Hon. Lord MURRAY, V.P., in the Chair.

The following Communication was read:

1. Personal Observations on Terraces, and other proofs of Changes in the relative Level of Sea and Land in Scandinavia. By Robert Chambers, Esq., F.R.S.E., &c.

In this paper were given descriptions of alluvial formations of a terassiform character in the valley of the Lir river, near Drammen, in Norway, and of similar objects in valleys near the foot of the Miösen lake. The author then described a remarkable terrace which runs for fully fourteen miles at one elevation along the upper part of the valley of the Logan, in the Dovre field. It is composed on the left side of the valley of water-laid sand, and is believed to be about 2150 feet above the level of the sea. On the Dovre field, several hundred feet higher, are morasses containing the remains of much greater trees than are now growing in that district, the highest vegetation of which is a dwarf birch; and Mr Chambers remarks, that when the terrace was on the sea-level this district would enjoy a temperature fit for the production of such large timber. Mr Chambers next described some remarkable terraces in the valleys near Trondhiem, and particularly the great terrace of erosion which overlooks that city at an elevation of 522 feet above the sea.

The remainder of the paper was chiefly devoted to an account of a remarkable couple of terraces, which are traceable along the coasts of Nordlands and Finmark, apparently at one level (57 and 143 feet above the sea), excepting in the sounds near Hammerfest; where, throughout a space of twenty-five miles, they are upon an

VOL. II.

Z

inclination. This portion of the phenomena fell under the attention of M. Bravais, of the French Scientific Expedition of the North, by whom they were measured barometrically and described. The present observer took measurements of these inclined terraces by the level and staff, in eighteen or twenty places, and thus confirmed the views of his predecessor. By Mr Chambers's observations, the following new points are ascertained: 1. The terraces, as being inclined, form an exceptive case, in contrast with those of a neighbouring district of coast of much larger extent (at least 180 geographical miles). 2. The disturbed district has moved on an axis of rest near Næverfiord, where the two terraces are about the normal height. 3. A line, 14° west of north, (being nearly the line of the magnetic meridian), being drawn across the disturbed district, the inclination is shewn to be equable throughout equal spaces of that line, which is thus proved to be the meridian of the movement. 4. The northern extremity of the dip of the upper line at Hammerfest is 58 feet below, and the southern extremity, abreast of the Alten terraces, is 96 feet above the axis of rest.

The author then described visits which he paid in September 1849 to two of the places in the Gulf of Bothnia where marks have been made in order to detect the rate of movement of the land; at the rock near Löfsgrund he found the sea about six inches below the mark made sixteen years before by Sir Charles Lyell; while, on the cliffs of Grasöe, where Flumen made a mark in 1820, the water was exactly eleven inches lower.

His Grace the DUKE OF ARGYLL

was duly elected an Ordinary Fellow.

The following Donations to the Library were announced :--Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the Geological

Society of London, 16th February 1849. By Sir H. de la Bêche. 8vo. By the Author.

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. V., No. 41. 8vo. By the Society.

Journal of the Statistical Society of London. Vol. XII., Pt. 2. 8vo. -By the Society.

Scheikundige Onderzoekingen, gedaan in het Laboratorium der Utrechtsche Hoogeschool. 5de Deel, 1ste, 3de, & 4de Stuk. 8vo. By the University.

The American Journal of Science and Arts. Vol. VII., No. 21. Edited by Professors Silliman and Dana.-By the

8vo.

Editors.

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

New Series, No. 25.

Edited by the Secretaries.

8vo.-By the Editors.

Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. No. 16.

Sixteenth Annual Report of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society,

1848. 8vo. By the Society.

The Journal of Agriculture and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. No. 25, N.S., July 1849.

8vo. By the Publishers.

The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. Vol. XIX., Part 1, 1849. 8vo.-By the Society.

Verhandelingen der Eerste Klasse van het K. Nederlandsche Insti

tuut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde, en Schoone Kunsten te Amsterdam. 3de Reeks, 1sten Deels, 2de Stuk. 4to.

Tijdschrift voor Wis-en Natuurkundige Wetenschappen, uitgegeven door de Eerste Klasse van het K. Nederlandsche Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten.

3e

3o & 4° Afleverings. 8vo.-By the Institute.

2de Deel,

Report of the Eighteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Swansea, in August 1848. 8vo. By the Association.

Neue Denkschriften der Allgemeine Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die gesamten Naturwissenschaften. Bde. 8 & 9. 4to. Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft

bei ihrer Versammlung zu Winterthur 1846 & 1847. 8vo. Mittheilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Bern. Nos. 87-134. 8vo.

Die Wichtigsten Momente aus der Geschichte der drei ersten Jahrzende der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft. 1848. 8vo. By the Society.

Antiquités Celtiques et Antidiluviennes.

Mémoire sur l'Industrie

primitive et les arts à leur origine. Par M. Boucher de Perthes.

8vo. By the Author.

Meteorologische Beobachtungen angestellt auf Veranstaltung der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich. 1837-46. 4to. Denkschrift zur Feier des hundertjahrigen Stiftung festes der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich am 30 November 1846. 4to. By the Society.

Mittheilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich. Heft I., (No. 1-13). 8vo. By the Society.

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. V., January, March, 1849. No. 42. 8vo.-By the Society. The Progress of the development of the Law of Storms, and of the Variable Winds, with the practical application of the subject to Navigation. By Lieut.-Colonel William Reid. 8vo.By the Author.

On the Geological Structure of the Alps, Apennines, and Carpathians, more especially to prove a transition from Secondary to Tertiary Rocks, and the development of Eocene Deposits in Southern Europe. By Sir Roderick Impey Murchison. 8vo. By the Author.

Account of the effect of a Storm on Sea-Walls or Bulwarks on the coast near Edinburgh, as illustrating the principle of the construction of Sea-Defences. By W. M. Rankine. 8vo. An Equation between the Temperature and the maximum elasticity of Steam and other vapours. By W. M. Rankine. 8vo.-By the Author.

The American Journal of Science and Arts. Conducted by Professors Silliman and Dana. 2d Series, No. 22, July 1849. 8vo.--By the Editors.

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Edited by the Secretaries. No. 200, February 1849. 8vo, and N.S., No. 28, April 1849, and No. 203.--By the Editors.

Journal of the Statistical Society of London. and 4. 8vo.-By the Society.

Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin.

8vo.--By the Society.

Vol. XII., Parts 3

Vol. IV., Part 1.

Catalogue of the Calcutta Public Library. 8vo.--By the Council. Flora Batava. 159 Aflevering. 4to.--By the King of Holland. A Letter addressed to the Earl of Rosse, President-Elect of the Royal Society. By Marshall Hall, M.D. 8vo.

On the Neck as a Medical Region, and on Trachelismus ; on Hidden Seizures; on Paroxysmal Apoplexy, Paralysis, Mania,

Syncope, &c. By Marshall Hall, M.D. 8vo.--By the Author. Astronomical Observations made at the Radcliffe Observatory. By

Manuel J. Johnson. 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847. Vol. III. VIII. 8vo.-By the Radcliffe Trustees. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. No. 18, 1849. 8vo. -By the Society.

Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia. Vol. III. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. 8vo. By the Editor.

The American Journal of Science and Arts.

Conducted by Profes

sors Silliman and Dana. Second Series. No. 23. 8vo.-By the Editors.

Memoirs of the Ganglia and Nerves of the Uterus. By Robert

On the Ganglia and Nerves of the Heart. By Robert Lee, M.D. 4to. By the Author.

Athenæum. Rules and Regulations, List of Members, &c. 1847. 12mo.

Annual Report-General Abstract of Accounts. 1848.

By the Athenæum.

Description of a Machine for Polishing Specula, with Directions for By W. Lassell, Esq. 4to. By the Author.

its use.

Monday, 17th December 1849.

Right Rev. Bishop TERROT, V.P., in the Chair.

The following Communications were read:

1. Note respecting the Dimensions and Refracting Power of the Eye.* By Professor J. D. Forbes.

"Whilst lecturing lately on the subject of Vision, I consulted some recent authorities on the dimensions and curvatures of the refracting apparatus of the eye; and having calculated from them the con

* Printed here in full by permission of the Council.