1843. From the Author. M. Schlegel has been long known as one of the most active and learned ophiologists in Europe, and his work, so far as it goes, is held to be classical. The creatures of the Serpent tribes, often so formidable to man, and even to the lower animals, and remarkable for the elegance of their scaly coverings, the beauty of their colours, and their many curious and important natural relations, cannot but interest the admirer of nature. Hence Ophiology has, from an early period, engaged the attention of many distinguished naturalists, and at the present day every scientific traveller and accomplished physician regard with interest the varied tribes of this great family of the animal kingdom, particularly in those countries where attention is arrested by the frightful energy of their vital powers, their beauty, and colossal magnitude. We may add, that no better guide can be put into the hands of the student of Ophiology or the traveller than this translation of Schlegel's work by Dr Traill.

24. Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. By Andrew Smith, M.D. The 17th and 18th numbers of this important work have been received.

List of Patents granted for Scotland, from 20th September to 20th December 1843.

1. To JOHN MACINNES of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, manufacturing chemist, "certain improvements in funnels for conducting liquids into vessels."-2d October 1843.

2. To GOLDSWORTHY GURNEY of Great George Street, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, "certain improvements in apparatus for producing, regulating, and dispersing light and heat."-4th October 1843.

3. TO ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical draftsman, being a communication from abroad," certain improvements in the manufacture of cyanogen and its compounds, particularly the prussiates of potash and soda."-13th October 1843.

4. TO JAMES COMBE of Leeds, in the county of York, engineer, “improvements in heckling, cleaning, preparing, and carding flax and other fibrous substances."-16th October 1843.

5. TO JOHN AINSLIE, farmer, Redheugh, near Dalkeith, North Britain, a new or improved mode of drying tiles, bricks, retorts and such like work made from clay and other plastic substances."-23d October 1843.

6. TO THOMAS YOUNG of Queen Street, in the city of London, merchant, “improvements in obtaining power."-25th October 1843.

7. To MOSES POOLE of Lincoln's Inn, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, being a communication from abroad, "improvements in the manufacture of ornamental lace or nett."-25th October 1843.

8. TO ALEXANDER ANGUS CROLL, superintendent of the Gas-Works, Brick Lane, in the county of Middlesex, and WILLIAM RICHARDS of the same works, mechanical inspector, "improvements in the manufacture of gas for the purpose of illumination, and in apparatus used when transmitting and measuring gas or other fluids."-27th October 1843.

9. TO JAMES NAPIER of Hoxton, in the county of Middlesex, dyer, "improvements in preparing or treating fabrics made of fibrous material for covering roofs, and the bottoms of ships and vessels, and other surfaces, and for other purposes."-30th October 1843.

10. TO ARTHUR DUNN of Rotherhithe, in the county of Surrey, soapboiler, " improvements in treating, purifying, and bleaching oils and fatty matters, and in making soap."-1st November 1843.

11. To ROBERT RAYNSFORD JACKSON of Blackburn, in the county of Lancaster, cotton-spinner, " certain improvements in the machinery or apparatus to be used in the preparation of cotton and other fibrous substances for spinning."-7th November 1843.

12. TO JAMES JOHNSTON of Willow Park, Greenock, Esquire, "improvements in the construction of steam-boilers."-14th November 1843

13. TO WILLIAM BROCKEDON of Devonshire Street, Queen Square, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, "improvements in the manufacture of wadding for fire-arms."-14th November 1843.

14. TO SARAH BEADON of Hope Corner, Taunton, in the county of Somerset, "improvements in apparatus for regulating the inclination of vessels, for the purpose of drawing off liquids contained therein, in the construction of casks and such like vessels, and in the means of drawing off liquids, parts of which improvements are applicable for regulating the inclination of looking-glasses and other articles."-15th November 1843.

15. TO MATTHEW LEACH of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, mechanic, "certain improvements in rotary steam-engines, which improvements are applicable to pumps for lifting and forcing water.” -23d November 1843.

16. TO CHARLES TETLEY of Bradford, in the county of York, stuffmerchant, "improvements in the construction of boilers, part of which improvements is applicable for regulating the supply of water and other liquids."-23d November 1843.

17. TO WILLIAM PROSSER junior, of Shaftsbury Terrace, Pimlico, gentleman, "improvements in the construction of roads, and in carriages to run thereon."-23d November 1843.

18. TO CHARLES BROWN of Woolwich, in the county of Kent, surgeon-dentist, "improvements in the manufacture of dip candles."-23d November 1843.

19. TO JOHN KIBBLE of Glasgow, gentleman, "improvements in apparatus for propelling vessels."-24th November 1843.

20. TO CHARLES BROOK of Meltham Mills, in the county of York,

cotton-spinner, "certain improvements in machinery for spinning and twisting cotton and other fibrous substances."-24th November 1843.

21. To JOHN WITHERS of Smethwick, in the county of Stafford, manufacturing manager, "an improvement or improvements in the manufacture of glass."-24th November 1843.

22. TO HENRY AUSTIN of No. 87 Hatton Garden, in the county of Middlesex, civil-engineer, "improvements in wood-pavements, floorings, and veneers."-27th November 1843.

23. TO WILLIAM BUSH of Union Street, Deptford, in the county of Kent, engineer, "improvements in rendering magnetic needles less prejudicially influenced by local attraction."-28th November 1843.

24. TO HENRY RICHARDSON FANSHAWE the younger, late of Fourville le Pont, in the kingdom of France, but now of Wilds-rents, Bermondsey, in the county of Surrey, chemist, "improvements in curing hides and skins, and in tanning, washing, and cleaning hides, skins, and other matters."-28th November 1843.

25. TO ARTHUR WALL of Bisterne Place, Poplar, in the county of Middlesex. surgeon, "certain improvements in the manufacture of iron."

--28th November 1843.

26. TO JOHN George Bodmer of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, engineer," certain improvements in grates, furnaces, and boilers, and also in the manufacturing of iron or other metals."—29th November 1843.

27. TO THOMAS DRAYTON of Brighton, in the county of Sussex, gen tleman, "improvements in coating glass with silver for looking-glasses and other uses."-4th December 1843.

28. TO FRANCIS HIGGINSON of the town of Rochester, in the county of Kent, lieutenant in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, "certain improvements in fastenings for parts of ships and other vessels, which improvements are also applicable to other building purposes."-14th December 1843.

29. Jo JOHN HICK of Bolton-le-Moors, in the county of Lancaster, engineer, "certain improvements in steam-engines, and in apparatus to be connected therewith for driving machinery, part of which improvements are applicable to forcing, lifting, and measuring water."-15th December 1843.

66

30. TO LAWRENCE HARDMAN of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, merchant, certain improvements in machinery, or apparatus to be employed in the manufacture of sugar."-18th December 1843.

2

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Fifth Letter by Professor Forbes on Glaciers. Addressed to the Right Honourable Earl Cathcart. Communicated by the Author.

ROME, 29th January 1844.

MY LORD,-In reply to your kind letter of the 14th December last, requesting me to communicate to the Royal Society any observations upon glaciers which I was enabled to make during last summer, I may mention, that the state of my health was so indifferent during the finer months of the year, and the caution which it required so great, that I was quite unable to prosecute as I had hoped the subject of my previous inquiries in Switzerland. As, however, the journey was not quite unproductive, I will very shortly state the additional facts which I was enabled to observe, claiming from you and from the Society the indulgence which their scantiness requires.

At Chamouni, the most obvious consideration was to determine the actual annual motion of the ice, the partial motions of which during the summer months had been carefully ascertained by me, as stated in my former communications. For this purpose, I had two marks of a permanently distinguishable kind, namely, blocks of stone lying on the surface of the ice; the one, formerly marked D. 7, and referred to in my Travels by that name, situated a little lower than the position of the Montanvert; the other, marked C, or "Pierre platte," on the Glacier de Léchaud, near its junction with the Glacier du Géant. It was the former of these masses which had been approximately observed in position by my guide, Auguste Balmat, during the winter of 1842-3, with great labour and fidelity-observations which first conclusively proved the fact VOL. XXXVI. NO. LXXII. APRIL 1844.

P

which I had previously suspected, although opposed to the received opinions,—that the glacier moves with considerable velocity even in winter. By going to the spot with Balmat, and verifying the marks which he had from time to time made, I ascertained that his measurements, if not absolutely correct, did not admit of being materially improved, owing to the great size and repeated turning over of the block in question. His measurements between October 1842 and June 1843, have been published in the volume already cited. I had the mortification, however, to find, on the 11th September 1843, when I visited the block, that though still upon the ice, it had got shoved so near the moraine of the glacier near an angle of its course, as to be well nigh stranded; and that, in fact, since Balmat's last mark in June, its motion had been scarcely perceptible. It farther appeared, that the part of the glacier with which it had recently been moving, was so crevassed and steep, that the vast block must have rolled and tossed about, or even been precipitated occasionally forwards by the failure of the ice beneath it on the steep, in a way which amply accounts for any want of regularity in its winter progress, as indicated by Balmat's measurements. It therefore became the more interesting and important to determine with care, the motion of a point of the glacier removed from the accidental local influ ence of the sides and irregularities of the surface, in order to compare the mean annual motion with the summer motion of the ice. The "Pierre platte" was, in every way, an unexceptionable landmark; and I resolved to cross the Mer de Glace for the purpose of accomplishing it an exertion which I should hardly have ventured for a less interesting result. In the course of this walk, which was fraught with interest to me, as enabling me to compare the existing condition of a glacier with the appearances which had been so familiar to me just twelve months before, I found the state of the ice just such as might be expected after a very severe and snowy winter, and a very cold and late summer. The glacier opposite the "angle" (station A), had now a much higher level than it had at the same time in 1842; evidently, therefore, it had, during the winter, regained its usual volume; and then, during the ensuing summer, it had wasted less than it had done during the summer before. The glacier also bore other