•244 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. LanNOISQS. 



change the rose colour into high green. R Oleum tartari per deliquium, wash 

 herewith the inside of the glass, leaving a few drops at the hottom, and then 

 pour in the said rose tincture, and it will change. To make the high red black : 

 Dissolve half the size of a walnut of sal ammoniac in a glass of water, pour all 

 out but 3 or 4 drops in the bottom ; if the said red be put to this, it turns as 

 black as ink. To make the violet red : Wash the glass with spirit of vitriol in 

 manner aforesaid, and pour therein the violet water. To make red wine yellow 

 as sack: Steep in white wine Brasil wood 24 hours, or else in ordinary water, 

 till it looks red, pour it at the same time into a glass, washed with vinegar, and 

 it grows presently yellow. To make this yellow white : Take styrax calamita 

 and benjamin -V an oz. of each, pulverize it and steep it in 4 oz. of aquavitae, 

 of which a few drops will turn the liquor white. Note, This makes the lac vir- 

 ginis for the common wash. Washing with clear water, to make the hands and 

 face black : Beat galls into very fine powder, and strew it very well, and roll it 

 up and down into a towel; then into a basin of water throw some Roman 

 vitriol, which will soon dissolve, and after the party has washed therein, it being 

 clear and without smell, as soon as they wipe with the towel, all the skin grows 

 black. But in some days, washing it with soap, it will come off. 



On the Generation of Eels. By Mr. Dale, N" 238, p. QO. 



Two very large eels have been lately caught on the coast of Essex. These 

 both had all the characteristic marks of the eel, and wanted those barbies which 

 the eel sometimes has not, but the conger is never without. The first was taken 

 somewhere about Cricksea ; its length from the tip of the nose to the tail's end 

 was 5 feet 8 inches, and in circumference it was 22 inches, but as for the weight 

 no person could inform me what it was ; though perhaps it might not exceed 

 20 pounds, of which Aldrovandus says, that in Italy they come up to, but never 

 exceed it ; and for length it agrees with those mentioned by Rondeletius to be 

 sometimes caught in the lake of Latera, which were 3 or 4 cubits long. 



But those were far exceeded by one lately caught in Maldon channel, about 

 a mile below the town, the length of which was 7 feet, the circumference 27 

 inches, the weight 36 pounds, and out of its belly were taken 5 pounds of fat ; 

 its skin was black, and being stuffed, is still preserved at Maldon for the in- 

 spection of the curious. This fish was supposed to have been brought down 

 thither by the great floods at the breaking of the last frost, because of a hurt 

 it had on its back, which the fisherman who caught it told me he conjectured 

 might be from some mill it passed through. 



Had I known of this monstrous eel soon enough, I would have gone to 

 Maldon to have seen it opened, it being a fit subject in which to have examined 



