292 British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
Thouars. He did not think that the existence of any new princi- 
ple could be inferred from the experiments. In the seventh experi- 
ment the horizontal circulation of the sap'was proved, and confirmed 
the accuracy of Hall’s experiment of cutting a tree nearly through 
on alternate sides, when the sap still ascended. 
Suspended Animation.—Sir James Murray had seen two cases 
of suspended animation from blows on the stomach; one recovered, 
and the other died. ‘The remedy he should recommend, would be 
to throw a bucket of cold water over the body—gasping would en- 
sue, and respiration follow. 
Tron.—Mr. Fairburn then read a Report on the comparative 
strength and other properties of cast iron, manufactured by the hot 
and cold blast. 
At a previous meeting of the Association, Mr. Hodgkinson read a 
Report on the comparative strength and other properties of iron man- 
ufactured by the hot and cold blast.—In the prosecution of inquiries 
since made, it was conceived desirable to subject the metals operated 
upon to more than one species of strain; to vary their forms, and, by 
a series of changes, to elicit their peculiar, as well as comparative prop- 
erties. Ist, they have been drawn asunder by direct tension; 2dly, 
they have been crushed by direct compression both in short and 
long specimens ; and, 3dly, they have been subjected to fracture by 
transverse strain, under various forms of section, and at various tem- 
peratures. ‘Ten bars of hot and cold blast iron were also loaded 
with different weights, from 112 lbs. to near the breaking point, and 
left for many months to sustain the load, and to determine the 
length of time necessary to effect the fracture. ‘The bars thus 
loaded, are still (with one exception) bearing the weight, having 
been suspended upwards of six months, and, from what we can at 
present perceive, there is every chance of a long and protracted ex- 
periment. In making the experiment on transverse strain, a num- 
- ber of models of different sizes and forms were prepared, and the 
irons, both hot and cold blast, were run into the form of these mod- 
els ; but as there is usually a slight deviation in the size of the cast- 
ings from that of the model, the dimensions of the bars were accu- 
rately measured at the place of fracture, and the results reduced, by 
calculation, to what they would have been if they had been cast the 
exact size of the model, assuming the strength of rectangular beams 
to be as the breadth and square of the depth, and the ultimate de- 
flection to be inversely as the depth, the length being constant. In 
