The sample of the remarkable deposit of Diatomite, upon which the subjoined observations have been made, was forwarded to me some time ago by William Morrison, Esq., of the Academy, Dingwall, through my friend Mr John Gunn. With the exception of a brief notice in the newspapers soon after the discovery of the deposit by Mr Morrison a few months ago, and a paper entitled “On some New Localities for the Mineral Diatomite, with Notes on the Chemical Composition of the Specimens exhibited,” in the Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society, vol. vii. No. 32, pp. 30–34, July 1886, by W. Ivison Macadam, F.C.S., F.I.C., Professor of Chemistry, New Veterinary College, Edinburgh, no statistics have been published in connection with the deposit, nor has any account hitherto been given of the Diatomaceœ which play so prominent a part in its composition.

The discoverer of Nova Aurigæ is the Rev Thomas D. Anderson of Edinburgh, D.Sc. in Classical Philology. Dr Anderson is “almost certain” that he saw the star at 2 a.m. on January 24 of this year; it was then slightly brighter than χ Aurigæ. Unfortunately, he mistook it for 26 Aurigæ, which it precedes by about 6m 39s, merely remarking to himself that the star was brighter than he had previously thought it to be. Twice in the following week he made the same observation at about the same hour of the night. At last, on the morning of January 31, it flashed upon him that, after all, the star was not 26 Aurigæ, and that 26 Aurigæ had a much greater right ascension. He consulted a small star-map, and the discovety was made. Regretting that he had not earlier compared the map with the heavens, and thinking that the star might be well known to astronomers, Dr Anderson wrote an anonymous postcard to me on the same morning bearing the words:—“Nova in Auriga. In Milky Way, about two degrees south of χ Aurigæ, preceding 26 Aurigæ. Fifth magnitude, slightly brighter than χ.” I may add that Dr Anderson's plant consists of a small hand spyglass adapted to astronomical purposes by removing the front pair of lenses from the eyepiece. In this state it magnifies about ten times, and, of course, gives inverted images. Dr Anderson hopes that amateurs, although provided with only the most modest appliances, may, by his unexpected success, be induced to persevere in their observations.

Sir George Mackenzie having already given a paper, entitled, “An Account of some Geological Facts observed “in the Faroe Islands,” it may be necessary to explain why our communications were not combined in one. This was simply owing to our objects being in some measure dissimilar. He was anxious to compare the facts presented in a country decidedly volcanic, with those in a trap district, where no traces of a volcano were to be discovered; consequently, his observations were confined to particular facts: whereas my object is to describe, without relation to theory, whatever appeared to me interesting in a geological point of view.

1. On the 17th January 1831, Mr Arthur Trevelyan communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh a paper, entitled “Notice regarding some phenomena observed during the Cooling of certain Metals placed in contact with Lead.” This was the first account published of the remarkable discovery made by that gentleman, of a most curious class of phenomena, which till then was unknown to the scientific world. This paper was afterwards published, with some additions, in the 12th volume of the Transactions of that body, under the title of “Notice regarding some Observations on the Vibrations of Heated Metals.”

2. Mr Trevelyan had, in February 1829, first observed the phenomena just alluded to, which consist in certain tremulous motions accompanied by sounds, often highly musical, excited in many metals while hot, placed in contact with lead or tin, at a lower temperature.

In a recent paper published by the authors, some measurements of the viscosity of aqueous solutions indicated that it would be of interest to investigate more fully the viscosity of solutions, especially those which exhibit what is now generally known as “negative viscosity,” over a wider range of temperature.

This has now been done to a certain extent, and to enable a comparison to be made between electrolytes and non-electrolytes in aqueous solution, some other substances have been included in the investigation. They are:—potassium chloride, potassium chlorate, ammonium iodide, potassium ferricyanide, potassium ferrocyanide; mercuric chloride, mercuric cyanide; carbamide.

At the base of the wings of Anopheles maculipennis, Meig, is a small quadrilateral area (fig. 2, Plate) which has escaped the notice of the systematist, since the nervures in which he is interested lie almost entirely beyond the area in question, and which has escaped the notice of the morphologist, because it presents to him but a confused outline of meaningless ridges and intervening depressions of no structural importance. If, however, the well-preserved wing of a mosquito, whilst still attached to the thorax, be examined, a very curious apparatus can be made out, lying across the centre of the said quadrilateral area which is bounded posteriorly by the alula. This apparatus lies at about equal distances from the anterior and the posterior edge of the wing, and divides the base of the wings roughly into two halves.

On July 20th, 1891, I communicated to the Society a short note on the effect of longitudinal magnetisation on the interior volume of iron and nickel tubes (see Proceedings, 1890–91, pp. 315–7). These earliest results of observation of a new and interesting phenomenon in magnetic strains were obtained during my last few months' residence in Japan. In following out the lines of research therein suggested, I have been fortunate in having had placed at my disposal by Professor Tait the resources of the Physical Laboratory of Edinburgh University. I desire here to record my great indebtedness to him for the interest he has taken in the work, and for his many helpful suggestions. In surmounting the many experimental difficulties met with at every turn, I had the invaluable co-operation of Mr A. Shand, a senior student in the Physical Laboratory. Various results obtained since 1892 have been communicated in short notes from time to time (see Proceedings, 1891–2, pp. 85–88, 249–252; 1893–4, pp. 295–7; 1894–5, pp. 334–5; see also B. A. Reports, 1892 and 1893); but it was not possible to regard these as altogether satisfactory. It was only in May of last year (1895) that the many sources of error were finally got rid of, and the apparatus perfected. The present paper deals entirely with the results obtained since then. In these later experiments I was ably assisted by Mr A. C. Smith, a student in the Physical Laboratory.

In May 1891 I communicated a paper to this Society “On a Method of Observing and Counting the Number of Water Particles in a Fog,” and in July of the same year a paper “On the Solid and Liquid Particles in Clouds.” One conclusion to which the observations contained in these papers pointed was, that there existed a relation between the thickness or density in clouds and fogs and the number of water particles present. Though the figures did not show that this relation was very close, yet in all the fogs and clouds tested there was a rough relation between the thickness of the air and the number of water particles observed.

The observations which form the basis of this paper were made on newly-born children with the object of determining whether their temperature differed from that of the adult, and if so, how and to what extent. They were made during a recent residence in the Edinburgh Maternity Hospital, with the full sanction of the attending physician, Dr Charles Bell. The thermometers used were Casella's straight self-registering. The rectum was the part chosen for the insertion of the instrument. The utmost expedition was used in ligaturing the cord, and separating the child from its mother. This being effected, the bulb of the thermometer was at once introduced into the rectum, and the child was wrapped in flannel, and committed to the charge of a nurse, who held the instrument steadily in situ. In five minutes it was removed, and the temperature noted. The observations were repeated every fifteen minutes during the first hour, every thirty minutes during the second and third hours, and then every hour up till the sixth hour after birth; after that at wider intervals up to twenty-four hours; and then only twice a day between ten and eleven in the morning, and between six and seven in the evening.

Long after the arts of ancient Greece and Rome had been lost, and before any effectual attempt was made to revive them, a style of building, known among us by the name of Gothic Architecture, began to appear in Europe.

At first, a few only of its peculiar forms were employed, which, in some old buildings, are to be met with, intermixed with the remains of a still more ancient style. Afterwards, rising by degrees into favour, it supplanted, in all the departments of architecture, every other species of design, and maintained an unrivalled dominion during three hundred years.

The history of the organic bases has now become as ardent an object of study among chemists as that of the as yet far more numerous group of acids; and it is generally admitted that the information obtained has been no less important and interesting. Of all organic alkaloids, those of opium and the cinchona barks doubtless occupy the first rank, whether we regard their value as remedial agents, or the remarkable facts which have been ascertained connected with their atomic relations, and the influence exerted by the latter, upon the theory of the science.

Several of my friends have suggested to me the propriety of publishing something of the kind now offered to the Society, observing, that the great brevity with which the Antecedental Calculus is written, and the very concise form in which it is delivered to the public, may lead some to form erroneous opinions respecting the principles on which it is founded. In compliance partly with their request, I have drawn up this short paper, which I hope will remove even the possibility of misconception on that head, and convince every intelligent reader, that the antecedental calculus has the same geometrical principles for its ground-work, that the formulæ in the Universal Comparison themselves have, from which I originally derived it more than twenty years ago.

The custom which this Society has established, of giving some account of the lives of its deceased members, is in every case gratifying to friendship, in many interesting to curiosity, but in those which serve to record the pursuits and occupations of men of letters, it is more strictly and properly an object coming within the views of a literary institution. The history of the authors is always in a great degree the history of the literature of a country; and even exclusive of an immediate relation to their works, the narrative of their private and domestic habits is often, in a moral point of view, useful and interesting to the scholar and the author. In both these respects, I may claim the attention of the Society to the following short account of the life and writings of our late worthy colleague, Mr William Tytler.

Musket-Bullets are occasionally found inclosed in ivory, and every anatomical museum contains specimens of this kind. Why bullets should be so frequently met with in this situation, it is not easy to say; the head of the animal appears to be generally aimed at, and foreign bodies when they enter the tusks, instead of being removed in the usual manner, are retained by the process, an investigation of which is to form the subject of the present paper.

1. A compass needle, although freely suspended, will not always point with accuracy in the direction of the magnetic meridian, for its magnetic axis may not be strictly parallel to its axis of figure; and hence, when a rigidly exact value of the magnetic declination is required, it is necessary to take the mean of at least two observations of the needle, first, in its usual position, and next, inverted. Some time ago it occurred to me that the declination obtained in the manner now described, will only be approximately correct, unless the inversion is accomplished with perfect accuracy; and I wished to ascertain the greatest residual error which, in given circumstances, is likely to affect the mean of two observations of a magnet, first in an erect, and then in an inverted position. I failed, however, to find any allusion to such errors in those works on magnetism to which I had access; and I was therefore obliged to investigate the subject for myself.

At the close of the preceding session, the Council of the Society did me the honour of entrusting me with the chemical examination of several articles sent not long ago to the Society by Mr Swinton, Secretary to Government at Calcutta. The articles in question are, 1. Specimens of the black varnish used in different parts of Hindostan and the Burmese territories, with specimens of the juices of which these varnishes are said to be compounded; 2. Specimens of naphtha from Persia, and of petroleum from Rangoon; 3. Specimens of wood-oil, a variety of fluid turpentine; 4. Specimens of crude caoutchouc, and of solutions of it in wood-oil.

The only one of these articles which has hitherto yielded results of such interest as to induce me to lay them before the Society, is the petroleum of Rangoon, which appears to contain a compound inflammable principle hitherto unknown.

This investigation on the morphology of the Fore-brain or Prosencephalon of Elasmobranchii was suggested to me by Professor G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S., and I am indebted to him for introducing me to an interesting if somewhat difficult and perplexing subject. A glance at the literature on the morphology of the prosencephalon will readily convince one of two things—firstly, of the endless field for work in endeavouring to ascertain the true homologies of the neurone areas and fibre tracts in the brain throughout the Phylum Vertebrata; and secondly, of the somewhat unnecessary obstacles which have been introduced into the problem by the more recent additions to a terminology, already overburdened and encumbered, of new terms for equivalent parts. It would appear to be very advantageous if mutual agreement could be arrived at among workers on this subject regarding the use of descriptive terms, and, if such is at present impracticable, that each new worker should refrain as far as possible from applying a new term to a structure already previously described. In one case, namely, that of the tuberculum olfactorium, five different terms have apparently been applied to the same area.