Front Matter

The only official reprint authorized by The Royal Society of London Printed in U.S.A. ADVERTISEMENT. The Committee appointed by the Royal Society to direct the publication of the Philosophical Transactions, take this opportunity to acquaint the Public, that it fully appears, as well from the council-books and journals of the Society, as from repeated declarations, which have been made in several former Transactions, that the printing of them was always, from time to time, the single act of the respective Secretaries, till the Forty-seventh Volume: the Society, as a body, never interesting themselves any further in their publication, than by occasionally recommending the revival of them to some of their Secretaries, when, from the particular circumstances of their affairs, the Transactions had happened for any length of time to be intermitted. And this seems principally to have been done with a view to satisfy the Public, that their usual meetings were then continued for the improvement of knowledge, and benefit of mankind, the great ends of their first institution by the Royal Charters, and which they have ever since steadily pursued. But the Society being of late years greatly enlarged; and their communications more numerous, it was thought adviseable, that a Committee of their members should be appointed to reconsider the papers read before them, and select out of them such, as they should judge most proper for publication in the future Transactions; which was accordingly done upon the 26th of March 1752. And the grounds of their choice are, and will continue to be, the importance and singularity of the subjects, or the advantageous manner of treating them; without pretending to answer for the certainty of the facts, or propriety of the reasonings, contained in the several papers so published, which must still rest on the credit or judgment of their respective authors. It is likewise necessary on this occasion to remark, that it is an established rule of the Society, to which they will always adhere, never to give their opinion, as a body, upon any subject, either of Nature or Art, that comes before them. And therefore the thanks, which are frequently proposed from the chair, to be given to the authors of such papers, as are read at their accustomed meetings, or to the persons through whose hands they receive them, are to be considered in no other light than as a matter of civility, in return for the respect shewn to the Society by those communications. The like also is to be said with regard to the several projects, inventions, and curiosities of various kinds, which are often exhibited to the Society; the authors whereof, or those who exhibit them, frequently take the liberty to report, and even to certify in the public newspapers, that they have met with the highest applause and approbation. And therefore it is hoped, that no regard will hereafter be paid to such reports, and public notices; which in some instances have been too lightly credited, to the dishonour of the Society. CONTENTS TO VOL. LXVII. PART I. I. An Account of a Woman in the Shire of Ross living without Food or Drink. By Dr. Mackenzie, Physician at New Tarbat. Communicated by the Right Honourable James Stewart Mackenzie, Lord Privy Seal of Scotland. page 1 II. On the Usefulness of washing and rubbing the Stems of Trees, to promote their Annual Increase. In an Extract of a Letter from Mr. Marsham to the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. p. 12 III. Discoveries on the Sex of Bees, explaining the Manner in which their Species is propagated; with an Account of the Utility that may be derived from those Discoveries by the actual Application of them to Practice. By Mr. John Debraw, Apothecary to Addenbrook's Hospital at Cambridge, and Member of an Oeconomical Society in the Principality of Liege in Westphalia. Communicated by the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, B.D. F.R.S. and Astronomer Royal. p. 15 IV. An Account of a Portrait of Copernicus, presented to the Royal Society by Dr. Wolf of Dantzick: extracted from a Letter of his to Mr. Magellan, F. R. S. p. 33 V. An Account of a Journey into Africa from the Cape of Good-Hope, and a Description of a new Species of Cuckow. By Dr. Andreas Sparrman, of the Royal Academy of Stockholm, in a Letter to Dr. John Reinhold Forster, F. R. S. p. 38 VI. An Account of some new Electrical Experiments. By Mr. Tiberius Cavallo: communicated by Mr. Henley, F. R. S. p. 48 VII. A Third Essay on Sea-anemonies. By the Abbé Dicquemare. p. 56 VIII. Experiments and Observations in Electricity. By Mr. William Henly, F. R. S. p. 85 IX. Extract of a Letter from John Strange, Esquire, His Majesty's Resident at Venice, to Sir John Pringle, Bart. P. R. S.: with a Letter to Mr. Strange from the Abbé Joseph Toaldo, Professor in the University of Padua, &c. giving an Account of the Tides in the Adriatic. p. 144 X. A Letter from Mr. Peter Wargentin, F. R. S. Secretary to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, to the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, B. D. F. R. S. and Astronomer Royal; concerning the Difference of Longitude of the Royal Observatories at Paris and Greenwich, resulting from the Eclipses of Jupiter's first Satellite, observed during the last Ten Years: to which is added, a Comparative CONTENTS. XI. A Method of finding the Value of an infinite Series of decreasing Quantities of a certain Form, when it converges too slowly to be summed in the common Way by the mere Computation and Addition or Subtraction of some of its initial Terms. By Francis Maeres, Esquire, F. R. S. Curator Baron of the Exchequer. p. 187 XII. Translation of a Passage in Ebn Younes; with some Remarks thereon: in a Letter from the Rev. George Costard, M. A. Vicar of Twickenham, to the Rev. Samuel Horfley, LL.D. Sec. R. S. p. 231 XIII. Observations on the Annual Evaporation at Liverpool in Lancashire; and on Evaporation considered as a Test of the Moisture or Dryness of the Atmosphere. By Dr. Dobson of Liverpool. Communicated by John Fothergill, M. D. F. R. S. p. 244 XIV. An Account of Persons who could not distinguish Colours. By Mr. Joseph Huddart, in a Letter to the Rev. Joseph Priestley, LL.D. F. R. S. p. 260 XV. A new Theory of the Rotatory Motion of Bodies affected by Forces disturbing such Motion. By Mr. John Landen, F. R. S. p. 266 XVI. Directions for making the best Composition for the Metals of reflecting Telescopes; together with a Description of the Process for grinding, polishing, and giving the great Speculum the true parabolic Curve. By Mr. John Mudge; communicated by Alexander Aubert, Esq. F. R. S. p. 296 XVII. Ex- XVII. Extract of a Register of the Barometer, Thermometer, and Rain, at Lyndon, in Rutland, 1776. By Thomas Barker, Esquire. Communicated by Sir John Pringle, Bart. P. R. S. p. 350 XVIII. Extract of a Meteorological Journal for the Year 1776, kept at Bristol, by Samuel Farr, M. D. p. 353 XIX. Meteorological Journal kept at the House of the Royal Society, by Order of the President and Council. p. 357 There are SIX PLATES in the FIRST PART of the PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, Vol. LXVII. But the SECOND of them, containing Two distinct Subjects, is numbered TAB. II. at the Head, and TAB. III. below.—This is mentioned, lest the Binder, attending to the Number at the Head only, should suppose the THIRD Plate to be wanting. CONTENTS TO VOL. LXVII. PART II. XX. An Account of a Volcanic Hill near Inverness. In a Letter from Thomas West, Esq. to Mr. Lane, F. R. S. page 385 XXI. New Electrical Experiments and Observations; with an Improvement of Mr. Canton's Electrometer. By Mr. Tiberius Cavallo, in a Letter to Mr. Henly, F. R. S. p. 388 XXII. Barometrical Observations on the Depth of the Mines in the Hartz. By John Andrew de Luc, F. R. S. In a Letter to Sir John Pringle, P. R. S. p. 401 XXIII. The general Mathematical Laws which regulate and extend Proportion universally; or, a Method of comparing Magnitudes of any Kind together, in all the possible Degrees of Increase and Decrease. By James Glenie, A. M. and Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery. p. 450 XXIV. The Case of Ann Davenport. By Mr. Fielding Best Fynney, Surgeon at Leek, in Staffordshire; communicated to Thomas Percival, M.D. F.R.S. and by him to Sir John Pringle, Bart. P.R.S. p. 458 XXV. An Account of the Kingdom of Thibet. In a Letter from John Stewart, Esquire, F.R.S. to Sir John Pringle, Bart. P.R.S. p. 465 XXVI. Of the Degrees and Quantities of Winds requisite to move the heavier Kinds of Wind Machines. In a Letter from John Stedman, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, to the Reverend Samuel Horfley, LL.D. Secretary to the Royal Society. p. 493 XXVII. Description of the Jesuits Bark Tree of Jamaica and the Caribbees. By William Wright, M.D. Member of the Philosophical Society of America, and Surgeon-general in Jamaica. Communicated by Joseph Banks, Esquire, F.R.S. p. 504 XXVIII. Description and Use of the Cabbage-bark Tree of Jamaica. By William Wright, M.D.; communicated by Richard Brocklesby, M.D. F.R.S. p. 507 XXIX. Observations made in Savoy, in order to ascertain the height of Mountains by means of the Barometer; being an Examination of Mr. De Luc's Rules, delivered in his Recherches sur les Modifications de l'Atmosphere. By Sir George Shuckburgh, Bart. F.R.S. p. 513 XXX. An Account of the Bramin's Observatory at Benares. By Sir Robert Barker, Knt. F.R.S.; in a Letter to Sir John Pringle, Bart. P.R.S. p. 598 XXXI. A XXXI. A short Account of Dr. Maty's Illness, and of the appearances in the dead Body, which was examined on the 3d of July, 1776, the Day after his Death. By Dr. Hunter and Mr. Henry Watson, FF. R. S. p. 608 XXXII. An Account of some Experiments made with an Air-pump on Mr. Smeaton's Principle; together with some Experiments with a common Air-pump. By Mr. Edward Nairne, F. R. S. p. 614 XXXIII. On the Culture of Pine-apples. An extract of a Letter from William Bastard, Esq. of Kitley in Devonshire, to Samuel Musgrave, M. D. F. R. S. dated Kitley, March 15, 1777. Communicated to the Society by Dr. Musgrave. p. 649 XXXIV. Experiments and Observations made in Britain, in order to obtain a Rule for measuring Heights with the Barometer. By Colonel William Roy, F. R. S. p. 653 XXXV. Account of a new Micrometer and Megameter By the Abbe Boscovich, &c. p. 789 XXXVI. Account of a new Instrument for measuring small Angles, called the prismatic Micrometer. By the Rev. Nevil Maskelyne, D. D. F. R. S. and Astronomer-Royal. p. 799 XXXVII. The Report of the Committee appointed by the Royal Society to consider of the best Method of adjusting the fixed Points of Thermometers; and of the precautions necessary to be used in making Experiments with those Instruments. p. 816