about 13 years old. These women they raised on their shoulders to men above, who drew them up, as it were from the grave, and carried them to a neighbouring house: they were unable to walk, and so wasted that they appeared like mere shadows. They gave the account that follows: that on the morning of the 19th of March they were in the stable, with a boy six years old, and the girl about 13: in the same stable were six goats, one of which having brought forth two dead kids the evening before, they went to carry her a small vessel full of gruel; there were also an ass and five or six fowls. Very fortunately the manger was under the main prop of the stable, and resisted the weight of the snow. Their first care was to know what they had to eat the sister said, she had in her pocket 15 white chestnuts: the children said they had breakfasted, and should want no more that day. Two of the goats, however, were left alive, and were near the manger; one gave milk, with which they preserved their lives. The women affirmed, that during all the time they were thus buried they saw not one ray of light; yet for about twenty days they had some notion of night and day; for when the fowls crowed, they imagined it was break of day; but at last the fowls died. The second day, being very hungry, they ate all the remaining chestnuts, and drank what milk the goat yielded, which for the first days was near two pounds a day, but the quantity decreased gradually. On the sixth day the boy sickened, complaining of most violent pains in the stomach, and his illness continued six days; on the last of which he desired his mother, who all this time had held him in her lap, to lay him at his length in the manger, where he soon after died. They say, during all this time, hunger gave them but little uneasiness, except on the first five or six days; that their greatest pain was from the extreme coldness of the melted snow-water which fell on them, and from the stench of the dead ass, dead goats, fowls, &c. but more than all from the very uneasy posture they were obliged to continue in; for though the place in which they were buried was 12 English feet long, eight wide, and five high, the manger in which they sat squatting against the wall was no more than three feet four inches broad. For 36 days they had no evacuation by stool after the first days: the melted snow-water, which after some time they drank without doing them harm, was discharged by urine. The mother said she had never slept, but the sister and daughter slept as usual. An Essay towards ascertaining the specific Gravity of living Men. By Mr. JOHN ROBERTSON, F.R. S.-[1757.] To make some experiments on this subject, Mr. R. got a cistern made, of 78 inches in length, 30 inches wide, and 30 inches deep; for men of different sizes to be immersed in. He then endeavoured to find ten persons, such as he proposed to make the experiments with; namely, two of six feet high, two of five feet ten inches, two of five feet eight inches, two of five feet six inches, and two of five feet four inches. A ruler, graduated to inches, and decimal parts of an inch, was fixed to one end of the cistern, and the height of the water noted before a man went in, and to what height it rose when he ducked himself under its surface; and of these several observations is the following table composed: Weight of Cubic Feet. Pounds. .140..... 5.........5 51 6.........5 5. 7.........5 43 8.........5 3/1 9.........5 41 10.........5 ...121. ......... ....2.763.. ....151.5 ..........2.424.. One of the reasons, that induced Mr. R. to make these experiments, was a desire of knowing what quantity of fir or oak timber would be sufficient to keep a man afloat in river or sea water, thinking that most men were specifically heavier than river or common fresh water; but the contrary appears from these trials; for, excepting the first and last, every man was lighter than his equal bulk of fresh water, and much more so than his equal bulk of sea-water; consequently, could persons, who fall into the water, have presence of mind enough to avoid the fright usual on such accidents, many might be preserved from drowning; and a piece of wood, not larger than an oar, would buoy a man partly above water so long as he had spirits to keep his hold. On Polypes, Fossils, &c.— [1757.] MONS. DONATI writes that he has thoroughly satisfied himself, by his late observations, that polypes are fixed to their cells. What he says afterwards of coral appears to express with more truth and precision what we ought to think of this kind of animals, than any of the descriptions which have been given since the new discoveries have changed our sentiments on that subject. Polype-beds, and the cells which they contain, are commonly spoken of as being the work of polypes. They are compared to the honey-comb made by bees. It is more exact to say that coral, and other coralline bodies, have the same relation to the polypes united to them that there is between the shell of a snail and the snail itself, or between the bones of an animal and the animal itself. Mons. Donati's words are as follow: "I am now of opinion, that coral is nothing else than a real animal, which has a very great number of heads. I consider the polypes of coral only as the heads of the animal. This animal has a bone ramified in the shape of a shrub. This bone is covered with a kind of flesh, which is the flesh of the animal. My observations have discovered to me several analogies between the animals of kinds approaching to this. There are, for instance, keratophyta, which do not differ from coral, except in the bone, or part that forms the prop of the animal. In the coral it is testaceous, and in keratophyta it is horny." Mons. Donati observed several very curious facts in the journey which he made into the mountains. He has, in particular, traced out an immense bed of marine bodies. This bed crosses the highest mountains which separate Provence from Piedmont, and loses itself in the plains of Piedmont. He has likewise observed a mass of rock, which forms the extremity of a pretty high mountain, the foot of which is washed by the sea. This rock is, at a considerable height, entirely pierced by pholades, that species of marine shell-fish so well known, which digs cells in the stones. It hence appears, that this rock was some time covered by the sea. According to Mons. Donati, the sea has insensibly retired from the parts which were washed by it; and he thinks that there must have been a very considerable space of time between that and the time when this mountain, pierced by pholades, was covered by the waters of the sea. He deduces his opinion from the following fact. There is in this rock, pretty near the surface of the sea, a natural cavern filled with water. In this earth have been found ancient Roman sarcophagi and lamps. Hence it follows that even in the time of the Romans this part of the rock, in which this cavern is situated, was not under water. If all these different facts be compared together, it will not be doubted, but there are actually under the earth, marine bodies, which are found there only in consequence of slow revolutions, and not of an universal deluge. Perhaps this notion might be extended to the greatest part of the marine fossil bodies which are known to us. On the Impressions of Plants on the Slates of Coals. By Mr. EMANUEL Mendes da Costa, F.R.S. [1757.] THE impressions of various kinds of plants are frequently, Mr. C. thinks always, found in some of the strata lying over coal; but more particularly in a stratum of earthy slate, which always lies immediately on the coal-stratum, not only in the coal-pits of this kingdom, but of many other parts of Europe, as France, Saxony, Bohemia, Silesia, &c. Most of these impressions are of the herbæ capillares et affines, the gramineous, and the reed tribes: but among them are many rare and beautiful impressions, undoubtedly of vegetable origin, and impressed by plants hitherto unknown to botanists. Besides these found over coal-pits, there are likewise found in some parts of this kingdom, as at Robin Hood's Bay, in Yorkshire, Colnbrookdale, in Shropshire, &c. many curious impressions of the fern tribe, in regular nodules of iron-stone; and, in the latter place, not only impressions of plants, but even the cones or iuli of some kinds of trees are met with, very perfect and fair, and curiously imbedded in masses of iron-stone. Most part of the impressions of ferns, grasses, &c. are easily recognisable, they so minutely tally to the plants they represent. Others, indeed, though they do not exactly answer any known species, yet have characters so distinctly expressed, that they are easily arranged under their respective genera. These impressions are not only met with in small pieces, but large evident branches, some feet in length, have been found. He had, in the collieries of Derbyshire, frequently traced branches with, seemingly, long narrow leaves proceeding from them, and parts of other vegetables, above a foot in length: but the hardness of the substance they are immersed in renders it impossible to get them out without breaking them to pieces. Description of several small Marine Animals. By JOB BASTER, M.D.— [1757.] If the sea-water round our coasts be moved by night, either by throwing a stone into it, or by a stick, it exhibits innumerable fiery sparks, which are no other than minute shining animalcules, requiring a good microscope to show them distinctly. In order to collect these animalcules in sufficient plenty, the way is to take a quantity of sea-water, in which they abound, and to strain it through a filtering paper, till only the quantity of about half an ounce, or less, remains on the paper of this water a small drop, placed in a concave glass, and viewed by a microscope of considerable power, will exhibit them swimming very briskly about. Dr. B. observed three species, which are represented from the life, in the engraving. Of some Fossil Fruits, and other Bodies, found in the Island of Sheppey. By JAMES PARSONS, M.D. F.R.S. -[1757.] THE kinds of wood fossil found here are of very different textures; and this, too, is according to the places where they are deposited. Some are seen so highly impregnated with a fine stony and pyritical matter, as to bear a polish like a pebble; some, though quite reduced to stone, yet preserving the fibrous appearance of the original state; and some, which are found in boggy bottoms, being not at all changed, except in colour: this is called bog-oak, or bog-deal, well known to country people in many places of these three kingdoms, who light themselves about their business with slips of this wood, cut on purpose, instead of candles, as it burns with a clear and durable flame. It is remarkable, that though oak or fir shall lie ages immersed in water under ground, it shall not putrefy, but acquire such sulphureous particles, by lying in steep in the bog-water, as to qualify it for this use. wood, deposited in marly ground, is found incrusted over, trunk and branches, with a white crust, the wood remaining entire within. At other times wood thus incrusted is eroded by the matter which covers it, having something acrimonious in its substance. We may add to these, clusters of the twigs of shrubs, and small wood, which we find flakes of, incrusted with sparry or calcareous matter, in many places; parts of which are totally changed into that matter, whilst others are only enveloped with it. Other |