VOL. XLIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 295 



12 or 14 inches between the membranes of the bag without any ramifications, 

 were distributed all over it in the manner before mentioned. 



The following queries are added : 



Was not the saccus originally a mishapen kidney, and the duct a ureter ? Was 

 not the water contained in the saccus prevented from growing putrid, by being 

 continually drained off through the duct into the bladder of urine, and by being 

 afresh supplied by the emulgent artery ; and more being secreted than was eva- 

 cuated, the quantity thereby continually increased ? Was not this the reason 

 why the patient had never any anasarcous swellings of her thighs or legs, nor 

 any thirst, or other signs of a confirmed dropsy ? Were not the lungs prevented 

 from growing by the great diminution of the cavity of the thorax, and the pres- 

 sure they sustained from the distended abdomen ? And might not their never 

 having occupied a larger space than they did at birth, be the reason she never 

 laboured under any difficulty of breathing? Was not the bladder of urine like- 

 wise by the superincumbent weight, prevented from dilating itself; and that 

 the reason why the water was often made, and always in so small a quantity ? 



^n Explanation of an ancient Inscription discovered at Rutchester, the last Sta- 

 tion in England, on the Roman Wall, 1744. By John Taylor, LL.D., 

 Chancellor of Lincoln, and Register of the University of Cambridge. N° 

 482, p. 344. 

 The inscription is, 



IMP. C^S. M. AVRELIO. 

 SEVERO. ANTONINO. 

 AV. PIO. PELICI. K. PARTHIC. 



i.e. MAX. BRIT. MAX. GERM. 



AugUStO. MAX. PONTIFICI. MAXIM. 



TRIB. POTEST. XVIII. IMP. II. 

 COS. nil. PROCOS. P.P. CO-1. !► 

 FIDA. VARHVL. CREOffiANO 



NNANA. FECIT. SVB. CVBA. TCO 

 LEG. XX. GR. 



according to the copy given him by Dr. Hunter of Durham, who copied the in 

 scription. 



This inscription addressed to Caracalla has nothing in it very singular, except 

 the title of the cohort that dedicated it, namely, 



FIDA. VARDVL. CRE°©ANONNANA. 



concerning which Dr. T. offers these few conjectures. 



The Varduli were a people of Hispania citerior, mentioned by Pomponius 

 Mela, aod others ; and are recorded now, in no less than 3 inscriptions, to have 



