several. Dr. Hamilton's Commentary on the first part of Rheede's great work, has already appeared in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. xiii. part. ii.

P.

474.

The Society then adjourned to the 4th of November next.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

May 16.-A letter was read, from Henry Heuland, Esq. For. Sec. Geol. Soc. addressed to the President, "On the Matrix of the Diamond.".

In this letter Mr. Heuland describes two specimens which he laid upon the table of the Society. The first of these, from Abbaete in Brazil, was a conglomerate of oxide of iron, with small waterworn quartz pebbles, containing a diamond. This, which is called Cascalhao, Mr. Heuland believes to be of alluvial origin. The other specimen from Pereira, in Brazil, which Mr. Heuland received from Baron d'Eschwege, was a very small brilliant dodecahedral diamond, surrounded by skorodite or cupreous arseniate of iron in a gaugue or matrix of massive oxide of iron (Werner's brown ironstone.) This oxide of iron, according to Baron d'Eschwege and Alexander Caldcleugh, Esq. forms veins or beds 25 feet deep resting on chlorite schist in the mountains near Pereira. That it is the true matrix,' of at least the Brazilian diamond, appears confirmed by the locality where diamonds have not before been discovered, by its being accompanied by the arseniate of copper, and by the difference of this oxide of iron from that in the Cascalhao, which is either earthy, granular, or in water-worn particles.

June 6. A paper was read containing remarks on Sections presented by the Rivers Isla, Melgum, Proson, and S. Esk, in the County of Forfar, with some general Observations on the Geology of that County, accompanied with specimens. Charles Lyell, Esq. Sec. GS.

By

The country which formed the principal subject of this communication is situated on the southern flank of the Grampians; it is occupied by old red sandstone, greywacke, and argillaceous schist, with their associated porphyries. The strata are clearly exposed by the rivers that cut through them. They are very highly inclined, and dip for the most part towards the south.

The old red sandstone may be described as consisting of two formations of sandstone, with a formation of conglomerate of great thickness interposed between them. An extensive formation of felspar porphyry occurs in the lower part of the conglomerate, and it is from the broken and rolled fragments of this porphyry that the conglomerate is for the most part composed. Between the porphyry and the conglomerate, a rock prevails of a mixed character, which seems intermediate between the two, and which it is difficult to describe or account for. The lower red sandstone, which is beneath the conglomerate, is in many parts seen to be traversed by a mass or dyke of greenstone,

which passes into serpentine, in which form it continues through a great part of its course; it lies parallel with the strata. The lower red sandstone, which is for the most part schistose, and not of great thickness, alternates with greywacke at its juncture, and the greywacke with argillaceous schist. A large mass of porphyry resembling that of the elvans of Cornwall, intersects in one part of the district the superior beds of the greywacke formation. The paper concludes with some observations on the primary rocks of the Grampians in the county of Forfar.

June 20.-The following papers were read:

A Notice on some Fossil Bones of an Icthyosaurus from the Lias near Bristol; also on two new Species of Fossil Teeth. By George Cumberland, Esq. Hon. Mem. GS.

A Letter accompanying some Specimens from Stonehenge. By Godfrey Higgins, Esq.

An Extract of a Letter from Lieut. J. Short, RE. addressed to, and communicated by, Dr. Babington, Pres. GS. containing some remarks on the Isle of Bourbon.

The Isle of Bourbon, which is situated about 120 miles from the Mauritius, and is 150 miles in circumference, appears to be chiefly of volcanic composition. An active volcano still exists. Although beneath the tropics, perpetual snow and ice cover the summits of some of the mountains which rise to an elevation of 10,000 feet. Lieut. Short observed basaltic columns of great height exposed in some parts of the island, and found olivine, lava, zeolite, and puzzolana, abounding throughout the rocks.

A Notice respecting the Pebbles in the Bed of Clay which covers the new red Sandstone in the SW of Lancashire. By John Bostock, MD. VPGS.

ARTICLE XII.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE.

I. Dr. Wollaston's Method of detecting Magnesia, on the smallest Scale.

DISSOLVE in a watch-glass, at a gentle heat, a minute fragment of the mineral suspected to contain magnesia, dolomite for example, in a few drops of dilute muriatic acid; to this solution, add oxalic acid, to render the lime that may be present insoluble; then pour in a few drops of a solution of phosphate of ammonia or soda. Allow the precipitate to settle for a few seconds, and decant a drop or two of the supernatant clear liquid on a slip of window-glass; on mixing with this liquid two or three drops of a solution of the scentless carbonate of ammonia, an effervescence takes place; draw off to one side with a glass rod, a little of the clear solution, and trace across it, with the pressure of a point of glass or platina, any lines or letters on the glass plane; on exposing this to the gentlest possible heat (as making a little

warm water flow over it), white traces will be perceived wherever the point was applied. These consist of the triple phosphate of ammonia and magnesia. In the application of this process on the larger scale, the carbonate of ammonia should be added first, which prevents the chance of any simple phosphate of the earth being formed.-Journal of Science, &c. xv. 336.

II. Phosphate of Uranium.

I am indebted to the Rev. J. J. Conybeare for the information that the existence of phosphoric acid in uranite which I supposed I had first discovered was ascertained several years since. The fact, he informs me, is mentioned in a work entitled, "Elemens de Mineralogie et de Geologie," &c. Par E. M. J. Patrin. Paris, 1803.

Having never seen this work, Mr. Conybeare has been so good as to favour me with the following extract from it: "Ekebert [Ekeberg] fait sur l'uranite une observation qui serait tres curieuse si elle etait confirmée; c'est que l'acide phosphorique se trouve joint à l'oxide d'uranite. Il dit dans une note de son Memoire sur la Phosphate de Chaux (Annales de Chimie, No. 96, p. 233), que si dans une dissolution d'uranite par l'acide nitrique on verse de l'acetite de plomb; il se fait un precipité qui est un phosphate de plomb qui fondu au chalumeau donne un polyèdre de couleur laiteuse."-Patrin, t. iv. p. 48.

Mr. Conybeare justly observes to me, that "the circumstance of Ekeberg's discovery being mentioned in a paper not on uranite, but on phosphate of lime, will account for its escaping the notice of Berzelius, of yourself, and even of so many professed compilers of mineralogical systems."-Edit.

III. On the Use of the Electrical Faculty of the Torpedo. By Mr. Jonathan Couch.

The following suggestion on this subject has been made by Mr. Jonathan Couch in a paper on the Natural History of Fishes found in Cornwall, printed in the newly-published part of the Transactions of the Linnean Society; vol. xiv. p. 89:

66

Torpedo or Cramp Ray. Raia Torpedo.-This fish is extremely rare. The numbing power of the torpedo has been much illustrated by the discoveries which have been made in galvanism; but the cause of this phenomenon appears to me not to have been explained. I would, therefore, suggest the following observations on this subject. It has been supposed, that by this faculty the torpedo is enabled the more readily to secure its prey; and when Pennant took a surmullet from the stomach of a torpedo, he concluded that it must have been first disabled by the shock before it could have been swallowed by its enemy. But I have known a lobster, whose agility is much superior to that of a surmullet, taken from the stomach of a skate; which fish possesses no such formidable means of disabling its prey. Without denying that the torpedo may devour that which it disables by the shock, I conceive that the principal use of this power has a reference to the functions of digestion. It is well known that an effect of lightning, or the electric shock, is to deprive animated bodies very suddenly of their irritability; and that thereby they are rendered more readily disposed to pass into a state of dissolution than they would otherwise be; in which condition the digestive powers of the stomach can be much more speedily

and effectually exerted on them. If any creature may seem to require such a preparation of its food more than another, it is the torpedo, the whole intestinal canal of which is not more than half as long as the stomach."

ARTICLE XIII.

NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS.

PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION.

Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions; or, an Attempt to trace such Illusions to their Physical Causes. By Dr. Samuel Hibbert.

12mo.

Lectures on the Philosophy of History, Vols. 5 and 6, bringing it down to the Revolution. By Dr. G. Miller.

An Introduction to Lamarck's Arrangement of the Genera of Shells. 8vo. By Mr. Charles Dubois.

A new Edition of Berthollet on Dyeing, with Notes and Illustrations. By Dr. A. Ure. 2 Vols. 8vo.

A Manual of Pharmacy. By W. T. Brande, Esq. Small 8vo.

JUST PUBLISHED.

Dodsley's Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the year 1822. 8vo. 16s. Boards.

Memoir of John Aikin, MD. By Lucy Aikin. With a Selection of his Miscellaneous Pieces, Biographical, Moral, and Critical. 2 Vols. 8vo. With a fine Portrait. Il. 4s. Boards.

Le Bulletin General et Universel des Annonces et des Nouvelles Scientifiques; dédié aux Savans de tous les Pays et à la Libraire Nationale et Etrangère, et publié sous la Direction de M. le Baron de Ferussac. Numbers 1 to 6 are published. Subscription for one Year, or 12 Numbers, 21. 2s.

Observations made during a Residence in the Tarentaise and various Parts of the Grecian and Pennine Alps, in Savoy, and in Switzerland and Auvergne, in 1820, 1821, 1822. By R. Bakewell. 2 Vols. 8vo. With Plates. 11. 6s.

Jewish, Oriental, and Classical Antiquities; containing Illustrations of the Scriptures and Classical Records from Oriental Sources. 8vo. 12s. Boards.

The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France to the Accession of George IV. Vol. I. Part II. 8vo. 14s. Boards. Two more Volumes are in great Forwardness, and will complete the Work.

On the Stratification of Alluvial Deposits, and the Crystallization of calcareous Stalactites. In a Letter to Dr. John Macculloch. By H. R. Oswald. 8vo. 1s. 6d.

ARTICLE XIV.

NEW PATENTS.

Edward Ollerenshaw, Manchester, hat-manufacturer, for a method of dressing and furnishing hats, by means of certain machinery and implements to be used and applied thereto.-May 27.

T. Peel, Esq. Manchester, for a rotatory-engine, for communicating motion by means of steam or other gaseous media.-May 27.

S. Wilson, Esq. of Streatham, Surrey, for certain improvements in machinery for weaving and winding.-May 31.

J. Mills, St. Clement Danes, Middlesex, and Silver-street, London, and Herman William Fairman, Silver-street, London, merchants, for certain improvements in rendering leather, linen, flax, sail-cloth, and certain other articles, water-proof.-May 31.

R. Badnall, Leek, Staffordshire, silk-manufacturer, for certain improvements in dyeing.-June 3.

T. Attwood, Birmingham, banker, for certain improvements in the making of cylinders for the printing of cottons, calicos, and other articles.-June 3.

T. Mills, Dudbridge, Gloucestershire, cloth-dresser, for certain improvements on machines for shearing or cropping woollen cloths.June 3.

J. Perkins, Fleet-street, engineer, for certain improvements in steam-engines.-June 5.

E. Cowper, Kennington, mechanist, for certain improvements in machines and apparatus for printing calico, linen, silk, wool, paper, and other substances capable of receiving printed impressions.June 10.

of

R. Mushet, Royal Mint, Tower-hill, Gent. for improving the quality copper and alloyed copper, applicable to the sheathing of ships, and other purposes.-June 14.

R. Pew, Esq. Sherborne, Dorsetshire, for a new composition for covering houses and other buildings.-June 17.

C. Mackintosh, Esq. Crossbasket, Lanark, for a process and manufacture whereby the texture of hemp, flax, wool, cotton, and silk, and also leather, paper, and other substances, may be rendered impervious to water and air.-June 17.

J. Smith, Droitwich, Worcestershire, civil-engineer, for an apparatus for applying steam to the boiling and concentration of solutions in general, crystallising the muriate of soda from brines containing that salt, melting and refining of tallow and oils, boiling of sugar, distilling, and other similar purposes.-July 19.

J. M. Willoughby, Fair-street, Horsleydown, Surrey, Gent. for certain improvements in the construction of vessels, so as to enable them to sail with greater velocity.-June 26.

J. Green, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, whitesmith, for certain machines used for roving, spinning, and twisting cotton, flax, silk, wool, or other fibrous substances.-June 26.

W. Vere, Crown-row, Mild-end Old-town, engineer, and H. S. Crane, Stratford, manufacturing chemist, for their improvements in the manufacture of inflammable gas.-June 30.