Royal Society. ^55 
vanifhecf, but foon after re-appearing, he manifeftly perceived 
that they were both fituated in the extremities of a lemi-drcle, 
whofe centre wavS the fun, paffing betwixt it and the Zenith -^ 
this appearance continued about half an hour. 
A Child born without a Brain; by M. Buffiere. Phil. Tranf 
N° 251. p. 141. 
A French woman, living at 'Dung-hill^ of a good complexion, 
and in perfefl health during all the time of her being with 
child, was brought to bed of aboyj he was tall, well /haped, 
and very found 5 and tho' it be uncertain whether he was born 
alive, yet the mother aflured M. 'Buffiere, that /lie felt him 
flirring an hour before, and indeed the good condition of his 
body fufficiently proved that he was alive; the fcull was unequal, 
and the fkin thereof, tho' full of hair, was a little redder than the 
reft of the body ; the coronal bone being laid upon the fphenoid, 
made the eyes look, as if they had been placed in the top of the 
forehead; the fquamous part of the temporal bones was want- 
ing, and the Os 'Petrofum the only bone that was in its natural 
place, and m which were the organs of hearing in very good 
order; there was no parietal bones, nor any thing equivalent 
thereto; of the occipital bone there was only the bafis that joins 
to the fphenoid, in the middle whereof was the great hole, thro' 
which the Medulla oblongata commonly pafTes; all the upper part 
of this bone being wanting, without any mark of having been 
either corroded or corrupted, and its edges were very fmooth 5 
all the upper part of the Bones of the Icull being wanting, the 
fkin had no other fupport than its bafis, which was the realon 
why the top of the head was very unequal and rough ; there was 
no brain to be found, nor any mark in the whole extent of the 
Icull that there had been any, there being no fpace left between 
the bafis of the fcull and the {kin to contain it ; there was no 
dura Mater neither, the bones being covered only with a very 
thin membrane; neither did the carotid or vertebral arteries 
penetrate the fcull, but by fmall twigs fpread themfelves in that 
thin membrane ; the beginning of the fpinal marrow was under 
the fourth Vertebra^ like a fmall ftump wrapped up in the 
dura Mater -^ the marrow was very found, and of the ufual big- 
nefs, and all the nerves, which ilTued from it, were in their na- 
tural order; the eyes were well /haped, and all the parts 
belonging to them in their natural fituation; but all the nerves 
terminated in thofe holes of the fcull, thro* which they commonly 
pafs; they reached no further, nor had any comnaunication wi h 
y y 2 any 
