292 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



wings are stretclied out, and legs extended backwards, and the 

 hinder part of a large water-rat protrudes from its widely- 

 opened bill. The heron had attempted to swallow the large 

 water-rat head foremost, and was suffocated in consequence. 

 Yarrell in his " British Birds " figures one found dead with its 

 beak piercing the head of an eel, the body of which was twisted 

 round the bird's neck, and thus strangled it. 



The bird exhibited was stuffed by William Hope, George 

 Street, and is the property of the Earl of Home. 



Note. — The following paper, read at the meeting of 19th 

 December 1877, was received too late for insertion in its 

 proper place. 



Notes on a New Compound of Uranium. By J. Hunter, Esq. 



Any research which adds to our rapidly increasing stock of 

 chemical facts is worthy of every acknowledgment, and the 

 results of that research ought to be welcomed not only by 

 the scientist, but by every one who has any interest in human 

 progress. The discovery, or even a reliable description, of a 

 new chemical compound may imply a new branch of trade ; 

 it may create employment for hundreds ; and, as has often 

 been the case, it may lead to other and greater discoveries, 

 and thus swell the tide of knowledge, which is day by day 

 sapping the very foundations of empiricism and ignorance. 



It is, therefore, with very great pleasure that I bring before 

 the Society a few notes regarding the preparation, and some 

 of the properties, of a new salt of uranium. 



Mr Stillman, who, so far as I know, has been the first to 

 describe this new uranium compound of which I am about 

 to speak, appears to have gone to work carefully and con- 

 scientiously ; and, with one single exception, his modus 

 operandi is almost faultless. 



First, the preparation. The uranium used in the investi- 

 gation was in the uranic state as hydrated uranic oxide, con- 

 taining alkali and other impurities, from which it had, by a 

 series of operations, to be freed, and uranoso uranic oxide 



