VOL. XXV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 365 



of being wounded, (if I may so call it), or to suffer such a disorder of parts, by 

 a violent impulse, as to require time to recover their natural state: I devised the 

 following experiment. 



I took my condensing engine, and into the bottom part of its brass receiver 

 put about half a pint of water; then the upper part being screwed strongly on, 

 I threw into it, with the syringe, about 3 or 4 atmospheres of air (as near as I 

 could guess), suffering it to remain in that state some time more than an hour; 

 than letting out as much of the air (by taking off my syringe) as would readily 

 depart, I immediately screwed on in its place a box of leather collars, through 

 which passed a small glass tube, whose lower orifice was plunged under the 

 surface of the included water. I found in a very little time the water had 

 ascended in the tube near a foot, and continued rising for some time, till it had 

 reached near l6 inches. Which plainly shows, that the springs of air, by being 

 somewhat overbent, do not presently, although at liberty, recover their pristine 

 state. And were they to suffer a more violent compressure, and to remain for 

 a week, month, or a year, in the same state, I doubt not but according to the 

 length of time, and the degrees of condensation, a proportional time would be 

 required to recover them to their natural state again. But what is the force 

 made use of in this experiment, in comparison to that of fired gunpowder, 

 where the suddenness, and violence of the impulse, are so great? However, it 

 serves well to confirm the suggestion I had, that air might so suffer in its parts 

 by force or an unnatural extension of them, as to require time to recover their 

 pristine natural state. 



On a repetition of the same experiment, only the condensed air remained in 

 the same state_, as at first injected, for about IS hours: then letting out the air 

 as before, the box with its tube was screwed on; and on observation I found, 

 that as the springs of the air unbent themselves, so they pressed more and more 

 on the surface of the included water, which raised it higher and higher in the 

 tube, as they approached nearer their natural state. This continued for about 6 

 hours, at which time the little tube was accidentally broke, and our farther ob- 

 servations for that time frustrated. 



Concerning a Monstrous Calf, and some Things observable in Dissecting a Human 

 Ear, By Dr. Jrchibald Adams of Norwich. N° 31 1, p. 2414. 



This monstrous calf had something like wings, which seem to be bags formed 

 out of the membranes, torn and distended from the adjacent parts, and by fresh 

 supplies from the circulating fluids were enlarged to the size we now see them. 

 Whether the substance contained in these bags was fibrous and muscular, or 

 only a heap of vessels enclosed in a cystis, like the placenta, the assistant's igno- 

 rance, and the distance of time and place, it being 3 years ago, make me un- 

 capable to acco unt for. 



