476 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS. 
EDINBURGH. 
Royal Society.—Feb. 4. 1830. Sir George Mackenzie concluded his paper 
on the Fundamental Principles of Phrenology. Professor Hope, in returning 
thanks, made some remarks on the philosophy of the doctrine, and adverse to the 
method of investigation pursued.—(Vide p. 462, of the present No.) 
Notice of a Meteorological Journal, kept for twenty-five years at Carlisle, by 
Mr. W. Pitt, was then read ; and, afterwards, an account of a specimen of mineral 
called Wad, by Dr. Turner. 
Feb. 15. Dr. Knox read some highly important eee to determine 
the male and female, and equivocal organs in both sexes, being the first part of 
his observations, illustrating the laws which regulate hermaphroditical appearances 
in the mammalia, and the extent to which their presence affects the functions of 
the perfect animals. 
A letter was read from the Chevalier Aldini, announcing his approaching ar- 
rival in Edinburgh, and requesting the support of the Society. 
Mr. Alian expressed himself astonished that this gentleman should not have 
put in force the manufacture of the asbestus cloth in his own country, where we 
understood him to say that mineral was very abundant. 
Wernerian Society.—Jan. 23. A notice was read on the occurrence of Coal 
under the new Red Sandstone near to Leicester, by Mr. Forster ; communicated by 
Henry Witham, Esq. Professor Jameson made some observations, tending to 
prove that this position of coal strata is not very unfrequent. 
A paper was read on the Circulation of the Blood in the Fetus in Man, and 
in the lower Animals, by Dr. John Aitken. 
Mr. Reid exhibited the experiment of Chalk, exposed to the united action of 
Oxygen and Hydrogen Gases in a state of ignition, between.two concave po- 
lished surfaces, and before a common light-house reflector. 
Feb. 6. Mark Watt, Esq. read a communication on the power which certain 
species of Spiders possess of fixing their threads horizontally between two perpen- 
dicular bodies, placed at a distance from each other. 
A letter was read from the Rev. Alexander Duncan to the Secretary, contain- 
ing a notice of a sort of fascination practised on small birds by the Whitrit or 
Weasel. 
The Rev. Dr. Scott of Corstorphine read a dissertation ‘‘ the Dishong of 
Moses, or the Gazelle of the Plain,”’ the Pygary of the English Bible. 
Mr. Deuchar exhibited an experiment in Magnetism. A ball of soft iron 
being placed upon a magnet, and another ball cf the same substance applied to 
it, the latter will be found to possess a stronger attraction for the former than the 
‘magnet. 
Royal Physical Society.—Jan. 27. Mr. K. T. Kemp, lecturer on chemistry, 
communicated some experiments on the Decomposition of Water, tending to 
prove that Water is the Deutoxide of Hydrogen. 
Mr. W. Ainsworth read a paper on the Effects of Radiation on the Colour of 
the Hyperborean races of Man. 
Feb. 3. Mr. J. P. Young communicated some Observations on the Changes 
in the Course of the Mississipi and Yazou Rivers. 
Mr. K. T. Kemp detailed a series of experiments on the formation of the 
Ammoniacal Amalgam, being a new process by which the Ammoniacal Amal- 
gam is formed without the usual Decomposition of a Salt of Ammonia. 
Feb. 10. Mr. Thomas J. Aitken, lecturer on physiology, communicated a 
notice on the Motions of the Eye. 
