Dr Fleming read a paper, entitled “Remarks on certain grooved surfaces of Rock in Arthur's Seat.” He referred, in the first instance, to the surface of the bed of porphyry, known as the Bog Crag, and contiguous to the Hunter's Bog; and shewed, from the directions of the markings being neither parallel to the valley, nor the neighbouring cliff, that they could not be the result of glacial, diluvial, or iceberg action, but were probably caused by the sliding of the contiguous beds at their upheaval; and this view he considered strengthened by the state of the detritus of the cliff of the Well Crag. He then took notice of a grooved surface of basalt, contiguous to a singular trough to the east of St Anthony's Well, but which might have been produced either by glacial or diluvial action.

“A laudable usage was formerly more prevalent in this Society than it is at present, of recording the merits and services of persons who have conferred honour upon it by the one, or rendered themselves its benefactors by the other. Some very elaborate biographies have thus been communicated; but, in the old “History of the Society” (to which our published “Proceedings” are in some degree parallel), numerous short notices are to be found of a kind imposing less labour on the biographer, and admitting of more extensive application than the larger memoirs just alluded to. In the hope that such notices may be more frequently contributed, I beg now to offer, within the short compass in which the very limited materials now at my disposal enable me to condense my task, a brief notice of the Life of the late Sir John Robison, whose most energetic efforts were, for many years, constantly directed to the promotio of the welfare of this Society; a circumstance which seems to call for more specific notice than was comprised in the thanks and acknowledgment voted by the Society during his lifetime, and which naturally devolves upon me the duty of drawing it up, not only as his successor in office, but as having enjoyed his friendship, and having been, on several occasions, indebted to him, in no common degree, for personal kindness.

A sheet of paper being stretched tightly across a flat frame, if fine iron filings be dusted uniformly over it, and a fine pointed sewing needle, magnetised to saturation, held vertically, be moved below it, the point being kept at a short distance from the paper, the motion of the needle-point will be indicated by a fine line of filings which, attracted by the magnet, separate themselves from the homogeneous dust around. The fineness of this line will depend on the sharpness of the needle point, and the smallness of the particles of iron; the distance of the point from the paper will depend on the strength of the magnet, and the smoothness of the surface on which the particles lie. In some experiments already made, lines have been obtained as fine as could be produced by the sharpest pointed pencil, and this with a portion only of a small sewing needle. It will require a more extensive series of experiments to determine the best size for the magnet, and the best kind of paper for the filings. The particles of iron having a certain weight, are not easily shaken from their position if moderate care be taken.

In a verbal notice of researches into the nature of the thyroid, thymus, and suprarenal bodies, Mr Goodsir stated that these three anomalous organs, situated respectively in the neck, chest, and abdomen, are in the embryo connected together in the form of two continuous masses, one on each side of the spine, from the base of the cranium to the origin of the omphalo-mesenteric arteries. The first or abdominal portion of each of these masses, grouped around the origins of the omphalo-mesenteric arteries, become the supra-renal capsules. The middle or thoracic portions, situated in the lateral parts of the thorax, where the lungs, at this period in the middle line, are afterwards to be, pass forwards to give place to the latter, and unite across the front of the pericardium, and become the thymus gland.

The author, in this communication, referred, in the first instance, to the three species of Lamelliferous Polyparia, described in his “British Animals,” Edin., 1828, exhibiting specimens of the Caryophyllea cyathus, and Turbinolia borealis of that work, together with a characteristic drawing, by the late Mrs Hibbert, of the Pocillopora interstincta, there alluded to as a native of the Zetland seas. He then exhibited a specimen, six pounds in weight, of the Madrepora prolifera of Müller, which was found last summer by fishermen, their lines having become entangled with it, in the sea between the islands of Rum and Egg. This species was known to Pontoppidan, as a native of the Norwegian seas, and is now ascertained to be a native of the Hebrides.

The objects of this paper were, first, to vindicate the use of the term affinity, and assert the principle which that term is intended to express, viz., that in living bodies ordinary chemical affinities undergo a certain change or modification, either by the addition of affinities peculiar to the living state, or the suspension of some of those which act elsewhere; and, secondly, to attempt, from a review of facts recently ascertained, an exposition of the laws, according to which these modifications of ordinary chemical affinities take place, and a discrimination of those changes in living bodies, which may be ascribed to them.

The author found that the bones of animals lately disinterred in the course of the new drive, contained ⅛ of the quantity of gelatine common in recent bones.

This comet attracted much attention from its excessive brightness at and near its perihelion passage, as well as from the length and form of its tail. The drawings were intended to represent these particulars, and the changes which occurred during the time that the comet remained visible from the Cape Observatory.

It was seen for a short time, but not generally, before the perihelion passage, which took place on the 27th February 1843; and it ceased to be visible by the naked eye towards the end of March, though it could be discerned with the telescope till the 19th April.

In this paper, Dr Wardrope states that he has endeavoured to shew, by a series of observations and experiments, that the muscles, besides being the active organs of motion, perform, by their contractions, an important office in the circulation of the arterial as well as venous blood; an office which has not hitherto been described by physiologists, but which appears to be capable of explaining several interesting phenomena in the living body, of which no satisfactory account has yet been given.

Mr Clerk Maxwell ingeniously suggests the extension of the common theory of the foci of the conic sections to curves of a higher degree of complication in the following manner:—

(1.) As in the ellipse and hyperbola, any point in the curve has the sum or difference of two lines drawn from two points or foci = a constant quantity, so the author infers, that curves to a certain degree analogous, may be described and determined by the condition that the simple distance from one focus plus a multiple distance from the other, may be = a constant quantity; or more generally, m times the one distance + n times the other = constant.

After a preliminary reference to the existence of fluorine in recent and fossil bones, Dr Wilson stated that he had made a series of experiments with a view to discover what solvent carried fluoride of calcium into the tissues of plants and animals. His first trials were made with carbonic acid, which was passed in a current through water containing pure fluor-spar in fine powder suspended in it. The fluor was by this treatment dissolved, yielding a solution which precipitated oxalate of ammonia, and when evaporated left a residue which, on being heated with sulphuric acid, gave off hydrofluoric acid.

The author, after alluding to the investigations of the oily bases in coal tar, by Hoffmann, who had failed in obtaining Runge's pyrrol, stated, that in searching for that substance among the more volatile products of the distillation of coal-tar, he had been enabled to confirm its existence in small quantity, as well as that of the new base to which he has given the name of picoline.

Mr Milne stated, that, in the gully situated between Arthur Seat and Sampson's Ribs, a great extent of rock had been recently exposed (by the removal of clay and other superficial deposits) which was found to be smoothed as well as furrowed or scratched.

The gully is about 30 feet wide, at the lowest level to which it has been hollowed out, and at one part, both of its sides are composed of these smoothed furrowed rocks; but, in general, it is only on one side, viz., that next to Arthur Seat, that rock exists. There, the appearances of smoothing and rutting extend for about 80 yards.

The following results are deduced from the observations of the balance or vertical force magnetometer described in the Introduction to the Makerstoun Observations. The observations were corrected for temperature by a method previously described.

(1.) Dr Fleming read the following passage from Townson's “Tracts and Observations in Natural History,” Edin. 1799, when treating of the “Rocks in the Vicinity of Edinburgh:”—“The first of the chains or ranges of rocks that I lately described, as lying at the back of Salisbury Crags, extends from Arthur Seat to St Anthony's chapel. It is composed of basalt and sandstone, neither of which are like the whin and sandstone of Salisbury Crags. The basalt is the same as that near Duddingston Loch.

Professor Hansteen first shews, that the remarkable difference of 1·62 French lines, by which the barometer reduced to the level of the sea, is higher at Paris than at Christiania, cannot be ascribed solely to the effect of the difference of gravity of the mercury in the barometer at the two places. The author then gives an empirical formula to represent the mean height of the barometer in any latitude which he compares with observations.

Dr Wilson stated, that the object of his communication was to supplement a paper read to the Royal Society, April 6, 1846, on the solubility of fluoride of calcium in water. He was not then able to state the extent of its solubility in that liquid, but he has since ascertained the weight of the salt in question, which water at 60° can dissolve. The solutions referred to in the following statements were prepared from native well-crystallized fluor-spar. This was first digested in warm dilute aqua regia, to remove any trace of metallic oxides, soluble lime-salts, or other foreign matters, and afterwards carefully washed till it exhibited no acid reaction. Distilled water was then boiled on the purified fluor till it became saturated; the solution filtered whilst warm, and left at rest for some days in stoppered bottles, at a temperature of about 60°, till it deposited the excess of salt soluble above that temperature. It was then filtered a second time. A certain volume of this solution, measured at 60°, was evaporated to dryness on the vapour bath, in a counterpoised platina basin.

The Second Part of this paper contained an account of the determination of the motions of several glaciers which had not been before observed, such as the glacier of Talefre, Nant Blanc, Miage, and Brenva, and the results of a comparison of the measures made in 1846 with those of former years, at different points of the Mer de Glace; shewing the unusual speed of motion during last summer.