being concealed beneath the fine stratifications arising at the fissure, and forming a new positive pole. In a tube contracted in its centre to the size of thermometer tubing, a diffused luminosity fills the bulbs, while the contracted portion is filled with brilliant white light, which becomes yellow, and finally red when the potash tube is well heated. A similar tube filled with phosphoretted hydrogen, and exhausted, exhibits a magnificent cherry red in the contracted portion. A spiral contracted tube hermetically sealed within a wider tube, exhibits double stratification by induction. A special effect of this light, is fluorescence, or "epipolic dispersion," which it exhibits in a remarkable degree. The same effect has been observed during remarkable displays of the aurora borealis, and although often considered as peculiar to chemical rays, is probably also characteristic of magnetic rays. When the glass tube through which the discharge passes contains oxide of iron, a fine green colour is seen within the surface of the glass. When the glass contains oxide of lead, this film is a delicate blue. When oxide of uranium is employed, it becomes a splendid grass green, which appears as a body-colour in the glass; and the effect is most remarkable when a solution of quinine or esculine is made to surround a white luminous discharge, the blue fluorescence then being very striking. This phenomenon affords another connecting link between magnetic and chemical Forces. Electrolysis frequently result from the passage of the spark through compound gases. Phosphoretted hydrogen, sulphurous acid, and carburetted hydrogen, are examples; and as several tubes containing these gases have undergone great alteration since their preparation, these changes will be watched, and form the subject of a future communication to the society. The conclusions to be drawn from the prosent experiments are;-That matter in a highly rarefied condition becomes readily polarized, or magnetic; that the limits of vaporisation have never been reached by physical means, or by the air-pump, and that in the absence of gaseous matter, or vapour, electric force is not transmitted, and considered as a motion does not exist; that the closest relations are observed between the magnetic light and the actinic ray, especially in the phenomenon of fluorescence; and that the general tendency of the facts is to the conclusion that magnetism, light, heat, affinity, and gravitation, are only peculiar modes of motion of a common Force. TENTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, 20th February, 1860. The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS, M.A., President, in the Chair. Attention was drawn by Mr. HENRY DUCKWORTH to the Burdett-Coutts Geological Scholarships at Oxford. Professor ARCHER exhibited a very rare bird which had been added to the Royal Institution collection during the last week-the Tringoides rufescens, (Gray.) It was very seldom seen in this neighbourhood, and he believed, had only been taken in the county once or twice. Respecting its capture he could give no information, as it had been purchased in the Liverpool market, in a string of snipes. He also exhibited an ingenious instrument, called the Pneumatic Ventilator, Governor, and Fire-indicator, invented by Messrs. Taylor and Grimshaw. It was, in point of fact, an air thermometer, acting by the expansion or contraction of that fluid within a chamber of the cylinder, which constituted the chief portion of the apparatus. The air on expanding produced a sufficient power on a piston rod either to ring a bell, or fire a cannon, when fire broke out upon the premises, and thus give timely alarum. It could also be advantageously applied in the laboratory, where chemical processes required to be conducted within a fixed range of temperature. Mr. HIGGINSON pointed out the liability of vulcanised indiarubber, of which the diaphragm of the instrument was composed, to break or become friable when not constantly in use, which he apprehended would interfere with the efficiency of the apparatus. Mr. GREGSON exhibited the following insects: Bembidium prasinum, from the river Petril, at Carlisle, taken in August; Bembidium testaceum, from G. Wailes, Esq., of Newcastle; Bembidium stomoides, from the river banks at Preston; and Bembidium saxatile, from the clay banks of the Mersey, near Garston. Also, Lymnæum nigropiceum, from Isle of Wight and Aepys Robinii, from Plymouth. He also submitted a package of Centeaurea tinctorea, (the safflower of commerce,) so injured by the ravages of a small beetle, Lasioderma testaceum,* as to have reduced its commercial value from £10 to £7 per cwt. Having experimented with the article, he found that by exposing it to a tolerably high temperature, the ova, larva, pupa, and imago of the insect were destroyed, without injury to the safflower itself; but he found if submitted to a very high degree of heat, the dye would no longer give way to the fixed alkalies, consequently its commercial value, which entirely depended upon the beautiful red it produced, ceased; the yellow it gave out being better obtained from other sources. The following papers were then read Stephen's Manual of British Coleopt., 1839. ON THE QUOTATION, "THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND IS MAN.” BY THE REV. H. H. HIGGINS, M.A., PRESIDENT. It is a well-established fact, that in the course of time many words change their meanings, and come to have significations very different to those which they formerly possessed. Thus in the English tongue certain words have become degraded, whilst others have much more honourable use now than in the days of our forefathers. This kind of transition is not limited to words, but affects also proverbs and short sentences or pithy sayings, which often speedily lose their original character and assume another. Thus, the saying, "Charity begins at home," at no very distant period expressed a wholly right and noble sentiment, but in our own days its frequent application in defence of niggardly and selfish propensities has given it a tone which is both harsh and coarse. A fate somewhat similar has befallen the aphorism at the head of my paper. The truth it conveys is altogether imperishable, but the saying has degenerated into a cry, and its use in discussion rather elicits a smile than convinces the understanding-displays an animus rather than fairly illustrates the question at issue. It is hardly necessary to insist upon the misappropriation of the passage when it is applied in disparagement of the study of natural science, although the original runs thus : Know, then, thyself, attempt not God to scan; for it may at once be admitted to contain within itself a truth worthy of attentive consideration, and my object in the following remarks will not be to set aside the quotation, but to compare with other kinds of learning the study which is here. assumed to be peculiarly proper for mankind. The historian, the metaphysician, the politician, the poet, and the divine, each has an especial course to pursue in making mankind the object of his study; and these are but a few of the many whose avocations lead them to regard their fellow-creatures under aspects so various, that it is difficult to define the "study of man" in a way that shall be equally applicable to all. The most favourable case for illustration may probably be that of the historian: he at all events is bound to take a very broad and general view of humanity, and it belongs to him by his profession to record and give to the public the results of his observations. The historian must be eminent for sagacity and learning; to fulfil successfully the duties of his calling he must with wise discrimination select and in appropriate language present to his readers the most important the most interesting and the most instructive matters which have come before him in his study of mankind. The superior excellence of the study of man will, if anywhere, be found exhibited in the pages of history: yet what are the subjects which chiefly occupy these pages? Napoleon the Third said the history of the world is the history of armies; and it is at least equally true that the history of any country is the history of its wars. Battles, sieges, plots, insurrections, crimes, and their consequences, form to such an extent the materials of history that without them comparatively little of its substance would remain. It is not for an instant contended that the knowledge of these things is unimportant, but it is surely excusable not to be able to discern in the study of the quarrels of mankind any overwhelming or exclusive dignity; yet, forsooth, as some would interpret the saying concerning the proper study, the observer who has added a planet to our system must blush for the misuse of his time in the presence of one who has written a |