Royal Society. 419 



indeed, seems to be the most probable explanation of the mechanical 

 part of the phenomena ; and with the assistance of electrical power, 

 excited by the agency of solar radiations, much of the difficulty of 

 the question disappears. 



There are, however, many positions taken up by Dr. Draper, which 

 we consider to be untenable. We might instance his argument, that 

 the endosmose action is only another form of capillary attraction. It 

 would be out of place to discuss this question here ; and we will 

 merely remark, that no capillary tube is ever found to overflow, where- 

 as the fluids in all arrangements with the porous diaphragms are found 

 to overflow with great mechanical force. 



One-third of the above volume alone is devoted to the subject in- 

 dicated by its title ; and even of this part, two- thirds are irrelevant. 

 The other portion of the volume consists entirely of reprints of papers 

 which have been published by Dr. Draper in the * Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute,' and in the ' London and Edinburgh Philosophi- 

 cal Magazine.' These have, most of them, reference to the chemical 

 action of light ; and many of them certainly contain much curious 

 information. Their purely scientific character, however, renders it 

 impossible for us to do more than thus refer to them. — Athenceum, 

 June 21, 1845. 



SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY. 



Royal Society. — June 12.— The Dean of Ely, V. P. in the chair. 

 — A paper was read, entitled, 'Electro- Physiological Researches: 

 Memoir the First,' by Professor Matteucci. The author describes 

 several arrangements by which he was enabled to make new experi- 

 ments in confirmation of the law of muscular currents. He finds 

 that in these experiments the employment of a galvanometer is un- 

 necessary, as the sensibility of the electroscopic frog of Galvani gives 

 sufficient indications of the electric current, without the use of that 

 instrument. The general results obtained from these experiments 

 are the following : — In the first place, the intensity and duration of 

 the muscular current is independent of the nature of the gas in 

 which the muscular pile is immersed. Secondly, it is altogether 

 independent of the cerebro-spinal portion of the nervous system. 

 Thirdly, the circumstances which exercise a marked influence on its 

 intensity are the conditions of the respiratory and circulatory systems. 



