NATURAL 
_er; and, upon her return, found it 
dead, from the bite of a Cobra de 
capelo. 
J 
Account of a Gentleman living at 
~ Milan, ix the Year 1786, who had 
the faculty of chewing the cud. 
From Mrs. Piozzi’s Journey thro’ 
- Italy, vol. ii. 
UT a natural curiofity feen at 
Milan, this 16th day of Augutt 
1786, leads my mind into another 
channel. I went to wait upon and 
thank the lady, or the relations of 
the lady, who lent us her houfe at 
Varefe, and make our proper ac- 
knowledgments ; and at that vifit 
faw fomething very uncommon fure- 
ly: though I remember doétor 
Johnfon once faid, that nobody had 
ever feena very ftrange thing ; and 
challenged the company (about fe- 
venteen people, myfelf among 
them) to produce a ftrange thing ; 
—but I had not then feen Avvocato 
B—, a lawyer here at Milan, and 
a man refpected in his profeflion, 
who actually chews the cud like an 
ox; which he did at my requett, 
and in my prefence: he is apparent- 
ly much like another tall ftout man, 
but has many extraordinary pro- 
perties, being eminent for ftrength, 
and poffefling a fet of ribs and 
fternum very {urprifing, and worthy 
‘the attention of anatomifts : his 
body, upon the flighteft touch, even 
‘through all his clothes, throws out 
eleétric fparks; he can reject his 
meals from his ftomach at pleafure, 
and did abfolutely in the courfe. of ' 
two hours, the only two I ever 
paffed in his company, go through, 
to oblige me, the whole operation 
of eating, mafticating, {wallowing, 
HISTORY. 71 
and returning by the mouth, alarge 
piece of bread and a peach. With 
all this conviction, nothing more 
was wanting; but I obtained befide, 
the confirmation of common friends, 
who were willing likewife to bear 
teftimony of this ftrange accidental 
variety. What I hear of his cha- 
racter is, that he is a low-fpirited, 
nervous man; and T fuppofe his 
ruminating moments are {pent in la- 
menting the fingularities of his 
frame. 
Experiments on the expanfive Force of 
Sreexing Water, made by Major 
Edward Williams, of the Royal 
4rtillery, at Quebec, in Canada, 
in the Years 1784 and 1785. Com- 
municated ina Letter from Charles 
Hutton, LL. D.F.R. 8S, Lond. 
& Edin. From the Tranfacions 
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
vol. il. : 
Spi Rs 
2 HE following is an extract 
of a letter to me from major 
Edward Williams, of the royal ar- 
tillery, a learned man, and of great 
profeffional merit. Being at Quebec 
in fome very cold winters, among 
various other ingenious experiments, 
it occurred to him to try the force 
of congelation in fome of the iron 
bomb-fhells, which are ufually fired 
out of mortars in the practice of 
artillery; by filling the cavity of 
the fhell with water, and then, hay- 
ing plugged up the fuze-hole, ex- 
ett ae ie cold to freeze the 
water, in order to find whether the 
expanfion of the ice would: be ca- 
pable of burfting the fhell. 
The dimenfions of the 13 inch 
fhell are as follow ; 
F 4 Outer 
