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Polytechnic and Scientific Entelligence.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Royal Society of Literature.

WE observe, by an advertisement in the Literary Gazette, that this Society is in a state of vegetation; most certainly not of animation. By this advertisement, we learn that Dissertations on Homer, Essays on the Greek Language, and Poems on the Fall of Constantinople, have been referred to a committee; that the decision of the several prizes is postponed until the 23d of March, 1823; and that the competition is still open to candidates for the premiums, which are as follow:

I. The King's premium of one hundred guineas for the best Dissertation on the Age of Homer, his Writings and Genius; and on the State of Religion, Society, Learning, and the Arts, during that Period, collected from the Writings of Homer.

II. The Society's Premium of Fifty Guineas for the best Essay on the History of the Greek Language; comprehending the present Language of Greece, especially the Ionian Islands; and the Differences between Ancient and Modern Greek.

III. The Society's Premium of Fifty Guineas for the best Poem on the Fall of Constantinople in the Fifteenth Century.

Surrey Institution.

A select committee of gentlemen has been for some time sedulously engaged in remodelling this Institution, whose funds have been gradually exhausting; the present establishment closing in March, 1823. A Prospectus

Surrey Institution-Royal Society.

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has just been issued by this committee of a New Surrey Institution, avoiding the errors of the old one, and which, if supported with the spirit such an Institution deserves, will obtain a permanence to which it is every way entitled. This literary academy has already done much towards the creation of a taste for science and the arts in that part of the metropolis to which it is more immediately contiguous; and we hope that the New Surrey Institution will contribute, by its better and more effectual arrangements, still more to the diffusion of useful science and the useful arts, as well as to the general advancement of universal literature: for it is undeniably true that even the arts, without literature for their handmaid, are very slowly progressive. Whether a School of Arts, similar to those lately established at Glasgow and Edinburgh might not be a suitable appendage to this Institution is for the consideration of gentlemen more immediately connected with it.

Royal Society.

THE following papers have been read at this Society since our last report.

June 6. On the Binomial Theorem; by JOHN WALSH, -Esq.

A paper by Dr. DAVY was also read, entitled Observations on Corrosive Sublimate. It is known that the liquor hydrargyri oxymuriatis of the London Pharmacopœia, on exposure to light, slowly undergoes decomposition; and it has been asserted that light has a similar effect on corrosive sublimate itself. Dr. Davy relates a number of experiments made to investigate these points. He finds that corrosive sublimate remains unaltered on

exposure to light; that it remains unaltered when exposed in solution in media, having a strong affinity for it, as alcohol, ether, muriatic acid, &c.; and that decomposition takes place only under circumstances of complicated affinities, as in the instance of the liquor hydrargyri oxymuriatis, and in the aqueous solution, when calomel and muriatic acid appear to be formed, and oxygen evolved. ¡Dr. Davy's experiments on corrosive sublimate were made with alcohol, ether, several oils, muriatic and other mineral acids, many of the muriates, &c. In every instance that an oil, whether volatile or fixed, was heated with corrosive sublimate, mutual decomposition took place, charcoal was evolved, and muriatic acid and calomel formed. When oil of turpentine was used, some traces of artificial camphor appeared; when the oil of cloves and peppermint, a purple compound distilled over, consisting of the oil employed and muriatic acid. With muriatic acid, common salt, and some other muriates, corrosive sublimate formed definite compounds, remarkable for their solubility.

June 13. On the State of Water and Aeriform Matter in the Cavities of certain Crystals; by SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.

June 20. Some Experiments on the Changes which take place in the fixed principles of the Egg during Incubation, by W. PROUT, M.D.

Dr. Prout found the specific gravity of new laid eggs to vary from 1080 to 1090. Eggs, however, as is wellknown, on being kept some time, become specifically lighter than water, owing to the substitution of air for a portion of the water which escapes. Thus it was stated that an egg, exposed for two years to ordinary circumstances, lost nearly two-thirds of its weight. To ascertain the relative weight of the shell, albumen, and yolk,

eggs were boiled hard in distilled water, and the different parts weighed in their moist state. The average of ten experiments gave for the shell 106.9, albumen 604.2, and yolk 288.9, on the supposition that each egg originally weighed 1000 grains; to which standard all the eggs were reduced. These experiments show that the relative weights of these different portions of the egg differ very considerably, particularly the shells, the weight of which were found to vary for 77.6 to 108, on the supposition that the original weights of the two eggs were equal. An egg, when boiled and cooled in the air, always lost considerably in weight; and the water was found to contain traces of most of the saline contents of the egg.

After relating the results of an analysis of the egg at the end of the first, second, and third week of incubation, Dr. Prout arrived at conclusions of which the following is an outline:

An egg loses about one-sixth of its weight during incubation, a quantity amounting to eight times as much as it loses, in the same time, under ordinary circumstances.

In the earlier stages of incubation an interchange of principles takes place, apparently, between the yolk and a portion of albumen; that this interchange is confined on the part of the yolk to a portion of its oily matter, which is found mixed with a portion of the abovementioned albumen. That this portion of albumen undergoes some remarkable changes, and is converted into a substance analogous in its appearance, as well as some of its properties, to the curd of milk; and, lastly, that a portion of the watery parts of the albumen is found mixed with the yolk, which becomes thus apparently increased in size.

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As incubation proceeds, the saline and watery matters

again appear to quit the yolk, which is thus reduced to its original bulk, or even becomes less than natural; and that, in the last week of the process, the greater portion of the phosphorus quits the yolk likewise, and is found chiefly in the animal, where it exists as phosphoric acid, and in union with lime, constituting its bony skeleton ; which lime, amounting to about three grains, does not preexist in the recent egg, but makes its appearance in some unaccountable manner during the process.

On the source of earthy matter in the egg, the doctor draws no positive conclusion, but leaves this point to be determined by future observation.

Royal Academy of Music.

An institution bearing the above title, and having his Majesty for Patron, has been recently organized. Its objects are to promote the cultivation of the science of music, and to afford facilities for attaining perfection in it, by assisting, with general instruction, the natives of this country, and thus enable those who pursue this delightful branch of the fine arts, to enter into competition with, and rival the natives of other countries, and to provide for themselves the means of an honourable and comfortable livelihood. To this end it is proposed to provide for the maintenance and general instruction in music of a certain number of pupils, not exceeding at present forty males and forty females. No student to be admitted at an earlier age than ten years, nor later than fifteen. Each student to pay ten guineas to the funds of the establishment at his or her entry, and afterwards five guineas per annum during the time he or she shall remain in the academy: the children of professors