Reviews and Extracts. 41 
On the Characters and Affinities of certain Genein, chiefly belong-ing' to the 
Flora Peruviana, by Mr. David Don. — On the Adautution of the Fly-wheel and 
Pulley of the Turning Lathe, to a given length of Band, by Mr. Edward San^, 
Teacher of Mathematics, Edinburgh. — Ou tlie Developemtnt of the Vaseulyir 
System in the Foetusof V'ertebrated Animals, by Allan Thompson, M.D. — Analy- 
sis of a powerful Chalybeate Water from Vicar's Bridge, near Dollor, in Clack- 
mannanshire, by Arthur Council, Es([. F.R.S.E. — Observations ou tho History 
and Progress of Comparative Anatomy, by D. Cragie, M.D. — On Indian Hail- 
storms, by A. TurnbuU Christie, M.D. — On the Form of the Ark of Noah.— 
Reniarkson Audubon's Birds of America, and Ornitiiological Biography. — Obser- 
vations on the Glaciers of the Alps, by J. F. Hugi, Professor at Soleure. 
Keo Observations on the Blood~likc Phenomena o/iserved in Esypf, Arabia and 
Siberia; tvith a I'iew ami Critique of the earli/ Accounts of similar Appearances 
by Mk. C. G. Ehrenburgh ScoaESBV, in a communication to I'rnfessor 
Jameson. j 
He informs us that he observed orange coloured snow in Greenland, and he attri- 
butes the colour to minute marine animals. In the year 1821, a report was general 
in the province of Padau, that blood-red spots were observed on all kinds of food, 
Mr. Sette observed that it was owing to a small red mnshroom, belonging to the 
genus mi/codernin of Persoon. Do CandoUe, in 1825, observed the surface of tho 
Merton Lake in Switzerland, of a red colour; this he ascertained to be caused by 
a minute plant, a species o( oscillatoriu, which he named from its colour Tubescen.- . 
An extensive series of laborious observati(ms on the_ chemical ingredients of mete- 
oric masses, by Professor Zimmerman, of Giessen, ore connected with our present 
subject. These were occasioned by (he occurrence of a red shower that fell in 
Giessen, 3rd May, 1821. Its water was of a peach-red colour, and flakes of a 
hyacinth colour floated on its surface. It was only chemically analysed, but had it 
been botanically and microscopically examined, which it was not, it might easily 
have afforded a satisfactory result. Tho collective result of this investigation was, 
that there is in meteoric water, a peculiar animal and vegetable substance, chemi- 
cally different from the extractive matter, and from tho gluten of plants and 
animals; and this substance, on account of its uniform yellowish brown colour, is 
called pyrhine, that is, yellow matter. Among tho diff(;rent volatile substances 
formed near the surface of the earth, this may be taken up by the clouds in an aerial 
form, and again precipitated in rain water, us a stimulant and nutritive material 
for plants and the lower animals. There is also annexed an observation made at 
Cairo, in Egypt, in the months of January and February, 1821 and 1823, where 
the redness of the waters &c. were discovered to be produced by animal, vegetable, 
and inorganic bodies, the various descriptions of which Mr. Ehrenburgh gives. 
(to be continued ) 
Vol. 1, No. I. 
