1 was well entertained for that night." The next morning he had a motion, which presented nothing extraordinary; and in the afternoon he had another, with which he passed one knife, which however was not the one that he had swallowed the first. The next day he passed two knives at once, one of which was the first, which he had missed the day before. The fourth never came away, to his knowledge, and he never felt any inconvenience from it. After this great performance, he thought no more of swallowing knives for the space of six years. In the month of March 1805, being then at Boston, in America, he was one day tempted, while drinking with a party of sailors, to boast of his former exploits, adding that he was the same man still, and ready to repeat his performance; upon which a small knife was produced, which he instantly swallowed. In the course of that evening he swallowed five more. The next morning crowds of visitors came to see him; and in the course of that day he was induced to swallow eight knives more, making in all fourteen. This time, however, he paid dearly for his frolic; for he was seized the next morning with constant vomiting, and pain in his stomach, which made it necessary to carry him to Charleston hospital, whereat, as he expresses it, "betwixt that period and the 28th of the following month, he was safely delivered of his cargo.' The next day he sailed for France, on board a brig, with which he parted there, and embarked on board the Betty of Philadelphia, to return to America. But on his passage, the vessel, which was probably carrying on some illicit traffic, was taken by his Majesty's ship the Isis, of fifty guns, and sent to St. John's, Newfoundland, where she was condemned, while he himself was pressed and sent to England on board the Isis. One day, while at Spithead, where the ship lay some time, having got drunk, and, as usual, renewed the topic of his former follies, he was once more challenged to repeat the experiment, and again complied, " disdaining," as he says, "to be worse than his word." This took place on the 4th of December 1805, and in the course of that night he swallowed five knives. On the next morning the ship's company having expressed a great desire to see him repeat the performance, he complied with his usual readiness, and "by the encou ragement of the people, and the assistance of good grog," he swallowed that day, as he distinctly recollects, nine clasp-knives, some of which were very large; and he was afterwards assured, by the spectators, that he had swallowed four more, which, however, he declares he knew nothing about, being, no doubt, at this period of the business, too much intoxicated to have any recollection of what was passing. This, however, is the last performance we have to record; it made a total of at least thirty-five knives, swallowed at different times, and we shall see that it was this last attempt which ultimately put an end to his existence. On the following day, 6th of December, feeling much indisposed, he applied to the surgeon of the ship, Dr. Lara, who by a strict inquiry, satisfied himself of the truth of the above statement; and, as the patient himself thankfully observes, administered some medicines, and paid great attention to his case, but no relief was obtained.* At * An interesting letter from Dr. Lara, was found among Dr. Currys's papers, which supplies some of the particulars respecting the patient's illness, while on board the Isis; last, about three months afterwards, having taken a quantity of oil, he felt the knives (as he expressed) it "dropping down his bowels;" after which, though he does not mention their being actually discharged, he became easier, and continued so till the 4th of June following (1806), when he vomited one side of the handle of a knife, which was recognized by one of the crew to whom it had belonged. In the month of November of the same year, he passed several fragments of knives, and some more in February 1807. In June of the same year, he was discharged from his ship as incurable; immediately after which, he came to London, where he became a patient of Dr. Babington, in Guy's hospital. He was discharged after a few days, his story appearing altogether incredible, but was re-admitted by the same physician, in the month of August, his health during this period having evidently become much worse. It was probably at this time that the unfortunate sufferer wrote his narrative, which terminates at his second admission into the hospital. I find, however, by the hospital records, that, on the 28th of October he was discharged in an improved state; and he did not appear again at the hospital till September 1808, that is, after an interval of nearly a year since his former application. He now became a patient of Dr. Curry, under whose care he remained, gradually and miserably sinking under his sufferings, till March 1809, when he died, in a state of extreme emaciation. VII. New Analyses of the Amphibolic Minerals; by P. A. de Bonsdorff. 1. Grammatite, from a quarry of primitive limestone at Gullsjö in Wermeland. Crystallized without secondary facets, the obtuse angle measuring 124° 33'; colourless. Fuses readily before the blowpipe with a strong ebullition. 2. Grammatite from Fahlun. Forming tetragonal prisms imbedded in talc; colour honey-yellow, harder than the amphiboles, and, in general, giving sparks with steel. More difficultly fusible before the blowpipe than the other minerals here described, but with a considerable ebullition. fine 3. Vitreous Actinote from the iron mines of Taberg, in Wermeland; accompanied with oxidulous iron ore, green foliated talc, and a little calcareous spar. Scopiform, straight or curved; and passes by an insensible transition from green rays of a considerable size to very white fibres, having perfectly the aspect of asbest; it is very brittle, and has a very strong vitreous lustre. The deeply striated surfaces of the crystals do not permit an exact determination of the angles. Before the blowpipe, it presents, in the exterior flame, little shining bubbles, accompanied with a kind of phosphorescence: in the interior flame it melts with difficulty into an opaque glass. 4. Asbest of Tarentaise in Savoy. White, flexible, and elastic. In the exterior flame of the blowpipe, it presents a great quantity of incandescent bubbles; but in the interior it melts tranquilly. 5. Bright grey grammatite, in tetragonal prisms, imbedded in carbonate of lime, from Aker in Sudermanland; accompanied by spinel, mica, and compact paranthine; colour bright grey, tinged with red; translucid. Obtuse angle 124° 34'. Before the blowpipe, in the exand the close coincidence between Dr. Lara's statement and the account of the patient. himself, forms a chain of evidence of the most perfect and conclusive kind. terior flame, it becomes pale, and presents bubbles from time to time; in the interior flame, before a strong blast, it melts with considerable ebullition. 6. Dark brownish grey grammatite found at Aker in the same limestone, and under the same circumstances as the preceding, with which also it agrees in characters, except as to colour. It is sometimes found crystallized with secondary facets. The oblique angle measures 124° 31'. 7. Amphibole from the 'iron-mines of Nordmark, in Wermeland, where it is accompanied by magnetic iron ore, and dark green chlorite, and sometimes by colourless apatite. Its colour is black or greenish black, it is opaque, and its powder is green. Reduced to a coarse powder it is attracted by the magnet, and, after calcination, in fragments of considerable size. Angle 124° 28'. Characters before the blowpipe the same as those of the actinote of Taberg. 8. Amphibole from Yogelsburg in Wetterau; matrix probably a basalt. Colour black or brownish black, by reflected light; but reddish brown by transmitted light; translucid, powder rust coloured. Crystallized in hexaedral prisms, with facets on the summits; the oblique angle of the primitive prism 124° 32'3. Character before the blowpipe as in the preceding, but it is more fusible than any of the varieties above described. 9. and 10. Pargasite and the Amphibole of Pargas. These minerals are found in the quarries of carbonate of lime at Pargas in Finland, and it is remarkable that, notwithstanding their analogy in composition, they never accompany each other, and are never observed to pass into each other. The colour of pargasite is green; that of the amphibole is perfectly black. They are found in grains; and in hexaedral prisms, having all the facets of amphibole, as well primitive as secondary; but the crystallization of the black variety is always the most complete. The green variety is much more translucid than the other. They both fuse before the blowpipe with a violent ebullition. 199.95/100-01|100-12 |100·08\100.18|99-93|100-89 97-10 [96-7899.5g The angles of the crystals were measured by M. Mitscherlich. M. de Bonsdorff observes, that it is a fact worthy of attention, that the amphiboles which contain alumina, or those of which the composition is most complicated, are almost always found crystallized with secondary facets; while the grammatites, of more simple constitution, present only primitive facets.-(Ann. de Chim. &c. xx. p. 5. From the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm.) * This mineral also yielded 0.42 of "substance mélangée." VIII. Electro-magnetic Experiment. M. Nordenskiold of Abo, now in this country, has communicated to me the following curious and simple experiment of Dr. Seebeck of Berlin. Take a bar of antimony about eight inches long, and half an inch square, connect its extremities by twisting a piece of brass wire round them so as to form a loop, each end of the bar having several coils of the wire. If one of the extremities be heated for a short time, with a spirit lamp, electro-magnetic phenomena may be exhibited in every part of it. ARTICLE XVIII. NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. Mr. Physick, Sculptor, will publish twelve Subjects on Utero-Gestation, which he has modelled from the Originals of the late Dr. Smellie, and which are now in the possession of H. G. Clough, Esq. These Models are coloured from Nature, and will be open for inspection every Monday and Thursday (commencing the 3d October) between the hours of one and four, at 23, Spring-street, Portman-square. A Treatise on Dislocations and Fractures of Joints. By Sir Astley Cooper, Bart. F.R.S. 4to. with plates. Dr. John Boron is about to publish, Illustrations of the Inquiry respecting Tuberculous Diseases, with coloured Engravings. Joseph Swan, Esq. has in the Press, An Inquiry into the Action of Mercury on the Living Body. Mr. Henry Mayo, Surgeon and Lecturer on Anatomy is preparing for publication, Anatomical and Physiological Commentaries. Mr. W. Wallace, Surgeon and Lecturer on Anatomy is printing a System of General Anatomy, in an 8vo. volume. ARTICLE XIX. NEW PATENTS. J. Bold, West-street, Long-lane, Bermondsey, printer, for improvements in printing.-July 4. Jonas and John Hobson, Mythom Bridge, Yorkshire, woollen-manufacturers, for new machinery for a more effectual and expeditious mode of shearing, cutting, and finishing woollen cloth, &c. which require the use of shears.-July 27. J. Stanley, Manchester, smith, for machinery calculated for a more efficacious mode of supplying furnaces with fuel, whereby a considerable reduction in coals and labour is effected, as also in the appearance of smoke.-July 27. J. Pearse, Tavistock, iromonger, for improvements in the construction and manufacture of spring-jacks, &c.-July 27. |