4* Difcovery /)f Bonts of a duadruped. 



When a proje£lIoii of an Inch, or more, can be given to the neck beyond the lower opening 

 of the tube, the bubbles muft neceflarily efcape ^(vithout that precaution. 



Fig 5. exhibits another conftruftion of the fame apparatus. 



If an apparatus, compofcd of a very long feries of bottles were employed, it might be 

 feared, that the gas contained in the firfl: veiTel having a very ftrong refiftance to conquer, 

 would caufe the fluid of the firfl; bottle to expand and rife in the tube ; but it is very eafy 

 to remedy this inconvenience, either by ufmg bottles of different Czes, or by putting a 

 f«ialler quantity of fluid in the firfl: bottles, than in the following ones. 



XI. 



A Memoir on the Difcovery of certain Bones of a Quadruped oj the Clawed Kind in the Wef- 

 tern Parts of Virginia. By Thomas Jefferson, Efq. 



XN a letter of July 3d, I informed our late mofl; worthy prefident, that fome bones of a 

 very large animal of the clawed kind had been recently difeovered within this fl:ate, and 

 promifed a communication on the fubjeft as foon as we could recover what were ftill re- 

 coverable of them. It is well known that the fubftratum of the country beyond the Blue 

 Ridge is a limefl;one, abounding, with large caverns, the earthy floors of which arc 

 highly impregnated with nitre ; and that the inhabitants are in the habit of extrafting the 

 nitre from them. In digging the floor of one of thefe caves, belonging to Frederic Cromer 

 in the county of Greenbriar, the labourers at the depth of two or three feet, came to 

 fome bones, the fize and form of which befpoke an animal unknown to them. The nitrous 

 impregnation of the earth, together with a fmall degree of petrification, had probably 

 been the means of their prefervation. The importance of the difcovery was not known 

 to thofe who made it, yet it excited converfation in the, neighbourhood, and led perfons of 

 vague curiofity to feek and take away the bones. It was fortunate for fcicnce that one of 

 its zealous and well informed friends, Colonel JohnStewart of that neighbourhood, heard 

 of the difcovery, and, fenfible from their defcription, that they were of an animal not 

 known, took meafures without delay for faving thofe which ftill remained. He was kind 

 enough to inform me of the incident, and to forward me the bones from time to time as 

 they were recovered. To thefe I was enabled accidentally to add fome others by the kind- 

 nefs of a Mr. Hopkins of New York, who had vifited the cave. Thefe bones are, 



ift. A fmall fragment of the femur or thigh bone ; being in faftortly its lowerextre- 

 mity, feparated from the main bone at its cpiphyfis, fo as to give us only the two condyles, 

 but thefe are nearly entire. 



* American Tranfaftions, IV. 146. 



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