454 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1708. 



since the particles of water themselves remain at the same distances as if the 

 air was not withdrawn, otherwise the water of necessity must become more 

 dense. But to proceed, I caused some water to be heated about blood warm, 

 when weighing the bottle in it, I found the bulk of water equal to the bulk, of 

 the bottle, which was about 3 grains less than when cold : which shows, that 

 the component pans of the water are easily separated by heat, and the 

 matter lodged in its interstices, capable of dilation. I then took that water 

 which had been purged of all its air, and gave it a degree of heat, not exceed- 

 ing luke-warm ; and on weighing the bottle in it, I found that although the 

 heat it had received was very inconsiderable, yet the bulk of the water, in that 

 state, equal to that of the bottle, was now diminished 2 grains: which plainly 

 shows, that notwithstanding the water contained ^o air that I could discover, 

 yet there seems to be a matter latent in it capable of intumescence. 



jin Account of some strange and wonderful Effects of the Scurvy ^ which hap- 

 n pened at Paris in the Year 1699. By Air. Poupart. N° 318, p. 223. 



In 1699, I went to the hospital of St. Lewis at Paris, with intent to make 

 observations on the great number of scorbutic patients there; I soon perceived 

 that this distemper had something in it of that cruel plague, with which the 

 Athenians formerly were afflicted. It had the common symptoms ; as pains in 

 the thighs, calves of the legs, the belly and stomach, and the patients were 

 deprived of the motion, or use of their limbs, though they still retained their 

 feeling : they were troubled with head-achs, convulsions, and such strange 

 itching in the gums, that the children pulled pieces oft' them with their nails; 

 and the blood which came from them, was watery, salt, and corrosive ; and the 

 stench, which came from their mouth, was intolerable. They had hard blue 

 spots on their legs and thighs, frequent haemorrhages, or bleedings at the nose 

 and fundament, and so great a weakness in their knees, that they could not go 

 without reeling or staggering. Such were the symptoms which they had in 

 common with other scorbutic persons. The other particular affections, were 

 the following : on removing these sick persons, there was heard a small clatter- 

 ing of their bones, which particular Mr. N. V. a physician of Rochelle, has 

 mentioned in his Treatise of the Scurvy^ but he could not assign the true 

 reason of it. I observed, on opening all those bodies in v\hich the said noise 

 was heard, that the epiphyses were entirely separated from the bones, which by 

 rubbing against each other occasioned this clattering. 'We opened several 

 young persons, in whom we also perceived a small low noise when they 

 breathed; in all these bodies we found, that the cartilages of the sternum were 

 separated from the bony parts of the ribs; and as the cartilages are of a softer 



