Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/252

Rh lucid object in the epithelium -cell, is a cytoblast. He suggests, that the cells into which, according to his observations, the nucleus be- comes resolved, may enter into the formation of secondary deposits — for instance, spiral fibres; and that they may contribute to the thick- ening which takes place, in some instances, in the cell- membrane.

The germ of certain plants passes through states so much resem- bling those occurring in the germ of mammiferous animals, that it is not easy to consider them as resulting either from a different fundamental form, or from a process of development which even in its details is not the same as what has been above described ; the fundamental form in question in Mammalia — and therefore it may be presumed of Man himself — being that which is permanent in the simplest plants, — the single isolated cell.

A paper was also read, entitled " On the Odour accompanying Electricity, and on the probability of its dependence on the presence of a new substance ;" by C. F. Schcenbein, Professor of Chemistry, Bale, communicated in a letter to Michael Faradav, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c.

The author's attention having been long directed to the remark- able fact, that odour, resembling that of phosphorus, is given off during the escape of positive electricity from the point of a con- ductor into air ; and is likewise perceptible when lightning has struck any object, and also when water is electrolyzed, he has in- vestigated the circumstances attending these phenomena ; and the results he has obtained will, he expects, afford a clue to the discovery of their cause.

The odour which accompanies the electrolyzation of water, he observes, is only disengaged at the positive electrode. He also finds that the odoriferous principle can be preserved in well-closed glass bottles for any length of time. The only metals which peld this odour are gold and platina ; but dilute sulphuric, phosphoric, and nitric acids, and from aqueous solutions of several of the salts, also disengage it. Raising the temperature of the fluid to the boiling point prevents the odour from arising ; and the addition of com- paratively small quantities of powdered charcoal, iron, zinc, tin, lead, antimony, bismuth or arsenic, or of a few drops of mercury, to the odorous principle contained in a bottle, immediately destroys the smell ; and the same happens when platina or gold, heated red hot, is introduced into the vessel containing that volatile substance.

A paper was read, entitled, " Tables of the Variation, through a cycle of nine years, of the mean height of the Barometer, mean Temperature, and depth of Rain, as connected with the prevailing