Professor De Candolle has been likewise employed in the publication of three important memoirs, which he has obligingly presented to us. 1. On some new genera of the family of Buttneriacea.

2. On the family of Ternstræmiaceœ.

3. On the new or rare plants which have flowered in the Botanic Garden of Geneva during the years 1819, 1820, and 1821.

By a letter which has just reached us from Professor De Candolle, we are informed that he is at this moment deeply engaged on the natural family of Leguminosa, in which he finds much to interest him, as well as many alterations to be made. The result of these investigations he will, before the end of the year, lay before the public, either in the second volume of his Prodromus, or in some memoirs published in Paris. Martius, Genera et Species Palmarum Brasiliensium; and Nova Genera et Species Plantarum Brasilia.

THE expedition of Drs. Spix and Martius into Brazil, by the order and at the expense of his Majesty Maximilian Joseph I. King of Bavaria, besides having given origin to the interesting travels just written by these gentlemen, and other works connected with science, has laid the foundation for two works on the plants of that country, which, as far as we can judge by what is already published of them, bid fair to equal, if not surpass, any thing of the kind ever executed in Germany; and deserve to be placed on a level with the splendid productions of Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth, which have appeared in Paris.

We have received one Fasciculus of the Palms, and two of the Nova Genera. The first is entitled Genera et Species Palmarum quas in itinere per Brasiliam, annis 1817-1820, jussu et auspiciis Maximiliani Josephi I. Bavariæ Regis Augustissimi suscepto, collegit, descripsit, et iconibus illustravit Dr. C. F. P. Martius, Ordinis Regii Corone Bavarica Eques, &c. &c. 1823. The size is an atlas folio, the only one, indeed, suited to the magnificence of the subjects; and the plates are executed in lithography, in a manner that cannot probably be equalled elsewhere; for it is well known that at Munich this art has arrived to a very high degree of perfection. Some sets are coloured, others plain. The first fasciculus contains, besides 28 pages of letter-press, 25 species of Palms; the greater number of which are entirely new, and belonging to genera which are here first established. We are not informed to what number of species the work will be likely to extend.

The Nova Genera et Species Plantarum quas in itinere per Brasiliam, &c. merits very high praise. Each of the two fasciculi that have reached us contains 18 or 20 pages of letter-press, and 12 lithographic plates, extremely well coloured.

Letters on the Highlands of Scotland, addressed to Sir Walter Scott, Bart. In four volumes octavo.

The appearance of this work, which is on the eve of publication, has been looked forward to with high expectation by those who take an in

terest in the Highlands of Scotland; and when we inform our readers that it is from the pen of Dr. MacCulloch, we are confident that they will agree with us in thinking, that their expectations will not be disappointed.

Having had occasion for many years, both as a private individual, and as mineralogist to the Ordnance Survey, to examine every part of Scotland with the minutest attention, he has collected a body of materials as curious as they are important. The results of his scientific labours have been partly published in the Geological Transactions, and in his work on the Western Islands, and his geological researches will be found in a still more interesting form in his mineralogical map of Scotland, which, we trust, the liberality of government will soon enable him to complete; but he has reserved for the present work all those general topics connected with the history, the antiquities, the literature, the picturesque scenery, and the statistics of the Highlands, which have derived a new interest even among foreign nations, from those splendid works of fancy which are still adorning the literature of Scotland.

To this interesting task few men could bring such varied talents as Dr. MacCulloch. A profound chemist; an excellent natural philosopher; deeply versed in mineralogy, geology, and every other department of natural history, he was able to discover and explain those interesting phenomena of the natural world which our land of rocks and floods so often presents to the philosophic eye; and which had been almost entirely neglected, either from the incapacity or the indolence of those who ought to have examined them. To these indispensible qualifications Dr. MacCulloch added those of an antiquarian, a political economist, and a skilful draftsman ; and from his intimate habits of intercourse with our first nobility, and his continual sojournings among the population of our coasts and valleys, he enjoyed opportunities which no other man ever possessed of studying the manners and customs of the Highlanders, as well as their political, agricultural, and moral condition.

The results of these various and popular inquiries will be found in this work under the following heads :

A general description of all the country within the Highland border, and of each of the islands which belong to that division of Scotland. A description of the various picturesque scenery occurring in the mainland and in the islands.

A description of the various antiquities of the Highlands.

A historical sketch of the Highlands, from the earliest recor Investigations respecting the ancient state of policy, clans ners, and usages, among the Highlanders.

Inquiries respecting their language, poetry, music, and d Inquiries into the agriculture, the manufactures, the tenures of land, and the present condition of the popula gestions respecting eventual improvements, and

Miscellaneous notices on the natural history of the co

ART. XXX. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1824.

April 5th, 1824.-A paper by Dr. EDWARD TURNER was read, entitled, "On the Application of Professor Dobereiner's Discovery to Eudiometry."

On the same evening a paper by GEORGE ANDERSON, Esq. was read, "On the Quartz District in the Neighbourhood of Loch Ness."

April 19th.-A paper by DR. BREWSTER was read, "On the Optical and Mechanical Structure of the Minerals which form the Composite System, which it is proposed to add to the other Systems of Crystallography." Professor Mohs having arranged minerals under four systems, viz. 3. The Prismatic System. 4. The Tessular System.

1. The Rhomboidal System.

2. The Pyramidal System.

The author of this paper proposes to add the Composite System, as marking, by a simple and unequivocal name, the general character of the structures of the minerals which it comprehends.

The Composite minerals divide themselves into two classes, viz.

Class I. Those in which the physical properties of the individual crystals are not altered by the combination; and

Class II. Those in which the physical properties of the individual crystals are altered by the combination.

Both classes are subdivided into two orders: I. Those crystals which are found separately in nature; and II. Those which are not found separately in nature; and these are again subdivided into Sections.

As most of the structures described in this paper are entirely new, and require to be illustrated by figures, we are not able at present to give any further account of them.

May 3d.-The following gentlemen were elected ordinary members of the Society:

William Wood, Esq. President of the Royal College of Surgeons. Dr. William Crosbie Mair, Physician to the Embassy to Mexico.

Dr. Turner's paper was concluded at this meeting.

May 17th.-A paper by DR. BREWSTER was read, entitled " A De-' scription of two filamentous Surfaces of Quartz incapable of reflecting Light." This paper is printed in the present Number, p. 108.

There was laid before the Society a Memoir, by PROFESSOR MOLL of Utrecht, and M. VON BEEK, on the Velocity of Sound.

2. Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society. March 19th, 1824.-There was read at this meeting an account of a new British species of Spatagus, and also of a new species of Plumularia, brought home by Captain Parry, by the Rev. Dr. FLEMING, of Flisk.— Observations, by P. J. SELBY, Esq. were also read, on the natural history of the Golden-Crested Regulus, and notices on the management of young plantations, by Mr. F. C. PARRY.

April 3.-Dr. Knox read his remarks on the supposed discoveries of Professor Tiedemann, on the distribution of the lacteal vessels in the Phoca vitulina, &c.

These remarks on a very interesting physiological point will be given in an early Number. In the mean time, we may refer our medical readers for some account of them to the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal for July.

April 17.-A paper by Dr. Knox was read, in which he gave an account of his discovery of the presence of a dark-coloured periosteum, investing nearly all the bones of the Colymbus septentrionalis. This singular appearance has been observed in very few birds, and these have belonged to genera very distinct from the Colymbus. The paper will be published in a succeeding number of this Journal.

A colossal species of sponge was exhibited, said to be from the Indian sea. We did not remark that any description was given of this sponge, which may or may not be a particular species. There were even doubts raised, (after the meeting of the Society had closed,) whether the substance in question was really a sponge or not. As no opportunity occurred to us of examining it carefully, we shall not venture to offer any opinion on the subject. It seemed to us a sponge, and of a form not unlike what we had occasionally seen. In the very philosophic work of Grew, on The Anatomy of Guts and Stomachs, there is a drawing much resembling this colossal sponge.

April 28th.-A memoir on the Sand Hills in the vicinity of Edinburgh was read.

A specimen of the native dog of New Holland, and another of a dog from Greenland, were exhibited to the Society.

May 12th.-A paper by HENRY WITHAM, Esq. was read, On the Peculiarities in the Trap Rocks in the Counties of York, Durham, Westmoreland, and Northumberland; also a notice by ROBERT STEVENSON, Esq. on the pernicious effects on Fruit Trees, of thin layers of Bog Iron Ore immediately under the surface soil in Aberdeenshire. Mr. DEUCHAR likewise read a notice on the Theories of Galvanism.

3. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1824. March 1st.-J. Okes, Esq. honorary member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, read a notice of a considerable number of fossil bones of the Elephant, Rhinoceros, Buffalo, Deer, Horse, &c. found near Bamwell, Cambridgeshire, in a sandy gravel, intermixed with bleached specimens of several species of land and fresh water shells, indigenous to Cambridgeshire.

Rev. W. Mandell, B. D. Queen's College, read an unedited letter of Sir I. Newton to Mr. Aclaw of Geneva.

Rev. Professor Sedgwick, M. A. Trinity, read a communication containing some additional observations on the geology of Teesdale, made during the year 1823.

March 15th.-Rev. W. Mandell, B.D. Queen's College, gave a description of a self-regulating lamp.

seigner Acasos, Esq. was read, tarz son: a the Nagihand of Loch Ness."

Just wasted. On the Optical and Lines vid in the Composite System, the cher Systems of Crystallography.” 1.5 gsi maris der four systems, 3. The Prismatic System. ▲ The Tessular System.

viz.

Composite System, as markame, the general character of the

N

hemsives to two classes, viz.

perperties of the individual crys

AN I vid he properties of the individual

Si riers: L Those crystals which F. and II. Those which are not found

AR

subvided into Sections. this paper are entirely new, and Nilsdigs we are not able at present to give any

RN Araurs ished

1. "lowing gentemen were elected ordinary members of

Sam Wood President of the Royal College of Surgeons. In Wiliam Case Mar, Physician to the Embassy to Mexico.

Turner's paper was concluded at this meeting.

How 1-1 paper by Dr. BarwSTER was read, entitled " A Desorption of two flamentous Surfaces of Quartz incapable of reflecting Daph" This paper is printed in the present Number, p. 108.

There was hit before the Society a Memoir, by PROFESSOR MOLL of Utrecht, and R. Vox Bers, on the Velocity of Sound.

$. Predings of the Wernerian Natural History Society. Toros 190, 1884-There was read at this meeting an accoun ewish species of Spatagus, and also of a new species of P bought home by Captain Parry, by the Rev. Dr. FLEM Observations by Rd St, Esp, were also read, m ry of the Calin Crested Regulus, and notices on wung pantations by Mr. F.C. PARRY.