reflection through that part of the planet's atmosphere where the contact was to happen; and the well-defined streaks of light following it, he takes to have been the sun beams passing between mountains on the surface of Venus's globe.

X. Of some Improvements made in a New Wheel Barometer, Invented by Keane Fitzgerald, Esq., F. R. S. p. 74.

Mr. F. gave a former description of a wheel barometer of a new construction, with registers to mark the rise and fall of the mercury, which were published in the 52d vol. of the Philos. Trans. for the year 1761. And he here offers further improvements of the same, which are described.

The exactness and facility with which an account of the variations in the weight of the atmosphere may be kept, with the help of a barometer of this kind, Mr. F. thinks must be very evident. He often found, by extraordinary variations that have happened in the night, when the wind has risen considerably, how little the observations made with common barometers are to be depended on; and several times found by the registers, that the mercury had sunk 50 or 60 divisions; and one night particularly had sunk 117 degrees, and returned within a degree and half of the place he had marked it on going to bed. When a strong gust of wind rises, one may very plainly perceive the index of this latter barometer to sink several divisions, and rise again as it abates. Besides the satisfaction that a barometer of this kind might afford to a curious observer, Mr. F. imagines it might also be usefully applied to the finding the height of the atmosphere; with a much greater degree of exactness, at least, than can well be afforded by any other. It is generally allowed from experiments, that a column of air 72 feet high is equal in weight to 1 inch of water of the same base; so that, if the air were of equal density throughout, the atmosphere could be little more than 5 miles high. But as the density is found to decrease by the difference of pressure, and the air to be more rarefied or expanded in proportion to its distance from the earth, it seems reasonable to conclude, that if by accurate experiments, the ratio of its decrease were found regular in proportion to the distance from the earth, its height might be estimated with a much greater degree of precision than it has been hitherto; though it seems generally allowed that its real height cannot possibly be ascertained. The impossibility of observing the difference of the pressure of the atmosphere at small distances with accuracy by a common barometer, the scale of which is but 3 inches, is very evident; how far this instrument, the scale of which is 90 inches, might be conducive to the purpose, is submitted to the judgment of others. Mr. F. imagines it would not be difficult, with a proper teakle, to raise a barometer of this kind gently, as high as 200 feet; and if it were raised from the ground, and let down again from each distance of 20 feet, the registers would mark very exactly to the 600 part of an D

VOL. XIII.

inch at what height the mercury stood at each distance; so that the weight of each column of air of 20 feet, to the height it could be raised, would be found pretty exactly. And if a proper apparatus were fixed for raising the barometer, the experiments might be repeated, as often as requisite, with very little trouble.

XI. Observations on an Inedited Greek Coin of Philistis, Queen of Syracuse, Malta, and Gozo, who has been passed over in Silence by all the ancient Writers. By the Rev. John Swinton, B. D., F. R. S. p. 80.

The ancient piece Mr. S. proposes to consider here, has a place in the very valuable collection of the Rev. Mr. Godwyn, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, who has been possessed of it several years. It exhibits on one side the same veiled head of a woman that occurs on a coin of Gozo, before described; and on the other the figures forming the type, or symbol, on the reverse of that coin. Before the face of the veiled head, on Mr. Godwyn's piece, is the Greek word ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑΣ; and on the reverse the name ΦΙΛΙΣΤΙΔΟΣ, PHILISTIDIS, in the exergue. The medal is of nearly the size of the middle Roman brass, or rather of some of the Syracusian brass coins of the middle form. The head on the anterior part is tolerably well preserved, but the type on the other is in much the same shattered condition as that exhibited by a coin of Gozo, considered in a former paper, both of them having suffered not a little from the injuries of time. In fine, were it not for the legends, in different languages and characters, these two ancient pieces would agree in all respects, and might be considered as duplicates of the same medal. However, the Greek word on the anterior part, and the Greek name on the reverse, will sufficiently, he apprehends, announce the piece in question an inedited coin.

From this medal, in conjunction with those of Gozo, published by the Marquis Scipio Maffei, Sig. Abate Venuti, and the R. S. and that of Malta to be met with in M. Spon, it will most evidently follow, that they are all coins of Philistis; and that this princess was queen of Malta and Gozo, when those islands were under the domination of the Greeks, and occupied by them and the Phonicians. Which if we admit, it will further follow, that all those pieces were struck before the Carthaginians were possessed of Malta and Gozo. For the settlement of the Phoenicians in those islands was undoubtedly prior to that of the Greeks, and the Carthaginians succeeded the latter in the occupation of them. The medals therefore of Gozo by Mr. S. formerly named Punic, since the discovery of Mr. Godwyn's coin, he would rather denominate Phoenician, as being struck when the Phoenicians remained in that island. This seems to have been suspected by Sig. Abate Venuti, when he affirms the piece so perfectly similar to Mr. Godwyn's to be a Phoenician medal, or at least one of the most ancient Carthaginian coins; but, by Mr. Godwyn's piece, it is rendered abso

lutely incontestable. We We may therefore conclude, that the princess whose head appears on all these medals was queen of Malta and Gozo, before the Carthaginians were settled in either of those islands; though the time when she swayed the sceptre there cannot, for want of sufficient light from ancient history, with any precision, be so easily ascertained. But, from various circumstances, we may, he apprehends, safely enough place queen Philistis in the interval between Dyonysius I. and Gelo, kings of Syracuse, and even somewhere near the earlier of those princes, as her silver medals so much resemble Gelo's silver coins. If therefore it should be supposed probable, that the pieces of Gozo, adorned with Phoenician letters, were struck in that island, about 450 years before the commencement of the Christian æra; the learned would not, Mr. S. flatters himself, refuse their assent to such a supposition.

XII. A Letter from Mr. Tho. Woolcomb, Surgeon, on the Case of a Boy, who died of a Gun-shot Wound. p. 94.

Dec. 17, 1763, in the forenoon, Mr. W. was sent for to the assistance of John Kitt, a lad of about 15 years of age, who had just received a considerable wound by the unexpected going off of a gun loaded with small shot, held near his arm. He found the shot, by being so near, had acted altogether as a slug, had lacerated much, and made a pretty large perforation through the biceps and. brachiæus internus muscles, had bared the os humeri, and in fine penetrated quite through the arm from below upwards.

By the time Mr. W. arrived, which was almost immediately after the accident, he found little or no hæmorrhage, which made him hope the humeral artery had not been divided. On examining the wound, and finding no extraneous substances lodged, but the passage quite pervious to the probe; he dressed up with dry lint, digestive, &c. ordering the whole limb to be wrapped up in a warm poultice made with oatmeal, stale beer, and a good deal of oil. Returning in the evening, he found the patient tolerably easy, but applying his fingers to the artery of the wrist of the same hand, was not a little alarmed to find he could not perceive the least pulsation. It was but too easy to apprehend the cause of it; that in all probability the artery was divided, and if so, the limb perhaps would not be saved.

Mr. W. made his report to the friends accordingly. However, as no threatening symptoms attended, he was willing to see whether, if the artery was divided, the blood might not, as after the operation of the aneurism, find a passage by the collateral branches, and thereby the circulation be kept up. He was apt also to think, as there had been no hæmorrhage of the wound, that it might not be divided, but the course of the circulation be impeded only by some spasmodic constriction, which possibly by the morning might relax and give way; at

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all events, he judged it most prudent to wait. He dressed up therefore with a little warm digestive, after properly fomenting the limb, and ordered the cataplasm to be renewed as before. Little or no tension had yet taken place; yet, in order to obviate that, and the symptomatic fever that might be expected, and finding the pulse began to rise, he ordered him to be bled about 3xvj, and left him with a tourniquet put loosely round the arm, with proper directions to the attendants, for fear of any sudden rupture of the blood-vessel in the night.

The next morning he found him tolerably easy, but the pulse very quick and strong, and still no pulsation in the wrist of the wounded arm. The aspect of the wound very good, no tension round. However, as it was so nice a point to determine, whether the artery was or was not divided, and of consequence whether it would be more prudent, on the supposition it was, to proceed to amputation, or any longer run the risk of a mortification's ensuing; he judged it proper to have other opinions, and for that purpose, called in 3 surgeons of credit in the town.

They were all of opinion, as there were no imminent symptoms, it was best still to wait; judging rightly, that if a mortification took place only through defect of the blocd's circulation in the lower limb, it might easily be remedied by amputation above, time enough when it first made its appearance. He accordingly dressed up in the same manner, but had the patient bled again to 3x or 3xii, and gave a gentle lenitive, which procured a few stools. In the evening symptoms were much the same; pulse still strong and quick; bleeding was therefore repeated. The next day every thing seemed to take a favourable turn, the pulse grew much more calm, a good digestion came on, no tension at all was observed on the limb, and in this kindly manner they went on for 3 or 4 days. Though all this time not the least pulsation could be felt on the wounded limb, there was always a kindly natural warmth on it, and the patient made no other complaint than of a numbness and deadness of his little and ring-finger.

By all these favourable circumstances Mr. W. was induced to hope all danger had now been over, when about the 5th or 6th day from the accident, the appearance of the wound began to alter, and to look of a pale leucophlegmatic hue; the discharge became much more thin and serous, and very considerable fungi grew out from the surface of each wound; the whole limb both above and below the wound became greatly enlarged, the hand and fore-arm perfectly œdematous; the pulse quick and small, the countenance, from a fresh florid hue, sunk, pale and sallow. These alarming symptoms coming on, gave him the greatest reason to be apprehensive of the event. To obviate them as much as possible, he ordered the cortex both in decoction and substance to be administered every hour or two, and had fresh consultations with the other surgeons. It was not now practicable to amputate, as the distension of the limb extended quite to the

axilla. He therefore continued the use of the fotus, warm dressings, &c. as before; strewing over the fungi well with the pulv. angel. Yet they continued to sprout to a great height, and, though he pared away at every dressing all the dead surface with the knife, they baffled all endeavours to suppress them.

In this manner it continued to go on till the first of January, in the afternoon of which the patient began to complain greatly of being cold; and, though the warmest and most invigorating medicines were given, he grew more and more so, till about 11 or 12, when he expired. Neither before nor after death was there the least appearance of a mortification having taken place. However, in order, if possible, to investigate the true cause of his death, and to satisfy themselves whether the artery was or was not divided, in the presence of the other surgeons, Mr. W. laid open the wounded parts, and passing a probe through the artery at a transverse incision made above the wound, carefully dissected away the surrounding integuments, and thereby discovered a perforation (about the size of a small pea) made through the coats of one side of the artery. They were all at a loss to account, why there never ensued any hæmorrhage from so considerable a vessel's being opened, as no eschar could well have formed, nor yet appeared there any constriction or compression; and yet it appeared as plain, that the course of the blood was thoroughly intercepted in that vessel, by there never being the least pulsation at the wrist after the accident.

The cause of his death too at last seems to be pretty unaccountable, as no mortification ensued, which one would have expected to have been the natural consequence of the blood's being so intercepted. If, owing to the shock given the constitution, or remora to the circulation, should not one have expected the ill consequences would have been felt sooner? whereas, for nearly the first week, no patient with so considerable a wound could go on better, no wound could have a better aspect, or digest better. By the repeated bleeding, lenient cathartics, and proper topical relaxing applications, all degree of tension was happily kept off, little or no symptomatic fever attended, and seemingly every ill symptom was obviated. In what manner then shall we conclude death at last to have been brought about so long after, since he neither sunk under discharge from the wound, had no fever or convulsion, and no mortification ever appeared? and what shall we assign to be the true reason of no hæmorrhage ensuing, since there was so manifest an aperture through the coats of the artery? This he confesses himself wholly at a loss to account for.

XIII. Journal of a Voyage, made by Order of the Royal Society, to Churchill River, on the North-west Coast of Hudson's Bay; of 13 Months Residence 4