18(5 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1685. 



1-j-oz. and which must necessarily have formed a large cavity there.* But - 

 there was no extravasated blood in the ventricles, nor between the membranes 

 in any other place. As for the left lobe, neither it nor its vessels exhibited 

 any thing preternatural. The cerebrum and cerebellum, taken out of the 

 cranium, and freed as much as possible from the superfluous blood {superfluo, 

 qua licuit, sanguine liberatum) weighed 2 lb. 14 oz. avoirdupois. 



jibstract of a Letter from Mr. Leewenhoeck, to the R. S. dated Jan. 23d, 1684-5 ; 



concerning the various Figures of the Salts contained in several Substances. 



N° J 73, p. 1073. 



I took some of the salt of Carduus Benedictus, such as is commonly sold in 



the apothecaries shops: it was rather moist, and its parts seemed to be so 



huddled up together, that they could not be distinguished from one another: I 



closed it up in a glass, to prevent the evaporation ; and when it had stood 



stopped for some days, fnany of the particles were run together, on the side 



of the glass, forming some flat longish figures, of different magnitudes, the 



largest in length about the diameter of a hair of my beard; as N° 1, fig. F> 



pi. 6. In another place, these salts lay so, that I could easily discern their 



thickness, as fig. G. In another place, the thin flat salts lay over one another, 



as fig. H. I put this salt in water to dissolve it, and took of it about as much 



as two barley corns, spreading it thin before me : and when it was in motion, 



I not only observed the abovementioned figures, and shootings of the salt ; but 



found several new figures, which were thin and long, and sharp towards both 



ends; as fig I. Others that lay near them were broader, but not so long, and 



their ends not so sharp ; as fig. K. I saw also some perfect four square figures, 



as fig. L ; but they had no thickness that I could discover. Also there were 



some quadrilateral pyramidal figures, like those of common salt ; as fig. M. 



These observations must be made before the water is evaporated, for when the 



water is almost gone, such a multitude of particles appear, and run together 



that they cause a confusion. On a further examination, of a more genuine 



sort, I perceived very plainly a number of figures tapering towards both ends, 



as abovementioned in fig. I. After about a day's time, I saw several flat 



figures; as F and H. But having dissolved the salt in rain water, and viewed 



it as it lay thin upon my plate, I found all the abovementioned figures ; but 



those of K, L, and M exceeded in number all the rest ; insomuch, that I con- 



• Dr. Cole has not described, •with the requisite degree of precision, in what part of the right 

 lobe of the brain this large quantity of coagulated blood was found. How the extravasated blood 

 could suddenly form for itself a cavity in (he substance of the brain, it is difficult to conceive ; and 

 we cannot help suspecting (though the Dr. was persuaded to the contrary) that the extravasation of 

 blood took place in one of the ventricles. 



