pofing carbonaceous fubftances, whether vegetable, animal, or mineral, to the action of nitric acid." Mr. H.ied thefe experiments with various carbonaceous fubftances, fuct' as mine: al coal, charcoal, carbonized animal fubftances, &c. and they were all attended with fuccefs.The method of con lucting the operation will appear from the following extract. "In each experiment," he fays, "1 employed roo grains of the coal, which I digefted in an open matkafs with one ounce of nitric acid diluted with two ounces of water. (The specific gravity of the acid was 1,40.) fter the vettel had been placed in a fand-bath, and as foon as it became warm, a confiderable effervefcence, attended with much rous gas, was produced; after about two days I commonly added a fecond and fometimes a third ounce of the acid, and continued the digeftion during five or fix days, or until the whole, or nearly the whole, was diffolved, excepting in those caf s when the deep yellow fubftance was formed; for this I conftantly feparated. "The next experiment was made upon charcoal, which was more readily diffolved than the preceding fubftances, without leaving any refiduum; the folution was perfect, and the colour was reddish-brown. Having thus, by means of nitric acid, obtained folutions from afphaltum, from jet, from feveral of the pit-coals, and from charcoal, I evaporated them to drynefs in feparate veffels, taking care, in the latter part of the procefs, to evaporate very gradually, fo as completely to expel the remainder of the acid without burning the refiduum; this, in every cafe, proved to be a brown gloffy fubftance, which exhibited a refirous frac ture.". P. 21.4. Mr. H. then flates the properties of these residua, the most remarkable of which is, that they p.ecipitate glue or ifinglafs from their folution in water, confequently they poffefs the power oft uning leather. Sever other collateral facts and useful remarks are mentioned by this author, but with refpect to thofe we must refer our readers to the paper it felt. In fine, Mr. H. obferves that, though this new artificial formation of fomething equivalent to tannin, may at prefent be not actually applicable to the tanning of leather, yet it is by no means unlikely that a much eafier method of forming it may hereafter a difcovered, fo as to enable the tanner to prepare artificially, and within his own premifes, the active principle "of his manufactory. ་་ XIII. The Cafe of a full-grown Woman inshom the Ovaria were deficient. By Mr. Charles Pears, F. L. S. This fhort paper defcribes the peculiar habit and unufual external formation of a woman, who being diffected after her death, was found to have the ovaria in a very imperfect fate. After the defcription of these, and other parts connected with them, which are delineated on an annexed plate, this paper concludes with the following paragraphs. "The hiftory of this cafe, with the account of the diffection, becomes valuable, as it fhews that an imperfect state of the ovaria is not only attended with an abfence of all the characters belonging to the female after puberty, but that the uterus itfelf, although perfectly formed, is checked in its growth for want of due ftructure of thofe parts. "That there is an intimate connection between the ovaria and the uterus has long been afcertained; but that the growth of the uterus fhould fo entirely depend upon that of the ovaria, I believe to be a new fact; at leaft it has not been published in any work that has come under my obfervation." P. 227. XIV. A Defcription of malformation in the Heart of an Infant. By Mr. Hugh Chudleigh Standert. This fhort paper is accompanied with a plate, exhibiting the heart which it describes. XV. On the Method of analyfing Stones containing fixed Alkali, by Means of the Boracic Acid. By Humphry Davy, Efq. F. R. S. &c. This method depends on a remarkable property which the boracic acid has been difcovered to poffefs; namely, its having confiderable attraction for the different fimple earths, at the heat of ignition. The compounds it forms with thofe earths are easily decompofed by the mineral acids diffolved in water. XVI. On the Direction and Velocity of the Motion of the Sun, and Solar Syftem. By William Herfchel, LL. D. F.R.S. The peculiar motions of feveral stars, which have long engaged the attention of aftronomers, induced Dr. H., in the year 1783, to deduce, with great probability, a motion of the fun and folar fyftem towards Herculis. The changes which have been obferved fince that time, by Dr. H. himself and others, in the relative pofition of double stars, A 4 both both of the large apparent fize, and of the diminutive one, fuch as may be only difcerned through very powerful telefcopes; and Dr. Maskelyne's table of proper motions of 36 of thofe ftars; this author thinks, will furnifh data fufficient for afcertaining both the direction of the fun's motion, and its velocity; and when thofe points are established, confequences may be deduced from them, which will account for many phenomena that cannot otherwise be explained. In order to attain this end, Dr. H. in the first place, adduces his reafons at large for admitting a folar motion, and afterwards endeavours to fix the direction of that motion. To follow him through all his reafoning, in the present rather extenfive paper, would lead us too far beyond the limits of our publication; we shall therefore only endeavour to give our readers a general idea of his meaning. Since an alteration of the relative fituations of various stars has indifputably been obferved; it follows that either fome of those ftars have actually moved out of their former places, or that the spectator, and of course the earth, the fun, and the whole folar fyftem (for they may all be confidered as a fingle point with refpect to the ftars) have moved towards fome point in the infinite expanfe of the heavens. Now in order to determine which of thofe fuppofitions is the moft probable, one muft confider whether the motions that have been obferved among the ftars, are or are not fuch as would appear if the folar fyftem had actually moved on towards fome point. With refpect to this, however, it must be acknowledged, that though feveral of those motions clearly indicate a movement of the folar fyftem, others feem to be quite independent of it. Yet Dr. H. fays, "Whatever may be the fum of real motions required to aecount for the phenomena of proper motions, our foregoing arguments cannot be affected by the refult; for, as by obfervation it is known that proper motions do exift, and fince no folar motion can refolve them intirely into parallactic ones, we ought to give the preference to that direction of the motion of the fun, which will take away more real motion than any other, and this, as we have shown, will be done when the right afcenfion of the apex is 245° 52′ 30′′, and its north polar diftance 40° 22'." P. 256. One plate of diagrams is fubjoined to this paper. XVII. On the Reproduction of Buds. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Efq. F. R. S. It has not, this author obferves, as yet been afcertained, from which of the various fubftances of a tree the buds actually derive their origin. He briefly mentions, and refutes, the hypothefes that have been advanced refpecting this fubject; then ftates fome facts and obfervations which induce him to conclude, that the buds do not proceed from the medulla, nor from the bark; but that they are generated by central veffels which fpring from the lateral orifices of the alburnous tubes. XVIII. Some Account of Two Mummies of the Egyptian Ibis, one of which was in a remarkably perfect State. By John Pearfon, Esq. F. R. S. That the Egyptians embalmed, befides human bodies, feveral other animals, especially their facred bird, the Ibis, is very. well known. Several mummies of the latter fort have been taken out of their places of interment; but, perhaps, never was one fo perfect, as that which forms the fubject of the prefent paper, found out, and examined, with that degree of attention which the fubject seemed to demand. This author had the opportunity of examining two mummies of the Ibis, which were among the curiofities collected by the late Major Hayes in the years 1802, and 1803, and they had been taken out of the catacombs at Thebes, in Upper Egypt. They were contained in earthen jars. One of those mummies, and the fmaller of the two, was found in a decayed ftate. The other was in a moft excellent ftate of prefervation; perfect in all its parts. Of this mummy the description is as follows. "At the requeft," Mr. P. fays, "of Major Hayes's family, I firft examined the larger of the two, and found the covering to confift of bandages of cloth, ftrong and firm, and about three inches broad. The first circumvolutions of the roller feparated eafily; but, as I proceeded, they adhered more firmly to each other, and were at length fo clofely cemented together by a refinous-like fubftance, that I was obliged to divide the folds of the cloth with a ftrong knife. Each layer of the bandage appeared to have been imbued with fome bituminous or refinous fubftance, in a liquid ftate, and the roller was farther fecured by ftrong pieces of thread, fo that the whole mafs was rendered extremely hard and coherent. When I had removed the greater part of the covering, I found that it had contained a bird, which was thickly covered with the fame kind of fubftance that had cemented cemented the different ftrips of the roller. The examination was now carried on more flowly, by picking out carefully all the loofe bituminous matter that could be removed without injuring the mummy, and after the labour of many hours, I fucceeded in difplaying the whole bird, as it had been depofited by the embalmer. The operator who had embalmed this bird, had previously difpofed its feveral parts with great order and regularity. "The neck was twifted, fo as to place the vertex of the head on the body of the bird, a little to the left fide of the fternum. The curved bill, with its concave part turned upwards, defcended between the feet, and reached to the extremity of the tail. Each foot, with its four claws turned forwards, was bent upwards, and placed on each fide of the head. The wings were brought clofe to the fides of the body. It was impoffible to remove much of the bituminous matter from the back and wings, without injuring the mummy; but I took away a quantity fufficient to fhow that the plumage was white, the feathers being tipped with dark brown at their extremities; I could not, however, uncover the tail feathers, fo as to determine their colour. The bird had attained its full growth; for the quills of one wing, which had fuffered fome injury in removing the bandage, were in a perfect ftate: the largest of these quills is delineated, of the natural fize, in the annexed plate. The following are the dimenfions of fuch parts of the Ibis as are acceffible. "Length of the bird, from the termination of the neck to the extremity of the tail Length of the neck, in which the vertebræ can be traced Length of the head and bill, following the curve From the end of the metatarfal bone to the extremity of the longest toe The longest toe Width of the body at the fhoulders Circumference of the body, at its thickest part 12 inches. من 8 4 73 4 13 "This mummy is in a very firm and intire ftate, exhibiting no particular marks of decay, although it is probable, that the greater part of 3000 years has elapfed fince it was interred; for the deftruction of the Egyptian Thebes is of an earlier date than the foundation of any city now exifting. The appearance of the mummy renders it probable, that the bird was immerfed in the bituminous matter, when it was in a liquid ftate, and capable of infinuating itfelf into all the inequalities on the furface of the body; the feveral folds of the bandage must have been likewife covered with the fame varnish; but the animal was cer |