ier 
296 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
Thompson exhibited to the Section a very decisive experiment. He 
showed that in a vial partly filled with wine, no motion, of the kind 
escribed, occurs as long as the vial is kept corked. On his removing © 
the cork, however, and withdrawing, by a tube, the air saturated with 
vapor of wine, so that it was replaced by fresh air capable of producing 
evaporation, a liquid film was instantly seen as a horizontal ring creep- 
ing up the interior of the vial, with thick-looking pendant streams de- 
scending from it like a fringe from acurtain. He gave another striking 
illustration by pouring water on a flat silver tray, previously carefully 
cleaned from any film which could hinder the water from thoroughly 
wetting the surface. The water was about one-tenth of an inch deep. 
suggested. : 
6. On the Absorption of Matier by the Surfaces of Bodies; by Sit : 
D. Brewster, (Proc. Britis ssoc., from Atheneum, 1458. )—If 
which is black, corresponding to the centre of the system of 
vere several on whose surfaces no colors were produced. Quartz eX * 
_ hibited the colors like glass, but calcareous spar and several other min 
erals did not. In explaining this phenomenon, the author stated 
the particles of the soap, which are dissolved by the breath, must either 
enter the pores of the bodies or form a strongly adhering film on pa 
_ surface. This property of appropriating temporarily the particles © 
soap, becomes a new distinctive character of mineral and other bodies. 
7. On the Existence of Acari in Mica, etc.; by Sir D. BrewsTE®, 
the 70th of an inch, and others only the 150th of an inch in size. »0% 
mica were 
uated 
hich afterwards closed over them.—Sir David also read 
Remains of Plants in Calcareous Spar, from King’s coum ¥ 
