176 IPHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1685. 



as we heard a great way off; the several snaps or cracks succeeding each other 

 with that extraordinary swiftness, that we could not but wonder at it : but how 

 she made the noise, whether by the nimble agitation of her bill too and fro in 

 a rift of the bough, or by the swift striking of the mandibles one against another, 

 as the stork does, I could not clearly discern : but an intelligent gentleman, 

 who was verj' diligent in observing the same bird, said it was the former way. 



Epistola CI. Firi D"' Gulielmi Cole, M. D. ad Honoratissimum D"" D"" Rob. 

 Boyle, Armig. de Falsa Graviditate.* N° 172, p. 1045. 



Matrona quaedam, mente omnino constans, pia, fide dignissima, et circa 

 praegnantes et puerperas olim versatissima, ^q^^"^ annum nunc agens, se faetum 

 utero gestare jam diu credidit, creditque adhuc, imo quod magis mirabere (for- 

 san et risu excipies,) per totos septem elapsos annos gestasse. Dum iliac nego- 

 tiorum causa quadriennio abhinc iter facerem, et ^ quibusdam, ipsa non minus 

 credulis, rei famam acceperam, novitate permotus ad hoc miraculum nulla mora 

 contendi, ut tarn insolita scena oculos pascerem. Inveni ventrem multum tu- 

 mentem, non autem, qualis esse solet hydropicorum tumor apparuit, sed sursum, 

 more gravidarum, eminebat. Et dum plura sciscitarer, nee illam (ut nee ejus 

 maritum, qui decennio minor uxore fuit) de ingravidatione amplius dubitantem 

 comperissem, petii 'ut tantae fiduciae causam exponeret. 



Ilia baud gravate respondit, se olim decem liberos enixam, nee ab eo tem- 

 pore per 28 annorum spatium mensium fiuxum passam, in eum tandem 

 satis copiosum incidisse, ex quo brevi post omnia conceptus signa apparue- 

 runt; inde nauseam, et vomitiones subinde recurrentes, necnon et inordi- 

 natam quorundam prae caeteris ciborum appetentiam, ut praegnantium mos 

 est, invasisse, et per plures menses perstitisse, ventre paulatim intume- 

 scente ; postea solito tempore primos faetus motus se percepisse, et exinde, 

 tumore indies aucto, motus etiam tanqnam ejusdem locum saspe variantis, nunc 

 ab una nunc ab altera ventris parte, qui et tractu temporis invalescebant, sensisse; 

 tandem (appellente usitato partus tempore) ipsos parturientis labores subiisse, 

 ut obstetricem accersere necesse habuerit. Sed non adfuit Lucina; attamen 

 licet dolores illi evanuerint, baud detumuit venter; quin saepius prae dolorum 

 recursu obstetrix (quas et ipsa, prout a nonnullis accepi, in eandem cum 

 domina sua sententiam propenderat) rursus accita est. Ab eo tempore motum 

 ilium, sed vegetiorem se persensisse asseruit, adeo ut vestes frequenter attolli ab 

 adstantibus conspectae fuerint, tumore, licet aliquantulum, baud tamen impense 



• Reprinted in the original Latin, many circumstances in the narrative not being suited to appear 

 in a translation. 



