316 Royal Society : — 



Tristram) on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, and in a large 

 bog near Lake Huleh. The latter grows in Sicily and on the Syrian 

 coast : this is the plant cultivated in storehouses in England. 



" On a Specimen of Echinarachnius Woodii, from the Coralline 

 Crag." By Professor Liveing. 



The author exhibited a very perfect specimen from near Aid- 

 borough. He explained his reasons for differing from the late Pro- 

 fessor Edward Forbes, who had named and described the fossil from 

 two imperfect specimens ; and he assigned it to the genus Rhyncho- 

 pygus. 



" On a New Theory of the Skull and of [the Skeleton ; with a 

 Catalogue of the Fossil Remains of Vertebrate Animals contained in 

 the Woodwardian Museum." By Mr. Harry Seeley. 



The author endeavoured to prove that growth in bone was the 

 result of forces acting upon it ; so that the stimulants of growth 

 were pressure and tension. He argued against the theory which 

 considered the skull to be a development of three vertebrae, and 

 pointed out analogies between the several parts of the skull and the 

 epiphyses and centrum of a vertebra. He considered the brain-region 

 o be a modified vertebra, and the bones about the breathing aper- 

 tures the modified end of the trachea. 



March 12. — " On the Homeric Tumuli." By Mr. Paley. 



The author described the funeral rites of the Greeks and Trojans 

 as narrated in the Homeric Poems, and explained the mode in which 

 the tumuli were constructed — pointing out resemblances between 

 these descriptions and the tumuli which have been examined in 

 various parts of Europe. 



" On the Method of demonstrating some Propositions in Dyna- 

 mics." By Mr. Todhunter. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 23/.] 



February 1, 1866. — Lieut- General Sabine, President, in the 

 Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



"On the Specific Gravity of Mercury." By Balfour Stewart, 

 M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., Superintendent of the Kew Observatory. 



Some time since, in connexion with a research on the fusing- 

 point of mercury, several observations were made at Kew of the 

 specific gravity of this fluid. 



A specific-gravity bottle was used for this purpose, and it was 

 washed, in the first place with sulphuric acid, secondly with dis- 

 tilled water, and thirdly with alcohol ; when this was done it was 

 found to contain mercury without any air-specks or any diminution 

 of that metallic lustre which pure mercury exhibits when in contact 

 with a vessel of clean glass. Three different specimens of pure mer- 

 cury were used, and were separately weighed in the specific-gravity 

 bottle at 62° Fahr. The following results were obtained : — 



