An Extract of a Letter from Dr. William Oliver, Communicated by Walter Moyle, Esq

more care for its Preservation than for its Destruction) and therefore it may much better be inferred from the Premises, That Contagious Diseases must needs be communicated to the Blood by Inspiration into the Lungs, rather than any other way. II. An Extract of a Letter from Dr. William Oliver, Communicated by Walter Moyle, Esq; Torbay, the 15th of July, 1693. SIR, When we Cruised in the Bay of Biscay, June the 8th, and had a hundred Fathom of Water, we took a Quart Glass Bottle stopp'd with a large Cork, and after tyed down with a strong Packthread, as we use to for Bottle Syder, or Ale, fastening our Bottle to our Plumbing-rope, and with a Lead at the end, sunk it to the bottom of the Sea, which as soon as we perceiv'd, we drew it up again, and found the Cork quite press'd thro' the neck of the Bottle into its cavity, and the Bottle full of Salt Sea-Water. We repeated our Experiment with another Bottle and Cork in the same manner as before, but the Cork being not sound, the Sea-Water soak'd thro' it, and the Bottle was half full of Water, so the Cork remain'd in the mouth of the Bottle not press'd down at all. We repeated our Experiment a third time in ninety Fathom of Water, with a very sound Cork, and much larger than the mouth of the Bottle, for we were forc'd to beat it in with a Hammer as far as it would go, leaving about an inch of the Cork above the mouth of the Bottle, and tyed down as before, but it succeeded not so well as at first, tho' the Cork was now press'd down into the neck, and became level with the mouth mouth of the Bottle; and I really believe, had we ten or twenty Fathom of Water more, 'twould have succeeded as well as our first Tryal. I send you not this as an Experiment altogether new to you, and shall insist no longer on it, but proceed to an uncommon Phænomenon I met with near this place. Going a-shoar one day last Week to breath a little Land Air, I walked about a Mile into the Country to see a Well much talked of in these Parts, called Lay-Well, which made me more than amends for the pains I had taken to come at it. This Well is about six Foot long, five Foot broad, and near six Inches deep, which ebbs and flows very often every hour, visibly enough; for from high Water to low Water-mark, which I measured, I found it somewhat more than five Inches. I could not see any augmentation above my mark when it flowed, nor fell it below my mark when it ebb'd, but always kept the same distance. I observed the Time as well as I could, but having no Minute-Watch nor Glass, I could not measure that so exactly, but really judg'd the flux and reflux, taken both together, was performed in about two Minutes; nothing could be more regular, each succeeding the other as the Tides of the Sea do: The next time I go a-shoar I'll have a Minute-Glass, and be more exact. I drank of it, and found it a pleasant, delicate, fine, soft Water, not brackish at all, which the Country People use in Fevers as their ordinary Diet-drink, which succeeds mighty well. D d d III. An