1810.] 



THE ClVlL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



•207 



empire to imitate Mr. Kittoe's excellent example, there is plenty of 

 field ill Malta, the Ionian Isles, Atlon, our vast Indian empire, and dur- 

 ing the several military expeditions. Much might be done by such 

 observations to increase our stock of architectural works. 



Ric.iUTi's Rustic Archilecture. London : Weale, 1840. 



The first number of this work opens with the design and details of 

 a cottage in the Elizabethan style, which, if it be a fair specimen of its 

 successors, is highly promising. We are glad to see tlie taste which 

 exists among our nobility for the erection of ornamental farm buildings, 

 and p\iblications of this nature are highly calculated to pronuite it. 

 The example of the late Duke of Sutherland on his estates in Stafford- 

 shire, we trust, will have a lasting effect. 



LITERAIiY NOTICE. 



Mr. Jobbins has published a Map of the Environs of London, .30 miles 

 round, at a scale of 3 miles to the inch, with the railways delineated, 

 which for cheapness and completeness can vie with any. 



FROCXIBDINGS OF SCIBKTTZFIC SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Jan. 16. — J. W. Lubbock, Esq., V. P. and Treasm-er, in tlic Chair. 



A jLijier was read ciititlcil, " On Nobili's Plate nf CntoiirK," in a letter from 

 i. p. Gassiott, Esq., to J. W. Lubbock, Esq., V. P. and Treasurer. 



The effect produced by llie late Sig. Mobili, of inducing colours tm a steel 

 plate, excited the curiosity of the author, and led him to the invention of tlic 

 following metliod of producing similar crtccts. — Two of Professor DanicU's 

 large constant cells were excited with the usual solutions of sulphate of cop- 

 per and sulphuric acid. A liighly polished steel jilatc was |)laced in a por- 

 celain soap-plate, and a filtered solution of acetate of lead poured upon it. 

 A piece of card !)oard, out of which the required figures had I»ccn previously 

 cut with a sharp knife, was then placed upon the steel plate. Over the 

 card, and resting on it, there was fixed a ring of wood, a quaiter of an inch 

 thick, and the inner circumference of wliich was of the same size as the 

 figure. K convex copjier plate was made, so that its outer edge might rest 

 on the inner part of the wooden ring ; and its centre |ilaccd near, but not in 

 actual contact wit* the card hoard. Connexion was then made by the posi- 

 tive electrode of the battery with the steel plate; the negative being placed 

 in the centre of the copper convex plate. The figure was generally obtained 

 in from 15 to 35 seconds. If a concave, instead of a convex plate be used, 

 the same coloius are obtained as in the former experiment, but in an inverse 

 order. 



Jan. 23. — Sir Johm Baruow, Bart. V. P., in the chair. 



The Rev. John Pye Smith, D.D., was elected a Fellow. 



A paper was read entitled, " On the structure of Normal and Jdcentitioux 

 Bone." By Alfred Smee, Esip 



" j-tn attempt to eatabliiih a new and r/cneral Notation, ajijiticablc to ttie 

 doctrine of Life Contingencies." By Peter Hardy, Esq. 



After premising a short account of the labours of preceding writers, with 

 reference to a system of notation in the mathematical consideration of life 

 contingencies, the author enters at length into an exposition of the system of 

 symbols which he has himself devised, together with the applications which 

 they admit of in a variety of cases. 



Jan. 30. — J. AY. Lubbock, Esq., V.P. and Treasurer, in the Chair. 

 James Anncslcy, Esq,, was elected a Fellow. 



A paper was read, entitled " Obsercafiuns on Singte Vision until two Eijes." 

 By T. Wharton Jones, Esq. 



The author animadverts on the doctrine which Jlr. \Vheatstone, in his 

 paper on the Pliysiology of Binocular Vision, published in the Philosophical 

 Transactions for 1838, p. 371, has ailvanced, in opimsitiou to the received 

 theory of single vision being dependent on the images of objects falling on 

 corresponding points of the two retina'. He maintains that, under these cir- 

 cumstances, the two impressions are not perceived by the mind at the same 

 instant of time, but sometimes the one and sometimes the other. If one 

 impression be nuich stronger than the other, the former predominates over, 

 or even excludes, the other ; Init still the appearance resulting from the pre- 

 dominating image is, nevertheless, in some manner influenced by that which 

 is not perceived, lie supposes that there arc compartments of the two re- 

 tina-, having certain limits, of which any one point or papilla of the one cor- 

 responds \rith any one point of the other, so that impressions on /hem are 

 not perceived separately; and conshlers tliat this hypothesis, combined with 

 the principle .above stated, is required, in order to explain the phenomena in 

 question. 



Feb. G.— J. \V. LuRBOCK. Esq., V.P. in the Chair. 

 John Parkinson, Esq., and the Rev. Charles Pritchard, M.A., were elected 

 Fellows. 



A paper was read, entitled " Observations on the Blood-eoyyuscles of cer- 

 tain species of the genus Cerrns." By George Gulliver, l^sq. 



Feb. 13. — The ilarquis of Northampton, President, in the Cliair. 



Martin Barry, M.D., and Joseph I'hillimore, LL.l)., were elected Fellows. 



The paper entitled " E.rjierimental Researches in Eleciricitg ; 1 dth series ; " 

 by M. Faraday, Esq., D.C.L., tlie reading of wliich had been commenced at 

 the last meeting, was concluded. 



Feb. 20. — The Marquis of Nobtuampton, President, in the Chair. 

 J . Caldecott, Esq. was elected a Fel.ow. 



The following paper was read ;.— 



" On the JJ'cf Summer of lS'i9." By 1,. Howard, Es(|. Tlie observations 

 of theavuhor were mnde at .Vckworth, in Yorkshire; and the following are 

 his results, with regard the mean leuiiieraturc and the depth of rain, in each 

 month, during 1839: — 



Jan. 



Feb. 



March 



April, 



May, 



June, 



Xlean tempe- 

 rature. 

 37-04'.., 

 39-64 . . , 

 39-08 . . , 

 44-09 .., 

 49-94 .., 



ram in 

 inches. 

 . 1-13 

 . 2-14 

 . 3-21 

 . 0-58 

 . 0-38 



56-35 4-89 



July, 

 Aug. 

 Sept. 

 Oct. 

 Nov. 

 Dec. 



Mean tempe- 

 rature, 

 59-30 '. . , 

 58-09 . . , 



rain in 

 inches. 

 . 5-13 

 . 2-94 



54-49 3-43 



48-39 

 43-14 

 37-29 



3-40 

 4-54 

 1-85 



Mean temperalnre of the year 47-21''. 

 Total depth of rain, in 1839, 33-62 inches. 



lie states that the climatic mean temperature of the place is alioiil 47 ", and 

 the mean annual depth of rain about 26 inches. Tlie excess of rain during 

 the year 1839, was, therefore very great. The author describes the effect of 

 the hurricane of the 7th of January, and follows the changes of the weather 

 during the remainder of the year. 



March 5. — The Marquis of Northampton, President, in the Chair. 



Captain John Theophilus Boileau, was elected a Fellow. 



The reading of a paper entitled, " On the Vheniicnl Action of the Rags of 

 the Solar Spectrum on Preparations of Stiver and other Substances, both me- 

 tnltic and non-metatlic ,- and on some Photographic Processes," by Sir John 

 F. W. Ilerschel, Bart. 6cc., was resumed and concluded. — The object which 

 the author has in view in this memoir is to place on record a number of in- 

 sulated facts and oliservations respecting the relations both of wliite light, 

 and of tlie dift'erently refrangible rays, to various chemical agents which have 

 oficred themselves to his notice in the course of his jihotographic experi- 

 ments, suggested by the annomicement of M. Dagnerrc's discovery. After 

 recapitulating the heads of his paper on this subject, which was read to the 

 Society on the lltli of March 1839, he rem.irks, that one of the most im- 

 portant branches of the iii([uiry, in jioint of practical utility, is into the best 

 means of obtaining the exact reproduction of indefinitely multiplied fac-similcs 

 of an original photograph, by wlucli alone the publication of originals maybe 

 acconiphslied ; and for which purpose the use of paper, or otlier similar ma- 

 terials, appears to lie essentially requisite. In order to avoid circumlocution, 

 the author employs the termi posit ice and jjeyw/icc to express, respectively, 

 pictures in which the lights and shades are the same as in nature, or as in the 

 original model, and in which they are the opposite ; that is, light represent- 

 ing shade ; and shade, light. The terms direct and reverse are also used to 

 express pictures in which objects appear, as regards right anil left, the same 

 as in the original, and the contrary. In respect to photograpliic publication, 

 the employment of a camera picture avoids the difficulty of a double transfer, 

 which has been found to be a great obstacle to success in the photographic 

 copying of engravings or drawings. Tlie princiiial objects of inquiry to which 

 the antlior has diret<ted his attention in the present paper, are the following. 



1. The means of fixing photographs; the compiirative merits of different 

 chemical agents for effecting which, such as hyposulphite of soda, hydriodite 

 of potass, ferrocyanate of potass, &c., he discusses at some length : and lie 

 notices some remarkable jiroperties, in this respect, of a peculiar agent which 

 he has discovered. 



2. The means of taking photographic copies and transfers. The author 

 lays great stress on the necessity, for this purpose, of preser\iug, during the 

 oi)eration , the closest contact of the photographic paper used with the original 

 to be copied. 



3. The preparation of photographic paper. A'arions experiments are de- 

 tailed, made with the view of discovering modes of increasing the sensitive- 

 ness of the paper to the action of hght ; and particularly of those combina- 

 tions of chemical substances which applied either in succession or in combina- 

 tion, prepare it for that action. The operation of the oxide of lead in its 

 saline combinations as a mordant is studied; and the influence which the 

 particular kind of jiaper used has on the result, is also examined ; and various 

 practical rules are deduced from these experiments. The author describes a 

 method of precipitating on glass a coating possessing photographic properties, 

 and therrby of accomplishing a new and curious extension nf the art, of 

 photography, lie observes, that this method of coating glass with films of 

 prccipited .argentine, or other compounds, affords the only elfccfual means of 

 studying their habitudes on exposure to light, and of estimating tliclr degree 

 of sensibility, and other ]iartieulars of their deportment under the influence 

 of reagents. After stating the result of his trials with tlie iodide, chloride, 

 and bromide of silver, he suggests that trials should be made with the fluoride, 



