VOL. XVI.] FHILOSOFHICAI. TRANSACTIONS. 8g3 



the liver very large, and without gall bladder in some subjects. In the female a • 

 kind of gland, besides the ovary, resembling the testicles of the male. Amongst 

 other observables, the structure of the wind-pipe was very unusual, entering 

 with a winding into the bone of the sternum, at its union with the lungs it had 

 a kind of larynx ; the punctum lachrymale in the eye was double, &c. 



The 26th, eight ostriches, in which they very largely discourse on the struc- 

 ture of the feathers of birds. The foot of this animal seems contrived for a 

 speedy course, in which its wings are of great use ; the different length of the 

 intestines is observable, in some being 50, whereas in another they were but 

 29 feet ; the caecum, which was double, was wreathed like a screw, and the 

 inside of the colon provided with valves or semilunar leaves, like membranes. 

 At the extremity of the rectum was found a bladder filled with urine. In this 

 description they discourse largely of the uterus and genital parts of birds, a» 

 likewise of the lungs, and its divisions or diaphragms, and its communication 

 with the bladders containing the ventricle and intestines, with the manner and 

 use of breathing in birds, explaining it by a pair of double bellows, &c. 



The 27th, the cassowary, a bird but lately known to the Europeans ; it has no 

 quills or feathers for flying, and indeed but short wings; it is without the mus- 

 culous gizzard, though a granivorous animal, which might in some sort be sup- 

 plied by the number of ventricles. 



The 28th, or last, is a very large land tortoise, being 44- feet from the extre- 

 mity of the head to the tail. Among the internal parts, the structure of the 

 urinary bladder is very curious for its exterior tunicle, being membranous; the 

 inside strengthened with an infinite number of musculous fibres, not unlike 

 those in the ventricles of the hearts of animals. This contrivance seems neces- 

 sary for the pressing out of the urine in this animal, which has an unyielding 

 belly, not capable of compression ; nor was the formation of the heart less 

 observable ; it had three ventricles, communicating with each other by holes in 

 the septum ; the vena cava had two branches into two of the ventricles, which 

 likewise received blood from two venae pulmonares, to be transmitted to the 

 aorta, &c. 



Confucius* Sinarum Philosophus, sive Scientia Sinensis Latine exposita. Studio et 

 Opera Patruum Societatis Jesu, iSc. Adjecta est Tabula Chronologica Sinicee 

 Monarchice ab hujus Exordio ad htec usque Tempera. N° I89, p. 376. 

 The famed Chinese philosopher Cum-fu-cu, or as we call him Confucius, 



* This philosopher, whose memory is so justly venerated by the Chinese, flourished about 500 

 years before the birth of Christ. He was a mandarin, and was employed in the government of the 

 kingdom of Lou. Observing great licentiousness in the manners of the court, and excessive abuses 

 in the administration of public affairs, he projected a plan of reform both in religion and legislation ; 

 but endeavouring in vain to prevail with the emperor to adopt it, he resigned his ministerial situation, 



VOL. HI. 3 E 



