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Our author is inclined to think, that its formation is owing to fubterranean caufes, which by violent fhocks, changing the whole face of that region, left the mountain thus elevated and bare. This is, however, only conjecture; and tho' the bones of animals, found in the interior fiflures of the mountain, demonstrate that it owes its origin to fome ruinous caufe, yet what that caufe was, is, and, in all probability, ever will remain, a secret.

Great quantities of excellent iron ore are continually taken from this mountain, and fmelted into iron at the neighbouring furnaces. The ore breaks eafily; and what is broke from the fides of the mountain, readily falls to the foot of it; while in other mines the ore, with great trouble and cof, is dug from the bowels of the earth. The only inconveniency which happens here is, that the fand, which is lodged, in very great quantities in the fiffures, when the ore is blown up, falls with it to the foot of the mountain, and buries or covers it, which they are forced to dig away again;. on which account they always blow up the ore from the ⚫ bottom of the mountain upwards, for the greater ease of • the miners, and to hinder the heaping of the fand at the • bottom.'

Art. 9. An account of an extraordinary cafe of a child. By Mr. Richard Guy, Surgeon.

A girl near feven years of age, after the most judicious treatment for a fuppofed dropfy, for near twelve months, died in an emaciated condition. Upon opening her Mr. Guy found the abdominal tumor was owing to a folid fubstance, shaped like an egg, of an adipofe cellular confiftence, in fome places more than in others, which filled almoft the whole cavity of the abdomen; the large end refting on the pelvis, by which the ureters and bladder were greatly compreffed, while the smaller extremity pushed up the diaphragm, lodged the heart under the left clavicle, and rendered all the lobes of the lungs, except one, incapable of refpiration. It adhered firmly to the periosteum and backbone, weighted fourteen pounds two ounces and a half; and upon being divided to the center, difcovered several fmall cells, filled with a meliceratous fluid. It had no confiderable veffels, but many fmall ones creeping upon it. No nucleus was found.

In Article 10. the ufe of the agaric in amputations is further confirmed by the experience of Monf. Andouillet, Sur-. geon of the Charité, and of Monf. Moreau, Surgeon of the Hotel Dieu.

In the fame article, and more efpecially in the 11th, the use of the powder of the Crepitus Lupi, or Lycoperdon, is recommended for the fame purposes, from the experiments of M. la Foffe, the French King's farrier. Thefe experiments were tried before a committee of the Academy of Sciences, and always produced the fame effects. Upon diffecting the arteries ftaunched by this powder, the wounds whence the blood iffued were always found covered with a pellucid membrane, and ftopped with a conical grume of blood, whofe apex was towards the axis of the canal.

If this powder fucceeds in England, as it did in La Foffe's experiments, the chirurgical world will be greatly obliged to him, and we may predict the destruction of the agaric, notwithstanding the many articles in this volume, proving its blood-ftaunching qualities. Mr. Ford of Bristol has experienced the fame effects from the fungus-like fubftance that grows in wine-vaults on the walls, cafks, &c. in two amputations. He calls it the Fungus Vinosus.

Art. 13. An account of fome safes of Dropfies cured by sweet oil. In a letter from William Oliver, M. D. F. R. Š.

The Doctor gives three inftances of people's being effectually and fpeedily cured of dropfies, by rubbing sweet fallad oil into the abdomen, without any other medicine. The perfons who were faid to be recovered by this fimple application, were, a young lady, who had been tapped, a woman of 70, and a man who had drank hard, and was upward of 50.

Art. 15. An Account of thofe malignant Fevers that raged at Rouen, at the end of the year 1753, and at the beginning of 1754. By Monf. Le Cat, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, at Rouen, F. R. S. Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and Perpetual Secretary of that at Rouen. This paper deferves an attentive perufal. Dr. Le Cat's methods of cure are fimple, and his defcriptions are accurate. Art. 16. An account of the death of Mr. George William Richman, Profeffor of Experimental Philosophy, a Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh. Tranflated from the High Dutch.

In the 12th volume of our Review we gave, from a former number of thefe Tranfactions, a fhort account of this unhappy accident. As the prefent account contains many particulars, not mentioned before, we fhall lay an extract of this article before our readers; omitting the fhort fketch of Mr. Rich

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man's life, which accompanies the narration here given of his death.

The Profeffor was making electrical obfervations, in company with Mr. Sokolow, Engraver to the Academy, (on the 26th of July, 1753) and inclining his head towards the expofitor of his electrical apparatus, to obferve the degree of force it would have; and whilft he ftood in that bent posture, a great white and bluish fire appeared between the electrical expofitor and Mr. Richman's head. At the same time arose a fort of stream, or vapour, which entirely numbed the engraver, and made him fink down on the ground.-As foon as he had recovered his fenfes, he got up and ran out of the houfe, acquainting every one whom he met with in the street, that the thunder had ftruck into Mr. Richman's houfe.Mrs. Richman, on hearing the loud ftroke of the thunder, ⚫ came haftening into the chamber, in which the conjectured fhe fhould fee the bad confequences. She found her husband • past sensation, fitting upon a cheft, which happened to be placed behind him, and leaning against the wall; which fituation must have been occafioned by his falling back upon receiving the electrical blow. He was no fooner ftruck, bur killed. There were not the leaft appearances of life.The furgeons opened a vein of the breathlefs body twice, but no blood followed. They endeavoured to recover fenfation by violent chafing, but in vain. Upon turning the corpfe toply-turvy, during the rubbing, an inconfiderable quantity of blood fell out of the mouth. There appeared a red spot on the forehead, from which fpirted fome drops of blood through the pores, without wounding the fkin. The fhoe ⚫ belonging to the left foot was burft open. Uncovering the foot at that place, they found a blue mark, by which it is concluded, that the electrical force of the thunder, having forced into the head, made its way out again at the foot. Upon the body, particularly on the left fide, were several red and blue fpots, refembling leather fhrunk by being burnt. Many more blue fpots were afterwards vifible over the whole body, and in particular on the back. That upon the forehead changed to a brownish red. The hair of the head was not finged, notwithstanding the spot touched fame of it. As for his wig, the deceased had taken it off. In the place where the fhoe was unripped, the ftocking was entire; as was his coat every where, the waistcoat being only finged on the fore-flap, where it joined the hinder. But there appeared on the back of the engraver's coat, long f narrow ftreaks, as if red hot wires had burnt off the nap,

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-When the body was opened the next day, the cranium was very entire, having no fiffure, or cross-opening; the brain as found as poffibly it could; the tranfparent pellicles of the wind-pipe were exceffively tender, gave way, and rent eafily. There was some extravafated blood in it, as likewife in the cavities below the lungs; thofe by the breast be<ing quite found, and not damaged; but thofe towards the back of a brownish black colour, and filled with more of the above blood; otherwise none of the entrails were touch<ed: the throat, glands, and the thin intestines were all inflamed. The finged leather-coloured fpots penetrated the skin < only. In fhort, altho' one could trace out all the confequences of an inftantaneous ftroke throughout the whole body, yet many of them have not appeared to happen to others ftruck by thunder, when they have been examined. Should not one therefore be led to conclude, that the elec⚫trical force that occafioned Mr. Richman's death, must have < been of a different substance than the common thunder-bolt? . That it was much more fubtile, is obvious, because it left fo few vifible traces in the body which it penetrated.'

Art. 19. A Letter to the Right Hon. George Earl of Macclesfield, Prefident of the Royal Society, on the advantage of taking the mean of a number of abfervations, in practical Aftronomy. By T. Sympfon, F. R.S.

Notwithstanding the great perfection of aftronomical inftruments among the moderns, obfervations are ftill liable to errors; and therefore, to leffen those errors as much as poffible, it has been the ufual method to take the mean of several obfervations of the fame kind. But fome perfons of note being of opinion, that a single observation, carefully taken, was as much to be relied on as the mean of a great number, Mr. Sympfón has, in this paper, fhewn, by a mathematical procefs, the great advantage attending the ufual method of taking the mean of several obfervations; and made it evidently appear, that the chance of committing an error exceeding two feconds, is not one tenth part fo great from taking the mean of fix, as from one fingle obfervation.

Art. 21. Queries fent to a friend in Conftantinople, by Dr. Maty, F. R. S. and anfwered by his Excellency James Porter, Efq; his Majesty's Ambassador at Conftantinople, and F. R.S. The queries fent by Dr. Maty were the feven following: "1. Whether we may know, with any certainty, how many people are generally carried off by the plague at Conftantinople?

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2. Whe

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2. Whether the number of inhabitants in that capital may be afcertained?

3. Whether what has been advanced by fome travellers, and from them affumed by writers on politics, be true, that there are more women than men born in the eaft?

4. Whether plurality of wives is in fact, as it was confidently affirmed to be, in the order of nature, favourable to the increase of mankind?

5. What is the actual ftate of inoculation in the east?

6. What is become of the printing-houfe at Conftantinople? and are there any original maps of the Turkish dominions, drawn from actual furveys ?

7. What fort of learning is cultivated among the Greeks, and among the Turks?

1. The first of thefe queries, Mr. Porter obferves, cannot be answered, as the Turks keep no bills of mortality. But from an imperfect computation of the Janiffaries, it appears, that near 60,000 died during the plague in 1751.

2. The fecond, from the want of bills of mortality; and their being prohibited by their law from numbering the people, is alfo incapable of an accurate folution. The only method of calculating the number of people, is by the confumption of corn, which is delivered out by an officer of confideration, and an exact account kept. On this foundation Mr. Porter attempted to calculate the number of people in Conftantinople, and found, that before the plague they amounted to about 513,000.

3. That there are more women than men born in the eaft, fays Mr. Porter, feems a figment of travellers, rather than founded in truth; it is fcarce to be known, where polygamy is lawful. The apparent conclufion may feem natural, because many of the harems of the opulent, efpecially in the great cities, are numerous; but these are not compofed of the natives of thofe cities, but are brought from countries where the Chriftian rites are obferved.-So that if more women are found in fuch families than men, they must be looked upon as an extraneous production, an< nually, or daily imported.'

4. With regard to the fourth query, it is obferved, that notwithstanding their law, the Mahometans procreate lefs than Chriftians. Mr. Porter is, however, of opinion, that this does not proceed from the caufe ufually affigned, (their being enervated by variety) but from the frequent ablutions, &c. required by their law.

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