VOL. XLIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 577 



they have been examined. Should not one therefore be led to conclude, that 

 the electrical force, that occasioned Mr. Richman's death, must have been of a 

 different substance from the common thunder-bolt ? That it was much more 

 subtile, is obvious, because it left so few visible traces in the body, which it pe- 

 netrated. Twice 24 hours being elapsed, the body was so far corrupted, that it 

 was with difficulty they got it into a coffin. 



Mr. R. was born the 1 1th of July, 17 J 1, at Pernau, after the decease of his 

 father, Mr. Wm. Richman, treasurer of the king of Sweden, who was carried 

 off" by the plague, at the close of the year 1 7 1 0. Having laid the foundation of 

 his learning at the Gymnasium at Revel, he prosecuted his studies at the uni- 

 versities of Halle and lena, where he always made the mathematics and philo- 

 sophy his principal objects. He was made a member of the Imperial Academy in 

 the year 1735 ; extraordinary professor in 1741; and at last, in 1745, ordinary 

 professor of experimental philosophy. 



XPII. Of a Roman Inscriptio7i found at Malton in Yorkshire, in the Year 1753. 

 By John Ward, LL.D. Rhet. Prof Gresh. and P'.P.R.S. p. 69. 



This inscription was dug up in the Pye Pits, opposite the lodge at Malton, a 

 town situated on the river Derwent, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. And 

 the inscription, in words at length, may be read in the following manner : 

 Diis Manibus. Aurelitis Macrinus, ex equitibus singutaribus Augusti. 



The peculiarity of this inscription, and what renders it remarkable, is the 

 character of the person, to whose memory it was erected. These equites singu- 

 lares are often mentioned in Gruter, Fabretti, and other collectors of ancient 

 monuments ; but this is the first instance of them, which has ever occurred in 

 any of our British inscriptions. Modern writers have differed very much in their 

 sentiments, concerning the particular office and duty of this part of the Roman 

 cavalry ; but Dr. W. thinks it most probable that these equites singulares made 

 part of the emperor's body guards. Reinesius was of opinion, that they not only 

 attended the emperors themselves, but also the governors of the Roman pro- 

 vinces, in the like station ; though Fabretti, who has given a large collection of 

 these inscriptions, declares that he had met with no sufficient evidence of this, 

 either from ancient writers or inscriptions. Schelius, in his notes on this passage 

 of Hyginus, thinks that they were first instituted by Augustus. And there is 

 an inscription in Gruter, which mentions one of these equites singulares as 

 having served under Augustus in several of his wars, and been rewarded by him. 



This account of the origin and station of that body of Roman horse may 

 afford some light in settling the time, when this funeral monument of Aurelius 

 Macrinus was erected. For if they always attended on the emjjeror himself, 

 some one of the Roman emperors must then have been resident in Britain. And 



VOL. X. 4 E 



