Extracts of Three Letters: The One of M. Hugens, about a New Invention of Very Exact and Portative Watches, Serving to Find the Longitudes Both at Sea and Land: The Second, of Dr. Swammerdam, Touching an Un-Usual Rupture of the Mesentery: The Third, Containing Some Observations of Mr. Lister about the Star-Stones; Together with Mr. Rays Annotations Thereon

D. the middle of the Tower of Montleher. E. the top of the Pavillon of Malvoisin. F. a pole placed for this purpose on the ruins of the Tower of Montjay, with a lock of hay put upon it, that it might be seen at a greater distance. G. the middle of the Hummock of Mareuil, where it was requisite to have a fire made, to distinguish it at a distance. H. the middle of the great Oval Pavillon of the Castle of Dammartin. I. the Tower of St. Sampson in Clermont. K. the Mill of Jonquieres near Compiegne. L. the Tower of Coyvrel. M. a little Tree on the hill of Boulogne near Montdidier. N. the Tower of Sourdon. O. a little forked Tree upon the point of the Griffon near Villerneuve St. George. P. the Tower of Montmartre. Q. the Tower near St. Christopher at Senlis. Thus we have given you, we hope, some satisfaction as to this point, at least as to the material parts of it. As to all the particular niceties, (which it would be too tedious to describe) the Book itself, which surely some time or other will come abroad, may render that satisfaction compleat. Mean time, I would by no means, that this should put a stop to the Ingenuity and Industry of our Philosophical Friends here in England, or deprive either them of the pleasure of comparing their exactness with that of M. Picarts, or the world of the advantage of having so important a Problem resolved by divers Artists in different Countries, by different ways; that so, the whole comming to be reflected upon, one may be able to conclude from the accurateness of the Observers, who they are that are come the nearest to truth in their Observations. An Extract of the French Journal des Scavans, concerning a New Invention of Monsieur Christian Hugens de Zulichem, of very exact and portable Watches. The Watches of this Invention being made in small, shall serve for very exact Pocket-watches, and when made greater, shall be useful everywhere else, and particularly to find the Longitudes both by Sea and Land, forasmuch as their movement is regulated by a principle of Equality, as that of Pendulum's is Cycloid, and that no kind of carriage shall be able to stop them. The secret of the Invention consists in a Spiral Spring, fastened by its innermost end to the Axis or Arbre of a poised Balance (bigger and heavier than usual) which turns upon its pivots; and by its other end to a piece that is fast to the watch-plate. Which spring, when the Balance-wheel is once set going, alternately shuts and opens its spires, and with the small help it hath from the watch-wheels, keeps up the motion of the Balance-wheel, so as that, though it turn more or less, the times of its reciprocations are always equal to one another. In Fig.4. Tab.1, the upper plate of the Watch is A B: The Circular Balance-wheel, C D, of which the Arbre is E F: The Spring turned spirally, G H M, fastened to the Arbre of the Balance-wheel in M, and to the piece that is fast to the Watch-plate, in G; all the spires or windings of the Spring being free without touching anything. N O P Q is the Cock, in which one of the pivots of the Balance-wheel turns; R S is one of the indented Wheels of the Watch, having a ballancing motion, which the Balance-Wheel of rencontre gives to it. And this Wheel R S catches in the pinion T, which holds on the Arbre of the Balance, of which by this means the motion is entertained as much as is necessary. An Extract of a Letter, lately written to the Publisher by Dr. Swammerdam, of an unusual Rupture of the Mesentery. Cul M ad vos iret Cl. Dn. C, & quareret ex me an aliquid literarum per ipsum ad Te curare vellem, nec suppeteret aliud scriendi argumentum, praesentem casum variorem vobis communicare coeui. Figura adjecta representat Convolvulum sive Affectum illiacum lethalem, ex ruptura & circumvolutione Mesenterii intestina constrirentis ortum. * A A. Intestinum Ileum, chylo, flatus & ingestis mirum * V. Tab.2 in mediam turgens atq; inflammatum. B B. Mesenterium diruptum, constituens vinculum anodum, intestina funesto fato circumligans. CC. Notatum Vinculum, ex rupto Mesenterio ortum, ac capreoli feré in modum, intestina neetens. DD. Vinculum illud seorsim delineatam, una cum ejus capreolo, habebus circumduktionibus constans. EE. Convolvulus intestini, seu Ilei pars, vinculo fortiter coarctata, ac sphacelo proxima; a quo alvus omnino adstricta fuit, adeo ut tenueum intestinorum contenta, vomitu feré continuo, sursum propulsa fuerint. FF. Ilei pars, violentà illâ at incomprehensibili trajectione intestini per ligamentum DD contra naturam extensa, atq; intestinum quodam cæcum mentiens. GG. Ilei extremum, ubi in Colon degenerat. HH. Colon modice contractum, & naturaliter se habens. LL. Intestinum cæcum. Hanc observationem paucis abhinc diebus, praesentibus DD de Penyn & Listermont, Nosocomii nostri Medici, nec non Clar. viro D. Oort, habimus. Vale. Dab. raptim, Amstelodami, 9 Octob. 1674. A Letter of Mr. Martin Lister, containing his Observations of the Astroites or Star-stones; communicated to the Publisher Jan. 19. 1673. SIR, You are pleased to tell me, that my Notes concerning certain Stones figured like Plants, found in the mountains of Craven, were well received*. This encourages me to give you the trouble of what I have observ'd of the Astroites; which are stones also pointed like the other, but not found, that I know of, in the same Rocks. And we must cross the plain Country, and seek for them hard under the Yorkshire Woolds: For, what store I cou'd procure of them, were brought me from Bugthorp and Leppington. At the former place, myself have seen them digg out of a certain blew clay on the banks of a smal rivulet, betwixt the Town and the foot of the Woolds. There are plenty of them washed into the brook; but the most fair and solid are those we get out of the Clay. I pretend not, to discover to you their Original, no more than I did of the Entrichi; but having used some diligence in causing the places, where they are found, to be a little more searched than is is usual, I was by that means furnish't with a good quantity of them; which gave me the opportunity to make the following Observations. What light may be hence had, I leave to more judicious persons, acknowledging my self at present not to be able to demonstrate (if they are not Stones of their own kind,) what they have been before petrification. It is very little and inconsiderable, what any Author, that I have yet seen, hath said of them; save a very brief description of them in Gesner, and the like in Wormius; in the rest, all is transcribed. The Matter and substance of these Stones, if broken, is flint-like, of a dark shining politure; but much softer, and easily corroded by an acid Menstruum. Vinegar, indeed, makes them creep; but a stronger spirit, as of Niter, tosses them. I doubt not, but they will readily calcine, as the Belemnites, to a very strong and white Lime. These Stones (as we now find them) are all Fragments; as we have noted of the Entrochi: Either one single joint, or 2, 3, or more joints set together, making a pentagonal Cylindrical figure or five-sided column. And I have not yet had any piece much above one inch long, which consisted of 18 joints; but I have seen one piece, somewhat shorter than the former, which had 25 joints. These last thin-jointed pieces are quite of a different make, as to all circumstances, from the other, as will appear. Every joint consists of 5 Angles, which are either drawn out and sharp, and consequently the sides of pieces, made up of such joints, are deep-channeled; (and this is the condition of some of the thick-jointed pieces, as well as of all the thin-jointed ones;) or the Angles are blunt and round, and the sides plain or very little hollowed. There are as big, and as small pieces of this sort, as of any other more sharp-angled; and therefore I account them a 3d. species of Star-stone. And of this sort was, I guess, that piece which Wormius describes; which therefore, he saith, is more like the blown Flower of Pentaphyllum, than a Star. Besides, the manner of the engraving of the joints in every one of the 3 respective species is also very different, as will be declared. Where the joints are thin or deep, they are so equally throughout the whole piece; yet are there some, but very few, exceptions to this also, of pieces which consist of joints of unequal thick- Many of the thick-jointed pieces have certain joints thought broader, or a very little standing out at the Angles, and thereby the joints are distinguish't into certain Conjugations of 2, 3, or more joints: And these Conjugations are very observable in the thin-jointed stones, and are marked out with a sett of Wyers; of which by and by. The thickest piece, which hath yet come to my hands, is not above one inch and a half about, and those very rare too: From which size to that of a smal pin, I have all the intermediat proportions; and these so exceeding smal pieces are as exactly shaped, as the greatest. Most pieces, if not all, of any considerable length, are not straight, but visibly bent and inclining. All the pieces of any sort are much of an equal thickness, or but little tapering; yet one of the ends, by reason of a Top-joint, is visibly the thickest. This Top joint hath 5 blunt Angles, and is not hatched or engraven, or but very faintly, on the outside. Every joint else of a piece (save the top-joint) is an Intaglia, and deeply engraven on both sides alike; and will accordingly serve for a Seal. The middle of each angle is hollow, and the edges of the angles are thick furrowed: The terminations of these hatchings are the indented futures, by which the joints are set together; the ridges of one joint being alternately let into the furrows of the other next it. The Hatchings of the flat-sided pieces are in circular lines; but of the other two species, they are straight lines, or near the matter. In the very center of the 5 angles is a smal hole, conspicuous in most joints. Note also, that in the middle of each joint, betwixt angle and angle; in the very future, is another such like smal pin-hole very apparent, if the stones be first well scoured. Besides all the former particulars, there may be observ'd, in the deep-jointed pieces, just under the top-joint, above described, the Vestigia of certain Wyers rather than branches; and sometimes 2, 3, or more of the joints of the Wyers yet adhering. These Wyers are ever five in number, viz. one in the middle or hollow part betwixt angle and angle. Again, in thin-jointed pieces there are ever five of these Wyers, or a sett of them inserted into every conjugation of joints; so that it were some representation of the thing, to imagine the stalk of Aperula or Equisetum. Also I have seen, but that very rarely, (not in one piece amongst 500,) a sett of Wyers. Wyers in the middle of a deep-jointed piece. One thin-jointed piece I have by me, where a Wyer of 20 joints and upwards (and how much longer they may be, I know not,) lies double within the hollow side, and by that accident was preserved in its natural place. Further, some lumps of Quarry I have from the same place above-nam'd, where the Wyers as well as the Stones themselves are seen in long pieces. It is no wonder, that these Wyers are knocked off, and but very rarely found adhering to the Stones they belong to, being very small and slender, of a round figure and smooth-jointed, being sett together per harmoniam and not indented future. Nothing that I can think of, is so like these Wyers, as the antennae of Lobsters. Lastly, some of these Wyers are knotted, and others of them fairly subdivided or branched. I have, by the assistance of Mr. Lodge, illustrated all these particulars with Figures: Of which this is the Explication; * 1. The Top-joint of an Astroites, figur'd on both sides; on the one it is deep engraven, on the other the hatches are scarce visible. Also the ends of the 5 Angles are very blunt. 2. A second or sharp-angled joint with fair hatchings on both sides. 3. A piece with very narrow and sharp angles. Also the Top-joint designed, as it naturally appears smooth and without hatchings. 4. A round-angled joint. 5. A flat-sided piece; where the hatchings are somewhat circular. 6. A thin-jointed piece: Where note also, that the angles are much narrower, and of a protracted Oval figure. 7. The biggest piece I have yet seen. Note also its bending. 8. The smallest piece I have yet met with. 9. The longest piece; where every 4th joint is a thought bigger or more prominent than the rest; as in the 7th fig. also is well designed. 10. A large and round-angled or flat-sided piece; to which belongs that single joint noted fig. 4. 11. A flat or not hollow-sided piece; of which sort also is the 5th figure: The 10th and 4th not much differing. 12. A thin-jointed piece; where the conjugations are marked out by the vestigia of the several sets of Wyers or branches. 13. A piece where the joints are un-equal in thickness. 14. A piece with some part of the Wyers yet adhering in their natural order at the biggest end of the piece. 15. A thin-jointed piece; where note on the left side a single Wyer accidentally preserved in its natural place, though snapt asunder. 16. A thick-jointed piece with a set of Wyers in the middle of it. 17. A good long piece of a Wyer, and a single joint thereof. So far Mr. Lister: To which we cannot but add Mr. Rays Notes upon these very Observations. I was much taken, (faith be to Mr. Lister) with your Observations concerning the Star-stones, and inform'd in several particulars. For, although I had often seen, and my self also sometimes gather'd of those bodies; yet I did never curiously note the texture, parts and differences of them. As for their Original, if you can allow the Trochites and Entrochi to have been fragments of Rock-plants, I see not, why you should make any difficulty of admitting these to have been so too; the several internodia being alike thin in both, and the Commissures not much different; only the external figure doth not correspond. But it is to be considered, that many of the Trochites have a pentagonal hole in the middle of them, which if we admit for the receptacle of the pith, it will be as hard to exemplifie such a figur'd pith, as such a figur'd stalk in Land-plants. Your note concerning the Wyers springing out of the furrows or concave angles of some of the internodia, and encircling the stalk like the leaves of asperula or equisetum, was surprising; and seems to me to argue these bodies to belong to the genus of Vegetables; no less than Coral, Coralline, and the several sorts of Port; some of which are also jointed: But no vegetable, either of Land or Sea, that I know of, hath such frequent joints and short or thin internodia; and so they are things of their own kind, whose species is, for ought we know, lost. If they were Vegetables, I guess they were never soft; but grew upon the rocks like Coral, and the other Stone-plants, just now mention'd; hard as they are. As for Equisetum, we know, that the Leaves of some sorts of it are jointed, as well as the Stalk: Else I know no plant that hath jointed leaves; except some sorts of Rush grass; though those bristles of equisetum surrounding the stalk, neither these reputed leaves of Rush-grass, can properly be call'd Leaves, being round, and having no difference ference of upper and lower superficies. Now that I have upon this occasion mention'd equisetum, give me leave to mind you of what I have already publish'd to the world; That I have found, on the banks of the river Tanar in Piedmont, plenty of the fragments of the stalks of equisetum perfectly petrified, with little or no increase of bulk, so exactly like the plant, that all the fibre did all along clearly appear. The colour of these petrified stalks was white. An Accompt of two Books: I. Les dix Livres d'Architecture de VITRUVIE, corrigés, & traduits nouvellement en François, avec des Notes & des Figures; par Claude Perrault, de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, & Medecin de la Faculté de Paris. Imprimé à Paris, 1673. in fol. The Ingenious and Learned Author of this Version of Vitruvius, and of the Notes upon him, considering with himself, that one of the Obstacles to the advancement of Architecture was the want of being able to draw the Precepts of that Art out of its true and genuine source, by reason of the great obscurity of Vitruvius, who is the only Writer of the Antients that we have upon this subject; did undertake, by a Translation into the French tongue, and by Notes upon the difficult places, and also by illustrating all with Figures, to render this Author more clear and useful to those, that embrace the profession and practice of that Noble Art. This Interpreter found, that in effect most of the matters contained in Vitruvius being so little understood as they are, had need of an Explication more clear and more exact than the Text we have remaining; forasmuch as the Author did not, in his opinion, so much endeavour to make it clear as succinct, in the confidence he had that the Figures, added by him would sufficiently explain the matter, and thereby supply what seems to be wanting in the Discourse. These Figures, saith M. Perrault, were lost by the negligence of the first Transcribers, that could not design, and that probably also did not judge them altogether so necessary; because the con- of M. Hugens.