Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part II. For the year 1758. / Giving some account of the present undertakings, studies, and labours, of the ingenious, in many considerable parts of the world.

by Various; Royal Society

Conclusion.

I cannot help remarking, by way of conclusion, that we have in this genus of plants a convincing instance of the utility which may result from the study of natural science in general, and even of its minuter and hitherto most neglected branches. From a view of the foregoing memoir it is evident, I presume, that the œconomical uses of the lichens, in the various parts of the world, are already very considerable and important: and altho’ it does not appear, that the sensible qualities of any of them, or the experience of former ages, will warrant our ascertaining any singular powers to them in a medicinal way, yet posterity will doubtless find the means of employing them to many valuable purposes in human life to us unknown.

It will at once be acknowleged, that the vegetable kingdom supplies us with the far greater share of the necessaries, the conveniences, and even the elegancies, of life. The cultivation of that knowlege, which leads to the investigation of its subjects, cannot, therefore, but be highly useful and necessary: and altho’ the bare science of natural knowlege is of itself worthy of applause, yet it ought to be considered, in reality, as the necessary means only of applying the subjects of nature’s kingdoms to their true ends and purposes, the service of mankind. To know and distinguish, by determined and specific characters, even but a small share of that amazing multitude of objects, with which the great Parent of nature has furnished our globe, is a task far more than equal to the duration of human life. To investigate and ascertain their various qualities and uses is equally arduous and impracticable. While the naturalists, therefore, are employed in distinguishing the forms of things, let others exert the united efforts of genius and application to investigate their various properties and uses. I need not say the field for both is boundless: it doubtless will be so for ages yet to come. The hopes of discovering some latent property, which may turn out to the advantage of his fellow creatures, will animate the man, whose mind is truly formed for relishing the pleasures of natural science; and however the result may be, the inspection and contemplation of nature’s productions will ever afford that satisfaction, which will amply repay him for his trouble. The minuter, and, as they are commonly estimated, the most abject and insignificant things are not beneath our notice; and an attentive mind will readily conceive how much farther, and more extensively useful, every branch of nature’s kingdom may yet prove in the œconomy of human life. The man, therefore, whom a genius and love for natural history has allured into its pursuits, and whose leisure permits his gratification in such researches, if he is not happy enough to be crowned with success, at least deserves it, and merits the thanks of his fellow-creatures for his application and diligence.

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XCII. An Account of the fossile Bones of an Allegator, found on the Sea-shore, near Whitby in Yorkshire. In a Letter to John Fothergill, M. D. from Capt. William Chapman.

Whitby, 20th of 1st mo. 1758.

Read May. 4, 1758.

A Few days since we discovered on the sea-shore, about half a mile from this place, part of the bones of an animal, appearing as in the annexed figure (See Tab. [XXII.]). The ground they laid in is what we call allum-rock; a kind of black slate, that may be taken up in flakes, and is continually wearing away by the surf of the sea, and the washing of stones, sand, &c. over it every tide.

The bones were covered five or six feet with the water every full sea, and were about nine or ten yards from the cliff, which is nearly perpendicular, and about sixty yards high, and is continually wearing away, by the washing of the sea against it; and, if I may judge by what has happened in my own memory, it must have extended beyond these bones less than a century ago. There are several regular strata or layers of stone, of some yards thickness, that run along the cliff, nearly parallel to the horizon and to one another. I mention this to obviate an objection, that this animal may have been upon the surface, and in a series of years may have sunk down to where it lay; which will now appear impossible, at least when the stones, &c. have had their present consistence.

Philos. Trans. Vol. L. Tab. XXII(b) p. [689].

J. Mynde sc.

References to the Draught.

A, B, C, the head and bill, not in the same line or range with the rest of the bones.

a, b, A bone, with its processes, which I take to be similar to that, which includes the brain in fishes. The part between the bone and outlines appeared to be a smooth membrane; but was so thin, that in taking up it broke.

It is evident this is the upper part of the head inverted.

B, C, the superior maxilla intire, and in some places covered with the inferior one for four or five inches together. Where this happens, the vacuity is filled with matter like the rock in which it lays; and there are large teeth in each jaw, at such distances, and so posited, that those in one jaw fill up the vacuities in the other, and appear like one continued row, the mouth being shut.

Where there is only the superior maxilla remaining, there are no teeth; but the sockets are visible and deep, and at the same distances from each other as the teeth in the other part of the jaw. The tip or extremity of the bill was intire for four or five inches, having both maxillæ, with their teeth, and towards the point large fangs. Part of the bill and head were covered with the rock; which was removed before they appeared as in the figure.

A, D, F, G, cavities in the rock, about two inches deep, where, I suppose, the wanting vertebræ have laid, as they are exactly suited to have received them.

D, F, Ten vertebræ, from three to four half inches in diameter, and about three inches long, some of them separated in taking up. They were about two inches in the rock.

E, Here we observed something like bone to stretch from the vertebræ, and intending to take it up whole, begun to cut at what we thought a proper distance; but found we cut thro’ a bone; and with the vertebræ brought up three or four inches of the os femoris, with the ball, covered with the periosteum: but the animal has been so crushed hereabouts, that we could make little of the socket or os innominata. Several of the ribs came up with the vertebræ: they were broke, and laid parallel to the vertebræ; but not quite close, there being some of the rock between them. The periosteum is visible on many of the bones.

G, H, Twelve vertebræ remaining in the rock, with which they are almost covered, especially towards the extremity.

The place, where these bones lay, was frequently covered with sea-sand, to the depth of two feet, and seldom quite bare; which was the occasion of their being rarely seen: but being informed that they had been discovered by some people two or three years ago, we had one of them with us upon the spot, who told us, that when he first saw it, it was intire, and had two short legs on that part of the vertebræ wanting towards the head. Altho’ we could not suspect the veracity of this person, we thought he was mistaken; for we had hitherto taken it for a fish. But when we took it up, and found the os femoris above-mentioned, we had cause to believe his relation true, and to rank this animal amongst those of the lizard kind: by the length (something more than ten feet) it seems to have been an allegator; but I shall be glad to have thy opinion about it.

I am thy friend,
William Chapman Sen.

The bones were sent up, and are herewith presented to the Royal Society by

J. Fothergill.

XCIII. De rariori quadam Orthoceratitis Specie, in Suecia reperta, tractatus; in literis a Nicholao de Himsel, M. D. Riga Livono, ad Gul. Watson, M. D. R.SS.

Read May 11, 1758.

ORthoceratiti recti in loco quodam Kelwika dicto, prope Fahlunam in Dahlia, reperti. Inhærebant lapidi cineracei coloris calcareo, variæ magnitudinis orthoceratiti, quorum portiones hic delineatas describo.

Vide Tab. [XXIII.]

Fig. A. Orthoceratitis portio, cujus pars inferior saxo adhuc adhæret; ex lapide calcareo constans lente in apicem decrescens. Licet ex parvis ejus fragmentis judicari possit, cylindrum esse orthoceratitem, ea tamen si conjunguntur, verum formant conum, et mihi videtur ex crassitie siphonis, orthoceratitem hunc conicum duos fere superavisse pedes. Vidi orthoceratitem in alio lapide calcareo, quem etiam ibidem loci, Kelwikæ, reperi, longitudine duorum cum semisse pedum: sed impossibile erat, integrum eum excutere, nimis enim fragile erat. Est portio hæc orthoceratitis testa sua ambiente vestita in a b c. Quinque conspiciuntur articuli, thalami quondam, arctissime sibi invicem insidentes, per quos a latere procedit sipho m n sat crassus, qui in omnibus fere, quas possideo portionibus orthoceratitarum, a centro semper remotus, hic ad peripheriam positus conspicitur. Sipho admodum lente decrescit, ex quo etiam de longitudine coni hujus judicare licet. Crustæ vel testæ a b c interior pars, quæ articulos tegit, crysstallina est, ex spati crystallis tenuioribus irregularibus constans.

Philos. Trans. Vol. L. Tab. XXIII. p. [692].

J. Mynde sc.

Fig. B. Portio alia, in qua articuli minus crassi; sipho quoque ad peripheriam positus, testa sua in a tecta. Conspicitur septum illud testaceum in b, communi tenuior, quod ab ipso articulo superiori procedens, siphonis partem r s investit.

Fig. B, C. Portio orthoceratitis ex lapide calcareo cineracei coloris: sipho vero, fluore spatoso egregie crystallisato, constat.

Fig. C. Portio alia per axin divisa, cujus pars exterior, testa quæ striis circularibus levioribus externe ornata, investita conspicitur.

Ex parte interiori Fig. D. confirmatio ejus interna adparet. Sipho x z gracilior, inter centrum et peripheriam positus, dimidia parte ambiente articulo denudatus adparet; dimidia altera, inferiori articulo c d e tegitur. Articulus a b spato crystallisato pellucido polygono repletus est. Articulus c d e vero, saxo spatoso incarnato paululum repletus est. x. Siphonis pars superior, ubi radii a peripheria ad centrum tendentes conspiciuntur. Inter crystallos spatosos in articulo a b striæ hinc et inde adparent nigræ, asphalto repletæ; ita etiam cavitas articuli a b, æque ac superficies convexa articuli c e, quæ in primam concavam recipitur, lamina asphalti vestitæ sunt.

Fig. E. Pars alia orthoceratitis majoris, et quidem facies exterior.

Fig. F. Facies ejus interior, in medio divisi, cum siphone transeunte satis crasso. a b c et reliquæ striæ leves, sunt diaphragmata, articulos a b invicem separantia, siphonem proprie constituentia, siphonisque tenuiorem membranam, quæ in o et p adhuc conspicitur, ambientia. Sunt diaphragmata hæc crassiora in siphonis vestigiis, et sibi invicem ab inferiori parte insident. Sipho hic inter centrum et peripheriam positus est.

Fig. G. Materies calcarea, quæ siphonem replevit striata, et quidem pars ejus interior, qua centrum orthoceratitis respicit, peripheriæ opposita.

Fig. H. Facies posterior, peripheriæ propior.

Fig. I. Pars concava articuli majoris orthoceratitis, in qua diaphragmatis testacei jam crystallisati portiunculæ albicantes m n r conspiciuntur cum siphone transeunte.

Fig. K. Portio alia orthoceratitis majoris, ejusque facies exterior, cum siphone g ad peripheriam posito. Conspiciuntur his diaphragmata, quæ ab utroque latere, ab articulis procedunt, se invicem conjungunt, et siphonem ab exteriori parte obtegunt. a est testæ satis crassæ portiuncula, qua portio hæc orthoceratitis vestita adhuc est.

XCIV. A further Account of the Effects of Electricity in the Cure of some Diseases[133]: In a Letter from Mr. Patrick Brydone to Dr. Robert Whytt, Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and F.R.S.

Coldinghame, January 9th, 1758.

Read May 11, 1758.

A Young woman of Aiton, a village about two miles from this place, had her right leg drawn back by a contraction of the muscles that bend the knee, so that she had not been able to put that foot to the ground for near a twelvemonth. She had taken the advice of some Surgeons in the country, and had used several remedies to no purpose. At last, hearing of the cure of the paralytic woman, whose case I sent you some time ago, she insisted on being brought hither; and underwent a course of electrical shocks for near two months, receiving every day at least fifty or sixty in the following manner. She sat close by the machine, and grasping the phial in her hand, she presented the wire to the barrel or conductor, and drew the sparks from it for about half a minute. The phial being thus charged, she then touched her knee with the wire, and thereby received such severe strokes, as would sometimes instantly raise a blister on the part. The joint was at last so much relaxed, as that she could walk home with the help of a crutch, tho’ her leg was so weak, that she had very little use of it. After she had continued in this state for some weeks, she was advised to use the cold bath: but that soon brought back the contraction; and I have been since informed that she was worse than ever.

A soldier’s wife, a genteel looking woman, of about 30 years of age, was seized with a slight palsy, about Newcastle, on her way to this country: but before she got to this place, she had lost all the feeling in her left side, and so far the power of it, that she was brought to us in a cart. After receiving 600 strokes from the electrical machine in the usual way, and in the space of two days, she recovered the use of her side, and set out on foot to make out the rest of her journey. However, for fear of a relapse, I gave her a recommendatory letter to Mr. Sommer, Surgeon at Haddington, as she was to pass thro’ that town, and as I knew that he was likewise provided with an electrical apparatus.

A young woman from Home, a village in this shire, but at a good distance, complained of a coldness and insensibility in her left hand and wrist, of two years standing. When I felt that hand, it was as cold as a stone, whilst the other was sweating; and she told me, that it never had been warmer all that time. I made her draw the sparks from an egg (which for some other purpose was suspended by a wire from the conductor) for about half an hour; and at the end of that time I found the dead hand in a far greater sweat than the other. She then wrapt it up in a piece of flannel, as she used to do, and retired. Next day she told me, that since the operation she had been able to put off and on her cloaths without help, which she had not been able to do for a twelvemonth before. She was again electrised; and believing she was then quite well, she went away: but some weeks after, upon the coldness of her hand beginning to return, she made me another visit, was again electrised, and was dismissed a second time apparently cured. This is about two months ago, and I have heard nothing of her since.

As these two last women are at such a distance, I cannot pretend to send you their own testimony of their cure. But for the two cases in the separate paper, as the persons are inhabitants of this place, I have taken care that they themselves should sign them, along with my father; since you have acquainted me, that accounts of this kind should have the attestation both of the patients and the minister of the parish.

I shall only add here, that several persons have been relieved of rheumatic pains, by electrising the parts affected. And a woman was cured of a deafness of six months standing, contracted, as she imagined, by cold. This woman held the phial in her hand, whilst another person standing on a cake of resin gave her the shock, by putting the end of the wire into her ear. This manner of electrising brought always on a profuse sweat over the head, which we encouraged, by wrapping it up in flannel. The first day she came here, she could scarce hear what was spoken by those about her; but in five days she seemed to be perfectly cured.

I am, &c.
Patrick Brydone.

Copy of the separate Paper before mentioned.

Robert Haigs, of Coldinghame, a labouring man of about 45, after having been for ten days ill of a regular tertian ague, at my desire underwent the electrical shocks in the common way. After having received about thirty or forty very severe ones, he grew pale, and staggering for several steps, would have fallen down, had he not been supported. He then fell into a sweat, which continued near half an hour. I desired him to come back the next morning, immediately before the fit, which he said came on about ten o’clock. He accordingly came, and told me he had not the usual symptoms preceding the fit. He was that day again strongly electrised; and has been without any aguish symptom ever since; viz. for the space of four months.

The truth of this is attested by

Robert Haigs, the person cured.

Rob^t. Brydone, Minister of Coldinghame.

Ann Torry, of Coldinghame, a young woman of about 20, had a regular tertian (being the first time she ever had the ague) for near a fortnight. The fit came on early in the morning. She was electrised on her well day in the afternoon; and the next morning, having had only a slight shivering, she was electrised again about ten o’ clock, and has had no symptom of the ague since; viz. for three months.

The above is attested by

Ann Torry, the person cured.

Rob^t. Brydone, Minister of Coldinghame.

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XCV. An Account of the Black Assize at Oxford, from the Register of Merton College in that University. Communicated by John Ward, LL. D. With some additional Remarks.

Anno nono D. Bickley Custodis, 1577.

Read May 25, 1758.

VIcessimo[134] primo Julii in vestiario Dñus custos et octo Seniores dispensarunt cum Decreto de concione et appictantia habendis, die Dominico post festum Sᵗⁱ Petri ad vincula; ne vocata et conveniente turba, morbus ille, qui ante quinque dies quamplurimos infestarat, dissipatior et periculosior fiat. Etenim 15, 16, et 17, hujus Julii aegrotant plus minus trecenti homines; et infra duodecim dierum spatium mortui sunt (ne quid errem) centum scholares, praeter cives non paucos. Tempus sine dubio calamitosissimum et luctu plenum. Nam quidam lectos differentes[135], agitati nescio quo morbi et doloris furore, suos custodes baculis caedunt et abigunt; alii per areas et plateas insanientium more circumcursant; alii in profundam aquarum praecipites insiliunt; nemo tamen, summo Deo gratia, desperanter perit. Franguntur omnium animi. Fugiunt medici, non propter necessitatem fratrum, sed propter se et cistas creati. Relinquuntur miseri. Domini, doctores, et collegiorum praefecti, ad unum pene omnes abeunt. Custos noster, longe omnium vigilantissimus, domi apud nos manet; in aegrotis omnem curam, laborem, diligentiam impensus[136] collocat; die toto, et nocte etiam intempesta, eos sedulo invisit. Moriuntur e nostris quinque. Omnis aula, omne collegium, aut domi, aut in via ad patriam, suos habet mortuos. Mirari quis posset multitudinem ad medicastrorum domos cum matulis citato cursu properantium. Pharmacopolarum etiam conservata syrupos, olea, aquas dulces, pixides, cujusque generis confectiones, brevissimo tempore exhausta. Laborant aegroti vehementissimo tum capitis tum stomachi dolore; vexantur phrenesi; privantur intellectu, memoria, visu, auditu, et caeteris etiam sensibus. Crescente morbo, non capiunt cibos, non dormiunt, ministros aut custodes non patiuntur. Semper, vel in ipsa morte, mirae orum strenuitas et corporis robur; et eo declinante, omnia modis impense contrariis eveniunt. Nulli complexioni aut constitutioni parcitur; cholericos tamen praecipue hic morbus molestos habet; cujus ut causas, sic et curas ignorant medici. Natum suspicantur multi, vel ex foetido et pestilenti furum e carceribus prodeuntium aëre (quorum duo vel tres sunt ante paucos dies in vinculis mortui) vel ex artificiosis diabolicis et plane papisticis flatibus e Lovaniensi barathro excitatis, et ad nos scelestissime et clam emissis. Nam illi solum et hic et alibi decumbunt aegroti, qui in castro, et guilda, quam appellant, aula, quinto et sexto hujus mensis adsunt[137]. Assisiorum judices, dominus Robertus Bell, capitatis baro scaccarii etc. qualem hactenus non peperit Anglia; dominus Johannes Barrham, dominae reginae serviens ad legem; papisticae pravitatis uterque apertissimi hostes et acerrimi vindices: vicecomes Oxoniensis comitatis[138], equites aurati duo, armigeri et pacis justiciarii octo, generosi plures, horum non pauci famuli, omnes (uno aut attero exceptis) de grandi, ut loquuntur, jure, statim post fere relictam Oxoniam mortui sunt. Et ut quisque fortissimus, ita citissime moritur. Foeminae non petuntur, nec certe pauperes; neque etiam inficitur quisquam, qui aegrotorum necessitatibus subministrarit, aut eos inviserit. Sed ut fuit morbus hic insigniter violentus, ita neque diu duravit. Nam infra unius mensis curriculum ad pristinam pene sanitatem restituuntur omnes; ut jam denuo mirari possis tot scholares, tot etiam cives, urbem et plateas linteis capitibus obambulantes, et nomen clementissimi Dei nostri in omne aevum suspicere[139].

Vicessimo quarto Julii Joannes May, socius et artium magister, in collegio vitam finit. Sepelitur in ecclesia.

Vicessimo septimo ejusdem Browne clericus moritur in collegio.

Vicessimo octavo ejusdem Gaunte portionista moritur in collegio.

Vicessimo nono Dnus Lea, electus probationarius 20 Julii, moritur in collegio.

Additional Remarks, by Tho. Birch, D. D. Secret. R. S.

CAmden, in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth[140], observes, that almost all, except women and children, who were present at the assizes at Oxford, at the tryal of Rowland Jenkes, a Bookseller there, for seditious words, died, to the number of about three hundred. Mr. John Stow, in his Chronicle of England[141], enlarges this number, and affirms, that there died in Oxford three hundred persons, and in other places two hundred and odd, from the 6th of July to the 12th of August; after which died not any of that sickness; for one of them infected not another: And this historian agrees with Camden, that not any one woman or child died thereof. Dr. George Ethryg, a physician, who practised at that time at Oxford[142], in the 2d book of his Hypomnemata quædam in aliquot Libros Pauli Æginetæ, seu Observationis Medicamentorum, quæ hâc ætate in usu sunt, printed at London in 1588, in 8vo, mentions, that on the first night of the appearance of the dissease about six hundred fell sick of it; and that the next night an hundred more were seized in the villages near Oxford. Lord Bacon, in his Natural History, evidently refers to this, and one or two more instances of the same kind, in the following passage, Century X. Nº. 914. “The most pernicious infection next the plague is the smell of the goal, where prisoners have been long and close and nastily kept; whereof we have had in our time experience twice or thrice, when both the judges, that sat upon the goal, and numbers of those, that attended the business, or were present, sickened upon it, and died. Therefore it were good wisdom, that in such cases the goal were aired before they be brought forth.” We have likewise an account in Mr. Anthony Wood[143], that at the quarter-session at Cambridge, in Lent in the year 1522, and the 13th of the reign of Henry VIII. the justices, gentlemen, and bailiffs, with most of the persons present, were seized with a disease, which proved mortal to a considerable number of them; those, who escaped, having been very dangerously sick. With regard to the unhappy instance of the same kind of contagion, which happened at the session in the Old Baily in May 1750, see Dr. Pringle’s excellent work, intitled, Observations on the Diseases of the Army in Camp and in Garison[144].

XCVI. A Description of the Plan of Peking, the Capital of China; sent to the Royal Society by Father Gaubil, è Societate Jesu. Translated from the French.

King che. The Court.

Read June 1, 1758.

IN this plan are the inclosures of walls, which form as it were three cities.

Kong tching, Tse kin.

The first is the imperial palace, or imperial city. It is called Kong tching or Tse kin. The numbers 11, 17, 21, 24, mark the great gates of this inclosure.

Hoang tching.

The second inclosure is Hoang tching. The numbers 3, 18, 30, 86, mark four great gates of this inclosure.

King tching.

The third inclosure is King tching, or Royal City. The numbers 235, 1, 99, 146, 173, 183, 188, 109, 211, mark nine gates of this inclosure.

At the four angles east and west of the north and south walls is a large pavillion in the form of a fortress. It is a kind of arsenal or magazine of arrows, bows, guns, bucklers, cuirasses, pikes, small cannon, &c.

Observe the angle made by the inclosure Hoang tching on the south of the gate Nº. 84, to the north of Nº. 260. The inclosure extends to the east, then to the south, and continues to the east, passing by Nº. 3.

Philos. Trans. Vol. L. Tab. XXIV. p. [704].

J. Mynde sc.

Philos. Trans. Vol. L. Tab. XXV. p. [704].

J. Mynde sc.

1. is the great gate Hien men. As you go on to the north, 2, 143, 214, are three gates of a great court with magnificent walls. Thro’ the gate 3 you enter into a court, where is the Tay miao Nº. 7. There are reposited the tablets of the ancestors of the reigning emperor, and of the illustrious subjects deceased, who have served the dynasty. This miao or palace is a vast one, and well kept. At regular times the emperor, princes, and great men, go thither to perform ceremonies.

Nº. 9 is the Che tsi tan, where are performed, at regular times, the ceremonies to the ancients, who have taught the art of agriculture. This palace is a very beautiful one. 4, 5, 6, are the gates of a court, where the reguli and princes go frequently to receive the emperor’s orders. There are halls for their reception. The mandarins give them tea to drink, and mark their names in a register. When upon the fixed days they cannot attend, they are required to give notice of it. It is in this court, that the tributary princes, or their envoys, do homage, and receive the presents of the emperor; which presents are considered as rewards.

Nº. 11 is Ou men, the great gate with a beautiful pavillion of a considerable height, in which is a large bell[145]. This gate, with those marked Nº. 12, 13, are those of the great court; whence going to the north, you enter into the beautiful and vast court Tay ho tien, the gates and galleries of which, with the balconies, make a fine appearance. In this court, on the first day of the year, and on other fixed days, the mandarins, according to their ranks, perform the ceremony to the emperor, who is seated on his throne in the hall called Tay ho tien. This hall is a vast and magnificent one. The princes, ministers, and great men of the first order, place themselves there by the emperor. It is in this hall, that the emperor gives audience to foreign princes and their ambassadors. You go up to this hall by magnificent steps.

To the north of Tay ho tien is a large court, whither the princes, great men, ministers, and principal mandarins, go in turns every day, to receive the emperor’s orders, or to present their petitions. To the north of this court are the apartments of the emperor, the empress, the queens, and ladies. The great gate of the place, where these apartments are, is Nº. 23. All these apartments are in the space contained within the walls, which have this figure

At A is a beautiful gate to the south. The walls of the inclosure of the apartments of the emperor and empress are higher than those of the inclosures of the queens and ladies. In them are orchards, jets d’eau, flowering shrubs, and a great number of small chambers for the eunuchs.

To the west of the court Tay ho tien is the fine palace Tsi ning kong. The empress-mother lives there at present. Every thing in this palace is beautiful. There are little gardens very neat and well kept. At the east of the Tay ho tien is likewise a fine palace, where the prince heir, with his court, resided in the time of the emperor Kanghi. It is a very beautiful palace, and highly ornamented.

In the inclosure of Kong tching, or Tse kin, there are tribunals, a great number of magazines, manufactures, the imperial apothecary’s shop and printing-house; schools for the Chinese and Tartar languages; and several temples of idols, one of which, lately made for the lamas, cost immense sums.

Nº. 26, 28, 29, are the gates of the great inclosure called Kin chan. It is properly a beautiful pleasure-house, which the present emperor has caused to be extremely embellished. There are in it fine gardens with walks of trees, very rich and elegant apartments, halls for the musicians and comedians. From the mountain m, the last emperor of the dynasty Ming, seeing the city taken by the rebels, hanged himself on the morning of the 15th of April of the year of our Lord 1644. On the day before, the 14th of April, the empress hanged herself in the evening in the palace. The mountain in Kin chan was made by art a long time ago.

At the west of the inclosure Kin chan and Tse kin observe the great laos. 54 is the peta, or white pyramid. This pyramid stands on a small mountain, which makes an island. The present emperor has built there, in the form of an amphitheatre, I do not know how many apartments with covered and open galleries, well built, and in a good taste: the point of view is charming, and the galleries, which run over the lake, are extremely beautiful. There are two or three temples of idols. 53 is a fine building with a temple of idols; and in it a statue of Fo of an extraordinary height. It is of copper, gilt, and cost great sums. 76 is a very beautiful palace called Yng tay, with fine gardens, fine halls, and fine walks.

55 is the palace, in which is placed the tablet of the emperor Kang hi, grandfather to the present emperor, who at regular times goes thither, in order to honour the memory of that great prince, one of the most illustrious and fortunate sovereigns of the empire of China.

81 is the house and church of the French Jesuits. The house stands in 39° 55´ of northern latitude, or possibly some seconds more, and 114° to the east of the observatory of Paris. This situation, with regard to latitude and longitude, is founded upon a considerable number of astronomical observations. By means of a scale, which may be made, we have the distance between this house and the other parts of the city, north and south, east and west; as likewise the latitude and longitude of all the places in the city of Peking. 248 is the house and church of the Portuguese Jesuits; 170 the house and church of the Portuguese Jesuits[146]; 131 the house and church of the Russians. A little to the east of Nº. 176 is a small house and chapel for the Russians settled at Peking for above seventy years past.

31 is Kou leou[147], the Tower of the Drum; 32 is Tchong leou, the Tower of the Bell; in which is a very large bell[148].

179 was formerly the palace of the fourth son of the emperor Kang hi after the death of Kang hi. This prince reigned under the name of Yong tching. His son the present emperor caused this palace to be demolished, and to be rebuilt with an extraordinary magnificence. In the hall is the tablet of Yong tching; and there are in this palace grand apartments for the emperor, when he goes thither to honour the memory of his father. The emperor has erected here a temple of idols for the lama of Thibet; and there are apartments for above three hundred lama’s. These have Chinese and Tartar disciples to the number of two hundred. Here are taught, in the Thibetan language, called here Tan gout, the sciences, arts, mathematics, physic, spirituality, and the pagan religion. In this beautiful inclosure there are statuaries and painters. This building is not at all inferior in beauty and magnificence to those of the palace of Peking, or to those, which the present emperor is going on to erect in his pleasure-houses.

180 Koue he kien is the imperial college. The great hall, where Confucius is honoured, is a very beautiful one. There are likewise halls for honouring the disciples of this philosopher and several eminent Chinese learned men, who have followed his doctrine with success. The emperor goes thither sometimes to perform the ceremony to Confucius as master and instructor to the empire. The avenues, courts, and apartments, of Koue he kien have a most majestic appearance.

70 the smaller observatory.

108 the imperial observatory, built by Kia hing, emperor of the last dynasty Ming.

136 the tribunal of mathematics, Kin tien kien.

137 the tribunal of mandarins, Ly pou.

139 the tribunal of rites and ceremonies[149], Ly pou.

133 Ping pou, the tribunal of war.

134 Kong pou, the tribunal for public works.

140 Heu pou, the tribunal for the finances.

142 the tribunal of princes, Tsong gin fou.

168 Hing pou, the tribunal for criminal causes.

144 Li fan yuen, the tribunal for foreign nations, Thibetans, Eleuthians, Russians, and indeed for all foreigners, who come by the way of Tartary from the west.

369 Tou tcha yuen, the tribunal of the censors of the empire. It has under it the provosts and mare-chaussée.

233 the tribunal of Kieou men ti tou, or governor of the nine gates, that is, the governor of the city.

185 the tribunal of the judge of the city. This judge is here called Fou yn. He has under him two judges named Tchi hyen. One of these is the judge of the district called Ouang ping hien 193. The other is called the district of Tay tsing hien 182. These districts are within the city and without it. What is called at Peking tou yn is called elsewhere tchi fou.

128 is the tribunal of Han lin, or the chosen doctors of the empire. This tribunal, called Han lin yuen, is a very considerable one: it has the care of the registers for the Chinese history. All the learned men of the empire, and the colleges and schools, depend upon this tribunal. Here are chosen the judges and examiners of the compositions for the degrees of the learned men; as likewise those, who are most capable of writing verses and pieces of eloquence for the use of the palace and emperor.

107 Kong yuen is the inclosure, where the compositions are drawn up for the examination of the learned men. Here are a great number of little chambers or cells for the composers, and fine apartments for the mandarins appointed to preserve good order, and to prevent those, who compose, from making use of the compositions of others.

273 Tchoua kou ting is a pavillion, in which is a drum. Mandarins and soldiers keep guard here day and night. In ancient times, when any person had not justice done him, and thought himself oppressed, he went and beat this drum; at the sound of which the mandarins ran, and were obliged to carry the complaint of the party oppressed to the great men or ministers. Upon which information was taken of the fact, and justice done. At present the use of this drum is abolished; but it has been thought proper to preserve this ancient monument of the Chinese government.

217 Ti ouang miao is a palace, wherein are the tablets of a great number of the ancient emperors of China. At the time of the equinoxes the emperor goes thither to perform the ceremonies to these deceased emperors. See the notes on the Ti ouang miao, p. 723.

92, and the continuation of the buildings to the north, contain the magazines of gunpowder, salt-petre, and nitre. In the city are many other magazines. I do not name them here. They have their numbers. These magazines are of cloth, mats, skins, oil, wine, vinegar, wood, coal, porcelain, tea, varnish, silk, &c.

The city is divided into eight quarters for the bannieres of the Tartars Mantcheou, the Tartars Mongou, and the Chinese called Han kun, who follow the Tartars Mantcheou, and submitted to them when they entered China. Since that time the Chinese Han kun are become numerous and powerful. These eight bannieries are divided by this means as it were into twenty-four; viz. eight of Mantcheou, eight of Mongou, and eight of Han kun. Each banniery has its officers, magazines, and arsenal. These are pretty spacious inclosures, each of which has its number.

94 is an inclosure, in which are kept tygers; and 240 an inclosure, wherein are elephants.

65 Tsan yuen is an inclosure for silk-worms.

147, 150, 151, are public granaries, very well built. Without the gates 146, 173, are many of these public granaries; as also in the environs of the city to the north, south, east, and west. The largest and most magnificent are in the city of Tong tcheou, four French Leagues to the east of Peking.

37, 38, 42, 52, 54, 59, 60, 66, 80, 83, 84, 85, 91, 93, 117, 118, 152, 154, 156, 160, 165, 178, 196, 203, 210, 215, 218, 225, 229, 230, 250, 255, 261, these numbers mark temples of idols. Some of these numbers mark halls for honouring of illustrious deceased persons; but of these there are only a few. There are several small miao, which are not numbered. In the Chinese city, in the suburbs, are many temples of idols; and some even in the emperor’s palace. And almost all the palaces of the princes have idol temples.

33, 35, 36, 61, 62, 64, 67, 68, 71, 109, 126, 128, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139, 140, 141, 142, 144, 180, 182, 185, 193, 219, 222, 233, 243, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 259, 260, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 297, these numbers mark the tribunals, as well those, which I have already mentioned, as many other subaltern ones, which depend on them. There is one for the physicians.

101, 119, 121, 124, 125, 129, 148, 149, 155, 161, 162, 166, 172, 174, 175, 176, 192, 194, 195, 202, 208, 209, 216, 220, 221, 224, 232, 237, 238, 239, 241, 244, 247, 249, 262, 263, 264, mark the palaces of the princes of the blood, who are divided into several classes Tsing ouang, reguli of the first order; Kun ouang, reguli of the second order; Pey le, reguli of the third order; Pey tse, reguli of the fourth order; Kong, or counts, divided still farther into other classes; and Tsiang kun, or generals of armies, divided likewise into other classes.

Some years ago the emperor caused to be measured the circumference of the walls of King tching, of Hoang tching, and of He kin, &c. as likewise the breadth of the streets, the space filled by the miao, our three churches, that of the Russians, palaces, &c. The Chinese city was not measured. A drawing of all this was made at large, and then reduced to a smaller scale, as it appears here. I will not undertake for the perfect exactness of it, either in the measures or the reduction. All this is by a Chinese hand. The foot made use of in this mensuration is to that of France as 1000 to 1016. 1800 of these feet make a ly[150]. By the scale to be seen in the small plan, and from the dimensions of the south and east walls of King tching, may be deduced all the dimensions. The circumference of the walls of the Chinese city has been formerly measured, and well, by several measures; and the result of them may be seen here by the scale.

The south wall of King tching is from east to west eleven ly and near a third. The east wall from north to south is nine ly and some paces. So that the city is not square, as several persons have written.

The persons employed by the emperor to measure did not think of measuring the space, which contains the house and church of the congregation de propagandâ fide. This house and church are situated to the south between number 207 and a small bridge to the west of number 201.

In the accounts sufficient mention has been made of the walls and gates of the city of King tching; for which reason it is not necessary for me to say any thing concerning it.

In the year of our Lord 1267, the Tartar emperor Koublay han (in Chinese Yuen chi tsou) built the city called Ta tou. It is the principal part of the present city of King tching. It contained the Kin chun, a palace Yng tay, Hoang tching, Tse kin, &c. the walls of the city, an observatory, the towers of the Drum and the Bell. Yong lo, emperor of the last dynasty Tay ming, made great alterations in the city built by Yuen chi tsou.

In the year 1406 the emperor Yong lo undertook to build stronger and higher walls, and more magnificent gates, to the city; to rebuild the Hoang tching, the emperor and empress’s proper habitation, and the several parts of Tse kin, the courts, hall of the throne or of Tay ho tien, the Kou leou, the Tchong leou. He undertook also to build the Sien nong tan and Tien tan, which are now in the Chinese city. On account of the wars with the Tartars, the works undertaken by Yong lo were not finished till the year of our Lord 1421. Since that time, in the Kin tchin some alterations have been made in the palace, and a good number of new miao and palaces have been built. The emperor Kia tsing built the Chinese city in the year of Christ 1544.

The gates and walls of the Chinese city are not all equal in beauty to those in the city King tching. The streets are neither so broad, nor so well kept in repair. More than a third of the space of the Chinese city is not inhabited. It consists only of fields and gardens. The spaces occupied by the Sien nong tan and the Tien tan are vast; and between these two there is a very broad road. In this Chinese city are some mosques for the Mahometans. The inhabited part of this city is much more so than the city King tching and Hoang tching. In the Chinese city are vast inns for those, who come out of the southern provinces to Peking. Here are likewise a curious manufacture of lieou ly or Chinese glass, rich merchants of women’s ornaments, of gold, of the plant gin cheng so much esteemed and so dear here, of varnished furniture, tea, stuffs of value, &c. The booksellers shops are also in this city. It is to be remarked, that the walls of the Chinese city and King tching do not run directly north and south and east and west, but decline towards the north-west 2° 30´, and as much south-east. It is probable, that the architects employed in directing the building of these walls made use of a compass; and that the declinatiation of the needle was then what is mentioned above.

What I have said of the walls of the city is likewise to be said of the walls of Hoang tching and of Tse king.

At the time of building the city King tching, and the Chinese city, the Chinese astronomers very well understood, that the north and south of the compass was not the north and south of the heavens at Peking; they knew, that the needle declined to the north-west and south-east; but that this declination was not considerable.

Without the gates of the Chinese city, and of King tching, I mark the suburbs; which are very full of people and merchants, and like so many cities. In most of these suburbs there are fine temples of idols.

The Sien nong tan in the Chinese city is almost six ly in circuit. These three words signify, The hill of the ancient husbandmen.

The emperor goes thither every year in the spring to till the ground, and sacrifices on that hill to heaven. The emperor’s apartments there have nothing magnificent in them; but the ceremony of ploughing is a solemn and curious one, and deserves a particular description. The emperor tills under a small covering of mat. When he has ploughed about half an hour, he ascends a large alcove, from whence he sees the princes, great men, and mandarins, plough in the fields, which are not covered with mats. While the emperor is ploughing, a good number of peasants sing ancient songs on the importance of ploughing. The emperor, princes, and great men, are dressed in the habit of plough-men, and their instruments of husbandry are very neat, and kept in a magazine. There are granaries for the grain produced by this tillage; and it is carefully remarked, that the grain from the emperor’s tillage is much better than that from the labour of others. From this grain are made several cakes for the various sacrifices to Heaven or Chang ti. The emperor prepares himself for this ceremony by fasting, prayers to heaven, and a kind of retreat: and the intention of it is to keep up a memorial of those times, in which the princes themselves tilled the ground. This ceremony is of the highest antiquity in China.

Over against the Sien nong tan is the Tien tan, or Hill of Heaven, near ten ly in circuit. Every thing here is magnificent. The emperor goes thither every year at the winter solstice to sacrifice to heaven. He prepares himself three days for this ceremony by fasting, in a palace of Tien tan, called the palace of fasting. The hill, on which the emperor sacrifices, is magnificently adorned. At the four avenues are beautiful triumphal arches of fine marble; and the hill is ascended by elegant steps. In this ceremony are introduced many usages contrary to the ancient Chinese doctrine concerning the sacrifice to heaven. On the day of the winter solstice are added the honours paid to the five planets, that is, to their spirit. These ceremonies added to the sacrifice to heaven are not very ancient. There are likewise honours to the first founders of the reigning dynasty. At several other times the emperor goes to Tien tan to perform a sacrifice to heaven, and to honour his deceased ancestors.

To the north of the Hill of Heaven is a large and high terrace, on which is a most magnificent hall in honour of Chang ti, or the sovereign Lord, and of his ancestors. On the frontispiece of this hall the present Tartar emperors have caused an inscription to be placed to Ap cai han, or the Lord of heaven. To this Tartar inscription answers the Chinese character Kien; which has the same meaning as the character Tien, heaven; and it signifies the Chang ti, who is intended to be honoured in this hall. The tablet for the Chang ti is in a place, which shews, that the honour paid to Chang ti is of a different kind from the honour paid to ancestors.

Without the eastern gate of King tching, Nº. 145, is Ge tan, or Hill of the Sun. At the vernal equinox the emperor sends hither a prince or great man to honour the sun, that is, the spirit of the sun. This inclosure, tho’ elegant enough, has nothing very remarkable; nor is the ceremony very ancient.

Without the north gate of King tching, at Nº. 183, is Ti tan, or the Hill of the Earth. At the summer solstice the emperor goes thither to sacrifice to the earth on the hill. Many of the learned men at present distinguish this sacrifice in the Ti tan from the sacrifice in the Tien tan. But, according to the doctrine of Confucius, the sacrifice to the earth has the same object as the sacrifice to heaven. In both the supreme Lord Chang ti is to be honoured. I do not know, whether the emperor adheres to the pure doctrine of Confucius, and whether he does not pretend to honour the earth, or spirit of the earth, by performing a sacrifice, which originally had for its object the Chang ti, as we are assured by Confucius. The inclosure of Ti tan is a vast one; but is not at all equal in beauty to the Tien tan.

Without the western gate of King tching, Nº. 211, is Yue tan, the Hill of the Moon. At the autumnal equinox the emperor sends thither a prince or great man to honour the moon, or spirit of the moon. This ceremony is not very ancient. This inclosure is a neat one, and pretty large.

Between the two north gates of King tching, Nº. 183 and 188, is a vast esplanade for the exercise of the troops both horse and foot.

To the north of this esplanade are two beautiful temples of idols for the lamas. These two monasteries are very elegant. The emperor and the Tartars Mon gou lay out great sums on these two monasteries and the two temples of the lamas.

In the year 1111 before Christ, Ou ouang, founder of the dynasty Tcheou, nominated his brother Tchao kong prince of Yen. Yen is the ancient name of a pretty extensive country, in which Peking stands. This prince of Yen built a city there, a league and half south-west of the city King tching. This city was called Yen king, or the court of Yen. It became afterwards considerable; and the prince of Yen very powerful in the country of Petcheli and Leao tong. In the year 222 before Christ the emperor Tsin chi hoang destroyed the power of the princes of Yen, the defendants of Tchao kong, and seized their dominions. The founder of the dynasty Han destroyed the power of the family of Tsin chi hoang. In the time of the dynasty Tsin, before the Christian æra, and of the dynasty Han, the city of Yen was an important government, on account of the neighbourhood of the Tartars. Some time after the dynasty Han several Tartar princes Sien pi made themselves masters of the country of Yen. During the dynasty of Tang the city of Yen was still a considerable one. After the destruction of that dynasty the Tartars Ki tan[151] made themselves masters of Tartary, and the provinces of Chansy, Petcheli, and Leao tong. Their power was formidable to the Chinese. Their court was in the city of Yen, which they adorned and inlarged. These Tartars had, like the Chinese emperors, tribunals; one for the mathematics, and another for history[152]. They had likewise some illustrious princes, and kept some correspondence with the Caliphs.

The Tartars Nuntche destroyed the power of Leao. Their court was also at Yen; and they made it as magnificent and large a city as Peking is now. The Mogol Tartars destroyed the empire of the Nuntche or Kin. Their court was at first at Yen; but the Tartar Mogol emperor Koublay demolished that city, and built what is now called King tching: at least King tching is a good part of the city built by Koublay, which was some ly larger. The emperor’s palace was likewise larger.

This city King tching is that, which Marco Paulo calls Cambalu. Car is khan, which signifies a king; and balu is a corruption of an old Mogol word balga, or balah, which signifies a city: whence is formed the word balgasan in Mogol or Mongou, which signifies city. Khan balu, or khan balou, signifies the royal city. King tching, in the time of Marco Paulo, was the capital of the empire of China. The Persians and Arabians, from the Mongou word khan balou, or khan balgasun, or khan balga, formed the word khan balik or khan balek, which signifies also the royal city. This name was given by the eastern people to the city of Caifong fou, the capital of Honan, and to that of Nanking, the capital of Kiangnan, at the time when these cities were the court of princes. This name was also given to the cities of Tartary, when some powerful princes kept sometimes their court there. What I have remarked concerning the words khan balik, khan balek, khan balga, &c. is to be applied to the words ordo balik, ordou balik. Ordo, or ordou, or orto, signifies royal, imperial, in the Mogol or Mongou language. So ordou balik signifies a court, a royal city; and these words are in fact the names of some old cities, where the Mogol or Mongou kings kept their courts.

Remarks on Nº. 5, Fan king tchang; which is the place where the foreign classical books are kept.

Tchang signifies magazine, or large place, where any thing is contained. Fan signifies stranger or foreigner; and king signifies a classical book.

The Jews of Caifong fou, the capital of Honan, first told the Jesuit missionaries, that they conceived, that the Hebrew Bible was preserved at Peking in the place called Fan king tchang. These first missionaries neglected to make a search for it at Peking, or did not think of it. But it did not escape the attention of Father Bouvet, a French Jesuit, who went to Fan king tchang. The antient place, where the foreign books were kept, had been destroyed; and those books removed into a neighbouring miao where there were bonzes. Father Bouvet went to this miao with two other French Jesuits; but they found only the Koran, fragments of the classical books of the Indians, and the classical books of the lamas; the whole in bad condition. Father Bouvet thought, that he saw in an old coffer Chaldee, Syriac, and Hebrew characters. The bonze would not shew the place, where Father Bouvet thought that he had seen those characters, which, on returning to the miao, were not found. The emperor had ordered the bonzes to shew every thing to Father Bouvet. All the classical books were afterwards removed to the palace; the miao was demolished; and there remained nothing but the name of Fan king tchang. When I passed thro’ Caifong fou, the Jews, in the presence of Father Gozani, who served me as interpreter, assured me, that I should find the Bible in the Fan king tchang. These Jews had not been at Peking. What they said was in consequence of what they had been told by old Jews, who were deceased. When I arrived at Peking, I made inquiries myself, and caused inquiries to be made by others; but I could not find the Bible. It is not yet an hundred years since there were at Peking some Jewish families; which afterwards turned Mahometans. A Mahometan, who was a man of parts, assured me several times, that the Bible was in the possession of the Mahometans here, whose ancestors were Jews. But when, in consequence of what he said, inquiries were made, nothing was found. This Mahometan informed me likewise, that he had made inquiries; but if he had done so, his researches proved unsuccessful.

Remarks on the Ti ouang miao, Nº. 217.

1. The emperors, whose memory is honoured there, are

The emperors Tou hi, Chin Nong, Hoang ti.

The emperors Chao hao, Tchouen hiu, Ty co, Yao, Chun.

The emperor Yu, the founder of the dynasty Hia, and thirteen other emperors of that dynasty.

The emperor Tching tang, the founder of the dynasty Chang, and twenty-five emperors of that dynasty.

The emperor Ou ouang, the founder of the dynasty Tcheou, and thirty-one emperors of that dynasty.

The founder of the dynasty Han, and twenty emperors of that dynasty, who are called western Han, eastern Han, and later Han.

The founder of the dynasty Tang, and fourteen emperors of that dynasty.

The founder of the dynasty Song, and thirteen emperors of that dynasty; which is called the northern Song and the southern Song.

Gen tchis khan, or Temoug in, the founder of the dynasty Yuen, is the dynasty of the Mongol or Mogol Tartars. Besides the founder of this dynasty, there are ten other emperors of this dynasty, whose memory is honoured in the Ti ouang miao. The four first emperors of this dynasty, viz. Gen tchis khan, Ogo tay, Kouey yevou, and Meng ko, reigned in the northern provinces, and had not conquered all China. The emperor Cobilay, or Koublay, in Chinese Yuen chitsou, completed the conquest of China.

The founder of the dynasty Ming, and the eleven emperors of this dynasty.

The emperor Ogo tay, the second of the dynasty Yuen, completed the destruction of the dynasty of the eastern Tartars, called Kin. It reigned to the north as long as the dynasty Song reigned to the south. In the Ti ouang miao is honoured the memory of the founder of this dynasty Kin, and four other emperors of it.

The founder of the Tartar dynasty Kin destroyed the dynasty of the Tartars Ki tan, called Leao, which conquered a great part of North China and Tartary.

In the Ti ouang miao is honoured the memory of this Tartar dynasty Leao, and five other emperors of the Tartars Ki tan, whose country was in that of Parin in Tartary, among the Mongou or Mogols.

Continuation of the Remarks on the Ti ouang miao.

2. In the palace of Peking, and elsewhere, there are great halls, in which honours are paid to the memory of the deceased emperors of the reigning dynasty of the Mantcheou. The first and second emperor reigned in East Tartary. The emperor Chun tchi began to reign in China. If we reckon the present emperor in the number, there are six emperors Mantcheou. Father Couplet, and others, are mistaken in reckoning one more. This error was occasioned by the years of the reign of Tay hong, the second emperor, having had two names. Father Couplet, and others, took the two names of the years of the reign for the name or title of the two emperors.

3. In the Ti ouang miao is honoured the memory of some illustrious persons in the different dynasties. The same is done in the hall, where honour is paid to the memory of the deceased emperors Montcheou: and there are there tablets for so many illustrious persons among those emperors.

4. In the Ti ouang miao are placed none of the emperors of the dynasty Hin before Christ, nor any of those between the dynasties Tang and Han, nor of those of the five small dynasties after that of Tang. Besides, in each dynasty there are some emperors, whose tablets are not placed in the Ti ouang miao. The reigning dynasty has not thought it a duty to pay honours to those emperors, but considered them as unworthy the pompous title of Tin tse, or Sons of Heaven.

5. The Tartars Sien pi, who came from the confines of Leao tong and Mongol or Mogol Tartary, had hords named To pa. One of these hords made themselves masters of Tartary Leao tong, and of several northern provinces of China. This Tartar power has the Chinese name of Ouey. It has produced several great princes. The year of Christ 386 is reckoned the first of that dynasty[153], which reigned above 180 years. I do not know why the reigning dynasty has not placed the name of any of these emperors in the Ti ouang miao.

6. If we suppose, first, that all the books of the history of China should be lost, or the contents of them should not be known in Europe; and secondly, that the catalogue of the emperors, who are mentioned in the Ti ouang miao, should fall into the hands of some European critics; it is probable, that such a catalogue would occasion many false reasonings with relation to the succession of the emperors, who have reigned in China.

XCVII. An Attempt to improve the Manner of working the Ventilators by the Help of the Fire-Engine. In a Letter to Tho. Birch, D. D. Secret. R. S. from Keane Fitz-Gerald, Esq; F.R.S.

SIR,

Read June 8, 1758.

THE reverend and ingenious Dr. Hales, from whom mankind has received such benefit by his useful application of ventilators, being inclined to extend its use to those, who work in mines at great depths under ground, where the lives of many are lost by damps and noxious vapours, occasioned by the want of a free circulation of air; and finding by experience, that ventilators worked by wind do not operate above one third part of the year, and in calm hot weather, when most wanted, do not operate at all; did me the honour of applying to me for assistance in contriving a machine to work the ventilator, by the help of the fire-engine, which is now generally used in all mines for drawing off the water; and which I have accordingly attempted, and hope it will answer the purpose.

As the lever of the fire-engine works up and down alternately, and performs at a common medium about a dozen strokes in a minute, it was necessary to contrive some way to make the beam, tho’ moving alternately, to turn a wheel constantly round one way, and also to increase the number of strokes to fifty or sixty in a minute.

The model of a machine for this purpose is composed of four wheels of different sizes, two clicks, three pinions, and a fly; which is put into motion by the part of a wheel fixed to the arch of the lever of the fire-engine.

The wheel, which is turned by the lever, or rather moved up and down by it, is loose on its arbor; and likewise one of the rochets, and the wheel next to it. The outside rochet and outside wheel are fixed on the arbor.

There are two pinion-wheels fixed on the arbor; one on each side, near the edge of the wheel moved by the lever, which turns them.

There are also two clicks; one fixed to the great wheel, the other to the frame. These exclusive of the wheel that moves the fly.

The effect is, When the lever moves the wheel downwards, its click forces the rochet fixed on the arbor to move along with it, and the other wheels the same way. When it moves upwards, the click fixed on the frame stops the larger rochet, and the wheel next to it, which are pinned together. This wheel being stopped, and the great wheel carried upwards by the lever, the pinion towards the edge of the great wheel is forced round it, and moves the pinion on the other side the great wheel; which pinion moves the wheel fixed on the arbor, the contrary way to the great wheel, which is carried upwards by the lever. By which means, the arbor is constantly turned the same way, when the lever of the fire-engine is moved either upwards, or downwards.

Upon the arbor there is also another great wheel fixed, which turns a pinion: on the arbor of which pinion is a crank to move the ventilator, and also a fly fixed to the end, to help the motion of the crank, which in the model is turned three times for each stroke of the lever, and may be increased or diminished, according to the number of teeth in the pinion.

The number of teeth in the great wheel moved by the lever is sixty-six; but need not have teeth above half way round.

The wheel fixed to the rochet has thirty-three teeth, and its pinion eleven.

The wheel fixed on the arbor, on the outside, has twenty-four teeth, and its pinion sixteen.

The wheel, which turns the fly, has ninety teeth, and the pinion turn’d by this wheel ten.

The greater the number of teeth in the rochets, the better.

This machine may also be applied to other useful purposes at mines; and it may be easily made to turn a mill to grind corn; or to turn a wheel to raise coals, or whatever else is wanted to be raised from the mines. As I have not met with any thing of the kind described, I take the liberty of desiring you to lay it before the Society; and I hope it may be made some way useful to the public.

I am, Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
Kea. Fitz-Gerald.

Poland-Street, June 7th, 1758.

Explanation of the Three Tables.

The wheel A (Tab. [26.]), which is turned by the lever B (Tab. [27.]), or rather moved up and down by it, is loose on its arbor; and likewise one of the rochets C (Tab. [26.]), and the wheel next to it D. The outside rochet E, and outside wheel F, are fixed on the arbor.

There are two pinion-wheels G and H fixed on one arbor; one on each side, near the edge of the wheel A, moved by the lever.

There are also two clicks a and b; one a fixed to the great wheel A, the other b fixed to the frame. These exclusive of the wheel I, that moves the pinion c, on the arbor of which, the crank d, and fly e, (Tab. [27.]) are fixed.

The effect is, when the lever B moves the wheel A downwards; its click a, forces the rochet E, fixed on the arbor K, to move along with it, and the other wheels the same way. When it moves upwards, the click b fixed to the frame, stops the larger rochet C, and the wheel D next to it, which are pinned together; and as the wheel A is carried upwards by the lever, the pinion G towards the edge of it, is forced round the wheel D, and moves the pinion H, on the other side the great wheel A, which moves the wheel F fixed on the arbor K, the contrary way to the wheel A. By which means, the arbor K is constantly turned the same way, when the lever of the fire-engine moves either upwards, or downwards.

The pinion G, by being made proportionally smaller than the pinion H, keeps the arbor K in the same swiftness of motion, when the lever is moved upwards, as downwards.

Philos. Trans. Vol. L. Tab. XXVI. p. [730].

J. Mynde sc.

Philos. Trans. Vol. L. Tab. XXVII. p. [730].

J. Mynde sc.

Philos. Trans. Vol. L. Tab. XXVIII. p. [730].

J. Mynde sc.

The great wheel I, fixed on the arbor K, turns the pinion c, on the arbor of which the crank d (to move the ventilator), and the fly e (to help the motion), are fixed. The pinion c, is turned three times by each alternate motion of the lever; which may be increased, or diminished, according to the number of teeth in the pinion c.

The number of teeth in the wheel A is sixty-six, but need not be toothed above half way. Instead of this wheel there might be a barrel, with a chord round it, fixed at each end of the arch of the lever, and projecting somewhat from it; which, by the motion of the lever, would work in the same manner in other respects, and be easier made, and at less expence.

The wheel D fixed to the rochet C has thirty-three teeth, and its pinion G eleven.

The wheel F fixed on the arbor K has twenty-four teeth, and its pinion H sixteen.

The greater the number of teeth in the rochets, the better.

[Tab. 26.] contains the plan (in parts) of the whole machine, except the lever B and fly e, which are in [Tab. 27.]

[Tab. 27.] also contains the elevation of the arbor, with its different fixtures; viz.

Fig. 1.	The rochet C and wheel D ([Tab. 26.]) fixed together.
2.	The outside wheel F that works the pinion-wheel H ([Tab. 26]).
3.	The two pinion-wheels H and G ([Tab. 26.]) fixed on their arbor.
4.	The same fixed to the wheel A ([Tab. 26.]) by means of two cocks u and w ([Tab. 26.]).
5.	The arbor, with the wheel L and rochet E fixed; t the place, where the wheel A is fixed.
6.	The elevation of the whole arbor.

[Tab. 28.] The elevation of the whole machine, the lever B ([Tab. 27.]) working the wheel A ([Tab. 26]).

s	([Tab. 26.]) a thin piece of metal screwed to the wheel A, to keep it in its place t on the arbor K ([Tab. 27.])
u	([Tab. 26.]) the cock, that fastens the pinion G, to the inside of the wheel A.
w	(Tab. 26.) the cock, that fastens the pinion H on the outside of the wheel A.
x	([Tab. 27.]) the arbor, on which the pinions G and H are fixed.
y	([Tab. 26.]) a spring, that keeps the click a in its place.
L	([Tab. 26.]) a frame-plate with the centers marked.
z	The opposite hole enlarged, to admit the pinion c to pass through.

XCVIII. An Account of some Experiments concerning the different Refrangibility of Light. By Mr. John Dollond. With a Letter from James Short, M. A. F.R.S. Acad. Reg. Suec. Soc.

To the Rev. Dr. Birch, Secret. R. S.

Dear Sir,

Read June 8, 1758.

I Have received the inclosed paper from Mr. Dollond, which he desires may be laid before the Royal Society. It contains the theory of correcting the errors arising from the different refrangibility of the rays of light in the object-glasses of refracting telescopes; and I have found, upon examination, that telescopes made according to this theory are intirely free from colours, and are as distinct as reflecting telescopes. I am,

Dear Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
Ja. Short.

Surrey-street, 8th June, 1758.

IT is well known, that a ray of light, refracted by passing thro’ mediums of different densities, is at the same time proportionally divided or spread into a number of parts, commonly called homogeneal rays, each of a different colour; and that these, after refraction, proceed diverging; a proof, that they are differently refracted, and that light consists of parts that differ in degrees of refrangibility.

Every ray of light passing from a rarer into a denser medium, is refracted towards the perpendicular; but from a denser into a rarer one, from the perpendicular; and the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction are in a given ratio. But light consisting of parts, which are differently refrangible, each part of an original or compound ray has a ratio peculiar to itself; and therefore the more a heterogene ray is refracted, the more will the colours diverge, since the ratios of the sines of the homogene rays are constant; and equal refractions produce equal divergencies.

That this is the case when light is refracted by one given medium only, as suppose any particular sort of glass, is out of all dispute, being indeed self-evident; but that the divergency of the colours will be the same under equal refractions, whatsoever mediums the light may be refracted by, tho’ generally supposed, does not appear quite so clearly.

However, as no medium is known, which will refract light without diverging the colours, and as difference of refrangibility seems thence to be a property inherent in light itself, Opticians have, upon that consideration, concluded, that equal refractions must produce equal divergencies in every sort of medium: whence it should also follow, that equal and contrary refractions must not only destroy each other, but that the divergency of the colour from one refraction would likewise be corrected by the other; and there could be no possibility of producing any such thing as refraction, which would not be affected by the different refrangibility of light; or, in other words, that however a ray of light might be refracted backwards and forwards by different mediums, as water, glass, &c. provided it was so done, that the emergent ray should be parallel to the incident one, it would ever after be white; and, conversely, if it should come out inclined to the incident, it would diverge, and ever after be coloured. From which it was natural to infer, that all spherical object-glasses of telescopes must be equally affected by the different refrangibility of light, in proportion to their apertures, whatever material they may be formed of.

But it seems worthy of consideration, that notwithstanding this notion has been generally adopted as an incontestable truth, yet it does not seem to have been hitherto so confirmed by evident experiment, as the nature of so important a matter justly demands; and this it was that determined me to attempt putting the thing to issue by the following experiment.

I cemented together two plates of parallel glass at their edges, so as to form a prismatic or wedge-like vessel, when stopped at the ends or bases; and its edge being turned downwards, I placed therein a glass prism with one of its edges upwards, and filled up the vacancy with clear water: thus the refraction of the prism was contrived to be contrary to that of the water, so that a ray of light transmitted thro’ both these refracting mediums would be refracted by the difference only between the two refractions. Wherefore, as I found the water to refract more or less than the glass prism, I diminished or increased the angle between the glass plates, till I found the two contrary refractions to be equal; which I discovered by viewing an object thro’ this double prism; which, when it appeared neither raised nor depressed, I was satisfied, that the refractions were equal, and that the emergent rays were parallel to the incident.

Now, according to the prevailing opinion, the object should have appeared thro’ this double prism quite of its natural colour; for if the difference of refrangibility had been equal in the two equal refractions, they would have rectified each other: but the experiment fully proved the fallacy of this received opinion, by shewing the divergency of the light by the prism to be almost double of that by the water; for the object, tho’ not at all refracted, was yet as much infected with prismatic colours, as if it had been seen thro’ a glass wedge only, whose refracting angle was near 30 degrees.

N. B. This experiment will be readily perceived to be the same as that which Sir Isaac Newton mentions[154]; but how it comes to differ so very remarkably in the result, I shall not take upon me to account for; but will only add, that I used all possible precaution and care in the process, and that I keep the apparatus by me to evince the truth of what I write, whenever I may be properly required so to do.

I plainly saw then, that if the refracting angle of the water-vessel could have admitted of a sufficient increase, the divergency of the coloured rays would have been greatly diminished, or intirely rectified; and there would have been a very great refraction without colour, as now I had a great discolouring without refraction: but the inconveniency of so large an angle, as that of the vessel must have been, to bring the light to an equal divergency with that of the glass prism, whose angle was about 60 degrees, made it necessary to try some experiments of the same kind, by smaller angles.

I ground a wedge of common plate glass to an angle of somewhat less than 9 degrees, which refracted the mean rays about 5 degrees. I then made a wedge-like vessel, as in the former experiment, and filling it with water, managed it so, that it refracted equally with the glass wedge; or, in other words, the difference of their refractions was nothing, and objects viewed thro’ them appeared neither raised nor depressed. This was done with an intent to observe the same thing over again in these small angles, which I had seen in the prism: and it appeared indeed the same in proportion, or as near as I could judge; for notwithstanding the refractions were here also equal, yet the divergency of the colours by the glass was vastly greater than that by the water; for objects seen by these two refractions were very much discoloured. Now this was a demonstration, that the divergency of the light, by the different refrangibility, was far from being equal in these two refractions. I also saw, from the position of the colours, that the excess of divergency was in the glass; so that I increased the angle of the water-wedge, by different trials, till the divergency of the light by the water was equal to that by the glass; that is, till the object, tho’ considerably refracted, by the excess of the refraction of the water, appeared nevertheless quite free from any colours proceeding from the different refrangibility of light; and, as near as I could then measure, the refraction by the water was about ⁵⁄₄ of that by the glass. Indeed I was not very exact in taking the measures, because my business was not at that time about the proportions, so much as to shew, that the divergency of the colours, by different substances, was by no means in proportion to the refractions; and that there was a possibility of refraction without any divergency of the light at all.

Having, about the beginning of the year 1757, tried these experiments, I soon after set about grinding telescopic object-glasses upon the new principles of refractions, which I had gathered from them; which object-glasses were compounded of two spherical glasses with water between them. These glasses I had the satisfaction to find, as I had expected, free from the errors arising from the different refrangibility of light: for the refractions, by which the rays were brought to a focus, were every-where the differences between two contrary refractions, in the same manner, and in the same proportions, as in the experiment with the wedges.

However, the images formed at the foci of these object-glasses were still very far from being so distinct as might have been expected from the removal of so great a disturbance; and yet it was not very difficult to guess at the reason, when I considered, that the radii of the spherical surfaces of those glasses were required to be so short, in order to make the refractions in the required proportions, that they must produce aberrations, or errors, in the image, as great, or greater, than those from the different refrangibility of light. And therefore, seeing no method of getting over that difficulty, I gave up all hopes of succeeding in that way.

And yet, as these experiments clearly proved, that different substances diverged the light very differently, in proportion to the refraction; I began to suspect, that such variety might possibly be found in different sorts of glass, especially as experience had already shewn, that some made much better object-glasses, in the usual way, than others: and as no satisfactory cause had as yet been assigned for such difference, there was great reason to presume, that it might be owing to the different divergency of the light by their refractions.

Wherefore, the next business to be undertaken, was to grind wedges of different kinds of glass, and apply them together, so that the refractions might be made in contrary directions, in order to discover, as in the foregoing experiments, whether the refraction and divergency of the colours would vanish together. But a considerable time elapsed before I could set about that work; for tho’ I was determined to try it at my leisure, for satisfying my own curiosity, yet I did not expect to meet with a difference sufficient to give room for any great improvement of telescopes; so that it was not till the latter end of the year that I undertook it, when my first trials convinced me, that this business really deserved my utmost attention and application.

I discovered a difference, far beyond my hopes, in the refractive qualities of different kinds of glass, with respect to their divergency of colours. the yellow or straw-coloured foreign sort, commonly called Venice glass, and the English crown glass, are very near alike in that respect, tho’ in general the crown glass seems to diverge the light rather the least of the two. The common plate glass made in England diverges more; and the white crystal or flint English glass, as it is called, most of all.

It was not now my business to examine into the particular qualities of every kind of glass that I could come at, much less to amuse myself with conjectures about the cause, but to fix upon such two sorts as their difference was the greatest; which I soon found to be the crown, and the white flint or crystal. I therefore ground a wedge of white flint of about 25 degrees, and another of crown of about 29 degrees, which refracted nearly alike; but their divergency of the colours was very different. I then ground several others of crown to different angles, till I got one, which was equal, with respect to the divergency of the light, to that in the white flint: for when they were put together, so as to refract in contrary directions, the refracted light was intirely free from colour. Then measuring the refractions of each wedge, I found that of the white glass to be to that of the crown nearly as 2 to 3; and this proportion would hold very nearly in all small angles. Wherefore any two wedges made in this proportion, and applied together, so as to refract in a contrary direction, would refract the light without any difference of refrangibility.

To make therefore two spherical glasses, that shall refract the light in contrary directions, it is easy to understand, that one must be concave, and the other convex; and as the rays are to converge to a real focus, the excess of refraction must evidently be in the convex; and as the convex is to refract most, it appears from the experiment, that it must be made with crown glass, and the concave with white flint glass.

And further, as the refractions of spherical glasses are in an inverse ratio of their focal distances; it follows, that the focal distances of the two glasses should be inversely as the ratio’s of the fractions of the wedges: for being thus proportioned, every ray of light, that passes thro’ this combined glass, at whatever distance it may pass from its axe, will constantly be refracted, by the difference between two contrary refractions, in the proportion required; and therefore the different refrangibility of the light will be intirely removed.

Having thus got rid of the principal cause of the imperfection of refracting telescopes, there seemed to be nothing more to do, but to go to work upon this principle: but I had not made many attempts, before I found, that the removal of one impediment had introduced another equally detrimental (the same as I had before found in two glasses with water between them): for the two glasses, that were to be combined together, were the segments of very deep spheres; and therefore the aberrations from the spherical surfaces became very considerable, and greatly disturbed the distinctness of the image. Tho’ this appeared at first a very great difficulty, yet I was not long without hopes of a remedy: for considering, the surfaces of spherical glasses admit of great variations, tho’ the focal distance be limited, and that by these variations their aberrations may be made more or less, almost at pleasure; I plainly saw the possibility of making the aberrations of any two glasses equal; and as in this case the refractions of the two glasses were contrary to each other, their aberrations, being equal, would intirely vanish.

And thus, at last, I obtained a perfect theory for making object-glasses, to the apertures of which I could scarce conceive any limits: for if the practice could come up to the theory, they must certainly admit of very extensive ones, and of course bear very great magnifying powers.

But the difficulties attending the practice are very considerable. In the first place, the focal distances, as well as the particular surfaces, must be very nicely proportioned to the densities or refracting powers of the glasses; which are very apt to vary in the same sort of glass made at different times. Secondly, the centres of the two glasses must be placed truly on the common axis of the telescope, otherwise the desired effect will be in a great measure destroyed. Add to these, that there are four surfaces to be wrought perfectly spherical; and any person, but moderately practised in optical operations, will allow, that there must be the greatest accuracy throughout the whole work.

Notwithstanding so many difficulties, as I have enumerated, I have, after numerous trials, and a resolute perseverance, brought the matter at last to such an issue, that I can construct refracting telescopes, with such apertures and magnifying powers, under limited lengths, as, in the opinion of the best and undeniable judges, who have experienced them, far exceed any thing that has been hitherto produced, as representing objects with great distinctness, and in their true colours.

John Dollond.

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XCIX. An Account of some extraordinary Effects arising from Convulsions; being Part of a Letter to John Huxham, M.D. and F.R.S. from William Watson, M.D. F.R.S.

6 June, 1758.

Read June 15, 1758.

IN the month of January 1757, I was concerned for a young gentle-woman, who, if the number, continuance, and frequency of their returns, be considered, suffered the most violent and severe convulsions I ever knew. At some times the muscular spasms were general; at other times single muscles only, or a number of them, subservient to some particular purpose in the animal oeconomy, were affected. And such was the peculiarity of this case, that after and in proportion as any single muscle, or any determined number of muscles, had been in a state of spasm, a paralytic inability succeeded to those muscles, which very much disordered and impaired, and several times even for no small continuance prevented the patient from performing, several of her necessary functions. When the muscles, for instance, subservient to deglutition had been convulsed, for many hours after the fits had left her, she has not been able to swallow a single drop of liquid: so that when attempts have been made to cause her to drink, unless the liquor was immediately thrown back, there was imminent danger of her being strangled. When her eyes have been affected, several times a compleat gutta serena, and total blindness, has ensued; the patient being able to bear the strong day-light with open eyes, without being sensible of its influence, or in the least contracting her widely dilated pupils. After one of these fits the blindness continued full five days; and I began to be in fear for the return of her sight.

You, Sir, who are so excellently well versed in the animal oeconomy, are not to be informed, that vocification is performed in the aspera arteria; but that the articulation of sounds into syllables and words is modulated principally by the tongue, and muscles about the larynx. In the case before you, very early in the disease, the spasms seized the muscles about the larynx: the consequence of which was, that after they were over, the patient was unable to utter a word. This faculty however she again once recovered; but it continued a very short time, as the fits returned, which again left her deprived of the power of speech. After having lost her voice a second time, her power of speech did not return, even after she was freed from her convulsions, and her general health restored. Fourteen months passed, whilst this patient continued absolutely speechless; when, after having violently heated herself by four hours dancing, on a sudden her power of speech returned, and it has continued perfectly free ever since.

What is still further remarkable in this case is, that during the whole time of this patient’s continuing speechless, her life was rendered yet more uncomfortable by her having, from the injury to her brain by the spasms, forgot how to write, so as to express her meaning that way: but upon the recovery of her speech, this faculty likewise returned, which she has retained ever since. During the severity of this disease, which continued several weeks, almost every day of which, from the number and violence of the convulsions, I feared would be the patient’s last, nothing was left unattempted, which I imagined could tend to prevent the return of the spasms, or lessen their effects. My endeavours so far happily succeeded, that her fits did not return; but the consequences of them continued, more particularly her inability to speak. After some months however, when she was recruited in her strength, I was desirous of trying the effects of electricity, more particularly applied about her throat. This was accordingly attempted; but such was the state of her nerves, and their sensibility to its effects, that electrizing brought back the fits, which again affected her sight: so that I was compelled to desist, lest, in endeavouring to restore her speech, I might not only fail in this attempt, but might bring possibly on a permanent blindness. I determined therefore to trust the whole to time, which has happily removed all her complaints.

C. An Account of an extraordinary Storm of Hail in Virginia. By Francis Fauquier, Esq; Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and F.R.S. Communicated by William Fauquier, Esq; F.R.S.

To the Rev. Tho. Birch, D. D. Secret. R. S.

SIR,

Read Nov. 9, 1758.

IN a letter I received from my brother, the lieutenant governor of Virginia, he gives an account of a very remarkable storm of hail; which, if you think it worth communicating to the Society, is very much at their service.

It happened on Sunday the 9th of July, about four o’clock in the afternoon, and was preceded by some thunder and lightning. It was a small cloud, that did not seem to threaten much before its breaking, and did not extend a full mile in breadth. It passed over the middle of the town of Williamsburgh, and the skirts of the town had but little of it. Its course was from N. by W. to S. by E. The hail-stones, or rather pieces of ice, were most of them of an oblong square form; many of them an inch and half long, and about three fourths of an inch wide and deep; and from one side of most of them there proceeded sharp spikes, protuberant at least half an inch. He says he cooled his wine, and froze cream, with some of them the next day; and they were not totally dissolved when he went to bed on Monday night. This storm broke every pane of glass on the north side his house, and destroyed all his garden things intirely.

He mentions likewise the heats to have been rather more than usual in that country this summer; and particularly on the 9th of August his thermometer (which is hung on the outside of his house on the north aspect) was at 97, by Fahrenheit’s graduation, and some other days as high as 94 or 95. I am,

SIR,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
Wm. Fauquier.

Jermyn street, 18 October, 1758.

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CI. An Account of an extraordinary Case of a diseased Eye; In a Letter to Matthew Maty, M. D. F.R.S. By Daniel Peter Layard, M. D. F.R.S.

Huntingdon, 20th May, 1758.

Dear Sir,

Read Nov. 9. 1758.

IN October 1755. I communicated to you, and you inserted in the last volume of your Journal Britannique, the case of Susannah Earle, of Hemmingford-Grey in this County, who, in consequence of the whooping cough, was afflicted with a protruded eye. The case I now send you, somewhat similar to that young girl’s in its first appearance and progress, but by accident attended with a second disease, will perhaps deserve your attention, and not seem unworthy of being presented to the Royal Society.

John Law, of Fenny-Stanton, also in the County of Huntingdon, a strong and robust lad, thirteen years and six months old, in Easter week 1756, beating dung about a close with unusual force, on a sudden felt a violent pain in his left eye. The pain increased, an inflammation ensued, and the eye grew daily larger. The poor boy’s mother followed the directions, which she received, without the least benefit to her child, after having, besides other expences, been defrauded by a quack of two guineas; a great sum for a poor cottager!

The widow Law, in her distress, heard of Susannah Earl’s cure. She went to see her; and determined to bring her son to Huntingdon, for Mr. Hopkins’s assistance. Accordingly, October the 7th 1756, she came to Mr. Daniel Hopkins, surgeon, in this town; and having desired my opinion, we both examined the eye together.

The left eye was protruded out of its orbit, and hung down over the cheek to the upper lip. The coats were greatly discoloured, all the vessels turgid, the sight totally lost, and the humours appeared like fluctuating pus. We saw the necessity of an immediate extirpation, to save the right eye, already greatly inflamed; and having apprized the mother and boy of the state the eye was in, a consultation was desired with two surgeons of St. Ives. Mr. Dawkes, who was present with Mr. Skeeles at Susannah Earle’s operation, being dead since that time, Mr. Thomas Skeeles and Mr. Thomas Want very charitably met Mr. Hopkins and me the next day, October the 8th, at the widow Law’s cottage.

The eye appeared to these gentlemen as I have related: and upon Mr. Want’s pressing with his finger on the pupil, the globe burst at the edge of the Iris, and discharged pus. The extirpation of the eye was unanimously agreed upon, and immediately performed.

Mr. Hopkins made a puncture with a lancet close to the external and small canthus of the eye, and then with a pair of crooked scissars took off all the distended globe close to the eye-lids. He then cleaned the cavity of the purulent humours, and filled it with soft lint, over which he applied bolsters dipped in warm red wine and water, and the monoculus bandage to keep on the whole dressings. The lad was bled in the arm; nitrous medicines, and anodynes, were prescribed, and a suitable regimen. The fever, and inflammation of the eye, gradually decreased; the suppuration of the wound in few days was good, the distended eye-lids contracted, and a cure was soon expected.

But on November the 7th the lad went to open the street-door, and it being a cold and rainy evening, he quickly felt the bad effects of the cold wind, which drove the rain in upon him. That night the wound became again very painful, the eye-lids puffed up, and next day appeared much inflamed, as were all the contents of the orbit. Fungous excrescences soon followed, and an intermittent fever. An emetic being improper, he was purged with rhubarb, and afterwards took the bark infused in red wine. The fever was removed after some time; but the contents of the orbit continued increasing, and the fungous excrescences became so large and spongy, as to be of equal bulk with the diseased eye before extirpation. All topical applications, to contract this fungus, were ineffectual, and the application of caustics or escharotics was prudently avoided, lest they should produce a carcinomatous ulcer. The discharge was chiefly a purulent serum: on which account, ever since the beginning of November he was kept upon a dry diet.

In February 1757. the remaining coats of the eye began to appear at the most prominent parts of the excrescence, and seemed white like a part of the conjunctiva. On touching it with the finger, a distinct fluctuation was felt, and an hydrophthalmia perfectly discovered; but neither the thickness of the coats, nor the sensibility of the parts, would permit a puncture to be made, till the cyst, which appeared formed by the distension of one of the coats of the eye, was freer from the fungus.

The cyst continued daily to extend itself, and to separate the fungous edges; the fluctuation became more manifest, and the membranes thinner. At length, on the 15th of June 1757, Mr. Hopkins opened the cyst with the point of a lancet, and let out a large cup-full of limpid serum, without smell or taste. The boy felt very little pain in this operation. The cavity was filled with dry lint, and compresses dipt in warm red wine and water were applied over it. All the night following, and several days after, a great discharge of serum came away. On the 19th the fungus was considerably lessened. Mr. Hopkins then dressed the wound with warm unguentum é gummi elemi, and washed the fungus with a lotion of aquarum calcis, rosarum, et tincturæ myrrhæ. On the 23d, upon his removing the dressings, he saw the cyst loose and collapsed; which he extracted with his forceps, without the least difficulty, or pain to his patient. The fungus daily wasted afterwards, the wound digested well, and the lad was intirely cured on the 7th of August.

His right eye is perfectly strong, and he has been free from complaint ever since. The remainder of the coats of the eye, and of the muscles, bear up the eye-lids, that when uncovered he only seems to have closed the left eye: however, he has wore all the winter a back patch over it, to guard against fresh cold.

The cyst, when first taken away, measured three inches and half in length, one inch and half in diameter, and contained a large cup-full of water. It appeared to be the tunica sclerotica, was of a clear pellucid white, and of so delicate a texture, as scarce to admit of being touched without tearing; and when dried with all possible care, became so brittle, that Mr. Hopkins could hardly preserve it in the manner I now send it.