Front Matter

The only official reprint authorized by The Royal Society of London PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS: Giving some ACCOUNT OF THE Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours OF THE INGENIOUS, IN MANY Considerable Parts of the WORLD. VOL. XXI. For the Year 1699. LONDON: Printed for S. Smith and B. Walford, Printers to the Royal Society, at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCC. To the Right Honourable JOHN Lord SOMMERS, Lord High Chancellor of England, President of the ROYAL SOCIETY: May it please your Lordship, THE Royal Society of London, Instituted to promote Arts, and Sciences, observing your Lordships great Learning and Goodness, did themselves the Honour to Choose your Lordship their President, which your Lordship condescended to accept of. Your Lordship has since been pleased to shew them many Marks of your Favour and Protection, and to preside in their Assembly. These Honours which come from your desire to encourage all useful Learning, has animated the Society so much, that their Meetings have been more frequented, their Correspondence at Home and Abroad enlarged, and many things have been added to the History of Art and Nature. These Papers, which are a small part of what came before them last Year, I presume to present to your Lordship, not doubting but your Lordship, who DEDICATION. is so great a Judge of all sorts of Undertakings of this kind, will favourably accept of the good endeavours of a few Men who spend some of their Time, Thoughts, and Money, only to aim at the forwarding useful Knowledge, and hoping that your Lordship will please to pass by many Faults incident to Human Nature. I need not tell your Lordship, who knows so much, that our Senses are not able to attain to the Knowledge, nor our Reason to Comprehend the Causes of many things which we daily see; but there is great Usefulness and Pleasure in the Pursuit of Natural Inquiries, more than equals the Trouble of the Undertaking, and the Contempt or Pleasantry of the Malicious and Ignorant. Much should be here said in acknowledgment of your Lordships Favours, but I rather choose to desist, where I must come far short of your Lordships deserts, and the Sense of the Society of them, and therefore shall only beg leave to add that I am Your Lordships most Obedient and Dutiful Servant, Hans Sloane, Soc. Reg. Sec. THE PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of January, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. A Description and Figure of the true Amomum, or Tugus, sent from the Reverend Father George Camelli, at the Phillipine Isles, to Mr. John Ray, and Mr. James Petiver, Fellows of the Royal Society. II. Succineta Succini Prussici Historia & Demonstratio. Autore Philippo Jacobo Hartmann, Phil. & Med. D. Professore Medicina Extraordinario, Historiarum Ordinario, S. R. I. Naturae Curiosorum Collega. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of February, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. An Extract of a Letter from Leghorn to Dr. Martin Lister, November 34, 1698, concerning Seignior Redi's Manuscripts, and the Generation of Fleas. II. A way to make Two clear Spirituous, Inflammable Liquors, which differ very little in Taste and Smell, and being mixed together, do give a fine Carnation Colour, without either sensible Fermentation or Alteration. Communicated by Monsieur Geoffroy, F. R. S. III. A farther Account of the China Cabinet, by Hans Sloane, M.D. IV. Part of a Letter from Mr. William Derham, to Dr. Sloane; accompanying his Observations of the Height of the Mercury in the Barometer, Rains, Winds, &c., for the Year 1698. V. An Account of what Rain fell at Townly in Lancashire, in the Years 1697, and 1698, with some other Observations on the Weather; being part of a Letter of the 12th of January, 1698, from Richard Towneley, Esq.; to Mr. William Derham. VI. An Account of several Curiosities relating to Amber, lately sent to the Royal Society from Philippus Jacobus Hartmannus (Author of the Account of it published last Transaction) and which are now in their Repository at Greitham-College. VII. Part of a Letter of Mr. Dale from Braintree, Feb. 1, 1699, to Dr. Martin Lister, Fellow of the College of Physicians and R. S. concerning several Insects. VIII. An Account of a Young Man slain with Thunder and Lightning, Dec. 22, 1698, from Ralph Thoresby, Esq.; F. R. S. to Dr. Martin Lister, F. Fell. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of March, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. A further Account of what was contain'd in the Chinese Cabinet, by Hans Sloane, M. D. II. Of Coal-Borings, Communicated by Dr. Martin Lister, Fell.Coll.Phys. & R. S. III. Situs novi Cometae mense Februario, Anni 1699. in Regio Observatorio Parisiensi Observati. IV. Part of a Letter from Dr.Cay to Dr. Lister, concerning the Vertues of the Ostracites. V. An Account of the Vertues of Faba St Ignatii, mentioned last Transaction. VI. A Further and more Exact Account of the same PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of April, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. A Relation of the Small Creatures called Sable-Mice, which have lately come in Troops into Lapland, about Thorne, and other Places adjacent to the Mountains, in innumerable Multitudes. II. Some Observations made at a Meeting of the Royal Society, Concerning some Wonderful Contrivances of Nature in a Family of Plants in Jamaica, to perfect the Individuum, and propagate the Species, with several Instances analogous to them in European Vegetables. By Hans Sloane, M.D. III. An Extract of a Relation Printed at Paris, containing a Remarkable History of a Fetus without the Womb. By Dr. Fern. IV. An Observation of some Parelli seen at Canterbury. By Mr. Stephen Gray. V. A Supplement to the Account of a Scolopendra PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of May, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. An Observation concerning a very odd kind of Dropsy, or Swellings in one of the Ovaries of a Woman, by Hans Sloane, M.D. II. An account of Stitching the great Tendon, between the Calf of the Leg and Heel, with its Union and Cure, after an entire Division of it, with Remarks: Read at a Meeting of the Royal Society. By Mr. William Cowper, F.R.S. III. A Discourse of the Operation of a Blister when it Cures a Fever, made at a Meeting of the Royal Society. By William Cockburn, M.D. of Col. Phys. & F. R. S. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of June, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. Part of Two Letters of May the 22th, and June the 12th, 1699. from Sir Charles Holt, to Dr. Shadwell, Concerning a Disease caused by Swallowing Stones; with Remarks on the same, by Hans Sloane, M.D. II. Some Thoughts and Experiments Concerning Vegetation, by John Woodward, M.D. of the College of Physicians, &c. R.S., &c. Professor of Physick in Gresham-College. III. An Account of Mr. Savery's engine, for Raising Water by the help of Fire. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of July, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. Part of a Letter wrote by Mr. James Fraser, Minister of Kirkhill, near Inverness, to Doctor Ja. Wallace at Edinburgh, concerning the Lake Nels, &c. II. A short Discourse concerning Concoction: Read at a Meeting of the Royal Society, by Clopton Havers, M.D. Fellow of the Royal Society. III. An Account of the Moorish Way of Dressing their Meat (with other Remarks) in West-Barbary, from Cape Spartel to Cape de Geer. By Mr. Jezreel Jones. IV. An Account of the Third Volume of Dr. Wallis's Opera Mathematica, in Folio; finished and published at Oxford, 1699; the two former Volumes having been published in the Years 1693 and 1695. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS For the Month of August, 1699. The CONTENTS. I. Part of a Letter from Mr. Leuvenhook, dated Delft June 23, 1699, containing his Answers to Objections made to his Opinions concerning the Animalcula inlemine Masculino. A Letter of Dr. Wallis to Dr. Sloan, giving an Account of some late Passages between him and Myn Heer Leibnitz, of Hanover. An Account of Monsieur Peyron the Abbot Charmoy's Book according to his own Relations sent to Abbot Nicaise, in form of a Letter, which he calls L'Origin des Nations. II. A Letter from Dr. Wallis to Dr. Sloan, concerning some Alteration of the Meridian Line; which may affect the Declination of the Magnetical Needle, and the Poles Elevation. III. An Extract of a Letter from Mr. Thomas Luffin of Colchester to Dr. Wallis, concerning the use of the Numeral Figures in England as old as the Year 1690. And, concerning the Application of an Air-pump, to Cupping-glasses. IV. Some Attempts made to prove, that Herbs of the same Make or Clas for the generallity, have the like Vertue and Tendency to work the same Effects. In a Discourse made before the Royal Society, by Mr. James Petiver Apothecary, and Fellow of the said Society. V. A Catalogue of Shells, &c. gathered at the Island of Ascention, by Mr. James Cunningham Chirurgeon, with what Plants he there Observed; Communicated to Mr. James Petiver Apothecary, and Fellow of the Royal Society. VI. Part of a Letter from Mr. Leuvenhook, Dated June 9th, 1699, concerning the Animalcula in Scimine humano, &c. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of September 1699. The CONTENTS. 1. Departium Septentrionalium quibusdam affectibus & remediiis. Autore Phil. Lloyd, M.D. 2. A Discourse of Coffee, read at a Meeting of the Royal Society, by Mr. John Houghton, F.R.S. 3. A Letter from Mr. John Friend to Dr. Sloane, dated Oxon. Jul. 26 concerning an Hydrocephalus. 4. Some Observations of the Mercury's Altitude with the Changes of the Weather at Emly in China. Lat. 24° 20'. N. 5. Part of a Letter from Dr. David Gregory, to Dr. Sloane, dated Oxford, October 12. 1699. containing some of his observations of the Eclipse of the Sun on the 13th of September last. 6. Of the Origin of white Vitriol and the Figure of its Crystals, not yet accounted for. By Dr. Martin Lister, F.R.S. 7. A Letter communicated from Mr. Thoresby, F.R.S. to John Evelyn Esq; F.R.S. concerning some Cures done by Mr. Greatrix the Striker. 8. An account of Books, and Geography Anatomiz'd or the Compleat Geographical Grammar. Being a short and exact Analysis of the whole Body of Modern Geography, after a new and curious Method. The Second Edition, much improv'd and enlarged. By Pat. Gordon, M.A. F.R.S. 9. The Celestial World Discover'd, or Conjectures concerning the Inhabitants, Plants, and Productions of the Worlds in the Planets. Written in Latin by Christianus Huygens, and Inscribed to his Brother Constantine Huygens, late Secretary to his Majesty King William, in 8vo. with 5 Copper Cuts of Illustration. 10. Oran Oirgan, sive Homo Sylvestris: Or the Anatomy of a Pygmy compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man. To which is added a Philological Essay concerning the Pygmies, the Cynocephali, the Satyrs and Sphinxes of the Ancients, &c. By Edward Tyson, M.D. Fellow of the College of Physicians, and of the Royal Society, &c. London, in 4to. 1699. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of November, 1699. THE CONTENTS. I. An Account of two Glands and their Excretory Ducts lately discover'd in Human Bodies. By Mr. William Cowper. F. R. S. II. Epistola D. Raymundi Vieussens, M.D. & S. R.S. ad Societatem Regiam Londinensem missa, de Organo auditus. III. A Letter from Dr. William Musgrave to Dr. Sloane, being an Argument for the more frequent use of Laryngotomy, urg'd from a remarkable Cure in Chirurgery; perform'd by Mr. John Keen of Roch in Cornwal. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Month of December, 1699. THE CONTENTS. I. A Letter from Mr. Thomas Luffkin, to Dr. Sloane, concerning the application of the Pneumatick Engine to Cupping-Glasses. II. A Letter of Dr. Wallis to Dr. Sloane, concerning the Quadrature of the Parts of the Lunula of Hippocrates Chius: performed by Mr. John Perks; with the further Improvements of the same, by Dr. David Gregory, and Mr. John Caswell. III. Responsio ad Animadversionem ad Davidis Gregorii Catenariam, Act. Eruditorum Lipsiae Mense Februarii An. 1699. IV. A Relation of two Monstrous Pigs, with the resemblance of Humane Faces, and two young Turkeys joined by the Breast, by Sir John Floyer, Communicated by Dr. Edward Tyson, Fellow of the College of Physicians, and R.S. V. A Letter from the Reverend Mr. Hugh Jones to the Reverend Dr. Benjamin Woodroofe, F.R.S. concerning several Observables in Maryland. VI. An Index to the Philosophical Transactions, from Numb. 247. to 259. inclusive.