NATURAL HISTORY. 



367 



Le Fournier, steward of the hos- 

 pital. 



Revet, commissaire cle la prison. 

 Le Fleni, soldat de la fer demi 

 brigade. 



Thomas Cochrane, M.D. inspec- 

 tor and surgeon Ajf the prison, and 

 agent, &c. for sick and wounded 

 seamen. 



Liverpool, Sept. 9, 1 799- 

 (A true copy.) 



John Bynon, clerk in 

 the office for sick 

 and wounded sea- 

 men. 



Queries and Answers. 



1st. What are the circumstances 

 of his sleep and perspiration ? 



He gets to bed about eight o'clock 

 at night, immediately after which 

 he begins to sweat, and that so pro- 

 fusely, as to be obliged to throw off 

 his shirt. He feels extremely hot, 

 and in an hour or two after goes to 

 sleep, which lasts until one in the 

 morning, after which he always feels 

 himself hungry, even though he had 

 laid down with a full stomach. He 

 then cats bread or beef, or whatever 

 provision he may have reserved 

 through the day ; and if he has 

 none, he beguiles the time in smok- 

 ing tobacco. About two o'clock 

 he goes to sleep again, and awakes 

 at five or six o'clock in the morning 

 in a violent perspiration, wiih great 

 heat. This quits him on getting 

 up; and when he has laid in afresh 

 cargo of raw meat (to use his own 

 expression) he feels his body in a 

 good state. He sweats while he is 

 eating; and it is probably owing to 

 this constant propensity to exhala- 

 tion from the surface of the body, 

 that his skin is commonly found to 

 be cool. 



2d. What is his heat by the 

 thermometer ? 



I have often tried it, and found it 

 to be of the standard temperature of 

 the human body. His pulse is now 

 eighty-four; full and regular. 



3d. Can this ravenous appetite 

 be traced higher than his father.'' 



He knows nothing of his ances- 

 tors beyond his father. When he 

 left the country, eleven years ago, 

 hiis father was alive, aged about 

 fifty, a tall stout man, always heal- 

 thy, and can remember he was a 

 great eater; but was too young to 

 recollect the quantity, but that he 

 eat his meat half boiled. He does 

 not recollect that either himself or 

 his brothers had any ailment, ex- 

 cepting the small-pox, which ended 

 favourably with them all. He was 

 then an infant. His face is per- 

 fectly smooth. 



4th. Is his muscular strength 

 greater or less than that of other 

 men at his time of life ? 



Though his muscles are pretty 

 firm, I do not think they are so full 

 or plump as those of most other men. 

 He has, however, by his own de- 

 claration, carried a load of three 

 hundred weight of flour in France, 

 and marched fourteen leagues in a 

 day. 



5th. Is he dull, or intelligent? 



He can neither read nor write, 

 but is very intelligent and conver- 

 sable, and can give a distinct and 

 consistent answer to any question 

 put to him. I have put a variety at 

 different times, and in different 

 shapes, tending to throw all the 

 light possible on his history, and 

 never found that he varied; so that 

 I am inclined to believe that he 

 adheres to truth. 



0th. Under what circumstances 

 did his voracious disposition first 

 come on? 



