gone material changes by inteftine commotions and violent erup

tions.

An Account of West River Mountain, and the Appearance of there having been a Volcano in it. By Daniel Jones, Efq.

This is a good natural hiftory of the mountain; and the next memoir is a continuation of the subject, by Mr. Caleb Alexander. Obfervations made at Beverly, Lat. 42° 36′ N. Long, 70° 45′ W. to determine the Variation of the Needle. By the Rev. Jofeph

Willard.

Magnetical Obfervations made at Cambridge. By Mr. Stephen Sewall.

An Hiftorical Regifler of the Aurora Borealis, from Aug. 8th, 1781, to Aug. 19, 1783. By Caleb Gannet, A. M.

The two next memoirs are Meteorological Diaries for part of 1781, and the whole of 1782 and 1783.

Mifcellaneous Obfervations in Natural Hiftory. By the Hon. Benjamin Lincoln, Efq.

Accounts of feveral ftrata of earth and fhells on the banks of York River in Virginia;-of a fubterraneous paffage, and the fudden de cent of a very large current of water from a mountain, near Carlifle;-of a very large fpring near Reading in Pennfylvania; and alfo of feveral remarkable fprings in the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, compofe this memoir.

An Account of a Foffil Subftance, containing Vitriol and Sulphur, found at Lebanon. By the Rev. Jeremy Belknap, No analysis of this fubftance is given.

An Account of a Yellow and Red Pigment found at Norton, with the Proces for preparing the Yellow for Ufe. By Samuel Deane. This is an earth, probably of iron, which by fimple washing is ufed for a yellow paint, and which, when heated to a red heat, retains, after it is cooled, the red colour communicated by the fire.

An Account of an Oil Stone found at Salisbury. By the Rev. Samuel Webster.

Obfervations on the Culture of Smyrna Wheat. By Benjamin Gale. Account of an Experiment for raifing Indian Corn in poor Land. By Jofeph Greenleaf, Efq.

The next is a

These three memoirs are of a local nature. mere curiofity, being an account of an apple-tree that brought forth both fweet and four fruit at the fame time.

On ingrafting Fruit Trees, and on the Growth of Vegetables. By the Hon. Benjamin Lincoln, Efq.

We have here fome ufeful hints for ingrafting, and a valuable difquifition on vegetation. The botanift yet laments that many

of the phenomena in the vegetable world are better known than underflood. We are in want of experiments to determine fome doubtful points in the theory of vegetation; and though much has been done, much yet remains for the curious inquirer to examine. The defcent of the fap is a fact which Mr. Lincoln wishes to prove. There is no doubt that plants abforb, by their leaves, fomething from the air. To what purpofe then does the abforption tend? To what parts of the plant is the abforbed matter fent? Why have fome parafitical plants no leaves? Thefe, with feveral other queftions, remain yet unanswered, and, on the prefent received theory of vegetation, feem unanfwerable. An Account of fome Vegetable Productions growing in America, botanically arranged. By the Rev. Manaffeh Cutler.

This long memoir may be confidered as the foundation of a Flora Americana. The plants are arranged according to the Linnean fyftem, with annexed defcriptions; with notes and obfervations relative to their times of flowering, places of growth, medical or œconomical ufes, &c.

On the Retreat of Houfe-Swallows in Winter. By Samuel Dexter, Efq.

Mr. Dexter adduces many facts which prove that the housefwallows fink into ponds and rivers in the autumn, and lie there benumbed and motionless until the return of fpring.

An Account of an Air-pump on a new Construction. By the Rev. John Prince.

It is impoffible to convey an adequate idea of this conftruction without the affiftance of plates. The contrivance is as follows: The barrel is covered with a plate furnished with a valve like Mr. Smeaton's. There is a valve alfo in the pifton; but none at the bottom of the barrel.. The ciftern on which the barrel is fixed, is deep enough to allow the pifton to defcend into it below the barrel; it is alfo wider than the barrel. When the pifton defcends into this ciftern, the air, if it be too rare to open the valve in the pifton, finds a paffage into the cavity of the barrel; for the pifton is of lefs dimenfions than the ciftern, and the air will escape between them. The pifton being drawn up, the air will be expelled through the valve on the plate which covers the barrel. Thus it appears that Mr. Prince's air-pump is Mr. Smeaton's without a bottom valve.

A Defcription of a Pump Engine, or an Apparatus to be added to a common Pump, to answer the Purpose of a Fire Engine. By Benjamin Dearborn.

A Defcription of a Fire Engine. By the fame. Thefe two engines are the common forcing pump without an air veffel.

Obfervations on the Art of making Steel. By Daniel Little. Mr. Little recommends, from experience, dried fea weed, pulverized, and mixed with half of its quantity of wood afhes, as an excellent cement for making fteel. He defcribes the whole process with precifion, and gives ample directions for the conftruction of furnaces, and the method of managing the operation.

Part III. MEDICAL PAPERS.

An Account of the Horn Diflemper in Cattle; with Obfervations on that Difcafe. By the Hon. Cotton Tufts, M. D.

The disease here defcribed affects the internal fubftance of the horn [in cows] called the pith. This fpongy bone is fometimes partially and fometimes wholly wafted. The fymptoms are, a coldness in the horn, a dulnefs in the countenance, a fluggifhnefs in moving, a heaviness of the eyes, lofs of appetite, an inclination for lying down, and fometimes a giddinefs, and frequent toffing of the head. The cure confifts in making an opening into the cavity of the horn, near its root, for the evacuation of the fanies. To complete the cure, Dr. Tufts has found an injection of rum, honey, and tincture of myrrh and aloes, highly neceffary.

Cafe of a remarkably large Tumor found in the Cavity of the Abdamen. By Joshua Fisher.

Appears to be a fchirrous uterus.

Remarks on the Effects of flagnant Air. By Ebenezer Beardsley, Surgeon.

Stagnant air feems to have been the caufe, if not of producing, yet of exacerbating a dyfentery which broke out in the American army, in the fpring of 1776.

A remarkable Cafe of a Gun Shot Wound. By Barnabas Binney,

The man who received this wound was ftationed on the maintop. The ball entered the belly about two inches above the left groin, and within one inch of the anterior edge of the ilium, and paffed out about two inches on the right of the fpine between the two inferior true ribs, touching the inferior angle of the right fcapula. When he was brought to the hofpital, he had bled much, was weak and cold, had a faultering voice, a cadaverous countenance, a conftant hiccup, an hæmoptosis, and the fæces paffing through the wound in his belly. Mr. Binney, fuppofing that, under fuch deplorable circumftances, neither nature nor art could afford any permanent relief, gave his patient an opiate in wine, with the intention of fmoothing the path of death. The violence of the fymptoms abated: the opiate was Continued occafionally for thirteen days, during which time there was a conftant difcharge of the inteftinal contents through

the

the wound: the other fymptoms were removed. On the fourteenth day, a glyfter was adminiftered, the greatest part of which was evacuated through the wound. On the eighteenth, the operation was repeated, when for the first time an alvine dejection was procured. From this time the excretions were reftored, the wounds fuppurated and healed, and the patient was discharged, perfectly cured.

We have given this abftract of the cafe, because we think it curious, and perhaps the most extraordinary cure on record. The colon must have been wounded, becaufe the fæces and the glyffer paffed through the wound: that the diaphragm must have been perforated, and the lungs lacerated, is evident from the fpitting of blood.

Hence it is evident, that a wound in the colon is not always. mortal and that a perforation of the diaphragm is not the abfolute cause of death: but, above all, this fingular cafe plainly proves, that where furgeons are not certain of the utility of their operations, they had better, following Mr. Binney's judicious practice, leave a defperate diforder in the hands of nature, than, through too great an officioufnefs, proceed on doubtful and precarious grounds.

A Bill of Mortality for the Town of Salem, for 1782. ward Auguftus Holyoke, M. D.

By EdA Hiflory of a large Tumor in the Abdomen, containing Hair. By John Warren, Efq.

As no practical inference can be drawn from this, more curious than inftructive, cafe, we fhall pass it over.

Experiments on the Waters of Boflon. By J. Feron.

Some of the waters in Bofton, and its neighbourhood, are here analyzed.

Obfervations on the Longevity of the Inhabitants of Ipfwich and Hingham. By the Rev. Edward Wigglesworth.

Thefe obfervations were made with the laudable intention of afcertaining facts for the foundation of a true theory for calculating the values of life eftates, or of their reverfions. The climate of different places muft neceffarily fomewhat alter the longevity of men; and it is the duty of public-fpirited men, in every country, to obtain all the knowlege they poffibly can on a fubject which may materially concern its inhabitants, especially fuch of them as are poffeffed of property, and are of confequence in the ftate.

We have now gone through the contents of this large volume, -which, though not replete with many new difcoveries in the arts and sciences, may, nevertheless, be confidered as a proof, that philofophical purfuits are carried on with vigour in the American States; and every zealous cultivator of the arts will behold with fatisfaction the fuccefsful progrefs of Literary and

5

Learned

Learned Inftitutions, in whatever part of the globe. For TRUTH and philofophic LEARNING are fuperior to all party, and even national, diftinctions. THEIR views will ever extend beyond the narrow boundaries of local and feparate interefts, which divide fociety from fociety, and one body of men from another. To promote the common good of mankind, and to increase the general ftock of human happiness, by the diffufion of ufetul knowlege, benevolence, and wifdom, is THEIR great obje, and leading principle:-Profperity attend them!

ART. II. The Life of Captain James Cook. By Andrew Kippis, D. D. F. R. S. and S. A. 4to. 11. 1s. Boards. Nicol. 1788. N the preface to this publication, Dr. Kippis fays,

have

as a writer, I never did it with fo much diffidence and anxiety as on the prefent occafion. This arifes from the peculiar nature of the work in which I have now engaged. A narrative of the life of Captain Cook must principally confit of the voyages and difcoveries he made, and the difficulties and dangers to which he was expofed. The private incidents concerning him, though collected with the utmost diligence, can never compare, either in number or importance, with his public tranfactions. His public tranfactions are the things that mark the man, that difplay his mind and his character; and, therefore, they 'are the grand objects to which the attention of his biographer must be directed. However, the right conduct of this bufinefs is a point of no fmall difficulty and embarraffment. The question will frequently arife, how far the detail fhould be extended? There is a danger, on the one hand, of being carried to an undue length, and of enlarging, more than is needful, on facts which may be thought already fufficiently known; and, on the other hand, of giving fuch a jejune account, and fuch a flight enumeration, of important events, as fhall difappoint the wifhes and expectations of the reader. Of the two extremes, the laft feems to be that which fhould most be avoided; for, unless what Capt. Cook performed, and what he encountered, be related fomewhat at large, his life would be imperfectly reprefented to the world. The proper medium appears to be, to bring forward the things in which he was perfonally concerned, and to pass flightly over other matters. Even here it is fcarcely poffible, nor would it be defirable, to avoid the introduction of fome of the most striking circumftances which relate to the new countries and inhabitants that were vifited by our great Navigator; fince these constitute a part of the knowledge and benefit derived from his undertakings. Whether I have been fo happy as to preferve the due medium, I prefume not to determine. I have been anxious to do it, without always being able fully to fatisfy my own mind that I have fucceeded; on which account I fhall not be furpized if different opinions fhould be formed on the fubject. In that cafe, all that I can offer in my own defence will be, that I have acted to the best of my judgment.'

Were we difpofed to fet our judgment in competition with that of fuch a veteran in biographical writing as Dr. Kippis;

and