622 



sellated epithelium, but corresponding more to what Mr. CjoodsiV 

 has ternied germinal membrane. From all these facts the author 

 concludes that the proper office of this structure is to secrete syno- 

 via ; an office which Clopton Havers had assigned to them as long 

 ago as the year 1691, although his opinion has not been generally 

 adopted by later physiologists. 



" Description of a Process for extracting the Palladium which 

 exists in combination with the Gold of the Gongosocho and other 

 Mines in the Brazils." By Percival N. Johnson, Esq., in a letter to 

 the President, by whom it is communicated to the Society. 



The process consists in melting the gold, obtained from its ma- 

 trix by the ordinary processes of stamping and washing, with three 

 times its weight of silver, granulating it in cold water, and refining 

 it by the process of quartation, or separation of its alloys by nitric 

 acid. The nitric solution contains the silver, palladium, copper, and 

 a small proportion of iron and lead. 



May 14, 1846. 



The MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON, President, in the Chair. 



Contributions to Terrestrial Magnetism. No. VII. By Lieut.- 

 Colonel Sabine, R.A., For. Sec. R.S. 



From the discovery which was made of the non-coincidence of 

 the locality of the maximum magnetic intensity, within the Arctic 

 circle, v»'ith that in which the magnetic direction is vertical, it fol- 

 lowed that the generally prevailing opinions respecting the distri- 

 bution of magnetic force at the surface of the earth were erroneous, 

 and that even the broad outline of the picture oi' terrestrial mag- 

 netism required to be recast. For the purpose of obtaining suffi- 

 ciently copious and accurate materials, by means of which so de- 

 sirable an object could be accomplished, the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science requested, in the year 1835, a report to 

 be prepared, in which the state of our knowledge, collected from a 

 great variety of sources, with regard to the variations of the mag- 

 netic force at different parts of the earth's surface, should be re- 

 viewed, and properly discussed, and suggestions oilered as to the 

 best means of extending the inquiry. In the report so obtained, it 

 was recommended that magnetic surveys of that portion of the 

 North American Continent, which is comprised within certain iso- 

 dynamic lines, should be procured. The present paper contains the 

 results of an expedition towards the accomplishment of this object, 

 recommended by the President and Council of the Royal Society 

 to be undertaken under the auspices and with the assistance of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company. Lieutenant Lefroy, of the Royal Artil- 

 lery, who had received an appointment to the Toronto Observatory, 



