Instances of suspended Animation.

209. The following was related by the celebrated Dr. Moyes.

A short time before the French revolution, an American gentleman resident in France, after a sudden attack, apparently died. At that time it was not easy to obtain burial for Protestants in consecrated ground; the difficulty, however, was at length got over, by a secret agreement with the monks of a neighbouring convent, who had promised to come at dead of night to take away the body, and inter it in their own chapel. The corpse was accordingly laid out and prepared for sepulture; and a friend of the deceased attended, to deliver it into the hands of the monks. This was thirty-six hours after the gentleman had appeared to expire.

Midnight was now arrived, but no monks appeared; the friend waited in expectation of them for a considerable time; but finding that he waited in vain, he at length determined to retire to his own home. Before, however, he quitted the remains, he wished to take a parting look at his old and valued friend. He approached the coffin, and gently took hold of one of his lifeless hands. To his utter astonishment, he perceived a slight degree of warmth in the limb, he then applied his hands to the other parts, and clearly felt the same effect. Overjoyed at the circumstance he immediately called in some attendants; ordered the body to be put into bed, and kept warm; and every method to be used for the restoration of life. The endeavour was crowned with success; and in a short time his friend was restored to life and sense, and lived for many years to relate the story of his own resuscitation, and providential escape from premature inhumation.

210. The following singular event occurred in 1767 to a Mr. Stone, who lodged at the house of a Mr. Seaman, in Charles-Town, South-Carolina. He had been waiting the issue of a law-suit of great importance, and was in a state of much anxiety. One night, having at supper ate heartily

of toasted cheese, and being much fatigued, he retired early to bed.

The next morning his servant went, as usual, into his chamber to call him; and found his master apparently a lifeless corpse. Mr. Seaman, on being apprised of the circumstance, instantly dispatched a messenger for the doctor, who soon arrived; but finding the body cold and stiff he conceived it useless to attempt any means of restoring animation. He gave it as his opinion, that Mr. Stone had expired shortly after he had gone to bed, and that no hopes of resuscitation remained.

In consequence, Mr. Seaman secured his friend's papers, money, &c. sent for a person to make his coffin; and gave directions for his funeral on the ensuing day :-dispatch being absolutely necessary in so hot a climate. The carpenter having measured Mr. Stone, in the presence of Mr. Seaman, they retired together; the latter locking the apartment, and putting the key in his pocket. Early in the evening the coffin was brought home, and Mr. Seaman accompanied the man to the chamber, to bid his friend a last adieu.

On approaching the corpse he was astonished to perceive the left hand and arm of Mr Stone removed from the side where he had placed them, and stretched out in an horizontal position. He took hold of the extended hand; and though it was still cold, he determined that his friend should not be removed from the bed till he had been again seen by the medical gentleman, who had attended in the morning,

The doctor came accordingly a second time; and soon discovered symptons that manifest the presence of the vital principle. Proper means for restoring animation were instantly adopted, and soon crowned with success. Mr. Stone was brought back to life, sense, and health; and after continuing abroad another year to finish his business, he returned to his wife and family in England.

To them he related circumstantially the account of his providential escape; and declared that he was sensible at the time the man was measuring him, of the purpose for which he was doing it, and that he suffered extreme agitation and distress at the idea of being interred alive, though he had no power to indicate his consciousness.

He said that he retained, and ever should retain, a perfect recollection of what his feelings were upon that occasion; but as they were rather such as are excited by an imperfect dream, or an attack of the night-mare, than those vivid ones, which

the mind experiences when its faculties are alert and unimpaired, he conceived they were not sufficiently strong to produce any great effect upon the muscular system. He believed, however, the removal of his arm was the consequence of an imperfect struggle; though he certainly could not have made the efforts which he imagined himself to have done; such as speaking to his friend, assuring him that he was alive, and entreating his protection.

Mr. Stone survived the event ten years.

Account of a White Female, part of whose Skin resembles that of a Negro.

211. Hannah West was born of English parents, in a village in Sussex, in 1791, about three miles distant from the sea. Her parents had nothing peculiar.

Her mother, who is alive now, (1820), has black hair, hazel eyes, and a fair skin, without any mark. Hannah was her only child by her first husband; but her mother has had eleven children by a second marriage, all without any blackness of the skin. The young woman is rather above the middle size, of full habit, and has always enjoyed good health. Her hair is light brown, and very soft; her eyes faint blue; her nose prominent, and a little aqualine; her lips thin; the skin of her face, neck and right hand very fair, in every respect, indeed, she is very unlike a negro; it is, consequently, very singular, that the whole of her left shoulder, arm, fore-arm, and hand, should be of the genuine negro colour, except a small stripe of white skin, about two inches broad, which commences a little below the elbow, and runs up to the arm-pit, joining the white skin of the trunk of the body.

Women with Beards.

212. Of women remarkably bearded we have several instances. In the cabinet of curiosities of Stutgard, in Germany, there is the portrait of a woman called Bartel Graetje, whose chin is covered with a very large beard. She was drawn in 1587, at which time she was but twenty-five years of age. There is likewise in the same cabinet another por

trait of her when she was more advanced in life, but likewise with a beard.

It is said that the duke of Saxony had the portrait of a poor Swiss woman taken remarkable for her long bushy beard; and those who were at the Carnival at Venice, in 1726, saw a female dancer astonish the spectators not more by her talents, than by her chin covered with a black bushy beard. Charles XII. had in his army a female grenadier: it was neither courage nor a beard that she wanted to be a man. She was taken at the battle of Pultowa, and carried to Petersburg, where she was presented to the czar in 1724; her beard measured a yard and a half. We read in the Trevoux Dictionary, that there was a woman seen at Paris, who had not only a bushy beard on her face, but her body likewise was covered all over with hair. Among a number of other examples of this nature, that of Margaret, governess of the Netherlands, is very remarkable. She had a very long stiff beard, which she prided herself on; and being persuaded that it gave her an air of majesty and consequence she took care not to lose a hair of it. Eusebius Mierembergius mentions a woman who had a beard reaching to her navel,

Change of Colour from Brown to White in a
Native of Bengal.

213. J. W. aged fifty-six, a native of Bengal, (his parents Mahometans, and both dark,) left India about the age of ten or eleven, and has since resided in Edinburgh, chiefly performing the office of a servant; but for the last nine or ten years he has worked as a mason's labourer (1818.)

During this period he has gradually lost his native dark colour, and become white, which he attributes partly to the climate, and partly to the action of lime and mortar in his occupation as a mason, which occasioned much itching of the skin. The change commenced in the hands and head; the hair from being black and lank, has become light grey, and somewhat curled. The parts which last retained their colour were the breast and the back of the neck. The only remains of his original complexion at present are some irregular patches of a dull purplish colour, covering the upper parts of the cheeks and prominences of the ears, and a

lighter patch at the tip of the nose. During the change of colour, no sensible alteration was observed in his health.

Case of a Child aged Six Months, who swallowed a double-bladed Knife without Injury. By W. Banks, Esq. Surgeon.

214. On March 16th, 1802, a child of Jonathan White's, Southgate, Chichester, about six months old, had a small double-bladed knife, about two inches and a half in length, given it to play with. On the return of its mother to the room, she sought in vain for the knife, in all parts of the cradle in which the infant was lying: the child expressed some uneasiness at the stomach, from which the mother concluded it had swallowed the knife; the bowels were kept lax by the use of castor oil; and the fæces soon began to grow black. The child took no food, but milk; seemed often very uneasy in its stomach, and had slight febrile indisposition; yet it continued to look well, and was sufficiently fat.

May 24th. The shortest blade was discharged by the bowels; the back of it very much corroded, its edges being ragged, uneven, and saw-like: the rivet was entirely dissolved. The general state of the child's health as stated above.

June 16th. The child after being for a day or two more than usually uneasy, and rejecting every thing offered as food, brought from its stomach in vomiting, one side of the horn handle about two inches in length, very much softened and bent double: a small bit of iron was passed a few days afterwards by stool. He frequently expresses great pain in his stomach and bowels, and starts much when asleep; has retained no nourishment for three days, and now looks much emaciated.

July 8th. The child more emaciated, takes little food, and unless when quieted by a decoction of poppies expresses more pain, continually writhing. Its bowels are lax, and the stools have a black appearance, and the abdomen exhibits externally a degree of inflammation. His pulse is soft and moderate while asleep; the skin feels rough; has voided nothing since the horn handle.