VOL. XXXVII. J PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 543 



Fig. 4, the figure of the point on one side. 

 Fig. 5, the figure on the point of the other side. 



A, fig. IJ, represents the needle of a compass; bb the end or edge of the 

 bar, with which the needle is rubbed, beginning at cc, and proceeding to dd. 



j4n uncommon Case of a Distempered Shin. By John Machin, Sec. R. S. 

 N° 424, p. 299. 



A country labourer near Euston-hall in Sufi'olk, had a boy, about 14 years 

 of age, having a cuticular distemper, of a different kind from any hitherto 

 mentioned in the histories of diseases. 



His skin, if it might be so called, seemed rather like a dusky coloured thick 

 case, exactly fitting every part of his body, made of a rugged bark, or hide, 

 with bristles in some places, covering the whole, excepting the face, the palms 

 of the hands, and the soles of the feet, caused an appearance as if those parts 

 alone were naked, and the rest cloathed. It did not bleed when cut or scarified, 

 being callous and insensible. It was said he sheds it once every year, about 

 autumn, at which time it usually grows to the thickness of 4 of an inch, and 

 then is thrust off by the new skin coming up beneath. 



It was not easy to think of any sort of skin, or natural integument, that 

 exactly resembled it. Some compared it to the bark of a tree; others thought 

 it looked like seal-skin ; others like the hide of the elephant, or the skin about 

 the legs of the rhinoceros ; and some took it to be like a large wart, or a num- 

 ber of warts uniting and overspreading the whole body. The bristly parts, 

 which were chiefly about the belly and flanks, looked and rustled like the 

 bristles or quills of a hedge-hog, shorn off within an inch of the skin. 



His face was well featured, and of a good complexion, if not rather too 

 ruddy ; and the palms of his hands were not harder, or in worse condition, 

 than is usual for workmen or labourers. His size was proper for his age ; his 

 body and limbs straight, and well shapen. 



This rugged covering gave him no pain or uneasiness, except that sometimes 

 after hard work, it was apt to start and crack, and cause a bleeding. His 

 natural excretions were said to be in the ordinary course and manner, without 

 any thing remarkable attending them. 



The father knew of no accident to account for this distempered habit. But 

 said that his skin was clear at his birth as in other children, and so continued 

 for about 7 or 8 weeks ; after which, it began to turn yellow, as if he had the 

 jaundice ; from which it gradually changed black, and in a little time afterwards 

 thickened, and grew into its present state. That he has been in health from 

 his birth, and has no sickness at the season when he sheds it. He further said, 



