281 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1751. 



enters the river Arklow on New Bridge ; and is of so corrosive a nature, that no 

 fish can live in this large river from hence to the sea. 



LXXXF. Extract of a Letter to Dr. Maty* F. R. S. from Geneva, con- 

 cerning the Introduction and Success of Inoculation in that City. p. 503. 

 In September 1750, the practice of inoculating the small-pox was first intro- 

 duced into Geneva. The example was set by a young lady ; and was, the next 

 year, followed in the hospital of foundlings, where it was admitted by an order of 

 the governors, and authorized by the magistrates. Their method of doing it was 

 generally the same as that now commonly used in England ; whence instructions 

 were sent to Geneva, when they first began to inoculate. Yet 3 persons were 

 inoculated in a new manner. These were blistered slightly, by means of a small 

 vesicatory applied to that part of the arm, where the incision is usually made. 

 The blister occasioned by this plaster was opened, and a pledget dipped in the 

 pocky matter was applied to the excoriated part. In one instance the incision 

 was made only in one arm ; the success of which was the same, as when it had 

 been made in both. Some pocky matter was made use of, which had been kept 

 3 weeks ; and some that had even been kept 4 months, without any apparent 

 difference in the effects from that which was fresh ; unless it was owing to this, 

 that, in one instance, the small-pox came out 4 days later than the usual time. 



The experience, which they have hitherto had in Geneva, has suggested to 

 them a conjecture, that the incision ought to be made deeper when the matter 

 has been kept some time. All who have yet been inoculated in Geneva, have 

 recovered ; and the far greater number of them have had but an inconsiderable 

 number of pustules. 



LXXXVI. A Letter from James Parsons, M. D., F. R. S. to the Rev. Mr. Birch, 

 Sec. R. S. concerning the Formation of Corals, Corallines, &c. p. 505. 



[As it is now perfectly well ascertained that corals and corallines are really the 

 fabrication, or at least the natural and necessary accompaniments, of animals of 

 the polype tribe, this paper may be considered as of no importance.] 



* Dr. MaUhew Maty, an eminent physician, was born in Holland in 1718, and took his doctor's 

 degree at Leyden. In ] 740 he settled in England ; and in 1750 he comraenced a work, published every 

 2 months, called Journal Britannique, which gave an account of the chief productions of the English 

 press. In 1758 he was elected f. r. s. and in 1765 he succeeded Dr. Birch, as Secretary to that 

 learned body. He died in 1776', leaving one son, the Rev. Paul Henry Maty, who also was 

 afterwards Secretary of the r. s. Dr. Maty was likewise one of the librarians of the British Mu- 

 seum J and he wrote the Memoirs of the Earl of Chesterfield, prefixed to that nobleman's miscella- 

 neous works, in 2 vols. 4to, 



