expulsion from civil society. They required a general visitation of all persons suspected of this distemper, that such as were found infected might be removed into particular hospitals, or into some separate places. These memorials were sent to court, which, giving due attention to these just representations, issued orders for the required visitations in the most convenient manner, for the good of the public and of the state.

In the mean time the post of physician-botanist became vacant in the island of Cayenne. The minister was pleased to name Dr. P. for it; and though this island was much more fertile in philosophical discoveries than all the others, he thought proper to change Dr. P.'s destination, and sent him to Guadaloupe; and did not forget the article of the leprosy in his instructions. When Dr. P. arrived at Martinico in 1727, Mons. Blondel de Juvencourt, then intendant of the French isles, communicated to him both the orders of the court, and all the memoirs that related to this affair. A tax was then laid on the Negroes of the inhabitants of the Grande Terre, to raise a necessary fund for this visitation, thus made at the expence of the colony; and Mons. le Mercier Beausoliel was chosen treasurer of this fund.

Being arrived at Guadaloupe, the Count de Moyencourt, and Mons. Mesnier, ordinator and subdelegate to this intendance, communicated to him the orders of the general and intendant. Dr. P. began then to inform himself of the necessary instructions for acquitting himself of this dangerous commission, the disagreeable consequences of which he easily foresaw. He had so often heard of these leprous spots, that he judged it necessary to know, whether what was said was true: for he could not comprehend that a disease, which has so dreadful an end, and the symptoms then so terrible, should continue 10 or 15 years without any other appearance than these simple spots, which in themselves had nothing very bad. He demanded an inquest to be made, in order to satisfy himself of this fact: several surgeons, as practitioners, and several honest inhabitants, as observers, were accordingly called together, who all proved the same fact in this inquest; which may be seen in the register of the subdelegation of this island..

Result of the Visitation.

2.

1. None of the patients, whom Dr. P. visited, had any fever; and they all declared, that they found no inconvenience nor pain; but, on the contrary, eat, drank, and slept well, performing every natural function; which was proved by their plumpness, which appeared even when the disease was most confirmed. The disease began to show itself in the Negroes by reddish spots, a little raised, on the skin, being a dry kind of tetter, neither branny nor scabbed, and without any running, but of a livid red, and very ill-conditioned. The Negroes sometimes bring these spots with them from their own country. stantly found on every person troubled with this disease;

The spots are conand are in greater

numbers, in proportion as the disease becomes more inveterate. 3. Among the whites the disease shows itself at the beginning by spots of a livid violet colour, without pain; which are followed by little watery bladders, particularly on the legs, which burst, and leave small ulcers with pale edges, and different in their natures from the common ulcers. 4. In proportion as the disease increased, the hands and feet grew larger, without any signs of inflammation; since neither redness, nor pain, nor any oedematous appearance accompanied it; but it was the very flesh, that increased in bulk. And this growth of the hands and feet. was not attended with any sharp pain, but only a kind of numbness. 5. This bloated state of the hands and feet was succeeded by white deep ulcers under the skin, which became callous and insensible; and which emitted only a clear serous matter like water, and were but little painful. Afterwards the ends of the fingers became dry, the nails became scaly, and as it were eaten away; the ends of the fingers dropped off; then the joints separated without pain, and the wounds cicatrised of themselves, without the least need of medicines. In the increase of the distemper, hardnesses and lumps were formed in the flesh, the colour became tarnished, the nose swelled, and the nostrils grew wide, at last the nose softened like paste, the voice became hoarse, the eyes round and brilliant, the forehead covered with tetters and lumps, as well as the face; the eyebrows became very large, the countenance was horrible, the breath foetid, the lips swelled, large tubercles were formed under the tongue; the ears grew thick and red, and hung down; and such was the insensibility of all the parts, that pins were run through the hands of several, without their feeling any thing of it. In short, he was assured, that these people perished by degrees, falling into a mortification; and the limbs dropped off of themselves, without much pain, such persons continuing still to perform well their natural functions. 6. These leprous people lived thus easy, as it were, for several years, even 15 or 20; for the disease begins insensibly, and shows itself but very slowly. 7. Antivenereal remedies, which were ordered for almost every patient, were of no service; if they sometimes palliated some symptoms, they very often hastened the progress of the disease: besides. they never found the parts of generation at all infected, nor any thing that. looked like the pox about them. 8. Some of these people had indeed particular symptoms. In some the hair fell off; which was replaced by a finer kind: in others, worms were found in their ulcers: want of sleep, or frightful dreams, afflicted some, while others quite lost their voice, or it became effeminate like that of eunuchs; and others stunk extremely. 9. Almost all of them, being desirous of concealing their disorders, endeavoured to deceive the commissioners, by alleging false excuses for the causes of their sores and ulcers: the greater part of them pretended that the rats had eaten off their toes, and that burns had caused their ulcers.. 10. The commissioners were confirmed in their opinions

by experience, supported by verbal process, that this was the state of the diseased; that the distemper could neither be the pox, nor the effect of an inveterate one: that it had no symptom of that disease; but that it had every character of what the ancients called leprosy, elephantiasis, or such other names, as they were pleased to give it. So that they did not hesitate to pronounce, that those infected with this disease, as above described, ought to be treated as leprous persons, and subject to the ordinances, which his majesty was pleased to issue against such persons. 11. Again, they were well assured, from their observations, that the distemper was contagious, and hereditary; and yet the contagion is not so active, nor poisonous, as that of the plague, small-pox, nor even as the ring-worm, itch, scald, and other cutaneous disorders: for, if that were the case, the American colonies would be utterly destroyed; and these persons so infected, mixed as they are in every habitation, would have already infected all the Negroes whom they come near. 12. They believed that this contagion did not take place but by long frequenting the company of the infected, or by carnal knowledge. Besides, they had observed that even such long frequenting, or cohabiting with them, were not always sufficient to communicate the disease; because they had seen women cohabit with their husbands, and husbands with their wives, in the distemper, while one was sound, and the other infected. They saw families communicate and live with leprous persons, yet never be infected; and thus, though experience, and the information of the sick, prove the contagion, they were of opinion, that there must be a particular disposition in people to receive the poison of the leprosy. 13. As to what regards the distemper's being hereditary, it is assuredly so. They had seen entire families infected; and almost every child of a leprous father or mother fall insensibly into the leprosy; and yet, in several other families, they had seen some children sound, and others tainted; the father had died of the disease, and the children grew old without any infection: so that, though it was certainly hereditary, yet they believed it was of the same nature with those in families troubled with the consumption, gravel, and other hereditary distempers; which are transmitted from father to son, without being so very regular, as to effect every one of the family. 14. They could never find out any certain rule of judging, at what age the disease showed itself first in those who were begotten by infected parents; but they had, as far as they could, observed, with regard to women or girls, that the symptoms began with the menses, and continued slightly till they had lain-in of a child or two; but that then more visible, and indeed more cruel, symptoms appeared. As to men, or infants, there was no rule to know it in them. 15. For the explanation of the causes, symptoms, and what they thought the most likely means of cure, they referred to a particular dissertation. Let it suffice here to observe, that they did not imagine that the air, water, or manner of living, could produce it;

for they had found as many sick in the low marshy places, as in more airy saline places: and if many Negroes were infected in the Grande Terre, where they drink the foul waters of ponds and lakes, they saw an equal number ill in places. where they had fresh rivers and running waters; but they might prove proper causes for unlocking, and disposing persons to receive the disease. 16. They believed, and were persuaded, that the origin of this disease among the Negroes came from Guinea, for almost all the Negroes from that country told them, they came from thence with these reddish spots, the first and certain signs of the distemper begun. 17. As to the infected whites and mulattoes of Guadaloupe, they were informed, that the disease was not known among the whites, till about 25 or 30 years before, when, out of charity, they received a miserable object from the island of St. Christopher's, whose name was Clement; who, about the year 1694, fled to this island. It was the family of the Josselins, called the Chaloupers, that protected him; which family, as also that of the Poulins, they found infected by communication with this sick man, as old Poulin declared to. them. It is thought that others were infected by communication with the Negro women, especially in the beginning, when the disease is much concealed, and at a time when they did not mistrust one another; which is very probable, since they saw many mulatto children, born of female Negroes, infected and leprous.. 18. However this be, this distemper had had its progress; and in this visitation, which they made, they examined 256 suspected persons: that is, 89 whites, 47 free mulattoes, and 120 Negroes; among whom they found 22 whites, 6 mulattoes, and 97 Negroes, infected with the leprosy, amounting to 125. There were 6 whites and 5 Negroes more, whom they could not visit, for reasons set. forth in the verbal process. The remaining persons, which were 131, appeared to them very sound: not that they could answer for the consequences, especially with respect to the children, who were the offspring of leprous persons, whether declared such by them, or dead before the visitation, suspected of infection.

This was the opinion, declaration, and result of the visitation made by them, the physicians and surgeon appointed for that purpose. At Basseterre, the day above-mentioned.

PEYSSONEL.

A second visitation was made in October 1748.

LEMOINE.

MOULON..

VIII. On the late Discoveries of Antiquities at Herculaneum. By Camillo Paderni, Keeper of the Herculaneum Museum, and F. R.S. Dated Naples, Dec. 16, 1756. p. 49.

One treats of rhe

Two volumes of the ancient papyrus have been unrolled. toric, the other on music; and both are written by the same author, Philodemus.. Il Signor Canonico Mazzocchi, a very learned gentleman of this city, is now

translating them from the Greek. There are two persons constantly employed in unrolling other volumes.

In the month of April were found 2 fine busts of women, the subjects unknown. Also a young stag, of excellent workmanship, on a base. The height of it, from the feet to the top of the head, is 3 palms. Likewise its companion, but broken in many pieces. In May, a small young hog. In October, a female statue, of middling workmanship. Also a Silenus, a palm and 3 inches high, standing on a square base, raised on 3 rows of steps, supported at the angles by lions' claws. He has a bald head, a long curled beard, a hairy body, ́ and naked feet. The drapery about him is loose and flowing: the fore finger of each hand is extended, and all the rest are closed. From his back arises a branch above the head, where it divides into 2, which, twisting their foliage round it, fall and spread themselves below the shoulders, on each of which a stand is placed to fix a lamp. In the middle, between the extremities of these 2 small branches, is a bird resembling a parroquet. The whole of this figure is in a very good taste. All these things above-mentioned are of bronze. In November was discovered a beautiful marble Terminus, of Greek workmanship, as large as the life. It is dressed in a chlamys; has a young countenance; and the head is covered with a Grecian helmet. Many other things have also been found; as lamps, vases, and such-like, in bronze. And we have often met with paintings.

IX. Of some Trees discovered Under-ground on the Shore at Mount's Bay in Cornwall. By the Rev. Mr. William Borlase, F. R. S. p. 51.

In the said place one day Mr. B. found the roots of a tree, branching off from the trunk in all directions. And, on further search, about 30 feet to the west found the roots of another tree, but without any trunk, though displayed in the same horizontal manner as the first. Fifty feet farther to the north was the body of an oak, 3 feet in diameter, reclining to the east. On digging about it,

it was traced 6 feet deep under the surface; but its roots were still deeper than they could pursue them. Within a few feet distance was the body of a willow, 14 foot in diameter, with the bark on; and one piece of a large hazel branch, with its bark on. What the first 2 trees were, was not easy to distinguish, there being not a sufficiency remaining of the first, and nothing but roots of the second, both pierced with the teredo, or augur-worm. Round these trees was sand, about 10 inches deep, and then the natural earth, in which these trees had formerly flourished. It was a black marsh earth, in which the leaves of the juncus were entirely preserved from putrefaction. These trees were 300 yards within full sea-mark; and, when the tide is in, have at least 12 feet of water above them; and doubtless there are the remains of other trees farther towards the south,