large elephant, as its own size and weight may show for the circumference, measured by a string drawn round the edge, is three feet, wanting one inch; in length it measures 15 inches; in breadth, where widest, seven inches; in thickness, about three; and its weight is upwards of 11 pounds.

On one side it is convex, and on the other concave, with 16 ridges and furrows running on each side transversely, and corresponding with the same number of eminences on the grinding edge, which appears furrowed like a millstone. On the bottom of the part that lay within the gum are several cavities for the insertion of the nerves. The whole tooth is almost entire, and seems very little, if at all, petrified; but, since its being exposed to the air, several little cracks appear. Other monstrous bones were found with it; and particularly thigh-bones, six feet long, and as thick as the thigh of a man; all which belonged, probably, to the same animal, and may be considered as farther proofs of the creature's enormous size.

The place where, and the manner how, these bones were discovered, are curious particulars. A little town, called Munsley, is situated close to the sea-shore, on the north-east coast of the county of Norfolk, where the sea is bounded by exceedingly high rocky cliffs: some of these being gradually undermined by the continual dashing of the waves when the tide comes in, great pieces frequently tumble down on the shore; and by the tumbling down of one of these the abovementioned bones and grinder were discovered.

This discovery seems a convincing demonstration, that the earth has undergone some very extraordinary alterations: for the remains of animals, of quite different climates and regions, and of kinds which, in the present situation of the world, could never possibly come over hither, must either imply their having been placed here by Providence originally, or that this island must heretofore have been contiguous to the Continent but since we find these creatures in very hot countries only, it is highly probable they were never placed here by Providence.

What changes have happened to our earth, and how they have been produced, no human wisdom can possibly find out with any certainty. But suppose only the polar points, or the axis, to have been shifted at any time but a few degrees, and its centre of gravity to have been altered, which some great men have imagined not improbable, what convulsions in nature, what a universal change in the face of things, must thus have been occasioned ! what inundations, or deluges of

P

water, bearing every thing before them! what breaches in the earth, what hurricanes and tempests, must have attended such an event! for the waters must have been rolled along, till, by them, an equipoise was produced.

All this, indeed, is barely conjecture: but the bones and teeth of fishes, the multitudes of sea-shells, some of which are petrified, and others not, and the many sea-productions found buried in the earth in almost every country, at vast distances from the sea, and even in the midland parts, are demonstrations of the surprising alterations that must have happened as to the disposition of sea and land.

The thigh-bones of six feet long exceed, also, by two feet, any ever yet heard of; and, according to Mr. Blair's osteology of an elephant nine feet high, which died at Dundee in Scotland, in the year 1706, and whose thigh-bones were three feet in length, we may suppose, by the rules of proportion, that the elephant, to which our bones and tooth belonged, was 18 feet in height.

An Account, in Pounds and Ounces, of the surprising Quantities of Food devoured by a Boy, 12 Years old, in six successive Days, at Black Barnsley, in Yorkshire. Communicated by Dr. MORTIMER, Sec. R. S.-[1745.]

THE boy was regular as other children, till about a year before the above date, when this extraordinary craving of appetite first began; which afflicted him to such a degree, that if he was not fed as he called out for it, he would gnaw the very flesh off his own bones; so that, when awake, he was constantly devouring; it could hardly be called eating, because nothing passed his stomach; all was thrown up again.

Of the various substances, bread, meat, beer, milk, water, butter, cheese, sugar, treacle, pudding, rye, fruit, broth, potatoes, &c. he swallowed in the six successive days, as fol · lows; viz.

On the Death of the Countess Cornelia Zangári and Bandi, of Ceséna.-[1745.]

THE Countess Cornelia Bandi, in the 62d year of her age, was all day as well as she used to be, but at night was ob served, when at supper, dull and heavy. She retired, was put to bed, where she passed three hours and more in familiar discourses with her maid, and in some prayers; at last, falling asleep, the door was shut. In the morning, the maid taking notice that her mistress did not awake at the usual hour, went into the bed-chamber and called her; but not being answered, doubting of some ill accident, opened the window, and saw the corpse of her mistress in the deplorable condition following:

Four feet distance from the bed there was a heap of ashes, two legs untouched, from the foot to the knee, with their stockings on between them was the lady's head: whose brains, half of the back part of the skull, and the whole chin, were burnt to ashes; among which were found three fingers blackened. All the rest was ashes, which had this particular quality, that they left in the hand, when taken up, a greasy and stinking moisture.

The air in the room was also observed cumbered with soot floating in it; a small oil-lamp on the floor was covered with ashes, but no oil in it. Two candles in candlesticks on a table stood upright; the cotton was left in both, but the tallow was gone and vanished. Somewhat of moisture was about the feet of the candlesticks. The bed received no damage; the blankets and sheets were only raised on one side, as when a person rises up from it, or goes in; the whole furniture, as well as the bed, was spread over with moist and ash-coloured soot, which had penetrated into the chest of drawers, even to foul the linens; nay, the soot was also gone into a neighbouring kitchen, and hung on the walls, moveables, and utensils of it.

It was remarkable, that the floor of the chamber was so thickly smeared with a gluish moisture, that it could not be taken off; and the stench spread more and more through the other chambers.

In the Acta Medica et Philosophica Hafniensia, published by Thomas Bartholin, 1673, a similar accident is related in these words:"A poor woman at Paris used to drink spirit of wine plentifully for the space of three years, so as to take nothing else. Her body contracted such a combustible disposition, that one night she, lying down on a

straw couch, was all burned to ashes and smoke, except the skull and the extremities of her fingers."

John Henry Cohausen relates, "That a Polish gentleman, in the time of the Queen Bona Sforza, having drank two dishes of a liquor called brandy-wine, vomited flames, and was burnt by them."

The narrator's opinion is, that the fire was caused in the entrails of the body by inflamed effluvia of her blood, by juices and fermentations in the stomach, by the many combustible matters which are abundant in living bodies for the uses of life; and, finally, by the fiery evaporations which exhale from the settlings of spirit of wine, brandies, and other hot liquors, in the tunica villosa of the stomach, and other adipose or fat membranes, within which, as chemists observe, those spirits engender a kind of camphor; which, in the night-time, in sleep, by a full breathing and respiration, are put in a stronger motion, and, consequently, more apt to be set on fire.

Some Observations on the Cancer Major. By Mr. PETER COLLINSON.[1746]

THE cancer major, or largest species of crabs, have their chief abode in water from 20 to 40 fathoms in depth: they herd together in distinct tribes, and have their separate haunts for feeding and breeding, and will not associate with their neighbours. This has been carefully tried, by taking a crab, and marking its shell, and carrying it two or three miles distance, and leaving it among the same species: this crab has found its way back to its old home, and has been caught by the same fishermen that carried it.

The smallest crab that comes to hand is about the size of a chestnut; the full grown 7 lb. weight; but there has been one caught that weighed 12 lb. The bait is flesh, or pieces of skait, or small shark, of which he eats but little. The fishermen all agree, the crab will live confined in the pot or basket some months, without any food but what is collected from the sea-water, and not decrease in weight.

Once a year, like the lobster, they lose or cast their shells. Against this extraordinary change, they choose a close and well-secured retreat in the cavities of rocks, and under great stones; there they creep in, and wait, till by degrees the parts are disengaged; which is effected by withdrawing their legs from their old shells, leaving them, and the upper part of their body-shell behind. In this naked state they make a very odd appearance, being an ill shapen lump of jelly-like substance,

which gradually hardens into a shell a size larger than the old one; for this is the way of growth appointed for this animal, and others of the crustaceous species. But what is most surprising, this large species of crab has a power in itself voluntarily to crack and break its own legs or claws, and drop them off.

Mr. Benjamin Cook, at Newport, in the Isle of Wight, F. R. S., informed Mr. C. of this marvellous property in the great crab; but he could not comprehend it, till he saw the experiment tried on two crabs; then he was soon convinced of the truth of the fact; for in a few minutes the legs all dropped off one after another. This the crab will do in any position; but the easiest method is to lay it on its back, and then take a pair of strong iron pincers, and break the shell, and bruise the flesh of the third or fourth joint of its small leg; after it has received the hurt, it bleeds, and gives signs of pain, by moving its leg from side to side; but afterwards holds it quite still, in a direct and natural position, without touching any part of its body, or its other legs, with it. Then, on a sudden, with a gentle crack, the wounded part of the leg drops off at the second joint, or internodium, from its body; just as one sees the neck of a retort separate, where it has been heated by a red hot iron ring, on the application of cold water. The great legs are cast of in the same manner, but are not so easily laid hold on as the small ones. Those who have not seen this wonderful operation may reasonably conclude, that the leg is cast out of its joint or socket; but it is quite otherwise; for it cracks and breaks off in the smoothest part of the joint, and the rim of the body-shell is no ways assistant to it.

To try what effect increase of pain would have in this work, a small hole was pierced in the great legs, and then a pointed iron was put in to lacerate the inclosed muscle; the consequence was answerable to expectation; symptoms of greater pain ensued, and the leg was cast off with greater violence.

It is really amazing and inconceivable, by what power or contrivance in itself, so wonderful an operation can be performed by the crab, as voluntarily to crack and break so hard a shell, and its muscles, and then cast off its legs. The small diameter of this joint, the disposition of the fibres, and a very small circular fossa, may contribute greatly to accelerate the work; but yet the main spring of action seems beyond the reach of human comprehension.

When the leg is dropped off, a mucus or jelly is discharged