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THE

LONDON REVIEW,

FOR FEBRUARY 1780.

Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 69 Part 1. for the Year 1779. 4to. Davis.

THE world at large naturally look with attention at the publications of fo refpectable a body as the Royal Society. Their fame has been widely extended, and the greateft geniuffes in Europe are proud of being enrolled among its members, The inftitation was avowedly for the improvement of knowledge and benefit of mankind, and the philofophical world has been much enlightened by their communications, and would undoubtedly be more fo if the Society would condefcend to refcind one of their rules, and fometimes favour the public with their opinion as a body, instead of leaving reafoning as well as facts wholly on the credit of an individual, whofe knowledge, though great, cannot reafonably be fuppofed to be equal to that of a fociety of philofophers. Their mode of felecting the refpective papers for publication is, the importance or fingularity of the fubjects; or the advantageous manner of treating them, without pretending to answer for the certainty of facts, or propriety of reafonings, which muft reft on the credit or judgment of their refpective authors. This we think a very defective method, as it wholly deprives the public of the collective opinion of a fociety intended to promulgate knowledge.

We fincerely hope to fee this rule altered, as their declared opinion would determine many things which are doubtful to the public, though perhaps clearly demonftrated to the fociety.

This volume begins with an account of the cure of the St. Vitus's dance by electricity, in a letter from Anthony Fothergill, F. R. S. and M. D. at Northampton. The patient was a girl of ten years of age, deprived of her speech VOL. XI.

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and totally debilitated, on whom the various ufual remedies had been unfuccefsfully tried, was in eighteen days perfectly restored to her health by electricity alone. This, with fome other fuccefsful cafes, induced the Doctor to give electricity a diftinguifhed place in the clafs of antifpafmodics. The other articles are

"A cafe in which the head of the os humeri was fawn off, and yet the motion of the limb preferved. By Mr. Daniel Orred, of Chefter, Surgeon. Communicated by Thomas Percival, M. D. F. R. S. and A. S. and member of the royal fociety of phyficians at Paris. Experiments on fome mineral fubftances. By Peter Woulfe, F. R. S. Communicated at the defire of William Hunter, F. R. S. and phyfician extraordinary to the queen.-Account of a petrefaction found on the coaft of Eaft Lothian. By Edward. King, Efq; F. R. S.-Account of Dr. Knight's method of making artificial loadftones. By Mr. Benjamin Wilfon, F. R. S.-Account of an extraordinary dropfical cafe. By Mr. John Latham, in a letter to Mr. Warner, F. R. S.-Problems concerning interpolations. By Edward Waring, M. D. F, R. S. and of the Inftitute of Bonania, Lucafian Profeffor of mathematics in the univerfity of Cambridge.-Difquifitio de tempore Periodico Cometæ auni 1770 obfervatio Autore J. A. Lexell, acadamiæ fcientiarum petrop. Socio. Communicated by Nevil Mafkelyne, D. D. F. R. S. and aftronomer royal.-On the general refolution of algebraical equa tions. By Edward Waring, M. D. F. R. S. and of the inftitute of Bononia, Lucasian profeflor of mathematics in the university of Cambridge.-Obfervations on the total (with duration) and annular eclipfe of the fun, taken on the 24th of June, 1778, on board the Elpagne, being the Admiral's fhip of the fleet of New Spain, in the palage from the Azores towards Cape St. Vincent's. By Don Antonio Ulloa, F. R. S. commander of the faid squadron; communicated by Samuel Horfley, L. L. D. F. R. S.-Tentamen continens theoriam machinæ fublicarum. Autore Thoma Bugge, aftronomo regio, aftrop. et mathem. prof in academia Havnienfi, e focietatibus fcient. Havnienf. et Nidrof. Communicated by Sir John Pringle, Bart. F. R. S.-Account of an icontatidiptic telefcope, invented by Mr. Jeaurat, of the academy of fciences of Paris. Communicated by John Hyacinth de Magellans, F. R. S. -Account of the organs of speech of the Orang Outang. By Pe1er Camper, M. D. late profeffor of anatomy, &c. in the univerfity of Groningen, and F. R. S. in a letter to Sir John Pringle, F. R.S. -Account of the effects of lightning on board the Atlas. By Allen Cooper, Eq; mafter of the Atlas Eaft Indiaman. In a letter to Jofeph Banks, Efq; P. R. S.-Extracts of three letters from John Longfield, M. D. at Corke in Ireland, to the aftrono. mer royal, containing fome aftronomical obfervations; together with the longitude of Corke, deduced from the faid obfervations, by the aftronomer royal.-The latitude of Madrass in the East Indies, deduced from obfervations made by William Stephens, chief engineer. Communicated by John Call, Efq; F. R. S.Account

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Account of an infant musician. By Charles Burney, Doctor of Mufic and F. R, S.-Account of the method of cultivating the fugar cane. By Mr. Cazaud; communicated by Jofeph Banks, Elq; P. R. S -Account of the Free Martin. By John Hunter, Efq; F. R. S.-Meteorological journal kept at the house of the Royal Society, by order of the prefident and council.

For the entertainment of our readers we shall give fome account of No. 4, on a petrefaction found on the coaft of Eaft Lothian, by Edw. King, Efq; F. R. S. After a fhort introduction he gives an account of the fpecimens as follows.

"In the year 1745 the Fox man of war was unfortunately ftranded on the coaft of East Lothian in Scotland, and there went to pieces; and the wreck remained about three and thirty years under water; but this last year a violent ftorm from the North Eaft laid a part of it bare, and several maffes, confifting of iron, ropes, and balls, were found on the fands near the place, covered over with a very hard ochry fubftance, of the colour of iron, which adhered thereto fo ftrongly, that it required great force to detach it from the fragments of the wreck. And, upon examination, this fubftance appeared to be fand, concreted and hardened into a kind of stone.

"The fpecimen now laid before the fociety had been taken out of the fea, from the fame spot, fome time before, and is a confolidated mafs that had undergone the fame change. It contains a piece of rope that was adjoining to fome iron ring, and probably had been tied thereto. The fubftance of the rope is very little altered; but the fand is fo concreted round it, as to be as hard as a bit of rock, and retains very perfectly impreffions of parts of the ring, juft in the fame manner as impreffions of extraneous foffil bodies are often found in various kinds of ftrata.

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Now, confidering thefe circumstances, we may fairly conclude, in the first place, that there is, on the coafts of this ifland, a continual progreffive induration of maffes of fand and other matter at the bottom of the ocean, fomewhat in the fame manner as there is at the bottom of the Adriatic fea, according to the account given by Dr. Donati.*

"And, in the next place (which is what more particularly deferves our attention on this occafion) it should seem that iron, and the folutions of iron, contribute very much to haften and promote the progrefs of the concretion and induration of stone, whenever they meet and are united with thofe cementing cryftalline particles which there is reason to believe are the more immediate caufe of the confolidation of all stones and marbles whatfoever, and which do very much abound in fea water.

"This appears, in fome degree, from the prefent fpecimens; where, near adjoining to the ring, and in the portion of the fragment that has the largest impreffion thereof, the concreted

* See the Phil. Tranf. vol. 49, p. 558.
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fand-stone is of a firmer texture, and there is a larger cohering mafs formed about that part of the rope, than about thofe parts that are further removed from the ring.

"It appears alfo from a circumftance that was particularly taken notice of when the wreck was difcovered by the ftorm this year (and which is mentioned, Sir, in the letter you favoured me with a fight of); for the maffes that were obferved to have these concretions adhering to them, were not maffes of timber, or other large fragments of the wreck, which one would think, on a flight confideration of the matter, were most likely to caufe obftructions. at the bottom of the ocean, and to form little banks of fand that might afterwards be concreted; but they were maffes of loofe iron and ropes, and even of cannon balls, which were thus confolidated.

"The fame conclufion alfo may be drawn, with ftill more appearance of its being well founded, from a very remarkable piece of antiquity, which was difcovered about three years ago on the coaft of Kent. Some fishermen, fweeping for anchors in the Guil ftream (a part of the fea near the Downs) drew up a very curious old fwivel gun, near eight feet in length. The barrel of the gun, which was about five feet long, was of brafs; but the handle (whereby it was to be turned or traverfed) which was about three feet in length, and alfo the fwivel and pivot on which it turned, were of iron, and all round these latter, and especially about the fwivel and pivot, were formed exceeding hard incrustations of fand, converted into a kind of ftone, of an exceeding ftrong texture and firmness; whereas round the barrel of the gun, except where it was near adjoining to the iron, there were no fuch incruftations at all, the greater part of it being clean, and in good condition, just as if it had ftill continued in ufe.*

"The incrustation round the iron part of this gun was aifo the more deferving of attention, because it inclofed within it, and also held faftly adhering to it on the outfide, a number of fhells and corallines, juft in the fame manner as they are often found in a foffil ftate. There were plainly to be distinguished, on the outfide of this mass of incrustation, pectens, cockles, limpets, mufcles, vermiculi marini and balini; and befides thefe, one buccinum and ove oyfter; and they were all fo thoroughly and ftrongly fixed thereto, and themselves also converted into fuch an hard substance, that it required as much force to feparate or break them, as to break a fragment off any hard rock; and in colour and appearance they much refembled fome of the maffes of foffil bodies found near Chippenham in Wiltshire.

This remarkable incrustation, therefore, thus confined to the parts of the gun adjoining to the iron, and appearing no where elfe

As there were feveral remarkable particularities in this gun, tending to explain fome curious facts in hiftory, I took the liberty to give a full account of it, with a view to illuftrate them, in a memoir laid before the antiquarian fociety last year.

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upon it, plainly indicates, that the iron was, by fome means or other, the more immediate caufe thereof; and yet it is to be obferved, that in this inftance the iron was very little diffolved; for although it is manifeft, from fome circumstances in its hiftory, that the gun must have remained in the fea above two hundred years, and probably a great deal longer, yet the greater part of the handle and of the swivel remained entire, and even the point of the pivot was undiffolved, and very visible.

After mentioning fome other circumftances, the author acquaints us that Dr. Fothergill,

On paffing through the ftreets of London in his walks, before the fign-irons were taken down, he perceived, that on the broad ftone pavements, whenever he came juft under any fign-irons, his cane gave a different found, and occafioned a different kind of refiftance to the hand from what it did elfewhere; and attending more particularly to this circumftance, he found that every where, under the drip of thofe irons, the ftones had acquired a greater degree of folidity, and a wonderful hardness, so as to refift any ordinary tool, and gave, when ftruck upon, a metallic found; and this fact, by repeated obfervations, he was at length most thoroughly convinced of.

"Taking the hint, therefore, from hence, he thought fit to make feveral experiments; and amongst the rest placed two pieces of Portland stone in the fame afpect and fituation in every refpect; but washed the one frequently with water impregnated with rufty iron, and left the other untouched: and in a very few years he found the former had acquired a very fenfible degree of that hardnefs before described, and on being ftruck gave the metallic found; whilft the other remained in its original state, and fubject to the decays occafioned by the changes of the weather, which we find in many inftances make a most rapid progrefs."

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This is a fact that merits a particular enquiry, and though we have the highest respect for the author, we should have, been pleafed to have feen a note in the fociety's name, that fo fimple and cafy an experiment had been made, and fucceeded under their infpection, declaring what was the portionate folidity the ftone had acquired in a certain time. This would have been a valuable piece of information, and have done the fociety more honour than their ridiculous refolution "never to give their opinion as a body upon any fubject either of nature or art that comes before them."

Had thefe experiments been thus carefully made, our author need not have used the cautious, or rather doubtful word if in the following fentence.

"If iron and the folution of iron do thus contribute to the induration of bodies, fuch folutions must probably have that tendency in every stage of those bodies exiftence; and therefore it feems likely, that the fine ornamental carvings in Portland or other

ftone,

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