cuticle or scarf skin, and cutis vera or true skin; and, between these, many anatomists place a third layer, named rete mucosum. This rete mucosum, is supposed by some to be the seat of the colour of the skin, and that, therefore, it is reddish in the European and black in the Negro, and so forth. The late Dr Gordon denied its existence in the European race of the human species, but believed he had found it in the Negro. This opinion is adopted by Lawrence, in his late interesting work on the Natural History of Man. Rudolphi has lately re-examined the human skin, and declares that there is no such part as the rete mucosum, and that the colour of the different races of the human species is seated in the cuticle.

40. Respiration of Frogs.-It appears, from a series of curious experiments performed by M. Edwards, and detailed in the Annales de Chimie et Physique for January 1819, that frogs, toads, and lizards, are preserved alive and in health under water for weeks, by means of the air contained in the water, which they abstract, not by the lungs but by the skin.

41. Live Lizard imbedded in a Seam of Coal.-In the month of August 1818, when the workmen were sinking a new pit at Mr Fenton's colliery near Wakefield, and had passed through measures of stone, grey buist, blue stone, and some thin beds of coal, to the depth of 150 yards, they came to the seam of coal, about four feet thick, which they proposed to work. After excava ting about three inches of it, one of the miners struck his pick into a crevice, and, having shattered the coal around into small pieces, he discovered a lizard about five inches long. It continued very brisk and lively for about ten minutes, and then drooped and died. See Philosophical Magazine, vol. lii. p. 377.

BOTANY.

42. Amici's Discoveries respecting the Motion of Sap in Vegetables.-M. Amici, professor of mathematics in the University of Modena, has constructed a reflecting microscope, in which the image is formed in one of the conjugate foci of an ellipsoidal speculum. As this instrument gives very distinct vision, it admits of the application of very high magnifying powers, and has enabled M. Amici to make several important discoveries.

One of the most curious of these, relates to the form of the orbit in which the sap circulates in vegetables. He took a small

sap

piece of water mallow, we believe, and having observed the circulate in a sort of elliptical orbit, he formed a ligature between the two extremities of the vegetable stem, so as to prevent the sap from passing through the ligature. The consequence of this obstruction to the motion of the sap, was to make it circulate in two elliptical orbits, one on each side of the ligature. This remarkable experiment was shewn by Mr Amici to His Royal Highness the Archduke Maximilian, from whom we had the honour of receiving the preceding account of it. We believe that its learned author has investigated the subject with much attention, and has printed an account of his researches in the volume of the Memoirs of the Italian Society which is soon expected to reach this country.

IV. GENERAL SCIENCE.

43. Expedition overland from Hudson's Bay to the shores of the Arctic Ocean.-It is known that Government has fitted out two new expeditions for the arctic regions; the one intended for Baffin's Bay, and the other for Hudson's Bay, and the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The Baffin's Bay expedition is to endeavour to complete the survey left unfinished by Captain Ross, and is therefore almost entirely of a maritime nature; while the other is principally a journey on the continent of America. The party to be employed in the American expedition, consists of Lieutenant Franklin, the commanding officer, Dr Richardson of Leith, medical officer and naturalist, two Midshipmen, and two servants; in all six Europeans. They sailed about the 20th of May in one of the Hudson Bay ships, and expect to reach York Factory about the middle of August. On the intelligence they receive at that place, their future proceedings will in some measure depend; and much will no doubt be left to the discretion of the commanding officer. We do not know what his precise instructions are; but we understand that the primary object is to ascertain the north-eastern boundary of the American continent, and from thence to survey the coast to the westward as far as practicable. In prosecution of this object, we believe it is intended that the expedition should endeavour to trace the Copper-mine River to its termination in the Ocean. The prevalent opinion with geographers in England at present is, that this river, instead of running nearly due north, as described by Hearne, trends away to the eastward, and terminates in Re

pulse Bay. Among the arguments brought forward in support of this notion, it is said, that Hearne entirely neglected to take the variation into account; and Lieutenant Franklin is in possession of a chart drawn by Matonnabbee, in which the river at its rising has the direction given to it in Hearne's chart; but afterwards it runs nearly cast, and terminates on the eastern coast, nearly in the situation given to Repulse Bay in the English charts. Matonnabbee's chart is correct in the position of places, and direction of rivers known to the Hudson Bay settlers. There is a probability, then, by tracing this river to its termination, that the expedition may reach near to the north-eastern point of the continent. The expedition expect to embark in canoes, eight or ten days after their arrival at York Factory, and proceed by Cumberland House, Isle à la Crosse, &c. marked in Arrowsmith's map, to Fort Chepewyan, or, if possible, by Slave Lake. If the autumn is favourable, the party hope to reach Fort Cliepewyan before the commencement of winter. The distance of this place from York Factory, by the circuitous route the expedition will be obliged to take, will be about 1400 miles. If circumstances permit, it is intended, after the party become a little inured to the severity of the winter, to endeavour to reach Big Slave Fort, (the most advanced European settlement), before spring. At this place, a party of about twenty Indians, with their wives, will be engaged; and from thence the expedition may be said to comThey will then be left to their own resources, in a country unknown to Europeans; for Hearne's description has added little to the imperfect accounts he collected from the natives.

mence.

Dr Richardson carries with him a variety of philosophical instruments; and we understand the Admiralty have ordered from Mr Adie, for the expedition, two of his portable sympie

someters.

44. Whirlpools, and Subterraneous Passage of the Congo.-In examining the quantity of water which passed over a contracted part of the river Congo, Captain Tuckey, Professor Smith and Mr Fitzmaurice were all surprised at its smallness, compared with the immense volume which rolled into the ocean through its deep funnel-shaped mouth; the more so, as they had previously ascertained, in their progress upwards, that not a single tributary stream of water, sufficient to turn a mill, fell into the

river on either side, between the mouth and the cataract; and they concluded, that the only satisfactory explanation of this remarkable difference in the quantity, was the supposition that a very considerable mass of water must find its way through subterraneous passages under the slate-rocks, disappearing probably where the river first enters these schistose mountains, and forms the narrows, and rising again a little below their termination, at Point Sondie, where the channel begins to widen; and from whence to Lemboo Point, a succession of tornados and whirlpools were observed to disturb the regular current of the river. These whirlpools are described both by Captain Tuckey and Mr Fitzmaurice to be so violent and dangerous, that no vessel could attempt to approach them. Even the eddies occasioned by them were so turbulent, as frequently to resist both sails and oars, turning and twisting the boats round in every direction; and it was with the utmost difficulty that they were extricated without being swamped.

45. Whiteness and luminosity of the Sea.-After passing Cape Palmas, and entering the Gulf of Guinea, Captain Tuckey observed that the sea had a whitish colour, which gradually increased till they made Prince's Island, The luminosity of the sea also increased, so that at night the ship seemed to be sailing on a sea of milk. In order to discover the cause of these appearances, a bag of bunting, having its mouth extended by a hoop, was kept overboard, and by means of it they collected vast numbers of animals of various kinds, particularly pellucid scalpæ, with innumerable little crustaceous animals of the scyl larus genus attached to them, to which Captain Tuckey principally attributed the whitish colour of the water, Thirteen species of cancer were caught, not above one-fourth of an inch long, eight having the shape of crabs, and five that of shrimps. Among these, the Cancer fulgens was conspicuous. When another species was examined by the microscope in candle light, the luminous property was observed to reside in the brain, which, when the animal was at rest, resembled a most brilliant amethyst, about the size of a large pin's head; and from this there darted, when the animal moved, flashes of a brilliant silvery light.-See Captain Tuckey's Narrative, p. 49.

46. Preservation of Fruits by the Carbonic Acid.—M.Dumont, in a letter to Count Chaptal, has announced the important pracVOL, I. NO. I, JUNE 1819.

Р

tical discovery, that fruits may be preserved by means of car bonic acid gas. Cherries, grapes, pears, apples and chesnuts, were placed in glass vessels, filled with carbonic acid gas, obtained from carbonate of lime by sulphuric acid. Neither the colour nor the taste of the cherries were altered at the end of fifteen days; and at the end of six weeks, they were in the same state as if they had been preserved in brandy. The details of these experiments will be found in the Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. Jan. 1819.

47. Raiz Preta, or Black Emetic Root.-The natives in the interior of Brazil use an infusion of the root of a plant, somewhat resembling ipecacuanha, with great effect in the cure of dropsy, and in destroying the dangerous effects produced by the poison of serpents. When taken, it produces vomiting, and afterwards acts most powerfully on the urinary organs, occasioning for five or six days an extraordinary flow of urine. One doze is said to be sufficient for the cure of the bite of serpents, but many are required for the removal of dropsy.

48. Scientific Travellers in Brazil.-It is probably not generally known, that at this moment scientific travellers are traversing all parts of Brazil, under the protection of the Portugueze, and at the expence of the Austrian, Bavarian and Tuscan Governments. On the part of Austria, the following are employed: 1. Professor Mikan for natural history in general, and botany in particular: 2. Dr Pohl as mineralogist: 3. M. Natterer for zoology: 4. M. Schott as gardener: 5. M. Socher as huntsman: 6. M. Ender as landscape-painter. 7. M. Buchberger as botanical painter, and M. Frick as natural history painter. On the part of Bavaria, 1. Dr Spix as zoologist, and 2. Professor Martinus as botanist. On the part of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Dr Radi as naturalist.

V. PRIZE QUESTIONS AND MEDALS.

49. Adjudication of the Copley Medal.-The President and Council of the Royal Society of London have adjudged the Gold Medal on Sir Godfrey Copley's donation, for 1818, to Mr Robert Seppings, for his various improvements in the construction of ships, communicated to the Royal Society, and published in their Transactions.