuit 

 with a phonetic vessel an electrolytic cell containing mercury elec- 

 trodes and a solution of iodide of potassium or dilute sulphuric acid, 

 they only appeared to influence the vibrations and sounds by diminish- 

 ing the quantity of the electric current. Several vessels containing 

 phonetic solutions and annular mercury electrodes were placed in 

 one circuit, and sounds readily produced in all of them at the same 

 time. 



Influence of Magnetism. 



44. Many experiments were made to ascertain if magnetism 

 affected the vibrations ; the phonetic liquid, with cathodes of various 

 sizes, was placed in every imaginable position to the electro- 

 magnet (34) strongly excited, in some cases with the armature of 

 the magnet dipping into the electrolyte, but no effect of the magnet- 

 ism upon the size or direction of the crispations (or in any other 

 way) was detected. 



COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED SINCE THE END OF THE SESSION. 



I. " On the Synthesis of Tribasic Acids." (Preliminary 

 Notice.) By MAXWELL SIMPSON, M.B., F.R.S. Received 

 July 3, 1862. 



I have already shown* that the cyanides of the diatomic radicals 

 (at least those which form gly cols), yield bibasic acids when treated 

 with potash, which contain four equivalents of carbon more than the 

 radicals from which they are derived. Analogy would lead us to 

 expect that the cyanides of the triatomic radicals would yield with 



* Philosophical Transactions for 1861, p. 61. 



