^ Hiflorical Sietch of the Jnjlttuttott 



fonally examined. From the union of the vivd voceyi\i}\ 

 the written intelligence papers were formed, explaining fum- 

 marily what was known concerning every different country,, 

 and what remained to be yet inquired into. Thefe papers 

 ■were read at fubfequent meetings ; and queries were then 

 drawn from them, to be tranfmitted for anfwers to the fo- 

 ciety's foreign correfpondents. 



One fet or queries which were prepared among the earlier 

 labours of this fociety, had for its objecl;, to mark " what 

 things were needful to be obferved in order to the making of 

 a natural hillory in general." They formed fimilar queries 

 refpefting the hiftories of the air, atmofphcre, and weather; 

 of the produftion, growth, &c. of vegetables ; of agriculturCj^ 

 &c. They marked out trains of experiments to be tried on 

 rarefaAion and condenfation; on the petrifa6iion of wood ;. 

 on the loadflone ; on the difcoveries wanted to complete the 

 fcience of anatomv ; on injeftions into the blood of animals,^ 

 and on the iransfufion of the blood of one animal into an- 

 other : on the tides of the fea ; on the varieties of oyfters, and 

 the manner of their nourifhment ; and on the phaenomena, 

 of mines. They gave direftions to feamen for the obfervatioa 

 of the eclipfes of the moon, the eclipfes of the fun by Mer-^ 

 cury, and ihe fatellites of Jupiter. They fent abroad direc- 

 tions for obfervations and experiments to be made in India^ 

 China, the ifland of St. Helena, Teneriffe, Guinea, Bar- 

 bary, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, France, Italy, 

 Germany, Hungary, Tranfylvania, Poland, Sweden, Ice- 

 land, and Greenland. 



One of the firft anfwers they received' to their inquiries 

 concerning foreign countries, was fent from Balavia by Sir 

 fhiliberio V^ernatti. It correfted an error, prevalent in Eu-. 

 rope, " that diamonds and other precious ftones were in the 

 Indian ides continually renewed, as by vegetation, in the- 

 quarries out of which they were taken." It informed them 

 of the exiftence of a volcanic mountain in Java, and another 

 in Sumatra. It exploded a vulgar error, which one fhould, 

 have thought to be, even otherwife, incapable of obtaining 

 for a moment the aflent of philofophers — " that there was in 

 the ifland of Saiubrero, lying north from Sumatra, a fenfitive 

 plant that would, when pulled with the hand, fhrink into 

 the earth, and that had for its root a living worm." It 

 brought one of the firft accounts propagated in Europe of the 

 exiltence of the bohan upas, the famous poifon-trce of Java. 

 It added a variety of other curious information concerning 

 the moft extraordinary objeft^; and arts in the Eaft. But o^ 

 the queries feat out, it left ftiU many unaufwered, 



Mr, 



