relieved and 

 ^fcape 



^£ SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



The fyftem of Kalm mentions a well-known fa6t, which will be adraiUed 

 imolies^tTat the ^^ have confiderable weight in deftiojing the force of this part 

 ani'fna! may be of Mr. de la Cepede's fyftem. " The fquirre! being upon 

 the point of running into the fnake's mouth, the fpe<5talors 

 have not been able to let it come to that pitch, but killed the 

 fnake, and as foon as it had got a mortal blow, the fquirrel 

 or bird deftined for deftru6lion, flew away, and left off their 

 moanful note, as if they had broke loofe from a net. Some 

 fay, that if they only touched the fnake, fo as to draw off its 

 attention from the fquirrel ; it went off quickly, not flopping 

 till it had got to a great diftance." " Why/' continues our 

 author, " do the fquirrels or birds go away fo fuddenly and 

 why no fooner ? If they had been poifoned or bitten by the 

 fnake before, fo as not to be able to get from the tree, and to 

 be forced to approach the fnake always more and more, they 

 could however not get new firength by the fnake being killed 

 or diverted *." -^ "^ 



(To be continued.) 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



Very extenfrce Table of Squares. 



x\BOUT three years ago, a large quantity of mathematical 

 papers were brought to Oxford, which had belonged to Mr. 

 Councer, an attorney at Bloxam, in the north of Oxfordfliire. 

 They confifted chiefly of mere tranfcripts and colledions from 

 different publications : But there were two works among them, 

 which muft be excepted from this defcription, and which prove 

 Mr. C. to have been a man of fingular induftry. 



The one was a table of fines and tangents for every fecond 

 of the quadrant. It is probable, that this table was com- 

 pleted before the year 1760; but it would have been of no 

 value, even if it had not been fuperfeded by Mr. Taylor's 

 publication. For Mr. C. feems, in this inftance, to have 

 been ignorant of the true method of calculating, and to have 



* Travels into North- America, &c. vol. ii. p. 209 & 210. It 

 will be eafy to difcover what part of Kalm's reafoning, in the above 

 quotation I admit. 



only 



