L I B 
liorfe caper on his hind feet; neverthelefs he clung to 
him by his knees, and in this reclined poiture, held the 
cord in both hands and the bridle in his mouth. The 
bull at this time was entangled by the rope, with his head 
drawn in between his fore-feet, and incapable of motion. 
The Bralilian difmounted, approached, and drew from be¬ 
neath his mantle a fflort hunting-fpear, which, with an ap- 
parently-dight force, he darted into the head of the ani¬ 
mal, in confequence of which he inltantly fell down and 
expired.” 
The literary inftitutions of Portugal are—The Royal 
Academy of Portuguefe Hiftory, for which fee the article 
Academy, vol. i. p. 4.6. The Royal Academy of Sci¬ 
ences, founded in the year 1779, by the duke de Lafoens, 
uncle to the queen. The fovereign is the immediate pa¬ 
tron, and the founder is prefident. Twenty-four effeftive 
members, divided into three clafl'es, viz. natural fciences, 
mathematics, and national literature, form the main body 
of the fociety ; and the refidue is compofed of thirty-fix 
free members; a fmall number of literary foreigners, and 
a larger one of great perfonages of the nation, as honorary 
members; fome veteran members, and a confiderable pro¬ 
portion of extra correfpondents. Government allows 
them a revenue, by means of which they have eltablilhed 
an obfervatory, a mufeum, a library, and a printing-office. 
The academy has hitherto directed its attention to the en¬ 
couragement of many objefts, which do not, in other 
countries, require the care of an academy of fciences. The 
ift volume ot its memoirs was publilhed at Lifbon in 1797 : 
the memoirs commence at 1780. The Geographical Aca¬ 
demy, principally pertaining to the geography of Portu¬ 
gal, was inftituted in January 1799. Lifbon has alfo pub¬ 
lic libraries; and fome mufeums, and public hofpitals. 
The climate of Lifbon is reckoned very falubrious. A 
heat equal to 96° Fahr. is not uncommon in Portugal. 
The medial heat is generally about 6o°. From Midfum- 
mer-day to the middle of September rain is very uncom¬ 
mon ; in November and December heavy rains with fre¬ 
quent ftorms occur. Days of perpetual filent rain are very 
rare; for in general it comes down in torrents. In Janu¬ 
ary cold clear weather often prevails, but becomes milder 
in February, which is generally a very pleafant month. 
The days of fair weather amount to 200 in the year, and 
thofe of fettled rain feldom exceed 80. Yet, as the place, 
notwithftanding great improvements fince the earthquake, 
is dill very filthy, it feems to be a queltion whence (and 
whether) Lilbon is fo healthy as has been reprefented. In 
a correfpondence between Dr. Mitchill of New York, and 
Hippolyto Da Coda, a Brafilian, the falubrity of the city 
is afcribed, above all things, to the calcareous matter it 
contains in the buildings, pavements, &c. Mr. Da Coda 
writes to Dr. Mitchill as follows : “ Your theory, in re¬ 
gard to the adiion of alkalis and calcareous earth upon 
Jepton, or the principle of corruption, is fo well proved 
in the feveral papers you have publilhed, that it is need- 
!efs to adduce further proofs to perfons of knowledge; 
but, as additional fafts tnay be ufeful to perfuade people of 
lefs information or more prejudices, I believe I agree with 
your wifhes in prefenting to yon an account of the influ¬ 
ence of calcareous earth upon the putrid effluvia in the 
city of Liiffion, which is, I think, a proof of the moft in- 
terefting nature. The old city, or the part which did not 
fuffer fo much in the earthquake, and pref'erves its ancient 
buildings, is in the Gothic tafte, with narrow and crooked 
ftreets, in the moil of which there are no pavements for 
foot-pafTengers; the houfes are fo high, that, in fome of 
the narrowed dreets, the fun cannot be feen but two or 
three hours every day, viz. from eleven before noon to 
one after noon. In the new city there are gutters or 
fewers below the earth to conduct the water and impuri¬ 
ties from the houfes and dreets to the river; but in the 
old city there are none of thefe. As the houfes are, in 
general, five or more dories high, and the ftreets narrow, 
it is eafy to conceive the'thicknels of population, and, of 
coiirfe, the vad quantity of impurity that comes into the 
Vol. XII. No/ 871. 
SON. 785 
dreets every day, which, with the water, and other liquids 
poured in likewife, keep always there a vad quantity of 
dirt. A great fum of money is appropriated, 1 know,and 
fome pains taken, to preferve the cleanlinefs of the city ; 
but, without entering into the difcuffion how this money 
is employed or difpofed of, which is but very little in- 
terefting to our prefent enquiry, it is very certain that I 
have often been obliged to make a great turn to go a ffiort 
diliance, becaufe it wasimpoffible to crofs the dreetthrough 
the dirt; and very often I have feen dogs, cats, and other 
dead animals, lie in the dreets. There is in every houfe 
(chiefly in the new city) a privy, with a pipe which goes 
up to the highed dory; becaufe, as the feveral dories are 
inhabited by different families, they want fuch a conveni¬ 
ence in every one ; but this canal emits always a very bad 
frnell, by the accumulation of impurities within its walls, 
which, from the form of its condruction, cannot be walked 
but with water let in by a fmall orifice or hole. There 
is alfo, in many houfes, a place in the infide of the flreet- 
door for making water, which contributes its portion of 
bad frnell; and the houfes are in general not very clean. 
Befldes all thefe fources of putrid exhalations, there are a 
great many wharfs, and much naked fliore, which, being 
uncovered by the ebb-tide, prefent to the fun a furface 
covered with dirt and fea-weeds undergoing putrid fer¬ 
mentation. The mouths of the fewers I have mentioned 
above go to the wharfs, and are likewife bare at low wa¬ 
ter. The fluid which comes from thefe fewers contains 
fo many infefting matters, that its drong putrid frnell can 
l’carcely be endured. 
“ After this (hort defcription of the police of Liffion, 
in regard to its cleanlinefs, every body would draw the 
inference that endemical difeafes mud reign, not only in 
the fummer, but in the winter-time, feeing that the ac¬ 
cumulation of the dirt in the ftreets is incomparably 
greater in the winter than in fummer. The connexion 
there is between malignant diltempers and dirtinefs is 
very well known. Happily, however, the contrary is the 
fact: Lilbon is one of the mod healthy lituations I know, 
and its inhabitants do not fuffer but the common difeafes 
to which the human body is fubjefted. Many people go 
from England and other countries to Lilbon, in certain 
difeafes, to enjoy the benefit of a falubrious place, and 
very often to Ipend the fummer agreeably in a good and 
wholefome climate. 
“ What then can be the caufe of this apparently-phy- 
fical contradiction between the impurity and corruption 
in the dreets, and the falubrity of the air ? I confefs, fir, 
I cannot find any explanation of this phenomenon if I 
rejeCt the theory of the influence of calcareous earth upon Jep- 
tic Jluids ; and I can well comprehend the reafon if I 
admit it. The buildings in Lilbon are all of done, and, 
in general, of marble of feveral qualities, and chiefly the 
Marmor rafiiis of Linnaeus ; and this done is procured in 
the"neighbourhood of the city. All the houfes'are white- 
waflied infide and outfide; and the handfomelt ne'w-faffli- 
oned houfes are pladered with a plader they call efcariola, 
a compound of gypfum and other matters, and painted 
over that compolition in water-colours. As a number of 
new buildings are continually erecting, there are, in all 
the dreets, a great many done-cutters hewing the dones,’ 
and their fragments are fcattered through the dreets. In 
the time of the earthquakes, as the houfes fall down, the 
attrition of the dones one againd the other breaks them 
in pieces, reducing many to a powder. The pavements 
for the foot-paffengers are of large marbles ; and, in many 
parts, the foil is calcareous too ; in other parts, as the 
dreets are paved with final! round dones or pebbles, the 
accumulation of the calcareous powder makes a dratum 
above the furface of the dreets and public places. When 
the wind blows hard, there is fo great a quantity of cal¬ 
careous powder dying about, that it is incommodious to 
the eyes ; and fomt times is fo fine, that it comes into the 
houfes even when the windows are (hut. Now, to w'hat 
can I impute the healthinefs of that city but the quality 
9 O ' of 
