260 



Literary and PhUofophkal Intelligence. 



[oa 7, 



fHkes place in elderly people, and moftly 

 in women. In general in all iliei'e iii- 

 flances the vi5\ims were very fat or very 

 lean, which proves a weak Hate of the 

 conltitution, and they were accultomtd to 

 drink, fpirituous iiqii'.rs. The combulVion 

 penetrased rapidly the whole bidy, but 

 the trunk was the nioft injured. Almrft 

 in all cafes a fire was at hand. In feveral 

 inftancesthe pr.tients compla''ned that they 

 perceived fomething like an eltctrical 

 flroke in feme part of the body. The ac- 

 cident motily happened wh-n the atmo- 

 fphere was ciry and clear, and an empy- 

 jeiiinatic fmcll fuiroiinded the perfons. — 

 It is therefore probable that an aithenic 

 ftate of the lymphatic fvftem may be con- 

 fulertd as a predil'poling caulc, in conle- 

 quence of which inflammable air might 

 be collefted in the cellular membrane and 

 other cavities ot the body ; and in the fame 

 manner as a v-atery fluid is coilrc^ed in 

 the cellular fvltem in the diopfy, it may 

 contain, when I'uch an accident takes 

 place, a colleiSlion cf inflammable gas — 

 It is very probable that eleflricity has 

 feme influence, as in (everal inltancts the 

 combuftion befOan with an eleilrical phe- 

 nomenon. The fl^me is like the inflam- 

 mable gas, and fprcads in general fo ra- 

 pidly, that it has bet^n impollible fo give 

 afiiftance to the vidfims of this horrible 

 difeafe. 



Acorrefpordent of the " Decide Philo- 

 phique" has lately communicated to the 

 editors a difci very which he made by ac- 

 cident of a method <>f preferving mulh- 

 looms dry without deforming them. Bo. 

 taniiis, he obferve.s, know how to col- 

 left :ir,d prelerve plants j but he has never 

 ytt hi.ard of their being able to prefeive 

 jiiudirooms. The aiuhor lives near the 

 fea-fliore, in a country the foil of which 

 is fandy, and where downs are formtd 

 which frequently fliiit tlieir place. In tra- 

 verfing on foot cne of thel'e downs, he 

 met vvi;h muflirooms buried under the 

 fand, and wnich prefeived their form.— 

 lie made a rolleilion oF them, and found 

 that they fuffered no alteration afterwards; 

 jndetil they Itrved him for an hygromettr'; 

 but if the^- Ibften in moift weather, they 

 recoi'er then liardnefs in dry \vta:her, and 

 every principle of vegetation being de- 

 ftroyed, their form does not aler either by 

 wrinkles or by rittennefs. In imitating 

 the procefs cf sature, he drks muflirooms 

 in a ftcve of fand moderately heated. 



Dv. BoLscHOi, viho went out in the 

 •uality of phyfician with a Rufllan and 

 Bucharian caravan, give* the followiog 

 at'count vf the Kirgifiiin Cozaks, hy 



whom he was taken prifoner :— " When 

 the Kiigil'ians hail tiividtd by lot the booty 

 which ihey obtained from this rich cara- 

 van,* they cut to pieces the mathematical 

 inlUtiincnrs, wRtth<,s, telelcopes, &c. that, 

 each might take a portion. They did the 

 fame with the medicines. The roots, 

 powders, pills, and mixtures, weie all 

 divided into equal parts. F.^ch perlba 

 then threw hi:- poriion into a vtflll, and 

 this they confidered as the moH vaiuabJe 

 part of the pUiiidsr, When the Kirgifi- 

 ans found tha; thtir prifuner was a phyfj- 

 cian, and, according to their idea, a for- 

 cerer, they thronged in crowds around 

 him, that he mighc feel their pull'e, in or- 

 der to tell tiiem, from the cature of it, 

 whether tl'e horfe they had loft, the cowr 

 that had ftrayed, or the camel that was 

 miffing, would be found again : nay, 

 fome of them even wiflicd him to tell, 

 from the nature of their pulfe» whether 

 their fick mother, wife, filter, &c. would 

 recovei'. If his anfVver turned out to be 

 true, the prophet was rev/arded ; but in a 

 contrary cale he was often fubjeiSl to the 

 dil'cipline of the whip. A violent Worm 

 having once taken pi nee, the whole body 

 beg^n to murmur, and a general fufpicion 

 fell on the captive Dtftor. They threat- 

 ened him with death ; butthellorm fub- 

 lided, and the fuppol'ed forcerer efcaped 

 .with a flight ccrreilion. As Dr. B. was 

 conlidereJ as a man of the higher order, 

 he was not fold in Bucharia with tie 

 other captives, but ferved as a common 

 domeliic, expofed to cold and hunger, and 

 obliged to pel form all tbolc menial fer- 

 vices wl)ich aie allotted to the flaves of 

 the Kirgifims. He did not lonp remain 

 under cne maltcr, but was confidered as 

 tran.^fr^ai)l^ pioperty. He at length 

 came into the hands of the Khan, who 

 gave him a rich Kirgifian drefs, and la 

 that ftate he was ranfomed." 



M. Demmenie, a Dutch artift, has 

 give;) us an improved method of making 

 varnifh of copal, whic'i coniifts merely 

 in placing the copal in contaft with alko- 

 hol in the flate of gas. " Put reflified 

 alkohol into a glals velTel, fidptnd at a 

 certain diflance above it a piece of copal, 

 and pUce.ihe whole in a balneum fnari^. 

 When the alkohol is fnfljciently heated to 

 raife the gjs, it touches the copal, and 

 difllilves fmall portions of it which drop 

 into the liquor. Contmue this opeiatioa 

 till the drops that fall have faturatcd the 

 alkohol ; then withdraw the apparatus 



* Dr. Bolfchoi was cftiraated ac the value 

 of a camel. 



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