Remarkable Water-spout. i183 
the ward room, leap up tosome height, and fall dead on the 
deck. 
The vapour was very deletereous to those men who had 
any tendency to pulmonic complaints: three men died of 
phthisis pulmonalis, who had never before complained; and 
one man who had suffered pneumonia but was perfectly 
cured, and another who had not any pulmonic complaint be- 
fore, were left behind at Gibraltar, labouring under confirmed 
phthisis. Many of the men had formerly been attacked with 
malignant ulcers, which at one time prevailed to a considera- 
ble extent in the English ships, both at home and abroad. 
In many who had so suffered, the ulcers, which had long 
been completely healed, without even an erasure of the skin, 
broke out again, and soon put on a gangrenous appearance. 
The mercury showed its effects upon the ship itself, by 
the decks being covered with a black powder; but quick- 
silver was not at any time discovered in this powder, in a 
native or globular state, though the brass cocks of the boilers, 
and the copper-bolts of the ship, were covered with the metal, 
the last to some extent within the wood ; a gold watch, gold 
and silver money kept in a drawer, and likewise some of the 
iron work ofthe ship which had been kept bright, evidently 
showed the influence of the prevailing atmosphere, being in 
some places covered with quicksilver. 
The facts which are fully detailed by Dr. Burnet, seem to 
sufficiently authorize the opinion of Mr. Plowman, the sur- 
geon, and of Mr. Burnet, that the systems of the sufferers 
were brought under the influence of the mercury, by inhaling 
the mercurial vapours. 
91. Cabinet of Entomology. — Professor Thunberg, of Up- 
sal, has proposed to sell his large and valuable collection of In- 
sects. It is very extensive, containing at least between 
25,000 and 30,000 specimens : it commenced 60 years ago, 
and has been continued to the present time. The new, and 
as yet undescribed species are many. The collection is rich 
in specimens from Japan, Java, Ceylon, the Cape of Good 
Hope, and South America. For the whole, the proprietor 
expects £2000 sterling. 
20. Remarkable Water-spout in France, in 1823.—In the 
arrondissemens of Dreux and of Mantes, about 3 o’clock of 
the 26th of August 1823, a storm came on from the S. W. 
