514 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. ]]aNNO I761. 



LXXXVI. On the Aberration of Light Refracted at Spherical Surfaces and 

 Lenses. By S. Klingenstiern of Stockholm, p. 944. 



Too much complicated with intricate symbols to be of any real and practical 

 use. 



END OF THE FIFTY-FIRST VOLUMJB OP THE ORIGINAL. 



/. On the Use of Furze in Fencing the Banks of Rivers. By the Rev. David 



Wark. p. 1. vol. 52. 



Mr. W. and several of his acquaintances having experienced, on many ordinary 

 occasions, the usefulness of furze bushes in stopping water, in pursuing the 

 scheme, he found that locks aud damheads might be raised, at one 10th of the 

 ordinary expence, by the help of furze, as a very thin perpendicular wall of stone 

 and lime, or one of deal boards, 2 inches thick, is the principal part of the ex- 

 pence. Close to this wall, on the other side, is a mound of furze intermixed 

 with gravel, and along the top of the wall a strong tree, equal with the highest 

 part of the mound. It is plain that this wall cannot be hurt by the weight of 

 the water or force of the current, as it is defended by the contiguous mound, 

 which is 6 or 7 yards broad; nor can the pressure of the mud and gravel make it 

 give way, as their weight is suspended by the interweavings of the flirze. If 

 therefore the tree on the top of the wall can be made to keep its place, the whole 

 is firm. 



It is well known that the sea-dykes in Holland are made with faggots of any 

 sort of brush-wood ; and it must appear to any one who examines the net-work 

 formed by the crossings of the branches and prickles of furze, that it is far more 

 effectual for this purpose, both as it detains the collected earth, and is much 

 more cheaply procured than faggots. 



//. Of a Remarkable Halo. By Tho. Barker, Esq. p. 3. 



This halo Mr. B. observed May 20, 1737, a quarter before eleven in the 

 morning, and which continued half an hour, in a clear hot sky. 



///. Of a Meteor seen in New England, and of a PVhirlwindfelt in that Country, 

 By Mr. John JVinthrop, Prof of Phil, at Cambridge in New England, p. 6. 

 The southern parts of the province were greatly alarmed on Thursday the 10th 

 of May last, about 35™ after g in the morning by a meteor. The weather being 

 then fair and calm, the people at Bridgewater, and the towns near it, about 25 

 miles south from hence, were surprized with a noise, like the report of a cannon. 



