An Account of Some Books

gard of the Earth; because the motion was retrograde, this was to be made Concave towards the Earth; suitable to what hath been said in the same Theory, because that the motion of this Comet is direct. According to this Hypothesis, those last days, that the Clouds hindred us from seeing this Comet, he must have continued his course towards the root of the Southern horn of Taurus, and having pass'd the Ecliptique between the 9th and 10th of April, he must pass on the top of Orion's head the 20th; over his Arm the 24th; and at the end of this month he will be in the Milky Way. But it will be difficult hence forward to find him, because of his smallness, and the light of the Moon. 'Tis a thing worth observing, that this Comet keeps his course almost like that of the 2d Comet of 1665, and of another of 1577 observ'd by Tycho. For they have pass'd through almost the same Constellations; though this be more inclined Nord-ward, and cut the Ecliptique five or six degrees more forward than that of 1665. So that it seems, that in this place of the Heavens there is, as 'twere, a Zodiaque for Comets. An Account of some Books. I. De RESISTENTIA SOLIDORUM Alexan. Marchetti, in Piu- sana Academia Phil. Prof. Excusum Florentiae 1665 in thin 4°. This book came not long since to my hands: It had been promised some years before under the Title of Galile- us ampliatus. But the Author now follows not the Steps of Ga- lileus, but demonstrates all his Propositions another way: build- ing all upon this ground: Momenta Gravium proportionem habent compositam ex proportionibus ponderum & longitudinum; which is his first Proposition. This Book being but small, and the subject ad- mitting of enlargement, the Author promiseth a larger Trea- tise of the same. II. Tabula numerorum QUADRATORUM decies millium, an- cum illorum LATERIBUS ab Unitate incipientibus, & ordi- ne naturali usque ad 10000. progradientibus. Londini, 1672. Table of ten thousand Square numbers, namely of all the Square Numbers between 0 and 100 millions; and of their Sides or Roots: Which are all the whole Numbers between 0 and ten thousand: 8 sheets in fol. The Concinnity of 10, 8 or 7 Centuries in each opening, may so please some Reader's eye as to invite him to continue the Tab's Table to 100 thousand Squares, placed in the same order. But Arithmeticians will see divers advantages, which would have been lost, if there had been more or fewer lines in a page; or if the Centuries had not stood entire in every aperture. The two last pages are sufficiently contained in p. 30, which precedes them, if men were acquainted with the compendious way of writing in Cribris. That fair edition of Aratus, printed this year in Oxford, adjoins some fragments of Eratosthenes (who dyed almost 1900 years ago.) Among the rest, there is the beginning of his Arithmetical summa of odd numbers, to shew, which of them are incomposit &c. The loss of that cribrum was abundantly supplied by the Table of incomposit numbers, printed at London for Mr. Pitt. 1668; as this Table is. Those 3 last pages have a Curiosity, perhaps not seen before; viz. an accurate enumeration of all the Endings of numbers truly Square. Those Endings in one figure are six; in two figures, are 25; in three figures, are 159; in four figures, are 144: which, being here set down in their natural order, stand there ready to discover many long given numbers not to be Square; which otherwise could not have been perceived to be such till after extraction. But they also give an occasion to transcribe here the three last lines of the last page, which are these. "Having the two three or four last figures of any Square number, &c. to exhibit as many of the last figures of its side, is a new Question, to which the just answers are manifold and not obvious. A particular Account of them is ready for the press, when it shall be desired. In the meantime, the Publisher, having seen the said Account in the hands of the Author (Doctor Pell,) is able, for the clearing of those words [the just answers are manifold] to add thus much: When the Question is concerning the 22 Combinations, 20 of them have 4 Answers a piece; 50 of them have, each of them, 10 Answers. When the Question is concerning the 159 Ternions; 100 of them have 4 Answers a piece; 50 of them have, each, 8 Answers; Two of them have, each, ten Answers; Five of them, have each, 20 Answers; Two have, each of them, 40 Answers. When When the Question is concerning the 1044 Quaternions; 1000 of them have 8 Answers a peice; 40 of them have each, 40 Answers; four of them have, each, 100 Answers: As it is hoped, will shortly appear in print; that so the Excellent Author may proceed to publish his higher and more plausible superstructures. III. Regneri de Graaf. de MULIERUM ORGANIS GENERATIONI INSERVIENTIBUS Tractatus novus. Lugduni Batavorum, 1672 in 8°. What this Inquisitive and Industrious Anatomist had formerly promised touching this Subject (intimated N°. 34.p.663. and N°.79.p.3056.3057.) he now amply performeth in this Treatise, which appears to be written upon long search and much examination, and is illustrated with many very curious and accurate Schemes. The main Design of the Book is, to make it out what the Author as well, as Van Horn, Steno, Swammerdam, and others have given out concerning the Manner of Generation in Animals call'd Viviparous; viz. that they, no less than the Oviparous, have ovaria containing many Eggs; and that those Eggs are after the same manner rendered prolific, and come to the Uterus, as they do in Fowl: which he faith will be found more than probable to those, that shall have well examin'd the Genitals of Oviparous creatures; in regard that, as the extremity of the Oviductus or Egg-channel ends in a membranous expansion in Birds; so the Tube Fallopiana do end likewise in Quadrupeds. And as the same Oviductus in Birds receiveth the Eggs falling from their buds; so the said dilated Tube in Quadrupeds do receive the Eggs expell'd out of the Baggs. Which that it may be the better clear'd up, he observeth. 1. Ova hæc in testibus generari ac perfici, eodem modo quo vitelli in Avium ovariis solent; quatenus scil. per arterias preparantes sanguis ad testes affluens, in membranosa illorum substantia materiam in generandis ac nutrientis relinquit. 2. Ova è testibus expelli, quoties masculino semine irradiata, brevi post coitum fecundum, inter eorum tunicas, glandulosa quædam substantia excrecit, qua Ovum tamdiu comprimit, donec per papillam, in extrema folliculi superficie conspicuum, erumpat; idque vel citius vel tardius, prout animalia longiori aut breviori tempore uterum gerunt. 3. Ova 3. Ova hæc ratione e testibus propulsa necessario in Abdominis cavum esse delapsura, nisi Tubæ Fallopianæ inexplicabilis, at visibili tamen, modo ova illa exciperent, & ad uterum devehentur: Visibilem dicit, cum sapientia id conspexisse se, & indies se demonstrare posse affirmet. Whereunto he adds the changes, which those Eggs daily undergo in micro: All which things coming to pass in Cows, Ewes, and other Animals, frequently dissected by him, he concludeth, that Generation in Women also is made after the same manner, quippe qua ova in testibus, & tubus utero annexus, uti bruta animantia, obitinent. Meantime, he would not have any one phancy, that the Eggs in Quadrupeds and Women are invested with a hard shell: that being not essential to an Egg, and there being more sorts of Eggs that have no such hard shell, than that have it; as of Fishes, Froggs, Serpents, &c. Nec putare nos velit, in Mulieribus & ceteris Viviparis, isto quo in Gallinæ modo, per annum alternumve diem Mari commissis, omnia omnino Ova fecundarèdii; cum ne quidem in omni Avium genere id fieri certum sit, in quorum alius duo in aliis tris, in aliis quattuor, in nonnullis decem & plura Ova simul fecundantur & ab his excludantur. Mulieres vero, quamquam & ipsæ pluræ in Ovaria ova continant, plarumque tamen in nostris regionibus unum tantum Ovum, masculino semine irragiatum e testibus in uterum excellant; quamquam & plura interdum eodem simul coitu irrari citra miraculum possint: cujus rei multa apud Casp Bauhinum l.1. de Hermaphr. c.8. exempla legantur; ubi nunc tres, nunc quinque, nunc decem & plures formas uno parte editos repertæ; quod canibus, fætibus, cuniculis &c. perquam familiare est. Ubi tamen notatu dignam, in istis animalibus tot passim folliculos in testibus existere, quod fætus aut Ova in utero, & nunquam in utero plures fætus adesse, quia folliculos in testibus, ita ut ex testibus solis, fatum in utero existentium numerus dignosci possit. But, besides the clearing of this matter and the difficulties and objections raised against it, the Author is very full and accurate, in describing the Genitalia Mulierum themselves. Moreover he giveth us two curious and instructive Schemes de partibus Genitalibus Galli & Gallinae, together with their Explication. And he omits not to deliver a minute description of the Tubes Fallopianæ mulierum; and shews, whence it is, that by some they are esteem'd altogether and always close, whereas they are at certain times really open, though the hole of their extremity be very narrow; p. 246. He rejects the (commonly so called) Vasa deferentia from being fit vessels for transmitting Eggs, p. 250. As he also contradicts the assertion of those, that pretend to have found humane *See Numb. 81. fætus's of no more than 3, 4, or 8, daies old after conception. p. 246. Further he informs us, How an Egg is by degrees changed in utero; how it is nourished and augmented therefrom time to time; and in what order each part is perfected &c. Concerning which, the Reader will probably receive in a short time some discoveries, made, and lately. lately imparted to the Royal Society, by Signor Malpighi, an Italian, and Dr. Croon an English physician, both Fellows of that Society. He concludeth all with an excellent Chapter, treating of the Generation of Rabbets, and thereby confirming all the main parts of his former doctrine. IV. Discours de la CONOISSANCE des BESTES; par le P. Ignace Gaston Pardies, S. J. A Paris 1672. in 12° The learn'd Author of this Book examines therein the Opinion of those, that esteem Beasts to be meer Engins without any perception and Knowledge. In the doing of which, he represents at large and to advantage what hath been and may be alleged in favour of that doctrine; that so, when he shall be found by the Teachers of it not to be of their sentiment, they may not Judge him to be a Dissenter at least for want of having considered their reasons. After he hath spent the greatest part of his discourse in urging the arguments for the sole Mechanical Contrivance of the Structure and Operations of Beasts; and interspersed the discussion of the Opinion of the other extreme, which adscribes Reason to them: He declares at last his sense of this whole matter, and endeavours to prove, That Beasts, though they have not any Intellectual, yet they have a Sensible knowledge; or, though they have not such a perception that essentially carrieth with it a reflection upon itself; yet they have a simple apprehension of Objects without that reflexion. So that he esteems, that from this distinction all the difficulties, that have been proposed, will vanish; and that the reasons, alleged to the contrary, prove indeed, that Beasts have no Spiritual knowledge, but not at all, that they have no Sensible one. For the particulars, whereby this is endeavoured to be made out, we refer the Reader to the Book itself. Advertisement. A short Essay Printed in half a sheet of Paper, wherein Rules are laid down, directing, how to divide a Period into sentences; with what Points the Sentences shall be distinguished, and how to read those Sentences Grammatically; more distinct than what has been formerly done: Very useful for the clearness of any discourse, and for expeditious and distinct reading. By M. Lewis: Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Crown in Cheapside, and M. Milion, at the Bible in Fleetstreet. ERRATA in N°. 81, P. 4011. l. 17. (=DO) l. 26. 2 f v³. ibid. pro 5 leg. s². l. 29. pro, alia VC leg. aliave. p. 4012. l. 10. catersique l. 12. n v h x. l. 13. p. 4014. l. 14. post Va, add, & aequaliter accelerato secundum AV vel Ya, l. 19. & complete. l. 25. natarum. l. 27. redit Yu. l. 31. VF. p. 4015. l. 12. AC. aE = ³ r. p. 4016. l. 1 CM. CS :: l. 12. conveniat. l. 14. accommodandus. LONDON, Printed for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society. 1672.