43 



W. L. Wharton, Esq. Communicated by James F. W. Johnston, 

 Esq., M.A., F.R.S. L. & Ed. 



The author, considering the generally received explanation of in- 

 termitting springs, founded on the operation of a simple syphon, as 

 being insufficient to account for the phsenomena, inasmuch as the 

 water which has risen above the lower side of the bend of the 

 syphon will merely trickle down its longer leg, and be expended 

 before it can fill the whole area of that part of the syphon, has pro- 

 posed the following hypothesis for the solution of the difficulty. 

 He conceives that the stream, while falling obliquely down the long 

 leg of the syphon, is broken into drops, and carries along with it 

 numerous air-bubbles, which, if the lower end of the tube have an 

 abrupt bend upwards, wUl be impelled forwards, and escape at the 

 open part ; thus occasioning a rarefaction of the remaining air in 

 the tube sufficient to ensure its full operation as a syphon. A model 

 is described, which the author constructed for the purpose of illus- 

 trating and corroborating his views. 



January 25, 1838. 



FRANCIS BAILY, Esq., Vice-President and Treasurer, 

 in the Chair. 



Neil Amott, M.D. ; the Rev.William Cureton, M.A. ; and Charles 

 Lock Eastlake, Esq., were severally elected Fellows of the Society, 



A paper was in part read, entitled, " Fourth Letter on Voltaic 

 Combinations." Addressed to Michael Faraday, Esq., D.C.L., 

 F.R.S., by John Frederic DanieU, Esq., F.R.S. 



February 1, 1838. 



FRANCIS BAILY, Esq., Vice-President and Treasurer, 

 in the Chair. 



The reading of a paper, entitled " Fourth Letter on Voltaic Com- 

 binations, with reference to the mutual relations of the generating 

 and conducting surfaces ;" addressed to Michael Faraday, Esq 

 D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. By John Frederic Daniell, Esq., F.R.S., Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry in King's College, London, was resumed and 

 concluded. 



In this communication the author describes a series of experiments, 

 made for the purpose of determining the distribution of the voltaic 

 force from its source in the generating metal, as indicated by the de- 

 position of reduced copper in the constant battery ; and, considering 

 that the voltaic combination most perfect in theory would be one 

 formed by a solid sphere, or point, of the generating metal, sur- 

 rounded by a hollow sphere of the conducting metal, with an inter- 

 vening liquid electrolyte, he constructed an apparatus making as near 

 an approximation as possible to these conditions. It consisted of 

 two hollow brass hemispheres, appHed to each other by exterior 



