THE MAGAZINE 



T ,19? ew * 4 f OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



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DECEMBER, 1836. 



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ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 

 ^i, v *'awoiS mo'ii ^niwollol s»HT /moao 



Art. I. Observations on Divers. By Dr. Lefevre, Navy Surgeon. 

 Translated from the French by W. D. 



The privilege, enjoyed by travellers, of relating facts whereof 

 the accuracy can only be verified by a limited number of per- 

 sons, has often led them to be less scrupulous in the selection 

 of materials for the gratification of the public curiosity. 

 Hence, doubtless, the origin of the proverb, A beau mentir 

 qui vient de loin. 



The researches which have been made for the purpose of 

 determining the period during which a man may remain 

 under water, and there devote himself to some employment, 

 have suggested these reflections. The fact is, that, in com- 

 paring the accounts of travellers, one is astonished at the little 

 agreement which exists between them, on a point apparently 

 so easy to be ascertained. Thus, in the Natural History of 

 India, by Jose d'Acosta ; and in the Miracles of Nature, by 

 Vesali ; we meet with some remarks on divers who have re- 

 mained half an hour under water. Pison, in his History of 

 Brazil, speaks of a native of the country, who had stayed 60 

 minutes at the bottom of the water. Cardanus, Leo a Capoa, 

 and Redeivil adduce instances yet more extraordinary, of men 

 who could spend four hours, a whole day, and even three 

 days, under water. According to Lemery, a good diver will 

 remain immersed for half an hour, and will descend 60 ft. in 

 depth; and we find in the Phil. Trans, for the year 1668 the 

 reply of Philippe Venatti, then president of Java, to certain 

 questions addressed to him on the subject of divers, by Sir J. 

 Moray, a member of the Royal Society of London, which is 

 to the following effect : — 



" The pearl fishers cannot stay under water beyond a 

 quarter of an hour, and that in the ordinary way. There is 

 Vol. IX. — No. 68. z z 



