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. XXIX. For the Years 1714, 1715, 1716. LONDON: Printed for W. Innys, at the Princes-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCCLXVII. TO Sir Isaac Newton, Kt. PRESIDENT, And to the Council and Fellows OF THE Royal Society OF LONDON Instituted for the Advancement of Natural Knowledge; THIS Twenty Ninth VOLUME OF Philosophical Transactions IS HUMBLY DEDICATED, BY Edmond Halley, R. S. Secr. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of January, February and March, 1714. The CONTENTS. I. The Preface to the Reader, giving an Account of the Publisher's Design and Method, and inviting the curious Observers of the Phænomena, the diligent Inquirers into the Powers and Operations of Natural Agents, and the happy Inventors of new Discoveries, to contribute towards the carrying on these Publications with Success, by generously communicating their Observations, Discoveries and Inventions to the Publisher. II. Logometria. Auctore Rogero Cotes, Trin. Coll. Cantab. Socio. Astronomiæ & Philosophiæ Experi- The CONTENTS. Experimentalis Professore Plumiano, &c. III. An Extract from the Acta Eruditorum, for the Month of March, 1713. p. 111. Being a Dissertation concerning the dreadful contagious Distemper, seizing the Black Cattle in the Venetian Territories, and more especially about Padua. IV. A Recipe: Or the Ingredients of a Medicine for the late spreading Distemper amongst Cows. Sent lately from Holland, where it was made use of with Success. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of July, August and September 1714. The CONTENTS. I. Observationes occultationis Stella r in origine cornu Borei Tauri, sub disco Luna; simulque Eclipseos Luna statim insecurae, Anno 1713. Novemb. 21. mane St. vet. Romæ habita, &c. a praestantissimo Astronomo D. Francisco Blanchino R.S.S. communicatae. Cum Emerstonibus nonnullis Intimi Fovialium ex umbra Jovis, ibidem eodem anno observatis. II. Johannis Keill, M.D. & in Academia Oxoniensi Astronomiae Professoris Savilianii, Observationes in ea qua edidit Celeberrimus Geometra Joannes Bernoulli, in Commentariis Physico-Mathematicis Parisiensibus Anno 1710. De inverso Problemate Virium Centripetarum. Et ejusdem Problematis Solutio Nova. III. Rules for correcting the usual Methods of computing Amounts and present Values, by Compound as well as Simple Interest: and of stating Interest Accounts; by Thomas Watkins, Gent. F.R.S. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of October, November and December, 1714. The CONTENTS. I. An Account of the Rain which fell every Year at Upminster in Essex, for the last 18 Years: With Remarks upon that of the last Year, 1714. By Mr. W. Derham, Rector of Upminster, and Fellow of the Royal Society. Also a Comparison of what has been observed of the same kind at Paris, by M. De la Hire. II. Solutio Generalis Problematis XV. propositi a D. de Moivre, in tractatu de Mensura Sortis inserto Actis Philosophicis Anglicanis No 329, pro numero quocunque Colluforum. Per D. Nicolaum Bernoulli Basiliensem, J. U. D. & Regiae Societatis Sodalem. III. Solutio Generalis altera praecedentis Problematis, ope Combinationum & Sericrum infinitarum. Per D. Abr. de Moivre, Reg. Soc. Sodalem. IV. An Account of several extraordinary Meteors or Lights seen in the Sky. By Dr. Edmund Halley, Professor of Geometry at Oxon, and Secretary to the Royal Society. V. Some Remarks on the Variations of the Magnetical Compass, published in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, with regard to the General Chart of those Variations made by Dr. Halley. As also concerning the true Geographical Longitude of the Magellan Straights. By the same. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of January and February, 1715. The CONTENTS. I. Observationes quaedam accuratae insignis Cometæ sub finem anni 1680 visi, Coburgi Saxoniae a Domino Gottfried Kirch habita; decimo tertio die antequam quoquam alio observatus sit. II. An Account of the Book entituled Commercium Epistolicum Collinii & aliorum, De Analysis promota; published by order of the Royal-Society, in relation to the Dispute between Mr. Leibnitz and Dr. Keill, about the Right of Invention of the Method of Fluxions; by some call'd the Differential Method. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of March, April and May, 1715. The CONTENTS. I. D. Gothofredi Kirchii Astronomi & Observatoris praestantissimi, & Societatis Regiae Berolinensis dum vixit Socii, De varia apparentia Stellae Novae in Collo Cygni Narratio: è Miscellaneis Berolinensibus anno MDCCX editis desumpta. pag. 208. II. Botanicum Hortense IV. Giving an Account of divers Rare Plants, Observed the last Summer A.D. 1714. in several Curious Gardens about London, and particularly the Society of Apothecaries Physick Garden at Chelsea. By James Petiver, F.R.S. III. Observations of the late Total Eclipse of the Sun on the 22d of April last past, made before the Royal Society at their House in Crane-Court in Fleet-street, London. By Dr. Edmund Halley, Reg. Soc. Secr. With an Account of what has been communicated from abroad concerning the same. IV. An Account of a Book. Bibliographiae Anatomicæ Specimen, sive Catalogus omnium pene Auctorum qui ab HIPPOCRATE ad HARVEIUM Rem Anatomicam ex professo vel obiter scriptis illustrarunt, &c. Curâ & studio JACOBI DOUGLAS, M.D. Reg. Soc. Sod. e in Colleg. Chirurg. Londinensi, Praelect. Anatom. 8vo. Londini, 1715. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of June, July and August, 1715. The CONTENTS. I. Experimenta Barometrica pro varia diversa Aeris Elasticitate exploranda, in variis Helvetiae locis, &c. a Johanne Jacobo Scheuchzero, M.D. Math. P. Tigurino & R.S.S. II. Botanicum Hortense IV. Giving an Account of divers Rare Plants, Observed the last Summer A.D. 1714. in several Curious Gardens about London, &c. By James Petiver, F.R.S. III. OBSERVATIONES COELESTES BRITANNICÆ, Grenovici in Observatorio Regio habita, anno MDCCXIII. IV. An Account of an Experiment made by Dr. Brook Taylor assisted by Mr. Hawkesbee, in order to discover the Law of the Magnetical Attraction. V. A short Account of the Cause of the Saltiness of the Ocean, and of the several Lakes that emit no Rivers; with a Proposal, by help thereof, to discover the Age of the World: Produced before the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, R.S. Secr. Accounts of BOOKS. I. Linear Perspective, or a New Method of representing justly all manner of Objects, &c. By Brook Taylor, L.L.D. and R.S. Secr. II. DUCATUS LEODIENSIS, Or, The Topography of the ancient Town and Parish of Leeds and Parts adjacent, in the County of York, &c. By Ralph Thoresby, Esq; Fellow of the Royal-Society, London. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of September and October, 1715. The CONTENTS. I. Some Accounts of the late great Solar Eclipse on April 22. 1715. mane. Communicated to the Royal-Society from abroad. II. An Account of a Journey from the Port of Oratava in the Island of Tenerif to the Top of the Pike in that Island, in August last; with Observations thereon by Mr. J. Edens. III. Ventriculus cordis sinister stipendæ magnitudinis, lately communicated to the Royal-Society by James Douglass, M. D. and R. S. S. IV. A ready Description and Quadrature of a Curve of the Third Order, resembling that commonly call'd the Foliate. Communicated by Mr. Abr. de Moivre, F. R. S. V. An easy Mechanical Way to divide the Nautical Meridian Line in Mercator's Projection; with an Account of the Relation of the same Meridian Line to the Curva Catenaria By J. Perks, M. A. Account of Books. I. An Account of a Book entituled Methodus Incrementorum, Authore Brook Taylor, LL. D. & R. S. Secr. By the Author. II. Ludovici Ferdinandi Marsilii, Dissertatio de Generatione Fungorum. Rom. 1714. 4to. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of November and December, 1715. The CONTENTS. I. A short History of the several New-Stars that have appear'd within these 150 Years: with an Account of the Return of that in Collo Cygni, and of its Continuance observed this Year 1715. II. BOTANICUM Hortense IV. Continued from No. 345. By James Petiver, F. R. S. III. An Extract of a Letter from Dr. Helvetius at Paris, to Monsieur Duyvenvoorde Embassador Extraordinary from the States-General, and by him communicated to the Royal-Society. IV. A Letter of Mr. Francis Nevile to the Right Reverend St. George, Lord Bishop of Clogher, R. S. S. Giving an Account of some large Teeth lately dug up in the North of Ireland, and by his Lordship communicated to the Royal-Society. V. Remarks upon the aforesaid Letter and Teeth, by Thomas Molyneux, M. D. and R. S. S Physician to the State in Ireland: Address'd to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Dublin. VI. Guilhelmi Musgrave Reg Societ. utriusque Socii, GETA BRITANNICUS. Accedit Domus Severianæ Synopsis Chronologica: & de Icuncula quondam M Regis Ælfredi Dissertatio. Iicæ Dumnoniorum. MDCCXV. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of Jan. Febr. and March 1716. The CONTENTS. I. An Account of several Nebulae or lucid Spots like Clouds lately discovered among the Fixt Stars by help of the Telescope. II. Nova & tuta Variolas excitandi per Transplantationem Methodus, nuper inventa & in usum træcta: Per Jacobum Pylarinum, Venetum, M. D. & Reipublicæ Venetæ apud Smyrnenses nuper Con- sulen. III. Problematis olim in Actis Eruditorum Lipsiæ propositi Solutio Generalis. IV. Some late curious Astronomical Observations communicated by the Reverend and Learned Mr. James Pound, Rector of Wansted, and R. Soc. Soc. V. An Account of the late surprizing Appearance of the Lights seen in the Air, on the sixth of March last; with an Attempt to explain the Principal Phænomena thereof; As it was laid before the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, J. V. D. Savilian Professor of Geom. Oxon, and Reg. Soc. Secr. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of April, May and June, 1716. The CONTENTS. I. A Description of the Phenomenon of the 6th of March last, as it was seen on the Ocean, near the Coast of Spain. With an Account of the return of the same sort of Appearance, on March 31, and April 1. and 2. following. II. An Account of some Experiments of Light and Colours, formerly made by Sir Isaac Newton, and mention'd in his Opticks, lately repeated before the Royal Society, by J. T. Desaguiliers, F.R.S. III. A plain and easy Experiment to confirm Sir Isaac Newton's Doctrine of the different Refrangibility of the Rays of Light. By the same. IV. An Account of what appear'd on opening the big-belly'd Woman near Haman in Shropshire, who was suppos'd to have continued many Tears with Child. Communicated by Dr. Hollings, M.D. from Shrewsbury. V. Methodus singularis qua Solis Parallaxis sive distantia à Terra, ope Veneris intra Solem conspicendi, tuto determinari poterit: proposta coram Regia Societate ab Edm. Halleio, J. U. D. ejusdem Societatis Secretario. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of July, August and September, 1716. The CONTENTS. I. An Account of the Cause of the late remarkable Appearance of the Planet Venus, seen this Summer, for many Days together, in the Day time. By Edm. Halley, R. S. Secr. II. A Letter of the Reverend Mr. John Sackette, A. M. to Dr. Brook Taylor, Reg. Soc. Secr. Giving an Account of a very uncommon sinking of the Earth, near Folkestone in Kent. III. Miscellaneous Observations made about Rome, Naples and some other Countries, in the Year 1683 and 1684; and communicated to the Publisher by Tancred Robinson, M. D. R. S. S. IV. An Account of the Mischiefs ensuing the swallowing of the Stones of Bullace and Sloes. By the Reverend William Derham, Prebendary of Windsor, and F. R. S. V. Observations and Experiments relating to the Motion of the Sap in Vegetables. By Mr. Richard Bradley, R. S. S. VI. Some Microscopical Observations, and Curious Remarks on the Vegetation and exceeding quick Propagation of Moldiness, on the Substance of a Melon. Communicated by the same. VII. The Art of Living under Water: Or, a Discourse concerning the Means of furnishing Air at the Bottom of the Sea, in any ordinary Depths. By Edm. Halley, LL. D. Secretary to the Royal Society. VIII. Observations on the Glands in the Human Spleen; and on a Fracture in the upper part of the Thigh-bone. By J. Douglass, M.D. and R. S. S. IX. An Account of a Book, DISSSERTATIO de DEA SALUTE, In qua illius Symbola, Templae, Statuae, Nummi, Inscriptiones exhibentur, illustrantur. Auctore Gulielmo Musgrave G. F. è Coll. Exon Oxonii: Typis L. Litchfield: Impensis Phil. Tco, Bibliopolæ Exon. Anno MDCCXVI. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. For the Months of Octob. Novem. and Decem. 1716. The CONTENTS. I. Observationes nonnullae Planetarum Primariorum, ac speciatim Stellæ cujusdam fixæ à corpore Jovis interposito occultatae; a R. D. Jacobo Pound, R. S. Soc. nuper habitæ, & ab eodem cum Reg. Societate communicatae. II. A Description of that curious Natural Machine, the Wood-Peckers Tongue, &c. By Richard Waller, Esq., late Secretary to the Royal Society. III. The Natural History and Description of the Phœnicopterus or Flamingo; with two Views of the Head, and three of the Tongue, of that beautiful and uncommon Bird. By James Douglas, M.D. Reg. Soc. S. With an Advertisement: by the same. IV. An Index to the XXIXth Volume of these Transactions.