666 I'HILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1731. 



j4n Abstract of the Meteorological Diaries, communicated to the Royal Society, 

 with Remarks on them. By IV. Derham, D. D., F. R. S. Part 4, contain- 

 ing Meteorological Observations made at Naples, Bengal, Christiana, in 

 1727. N" 434, p. 405. 



An Abridgment of the Meteorological Observations were made in the year 

 1727, at Naples, by Dr. Nic. Cyrilkis, prim. med. profes. and at Bengal, by 

 the Rev. Mr. Bellamy, chaplain to the English factory ; and at Christiana in 



Norway, by , commimicated by Mr. Pr. Kink. Extracted, for the use 



of the Royal Society, by W. Derham, F. R. S. 



The 3d part of these observations were noticed in N° 433 ; and these in the 

 4th part are much of the same nature. 



By the barometrical observations it appears, that the ascent and descent of 

 the quicksilver is not so great at Naples, as in the more northerly climes : for 

 it was but twice in the whole year, about 30 inches ; and but thrice as low as 

 2g.i'2 inches. And so in Phil. Trans. N° 321, it was observed, that at Zurich 

 the range is only about an inch; but at Upminster the range is about 2J inches: 

 and by the account of the Petersburg observations in 1724, it appears that the 

 mercurial range there is 3.31 inches, in the Phil. Trans. N°424. As for Nor- 

 way, the observations are too few, and all made only in the summer months, so 

 that no good judgment could be made : and Bengal had no barometer. 



At Naples, the rain of the whole year was 43} inches. And to show how 

 much wetter this year was than the others, the following quantities are stated, 

 viz. of the year 1724, 34^ inches; of 1725, 34-2- inches; of 1726, 23} inches. 



Of the Dead Bodies of a Man and JVoman, preserved Ag Years in the Moors 

 in Derbyshire. By Dr. Charles Balguy of Peterborough. N° 434, p. 413. 



These two persons were lost in a great snow on the moors, in the parish of 

 Hope, near the woodlands in Derbyshire, Jan. 14, 1674 ; and not being found 

 till the 3d of May following, the snow lasting probably the greatest part of that 

 time, they then smelt so strong, that the Coroner ordered them to be buried 

 on the spot. They lay in the peat-moss 28 years 9 months, before they were 

 looked at again, when some countrymen, having observed the extraordinary 

 quality of this soil in preserving dead bodies from corrupting, were curious 

 enough to open the ground, to see if these persons had been so preserved, and 

 they found them no way altered, the colour of their skin being fair and natural, 

 their flesh soft as that of persons newly dead. They were afterwards exposed 

 for a sight 20 years, though they were much changed in that time, by being so 

 often uncovered; and in 17 16, their condition was as follows: viz. The man 



