THE EDINBURGH NEW PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL, EXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE. PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SCIENCES AND THE ARTS. CONDUCTED BY ROBERT JAMESON, 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; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy; of the Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark; of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin; of the Royal Academy of Naples; of the Geological Society of France; Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta ; Fellow of the Royal Linnean, and of the Geological Societies of London; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and of the Cambridge Philosophical Society; of the Antiquarian, Wernerian Natural History, Royal Medical, Royal Physical, and Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh; of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland; of the Antiquarian and Literary Society of Perth; of the Statistical Society of Glasgow ; of the Royal Dublin Society; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Whitby, Northern, and Cork Institutions; of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle; of the Imperial Pharmaceutical Society of 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 Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts; of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania; of the Boston Society of Natural History of the United States; of the South African Institution of the Cape of Good Hope; Honorary Member of the Statistical Society of France; Member of the Entomological Society of Stettin, &c. &c. &c. ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH: 1845. CONTENTS. ART. I. On the Original Population of America, and the modes of access from the Old to the New Con- tinent, with Preliminary Observations on the recently published Travels in North America, of Prince Maximilian of Wied. By Lieut.- III. On the Mismanagement of Stable-Dung Manure, especially as regards exposure to Rain. Ry JOHN DAVY, M.D., F.R.S. Lond. and Edin. IV. On the Occurrence of Mannite in the Laminaria V. On the Mammalia of the Gouaties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine. By WILLIAM MAG- GILLIVRAY, AM, LED Professor of Natural History in Marischal College and University, Aberdeen. Communicated by the Author. Concluded from Vol. xxxvii., p. 392, VI. On the Phenomena of Evaporation, the Forma- tion, and Suspension of Clouds, &c. By G. A. PAGE VIII. Remarks on the Advantages and Economy of the Moveable-Derrick Crane, improved and intro- duced into general use by WILLIAM WIGHTMAN, Contractor, in the year 1837; but more parti- cularly as applicable in the Construction of Bridges, Piers, Breakwaters, and Naval Archi- tecture. Communicated to Ed. New Phil. Jour- nal by the Royal Scottish Society of Arts. With IX. Abstract of a Paper relative to Springs of Water. X. Account of a Cheap and Portable Self-Registering Tide-Gauge, invented by JOHN WOOD, Esq. of Port-Glasgow, and which has been two years in use. With examples of the work done by it. By JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL, Esq., F.R.S.E., F.R.S.S.A. Communicated by the Royal Scottish Society XI. Researches on the Situation of Zones without Rain, and of Deserts. By M. J. FOURNET, Pro- XIV. On Fluorine in Recent and Fossil Bones, and the sources from whence it is derived. By J. MID- DLETON, Esq., XV. Contributions towards Establishing the General Character of the Fossil Plants of the genus Si- gillaria. By WILLIAM KING, Esq., Curator of the Museum of the Natural History Society of |