288 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
the plans from the United Service Institution — he kindly consented 
to do so ; and his clear and excellent method for carrying out 
what is so much desired — the removal of the obelisk to Britain— 
is placed before the Royal Society of Edinburgh.* 
2. On the Temperature of the Common Fowl (Gallus domes - 
ticus). By the late Dr John Davy. Communicated by 
Professor Allman. 
Before proceeding to read Dr Davy’s paper, Professor Allman 
made the following remarks : — 
The duty has devolved on me of being the medium through 
which the paper just announced should be communicated to the 
Society — a duty not unmixed with melancholy; for when the dis- 
tinguished author of that paper had placed it in the hands of the 
Council, there was nothing to prevent our looking forward to a con- 
tinuance of those labours with whose results the pages of your 
Transactions have been so often enriched. But the pen which had 
worked unwearyingly for nearly sixty years is at last still ; and 
the paper now before you closes in for ever the earthly labours of 
its author. 
It has been suggested that, under these circumstances, it would 
be right to accompany the communication of Dr Davy’s paper by 
a few words setting forth the salient points in his scientific life, 
and it is in accordance with this suggestion that I have drawn up 
the following short note. For the facts which it contain I am 
mainly indebted to his son-in-law, Professor Rolleston, of Oxford. 
Dr John Davy was born at Penzance in May 1791 ; he died at 
his residence near Ambleside in January 1868. He was therefore 
in his seventy-seventh year at the time of his death. 
* Sir William Wylde, in a pamphlet sent me by Sir James Simpson, states 
that, in the year 1839, he proposed that the obelisk should form a Nelson 
testimonial, with sphinxes at its base ; two of which, after the capture of 
Alexandria in 1801, were built into the wall of the Custom-House near the 
principal landing-place. These might be recovered also without much diffi- 
culty, as they are in a manner buried where they are. At St Petersburg 
I saw the granite rock on which the statue of Peter the Great stands, and got 
the details of the manner of its transport. 
