PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



1830-1831. No. 5. 



May 5. 



HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF SUSSEX, K.G., 

 President, in the Chair. 



Charles James Beverly, Esq. was elected a Fellow of the So- 

 ciety. 



The following Presents were received, and thanks ordered for 

 them : — 



Notices of the Proceedings of the Geological Society. No. 20. 8vo. 



— Presented by the Society. 

 The Philosophical Magazine. No. 53. 8vo. — The Editors. 

 The National Portrait Gallery. No. 25. 8vo. — The Proprietors. 

 Researches principally relative to the morbid and curative Effects 



of Loss of Blood. By Marshall Hall, M.D. 8vo.— The Author. 

 Proposal of a Plan for the investigation of the due administration 



of Blood-Letting. By the same. 8vo. — The Author. 

 On Astronomy, the Magnet, Tides, &c, with engraved Illustrations. 



By Thomas Hedgcock, R.N. 8vo.— The Author. 



A paper was read, " On the effect of Water, raised to Tempera- 

 tures moderately higher than that of the Atmosphere, upon Batra- 

 chian Reptiles." By Marshall Hall, M.D., &c. 



Dr. Edwards had found, by a series of experiments, that the batra- 

 chian reptiles, when immersed in hot water, live for a shorter time 

 in proportion as the temperature of the water is higher ; and that 

 at 108° of Fahrenheit they die almost instantaneously. The author 

 of the present paper observes, that the extinction of life in these cases 

 is owing to a cause of a more immediately destructive agency than 

 the mere suspension of respiration : he finds that if only the head of 

 the animal is placed under water of 120°, the animal struggles, but 

 soon ceases to move j but if the spine as well as the limbs be immersed, 

 convulsions supervene, and the muscles become rigid : in both cases 

 the action of the heart continues. If one of the limbs, which after 

 the extinction of sensibility still remains flexible, be separated from 

 the body, and placed in water of 120°, its muscles contract and be- 

 come rigid j this effect taking place first in the superficial, and next 



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