3l6 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1753. 



on her head down '2 pair of stairs. The membranes, that separate the 2 hemi- 

 spheres of the brain, were much thicker than commonly. 



In fine, all her bones were so soft, that the scalpel with very little force ran 

 through the hardest of them : even the rocky apophysis of the ear-bone, so called 

 from its excessive hardness. Nothing extraordinary was found in the viscera ; 

 but their size diminished by the compression, and a universal cachexy. 



There could be no cause assigned of this woman's disorder, as she gave no 

 signs plain enough to prove either a scurvy, pox, or king's-evil, either heredi- 

 tary, or acquired ; her parents having lived healthy, the one to the age of 80, 

 and her mother being then alive, aged 6o, and in good health. She had 3 

 children, who died of disorders common to their age. One, 4 years old, died 

 of the measles. 



This, it is added, is a rare case, but there have been some similar cases, which 

 are cited in the Abridgment of the Phil. Trans, in the remark upon the like case 

 presented to the b. s. by Mr. Silvanus Bevan. This differs from the other ex- 

 amples, by the sediment of the urine, the stain on her linen, the preternatural 

 situation of her limbs. Something very singular was, that she did not blow her 

 nose perhaps once a month, even in her health ; always slept with her mouth 

 opened, and her tongue hanging out. The manner in which such dissolutions of 

 bones are accounted for, in the above-mentioned remark, seems the most rational 

 and satisfactory, that can be given. 



F. Of a Roman uiltar, with an Inscription on it, lately found at York, and 

 communicated to the Society of Antiquaries by Air. Francis Drake, F. R. S. 

 Also a Brief Explication of the Inscription by John fVard, LL.D., and 

 F.P.R.S. p. 33. 



This altar was found, with other remains of antiquity, by some workmen, in 

 opening a deep drain down the centre of a large street, called Micklegate, in 

 the city of York. Its height with the pedestal, on which it stands, and which 

 is made hollow to receive it, is 14^- inches. But the breadth varies in several 

 parts of it, according to their different form. On the top is an apex, with a 

 volute on each side, and on the front a pediment over the inscription. It is 

 elegant for the workmanship, and well preserved. Mr. Drake has sent up a 

 draught of it in its just proportion, with the inscription upon it ; as also an- 

 other copy of the inscription, taken off from the stone, by pressing wet paper 

 into the letters, and then delineating both them and the stops with a pencil. 

 The inscription itself in words at length, as Dr. W. thinks it may be read, is as 

 follows : 



Matribus Africis, Italicis, Germanicis, 



