Royal Physical Socvety. 161 
or electrical agencies, the resistance of the atmosphere to its rapid passage 
through it being apparently so slight as to cause no noise. He was 
aware also of the danger of any peculiar or unusual-lcoking stone 
lying near the place where an apparent fall had taken place, being mis- 
taken for the actual body that was apparently seen to have fallen there. 
The analysis, however, was decidedly against this view of the case; and 
Colonel Hunter politely forwarded to him the mineral mass for examina- 
tion, and some of its broken portions, to allow of the correctness of the 
analysis being tested. On examining the mass, Dr Smith found no traces 
of the dark-coloured outer coating or skin which exists on ordinary me- 
teoric stones, depending, it is believed, on the fusion of their surface, 
by the heat evolved in their passage through the atmosphere; but, 
instead, the surface was rough and irregular, showing on one side various 
cubical coaly-looking masses; and on the other the coaly-like matter pro- 
jecting through a series of thin layers, apparently of white sulphuret of 
iron, or white iron pyrites. The specimen appeared to" be a portion of 
one of those small seams of white iron pyrites, which are not un- 
common in our coal seams. On showing it to various friends—Professor 
Allman, Dr M‘Bain, Mr Alex. Bryson, and others—they all agreed with 
him, there could be no doubt of its being simply a mass of white iron 
pyrites. The existence of the sulphurous smell in its gradual decompo- 
sition, after exposure to continued rain, was, of course, to be expected 
from its composition as a sulphuret of iron; and the same would also 
account for the blackened appearance of the vegetation round the mass of 
pyrites. The broken portions of the stone Dr Smith put into the hands 
of Dr Murray Thomson, telling him nothing of its history, and request- 
ing to know if it contained any metal besides iron; and was favoured 
with a reply, stating that he had made a lengthened examination of the 
substance sent him, and could detect no traces of anything besides iron, 
sulphur, and a little siliceous matter. 
IV. Remarks on a “ Raised Beach” at Ardross, in the County of Fife. 
By the Rev. Waurer Woop, Elie. Communicated by James M‘Bain, 
M.D:, B.N. 
Wednesday, 22d April 1863.—Jamrs M‘Bain, M.D., R.N., President, 
in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read :— 
I. On the Evidence of the Rise of the Shores of the Firth of Forth. By 
ALEXANDER Bryson, Esq. 
Mr Bryson described various places on the shores of the Firth of Forth, 
to show that there was not the slightest evidence to be found of any rise 
of level, at least in recent times. He referred to the rock at Cramond 
sculptured with the Roman eagle, believed by antiquaries to be the work 
of the Romans ; and showed that it was now just above high-water mark, 
so that, if a rise of 25 feet, as has been assumed, or indeed any rise 
at all, had taken place since that time, this rock must have been entirely 
under water at the Roman period. He also alluded to the position of 
the Roman wall at Carriden, and showed that no remains of it had been 
visible for at least 200 years back; so that no evidence of any kind could 
be got from it. He also pointed out the existence of an extensive fluvia- 
_ tile or fresh-water deposit at the mouth of the Almond at Cramond, 
without any included marine remains, the existence of which would have 
been impossible had any great rise of the land taken place here. 
NEW SERIES.—VOL. XVIII. NO. I.—JULY 1863. x 
