Front Matter

ADVERTISEMENT. The Committee appointed by the Royal Society to direct the publication of the Philosophical Transactions, take this opportunity to acquaint the Public, that it fully appears, as well from the Council-books and Journals of the Society, as from repeated declarations which have been made in several former Transactions, that the printing of them was always, from time to time, the single act of the respective Secretaries till the Forty-seventh Volume; the Society, as a Body, never interesting themselves any further in their publication, than by occasionally recommending the revival of them to some of their Secretaries, when, from the particular circumstances of their affairs, the Transactions had happened for any length of time to be intermitted. And this seems principally to have been done with a view to satisfy the Public, that their usual meetings were then continued, for the improvement of knowledge, and benefit of mankind, the great ends of their first institution by the Royal Charters, and which they have ever since steadily pursued. But the Society being of late years greatly enlarged, and their communications more numerous, it was thought advisable that a Committee of their members should be appointed, to reconsider the papers read before them, and select out of them such as they should judge most proper for publication in the future Transactions; which was accordingly done upon the 26th of March 1752. And the grounds of their choice are, and will continue to be, the importance and singularity of the subjects, or the advantageous manner of treating them; without pretending to answer for the certainty of the facts, or propriety of the reasonings, contained in the several papers so published, which must still rest on the credit or judgement of their respective authors. It is likewise necessary on this occasion to remark, that it is an established rule of the Society, to which they will always adhere, never to give their opinion, as a Body, upon any subject, either of Nature or Art, that comes before them. And therefore the thanks, which are frequently proposed from the Chair, to be given to the authors of such papers as are read at their accustomed meetings, or to the persons through whose hands they received them, are to be considered in no other light than as a matter of civility, in return for the respect shown to the Society by those communi- cations. The like also is to be said with regard to the several projects, inventions, and curiosities of various kinds, which are often exhibited to the Society; the authors whereof, or those who exhibit them, frequently take the liberty to report and even to certify in the public newspapers, that they have met with the highest applause and approbation. And therefore it is hoped that no regard will hereafter be paid to such reports and public notices; which in some instances have been too lightly credited, to the dishonour of the Society. The Meteorological Journal hitherto kept by the Assistant Secretary at the Apart- ments of the Royal Society, by order of the President and Council, and published in the Philosophical Transactions, has been discontinued. The Government, on the recommendation of the President and Council, has established at the Royal Obser- vatory at Greenwich, under the superintendence of the Astronomer Royal, a Magnet- ical and Meteorological Observatory, where observations are made on an extended scale, which are regularly published. These, which correspond with the grand scheme of observations now carrying out in different parts of the globe, supersede the necessity of a continuance of the observations made at the Apartments of the Royal Society, which could not be rendered so perfect as was desirable, on account of the imperfections of the locality and the multiplied duties of the observer. A List of Public Institutions and Individuals, entitled to receive a copy of the Philosophical Transactions of each year, on making application for the same directly or through their respective agents, within five years of the date of publication. In the British Dominions. The Queen's Library. The Admiralty Library. The Ashmolean Society, Oxford. The Radcliffe Library, Oxford. The Royal Geographical Society. The United Service Museum. The Royal College of Physicians. The Society of Antiquaries. The Linnean Society. The Royal Institution of Great Britain. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts. The Geological Society. The Geological Survey of Great Britain. The Horticultural Society. The Royal Astronomical Society. The Royal Asiatic Society. The Royal Society of Literature. The Medical and Chirurgical Society. The London Institution. The Entomological Society of London. The Zoological Society of London. The Institute of British Architects. The Institution of Civil Engineers. The Cambridge University Philosophical Society. The Literary and Philosophical Society, Manchester. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. The Royal Irish Academy. The Royal Dublin Society. The Royal Institution, Swansea. The Asiatic Society at Calcutta. The Royal Artillery Library at Woolwich. The Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The Observatory at Dublin. The Observatory at Armagh. The Library and Museum, Barbadoes. The Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. The Observatory at Madras. The Observatory at Paramatta. The Observatory at Edinburgh. Denmark. The Royal Society of Sciences at Copenhagen. The Royal Observatory at Altona. France. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Toulouse. The Ecole des Mines at Paris. The Geographical Society at Paris. The Entomological Society of France. The Dépôt de la Marine, Paris. The Geological Society of France. The Jardin des Plantes, Paris. Germany. The University at Göttingen. The Cæsarean Academy of Naturalists at Bonn. The Observatory at Mannheim. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich. Italy. The Institute of Sciences at Naples. The Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts, at Milan. The Italian Society of Sciences at Modena. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Turin. Switzerland. The Société de Phys. et d'Hist. Nat. at Geneva. Belgium. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Brussels. Netherlands. The Royal Institute of Amsterdam. The Batavian Society of Experimental Philosophy at Rotterdam. Spain. The Royal Observatory at Cadiz. Portugal. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon. Prussia. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin. The Society of Experimental Philosophy, Berlin. Russia. The Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. The Imperial Observatory at Pulkowa. Sweden and Norway. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. The Royal Society of Sciences at Drontheim. United States. The American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The American Academy of Sciences at Boston. The Library of Harvard College. The Observatory at Washington. The fifty Foreign Members of the Royal Society., A List of Public Institutions and Individuals, entitled to receive a copy of the Astronomical Observations made at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, on making application for the same directly or through their respective agents, within two years of the date of publication. In the British Dominions. The Queen's Library. The Board of Ordnance. The Royal Society. The Savilian Library, Oxford. The Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. The University of Aberdeen. The University of St. Andrews. The University of Dublin. The University of Edinburgh. The University of Glasgow. The Observatory at Oxford. The Observatory at Cambridge. The Observatory at Dublin. The Observatory at Armagh. The Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. The Observatory at Paramatta. The Observatory at Madras. The Royal Institution of Great Britain. The Royal Society, Edinburgh. The Observatory, Trevandrum, East Indies. The Astronomical Institution, Edinburgh. The President of the Royal Society. The Lowndes Professor of Astronomy, Cambridge. The Plumian Professor of Astronomy, Cambridge. L. Holland, Esq., London. Sir John William Lubbock, Bart. Captain W. H. Smyth, R.N., Chelsea. Sir James South, Observatory, Kensington. In Foreign Countries. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. The Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. The Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. The Royal Society of Sciences at Upsal. The Board of Longitude of France. The University of Göttingen. The University of Leyden. The Academy of Bologna. The American Academy of Sciences at Boston. The American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The Observatory at Altona. The Observatory at Berlin. The Observatory at Breslau. The Observatory at Brussels. The Observatory at Cadiz. The Observatory at Coimbra. The Observatory at Copenhagen. The Observatory at Dorpat. The Observatory at Helsingfors. The Observatory at Königsberg. The Observatory at Mannheim. The Observatory at Marseilles. The Observatory at Milan. The Observatory at Munich. The Observatory at Palermo. The Observatory at Paris. The Observatory at Seeberg. The Observatory at Vienna. The Observatory at Tubingen. The Observatory at Turin. The Observatory at Wilna. The Dépôt de la Marine, Paris. The Bowdoin College, United States. The Library of Harvard College. The Waterville College, United States. List of Observatories, Institutions and Individuals, entitled to receive a Copy of the Magnetic and Meteorological Observations made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. **Observatories.** | Location | Name | |---------------------------|-----------------------------| | Altona | M. Schumacher | | Armagh | Rev. Dr. Robinson | | Berlin | J. F. Encke | | Bombay | Dr. Buist | | Barnaul | M. Prang, Ist. | | Breslau | Prof. Boguslawski | | Brussels | A. Quetelet | | Cadiz | M. Cerquero | | Cairo | M. Lambert | | Cambridge | Prof. Challis | | Cambridge, United States | Prof. Lovering | | Cape of Good Hope | T. Maclear, Esq. | | Catherineburgh | M. Rochkoff | | Christiania | M. Hansteen | | Cincinnati | Dr. Locke | | Copenhagen | M. Oersted | | Dublin | Sir W. R. Hamilton | | Gotha | | | Hammerfest | | | Heidelberg | M. Tiedemann | | Helsingfors | M. Nervander | | Hobarton | Lieut. Kay, R.N. | | Kasan | M. Simonoff | | Kew | F. Ronalds, Esq. | | Königsberg | | | Kremsmünster | Prof. Koller | | Leipsic | Prof. Weber | | Madras | | | Mannheim | | | Marburg | Prof. Gerling | | Milan | M. Carlini | | Munich | Dr. Lamont | | Nertchinsk | M. Prang, 2nd. | | Nikolaieff | Dr. Knorre | | Oxford | M. J. Johnson, Esq. | | Paris | M. Arago | | Pekin | M. Gachkévitche | | Prague | M. Kreil | | Pulkowa | M. Struve | | St. Helena | Capt. Strange, R.A. | | St. Petersburgh | M. Kupffer | | Seeberg | M. Hansen | | Singapore | Capt. C. M. Elliot | | Sitka | Messrs. Homann and Ivanoff | | Location | Name | |---------------------------|-----------------------------| | Stockholm | Prof. Selander | | Teffis | M. Philadelphine | | Toronto | Captain Lefroy, R.A. | | Trevandrum | J. Caldecott, Esq. | | Tubingen | | | Upsal | Prof. Svanberg | | Vienna | C. L. von Littrow | | Warsaw | Col. G. Du Plat (British Consul) | | Washington | Lt. Maury, U.S. Navy | | Wilna | | **Institutions.** | Institution | Type | |---------------------------|------------------------------| | Aberdeen | University | | Berlin | Academy of Sciences | | Bologna | Academy | | Bombay | Geographical Society | | Bonn | University | | Boston | Academy of Sciences | | Bowdoin College | United States | | Bowditch Library | United States | | Cambridge | Trinity College Library | | Cherkow | University | | Dorpat | University | | Dublin | University | | Edinburgh | Observatory | | Edinburgh | Royal Society | | Edinburgh | University | | Glasgow | University | | Göttingen | University | | Harvard, U.S. | College | | Kiew | University | | Leyden | University | | House of Lords, Library | London | | House of Commons, Library | " | | London | King's College | | Royal Institution | | | Royal Society | | | Moscow | University | | Oxford | Savilian Library | | Paris | Academy of Sciences | | Paris | Board of Longitude | | Paris | Dépôt de la Marine | | Philadelphia | Philosophical Society | Queen's Library . . . . . London. Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society . . . . . Falmouth. St. Andrew's . . . . . University. St. Bernard . . . . . Convent. St. Petersburgh . . . . Academy of Sciences. St. Petersburgh . . . . Geographical Society. Stockholm . . . . . Academy of Sciences. Upsal . . . . . Society of Sciences. Waterville, U.S. . . . College Library. Individuals. Bache, Dr. A. D. . . . Washington. Barlow, P. W., Esq. . . Woolwich. Birt, W. H., Esq. . . London. Christie, S. H., Esq. . . Woolwich. Colebrooke, Sir W. . . Guiana. Demidoff, Prince Anatole de Florence. Dove, Prof. . . . Berlin. Erman, Dr. Adolph . . Berlin. Fox, R. W., Esq. . . Falmouth. Gauss, Prof. . . . Göttingen. Gilliss, Lt. J. M., U.S. Navy Washington. Harris, Sir W. Snow . . Plymouth. Holland, L., Esq. . . London. Howard, Luke, Esq. . . Tottenham. Humboldt, Baron von . . Berlin. Kaemtz, M. . . . Halle. Kupffer, A. T. . . St. Petersburgh. Lawson, Henry G., Esq. . Bath. Lloyd, Rev. Dr. . . Dublin. Loomis, Prof. . . Princeton, N.I. Lowndes Prof. of Astronomy Cambridge. Lubbock, Sir John W., Bart. London. Lütke, Vice-Admiral . . St. Petersburgh. Melvill, J. C., Esq. . East India House. Mentchikoff, Prince . . St. Petersburgh. Phillips, John, Esq. . York. Plumian Prof. of Astronomy Cambridge. President of the Royal Society London. Quetelet, A. . . Brussels. Redfield, W. C., Esq. . New York. Reid, Lieutenant-Colonel . London. Riddell, Capt., R.A. . Edinburgh. Roget, P. M., M.D. . London. Sabine, Lieut.-Col., R.A. . Woolwich. Senftenberg, Baron von . Prague. Smyth, W. H., Captain R.N. London. South, Sir James . . Lausanne. Wartmann, Prof. Elie . . St. Petersburgh. Wrangell, Vice-Admiral . Woolwich. Younghusband, Capt., R.A. . Woolwich. ROYAL MEDALS. HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA, in restoring the Foundation of the Royal Medals, has been graciously pleased to approve the following regulations for the award of them: That the Royal Medals be given for such papers only as have been presented to the Royal Society, and inserted in their Transactions. That the triennial Cycle of subjects be the same as that hitherto in operation: viz. 1. Astronomy; Physiology, including the Natural History of Organized Beings. 2. Physics; Geology or Mineralogy. 3. Mathematics; Chemistry. That, in case no paper, coming within these stipulations, should be considered deserving of the Royal Medal, in any given year, the Council have the power of awarding such Medal to the author of any other paper on either of the several subjects forming the Cycle, that may have been presented to the Society and inserted in their Transactions; preference being given to the subjects of the year immediately preceding: the award being, in such case, subject to the approbation of Her Majesty. The Council propose to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1849 for the most important paper in Physics, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1845, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1848, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. The Council propose also to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1849 for the most important paper in Geology or Mineralogy, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1845, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1848, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. MDCCCXLVIII. The Council propose to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1850 for the most important paper in Mathematics, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1846, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1849, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. The Council propose also to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1850 for the most important paper in Chemistry, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1846, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1849, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. The Council propose to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1851 for the most important paper in Astronomy, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1847, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1850, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. The Council propose also to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1851 for the most important paper in Physiology, including the Natural History of Organized Beings, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1847, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1850, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. The Council propose to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1852 for the most important paper in Physics, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1848, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1851, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. The Council propose also to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1852 for the most important paper in Geology or Mineralogy, communicated to the Royal Society after the termination of the Session in June 1848, and prior to the termination of the Session in June 1851, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions. CONTENTS I. The Bakerian Lecture.—Experimental Researches in Electricity.—Twenty-second Series. By Michael Faraday, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S., Fullerian Prof. Chem. Royal Institution, Foreign Associate of the Acad. Sciences, Paris, Ord. Boruss. Pour le Mérite, Eq., Memb. Royal and Imp. Acadd. of Sciences, Petersburgh, Florence, Copenhagen, Berlin, Göttingen, Modena, Stockholm, Munich, Bruxelles, Vienna, Bologna, &c. &c. II. Experimental Researches in Electricity.—Twenty-second Series (continued). By Michael Faraday, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S., Fullerian Prof. Chem. Royal Institution, Foreign Associate of the Acad. Sciences, Paris, Ord. Boruss. Pour le Mérite, Eq., Memb. Royal and Imp. Acadd. of Sciences, Petersburgh, Florence, Copenhagen, Berlin, Göttingen, Modena, Stockholm, Munich, Bruxelles, Vienna, Bologna, &c. &c. III. On the Ganglia and Nerves of the Heart. By Robert Lee, M.D., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London IV. Postscript to a Paper “On the Ganglia and Nerves of the Heart.” By Robert Lee, M.D., F.R.S. V. On the Effect of surrounding Media on Voltaic Ignition. By W. R. Grove, Esq., M.A., V.P.R.S. VI. On the Spontaneous Electrical Currents observed in the Wires of the Electric Telegraph. By W. H. Barlow, Esq., M.Inst. C.E. Communicated by Peter Barlow, Esq., F.R.S. VII. On the Meteorology of the Lake District of Cumberland and Westmoreland; including the results of Experiments on the fall of Rain at various heights above the Earth’s surface, up to 3166 feet above the mean sea level. By John Fletcher Miller, Esq. Communicated by Lieut.-Col. Sabine, For. Sec. R.S. VIII. An Investigation on the Chemical Nature of Wax. By Benjamin Collins Brodie, Esq. Communicated by Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, Bart., F.R.S. &c. IX. On the Structure and Development of the Liver. By C. Handfield Jones, M.D. Communicated by Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bart., F.R.S. X. Minute Structure of the Papillae and Nerves of the Tongue of the Frog and Toad. By Augustus Waller, M.D. Communicated by Richard Owen, Esq., F.R.S., &c. XI. On the Development and Homologies of the Carapace and Plastron of the Chelonian Reptiles. By Professor Owen, F.R.S. &c. ADJUDICATION of the Medals of the Royal Society for the year 1849 by the President and Council. The Copley Medal to Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, F.R.S., "for the eminent services he has rendered to geological science during many years of active observation in several parts of Europe; and especially for the establishment of that classification of the older palaeozoic deposits, designated the Silurian System, as set forth in the two works entitled 'The Silurian System founded on Geological researches in England,' and 'The Geology of Russia in Europe, and the Ural Mountains.'" The Royal Medal in the department of Physics, to Lieut.-Col. Edward Sabine, Foreign Secretary R.S., for his "Contributions to Terrestrial Magnetism," published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1846, Parts VII. and VIII., and his Memoir "On the Diurnal Variation of the Magnetic Declination at St. Helena," Part I., published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1847. The Royal Medal in the department of Geology, to Gideon Algernon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., for his paper "On the Iguanodon," published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1848, being a continuation of a series of papers by him on the same fossil animal, by which he has rendered eminent services to geology. The Bakerian Lecture for 1849 was delivered by Michael Faraday, Esq., F.R.S., and entitled "Experimental Researches in Electricity.—Twenty-second Series. On the crystalline polarity of bismuth and other bodies, and on its relation to the magnetic form of force." CONTENTS XII. Contributions to Terrestrial Magnetism.—No. IX. By Lieut.-Colonel Edward Sabine, R.A., For. Sec. R.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 173 XIII. Contributions to the Chemistry of the Urine.—Paper III. Part I. On the Variations of the Acidity of the Urine in the state of Health. Part II. On the simultaneous Variations of the amount of Uric Acid, and the Acidity of the Urine in the state of Health. Part III. On the Variations of the Sulphates in the state of Health, and on the influence of Sulphuric Acid, Sulphur and Sulphates, on the amount of Sulphates in the Urine. By Henry Bence Jones, M.D., M.A. Cantab., F.R.S., Physician to St. George's Hospital . . . . 235 XIV. Appendix to a paper on the Variations of the Acidity of the Urine in the state of Health. By Henry Bence Jones, M.D., M.A. Cantab., F.R.S., Physician to St. George's Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 XV. Additional Observations on the Osteology of the Iguanodon and Hylæosaurus. By Gideon Algernon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., Vice-President of the Geological Society, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 XVI. On the Reduction of the Thermometrical Observations made at the Apartments of the Royal Society, from the years 1774 to 1781, and from the years 1787 to 1843. By James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Communicated by John Lee, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 XVII. On the Meteorology of the Lake District of Cumberland and Westmoreland; including the results of Experiments on the fall of Rain at various heights, up to 3166 feet above the sea level. By John Fletcher Miller, Esq., F.R.A.S. Communicated by Lieut.-Col. Sabine, For. Sec. R.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 XVIII. Description of an Infusory Animalcule allied to the Genus Notommata of Ehrenberg, hitherto undescribed. By John Dalrymple, F.R.C.S. Communicated by Thomas Bell, Sec. R.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 XIX. On the Motion of Gases.—Part II. By Thomas Graham, Esq., F.R.S., F.C.S., Professor of Chemistry in University College, London; Hon. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, of the Royal Academies of Sciences of Berlin and Munich, of the National Institute of Washington, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 XX. Examination of the proximate Principles of some of the Lichens.—Part II. By John Stenhouse, F.R.S. XXI. On the Structure of the Dental Tissues of Marsupial Animals, and more especially of the Enamel. By John Tomes, Surgeon-Dentist to the Middlesex Hospital. Communicated by R. E. Grant, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology at University College XXII. On the Anatomy and the Affinities of the Family of the Medusæ. By Thomas Henry Huxley, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, now engaged in a Surveying Voyage conducted by Capt. Stanley on the Coasts of Australia and New Guinea. Communicated by the Bishop of Norwich, F.R.S. XXIII. On the Microscopic Structure of the Scales and Dermal Teeth of some Ganoid and Placoid Fish. By W. C. Williamson, Esq. Communicated by Dr. Lankester, F.R.S. XXIV. On the Nitroprussides, a New Class of Salts. By Dr. Lyon Playfair, F.R.S. Index APPENDIX. Presents