THE 



PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS 



OF TRB 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON; 



ABRIDGED. 



y/ra Account of the City of Prusa in Bithynia, and further Observations relating 

 to Constantinople. By Thomas Smith, D.D.F.R.S. N° 155, p. 431. 



roi. xiF. 



oO many accounts of the Ottoman empire are extant, that the reprinting of 

 this paper is deemed wholly unnecessary. 



A Letter from M. Lister, M. D. &c. in Answer to one of Mr. H. Oldenburg's, 

 desiring an Explanation of a Paragraph, concerning the Use of tlie Intestinum 

 CcBcum, Published in the Philosophical Transactions, N° 95, Anno l673: as 

 follows : The use of the Intestinum Ccecum, subservient to that of t/ie Colon and 

 Rectum, manifest in such Animals where Nature intends a certain and determi- 

 nate Figure to the Excrements. N° 155, p. 455. 



I did not think of explaining my sense of the use of the caecum, until I 

 had the leisure and opportunity of purposely examining the intestines of most 

 kinds of animals. But because I am much mistaken by the person who raised 

 the scruples you sent me, I shall be forced to tell you, what I presume may 

 prove as near the truth as any one of the many conjectures extant in authors, 

 about the unknown use of this part. 



I understand by determinate figure; 1. The excrements divided into many 

 small parts of a like shape, such as sheep, deer, conies, hares, rats, mice, 

 horses, caterpillars, some snails, &c. do naturally void. 2. In a greater lati- 

 tude I oppose figured excrements to liquid : thus the dung of pigeons, geese, 

 and men, cats, dogs, &c. may be said to be figured. Now the caecum in my 

 opinion is subservient in some measure to the figuration of both, but most ma- 

 nifest in the first kind. Probably the use of the caecum is to keep the excre- 



VOL. III. B 



