VOL. XXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. 601 



prodigious. I have a great mind, could I be assured of his fidelity, to take him 

 into my house, and teach him to read, write, and cipher. 



A Letter from Dr. Davies to Sir Charles Holt, containing a Relation of a Person 

 who voided mamj Hydatides in her Urine. Dated Birmingham, in IVarwick- 

 shire, July iAth, I699. N° 273, p. 897. 



A gentlewoman, between 40 and 50 years of age, in the autumn of 97, 

 drank some aluminous water for a month or five weeks, and in a month's time 

 after the use of these waters, found a pain in the renal region, where she never 

 had been afflicted with any before ; this pain returned after the first paroxysm in 

 about a month's time, and afterwards more frequently ; till about the Christmas 

 following it visited her every day, about which time she sent for me ; she had 

 then the symptoms of a stone in her left kidney, viz. a grinding, and sometimes 

 a very acute pain on that side of the spina dorsi, a vomiting, her urine during 

 the paroxysm tinged with blood, and in it bloody ramenta ; but what was most 

 surprising was, a dozen at least of hydatides, some of the largest of them I4 

 inch long, and their circumference equalled that of an ordinary goose-quill ; 

 in shape they exactly represented the vesiculae natatoriae in fish, growing smaller 

 about the middle, as those generally do, and were filled with a liquor, which by 

 the taste and smell seemed to be urine ; I never discovered any pus in her urine, 

 nor had she any pain at the sphincter of the bladder, nor in the meatus urina- 

 rius, either before, at, or after making urine. The paroxysm lasted generally 

 3 or 4 hours ; as soon as these hydatides came away, (which they did not all at 

 once making water, but at several times) the pain in her back, &c. abated very 

 sensibly, and she continued easy and well the rest of the day, excepting an ex- 

 ternal soreness, which the pain had caused. I thought these vesiculae at first to 

 be membranous, since their consistence was so tough, as to bear taking out of 

 the chamber-pot and gentle handling; but afterwards was convinced that they 

 owed their origin to a glutinous slimy matter ; because upon long standing in 

 urine, or fair water, they quite disappeared, and were dissolved, making the 

 water or urine to look thick and turbid. By the use of medicines all these 

 symptoms disappeared, and she continued well. 



A Letter from Mr. Antony Van Leuwenhoeck, F. R. S. to Mr. Chamberlaine, 

 concerning the Causes of the different Tastes of Waters, and the Edge of 

 Razors. Delft in Holland, June 2\, 170I. N° 273, p. 899. 



In water that was but little boiled, the taste and smell was unpleasant, and 

 different from that which was well boiled. The reason of which M. L. takes 

 to be from the salts contained in the water. This he judged from the circum- 



VOL. IV. 4 H 



