600 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 16q3. 



advance he has made in the natural history of that kingdom; the work con- 

 tains many observations altogether new, and well worthy to be known. 



It is divided into 3 sections, in which he treats of the small and large whales. 

 The 1st section is concerning the lesser sort of whales, both those that have a 

 spout, and those that have nostrils ; those that have teeth in both their jaws, 

 and those that have them only in the lower. 



The 2d section concerns the larger whales, which have teeth only in the 

 lower jaw. In the 3d section is an account of those whales, that have horny 

 plates in their upper jaw, in England improperly called whale-bone. 



^ Letter of Mr. John Clayton, Rector of Crofton at IVakeJield, to the Royal 

 Society, giving a farther Account of the Soil, and other Observables of Vir- 

 ginia* N° 206, p. 978. 



Some Queries concerning the Nature of Light and Diaphanous Bodies. Pro- 

 posed to the Royal Society. By E. Halley. N° 206, p. 998. 



The late curious book of Mr. Huygens having revived the disquisitions that 

 have formerly been made about the nature and phaenomena of light, I thought 

 it not amiss to propose some difficulties that have occurred to my thoughts on 

 this subject, by way of query. 



1. In what consists the transparency of glass, crystal, water, &c. And 

 whether the notion of right pores be sufficient to answer all its appearances, 

 especially those of refaction, and those of the transparency of bodies in all posi- 

 tions; whereas the rectitude of pores seems to argue an orderly or regular 

 position of the constituent parts, according to the three dimensions ? 



2 Why in bodies that have much more pores than glass or water ; as deal- 

 shavings or brown paper, the passage of light is wholly obstructed, though 

 several gross particles will penetrate them ? 



3. Whether or not the light is easier propagated through glass, water, &c. 

 than air or aether, as Descartes and Mr. Hook have maintained ; and wherein 

 Mr. Huygens differs from them, asserting that the beams of light are retarded 

 in passing those diaphanous bodies ; and thereby so naturall) explaining the laws 

 of refraction ? 



4. Supposing light to be propagated in a wave, how it comes to pass that 



Society a dfscription of the species of barnacle called by Boccone pediculus ceti. It is the lepat 

 diadema of Linnaeus. 



* This miscellaneous paper contains a general description of the face, soil, cultivation, &c. of Vir- 

 ginia, together with a slight enumeration of some of the most remarkable birds of the country. 



