474 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 



quently been raised. To these facts we would add, that in 

 many parts of this country, the same circumstances, no douht, 

 occur along the Atlantic border. In Alabama, gravel beds of a 

 similar character, are found near fort Clairborne, now about 

 seventy miles from the sea, and elevated, we suppose, about 

 sixty feet from its level. We shall hereafter return to this 

 branch of American geology. 



Dr. Daubeny next brought up the interesting subject of hot 

 springs, their connexion with volcanic action, the occurrence of 

 azote in them, and the method of detecting it. Some of Dr. 

 Daubeny's opinions were controverted : it was urged, that how- 

 ever satisfactorily particular phenomena might seem to be con- 

 structed from one cause, yet that different causes produce in 

 our laboratories the same phenomena, which might be the case 

 in the great laboratory of nature. This subject engaged both 

 geologists and chemists in an animated conversation.- — The mem- 

 bers of the association were entertained this day, by his Grace 

 the Archbishop, in the most cordial and hospitable manner, at 

 the ancient archiepiscopal palace of Bishopthorpe. In the even- 

 ing, the party returned to the Institution, where Mr. Potter 

 communicated an account of the analogy of electricity in the 

 Torricellian vacuum, to the aurora borealis. Dr. Warwick ex- 

 hibited the method of Professor Moll, for making a temporary 

 magnet of soft iron, by magnetic action. Dr. Daubeny exhi- 

 bited a sphere of wire gauze, which, when dipped in water, 

 filled ; and on being hfted out, retained the fluid. When shaken, 

 the water flowed from the pores. The phenomenon was ex- 

 plained by the principle of capillary attraction. 



On Saturday, a valuable memoir was read by Mr. Dalton, on 

 " The Specific gravity of the Human Body.^^ This is to appear in 

 the Manchester Transactions. Mr. Dalton supposes the pores 

 of the body to be filled with air, which, together with the air in 

 the lungs, sustains us against the pressure of the atmosphere, 

 leaving the sohd parts free to use their functions. Mr. Scoresby 

 related some facts connected with oceanic pressure on wounded 

 whales : they sometimes descend a mile, but return exhausted, 

 and blowing out blood, the pressure forcing a portion of it out 

 of the vessels into the lungs. Mr. Allan, of Edinburgh, described 

 a large aquamarine, brought from Brazil by Don Pedro. Mr. 

 R-obison explained, aided by his drawings, a contrivance for ex- 



