67^ 



April 22, 184^7. 



The MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON, President, in the Chair. 



The Earl of Mountcashel, Henry Alexander, Esq., George Bur- 

 rows, M.D., Sir Fortunatus Dwarris, William Hutchison Hall, Esq., 

 Capt. R.N., Joseph Dalton Hooker, M.D., John Percy, M.D., and 

 Sir Francis Simpkinson, Q.C. were elected Fellows of the Society. 



John Farey, Esq. and George Smith, Esq. were put to the bal- 

 lot but not elected. 



" On a new substance occurring in the Urine of a Patient with 

 Mollities Ossium." By Henry Bence Jones, M.D., F.R.S., Physi- 

 cian to St. George's Hospital. 



The chemical analysis of this substance showed it to be the hy- 

 drated deutoxide of albumen, of which 66*97 parts were contained 

 in every 1000 parts of urine, an amount equal to the proportion of 

 albumen in healthy blood; so that every ounce of urine secreted was 

 equivalent to the loss of an equal quantity of blood. The peculiar 

 characteristic of this substance was its solubility in water, and its 

 being precipitated by nitric acid ; the precipitate being dissolved by 

 heat, and again throwm down by cold. The urine which contained 

 it w'as reddened by the addition of nitric acid ; a phenomenon, the 

 occurrence of which might, in future cases, lead to its re-discovery. 



A letter was read from William A. Norton, Esq., addressed to 

 the President and Fellows of the Royal Society, and communicated 

 by Lieut.-Colonel Sabine, R.A., For. Sec. R.S., containing the notice 

 of some results which the author states he has obtained from a ma- 

 thematical investigation founded on a new theory of Terrestrial 

 Magnetism, and which he intends, at an early period, to communi- 

 cate to the Society. 



April 29, 1847. 



The MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON, President, in the Chair. 



" On Carbonic Acid as a Solvent in the process of Vegetation." 

 By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. 



In this paper the author describes the results of experiments made 

 with water saturated with carbonic acid, in many instances con- 

 densed by pressure and supersaturated, on the more important in- 

 organic elements of plants, compounds not soluble in water alone, 

 such as phosphate of lime, silica, &c. These results appear to prove 

 that this acid performs in the economy of growing plants a double 

 function ; one well-known, already carefully studied, by which, 

 undergoing decomposition in the leaves under the influence of solar 

 light, it supplies carbon to the growing vegetable, and restores oxy- 



