THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

EXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE

PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

IN THE

SCIENCES AND THE ARTS.

CONDUCTED BY

ROBERT JAMESON,
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY, AND KEEPER OF

THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH ;
Pellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; of the Antiquarian, Wernerian and Horti-

cultural Societies of Edinburgh; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and of the Royal
Dublin Society; Fellow of the Royal Linnean and Royal Geological Societies of London ; Ho-
norary Member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta ; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall,
and of the Cambridge Philosophical Society; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Whitby, Northern,
and Cork Institutions; of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and New-
castle; of the Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark; of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin;
of the Royal Academy of Naples; of the Imperial Natural History Society of Moscow; of the
Imperial Pharmaceutical Society of St Petersburgh; of the Natural History Society of Wetterau ;
of the Mineralogical Society of Jena; of the Royal Mineralogical Society of Dresden; of the
Natural History Society of Paris; of the Philomathic Society of Paris; of the Natural History
Society of Calvados; of the Senkenberg Society of Natural History; of the Society of Natural
Sciences and Medicine of Heidelberg; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society
of New York; of the New York Historical Society; of the American Antiquarian Society; of
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New
York; of the Natural History Society of Montreal; of the Geological Society of France; of the
South African Institution of the Cape of Good Hope; of the Franklin Institution of the State of
Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, &c. &c.

APRIL...OCTOBER 1832.

TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY.

EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR ADAM BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE, EDINBURGH;
AND LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN,

LONDON.

CONTENTS.

Page

1

14

20

24

Art. I. An Estimate of the Philosophical Character of Dr

Priestley. By WILLIAM HENRY, M. D., F. R. S.,

&c. &c.

II. Account of the Russian Vapour-Bath. By T.S. TRAILL,

M. D. Communicated by the Author,

III. On the Breeding Spots of Birds. By FREDERICK

FABER,

IV. Analysis of the Stony Pericarp of the Lithospermum

officinale. By Captain CHARLES LE HUNTE. Com-

municated by the Author,

V. On the Vitality of Toads enclosed in Stone and Wood.

By the Reverend W. BUCKLAND, F.R.S., F.L.S.,

F.G.S., and Professor of Geology and Mineralogy

in the University of Oxford. Communicated by

the Author,

VI, On the Chemical Constitution of Harmotome or Cross-

stone.

one. By ARTHUR CONNELL, Esq. F. R. S. E.

Communicated by the Author,

VII. On the History of the Natural Sciences, in reference

to the Scientific knowledge of the Egyptians of the

source from whence Moses derived his Cosmogony,

and the general agreement of that Cosmogony with

Modern Geology,

VIII. On the Fundamental Types of Organization. By G.

R. TREVIRANUS, M. D., &c.

IX. Analysis of the Labradorite Felspar found in the Trap-

Rocks of Scotland. By Captain LE HUNTE. Com-

municated by the Author,

26

33

41

75

86

Page

97

Art. X. Physiological Investigations arising from the Mecha-

nical Effects of Atmospherical Pressure on the

Animal Frame. By John Dalton, F.R. S.

90

XI. On the Uniform Permeability of all known Substances

to the Magnetic Influence, and the Application

of the fact in Engineering and Mining, for the

Determination of the Thickness of Solid Sub-

stances not otherwise Measurable. By the Rev.

WILLIAM SCORESBY, F.R.S. L. & Ed., Correspon-

dent of the Institute of France, &c. &c. Com-

municated by the Author, -

XII. A Register of the date of various Natural Appear-

ances, kept at Treveroux Farm, in the Parish of

Limpsfield in Surrey. By Henry Cox, Esq.

Communicated by W. JACOB, Esq. F. R. S. - 133

XIII. Earliest Knowledge of Gold and Silver.-Hesiod.

Scandinavian Museum.-The Patriarchs. The

Book of Job. Accumulation of Wealth with the

Hebrew Nation.--Accumulations in Syria and

Persia ; in Greece ; in Rome,

- 136

XIV. On the Origin and Composition of Basalt,

- 150

XV. On the Cholera Animalcule,

- 155

XVI. On the Crystallization of Ice, and of Veins of Ice in

Ice. By Professor HESSEL,

158

XVII. Account of the Introduction of the Wood-Grouse or

Capercailzie (Tetrao Urogallus) to the Forest of

Braemar. By JAMES WILSON, Esq. F. R. S. E.,

M. W.S., &c. Communicated by the Author, 160

XVIII. Catrine Works Meteorological Register for 1831, 166

XIX. Description of several New or Rare Plants which

have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of

Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic

Garden. By Dr GRAHAM, Professor of Botany

in the University of Edinburgh,

· 167

XX. Celestial Phenomena from July 1. to October 1. 1832,

Page

Tornado. 3. On the distance to which Spray of the Sea

may be carried,

177-181

ZOOLOGY.

4. Wild Animals in the Illinois Country, in North America,

5. Entomology in Scotland,

181-187

GEOLOGY.

6. Heights of Mountains and Lakes in North America,

188

MINERALOGY.

7. On the Gold, Silver, and Platina of Russia,

189

BOTANY.

8. Zygophyllum arboreum of Jacquin,

191

· Art. XXII. List of Patents granted in England from 2d Au-
gust to 30th August 1831,

ib.

XXIII. List of Patents granted in Scotland from 15th

to 28th March 1832,

192