•204 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO l/SS. 



LiXVIL On the Extraordinary Heat of the f Feather in July 1757, and its 

 Effects. By John Huxham, M. D., F. R. S. p. 523. 



By accounts it appears that the heat at London was not so great in the begin- 

 ning of July 1757, as at Plymouth by 2 or 3 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermo- 

 meter. We had again, after much rain at the close of the month, and in the 

 begiiming of August, excessive heat, viz. on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of August, 

 vv^hich mounted the mercury in that thermometer to 85; nay, on the 9th to near 

 86. Dr. H. never before remembered the mercury in that thermometer to 

 exceed 84. 



The consequences of this extremely hot season were haemorrhages from several 

 parts of the body ; the nose especially in men and children, and the uterus in 

 women. Sudden and violent pains of the head and vertigo, profuse sweats, 

 great debility and oppression of the spirits, affected many. Putrid fevers in great 

 abundance; and a vast quantity of fluxes of the belly, both bilious and bloody, 

 with which the fevers also were commonly attended. These fevers were always 

 ushered in by severe pains of the head, back, and stomach ; vomitings of green 

 and sometimes of black bile, with vast oppression of the praecordia, continual 

 anxiety, and want of sleep. These were soon succeeded by tremores tendinum, 

 subsultus, delirium, or stupor. The pulse was commonly very quick, but seldom 

 tense or strong; was sometimes heavy and undose. The blood oftentimes florid, 

 but loose; sometimes livid, very rarely sizy: in some however, at the very attack, 

 it was pretty dense and florid. The tongue was generally foul, brown, and 

 sometimes blackish, and towards the crisis often dry. The urine was commonly 

 high coloured, and in small quantity; frequently turbid, and towards the end 

 deposed a great deal of lateritious sediment. A vast number were seized with 

 this fever, during, and soon after, the excessive heats; though but few died in 

 proportion. Long and great heats always very much exalt the acrimony of the 

 bilious humours; of which we had this summer abundant instances. Bleeding 

 early was generally beneficial; profuse, always hurtful, especially near the state 

 of the fever. 



hXVlH. On the Fossil Thigh-bone of a large Animal, dug up at Stonesfield, 

 near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire. By Mr. Joshua Piatt, p. 524. 



This was the thigh-bone of a large animal, probably belonging to the same 

 creature with the vertebrae formerly found in the same place by Mr. P. in a 

 slate-stone pit at Stonesfield, near Woodstock. The bone, and stone, in which 

 it was bedded, weighed no less than 200 lb. 



The bone was 29 inches in length; its diameter, at the extremity of the 2 

 trochanters, was 8 inches; at the lower extremity the condyles formed a surface 



