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THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



in the quantity of water flowing in the main bed of the river, if it flows 

 off with half its usual rapidity. This is the ordinary way in which frost 

 acts on the rivers in this country. But when, as on the night of the 

 26th November, the frost is accompanied with a strong and keen wind, 

 which lasts for only a few hours, it freezes the water in the small rivulets 

 near the sources of the rivers in high and exposed situations, whilst it 

 has not time to freeze even the surface of the deeper and more rapid 

 currents flowing in the lower parts of the rivers. 



" The easterly gale which, by its low temperature, produced this phe- 

 nomenon, continued to blow until about 7 or 8 a.m. on the morning of 

 the 27th November. The temperature of the atmosphere then under- 

 went a sudden change, as indicated both by the barometer and the ther- 

 mometer. This change was brought about by the advent of two storms, 

 which came from southern latitudes, and one or perhaps both of which 

 had, on the morning of the 27th, begun to affect the upper regions of the 

 atmosphere, and load them with warm vapour." 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



Linn^ean Society On the anniversary of the birth-day of Linnaeus, 



the meeting was held at the rooms of the Society in Soho Square, the 

 Bishop of Norwich, President, in the chair, when the annual report of 

 the auditors was read, and Dr Boote, the Secretary, read a biographical 

 list of the members who had died the previous year. The members after- 

 wards dined at the Freemasons' Tavern, and the Bishop of Norwich gave 

 a conversazione in the evening at his house in Lower Brook Street. 

 Amongst various illustrations in Natural History, the most important was 

 a portable machine for artificial incubation, from Mr Bucknell. There 

 were exhibited birds in every stage of progression, from the embryo to 

 the perfect, living, liberated, and healthful animal. A fresh egg was first 

 broken to show the germ or ciatricula of the future being, and afterwards 

 twenty-one eggs in succession, to show the process of development to 

 maturity. Not one of the entire series was a failure, the whole possess- 

 ing life and animation. Under a glass cover warmed artificially were 

 about a dozen birds that had come into existence within a few hours, 

 which displayed great vivacity ; and in a second were placed eggs in which 

 the birds were attempting to liberate themselves from their shells, which 

 they perform in a curious manner, by making circular openings with their 

 bills. The most wonderful phenomenon was the pulsation of the heart 

 and the circulation of the blood, which in a living specimen continued 

 the whole of the evening, without apparently suffering in the slightest 

 degree from exposure to the light and air Naturalist, July 1839. 



Edinburgh Society of Arts — Observations on Boots and Shoes, with 

 reference to the Structure and Action of the Human Foot. By Mr 

 James Dowie, M.S. A. Published in Edinburgh Philosophical 

 Journal, April 1838. 



More Comfortable Boots and Shoes This announcement will, we 



are persuaded, give joy to many. Learned treatises have been written on 

 this subject by great philosophers before this time ; and we wish we could 

 say that these treatises had rendered others unnecessary. The communi- 

 cation before us is penned by a respectable and practical tradesman, which, 

 in our apprehension, greatly enhances its value, and ensures regard. The 

 experience of too many sufferers proves that we ought not to be satisfied 

 with the "do well enough" principle, and we are confident, that skill and 

 genius would meet an ample compensation by being directed to this sub- 

 ject. We trust that this has been the happy experience of our author, 

 who seems to have been at the expensive vexation of taking out a patent. 

 The paper dwells first on the defects of the common shoe, and then on 

 the advantages of the patent one, which we have never seen. We can 

 afford room only for two sentences of this respectable communication. 

 " Some of the defects arise from ordinary leather not possessing that de- 

 gree of pliability and elasticity which is requisite to admit of the natural 

 action of the foot. Another important fact is, that the foot, when under the 

 pressure of the body, is elongated. This principle of elongation seems to 

 have been long admitted, inasmuch as boots and shoes have been hitherto 

 made a little longer than the foot of the wearer; but it rarely happens 

 that sufficient allowance is made, and many persons can scarcely even 

 obtain shoes large enough for their feet. I believe I have remedied these 

 defects by making those parts of the shoes immediately under, on each 

 side of the principal arch of the foot, of an elastic material. This is com- 

 posed of caoutchouc and animal skin, so manufactured, as to bestow on 

 the fabric the elasticity of the caoutchouc, while it retains the tenacity 

 and durability of leather. The introduction of this elastic substance allows 

 considerable changes to be made in the form of the boots and shoes, and 

 gives the wearers the free use of their feet and ankle-joints in walking 

 to a much greater extent than any hitherto in use." Our notice of this 

 paper is the more virtuous, because we are quite satisfied with our own 

 boots and shoes, and have no intention of withdrawing from the obliging 

 tradesman who supplies them ; at the same time, if Mr Dowie can furnish 

 comfortable shoes to those who now find them the reverse, we are sure 

 he merits a civic crown. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 



The Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen Garden Being the Article Horti- 

 culture of the Seventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. By 

 P. Neill, LL.D., F.R.S.E., Sec. C.H. Soc. 



This elegant little volume, as its title bears, is one of the many admir- 

 able dissertations of the current edition of the Encyclopaedia Bri- 

 tannica, which the spirited publishers have reprinted from the goodly 

 quarto, and presented to the public, at a moderate price, as a con- 

 venient sized " Hand Book." The name of the author, who has now, 

 we believe, for nearly thirty years been the assiduous Secretary of the Ca- 

 ledonian Horticultural Society, is alone the most satisfactory guarantee of 

 the excellence of the performance ; and his past experience in this kind of 

 composition must have gone far to make it well nigh perfect; for to say 

 nothing of Dr Neill's other well known works on this particular subject, 

 he many years ago prepared the article Horticulture for Sir D. Brew- 

 ster's Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, and some sixteen or seventeen years ago 

 gave an account of the principal advances of the art during the ten or 

 twelve preceding years, in the Supplement of the sixth edition of the En- 

 cyclopaedia Britannica. The plan of the Work appears simple and na- 

 tural, and therefore excellent ; treating first of the general properties and 

 appendages of the Fruit and Kitchen Garden ; of the Propagation, Plant- 

 ing, and Training of Fruit-trees ; of the Culture of the Hardy Fruits, and 

 the Small Fruits, of the Forcing Garden, and all its luscious sweets, — the 

 Kitchen Garden, and all its useful supplies ; and, finally, the Flower Gar- 

 den, with its more showy and modest beauties ; the whole being concluded 

 with an original and useful Calendar, and illustrated with numerous ex- 

 cellent Wood-cuts. Nothing more, then, we are satisfied, is necessary 

 to recommend the Work to the general attention of those interested in 

 the subject. We cannot afford room for extracts, but in a single sentence 

 we shall convey one sentiment of the author, which our own observation 

 has sometimes verified, but by no means so universally as we have wished. 

 " All circumstances being favourable, a British Garden is perhaps unri- 

 valled infertility by any cultivated spot in the world. A copious supply 

 of esculents flows into the Kitchen at all seasons ; and, after a rich abun- 

 dance of fruit has been afforded during summer and autumn, the winter 

 stores may be easily prolonged till the early forced fruits come again to 

 the table." 



MISCELLANIES. 



Scientific Meeting at Pisa, during the Autumn 1839. — The in- 

 fluence and example of the great scientific meetings held annually in Ger- 

 many, (where they originated,) France, and England, have at length 

 reached Italy, and it has been resolved to establish an Italian Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, to assemble in the autumn of this year 

 at Pisa. Circulars, announcing the meeting and inviting co-operation, 

 have just been received by many distinguished individuals, signed by 

 Prince Carlo L. Buonaparte ; Chev. Vicenzio Antinori, (Director of the 

 Imperial and Royal Museum of Natural History in Florence,) &c. The 

 following is a translation of so much of the circular as will interest the 

 scientific men of this country: — " Following the advice of many, and 

 the approbation of others, and in conformity with the successful practice 

 in Germany, we have now to announce, that from the 1st to the 15th of 

 October will be opened in Pisa, the Association of the Professors and 

 Cultivators of the Physical Sciences in Italy, including Medicine and 

 Agriculture; and we hasten, consequently, to make this known to Pro- 

 fessors of the above-mentioned sciences in the several Universities of the 

 Italian States, and to the Presidents of the most celebrated Academies of 

 Europe, requesting them to communicate this notice to their various 

 members, who will be honourably received amongst us. It will devolve 

 on the senior Italian Professor, who may be present at Pisa on the first 

 day of October, to open the meeting, of which he shall remain Director 

 throughout its proceedings. It will be for him also to select a Secretary 

 from among the Professors of the University of Pisa. The general as- 

 sembly will, on the second day, divide itself into as many sections as may 

 he requisite for the interest of the various branches of science ; and the 

 members of each section will elect an Italian President and Secretary. 

 The General Assembly will decide, on the seventh day, when and where 

 the Association shall meet in the following year. At the commencement 

 of the month of August, circular letters will be sent, in which the local 

 arrangements will be indicated, not only for lodgings, but for every thing 

 that regards the accommodation and the agreeable quiet residence of all 

 those who may be pleased to attend." — Athenaum, April 1839. 



Edinburgh: Published for the Proprietor, at the Office, No. ]3, Hill Street. 

 London : Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill. Glasgow, and the West of 

 Scotland : John Smith and Son ; and Jchn Macleod. Dublin : Georg* 

 Young. Paris : J. B. Balliere, Rue de l'Ecole de Medecine, No. 13 bis. 



THE EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY. 



