229 



Silliman, B. Silliman, Jr., and James D. Dana. Second Series. 

 Vol. I. January, 1846. No. 1. 8vo. — From the Editors. 



Annual Message of the Governor of Pennsylvania, transmitted to the 

 Senate and House of Representatives, Jan. 7, 1846. 8vo. — From 

 a B. Trego, Esq. 



Twenty-ninth Congress, First Session, House of Representatives, 

 Document No. 2. Message of the President of the United States, 

 to the Two Houses of Congress, Dec. 2, 1845. 8vo. — From the 

 Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll. 



Twenty-ninth Congress, First Session, Senate, Document No. 13. 

 Report from the Secretary of the Treasury, communicating a 

 Report from the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, showing the 

 Progress of the Work under his charge during the year ending 

 November, 1845. 8vo. — From Prof. A. D. Bache. 



The Committee on Major Graham's paper, on the Dip of 

 the Magnetic Needle in 1842, 1843, 1844, reported in favour 

 of its publication in the Transactions of the Society, and it u^as 

 so ordered. 



Dr. Patterson alluded to the letter of Prof. Henry, read at 

 the last meeting, and read a portion of a second letter from the 

 same gentleman, in which he describes the manner in which 

 he had repeated the experiments of Mr. Faraday. 



This consists in producing, in pure water and other liquids, a 

 new arrangement of particles, by which they become possessed of 

 the property of circular polarization, during the time a current of 

 galvanism is circulating around them. The arrangement I employed 

 was as follows : — A tube of glass was filled with pure water, and the 

 ends closed with plates of glass; this was placed in the axis of an 

 iron tube, and this again inserted into the axis of a coil consisting 

 of about eight hundred feet of copper wire. The ends of the iron 

 tube were closed with corks, through one of which was passed a 

 Nicoll's prism, and in the axis of the other was fastened a plate of 

 tourmaline. This tube being directed to the clear sky, and the tour- 

 maline, which was placed next the eye, so turned that it presented a 

 dark field of view, a current of galvanism from twenty-two cups of 

 Daniell's battery was passed through the coil. At the moment of 

 making the communication with the battery, the field became light; 

 and when the circuit was broken, it again appeared dark. A slight 

 rotation of the tourmaline also produced darkness while the galvanic 



