the proportion of the other components. Should this prove to be the cafe, it might become an object of commerce, as we are affured, that it can be provided at Madras at a much lefs price than is given for wax, even in the cheapest markets.

ART. XXII. Account of fome remarkable Caves in the Principality of Bayreuth, and of the Foffil Bones found therein. Extracted from a Paper fent, with Specimens of the Bones, as a Prefent to the Royal Society, by his moft Serene Highness the Margrave of Anfpach, Sc. Read January 10, 1793

P. 402.

The following extract will afford full information to our readers concerning the fituation of thefe remarkable caves.

"A ridge of primeval mountains runs almoft through Germany, in a direction nearly from weft to eaft; the Hartz, the mountains of Thuringia, the Fichtelberg in Franconia, are different parts of it, which in their farther extent conftitute the Reifenberg, and join the Carpathian mountains; the higheft parts of this ridge are granite, and are flanked by alluvial and ftratified mountains, confifting chiefly of lime-stone, marl, and fand ftone; fuch at leaft is the tract of hills in which the caves to be fpoken of are fituated, and over these hills the main road leads from Bayreuth to Erlang, or Nurenberg. Half way to this town lies Streitberg, where there is a post, and but three or four English miles diftant from thence are the caves mentioned, near Gailenreuth and Klausstein, two small villages, infignificant in themfelves, but become famous for the, difcoveries made in their neighbourhood."

The feries here defcribed confifts of fix caves, connected by narrow paffes. The main entrance to the caves at Gailenreuth opens near the fummit of a lime-ftone hill. The first is a kind of anti-chamber, 80 feet in length, and 300, in circumference, is entered by an arch about 7 feet high, and appears, from several circumftances, to have been used as a place of refuge in turbulent times. The other caves are alfo of large dimenfions, excepting the fixth, and all of them abound with ftalactites and animal remains. Mr. Efper has written a hif tory in German of thefe caves, to which we are referred for a particular account of them.

ART. XXIII. Obfervations on the Fail Bones prefented to the Royal Society by his moft Serene Highnefs the Margrave of Anfpach, &c. By the late John Hunter, Efq. F. R. §. Communicated by Everard Home, Efq. F. R. S. Read May 8, 1794. P. 407. 2 plates.

The bones which are the fubje&t of the prefent paper, are to be confidered more in the light of incruftations than

extraneous foffils, fince their external furface has only acquired a covering of cryftallized earth, and little or no change has taken place in their internal ftructure.

Upon examination the bones were found to be principally thofe of carnivorous animals; and from this circumftance it is reafonably fuppofed that they frequented the caves, in which the bones were found, as places of retreat. From the difference in the state of the bones it is alfo conjectured, that there was probably a fucceffion of them for a vast series of years; and a belief of the very early existence of the caves, and of their being frequented as above-mentioned, is further confirmed by the great abundance of animal earth at the bottom of the caves.

The bones fent by his highnefs the Margrave of Anfpach agree with those defcribed and delineated by Efper, as belonging to the white bear; but concerning their agreement with thofe of the prefent white bear, Mr. Hunter expreffes fome doubts. This paper contains feveral ingenious general remarks upon the incruftation, prefervation, and decompofition of bones.

ART. XXIV. Account of a Mineral Substance, called Strontionite, in which are exhibited its external, phyfical, and chemical Characters. By Mr. John Godfrey Schmeiffer, F. R. S. Read May 29, 1794. P. 418.

The fubftance here examined takes its name from the place Strontion in Scotland," where it is found in granite rocks, accompanied by galena and witherite, which latter is defcribed by Dr. Withering in the Philofophical Tranfactions of the year 1784." Mr. Schmeiffer obferves, however, that he could not difcover any regular chryftallized thape, like the witherite, in any of the fpecimens he had feen.

Mr. S. fubmitted the frontionite to a variety of experi ments, which are here fully detailed, but no important conclufion was obtained. At the end of the paper we have the following note. The experiments newly communicated by Mr. Kirwan, and thofe which are promif. d to be communicated by Dr. Hope, will probably throw fome more light on the nature of the frontionite."

By

ART. XXV. Account of a Spontaneous Inflammation. Ifaac Humfries, Efq. In a Letter from Thomas B. Woodman, Efq. to George Atwood, Efq. F. R. S, Read July 10, 1794. P. 426.

The circumstances here recorded ought to be as generally known as poffible.

"A bottle

"A bottle of linfeed oil had been left on a table, close to which a cheft ftcod, which contained fome coarse cotton cloth; in the course of the night the bottle of oil was thrown down, and broke on the cheft (by rats mot probably) and part of the oil ran into the cheft, and on the cloth: when the cheft was opened in the morning, the cloth was found in a very ftrong degree of heat, and partly reduced to tinder, and the wood of the box difcoloured, as from burning."

This accident happened in an arfenal, and caufed much uncafinefs to the commiffary of stores, from his apprehenfion that it was the confequence of an attempt to burn the arfenal. Mr. Humfries, however, recollected a paffage in Hopfon's Chemistry, which inclined both him and Mr. Golding, the commiffary, to think that the fpilling of the linfeed oil upon the cotton cloth was fufficient to account for the accident; and this was clearly afcertained to be the cafe by fubfequent experiments. The burning of a Ruffian frigate at Cronstadt in 1781, although no fire had been made on board of her for five days before, gave rife to the fet of experiments alluded to in Hopfon's Chemistry.

ART. XXVI. An Account of an Appearance of Light, like a Star, feen in the dark Part of the Moon, on Friday the 7th of March, 1794, by William Wilkins, Efq. at Norwich. In Extracts of a Letter to the Rev. Samuel Vince, F. R. S. and of Three Letters to the Rev. Nevil Mafkelyne, D. D. F. R.S. and Aftronomer Royal; and communicated by the latter. Read July 10, 1794. P. 429. 1 plate,

The following is the fubftance of thefe extracts. Mr. Wilkins, defirous of feeing Mercury, had been looking out for that planet from the Caftle-hill in Norwich, but was prevented from feeing it by a clouded horizon. Upon directing his view to the moon, he was much furprized to fee a light fpeck in the dark part of it. As two ftrangers paffed Mr. W. he defired them to look at it, when they faid it was a ftar, not knowing as Mr. W. did, that a ftar could not appear between the earth and moon.

The fpot appeared," fays Mr. W. " rather brighter than any other enlightened part of the moon. It was there when I first looked. The whole time I faw it, it was a fixed, fteady light, except the moment before it difappeared, when its brightness increased; but that appearance was inftantaneous."

Mr. W. is confident he faw it five minutes at least, and after it disappeared, he found it a few minutes before eight o'clock. At the time, Mr. W. was in his 44th year, and had a strong good fight. This goodness of fight had been often remarked when he was at Orfordnefs conftructing a light-house;

light-house; as he could difcover veffels with the naked eye, which his companions could not difcover but with the, telefcope.

ART. XXVII. An Account of an Appearance of Light, like a Star, feen lately in the dark Part of the Moon, by Thomas Stretton, in St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, London; with Remarks upon this Obfervation, and Mr. Wilkins's. Drawn up and communicated by the Rev. Nevil Mafkelyne, D. D. F. R. S. and Aftronomer Royal. Read July 10, 1794. P. 435.

This and the preceding paper are clofely connected. Mr. Wilkins's obfervation attracted the attention of the aftronomer royal, and additional information upon the subject induced him to lay the whole before the Royal Society.

Soon after Mr. Wilkins's obfervation, Sir George Booth, Bart. and his Lady, being on a visit at the Royal Obfervatory, the appearance was mentioned; when Lady Booth faid, Thomas Stretton, their fervant, had seen a fimilar appearance from St. John's Square. Upon this information Dr. Maskelyne examined the man, with due caution, concerning what he had feen, and, upon the whole, concludes, that it must have been the fame appearance obferved by Mr. Wilkins.

"It is a fingular coincidence of circumftances," fays Dr. M. "that Aldebaran fhould the fame evening pafs behind the moon, in nearly the fame track which this ftar-like appearance was obferved upon the dark part of the moon's difk; but the two facts, confidered as independent of each other, are not incompatible. The appulfe of Aldebaran to, and fubfequent occultation by the moon's difk, was predicted in the nautical almanack, and obferved by many. I obferved its eclipfe at the moon's dark limb at 6h. 47' 30", and its emerfion from the moon's bright limb, at 7h. 30' 3' mean time, at Green

wich."

"

"I fhall make no conjectures on the caufe to which this extraordinary phænomenon may be attributed; but only remark, that it is probably of the fame nature with that of the light feen of late years in the dark part of the moon, by our ingenious and indefatigable aftronomer, Dr. Herschel, with his powerful telescopes, and formerly by the celebrated Dominic Caffini; although this has been fo illuftrious as to have been vifible to the naked eye, and probably equal in appearance to a star of the third magnitude,'

A lift of prefents received by the Royal Society, from November 1793 to July 1794, with the names of the donors, fucceeds the articles already noticed; and an index, as ufual, concludes the volume.

5

ART.

ART. VI. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Sc.
(Concluded from Page 455.)

THE third chapter of the first book prefents us with a passage well worthy of the reader's notice.

"It is faid of Chilo the Lacedæmonian, that on the laft day of his life, when death was approaching, he thus fpake to his furrounding friends:

That there is very little of all that I have faid and done in the courfe of a long life, which has given me caufe of repentance, you may, perhaps, well know. At this period I certainly do not delude myfelf, when I fay, that I have never done any thing the remembrance of which gives me uneafiness, one incident alone excepted, in which, whether I acted right or wrong, I am by no means fatisfied: I was once a judge, with two others, on the life of a friend. The law was fuch as to require his condemnation. Either, therefore, a friend was to be loft by a capital punishment, or the law was to be fraudu lently evaded,Of the various means of alleviating fo perplexing a matter which prefented themselves to my mind, that which I adopted 'feemed comparatively the most justifiable: I filently gave my own vote for his condemnation, but I perfuaded my fellow-judges to acquit him, Thus, in fo important a bufinefs, I neither violated the duty of the friend, nor of the judge. But the fact gives me this uneafinefs: I fear that it was in fone degree both perfidious and criminal, on the fame occafion, at the fame time, and in a common bufinefs, to perfuade others to do that which in my own judgment was not right."-Here we find that Chilo, a man of fuperior wifdom, was doubtful how far, in behalf of a friend, he might offend against law and equity; which thing alfo diftreffed him at the clefe of life. Many others alfo of thofe who cultivated philofophy, as appears from their writings, have en. quired with particular fenfibility and acutenefs, "Whether a friend may be aflifted (I ufe their own words) in oppofition to justice, to what degree, and in what inftances." Vol. I. P. 10.

We thall add the conclufion of this chapter, as, in our opinion, fuch a fentiment from the mouth of Chilo, makes the perplexity mentioned at the beginning of the chapter ftill more remarkable; and it may perhaps ftrengthen the affertions of thofe who attribute the faying to Bias.

*Chilo was one of the feven wife men, and faid to have lived 550 years before Chrift: little more is recorded of him than that he was wife and virtuous. A fketch of his life is given by Diogenes Laertius, in whofe work alfo the anecdote here related of him may be found. An example of his fagacity may be feen in the first book of Herodotus; and fuch of his fayings as are preferved, prove him to have been a man of profound thinking, and accurate knowledge of the human heart." Tranflator,

"Among