scholarly journals IX. On the conversion of the substance of a bird into a hard fatty matter. In a letter from Thomas Sneyd, Esq. to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. P. R. S

1792 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 197-198
Keyword(s):  
Great Part ◽  
Original Structure ◽  
Fatty Matter ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
General Appearance

Sir, I Take the liberty of sending you two or three pieces of a bird whose substance has been converted into a hard fatty matter, which I found at the head of a fish pool, where a small brook runs into it, lying under water upon the mud. When first taken out, it was almost entire, and had several feathers sticking in different parts of the skin, which have since fallen out; a little down, however, still adheres to the smaller specimen. From the size, and general appearance of the bird, I conjectured it to be a duck, or young goose; but before I had time to give it a particular examination, it was unfortunately broken in pieces, and the greatest part destroyed. The skin in the piece which was saved is of different thicknesses, in some parts a full quarter of an inch; it has retained its original structure exactly, but is in great part separated from the flesh, though both of them are now composed of the same fat matter. This substance resembles spermaceti in its consistence' between the teeth, but has neither taste nor smell; it melts in a small heat, and when congealed again, becomes more solid, and looks like wax; in a greater heat it burns, and emits a strong animal smell. As I never heard or perceived that the water in which this bird lay has any particular property, I am inclined to think that it has undergone this singular change while buried in the mud, and that the brook had afterwards washed it up, and carried it into this pool. I am sorry that the specimen and my account of this singular metamorphosis are so imperfect. The analogy which the case bears to the change of human bodies, observed by M. Fourcroy * in the Cemetery des Innocents , is my chief reason for offering them to you; and if they should be deemed worthy of the notice of the illustrious Society over which you preside, you are at liberty to present them.

scholarly journals On the Geology of the Beaufort and Ebbw Vale District of the South Wales Coal-Field

The Geologist ◽  
1858 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
George Phillips Bevan
Keyword(s):  
Bituminous Coal ◽  
Health It ◽  
Coal Field ◽  
The South ◽  
Great Demand ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Burning Coal ◽  
Coal Measures ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
General Appearance

In my former paper I endeavoured to describe the general appearance and characteristics of the limestone, millstone grit, and Pennant rocks of this coal-field, and shall now proceed to give a brief outline of the coal measures themselves and their fossil contents. As I stated before, the character of the coal is materially different in different parts of the basin; for instance, if a line be drawn from Merthyr to the sea in a south-western direction, it will divide the basin into two unequal portions, the eastern one containing bituminous coal, and the western the anthracite. I do not mean to say that there is an exact line of demarcation between the two kinds of coal, but merely that such a boundary will seem to show pretty well where the two qualities pass into one another. Curiously enough, too, in the western or anthracite portion the seams are anthracitic in the northern bassets, while the southern outcrops of the same veins are bituminous. The anthracite is now in very great demand; but, formerly, people would have nothing to do with it, and there was even a law passed to prevent its being burned in London, on account of its supposed noxious qualities, and the idea that it was detrimental to health. It differs from the bituminous coal principally in containing more carbon, less bituminous matter, and less ashes; and, as a consequence, is a much cleaner-burning coal. We may, however, dismiss the anthracite, as this portion of the field is destitute of it.

scholarly journals Preliminary report on the Purbeck characeæ

1916 ◽  
Vol 89 (615) ◽  
pp. 252-256 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Great Part ◽  
The Other ◽  
Enormous Amount ◽  
Standing Up ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
New Material ◽  
Etched Surface ◽  
Working Out ◽  
Different Parts

When we applied for a grant to aid in the working out of the Purbeck fossil Characeæ , we thought it was only a question of studying the anomalous structure of one, or perhaps of two, species, of which we had already gathered together a number of silicified specimens. It was thought that by polishing a large number of surfaces, or cutting slides of this cherty material, we should discover the links connecting the different parts of the plant. Further visits to Dorset provided, however, an enormous amount of new material, and the discovery of similar remains in a hard, close-grained limestone opened up new and better methods of research. The silicified Characeæ showed in section curious structures, so mineralised and so difficult to interpret, that it was most desirable to obtain specimens in the round, in order better to study their anatomy. This the calcareous blocks enabled us to do, though, on the other hand, some of the chert specimens preserved delicate non-calcified structures which were missing in the limestone. On treating some of the limestone blocks with a steady drip of slightly acidulated water, the results were so surprising that we determined to devote most of the amount granted to the work of cutting all the more promising blocks into a series of thin slabs. Numerous slices were cut, and one side oi each was then subjected for many hours to the drip. Most of the blocks proved to be partially and irregularly silicified, others were more or less dolomitised, a few were partly impregnated with a brown hydrocarbon. The drip rapidly attacked the pure calcite parts of the matrix and also the crystalline fossils, such as the mollusca, leaving the mineralised areas standing up. This, of course, was what one would expect. But more remarkable was the discovery that a great part of the characeous remains were not now pure calcite. Though not visibly different from the matrix they are so mineralised as to resist the acid and to stand out in bold relief from the etched surface of the slab of limestone. We have even been able completely to remove fruits and stems from the matrix, though, as a rule too long a continuance of the acid drip does at last affect the fossils, and it if better to let well alone when a specimen shows in sufficient relief.

scholarly journals XXL.—On the Anatomy of Ocnerodrilus (Eisen)

1892 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank E. Beddard
Keyword(s):  
Living Condition ◽  
Small Species ◽  
Present Communication ◽  
Fresno County ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
General Appearance

The worms which form the subject of the present communication were forwarded to me, in a living condition, from Kew Gardens.I have received lately a considerable number of living Oligochæta from those Gardens, through the kindness of Mr Dyer, who permitted me to have the earth arriving from different parts of the world in the Wardian cases, in which plants are packed for travelling, thoroughly sifted, with a view to preserving the worms which had been accidentally included. By these means I have succeeded in obtaining some very interesting new forms, as well as a number of others which are still imperfectly known. The species which I describe in the present paper appears to be a new species of Eisen's genus Ocnerodrilus. The genus Ocnerodrilus was formed by Eisen in 1878 [1] for a small worm found in Fresno County, California. The specimens were all met with in “an irrigation box,” where they were found crawling among the algæ which covered the boards. It is evidently, therefore, aquatic in its habits, but Eisen contrasts its slow movements with the rapid swimming of Lumbriculus and Rhynchelmis, comparing it in general appearance with a small species of Lumbricus.

The Cruck-Built Barn of Frocester Court Farm, Gloucestershire, England

1983 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-237
Author(s):  
F. W. B. Charles ◽  
Walter Horn
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Vertical Position ◽  
Original Structure ◽  
Masonry Walls ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Full Height ◽  
General Appearance

Structural analysis, supported by radiocarbon and tree-ring measurements, discloses that the timbered roof of the great Tithe Barn of Frocester, in Gloucestershire, England, does not date-as formerly believed-from the time of John de Gamages, abbot of the Monastery of St. Peter's in Gloucester (1284-1306), but is a postmedieval reconstruction of the original roof that perished in a fire early in the 16th century. On the other hand, the masonry walls from which this roof rises are those of the original structure. In medieval cruck construction the roof-supporting trusses were fully assembled on the ground (or in the case of "raised" crucks as in Frocester, on temporary platforms erected for that purpose) and from there reared into vertical position with the aid of pullies and ropes. The walls from which these trusses rose were brought to their full height only after this was done. The analysis of the roof of Frocester tells us a lot about the difficulties postmedieval builders encountered in this type of construction when facing the task of inserting the timbers of a new roof individually from above into an already completed system of walls. Although erected in a wholly unmedieval manner, the postmedieval roof of Frocester, however, may in design and general appearance be a literal copy of the original roof. In medieval England the cruck-truss found its densest distribution in territories settled primarily by Celtic peoples (west and Midlands). Its elegant curvilinearity was of special attraction to the Celtic mind. In the Lowlands with their overwhelming Anglo-Saxon and Norman population, the great aisled barns and halls of the Middle Ages were built in straight timbers in the traditional form of their continental homelands.

scholarly journals III. On the tidal currents on the west coast of Scotland

1867 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 42-46 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
West Coast ◽  
Great Part ◽  
Tidal Currents ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Channel ◽  
The West ◽  
Slack Water ◽  
Tidal Stream ◽  
The Times ◽  
Different Parts

The tidal currents on that part of the west coast of Scotland which is comprised between the Mull of Cantyre and the Island of Mull run in general with great velocity. Their velocity, direction, and the time of their change, or of slack water, are therefore matters of great importance to navigators. On the other hand, the rise and fall of the tide is so small, and the depth of water in the channels and the harbours so considerable, that the times of high and low water are of comparatively small import­ance. While the laws of the currents are thus of more importance than the laws of the rise and fall of the tide, they are also much more simple. The times of high and low water are very different at different parts of the oast, while the times of slack water are nearly the same throughout the whole region in question. In a great part of this region the current, which sets for six hours in one direction, has no distinct title to be considered either a flood tide or an ebb tide. The consequence is, that to describe the laws of the currents by reference to the time of high and low water, introduces great and unnecessary complexity. The application to the currents of the method first applied by Admiral Beechey to the tidal stream of the English Channel and German Ocean (Phil. Trans. 1851, p. 703) introduces at once order and simplicity, and makes that intelligible which before was only a confused maze.

scholarly journals XV.—Excavations at Caerwent, Monmouthshire, on the Site of the Romano-British, City of Venta Silurum, in the year 1904.

Archaeologia ◽  
1905 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ashby
Keyword(s):  
Present Report ◽  
Great Part ◽  
The West ◽  
West Side ◽  
The Road ◽  
Considerable Depth ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
Large House

The excavations of 1904, with which the present report deals, were in some respects the most difficult which the Committee has had to conduct at Caerwent. In the first place, the large house which appeared rather unexpectedly on the west side of the road leading to the newly discovered south gate had been reconstructed several times in its different parts, the periods not beiitg always clearly distinguishable, and in the second place, owing to the considerable depth at which a great part of the house lay, the excavations were so protracted that both time and money began to fail, the latter owing to a most disappointing falling off in the number of our subscribers, so that, had it not been for the timely help of two Fellows of the Society, Lord Tredegar and Lord Llangattock, it would have been necessary to begin the filling in before many important problems had been solved; and even as it is, we are not able to say that the exploration has been, in certain points of detail, as complete as we could have wished.

Crystalline order to a resolution of 4.7 A in the sheath of Methanospirilium hungatii: A cross-beta structure

1984 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 214-215
Author(s):  
Murray Stewart ◽  
T.J. Beveridge ◽  
D. Sprott
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Uranyl Acetate ◽  
Optical Diffraction ◽  
Tube Axis ◽  
Basic Subunit ◽  
Beta Structure ◽  
Diffraction Patterns ◽  
Protein Treatment ◽  
General Appearance

The archaebacterium Methanospirillum hungatii has a sheath as part of its cell wall which is composed mainly of protein. Treatment with dithiothreitol or NaOH released the intact sheaths and electron micrographs of this material negatively stained with uranyl acetate showed flattened hollow tubes, about 0.5 μm diameter and several microns long, in which the patterns from the top and bottom were superimposed. Single layers, derived from broken tubes, were also seen and were more simply analysed. Figure 1 shows the general appearance of a single layer. There was a faint axial periodicity at 28.5 A, which was stronger at irregular multiples of 28.5 A (3 and 4 times were most common), and fine striations were also seen at about 3° to the tube axis. Low angle electron diffraction patterns (not shown) and optical diffraction patterns (Fig. 2) from these layers showed a complex meridian (as a result of the irregular nature of the repeat along the tube axis) which showed a clear maximum at 28.5 A, consistent with the basic subunit spacing.

Cytoplasmic Organization in the Receptor Cells of the Crista Ampullaris

1972 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 60-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Fine Particles ◽  
Apical Cell ◽  
Apical Region ◽  
Receptor Cells ◽  
Cuticular Plate ◽  
Morphological Organization ◽  
Crista Ampullaris ◽  
Cytoplasmic Organization ◽  
High Degree ◽  
General Appearance

Receptor cells of the cristae in the vestibular labyrinth of the bullfrog, Rana catesbiana, show a high degree of morphological organization. Four specialized regions may be distinguished: the apical region, the supranuclear region, the paranuclear region, and the basilar region.The apical region includes a single kinocilium, approximately 40 stereocilia, and many small microvilli all projecting from the apical cell surface into the lumen of the ampulla. A cuticular plate, located at the base of the stereocilia, contains filamentous attachments of the stereocilia, and has the general appearance of a homogeneous aggregation of fine particles (Fig. 1). An accumulation of mitochondria is located within the cytoplasm basal to the cuticular plate.

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