QTie Roy at o f London J1.K M'lytycncCta deC etst. ScncCon ig4$ PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. From June 6, 1867, to June 18, 1868, inclusive. YOL. XVI. LONDON: PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET# MDCCCLXYIII. CONTENTS. VOL. XVI. * . Page Description of an Apparatus for the Verification of Sextants, designed and constructed by Mr. T. Cooke, and recently erected at the Kew Observa­ tory. By Balfour Stewart, LL.D................................................................. 2 On the Observations made with a Rigid Spectroscope, by Captain MaynC and Mr. Connor of H.M.S. ‘Nassau/ on a Voyage to the Straits of Ma­ gellan. By J. P. Gassiot, F.R.S..................... ........................................ 6 On some Elementary Principles in Animal Mechanics. By the Rev. Sa­ muel Haughton, M.D., F.R.S............................................. ....................... 19 Obserrations^on the Anatomy of the Thyroid Body in Man. By George On the Physical Constitution of the Sun and Stars. By G. Johnstone Stoney, M.A., F.R.S., F.R.A.S......................................... f ................. _ 26 Researches on the Hydrocarbons of the Series CMH>i+2.—No. H I Bv C bcnorlemmer .......................................................... J Researches into the Chemical Constitution of Narcotine and of its Pro- CUFostmDBCAnP°Siti0n'~ Part IL By A' Matthiessen> F.R.S., and G. ^B y 1 Hen^^E aRoscoT^I^ S^0^^ I)ayligllt at Kew and Fara in 1865-67. 0n3 ? Elimination of Nitrogen during Rest and Exercise on a regulated Diet of Nitrogen. By E. A. Parkes, M.D., F.R.S................................... 44 ^Broun tpeRLaiiar' diurnal Variation of Magnetic Declinaton. By J. A. 7 .......................... • *............. *••••*••••......... ............................ 59 A Unt-+i5 ^ bs®n? tijons °n the great Nebula in Orion, made at Birr % Lord^Oxmantown^ aUd 6"feet TelescoPes» between 1848 and 1867. 0 A m fnfFf6111 r1 aS°U,°f tke Nerves t0 the Muscular Structures in the t o ™MIX °f TlpUla crystallinaof De Geer. By Richard L. Mad- ...............*............................................................................... 61 0nJ p i w tity ° l f eAB°dy in the Atmosphere which decomposes Iodide of Potassium with Ozone. By Thomas Andrews, M.D., F.R.S........... 63 iv On the Anatomy of Balcenopterarostrata, Fab. By Alexander Carte, M. A., M.D., F.R.C.S.I., F.L.S., M.R.I.A., &c., and Alexander Macalister, M.D., L.R.C.S.I., Demonstrator of Anatomy, Royal College of Surgeons, Ire­ land, &c.. ..................................................... 64 On the Distribution of the Fibres in the. Muscular Tunics of the Stomach in Man and other Mammalia. By James Bell Pettigrew, M.D...................... 65 On a Self-acting Apparatus for multiplying and maintaining Electric Charges, with applications to illustrate the Voltaic Theory. By Sir W . Thomson, F.R.S. ...............‘............................. .............. , .......................................... 67 Note on the Calculus of Chemical Operations. By Professor Williamson. 72 Inferences and Suggestions in Cosmical and Geological Philosophy.—Second genes.—On the Luminous- Atmosphere of the Sun, exterior to the Pho­ tosphere ; and on the Probability that the Monochromatic Spectra from which Mr. Huggins has inferred the Gaseous Constitution of certain Nebulae, are due in reality t6 the' Luminous Atmospheres of their consti­ tuent Stars or Suns. By E. W. Brayley, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., Professor of Physical Geography and Meteorology in the London Institution ......' 72 On the Colouring and Extractive Matters of IJrine.—Part I. By Edward Schunck, F.R.S......................... ....................................................................... 73 On the Colouring and Extractive Matters of Urine.—Part H. By Edward Schunck, F.R.S................................ ............................. ........................................126 On a Crystalline Fatty Acid from Human Urine. By Edward Schunck, ^ F.R.S................................................................................................................... .135 On Oxalurate of Ammonia as a Constituent of Human Urine. By Edward Schunck, F.R.S. ............... ............................................................... 140 On a New Class of Bodies Homologous to Hydrocyanic Acid.—I. By A. W. Hofmann, LL.D., F.R.S ...................................................................... f... 144 On a New Series of Bodies Homologous to Hydrocyanic Acid.—H. By A. W. Hofmann, LL.D., F.R.S. .......................................................................... 148 On a New Series of Bodies Homologous to Hydrocyanic Acid.—III. By A. W. Hofmann, LL.D., F.R.S.......................................................................... 150 Second Supplementary Paper on the Calculation of the Numerical Value of Euler’s Constant. By William Shanks, Houghton-le-Spring, Durham.. 154 Addition to Memoir on the Resultant of a System of Two Equations. By A. Cayley, F.R.S.......................... ..................., .................................................. 1 5 8 Contributions to the History of Methylic Aldehyde. By A. W. Hofmann, 0nth e R ^ y \)? eRobiSfon GF R ° |e t0 ^ U8ed &t Melbourne> A™tralia. By Page Anniversary Meeting: Report of Auditors....................................................... ........ 168 List of Fellows deceased ........................................... ........ 163 -----------------elected since last Anniversary............. ........ 163 Address of the President ......................................... • ........ 164 Presentation of the Medals ................................ ........ 174 Election of Council and Officers ............................... ........ 180 Financial Statement ................................................. 181 & 182 Changes and present state of the number of Fellows ........ 183 Observations on the Anatomy of the Thyroid Body in Man. By George W. Callender, Lecturer on Anatomy at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital .......... 183 On some Alterations in the Composition of Carbonate-of-Lime Waters, de­ pending on the influence of Vegetation, Animal-Life, and Season. By Robert Warington, F.R.S., F.C.S................................................................ 189 Results of Observations of Atmospheric Electricity at Ivew Observatory, and at Windsor, Nova Scotia. By Joseph D. Everett, D.C.L., F.R.S.E. 195 On the Orders and Genera of Quadratic Forms containing more than three Indeterminates. By H. J. Stephen Smith, M.A., F.R.S., Savilian Pro- fessor of Geometry in the University of Oxford.—Second Notice ".......... 197 On the Special Action of the Pancreas on Fat and Starch. By Horace Dobell, M.D. &c., Physician to the Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest &c........................................................................................................ 209 On a supposed Connexion between the Amount of Rainfall and the Changes of the Moon, being an extract of a Letter from J. H. N. Hennessey, Esq., First Assistant on the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, to General Sabine, R.A., Pres. R.S................................................................................ 213 Researches conducted for the Medical Department of the Privy Council at the Pathological Laboratory of St. Thomas’s Hospital. By J. L. W. Thudichum, M.D..................................................................... .....................215 The Bakerian Lecture.—Researches on Vanadium.—Part 1. By Henrv E. Roscoe, B.A., F.R.S.............................................................................."... 220 On the Conditions for the existence of Three Equal Roots, or of Two Pairs of Equal Roots of a Binary Quartic or Quintic. By A. Cayley, F.R.S.. 229 The Caudal Heart of the Eel a Lymphatic Heart.—Effect of the force with which the lymph-stream is propelled therefrom on the flow of blood in the Vein into which the heart opens.—Explanation of the appearance of blood propelled in successive drops, as if from the heart, along the Caudal Vein.—Influence which the force of the lymph-stream from the heart exerts in accelerating and promoting the flow of blood in the Caudal Vein. By Thomas Wharton Jones, F.R.S., Professor of Ophthalmic Me­ dicine and Surgery in University College, London, Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Hospital, &c.......................................... ..........................................230 Notices of some Parts of the Surface of the Moon, illustrated by Drawings. By John Phillips, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.G.S., Professor of Geology in the University of Oxford ................................................................. 231 vi Page Contributions towards determining the Weight of the Brain in the different Races of Man. By Joseph Barnard Davis, M.D......................... ............236 Description of a Hand Spectrum-Telescope. By William Huggins, F.R.S. 241 Remarks upon Archc&optcryx lithoymph icci. By Prof. T. H. Huxley, LL.D., F.R.S. ...........................................................................................................243 Account of Experiments on Torsion and Flexure for the Determination of Rigidities. By Joseph D. Everett, D.O.L., Professor of Natural Philo­ sophy in Queen’s College, Belfast, F.R.S.................................................... 248 Comparison of Magnetic Disturbances recorded by the Self-registering Mag­ netometers at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, with Magnetic Dis­ turbances deduced from the corresponding