temperature of 50°, and that one pound avoirdupois must contain 7000 of these grains.

6. That the standard ale and corn gallon should contain exactly ten pounds avoirdupois of distilled water, at 62° of Fahrenheit, being nearly equal to 277.2 cubic inches, and agreeing with the standard pint in the Exchequer, which is found to contain exactly 20 ounces of water. The customary ale gallon contains 282 cubic inches, and the Winchester corn gallon 269, or, according to other statutes, 272 cubic inches; so that no inconvenience can possibly be felt from the introduction of a new gallon of 277.2 inches.-The Commissioners have not decided upon the propriety of abolishing entirely the use of the wine gallon.

The report, of which the preceding is a brief abstract, was signed, on the 24th June 1819, by Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., Sir George Clerk, Bart., Mr D. Gilbert, Dr Wollaston, Dr Young, and Captain Kater; and we have no doubt that its conclusions will be gratefully adopted by Parliament, and by the country at large. To the Report is annexed a very able and interesting Appendix, drawn up by Dr Thomas Young.

40. Preparation of Opium in India.-In the article on the preparation of opium, published in this Number, the author was not aware of the changes which had been adopted in the manufacture of it after the year 1799, when, under the government of Marquis Wellesley, the plan of having it procured by agency, under the charge of a civil servant, was introduced. All the abuses that had prevailed in the preparation of the drug, adulteration, fallacious envelopes of the cakes, short weight, &c. were at that period abolished, and, ever since, the utmost care has been taken, that the opium put up at the Company's sales shall be in the utmost state of purity, that the envelopes shall be of the due degree of thickness, and the drug of the proper consistDr John Fleming, M. P. then President of the Medical Board at Calcutta, had the merit of having formed and recommended this plan of providing the opium, and, on his return to England in 1803, he received on this account a remuneration from the Honourable Court of Directors, of Sicca rupees 50,000, or L.6250 Sterling.

ence.

ART. XXXIX.-List of Patents granted in Scotland since 12th May 1819.

10. TO JOHN SMITH of Bermondsey, in the county of Surrey, wood-merchant, for "Improvements in making arms or axletrees for coaches, carts, waggons, and all other descriptions of carriages." Sealed at Edinburgh, 21st May 1819.

11. TO WILLIAM BUNDY, of the town of Camden, in the county of Middlesex, mathematical instrument maker, for his invention of "certain machinery for breaking and preparing flax and hemp." Sealed at Edinburgh 21st May 1819.

12. TO PATTEN SMITH and HUGH MACMORRAN, both of Roscrea, in the county of Tipperaray in Ireland, distillers, for their invention of improvements in the construction “or formation of stills, boilers or evaporators, to be heated by steam." Sealed at Edinburgh 21st June 1819.

13. TO HENRY STUBBS of St James' Street, in the parish of St James, and county of Middlesex, blind-manufacturer, for his invention" of a moveable heel for boots, shoes, and other purposes." Sealed at Edinburgh 21st June 1819.

14. TO ALEXANDER HADDEN of Aberdeen in Scotland, for an "improved manufacture for carpeting." Sealed at Edinburgh 21st June 1819.

15. TO WILLIAM RUTT of Shacklewell, in the county of Middlesex, printer and stereotype founder, for his invention of "certain improvements on printing machines." Sealed at Edinburgh 29th July 1819.

16. TO JOHN CHANCELLOR of Sackville Street, Dublin, watchmaker, for his invention of "an instrument for turning the leaves of music-books in a simple and effective manner, with or without pedal-work attached." Sealed at Edinburgh 30th August 1819.

17. TO WILLIAM BRUNTON of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, engineer, for his invention of "certain improvements in steam-engines, by which a saving in the consumption of fuel is effected, and the combustion of smoke is more completely attained." Sealed at Edinburgh 11th September 1819.

P. Neill, Printer.

INDEX.

A

Acid, hyposulphurous, and its compounds, page 8.-hyposulphuric,
209.-new one discovered in the Viburnum opulus, ib.-purpu-
ric, ib.

Adie, Mr, on a new hygrometer, made of the internal membrane of
the Arundo phragmites, 32.-his description of the patent sym-
piesometer, or new air barometer, 54.

Agates, method of colouring, 341.

Alison, Dr, on the physiology of the nervous system, 404.

Alkali, new vegetable, called Strychnine, 210.-Another new one
called Delphine, 418.

Amici, M. on the motion of sap in vegetables, 214.

Analysis, indeterminate, application of, to the elimination of the un-
known quantities from two equations, 29.

Anchors, method of weighing, used by the natives of the coast of
Coromandel, 60.

Ants, excavations of, at Valencia, 424.

Apennines, geognosy of, 211.

Apophyllite, on a new optical and mineralogical structure of, 1.

Arbury Hill, verification of the latitude of, 200.

Arragonite, structure of, 6.

Asbestus fibres recommended for micrometers, 202.

B

Babbage, Mr, on prime numbers, 46.

Baffin's Bay, singular optical illusion seen in, 202.--account of the
expedition to, 150.

Bagnes, Val de, inundation of the, 187.

Bald, Mr, on the temperature of air and of water in the coal-mines
of Great Britain, 134.-on the skeleton of a whale discovered in
Scotland, 393.-on coal fields, 409.

Barlow, Mr, his discoveries in magnetism, 344.

Bartholinus, Erasmus, his discoveries respecting double refraction,
291.

Barystrontianile, a new mineral, notice respecting it, 380.
Beaufoy, Col. on the diurnal variation of the needle, 403.

Beaver, fossil remains of, found in Perthshire and Berwickshire, 177.
Bengal, progress of botany in, 376.

Berzelius, M. on some compounds which depend on very weak af-
finities, 63, 243.

Biot, M. on the length of the seconds pendulum at Unst, 77.-on
the magnetic qualities of mica, 206.—on the production of light,
by breaking glass-balls filled with oxygen, 209.

VOL. I. OCTOBER 1819.

Ff

Black-lead mines, account of, 130.

Botany, progress of, in Bengal, 376.

Brazil, notice of scientific travellers in, 218. 337.-Swainson's travels
in, 369.

Breguet's chronometer for reckoning minute parts of a second, 323.
Brewster, Dr, on a new optical property of apophyllite, 1.—on the
structure and refractive power of the coats and humours of the
human eye, 42.-on a singular optical property of tabasheer, 147.
-on a remarkable affection of the retina, 235.-on the phos
phorescence of minerals, 383.-on the pyro-electricity of Nadel-
stein, 205.

Calorimotor, Dr Hare's, 414.

C

Calton Hill, geognostical description of, 359.
Cape of Good Hope, geognosy of, 283.

Caraccas, destruction of, by an earthquake, 272.

Carmichael, Captain, on a singular fact respecting the Cape swallow,

421.

Catalogue of thirty-six principal fixed stars, 321.

Chromate of Lead, primitive form of, 420.

Chronometer, new, for reckoning fractional parts of a second, 323.
Cinnabar, primitive form of, 420.

Circle, repeating, 199.

Coal-fields, account of, 409.

Coal-mines of Great Britain, temperature of air and water in, 134.
Colby, Captain, on a singular instance of refraction, 411.

Comet of 1818, first, 199.-second, ib.-third, 200.-account of a re-
markable one, which has returned 5 times, 390.—of 1819, first,
401.-second, 410.

Compounds, examination of some, which depend on very weak affi-
nities, 63.

Congo, whirlpools of the river, 216.

Conifera, physical distribution of, 315.

Copper, blue, of Chessy, 419.

Cornelius, Mr, on an insect which destroys horses, 381.

Con, singular fact respecting the, 407.

Crystallography, new systems of, 211.

Cuticle, structure of, 213.—colour of, ib.

D

Dead Sea, analysis of the water of, 417.

Deaf and Blind, notice concerning a boy born, 171.

Delphine, a new vegetable alkali, 418.

Dendera, temple at, 36.

Detonating mud, account of, 423.

Diamond mine at Panna, 49.

Double refraction of light, history of, 289.

Dufresne's collection of natural history, 421.

Dulong and Petit's experiments on heat, 210.-on specific heat, 405.
Dust meteoric, showers of, 233.

E

Earth, form and structure of, 198.

Earthquake which destroyed the Caraccas, 272.

Edinburgh, neighbourhood of, account of its geognosy, 352.
Electrical fish, 206.

Expedition to the North Pole, 150.-overland from Hudson's Bay
to the Arctic Ocean, 215.

Eye, human, structure of, 42.

F

Firmas's experiments on the magnetizing influence of the violet
rays, 241.

Fish, electrical, 206.

Fleming, Dr, on the arctic and skua gulls, 97.

Frogs, on the respiration of, 214.

Fulminating silver and mercury, singular fact respecting, 417.

Fyfe, Dr, on the quantity of saline matter in the water of the North
Polar Seas, 160.-on the plants which yield iodine, 254.

G

Galvanic pile, account of a new one, 388.
Ganges and Jumna, sources of, 127.

Gas fire, account of, 350.

Gas lamp, description of a portable one, 373.

Gay-Lussac's analysis of the water of the Dead Sea, 417.-on the
gas fire, 350. Note.

Gibbs, Colonel, on the influence of light upon magnets, 242.

Giesecké, Sir Charles, on the temporary residences of the Greenland-
ers during the winter season, and on the population of North and
South Greenland, 117.

Gordon, Dr, on the human eye, 42.-on the human cuticle, 213.
Mr D. description of his portable gas lamp, 373.
Granite, geognostical relations of, 111.-subterraneous sounds in
rocks of, 413.

Gravity, experiments shewing that it acts equally on light and heavy
bodies, 202.

Greenland, North and South, population of, 117.

Greenlanders, their temporary residences during the winter sea-
son, 117.

Greenstone, account of, 138.

Gulls, arctic and skua, observations on, 97.

H

Hamilton, Dr Francis, on the diamond mine of Panna, 49.

Hare, Dr, on the calorimotor, 414.

Harmotome, on the structure of, 7.

Heal, specific, relation between it and the weight of the atoms of bo-

dies, 415.

Heron de Ville Fosse, on mineral wealth, 211.

Herschel, Mr, on hyposulphurous acid, 8.

Sir W. on the distance of the fixed stars, 201.