207 



time the leech was observed to give out bubbles of air ; and the watet 

 of the vessel, when tested by lime-water, indicated the presence of 

 carbonic acid. — The paper is accompanied by drawings of the struc- 

 tures described. 



3. " On the Comparative Osteological Forms in the Adult Euro- 

 pean Male and Female of the Human Species." By Walter Adam, 

 M.D., Fellow of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 



With a view to the future investigation of the osteological deve- 

 lopement of the human race, the author gives, in the present paper, 

 the results of a great number of measurements, which he has very 

 carefully made, of the dimensions of the different bones composing 

 the adult human skeleton. The male bones examined were those in 

 the collection of Dr. Monro ; the female bones were furnished by 

 Dr. Hamilton. The author was anxious to fix on some one dimen- 

 sion in the skeleton which might be taken as the standard of all the 

 measurements : and finding that no bone of the trunk or limbs pos- 

 sessed the requisite characters for that purpose, he sought for it in 

 the cranium ; and the result of an extensive series of observations 

 led him to adopt as the standard of measure the distance between the 

 prolongations of the zygomatic ridges, immediately over the meatus 

 auditorius externus, as being that dimension which was less liable to 

 variation than any other of the human cranium. This line he deno- 

 minates the auricular transverse ; and, adopting a scale of which the 

 unit is the 14th part of this line, being generally about the third of 

 an inch, he states at length, in multiples of this unit, the dimensions, 

 in different directions, of almost every bone in the skeleton ; noting 

 more especially the differences that occur in those of the two sexes. 

 Of these measurements, which are given in much detail, and in many 

 instances arranged in a tabular form, it is impossible to give any 

 abridgement. The conclusion he deduces from his inquiry is, that 

 every bone in the body exhibits certain modifications, according to 

 the sex of the individual. 



4. " Some Experiments and Observations on the Combinations of 

 Carbonic Acid and Ammonia." By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. 



The author was led to the investigations of which he gives an ac- 

 count in the present paper, by finding in the note-books of his brother, 

 the late Sir H. Davy, some memoranda of experiments which he had 

 made on the salts of ammonia, and more especially on the carbonates. 

 The first part of the paper relates to the direct combination of car- 

 bonic acid and ammonia, by which a salt is formed possessing singu- 

 larly alkaline properties. The second is on the sesquicarbonate of 

 ammonia j a term which Mr. Richard Phillips has applied to that salt 

 of ammonia which is commonly called the subcarbonate, and which is 

 Obtained by the mutual decomposition of carbonate of lime and sal- 

 ammoniac, by means of heat. This the author concludes, from his 

 experiments, to be composed of one proportion ammonia, one and 

 a half of carbonic acid, and one of water. He then enters into a 

 comparative review of the analyses of this salt by other chemists, and 



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