VOL. LII.l PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 665 



the other in the Miscellanea Curiosa, where the kidneys in one of the subjects, 

 are said to have been found putrid, in the other semiputrid, and no calculus in 

 either. Such cases as these are very uncommon, and bear some resemblance to 

 the case before us ; in which it is very remarkable, that though matter was inti- 

 mately distributed through every part of the kidneys, yet the tubuli forming the 

 urinary organs of secretion remained sound, and properly qualified to perform 

 their functions even till death ; as appeared by the urine being drawn off every 

 12 hours, till near the time of the patient's decease, and the bladder being found 

 distended with urine on opening the body. Whereas in the case recorded in the 

 Miscellanea Curiosa, after a total suppression of urine, the bladder was found 

 small and contracted, no urine having been excreted from the kidneys into it. 

 That the matter did not in the present case insinuate into, or in any manner 

 disturb the urinary secretion is evident ; since no pus was ever observed in the 

 urine either before or after the introduction of the catheter. How this extraor- 

 dinary case comes to be so particularly circumstanced seems worthy of considera- 

 tion. 



CHI. Experiments to Prove that Water is not Incompressible. By John Can- 

 ton, M. A., F. R. S. p. 640. 



Having procured a small glass tube of about 2 feet in length, with a ball at one 

 end of it, of an inch and a quarter in diameter; Mr. C. filled the ball and part of 

 the tube with mercury ; and keeping it witli a Fahrenheit's thermometer in wa- 

 ter which was frequently stirred, it was brought exactly to the heat of 50 degrees ; 

 and the place where the mercury stood in the tube, which was about 6-I- inches 

 above the ball, was carefully marked. He then raised the mercury by heat to 

 the top of the tube, and sealed the tube hermetically ; and when the mercury 

 was brought to the same degree of heat as before, it stood in the tube -^^ of an 

 inch higher than the mark. The same ball and part of the tube being filled with 

 water exhausted of air, instead of the mercury ; and the place where the water 

 stood in the tube when it came to rest in the heat of 50 degrees, being marked, 

 which was about 6 inches above the ball ; the water was then raised by lieat till 

 it filled the tube ; which being sealed again, and the water brought to the heat 

 of 50 degrees as before, it stood in the tube -^^ of an inch above the mark. 



Now the weight of the atmosphere, or about 73 pounds avoirdupois, pressing 

 on the outside of the ball and not on the inside, will squeeze it into less corn- 

 pass.* And by this compression of the ball, the mercury and the water will be 



* See an account of experiments made with glass balls by Mr. Hooke, (afterward* Dr. Hooke,)t 

 in Doctor Birch's Histor>' of the Royal Society, vol. 1, p. 127. '-* 



VOL. XI. 4 Q 



