Notices of the Proceedings at the Meetings of the Members of the Royal Institution, with Abstracts of the Discourses, Volume 8W. Nicol, Printer to the Royal Institution, 1879 |
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Common terms and phrases
acid action alcohol animals ants apparatus appear Bacteria beam boiling brought candle carbon cause chemical colour condition contractile waves direction disc effect electric Eocene experiments fact family variability fibre force galvanometer ganglion Geological GEORGE BUSK germs glass Glen Roy Glen Spean heat hydrogen inches infusions instance Institute-Journal iodomethane Journal known larvæ less light liquid marginal bodies matter Medusa metal minutes Miocene monad motion nature nest oath observed obtained organisms oxidation oxygen paraffins Parallel Roads particles pass Perissodactyles phenomena Philosophical pipe pith Pliocene polypite portion present pressure Proboscidea produced Professor proportion rays resistance Royal Institution salt Science selenium shown side Sir Thomas Dick-Lauder Society Society-Journal species Spinoza steel stimulation structure substance surface swimming-bell temperature theory tion torsion tubes vanadium vapour velocity WEEKLY EVENING MEETING weight whole wrought iron
Popular passages
Page 456 - But to return to our own institute : besides these constant exercises at home, there is another opportunity of gaining experience to be won from pleasure itself abroad ; in those vernal seasons of the year when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against nature, not to go out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.
Page 251 - ... elaborate habitations, their roadways, their possession of domestic animals, and even, in some cases, of slaves, it must be admitted that they have a fair claim to rank next to man in the scale of intelligence.
Page 455 - I shall detain you no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight conduct you to a hill-side, where I will point you out the right path of a virtuous and noble education; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming.
Page 23 - On the 12th all the tubes had given way, but the differences in their contents were extraordinary. All of them contained Bacteria, some few, others in swarms. In some tubes they were slow and sickly in their motions, in some apparently dead, while in others they darted about with rampant vigour.
Page 566 - landing on a small uninhabited island nearly at the Antipodes, the first evidence I met with of its having been previously visited by man was the English chickweed; and this I traced to a mound that marked the grave of a British sailor, and that was covered with the plant, doubtless the offspring of seed that had adhered to the spade or mattock with which the grave had been dug.
Page 258 - In order to test the intelligence of ants, it has always seemed to me that there was no better way than to ascertain some object which they would 'clearly desire, and then to interpose some obstacle which a little ingenuity would enable them to overcome.
Page 54 - Twice 144 is 288. The light of these candles, therefore, is as 288 to 289. They therefore balance each other as nearly as possible. Similarly I can balance a gaslight against a candle. I have a small gas-burner here, which I place 28 inches off on one side, and you see it balances the candle 12 inches off. These experiments show how conveniently and accurately this instrument can be used as a photometer. By balancing a standard candle on one side against any source of light on the other, the value...
Page 258 - ... her. I then, when about twenty-five ants were so engaged, moved the little paper bridge slightly, so as to leave a chasm just so wide that the ants could not reach across. They came and tried hard to do so; but it did not occur to them...
Page 232 - were designed for the chase, and that the terraces were made after the spots were cleared in lines from wood, in order to tempt the animals into the open paths after they were rouzed, in order that they might come within reach of the bowmen who might conceal themselves in the woods above and below.
Page 15 - With the view of settling these questions, therefore, we may carefully prepare an infusion from some animal tissue, be it muscle, kidney, or liver ; we may place it in a flask whose neck is drawn out and narrowed in the blowpipe-flame, we may boil the fluid, seal the vessel during ebullition, and, keeping it in a warm place, may await the result, as I have often done. After a variable time, the previously heated fluid within the hermetically sealed flask swarms more or less plentifully with Bacteria...