THE 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH, and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



DECEMBER 1869. 



XLVII. On the Motions of Camphor on the Surface of Water. 

 By Charles Tomlinson, F.R.S.* 



1. HHHE phenomena presented by the motions of camphor on 

 A water form a kind of scientific waif, which has at va- 

 rious times been claimed by certain scientific lords of the manor, 

 quarrelled over, and then thrown aside. At one time it has 

 wandered over the outer boundaries of science, occupying a sort 

 of no-man's-land ; at another it has been admitted into the best 

 society, which latter position it may be said to occupy at the 

 present time. 



2. During the current year a remarkable memoir 1 has been 

 couronne by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium, and 

 favourably reported on to the Academy 2 by that distinguished 

 Belgian physicist M. Plateau. As the author has done me the 

 honour of frequently referring to my labours, and was so 

 good as to forward to me a copy of his memoir, I trust an 

 account of it will not be considered out of place in the Philoso- 

 phical Magazine. 



3. But first it may be of advantage to give an account of the 

 phenomena in question as briefly as is consistent with clearness. 

 Some years ago I took considerable pains to read up all that had 



* Communicated by the Author. 



1 Sur la Tension superficielle des Liquides consideree au point de vue de 

 certains mouvements observes a leur surface, par G. Van der Mensbrugghe, 

 Repetiteur a l'Universite de Gand. . 



2 Bull, de V Acad. Roy. des Sciences de Belgique, 10th July, 1869. 



Phil. Mag. S. 4. Vol. 38. No. 257. Dec. 1869. 2 E 



