1809.] 
aiie and acrid substance by the absorp- 
tion of oxygen, does the amalgam, of 
ammonium produce the volatile alkali; 
and if we suppose that ammonia is metal- 
lized, by being combined with hydrogen, 
and freed from water, the same reason- 
ing will apply to the other metals, with 
this difference, that the adherence of 
their phlogiston, of hydrogen, would be 
exactly in the inverse ratio of their at- 
tracuon for oxygen. In platina, it would 
be combined with the greatest energy; in 
ammonium with the least; and if it be se- 
parable from any of the metals, without 
the aid of a new combination, we may ex- 
pect that this result will be afforded by 
the most volatile and oxidable, such as 
arsenic, or the metals of the fixed alka- 
lies, submitted to intense heat, under 
electrical polarities, and having the pres- 
sure of the atmosphere removed. 
Mr., Davy concludes by hoping, that 
the new facts which he has discovered, 
may admit of many applications, and ex- 
plain some phenomenainnature. ‘The 
metals of the earths” he says, ‘‘ cannot 
exist at the surface of the globe; but it is 
very possible that they may form a part 
of the interior; and such an assumption 
would offer a theory for the phenomena 
of volcanoes, the formation of lavas, and 
the excitement and effects of subterrane- 
ous heat; for let it be granted that the 
metals of the earths and alkalies, in alloy 
with common metals, exist in large quan- 
tities beneath the surface, then their ac¢i- 
dental exposure to the action of air and 
water, must produce the effect of subter- 
ranean fire, and a preduct of earthy and 
stony matter analogous tolavas. Thelu- 
minous appearance of those meteors. 
connected with the fall of stones, is one 
of the extraerdinary circumstances of 
these wonderful phenomena. This effect 
may be accounted for, by supposing that 
the substances which fall, come into our 
atmosphere in a metallic state, and that 
the earths of which they principally con- 
sist are results of combustion.” 
At the meeting of the Royal Society, 
February 2, a most curious and in- 
teresting paper, by Mr. Davy, was read, 
giving an account of various experiments 
on the action of potassium on ammonia, 
from which it appears that a considerable 
quantity of nitrogen can be made to 
disappear, and can he_ regenerated, 
When it disappears, nothing can be ob- 
tained in its place but oxygen, and hy- 
drogen; and when it 1s formed, its ele- 
mentary matter is furnished by water. 
February 9, Dr. Young furnished a 
series of numerical tables of the elective 
Montrry Mac, No. 184, 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
869 
attraction of acids with alkalis, by means 
of which 100 figures are made to repree 
sent the affinities of 100 different salts, 
which it would otherwise require about 
5000 words to express. 
February 16, a paper by M. Brodie, 
describing a twin foetus, nearly the full 
size, seven months old, and without either 
heart, liver, or gall bladder, was read. 
This was considered the best formed 
foetus which has hitherto been knowa 
without a heart, although the author 
cited a considerable number. It appears 
that all such children have been twins, 
and that tle present was quite as large 
as the other which had its organs come 
plete, 
Captain Burney furnished two papers, 
one onthe motion of heavy bodies in the 
Thames, detailing some experiments 
with loaded sticks, to ascertain’ why 
loaded barges sailed faster than the cur- 
rent, or than unloaded barges ; but his 
experiments only tended to confirm the 
fact, that the heaviest. end of a pole 
always went first with the current. The 
other was a plan jor measuring a ship’s 
way at sea, by means of a steel-yard and 
line, where a pound weight should ine 
dicate a mile, or more or less, according 
to the power of the instrument. 
February 23, a letter from Mr. Knight 
to the President was read, containing 
some farther observations on the sap of 
trees, the formation of radicles from the 
bark, and also that of the buds from the 
same source, instead of their being pro- 
duced from the alburnum, as is sup- 
posed. 
A paper by Mr. Horn2, on a peculiar 
joint discovered in the sgualus maximus, 
(basking shark) lately cast on the sea- 
shore, was laid before the Society, ac- 
companied by a drawing. : 
a 
WERNERIAN SOCIETY. 
T a Meeting of the Wernerian Na- 
tural History Society, of Edinburgh, 
on the 11th of February, Professor James 
son read a short account of the Orycto- 
gnostic characters, and geognostic rela- 
tions of the mineral, named Cryolite, 
from West Greenland—Mr. P. Neile 
read a description of a rare species of 
whale, lately stranded near Alloa, in the 
Firth of Forth. It measured forty-three 
feet in length, had 4 small dorsal fin; 
longitudinal sulcy on the thorax; short 
whalebones, (fanons) in the upper jaw; . 
the under jaw somewhat wider, and a 
very little longer than the upper; beth 
jaws accuminated, the under one ending 
in a sharp long ridge, From these cha- 
3¢ . racters 
