PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



1841 



No. 47. 



March 4, 18-il. 



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



Robert William Sievier, Esq., was balloted for, and duly elected 

 into the Society. 



A paper was read, entitled, " Miscellaneous Observations on the 

 Torpedo." By John Da^y. M.D., F.R.S. 



The experiments described in this paper were made on a single 

 fish, of middle size, recently taken out of the water. Portions of 

 the electrical organs, cut transversely in thin slices, exhibited under 

 the microscope many elliptical particles, apparently blood-cor- 

 puscles, the long diameter of which was about 1 -800th, and the 

 short about 1-1 000th of an inch, and a few filaments, apparently 

 nervous, irregularly scattered ; some of them tortuous, and all about 

 the 2000th of an inch in diameter. The latter bore no resemblance 

 to muscular fibres. The blood contained some globular particles, 

 having a diameter of the 4000th of an inch, mixed with the elliptical. 

 The mucus for lubricating the surface was found to contain globules 

 apparently homogeneous in substance, but of irregular outline, and 

 in size varying from the •2000th to the 270th of an inch. 



A paper was also read, entitled, " On a remarkable property of 

 the Diamond." By Sir David Brewster, K.H., D.C.L., F.R.S.L., 

 V.P.R.S. Ed. 



On re-examining the phenomena of parallel bands of light 

 and shade exhibited by reflexion at the plane surface of a diamond, 

 which the author had noticed some years ago, he concludes that 

 they result from the reflexions of the edges of veins or laminae, of 

 which the visible terminations are inclined at diflferent angles, not 

 exceeding two or three seconds, to the general surface. He gives 

 an account of several analogous facts observable in other crystals, 

 more especially those of carbonate of lime, artificially polished in 

 surfaces inclined to the natural planes of cleavage. 



