226 



lucid object in the epithelium -cell, is a cytoblast. He suggests, that 

 the cells into which, according to his observations, the nucleus be- 

 comes resolved, may enter into the formation of secondary deposits 

 — for instance, spiral fibres; and that they may contribute to the thick- 

 ening which takes place, in some instances, in the cell- membrane. 



The germ of certain plants passes through states so much resem- 

 bling those occurring in the germ of mammiferous animals, that it 

 is not easy to consider them as resulting either from a different 

 fundamental form, or from a process of development which even in 

 its details is not the same as what has been above described ; the 

 fundamental form in question in Mammalia — and therefore it may 

 be presumed of Man himself — being that which is permanent in the 

 simplest plants, — the single isolated cell. 



A paper was also read, entitled " On the Odour accompanying 

 Electricity, and on the probability of its dependence on the presence 

 of a new substance ;" by C. F. Schcenbein, Professor of Chemistry, 

 Bale, communicated in a letter to Michael Faradav, Esq., D.C.L., 

 F.R.S., &c. 



The author's attention having been long directed to the remark- 

 able fact, that odour, resembling that of phosphorus, is given off 

 during the escape of positive electricity from the point of a con- 

 ductor into air ; and is likewise perceptible when lightning has 

 struck any object, and also when water is electrolyzed, he has in- 

 vestigated the circumstances attending these phenomena ; and the 

 results he has obtained will, he expects, afford a clue to the discovery 

 of their cause. 



The odour which accompanies the electrolyzation of water, he 

 observes, is only disengaged at the positive electrode. He also finds 

 that the odoriferous principle can be preserved in well-closed glass 

 bottles for any length of time. The only metals which peld this 

 odour are gold and platina ; but dilute sulphuric, phosphoric, and 

 nitric acids, and from aqueous solutions of several of the salts, also 

 disengage it. Raising the temperature of the fluid to the boiling 

 point prevents the odour from arising ; and the addition of com- 

 paratively small quantities of powdered charcoal, iron, zinc, tin, lead, 

 antimony, bismuth or arsenic, or of a few drops of mercury, to the 

 odorous principle contained in a bottle, immediately destroys the 

 smell ; and the same happens when platina or gold, heated red hot, 

 is introduced into the vessel containing that volatile substance. 



May 14, 1840. 



MAJOR EDWARD SABINE, R.A. V.P., in the Chair. 



A paper was read, entitled, " Tables of the Variation, through a 

 cycle of nine years, of the mean height of the Barometer, mean 

 Temperature, and depth of P^ain, as connected with the prevailing 



