Cii!l&. 



£04 ON THE DOCTRINES 01- CHANCFJ. 



If we except the concluding' hj-pothesis, the account is 

 probably correct ; the extraordinary whiteness of the skin? 

 and the great sensibility to light, are well characterized, and 

 precisely resemble what fall under our own observation. It 

 is indeed upon the antecedent probability of the narration, 

 and not upon the credibility of the narrator, that we are to 

 ground our belief; for many of the stories are palpably false 

 and fabulous. The following may be taken as a specimen. 

 ExtTa€»wJinary A white woman brought forth a child the colour of a negro; 

 the prudent midwife suspecting it to be the effect of some 

 unsatisfied longing of the mother, found upon inquiry, that 

 she had longed for some sardines (a peculiar kind of fish) 

 that she had seen eaten by a black woman. Taking there- 

 fore the bones and remains of the fish, she rubbed them oTcr 

 the mouth of the infant, and immediately the dark colour 

 was removed, and a white complexion produced*. 



lam, Sir, 



Your obedient Servant, 



Ctaytori-Square, Liverpool, J. BOSTOCK. 



Oct. 2d, 1808. 



XT. 



Jiemarks ou the Doctrines of Chance, in Answer to Opsimatb, 

 in a Letter from W. Saint, Esq. 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 



SIR, Woolwich, Sep. 19, 1808. 



A. Read in the 91st number of your Philosophical Journal 

 the letter of Opsimath, containing his " scruples as to the 



* I am inclimd to think this account not altogether fabulous, though 

 the assigned cause, and the remedy prescribed, are both palpably ab:>urd. 

 In some instances of difficult labour, the face of the child is so black, lips 

 swelled, and nose fiitlencd, that when born it resembles a young negro j 

 but these appearances soon go off of thcmelves. Such was probably the 

 case here; and the sagacious mUlwife a^pied her remedy time enough, 

 to give it the credit of effecting the removal of what had probably excited 

 aslor.ishmnet and alarm. C. 



truth 



