/Ts f ; 2 THE EDINBURGH NEW PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. W' Till: EDINBURGH NEW I'/ PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL, EXH1BITIN<1 A VIKW OF TIIK PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS SCIENCES AND THE ARTS. EDITORS. THOMAS ANDERSON, M.D., F.R.S.E., REOIUS PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, ONIVERSITT OF GLASOOW; Sir JARDINE, Bart., F.R.SS.L. and E. WILLIAM ; JOHN HUTTON BALFOUR, A.M., M.D., F.R.S., Sec. R.S. Edin., F.L.S., RF'JIUS KEEPER OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, AND PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND BOTANV, HNIVEKSITX OF EDINBURGH. FOR AMERICA, HENRY D. ROGERS, LL.D., Hon. F.R.S.E., F.G.S., STATE GEOLOGIST, PENNSYLVANIA; PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE nNIVEKSITT OF GLASGOW. JANUARY APRIL 1863. VOL. XVII. NEW SERIES. EDINBURGH: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK. LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, LONDON. MDCCCLXIir. ^9 /0,sr6- n. i PUINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH. C0>^ TENTS. 1. On the Organic Contents of the Older Metamorphic Hocks : a llcvievv and a Classification. By John J, BiGSBY, M.D., F.G.S., &c., . .171 2. Some Account of Plants collected in the Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Upper Canada, in July 1862. By George Lawson, LL.D., Professor of Chemistry and Natural History, Queen's College of Canada, . 197 3. Description of some New Forms of Photometer. By Thomas Stevenson, F.RS.E., Civil Engineer. '' (Plate III.), . .208 4. A Record of the Plants collected by Mr Pemberton Wallcott and Mr Maitland Brown, in the year 1861, during Mr F. Gregory's Exploring Expedition into North-West Australia. By Ferdinand Mueller, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S., Government Botanist for the Colony of Victoria, . .214 1 CONTENTS. PAGE 5. On Nerve Force. By H. F. Baxter, Esq. (Continued from Vol. XV.) § 1. On the Influence of Nerves over Absorption. § 2. On the Function of the Ganglia on the Posterior Roots of the Cerebro-Spinal Nerves. § 3. General Observations in regard to Nervous Action, . 235 6. Observations on the Embryogcny of Tropedolum majus. By Alexander Dickson, M.D., Edin. (Plate IV.), 261 7. On the Barometric Depression and Accompanying Storm of 19th October 1862. By Thomas H. Core, Privy Council Lecturer in Mathematics, Normal School, *. Edinburgh. (Plate V.), . .263 8. On the Solid-hoofed Pig ; and on a Case in which the Fore-Foot of the Horse presented Two Toes. By John Struthers, M.D., F.R.C.S., Lecturer on Ana- tomy in the Edinburgh School of Medicine, , 273 9. The Place and Power of Natural History in Colonisa- tion ; with Special reference to Otago (New Zea- land). By W. Lauder Lindsay, M.D., F.R.S. Edin., F.L.S., and F.R.G.S. London, &c, . .280 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES:— Royal Society of Edinburgh, . .292 Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, . .312 Botanical Society of Edinburgh, .... 315 CONTENTS. IM SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE:— OBOLOOY. PAOK 1. Discovery of llcinnins of Vortcbrated Animals provided with feathers, in a deposit of Jurassic age, . 32G ZOOLOGY. 2. On Man's Position in the System of Mammals. By James D. Dana, ..... 327 miscellaneous. 3. Ferrol on the Cause of the Inundation of the Nile. 4. Royal Society of Edinburgh.—The Keith, Brisbane, and Neill Prizes. 5. Poisoning by Milk, . .332 CHEMISTRY. G. Seeds of yi6rM5 Preca<on«s, .... 333 Publications received, ..... 334 C0^' TENTS. 1. Remarks on the Recent Eruption of Vesuvius in De- cember 1861. By Charles Daubeny, F.R.S., &c.. Professor of Botany, Oxford, . .1 2. The Buried Church in the Sands of Gwithian in Corn- wall. By R. Edmonds, Esq., Plymouth, . 14 3. The Minute Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in the Lobster (^Astacus marinus). By T. S. Clouston, M.D., Assistant Physician, Royal Edin- burgh Asylum. (Plates I. and II.), . .17 4. Reply to some Comments of Mr F. Marcet on the Power of Selection ascribed to the Roots of Plants. By Charles Daubeny, M.D., Professor of Botany, Oxford, . .51 6. On a New Character observed in the Fruit of the Oaks, and on a Better Division of the Genus Quercus. By M. Alphonse De Candolle. Communicated by the Author, , . .54 1 CONTENTS. PAOF 6. On the Nocturnal Cooling of the Superficial Layer of the Soil, compared to that of a Stratum of Air in Contact with the Earth. By Charles Martins, Montpellier, . .63 7. Note to " Notice of a Mass of Meteoric Iron found in the Village of Newstead, Roxburghshire." By John Alexander Smith, M.D., . .67 8. Note to " Analysis of the Meteorite described by Dr John Alex. Smith, M.D." By Murray Thomson, M.D., F.C.S., Lecturer on Chemistry, . .69 9. Address delivered at the Opening of the Session of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on Monday, 1st Decem- ber 1862. By Principal Forbes, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.E., Vice-President of the Society, . 71 REVIEWS.— 1. The Earth and its Mechanism, being an Account of the various Proofs of the Rotation of the Earth. By Henry Worms, F.R.A.S., F.G.S. London : Long- man and Co., 1862, . .104 2. The True Figure and Dimensions of the Earth, in a Letter addressed to George Biddel Airy, Esq., M.A., Astronomer Royal. By Johannes Von Gumpach, Second Edition, entirely recast, . 105 Centric Force a New Theory of Pro- 3. On Eccentric and ; jection. By Henry F. A. Pratt, M.D. London : Churchill, 1862. 8vo. Pp. 296, . .107 CONTENTS. iii PAOK 4. On tlio Climate of Scotlatid, as <lctcrnnno(l by 'J'ctnpnra- ture. On the Profitable and Unprofitable Cnltiim of Farm Crops in Scotland. Reports of the Meteoii- OLOGiCAL Society of Scotland for Quarters ending March and June 1862, . .109 6. The Mechanics of the Heavens : an Essay on Revolving Bodies and Centripetal Forces. By James Reddii:. London: Hardwicke. 1862, . 122 6. Catalogue of the Economic Products of the Presidency of Bombay; being a Catalogue of the Government Central Museum, Division I., Raw Produce (Vege- table). Compiled by Assistant-Surgeon Birdwood, M D., Curator of the Museum, and Officiating Pro- fessor of Materia Medica in Grant Medical College, . 123 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES:— British Association, ..... 124 SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE :— BOTANY. 1. Ozone Exhaled by Plants. 2. Hybrid Ranunculus. 3. Indigenous Fibres in Australia fitted for Manufac- tures. By Ferdinand Mueller, Government Bo- tanist, ..... 155-157 GEOLOGY. 5. Glaciers in Tuikistan. 6. On Celts from Bun- delkund, and some Chert Implements from the An- damans. By W. Theobold, jun., . 157-161 IV CONTENTS. PACK PALAEONTOLOGY. Palfleontology of Malta, . .161 7. ZOOLOGY. 8. Archeeopteryx lithographica, Meyer. 9. On some Bur- mese Animals. By W. F. Blandford, . .162 CHEMISTRY. 10. Phosphatic Guano Islands of the Pacific Ocean. 11. Birds and other Animals in these Islands, . 164 MISCELLANEOUS. 11, Distinctions between Man and Monkeys. 12. Com- pressed Crania of Europe. 13. Guesses at the Age of Man. 14. Saltness of the Ocean, . 166-169 Publications received, ..... 169 THE EDINBURGH NEW PIIILOSOPIIICAL JOURNAL Remarks on the Recent Eruption of Vesuvius in December 1861. By Charles Daubeny, F.R.S., &c., Professor of Botany, Oxford.* The eruption to which I wish to direct the attention of this Section has already been described by several eye-witnesses, two of whom, namely, Professor Palmieri and M. Pierre de Tchihatscheff, of London, have communicated to the Geolo- gical Society brief reports of the most striking physical pheno- mena attending it, such as the outburst of springs of acidulous and hot water, and the upheaval of the ground at Torre del Greco, to the height of 1.12 metre above the level of the Mediterranean. M. Claire Deville, also, a French savant who has made the gases evolved from volcanos his particular study, was sum- moned from Paris immediately upon the commencement of the eruption, and arrived in time, if not to witness the outbreak, at least to collect and examine the emanations which were its immediate consequences. All, therefore, I shall attempt to do in this brief communi- cation, is to point out to you the facts of the greatest novelty which others have anticipated me in recording, and to con- sider the bearing Avhich they may have on the general theory of Volcanos. Vesuvius, within the last few years, has entered apparently upon a new phase of volcanic operations. At former periods * Read at a Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Friday, October 3d, 1862. NEW SERIES VOL. XVII. NO. I. JAN. 1863. A 2 Professor Daubeny on the Eruption of Vesuvius in 1861. its eruptions occurred at distant intervals apart, but were distinguished by their violence and magnitude. Thus, only 9 eruptions are recorded as having taken place between the commencement of the Christian era and of the beginning of the seventeenth century ; in the course the latter, viz., from 1631 to 1694, there occurred 4; in the nineteenth, eighteenth century 22 ; and in the first half of the viz., from 1802 to 1850, no less than 17. Thus, even allowing for the greater imperfection of records during the Middle Ages, which might have prevented a few of the earlier eruptions from having been handed down to us, there seems to be sufficient evidence of a gradually increasing frequency in the volcanic outbreaks, as we approach the pre- sent time. As to the gfeater violence of the earlier eruptions, there seems sufficient proof of it in the accounts given us by ancient writers of the fearful outbreak of a.d. 79, by which Pompeii and Herculaneum were overwhelmed; of that of 204, described by Dion Cassius and Galen, in which the noises produced by the ejection of matters from the crater were loud enough to be heard at Capua ; of the third, in 472, which is said by Pro- copius to have spread alarm even at Constantinople ; and of that great one in 1631, which, after a pause of one hundred and thirty-one years, during which the crater had been covered with shrubs and rich verdure, overspread with lava the greater part of the villages lying at its foot on the side of the Bay of Naples, and occasioned the death of 4000 persons.