Dr. Percival oji ihe Effe^s of Famine, &c. 507 



too impure for candles to burn in, and which 

 the men, who went in fearch of hjm, durfl: not 

 venture to infpire. As he had been long afthnna- 

 tic, we may reafonably conclude, from his fufFer- 

 ing fo little, that the commonly received opinion 

 of ihc fuffocating nature of the mephitis or choak- 

 damp, that it deftroys the elafticity of the air, 

 and Qccafions a collapfion of the lungs, is with- 

 out foundation, notwithftanding all the refpec- 

 table authorities, which may be advanced in 

 fupport of it. Indeed, from xht ph<enomena which 

 attend the extindion of life, in thofe to whom 

 fuch va[;ours have proved mortal, it is evident, 

 ^hat the poifon afts chiefly on the nervous fyf- 

 tem. The vital principle feems to be arrefted, 

 and almoft inftantaneouQy deflroyedj fometimes 

 even without a ftruggle, and, poffibly, without 

 any antecedent pain. Pliny the elder was found, 

 after the fatal eruption of Mount Vefuvius, ex- 

 aftly in the fame pofture in which he fell, with 

 the appearance of one afleep, rather than dead : 

 Hnhitus cGJ-poris quiefcenti quam defun£io f,milior. * 

 Some perfons killed by foul air in a cellar at 

 Paris, were Hiff as ftatucs, with their eyes open, 

 and in the pofture of digging, f M. Beaumc 

 relates the hiftory of a man, who was recovered 

 from apparent deam, produced by a fimilar 

 faufe, and who affcrted^ that he had felt neither 



• Plinii Epift. 16. lib. VI. 

 t Boma;fe Dia. d'Hillpire Naturells. 



pairs 



