gga On the Plants u/ed by the ancient People of 



water In Its fluid (late, and heated to the tempcratUfe Of 61* P. and by the ice, irt ^e 

 experiments before mentioned, was, atltajl, (le'drty equal to that between water in aftsitfe 

 of boiling, and the fame at the temperature of freezing. '■ '^' '" ' ' ', 



But this quantity of heat will appear much hidre tonfrderable, when we confider the 

 great capacity of water to contain heat, and t'he gteat app"arent 'effcfl; which the 'heat 

 that water lofes upon being frozen would produce, Were it' to be inlbibed by, or eoinniu- 

 nicated to, any body whofe power of receiving and'retaining heat is much lefs. 



The capacity of water to receive and retain heat, — or what h"as been called its fpecific 

 quantity of latent heat, — has been found to be to that of gold as 1000 to 50,— or as 20 to t ; 

 confequently, the heat which any given quantity of water lofes upon being frozen, were 

 it to be communicated to an equal weight of gold, at the temperature of freezing, the 

 goH, inflead of being heated .172 degrees, would be heated 140 >< 20 = 2800 degreest 

 or, would be raifed to a bright red heat. 



It. appears therefore to be clearly proved, by my experiments, that a quantity of heat 

 equal to that which 4214 grains (or about 9|oz.) of gold would require to heat it from 

 the temperature of freezing water to be red hot, has no fenfible effeft upon a balance ca- 

 pable of indicating fo fmall a variation of weight as that of xvts^-shs P^rt of the body in 

 queftion ; and, if the weight of gold is neither augmented nor leflened by one milliontk 

 part, upon being heated from the point of freezing water to that of a bright ted heat, I 

 th4nk we may very fafely conclude, that all attempts to discover any eF- 



rECT OF HEAT UPON ffllE APPARENT -WEIGHTS OF BODIES, V?ILL BE FRUIT- 

 LESS. 



II. 



On the Plants ufed by the ancient People of Europe, to poifon their Arrows. By C. Ch. 



COQUEBERT^* 



Ai 



L.LL nations that fubfiftby hunting have fought for quick poifons among vegetables, 

 in which they could dip their arrows, in order to kill with more certainty the animals 

 which conftituted their food. 



Hlftorians in general have neglefled to acquaint us with the plants which our ancef- 

 tors, the half-favage inhabitants of Europe, ufed for that purpofe, in remote ages. I 

 have met accidentally with paiTages in two Spanifh works, Xvhich throw much light on 

 this interefting fubjeft. 



The firft of thefe works is entitled Sinopjis flirpium indigtnarum Arragonice, printed 

 1779, and whofe author is only defigned by the initial letters C. A. R. native of Sarra- 



• Soc. Philomath. Feb. 1798. No. II. 



gofa. 



