285 



ordered force. But Geologists, who comprehend the true 

 basis of their science, and desire to see it make real 

 progress, will follow the process which has been found 

 successful in every other branch of the knowledge of nature. 

 They will not draw general conclusions from solitary facts ; 

 they will not build a system of extinct and living nature on 

 microscopic Infusoria, but combining what is now discovered 

 with what has been established before, will enlarge their data, 

 correct their reasoning, and thus continually advance toward 

 what is so important in science, and valuable in practice, — a 

 true natural history of the stratified crust of the globe. 



The Rev. Dr. Scoresby, of Bradford, expressed his 

 gratification at the paper they had just heard. In the 

 course of his own experience in the Northern Seas, he 

 once perceived some large portions of the water of a 

 deepish yellow colour. He took a small quantity and bottled 

 it, supposing that it might be some living creatures that 

 caused that colour. To his delight, he found, on placing 

 it under a microscope, that there were no less than 26,000 

 living creatures in a single drop of that water ; they having, 

 evidently, abundant space for enjoyment, and perhaps one of 

 their highest pleasures was in being confined in such a short 

 space. 



William West, Esq., F.R.S., of Leeds, then read a 

 paper " Upon some Peculiar States of Water at High 

 Temperature, and upon the Freezing of Water in Red 

 Hot Vessels." These, he said, were first made known to 

 chemists by M. Boutigny, at Cambridge. Some of M. 

 Boutigny's views had been called in question, and it was 

 disputed whether the explosion of steam boilers ever arose 

 from the cause described. He was not going to enter 

 into a discussion on the subject, but to show a few ex- 

 periments rather in explanation than in defence of Mons. 

 Boutigny's views on the subject. These experiments had 



