REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY, AND KEEPER OF THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH;

Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; of the Antiquarian, Wernerian and Horticultural 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; Honorary 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 Newcastle; 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 Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts; of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania, &c. &c.

APRIL...OCTOBER 1834.

VOL. XVII.

TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY.

EDINBURGH:

ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH :

AND LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMAN,

LONDON.

1834.

CONTENTS.

ART. I. On Double Stars. By M. ARAGO,

1. What is to be understood by Double Stars?

Page 1

. ib.

2. Why is it that these Double Stars have suddenly be-

come an object of such assiduous attention? . 5

3. The consequences which result from the nature of the

motions which are observed in the Double Stars.

And first, as they relate to the universality of the

Newtonian attraction,

4. When the distances of the Double Stars from the

Earth shall have been determined, then the masses

of those of the Stars whose relative motions are

known, may be easily compared with the mass of

the Earth or Sun,

5. The Observations upon the Binary Groups, composed

of independent Stars, may serve to determine the

distance from the Earth of one of the Stars of

which these Groups are composed,

12

⚫ 20

6. The observations of Double Stars, properly so called,

may serve one day to determine either the distances

of these binary groups from the Earth, or to fix a

maximum or minimum limit beyond which they can-

not be placed, .

27

7. Concerning the Colours observed in the Multiple Stars, 33

8. The Double Stars have become a means whereby we

may judge of the excellence of Telescopes,

9. Of the part which the doctrine of Probabilities has ful-

filled in the question of Double Stars,

37

39

II. 1. Some Observations on a Note of M. A. VAN BEEK,

purporting to point out an Error in the Bakerian

Lecture of the late Sir HUMPHREY DAVY" On

the Relation of Electrical and Chemical Changes."

2. Some Observations on Euchlorine, relative to the

Question of its Decomposition. By JOHN DAVY,

M. D., F. R. S., Assistant Inspector of Army Hos-

pitals. Communicated by the Author, through Sir

JAMES MACGRIGOR,

Page 42

III. Remarks on the Remains of a very large Oak Tree,

dug from a Peat-Moss near Lanfine, Ayrshire; and

on the Ancient Caledonian Forest in the West of

Scotland. By T. BROWN, Esq. F. R. S. Ed.,

M. W. S. Communicated by the Author,

1. Remarks on the Oak Tree,

2. On the Ancient Caledonian Forest in the West of

53

ib.

IV. Historical Account of Experiments regarding the In-

fluence of Colour on Heat, the Deposition of Dew,

and Odours. By JAMES STARK, M. D. Edinburgh.

Communicated by the Author,

1. On the Absorption of Heat by differently Coloured

2. On the Radiation of Heat by differently Coloured

Substances,

65

75

3. On the Influence of Colour on the Deposition of Dew, 82

4. On the Influence of Colour on Odours,

V. On finding the Dew-Point, &c. from the Cold induced

by the Evaporation of Water. By H. MEIKle,

Esq. Communicated by the Author,

VI. Observations on the Loamy Deposit called "Loess"

of the Basin of the Rhine. By CHARLES LYEll,

Esq. F. R. S. Foreign Secretary to the Geological

Society, &c. Communicated by the Author,

VII. On the Theory of the Elevation of Mountain Chains,

as advocated by M. ELIE DE BEAUMONT. By Dr

BOUE'. Communicated by the Author,

VIII. An Attempt at a New Arrangement of the Ericaceae.

By DAVID DON, Esq. Libr. L. S., &c. Communi-

cated by the Author,

98

110

123

150