condition that for the future he fhould write the foreign letters, and that his brother Gaukee fhould be first waterman &c. promifed his endeavours to put out the fire. He likewife infifted that the water engine fhould be fent away, alledging that one of the fire-men had ftole an handkerchief. The posture of things admitted no delay: Mr. St. George, though he difliked Will a greed to his propofal, and Will inftantly went to bed in one of the out houfes, complaining that he was very ill. While matters went on thus within doors, a mob affembled without. Inftead of falling to work to flop the progrefs of the flames, they enquired how it began; they damn'd the Old woman, they abuted Phil and George, and even Henry fell under their difpleafure for living in fuch a place. Many were amazed to fee the waterengine going away, but the ftory of the kandkerchief was fpread among them, and they all roared out againft the pickpocket. Then they huzza'd for Will-I have heard un talk in the fervant's hall, fays one; A does not love money, fays another; I'tell you what, fays a third, A refufed half a crown at the door from a foreignerNay, if A refufed half o crown, he's able to p-fs out the fire. And fo they huzza'd, Will for ever. About this time henry seized a bucket of water, and was just going to difcharge it on the flames, when Will, who happened to run to the garret window, cried out, what the devil is that fellow at! -Lay down the bucket and be damn'd to you,-What are you about? Do you want to throw the house down? I'll fee the whole freet in a blaze before I'd work with fuch a fellow. On this Will returned to his master, and told him he would have neither Water, nor the Engine, nor the bufy fellow, and if he did not give them all up, I won't feal your letters, by G-d. Mean while a knot of people got together in a corner of the ftreet; I always love to hear thefe circular de bates; the perfons who formed the council, were a Broker from the alley, a Whig, to which party the old gentleman had always been a zealous friend, a Tory, and an honest citizen, Mr. St. George is a good deal in my debt,' fays the broker, and alfo to feveral of my friends. He has lately taken up a good deal of money upon bonds, and I with he may have effects to pay; I would not have him burnt out till I have got all I can by him if he will give -per cent, we'll fupport his credit a little longer; and that's all that can be done; for things will go on juft the fame way, I fuppofe, wher ther Henry or Will write the fareign letters.' I beg your pardon,' fays the Tory, if Will is hired, old St. George fhall turn Tory, and that damn'd expenfive engine fhall never appear again:' By G-d,' fays the Whig its my opinion you'd be glad to fee the good old man burnt in his bed; if the fire encreases, the water-engine would have helped to put it out, and fince Will will neither do one thing nor t'other, I wish Henry would take , up his bucket again with all my heart."-Truce with your damn'd difputes cries the honeft citizen; don't you fee how the flames fpread -help neighbours, bear a hand, de the whole town will be in a blaze for heaven's fake, beftir yourselves now is the time-you'll be furrounded with robbers and pickpockets presently-Pox o' your dif putes about Will and Henry -I with they'd both fet their shoulders to work-D- the Old woman and her companions that let the fire get a head before they gave the alarm We'll tofs her in a blanket, and duck the waterman, and the jufti, 'ce's clerk fhall ftand in the pillory or buy himself off with his Cole, which he's too fond of.-But for <G's fake let us have no difputes; • but fall to as becomes honeft men and good citizens." What fent there are no capitation taxes ; either by the number of houses, or quantity of bread confumed. By the former of thefe he computes the whole number of people at prefent, all ages included, at fix millions, or perhaps fomewhat more: by the other way he determines their number to be likewife about 6 millions, and rather lefs than more. So that, fays he, it appears, that both these conclu What effect this had on Will is not yet known; there is a prodigious fmoke, and the flames have not fubfided. If they fhould break out with redoubled fury, they have a great deal to answer for, who fent away the water-engine. Ifincerely pitty good Mr. St. Geore, furrounded as he is, by fuch fervants. It were to be wished there were a proper law to curb the infolence of thofe fellows in livery, who are made faucy by their exorbi-fions confirm each other, and that tant vails. I am fure their conduct will not ftand the teft. P. S. It is now ten o'clock in the morning, and the fire is not yet out: Will has done nothing towards it, and it is now faid he will foon get into a Tub to hold forth; but what good that will do I can't imagine Heaven preferve old Mr. St. George. An Account of the articles in the laft Vol. of the Philofophical Tranfactions, concluded from Vol. XII. p. 576. A RTICLE XLIII. An account of the fuccefs of agaric in amputations, &c. in a letter from Mr. William Thornhill, furgeon to the infir mary of Bristol. He made ufe of it in four amputations; the first on an arm between the elbow and the wrift; the fecond and third below the knee; and the fourth on the crural artery. In every cafe, he fays, it anfwered beyond his expectation; the patients had little or no fever, and no fpafms at all. He has likewife tried it in female cafes with great fuccefs. XLIV. An eclipfe of the moon, March 27, 1755, at Elvas, obferved by J. Mendes Sachetts Barboffa, M.D. F. R. S. Beginning 10 h. 51 m. 15 f. ap. time. End 13 h. 27 m. 40 f. XLV. A letter to George Lewis' Scot, Efq; F. R. S. concerning the number of people in England; from the Rev. Wm. Brackenridge, D. D. F. R. S. The doctor thinks there are only two ways of difcovering the number of people in England, where at pre the number of people may be con'fidered at about fix millions, or rather lefs, in which, according to Dr. Halley's rule, there will be a'bout fifteen hundred thousand men able to bear arms. XLVI. An attempt to explain two Roman inferiptions, cut upon two altars, which were fome time fince dug up at Bath, by John Ward, L. L. D. and V. P. R. S. The altars themselves are now in the poffethon of Dr. William Oliver, phyfician at Bath, who tranfmitted the draughts of them to Dr. Ward, and fince that he received cafts of the infcriptions in plaifter of Paris. The infcription upon the higher altar Dr. Ward apprehends may be thus read in words at length: Peregrinus fecundi filius, civis Trevir, Jovi Cafn, Marti, et Nemetona, volum folvit libens. The other infcription on the lower altar, when expreffed in words at length, may be read in the following manner: Sulevis Sulinus Scultor, Bruceti filius, facrum fecit libens merito. The explanation of each is long, fulk of citations from other ancient infcriptions, and in a great meafure, as the Doctor owns, conjectural, wherefore we refer to the paper itself. XLVII. An account of a remarkable echinus, by Guft. Brander, Esq: F. R. S. This echinus is of a very fingular fpecies. It appears to Mr. Brander to be of a middling nature between the echinus and the itar-fifh; it came from the the Eaft Indies, and he cannot learn that it is any where defcribed; he has given a figure of it, but this is all the account. XLVIII. An account of the impreffion on a stone, dug up in the inland of Antigua, and the quantity of rain fallen there for 4 years; in a letter from the Rev. Mr. Francis Byam. The quarry whence the ftone was taken is in the infide of a mountain about 300 yards higher than the highest water mark; when the mafon ftruck it with his hammer, it fplit in two, and discovered on each ftone the exact portraiture of a fish which is called an old wife The depth of the whole rain fallen in the following years was. In 1751, 51 inches 8 tenths; in 1752, 43 inches 3 tenths; in 1753, 32 inches 8 tenths; in 1754, 75 inches 1 tenth, XLIX. A letter to the Right Hon. George Earl of Macclesfield, prefident of the royal fociety, concernig the ftones mentioned in the preceding article. By Mr. Arthur Pond, F. R. S. The impreffion of this fifh is in a chalky kind of stone, of a pale ochrey colour; fome parts, when fcraped, ate white, and all the impreffion is of a yellowish brown. The impreffions of the bones and fins are very perfect, and the cavity which contained the back bone, extremely fharp and delicare. When it first came to Mr. Pond's hands two or three of the vertebræ were in it. All the cavities of the bones are now fufficiently open to contain them, and 'tis probable, that moft, if not all of them, were in the ftone when it was firft fplit. Between the rib bones and the two long fins which came down from the head, which parts were only fleshy, there is not any impreffion, the ftone having united quite through; and on the upper part of the fin, by the fide of the cheek, is a deep impreffion of a very fmall cockle-fhell. L. An account of the effects of lightning in the Danish church, in Well-Clofe fquare, by Guftavus Brander, Efq; F.RS. On Monday the 17th of May, 1755, between fix and feven o'clock, there came an amazing flash of lightning, accompanied by a clap of thunder, that equalled the largest cannon in report. The next morning the wire and the chain which communicated from the clock in the belfrey to the hammer in the turret, were found melted, and the fmall bar of iron from the clock, that gives motion to the chain and wire, juft where the chain was faftened, was melted half through the bar, being three quarters of an inch broad, and half an inch thick. The pieces of wire and chain were found fcattered over the whole belfrey, but it could not be difcerned, that the wood work or ought elfe had fuffered. LI. Electrical experiments made in purfuance of thofe of Mr. Canton, dated Dec. 3, 1753; with explanations by Mr. Benjamin Franklin. The nature of experiments in natural philofophy is fuch, that by divefting them of any circumftance that attends their execution, they are rendered altogether inconclufive; for which reafon they will not admit of an abridgment: fuffice it therefore to obferve, that thefe were made in fupport an illuftration of the following principles. 1. Electric atmospheres, that flow round non-electric bodies, being. brought near each other, do not readily mix and unite into one atmosphere, but remain feparate, and repel each other. 2. An electric atmosphere not only repels another electric atmosphere, but will allo repel the electric matter. contained in the fubftance of a body approaching it, and, without joining or mixing with it, force it to other parts of the body that contained it. 3. Bodies electrified negatively, or deprived of their natural quantity of electricity, repel each other (or at leaft appear to do fo by a mutual receding) as well as thofe electrified pofitively pofitively, or which have electric atmospheres. LII. Extract of a letter concerning electricity, from B. Franklin to Moni. Dalibard. Mr. Franklin acquaints his correfpondent, that he thinks father Beccaria's Italian book one of the beft pieces on electricity in any language, but differs from him as the cause of water fpouts. Then he speaks of the impermeability of glafs to the electric fluid, the effect of points in drawing the electricity, and of the effects of lightning upon the bell-wire of a church, much of the fame kind as that defcribed in article L. foregoing. LIII. A letter concerning the effects of lightning at Darking in Surry, from Mr. William Child. July 16, 1750, between fix and feven in the evening, came a prodigious flash of lightning, and inttantly with it the most terrible burft of thunder. The lightning entered a house on the fouth fide of the roof, and met with a small crank, to which hung a bell, and from the crack went a wire both ways into two chambers. It ran along one of thefe wires, melting to the end, and leaving it, fplit the poft of a bed as if done with wedges. It followed the courfe of the other wire in every angle where it went, till it reached the end, which was joined to a ftring, to which hung a handle. But the lightning's greateft force was perpendicular, down the fide of a wall, where it shattered the glaffes of feveral barometers, and entered the fhop, where it pierced thro' feven box irons, foldered feveral fmall tacks together in a clump, melted the fprings by which feveral long pendulums hung, and at Jaft fet fire to fome littered straw and packing paper. The mafter of the fhop was in it all the while, but received no hurt. LIV. An account of the great-bene fit of blowing fhowers of fresh air up thro' diftilling liquors. By Stephen Hales, D. D. F. K. S. LIV. An account of the great benefit of ventilators, in many inftances, in preferving the healths and lives of people in flave and other tranfport fhips. By Stephen Hales, D. D. F. R. S. LVI. An account of fome trials to cure the ill tafte of milk, which is occafioned by the food of cows, either from turnips, cabbage, or autumnall leaves, &c. alfo to Tweeten ftinking water. A Pamphlet, entitled, Reflections concern ing innate moral Principles, written in French by the late Lord Bolingbroke, we fball give our Readers the following Abstract of it. H IS lordship begins with faying, that after confidering what he feels within himfelf at the fight of any one in diftrefs, he is fully convinced of the truth of the opinion he had before maintained, that what we call compaffion does not proceed from any inftinct or innate impreffion, effentially diftinct from the fole and only one he knows, which inclines us to feek pleasure and avoid pain, and which is the chief fpring of all humán actions. The very doubt, fays his lordship, in which we were yefterday, and in which I no longer remain, is alone fufficient to convince us of the falfhood of the propofition, by which it is affirmed, that compaffion is an innate principle, or an inftinct common to the whole human fpecies; for were it true, how comes it, that the truth thereof is not as evident as the truth of that propofition by which it is affirmed, that the love of what gives us pleasure, and averfion to what gives us pain, is a principle born with every man, and infeparable from the human nature? After purfuing this argument a little further, he enters into a compa-, rifon between compaffion and the love children have for their parents; as to both which, he fays, our error proceeds from our not fufficiently confidering what we mean by an innate idea, impreffion, or principle; and from our fuppofing, that it was com municated municated to us at the fame time, and by the fame power or wifdom, to which we owe our existence, only because we cannot recollect how it was at first formed. Let us there fore, fays, he, enter into an inquiry, what we mean by compaffion, and by the love of children for their parents. Do we mean then, that its being the duty of children to love their parents, and of mankind to pity and aflift one another, are truths implanted by God almighty in the minds of all men, when he gives them their existence? This would be too abfurd, because the ideas of relation, and the other ideas of which these propofitions are compounded, are not innate, and confequently the truths refulting from those ideas cannot be innate. Do we mean, that these propofitions are principles of action, and as it were fprings placed by the author of nature in all men at their birth, for exciting them to fulfil certain duties, and for directing their conduct? The abfurdity of this is not fo glaring as the other; yet, nevertheless, it will be found at the bottom to have as little truth; for if those principles of action are placed in all men, why do we not find in all men their effects? From hence he concludes, that thofe principles were not originally and uniformly implanted by God in the human mind, but that they proceed from the operations of thofe faculties which he has given us, and which are infinitely varied according to the different difpofitions of individuals, the different manners of nations, and the different regulations of governments. He then brings feveral examples of people, who were in fome inftances entirely deftitute either of compaffion, or of love for parents, or children. Several nations in America, fays he, caftrated and fattened their own children, in order to feed the more voluptuously upon them; and according to the report of Garcilaffo de la Vega, in the 12th chapter of his first book, there were in that part of the world, fome nations who killed the mothers as foon as they left off, by child. bearing, to furnish them with a more delicate fort of meal than their own. And it is not neceffary to add, that as they eat their own children, fo they made their prifoners beget children, whom they carefully nurfed up to a certain age, in order then to cut their throats. But it is proper to obferve, that among thofe nations whe piqued themselves upon civilizing others, this principle of compaffion no way appeared. Figure to yourself, fays his lordship, the Roman peop'e affembled in an amphitheatre, to fe the gladiators fight; men, women, and children, looking wifhfully to fee the blood of those wretches fpilt, giving fhouts of joy at the fight of a fword, gracefully, and according to the rules of art, plunged by a gladi: tor into the heart of his companion, and treating with extreme rigour even the man who efcaped. Figure to yourself thofe very Romans, and also the Grecians, expofing their children in forefts, or on mountains, and deaf to their cries, as well as their innocence, leaving them there to perish for want, or to be devoured by wild beafts. Among chriftians themselves, thofe enlightned, fanctified, elect, happy people, who alone know the name by which only mankind can be faved, how many examples of cruelty, how few of compaffion, do we find? Figure to yourself a chriftian army engaged in battle, not with Turks, nor with Pagans, but with Chriftians, not in a civil war, nor in any revengeful difpute, but in a war undertaken thro' mere wantonnefs, a war in which there is no hatred between the adverse troops, but on the contrary, a friend' fhip fubfifting between individuals of writers, of the barbarity of the natives in • All fuch accounts given by the Spanish South-America, are prefumed to be falfe. and invented only to excufe the cruelties of their countrymen in that part of the world; because the natives of North-America, whither many we never heard of any such barbarities among of the fouthern nations fled from the monftrous crueltics of the Spaniards. the |