VOL. XLVI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. Q 



the pumkin, sometimes weighing above a hundred pounds, is the production of 

 a feeble creeping plant, unable to support itself, and much less its enormous 

 fruit. The vanilla (a plant that rises to the height of several feet, by clasping 

 about whatever it finds near it), produces, in long pods, seeds so small, that 

 their diameter is not more than the 100th part of an inch. Supposing therefore 

 the cavity of the pod to be equal to a cylindrical tube of -yV of an inch diameter, 

 and the length of the pod to be 6 inches, the number of seeds contained in one 

 single pod will be more than 47000. Most kinds of fern, of which some are 

 pretty large plants, bear seeds so extremely minute, that they appear to the 

 naked eye only like a fine dust; while seeds of a considerable size are produced 

 by plants of a much smaller size. 



An Observation of the Eclipse of the Sun on Jan. 8, 1730, n.s. taken at the Ob- 

 servatory at Berlin. By M. Grischow, jun. and M. Kies. Translated from 

 the French. N° 494, p. 339. 



The beginning was at 8*' 59" 1 9^** true time. 



The end of the eclipse at 11 20 5^ 



M. Euler observed in his own house, which stands a little to the west of the 

 s.w. of the observatory, at the distance of igo Rhinland yards (verges) in a 

 straight line, that 



The beginning was at 8^ 58'" 30" true time. 



And the end at 11 19 50 



That is, 34' more than at the observatory. 



The diameter of the umbra was 6-^ Rhinland inches. 



Ohservations on the Course or Passages of the Semen. By Albert Haller, Prof. 



of Physic at Goltingen, F,R.S , &?c. From the Latin, N° 494, p. 340. 



ProfessorH. observes, that the filamentous structure of the testicles, composed 

 of minute yellowish vessels, is sufficiently known ; but that respecting the pas- 

 sages by which the semen, secreted in those vessels, is transmitted to the epidi- 

 dymis, much uncertainty has always prevailed. De Graaf alone saw this matter 

 in its true light, succeeding writers having added nothing to his discoveries. 



Let the epididymis be slowly and cautiously injected with quicksilver, the 

 operator stopping every now and then, or plunging the testicle into warm water 

 that the vessels may gradually expand ; for if the epididymis were suddenly filled 

 with quicksilver, it would burst. 



By repeated injections conducted in this manner, Professor H. found that the 

 epididymis, throughout its whole length, where it adheres to the testicle, (the 

 head excepted) is composed of a single canal, which may be unravelled from its 



VOL. X. C 



