956 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIOlfS, [aNNO 1748. 



were 2 sets of ribs, only those which met upwards, where the spine should re- 

 gularly have been placed, were rather shorter than the other : and it seemed that 

 the blade-bone belonging to the doubled leg, that grew between the necks, was 

 larger than the rest, and seemed to be 2 bones, but not entirely distinct : it had 

 2 hearts of equal size, lying over each other, almost like a St. Andrew's cross. 

 There were 2 oesophagi, and 2 asperae arteriae : 4 small lobes of lungs, but the 

 2 gullets were inserted into 1 common stomach. There was nothing preterna- 

 tural in the formation of the intestines, but the tails grew so near, that the re- 

 turn of both seemed to point to one vent, though as before observed, the anus was 

 deficient. It had 3 kidneys, 1 of them very large in proportion to the other 2 ; 

 so that he apprehends there was a conjunction. 



jdbslract of a Letter from Mons. Buffon, * Member of the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences at Paris, &c. concerning his Re-invention of Archimedes' s Burning 

 Specula. N° 489, P- 504. 



The speculum already constructed, and which is but 6 feet broad, and as 

 many high, burns wood at the distance of 200 feet ; it melts tin and lead at the 



• Georges- Louis Leclerc, Count de BufFon, was born at Montbard, Sept. 7. 1707. In his youth 

 he was chiefly attached to pleasure and amusements, witliout any particular attention to study ; till 

 chance brought him acquainted with the young lord Kingston, then on his travels, whose travelling 

 tutor, being a man of scientific pursuits, gave a turn to young BufFon's disposition. Hence he lived 

 with them at Paris and at Saumur, he followed them to England, and accompanied them to Italy. 

 From this beginning Buffon continued to cultivate, with extraordinary success, most of the sciences, 

 but chiefly natural history. Being of a strong and robust frame, an ardent mind, a sanguine dispo- 

 sition, his pursuits and discoveries were rapid, ingenious, and important. The variety and excellence 

 of his compositions soon introduced him to respect and literary honours. He was admitted of the 

 Academy of Sciences in 1739, and the same year named intendant of the king's botanical garden ; an 

 office which be filled with the greatest honour to himself. His articles in the Memoirs of the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences were very numerous, and of considerable importance. Besides these, he pub- 

 lished several other separate works on ditlerent subjects; the chief of which were, a Translation into 

 French of llales's Vegetable Statics, in 1 vol. 4to; and his grand work, the Hist. Naturelle, in 19 vols. 

 4to, by which he rendered his name immortal. Here the general theory of the globe we inhabit ; 

 the disposition, nature, and the origin of the substances it offers to our notice ; the grand phenomena 

 which operate on its surface, or in its bosom j the history of man, and the laws which take place at 

 his formation, in his developement, in his life, at his dissolution; the nomenclature and the descrip- 

 tion of quadrupeds and of birds, the examination of their faculties, the description of their manners ; 

 such are the objects that BufFon has treated in this grand work. The philosophical reflections mixed 

 with the descriptions, with the exposition of facts, and description of manners, add at once to the 

 interest, to the charms, and utility of the composition. The strength of his constitution, and activity 

 of his mind, enabled Buft()n to continue his studious and useful labours, to the very last years of a 

 long life, though often embittered by a painful disorder so frequently the consequence of a studious 

 and sedentary occupation ; by which his valuable life was at length terminated in 1788, at 81 year* 

 of age. 



The particular list of BufFon's writings may be seen in Roaier's large index to the articles in the 



