7JS2 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIOKS. [aNNO 17 16. 



at the top of the bell ; through whose aperture, though very small, the air 

 would rush with so much violence, as to make the surface of the sea boil, 

 and cover it with a white foam, notwithstanding the great weight of water 

 over us. 



Thus I found I could do any thing that was required to be done just under 

 us ; and that, by taking off the stage, I could, for a space as wide as the cir- 

 cuit of the bell, lay the bottom of the sea so far dry, as not to be over-shoes 

 on it. And by the glass window, so much light was transmitted, that when 

 the sea was clear, and especially when the sun shone, I could see perfectly well 

 to write or read, much more to fasten or lay hold on any thing under us, to be 

 taken up. And by the return of the air-barrels, I often sent up orders, written 

 with an iron pen on small plates of lead, directing how to move us from place 

 to place as occasion required. At other times when the water was troubled and 

 thick, it would be dark as night below ; but in such case, I have been able to 

 keep a candle burning in the bell as long as I pleased, notwithstanding the.great 

 expence of air requisite to maintain flame. 



This I take to be an invention applicable to various uses; such as fishing for 

 pearl, diving for coral, or sponges, and the like, in far greater depths than has 

 hitherto been thought possible. Also for the fitting and plaining of the 

 foundations of moles, bridges, &c. on rocky bottoms ; and for the cleaning 

 and scrubbing of ships bottoms when foul, in calm weather at sea. I shall 

 only intimate, that by an additional contrivance, I have found it not im- 

 practicable for a diver to go out of our engine, to a good distance from it, the 

 air being conveyed to him with a continued stream by small flexible pipes ; 

 which pipes may serve as a clew to direct him back again, when he would re- 

 turn to the bell. 



Observations on the Glands in the Human Spleen ; and on a Fracture in the 

 Upper Part of the Thigh-Bone. By J. Douglass, M. D. and R, S. S. 

 N" 349, p. 499. 



That anatomy, as well as physic and surgery, has received much improve- 

 ment from a careful and true observation of what was found in dissecting 

 morbid bodies, will appear from the two following instances, among many more 

 that might be adduced for that purpose. For it is certain, that nothing has 

 contributed so much towards forming a right notion of the nature of the 

 several diseases, and a true knowledge of the structure of many parts of the 

 human body, as their appearance in a preternatural state. 



My first observation is of the glands visible to the naked eye, that appear 



