At the same meeting, an extract of a letter from M. Berzelius to Dr Brewster, was read, on the Composition of Water, and on the Weight of an Atom of Hydrogen Gas.

April 19.-Dr Brewster presented a notice respecting the extension of his theory of double refraction, to crystals with more than one axis; and respecting a general law, relative to the composition of any number of polarizing and doubly refracting axes placed symmetrically round a given line.

At the same meeting, James Russel, Esq. presented a notice respecting a cow from Guernsey. This cow had one calf in June 1806, and for several years, she ceased to give milk at the usual time that cows with calf generally lose it. At the end of nine, or nine and a half months, after she had been with the bull, the milk re-appeared in as great a quantity, and of as good a quality, as at any former period, although she had no calf. After this was observed to take place for several years, it was thought unnecessary to make any farther trials for a calf; but notwithstanding the change of circumstances, the cessation of her milk, and its re-appearance, took place exactly as before.

May 3.-Mr Leonard Horner laid before the Society an account of the art of lithography, and an analysis of some of the limestones generally employed.

May 17.-Mr Lizars exhibited to the Society several specimens of his new style of engraving on copper in alto relievo.

At this meeting Dr Brewster laid before the Society an abstract of his experiments on the structure of the crystalline lens in man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and whales, the results of which were illustrated by models.

The Society adjourned till November.

ART. XXXVII.-Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society.

Feb. 20. 1819.

DR HIBBERT continued the reading of his geognostical description of Shetland.-The first part of an ab

stract of this paper, will be found in the present number. Art. xii. p. 296.

Mar. 6.-Mr Campbell read an eloquent and interesting memoir on the scale of Being; a report of which will appear in an early number.

Mar. 20.-The Secretary read a communication from Dr Brewster, "On the Connection between the Primitive Forms of Crystals and the number of their Axes of Double Refraction." Dr Brewster finds that all crystals with one axis arrange themselves under a certain series of primitive forms, and that those with two axes arrange themselves under another series; while the remaining primitive forms are occupied by those crystals whose doubly refracting forces are in equilibrio by the combined action of three equal rectangular axes. It is a curious and important result of these experiments, that they nearly harmonize with the profound views in crystallography proposed by the celebrated Professor Mohs.

April 3.-The Secretary read a communication from Captain Scoresby, On the best means of overcoming the obstacles to Discoveries in the Arctic Regions. Recourse must be had, he thinks, to overland journeys, made in the early part of the season, and in the mornings and evenings while the snow is firm. Small vessels of 100 tons burden, but not exceeding 150 tons, might sail to the northern part of Baffin's Bay, with the view of wintering there. If the ships were to carry out with them Morton's apparatus for drawing ships on shore, (a machine which is now in use in the upper part of Leith harbour), and provided a sloping beach could be found, the vessels could easily be placed beyond the reach of tide or ice, so as to form a tolerably comfortable winter habitation. We do not enlarge on this subject, however, as we have reason to believe that Captain Scoresby's views will be fully stated in the work on Greenland which he has now in the press.

April 10.-Dr Hibbert finished his geognostical description of Shetland.

During the course of his investigation, which continued for five months, Dr Hibbert met with several interesting simple minerals imbedded in the primitive and secondary rocks. These he particularly described when pointing out the character of the

extensive series of Shetland minerals which he presented to the Society.

April 24-The Secretary read a notice by Mr Stewart, lecturer on botany, regarding some rare plants of the class Cryptogamia, lately found by him in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, One effect of the fine autumn of last year, followed as it was by an unusually mild winter, seems to have been, that several of the musci, which are almost proverbial among botanists as being shy in producing fruit, have produced their capsules in abundance: Among these may be mentioned, Hypnum proliferum, Bryum roseum, punctatum and ligulatum. Among the greatest rarities were Buxbaumia aphylla and Diphyscium foliosum, both which Mr Stewart found on the same turf of peat-moss.

At the same meeting the Secretary read a communication from the Rev. Mr Young of Whitby, on a remarkable fossil animal found in the rocks near Whitby. The description was accompanied with a beautiful drawing, by Mr Bird, of this curious petrifaction.

May 1.-Mr Neill, the Secretary, read an account of the discovery of the remains of the Beaver, dug up in Perthshire and in Berwickshire. This paper is printed in the first number of the Journal. p. 177.

At the same meeting, Mr Bald read a series of observations on the shape of Coal-fields in Scotland and England. He demonstrated by his descriptions, and the numerous beautiful plans and maps which he exhibited, that these coal-fields are in general bason-shaped, and that every where they exhibit the same general geognostical characters, He described particularly the various phenomena resulting from the dislocations or slips in coal-fields, and noticed instances of the unchanged state of the strata of this formation, where vast beds of secondary greenstone overlie them.

May 23.-Professor Jameson read an account of a remarkable section of the mineral beds below Lothian Street, Edinburgh, exposed to view in the course of clearing out the foundations of new buildings there.-See our first number, pp. 138–141. The Society adjourned for the summer.

ART. XXXVIII-SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

ASTRONOMY.

1. Second Comet of 1819.-On the 12th of June 1819, M. Pons of Marseilles discovered a small comet in the Lion. It is invisible to the naked eye, and has no appearance of a tail, and a very indistinct nucleus.

His observations were as follows:

The following elements of a parabolic orbit have been calcu

lated by M. Gambard junior.

Passage of perihelion, June 26th 10h 6', Mean time at Paris.

M. Gambard concluded, that on the 24th July, the distance of the comet from the Earth would be only about the 20th part of the distance of the Sun.

2. New Orrery.-The Reverend G. Tough of Ayton has lately constructed an Orrery of a much improved form, which exhibits great ingenuity and mechanical skill.

1st, It consists of a large glass globe, mounted on a brazen stand, and splendidly illuminated with circles, golden stars, &c. which exhibit an interesting picture of the Heavens; and at the same time, containing within it all the planets and satellites, adjusted to true time, according to the latest discoveries. It displays the solar system in motion, together with its relation to the celestial sphere, as in nature.

2d, The movements being inclosed within the glass globe, are thus effectually secured from injury; and the beauty of the me

chanism is preserved from tarnishing, by its not being exposed to the external air.

3d, Its motions are conveyed through slender tubes, and hollow pillars and arms, in such a manner as to conceal from view the clumsy appendages of large wheels, and almost every other part of the apparatus, except the heavenly bodies themselves moving in order round their respective centres.

4th, The diurnal revolutions and those of the satellites can be discontinued at pleasure, in order to exhibit a more rapid circulation of the planets in the ecliptic in their true proportional periods, whereby even the slow motion of the Georgium Sidus is rendered visible to the eye.

5th, When such exhibitions are not required to be made, the whole may be kept in continual motion by a small time-piece, and thus the orrery becomes a perpetual ephemeris, representing on inspection the true positions of the planets, the phenomena of their seasons, occasioned by the inclination and parallelism of their axes, so far as known, the lunar phases, eclipses, &c.

OPTICS.

3. Curious instance of unusual Refraction.-When Captain Colby was ranging over the coast of Caithness, with the telescope of the great Theodolite, on the 21st June, at eight o'clock P. M., from Corryhabbie Hill, near Mortlich, in Banffshire, he observed a brig over the land, sailing to the westward, in the Pentland Frith, between the Dunnet and Duncansby Heads. Having satisfied himself as to the fact, he requested his assistants, Lieutenants Robe and Dawson of the Royal Engineers, to look through the telescope, which they immediately did, and observed the brig likewise. It was very distinctly visible for several minutes, whilst the party continued to look at it, and to satisfy themselves as to its position. The brig could not have been less than from 90 to 100 miles distant; and as the station on Corryhabbie is not above 2550 feet above the sea, the phenomenon is interesting. The thermometer was at 44°. The night and day preceding the sight of the brig had been continually rainy and misty, and it was not till seven o'clock of the evening of the 21st that the clouds cleared off the hill.