444 London, Edinburgh, fy Dublin Philosophical Magazine. 



employments, are equally favourable to contentment of mind and 

 length of days." 



Dr. Lyon Playfair, a distinguished young chemist, has communicated 

 a paper, " On a new fat Acid in the butter of nutmegs." It commences 

 with a brief summary of what had previously been made known on the 

 subject, followed by a detail of experiments to determine more accurate- 

 ly its composition and products. From these investigations it would 

 appear, that it contains a principle, which Dr. Playfair has termed seri- 

 cine, by the saponification of which, he produced an acid called sericic. 

 This acid is snow-white in colour, of crystalline appearance, very solu- 

 ble in hot alcohol, partially so in hot aether, and capable of uniting with 

 bases. The sericates obtained were those of barytes, silver, potash, 

 soda, and lead, the peculiarities and mode obtaining each of which 

 are succinctly detailed. 



The remaining chemical papers in this number are, 

 "On the combination of hydrated sulphuric acid with nitric oxide," 

 by M. Rose. An abstract of recent researches on the constitution of 

 fatty substances translated from the Annalen der Pharmacie. Minera- 

 logical notices from Foreign Journals. On artificial oil of ants ; and, On 

 Irish tin ore, all possessing facts worthy the attention of those who 

 take an interest in the progress of chemical science. Mr. Latham, 

 Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, has communicated some ingeni- 

 ous facts and observations on what he denominates the Science of 

 Phonetics. This he considers to be a department of Acoustics, which 

 " determines how two given articulated sounds are related ; and 

 teaches that between two articulations an immutable and essential 

 relation exists." The object of the paper is to shew, that " the real 

 aspirates of K and G are not the sounds that are generally considered 

 as such ; in other words, that they are not the powers of the German 

 ch, and Scotch gh, but that they are sounds perfectly distinct from 

 either the one or the other of those articulations." This is an obscure 

 and difficult department of Physiology, on which much ingenious 

 speculation exists, but little positive knowledge is possessed. 



The proceedings of the Royal Astronomical Society, with the ad- 

 dress of Sir John Herschel on the award of the medal to Signor Plana, 

 conclude the matters of importance in the February number. The 

 medal granted to M. Plana was for his works, " On the lunar theory, 

 and on the perturbation of the Planets, particularly of Jupiter and 



