524' PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1779. 



fectly restored, without blowing up the lungs, as is necessary in the case of 

 drowned persons ; on the contrary, they begin to play of themselves as soon as 

 the surcharge of phlogiston makes its escape from the body. 



It is well worthy of observation, how diametrically opposite the modes are of 

 restoring to life, those who are deprived of it by water, and those who have lost 

 it by the fumes of charcoal : the one consisting in the internal and external ap- 

 plication of heat, and the other in that of cold. It may be ailedged, that the 

 stimulus of the cold produces heat, and the fact seems to be confirmed by the 

 Russian method of restoring circulation in a frozen limb by means of friction 

 with snow. But what is singular in the case of people apparently deprived of 

 life in the manner treated of is, that the body is much warmer when brought 

 out of the room than at the instant life is restored, and that they awake cold and 

 shivering. The colour of the body is also changed from a livid red to its natural 

 complexion, which, together with some other circumstances, would almost lead 

 one to suspect, that they are restored to life by the snow and cold water some- 

 how or other freeing them from the load of phlogiston with which the system 

 seems to be replete ; for though the first application of cold water to the human 

 body produces heat, yet, if often repeated in a very cold atmosphere, it then 

 cools instead of continuing to heat, just as the cold bath does when a person re- 

 mains too long in it. 



In short, I think it is altogether a curious subject, whether you take into 

 consideration the mode of action of the principle emitted by burning charcoal, 

 and our phlogisticated crust ; or the operation of the snow and cold water. 

 However, I shall by no means take upon me to decide, whether the dangerous 

 symptoms related above are produced by the air in the room being so saturated 

 with phlogiston as to be unable to take up the proper quantity from the lungs, 

 which occasions a surcharge in the svstem, according to Dr. Priestley's theory, 

 or whether so subtle a fiuid may somehow find its way into the circulation, and 

 so arrest the vital powers ; nor shall I determine whether the livid hue of the 

 body when brought out is changed into a paler colour by the atmosphere some- 

 how absorbing and freeing the blood from the colouring principle, as that author 

 has shown to be the case with blood out of the body : these are curious inquiries 

 that I shall leave to his investigation. I have only endeavoured to collect facts 

 from a number of natives who have met with this accident themselves, or have 

 assisted in restoring others to life. It is so common a case here that it is per- 

 fectly familiar to them, and they never call in medical assistance. 



XXllL Of an jipparatus applied to the Equatorial Instrument for Correcting 

 the Errors arising from the Refraction in Altitude. By Mr. Peter Dollond, 

 Optician, p. 332. 

 The refraction of the atmosphere occasions the stars or planets to appear 



