[ +33 ] 
ibmc of which are diflributed to the parts about the 
extremity of the upper jaw, and one large branclrfs 
loft in the fubftance at the bottom of the cavity above 
delcrib’d, which I take to be the organ of hearing. 
This large nerve has been call’d by feveral authors 
the ol factory nerve of fifties ; but I think it might 
with more truth and propriety be confider'd as a col- 
lection of the nerves, which fupply the organs of 
tailing, fmelling, and hearing, confin’d in a fheathj 
which is a production of the integuments of the 
brain. From the whole I would conclude, that 
fifties do hear ; and that therefore gunpowder is 
unfit for projecting harpoons. The machine, which 
I would recommend for that purpofe, is the antient 
Balijla , which is accurately defcrib’d in the thir- 
teenth chapter of Polybius, tranftated into French 
by Monf. Folard, who has nicely diftingui fil’d it 
from the Catapult a , with which moft of the antient 
hiftorians have confounded it, though thefe machines 
had diftinCt officies ; for the Catapulta threw vafl 
maftes of metal and ftone in a parabolic curve, and the 
Balijla projected darts, fome of fixty pounds weight, 
in a horizontal direction. The projectile power of 
both thefe machines depended upon twifted ropes, 
which mov’d a lever plac’d in their center. In the 
Catapulta this lever mov’d vertically, and threw off 
globular bodies, as above-mention’d ; but in the 
Balijla there were two levers, which mov’d horizon- 
tally, and aCted like a crofs-bow. It is needlefs to 
enter farther into a defcription of it, as 1 have fent 
an exaCt model of it to the repofitory of this Society, 
to which I refer any gentleman, that has a curiofity 
to fee it. 
I i i I was 
