Description of a new barometer, recently fixed up in the apart­ments of the Royal Society; with remarks on the mode hitherto pursued at various periods, and an account of that which is now adopted, for correcting the observed height of the mercury in the society’s barometer

The barometer, here alluded to, may in some measure be consi­dered as two separate and independent barometers, inasmuch as it is formed of two distinct tubes dipping into one and the same cistern of mercury. One of these tubes is made of flint glass, and the other of crown glass, with a view to ascertain whether, at the end of any given period, the one may have had any greater chemical effect on the mercury than the other, and thus affected the results. A brass rod, to which the scale is attached, passes through the framework, between the two tubes, and is thus common to both : one end of which is furnished with a fine agate point, which, by means of a rack and pinion moving the whole rod, may be brought just to touch the surface of the mercury in the cistern, the slightest contact with which is immediately discernible; and the other end of which bears the usual scale of inches, tenths, &c.; and there is a separate vernier for each tube. A small thermometer, the bulb of which dips into the mercury in the cistern, is inserted at the bottom : and an eye­piece is also there fixed, so that the agate point can be viewed with more distinctness and accuracy. The whole instrument is made to turn round in azimuth, in order to verify the perpendicularity of the tubes and the scale. It is evident that there are many advantages attending this mode of construction, which are not to be found in the barometers as usu­ally formed for general use in this country. The absolute heights are more correctly and more satisfactorily determined ; and the per­manency of true action is more effectually noticed and secured. For, every part is under the inspection and control of the observer; and any derangement or imperfection in either of the tubes is imme­diately detected on comparison with the other. And, considering the care that has been taken in filling the tubes, and setting off the scale, it may justly be considered as a standard barometer . The pre­sent volume of the Philosophical Transactions will contain the first register of the observations that have been made with this instru­ment.

On the male organs of some of the cartilaginous fishes

In this paper, which is wholly occupied with anatomical details, the author refers to his paper on the Torpedo, which was published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1834; and also to Müller’s work “De Glandularum secernentium structura penitiori,” whose descriptions and views are not in accordance with those given in that paper. In the present memoir he adduces evidence of the accuracy of his former statement, chiefly founded on microscopical observations, and offers some conjectures respecting the functions of several organs found in cartilaginous fishes; but does not pretend to attach undue importance to his speculations.

On the relative attractions of sulphuric acid for water, under particular circumstances: with suggestion of means of improving the ordinary process of manufacturing sulphuric acid

The object of the inquiry detailed in the present paper is to determine at what degree of concentration the affinity of sulphuric acid for aqueous vapour is equal to that of anhydrous space for the same vapour at given temperatures. It has long been known that concentrated sulphuric acid abstracts moisture from the atmosphere, but the amount and the rate of this absorption have never been ascertained with accuracy; and consequently, in applying this acid to purposes of exsiccation, the experimenter has often been at a loss to know whether the acid was sufficiently strong to render the space in which it was confined perfectly anhydrous. By placing portions of the acid, previously weighed, and diluted with known quantities of water, under the receiver of an air-pump, with equal portions of concentrated acid, of the specific gravity 1·8428, in similar dishes, the author ascertained that the dilute acid could be concentrated to the specific gravity 1·814, at a temperature varying from 65° to 57°: whence he concludes that acid of such strength is capable of drying a vacuum when the temperature does not exceed 57°. By making similar experiments in air, the author compared together the weights lost by ten grains of dilute sulphuric acid of the specific gravity 1·135, at three different periods of the day for six days, taking note of the dew-point and the temperature; and infers that when the affinity of space for vapour, or the evaporating force, is equal to 0·15 of an inch of mercury, it is just able to balance the affinity for water of sulphuric acid of the specific gravity 1·249. The author next instituted a series of experiments to ascertain whether the evaporation of water from dilute sulphuric acid is capable of being carried on to the same extent in air as in vacuo, and found that the evaporating force of air exerted upon such acid is less than that of a vacuum at the same temperature. He observes that his experiments offer conclusive evidence that the evaporation of water is not owing to the existence of a chemical affinity between the vapour of the liquid and atmospheric air; but thinks that they favour the notion that the obstruction to this process in the open atmosphere is rather owing to the pressure than to the inertiæ of the particles of air. He is also of opinion that improvements will hereafter arise from this inquiry with regard to the economical management of the process of manufacturing sulphuric acid, which process would be greatly expedited by the regulated admission of steam into the condensing chambers kept at a constant high temperature.

On tho proportions of the prevailing winds, the mean temperature, and depth of rain in the climate of London, computed through a cycle of Eighteen Years, or periods of the Moon’s declination

In this paper the author investigates the periodical variations of the winds, rain and temperature, corresponding to the conditions of the moon’s declination, in a manner similar to that he has already followed in the case of the barometrical variations, on a period of years extending from 1815 to 1832 inclusive. In each case he gives tables of the average quantities for each week, at the middle of which the moon is in the equator, or else has either attained its maximum north or south declination. He thus finds that a north-east wind is most promoted by the constant solar influence which causes it, when the moon is about the equator, going from north to south; that a south-east wind, in like manner, prevails most when the moon is proceeding to acquire a southern declination ; that winds from the south and west blow more when the moon is in her mean degrees of declination, going either way, than with a full north or south declination ; and that a north-west wind, the common summer and fair weather wind of the climate, affects, in like manner, the mean declination, in either direction, in preference to the north or south, and most when the moon is coming north. He finds the average annual depth of rain, falling in the neighbourhood of London, is 25’17 inches.

Researches in embryology. Third series. —Additional ob­servations

Having in the paper to which the present is supplementary made known the fact that the germinal spot in the mammiferous ovum re­solves itself into cells, with which the germinal vesicle becomes filled, the author has since directed his attention to the corresponding parts in the ova of birds, batrachian reptiles, and osseous fishes, which he finds to be the seat of precisely the same changes. The numerous spots in the germinal vesicle of batrachian reptiles and osseous fishes are no other than the nuclei of cells. The cells themselves, from their transparency, are at first not easily discerned, and appear to have hitherto escaped notice; but after the observer has become aware of their presence, they are, in many instances, seen to be ar­ranged in the same manner, and to present the same interior them­selves as the corresponding cells in the ovum of mammalia. In the representations given by Professor Rudolph Wagner, the discoverer of the germinal spot, the author recognizes evidence of the same changes in ova throughout the animal kingdom. He con­firms and explains the observations of R. Wagner, that in the ova of certain animals an originally single spot divides into many, and that in the ova of other animals the number of spots increases as the ovum ripens. But he expresses also the opinion that in all ova there is originally but a single spot, this being the nucleus of the germinal vesicle or cell.

On the respiration of the leaves of plants

The author gives an account of a series of experiments on the products of the respiration of plants, and more particularly of the leaves; selecting, with this view, specimens of plants which had been previously habituated to respire constantly under an inclosure of glass; and employing, for that purpose, the apparatus which he had formerly used in experimenting on the combustion of the diamond, and consisting of two mercurial gasometers, with the addition of two hemispheres of glass closely joined together at their bases, so as to form an air-tight globular receptacle for the plant subjected to experiment. The general conclusions he deduces from his numerous experiments conducted during several years, are, first, that in leaves which are in a state of vigorous health, vegetation is always operating to restore the surrounding atmospheric air to its natural condition, by the absorption of carbonic acid and the disengagement of oxygenous gas: that this action is promoted by the influence of light, but that it continues to be exerted, although more slowly, even in the dark. Secondly, that carbonic acid is never disengaged during the healthy condition of the leaf. Thirdly, that the fluid so abundantly exhaled by plants in their vegetation is pure water, and contains no trace of carbonic acid. Fourthly, that the first portions of carbonic acid gas contained in an artificial atmosphere, are taken up with more avidity by plants than the remaining portions; as if their appetite for that pabulum had diminished by satiety.

Researches on the tides. Twelfth series. On the laws of the rise and fall of the sea’s surface during each tide

The materials of the present investigation are five months’ tide observations made at Plymouth; three months observations made at Liverpool, under the direction of Captain Denham, R. N.; and twelve months’ observations made at Bristol, by Mr. Bunt, by means of his tide-gauge. According to the theory of the tides, the height of the surface of the water at a given place will increase as the sine, while the time increases as the arc. Hence if the time he made the abscissa, and the height the ordinate, the curve representing one tide would be the figure of signs . The author on making the com­parison of the empirical curve of the rise and fall of the water, de­duced from observation, with this theoretical curve, finds a general agreement between them; subject to certain deviations, consisting principally in the empirical curve indicating that both the rise and the fall are not symmetrical, like the theoretical curve, in consequence of the fall being generally more rapid than the rise, and thus occasioning a displacement of the summit of the curve towards that branch of it which corresponds to the fall.

Experimental researches on the elliptic polarization of light

This paper contains an experimental investigation of the phenomena of elliptic polarization resulting from the reflexion of polarized light from metallic surfaces, and the theory on which they are explicable; the analytical results being given in a tabular form, and applied to the cases of the experiments themselves.

On the construction and use of single achromatic eye-pieces, and their superiority to the double eye-piece of Huyghens

The author observes, that experience has shown it to be impracticable to make a telescope even approach to achromatism, by employing the same object-glass with an astronomical, as with a terrestrial eye-piece: for if the focus of the blue rays from the object-glass be thrown forwards, as it must be in order to make it impinge upon the focus of the blue rays of the terrestrial eye-glass, then there will be produced a great over-covrection for the astronomical eye-glass; and vice versa . Hence it appears that the application of Huyghenian eye-pieces to refracting telescopes, is incompatible with the conditions of achromatism, throughout the entire range of magnifying power; and that in reflecting telescopes they unavoidably introduce dispersion, because they are not in themselves achromatic. These defects the author proposes wholly to obviate, by substituting for the Huyghenian eye-pieces, single achromatic lenses of corresponding magnifying power; consisting of the well-known combination of the crown-lens, and its correcting flint-lens, having their adjacent surfaces cemented together; thus avoiding internal reflections, and enabling them to act as a single lens. The achromatic eye-pieces which he uses were made by Messrs. Tulley and Ross, and are of the description usually termed single cemented triples .

Inquiries concerning the elementary laws of electricity

The author states, that it has been his object, in this series of investigations, to perfect the methods of electrical measurement, whether relating to the quantity of electricity, intensity, inductive power, or any other element requiring an exact numerical value, and by operating with large statical forces both attractive and repulsive, to avoid many sources of error inseparable from the employment of extremely small quantities of electricity, such as those affecting the delicate balance used by Coulomb. He then describes some improvements in his hydrostatic electrometer, an instrument already mentioned in his first paper, which, although not available for the measurement of such minute forces as those to which the balance of torsion is applicable, is still peculiarly delicate and well adapted to researches in statical electricity. Its indications depending on the force between two opposed planes operating on each other under given conditions, are reducible to simple laws, and are hence invariable and certain; the attractive force between the discs is not subject to any oblique action, is referable to any given distance, and may be estimated in terms of a known standard of weight. The author next proceeds to the further consideration of the subject of his former papers, viz. the elementary laws of electrical action. He proves, by the following experiments, that induction invariably precedes, or at least accompanies attraction and repulsion. A circular disc of gilded wood, about six inches in diameter, is suspended by an insulating thread of varnished silk from a delicate balance; a delicate electroscope is attached to this disc, and the whole is counterpoised by a weight. A similar disc insulated on a glass rod, and having also an electroscope attached to it, is placed at any convenient distance immediately under the former. One of the lower discs being charged with either electricity and the other remaining insulated and neutral, the electroscope of the neutral disc begins to rise, whilst that of the charged disc, already in a state of divergence, tends to collapse: when these respective effects ensue, the suspended disc descends the charged disc. Two inductive actions are indicated in this experiment, the one the author considers to be a direct induction, the other a reflected induction.