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Mr. Knight, in his report of the transactions of the Horticultural Society, mentions an improved method of cultivating the alpine strawberry. The process consists of sowing the seed on a mos derate hot-bed, in the beginning of April, and removing the plants as soon as they have acquired sufficient strength, to beds in the open ground. They will begin to blossom after Midsummer, and afford an abundant late autumnal crop. Mr. K. thinks, that this strawberry ought always to be treated as an annual plant.

The following curious circumstance respecting the toad, is communicated by a correspondent to Nicholson's Journal:-"A person," says he, "in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, who mandfactures brown paper, informed me, while I was observing his people at work, that he had frequently placed a toad amidst a pile of sheets to be pressed, and always found it alive and well on taking out, though it must have sustained with the paper a pressu ve equivalent to several tons; but a frog could never survive the same degree of pressure. I sought a long time for a toad to see the experiment myself, but was unable to find one till after the men had left work."

The cranium of a horrid animal, the race of which seems to be extinct, has been recently dug up near Minava. From the description given of this part of the skeleton, the animal must have been at least ten or twelve feet long. The horns which are attached to the head, and have partly passed into a fossil state, far exceed in size those of the oxen of the present day. They are a foot and a half in circumference at the root, and two feet and a half long. It was hoped that the entire skeleton would be recovered; but on further search, two teeth only were found. Foreign naturalists are of opinion, that this head must have belonged to the race of Urus or Aurochs, mentioned by Cæsar in his Commentaries, and which some even suppose still to exist in the mountains of Siberia, and in the forests of Poland.

In addition to the circumstances already detailed respecting the late earthquakes at the Cape of Good Hope, the following particulars are communicated in a letter, dated Cape Town, January 1810. My last letter was principally about earthquakes, which have been repeated almost every day since the 4th ult. During the last week we have had five or six shocks, but none except the three on December 4, and two since, have been violent. The Dutch inhabitants begin to console themselves with the idea that the noises we hear are thunder, although not a cloud is to be seen in any part of the sky. These earthquakes have greatly reduced the value of houses, most of which in the colony are more or less damaged. In every part of the settlement the shocks have been experienced, in some slightly, in others in a more violent degree. Salt water has been thrown up in places at the distance of three or four miles from the sea, without leaving any appearance of springs or openings in the soil. In other parts, where the soil is black, as low down as our wells have been dug, several spots of white sand,

about

about six feet in diameter, and generally of a circular form, have been thrown up, evidently in union with water, which immediately subsided. Springs of water have also burst out in many parts of the colony where there never were any before. A waggon, which came into Cape Town two days ago, sunk to the top of the wheels in a quick-sand, which is thrown up in the middle of a road that was before as hard as a rock. If these are the only effects that will be produced by such subterraneous convulsions, we have great reason to be satisfied with the result, since our climate appears to have been greatly ameliorate by them. Ever since the first shocks, we have experienced cool pleasant weather, and have been free from those violent winds, which at this season of the year, usually prevailed three days out of seven. During the last month, which is our Midsummer, the thermometer has seldom been higher than 72°, and the barometer has varied between 29.30 and 30-15. Our winter passed with only one storm of thunder and lightening, and that by no means violent. The first winter of my arrival (1808), I believe we had thunder two or three times a week, for five weeks successively. If, as some philosophers assert, electricity be the cause of earthquakes, may it not also account for the absence of thunder and lightening, which we have experienced during the last winter?

Dr. CLOUGH, Physician Man-midwife to the St. Mary-lebone General Dispensary, &c. will, on Monday the 6th of August, at ten in the morning, commence his next Course of Lectures on the Science and Practice of Midwifery, including the Diseases of Women and Infants.

Dr. SQUIRE will begin a Course of Lectures on Midwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children, on Tuesday, July 3, 1810. For particulars apply to Dr. Squire, 30, Ely Place, Holborn.

To CORRESPONDENTS.

In answer to L. E. of Godalming, on the subject of extending the prac tice of vaccination among the poor and indigent, by medical practitioners confining themselves to moderate charges, we can inform him, that there is scarcely a large town in the British dominions, in which there is not at 'least one establishment for the gratuitous inoculation of the Cow-Pox, where, not only the poor and indigent, but sometimes, persons in tolerably good circumstances, avail themselves of the opportunity of securing their children from the ravages of that dreadful disease the small-pox; and we have not heard of any exaction being practised by medical men, in places where no such establishments exist.

Dr. James Bradley's communication has been received. We regret its being too long for insertion in its present state; if the Doctor will permit us to make a selection from it, we shall be happy to give some of his valu'able cases and remarks to our Readers in the next Number. We shall presume upon his consent, if he does not forbid us by the 10th of the Month,

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MHOWSHIP'S CASE OF DISEASED BRAIN, p. 89.

Medical and Physical Journal.

VOL. XXIV.] AUGUST, 1810.

[NO. 138.

Printed for R. PHILLIPS, by W. Thorne, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London.

OBSERVATIONS ON DISEASES OF THE BRAIN, WITH CASES AND DISSECTIONS.

By Mr. J. HOWSHIP, Surgeon.

Case of Extravasation of Blood upon the Surface and within the Medullary Substance of the Brain; the latter probably accidental, and productive of a fatal Termination.

[With an Engraving.]

A. G. a young woman, about 22 years of age, had

been for at least a year and a half, a great sufferer from rheumatic complaints, principally in the head. These were attended with a violent head-ach of so great intensity, as sometimes to produce delirium. In one attack, the pains in the head ran on to so alarming an extent, that a temporary state of general paralysis was the consequence, and she lost the use of her limbs. These complaints, however, were, after some time, conquered by the adoption of judicious measures, and within the space of two months she had recovered tolerably well all the powers of motion.

In the month of January, 1810, she left her friends, and came to London from a neighbouring town where she lived. The weather was at the time mild, but finding herself very unwell in the head, she loitered about the streets till the day was spent, and in the evening sat down at a door. About midnight she was desired to go away by a watchman; from this she excused herself by saying that "she could not." Very soon afterwards, however, she was obliged to get up, and with others, walked a considerable distance to the watch-house. Here she remained for the rest of the night, sitting on the cold stone floor. Her companions repeatedly remonstrated with her, endea vouring to persuade her to go and sit down by the fire, (No. 138.)

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