314 Scientific Intelligence, [Oct. 



sensible heat which is perceived. Besides, there is now hardly any 

 evaporation to counteract this influence. Hence we find the 

 moisture remain so long in winter ; that which is carried off being 

 perhaps rather the product of a kind of spontaneous evaporation by 

 the agitation of the air, than the conversion of the water into va- 

 pour by the force of caloric. 



The same increase of warmth happens from a fall of snow after 

 any continued frosty weather. The caloric given out during the 

 congelation is immediately diffused through the atmosphere ; it 

 reaches the surface of the earth, and gives rise to that agreeable 

 change which takes place in our sensations. 



Such then is an attempt towards an explanation of these pheno- 

 mena. If it be not the true and philosophical mode of accounting 

 for them, it would, I am confident, gratify your readers if either 

 yourself or any of your intelligent correspondents would favour the 

 public with a satisfactory explanation of these very common oc- 

 currences. 



i have the honour to be, Sir, your very obedient servant, 



Henry Edmondstox. 



$>ewca<,tle-upoti-Tyiie, Sept. 4, 1814. 



V. Singular Appearance in the Eyes after Death from 

 Hydrophobia. 



(To Dr. Thomson.) 

 SIR, 



The following circumstance, from its singularity and importance, 

 appears to deserve all the publicity which it can receive; and per- 

 haps, therefore, you will oblige the scientific world by giving it a 

 place in the Annals of Philosophy . It is recorded in the 12th 

 number of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, as one of 

 the appearances on dissection of a man who had died of hydropho- 

 bia, and it was observed by M. P. C. Gorcy, Member of the Legion 

 of Honour, formerly chief physician of the army, and physician of 

 the hospital at Metz. The body was opened ten hours after death. 

 Amongst other appearances which are detailed very minutely, he 

 says, " But a phenomenon worthy of attention, which has not yet 

 been observed, as far as I know, in this disease, occurred to us when 

 examining the eyes. The iris exhibited the same motions as in 

 life ; the pupil dilated itself on covering the eye with the eye-lids, 

 and again contracted as soon as the light was admitted. These al- 

 ternate motions were as lively as during life. The colour of the iris 

 was not changed ; it was of blue gray, and had only acquired a 

 lustre or brilliancy which might be called phosphoric. We excited 

 this sensibility of the iris many times, and more than 12 hours after 

 ocatn. 



Query — Upon what principles of physiology, chemistry, or optics, 

 is such a phenomenon to be explained ? 



J am, Sir, your most obedient, 



Xwcastl-upon-Tynt, S<pt. 4, 1611. H. E. 



