VOL. XLI.] PHILOSOI'HICAL TRANSACTIONS. 455 



Immediately from the axle of the great wheel comes a girth, at the other end 

 of which is a hook, which links into a swivel-ring at the bottom of a sole- 

 plate : this plate answers the shape of the foot, and is made of well-hammered 

 brass, the inside of which is padded, to sit easy to the foot: the upper part has 

 a strap, which clasps over the upper part of the metatarsal bones; and to keep 

 the straps ending in the sole-plate from galling or pressing the sides of the foot 

 and ancle, there project 2 arms from the sides of this sole-plate, to which 

 the straps coming from the ancle-band are fastened. That the whole limb may 

 be kept in a line with the machine, the leg is suspended by bands, one of 

 which is placed at the ancle, from the sides of which pass 2 straps, to join the 

 inferior knee-band: from this band pass 2 straps to the superior knee-band: 

 all these straps are designed to divide the extension, so that all parts may equally 

 bear alike, and so to secure the joints of the limb from the violence of the 

 extension. The inside of these straps are lined; the bands encircling the limb 

 are contrived in the same manner as the bow or spring of a truss, having strong 

 clasps at the ends, after the manner of those for pocket-books, to fit any di- 

 mensions. The band embracing the part above the fracture, and from which 

 pass 2 straps to the head of the bed, to make the counter-extension, is of the 

 same kind as the former, and is to be kept on during the whole time of de- 

 cumbiture, to prevent the patient's body sinking on the fracture, and thereby 

 contracting the limb. The exterior of the 2 last mentioned straps presses just 

 beneath the great trochanter on its outside; the other comes from the anterior 

 part of the same band, and in such a scite, as to give the patient liberty to 

 raise himself at discretion. To preserve the natural curvity of the thigh, it 

 would be necessary to have a large broad band arising from the bedside, to en- 

 compass the fractured part, and keep it steady. 



Of petrified Oysters, by Cornelius le Bruyn,* illustrated by James Theodore 

 Klein, F.R.S. and Sec. Rep. Dantzic. N° 459, p. 568. 



That indefatigable traveller Cornelius le Bruyn, among other things worthy 

 of notice, relating to natural history, mentions oysters, of which not only the 

 valves, but even the animals themselves were petrified within the shells. 



" At some miles from Nicosia, he says, there is a hill, which consists 

 wholly of petrified oysters. The shells are close shut, and when they are 



* Cornelius, or Corneille le Bruyn, a painter, was born at the Hague, and travelled into tlie 

 Levant in the years 1674—1708. At his return he published his travels, which are considerably 

 valued on account of their accompanying plates. He must not be confounded with a more emineni 

 artist, via. Charles le Brun, the celebrated French painter, born in 1619. 



