578 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS^ [aNNO 1722.. 



planks, were bent and twisted in so peculiar a manner, as they never could 

 by any other method bend them into that form, but used to cut them into 

 shape. The whole operation is performed with much less trouble to the car- 

 penters, as well as at less expence ; and they hope the wood will be more 

 durable ; as it is evident, from the deep tincture the sand receives, that a con- 

 siderable quantity of sap comes out of the oak, while in the stove: and a large 

 plank was observed to weigh some pounds less, when it was taken out. 



A plank five inches thick requires five or six hours to make it fit for 

 bending ; and the time requisite for others, seems to be in a duplicate propor- 

 tion to their thickness. 



A Letter from the Rev. Mr. James Field, Rector of St. Johris in Antigua, 

 concerning two Cases of JVounds in the Stomach, to Mr. John Douglas, 

 Surgeon, F. R. S. N° 37 1, p. 78. 



A lusty young negro returning home about noon, went into his house, 

 where seeing some ripe plantains, he eat of them heartily; his father-in-law, 

 about 6o years of age, coming to the same house soon after, and finding the 

 young fellow had taken his plantains, with his knife gave him a most desperate 

 wound in the upper region of the belly, a vast gash being made in the stomach, 

 insomuch that the plantains, he had eaten, burst through the wound, which 

 was made straight up and down. 



The old man immediately fled; and the youth's companions, hearing what 

 was done, pursued the old man with bills in their hands : the old man per- 

 ceiving that they gained ground of him, and suspecting their design v.as to 

 kill him, pulled out the same knife with which he had stabbed the other, and 

 gave himself as desperate a wound as he had given him, and in the upp>er 

 region of the belly, his stomach being likewise seen ; only with this difference, 

 that this last wound was transverse, or from left to right, but the first directly 

 up and down: the old man was carried home and laid in the same house 

 where the other lay. 



This accident happened about noon, and the surgeon came not to dress them 

 till between 4 and 5 : he stitched up both their stomachs and bellies, only leav- 

 ing in each a small hole for suppuration. A fever seized each of them; the 

 old man was in most danger; the fever held them about a fortnight, the 

 wounds were brought to a good digestion, and in about a month's time the 

 young fellow went abroad ; but the old man lay somewhat longer. They were 

 both perfectly cured, and have been very well ever since, though it is above 1 5 

 years since this accident happened. 



