88

Thefe meafures were taken by the
{aid princefs and feveral of her at-
tendants. This man eats greedily,
lleeps well, but dilicharges hiSf/rcer
and his urine involuntarily. The
firength which he has in his hai-ds
is very furpriling, being luch, that
it is difiicult for any pcrlim to get
loofe from him, when once he holds
fall. He is belides quick as to his
underllanding, he talks, and has a
good memory; feldom or never
forgetting what he may have read
in books.

Exlraé? of a Letter from Rome t0
M. lVlaty, Ill. D. Sec. R. S. on the
extraordinary heat ohfircutd there

this [tr/ifu/nztter.
[Read Dec. 15, x76$.]

Rome, Agull 27, i768.

S I remember when Mr. M-—

was here, he feemed defirous

to afcertain the degrees of heat and
cold ; I cannot help mentioning
the excelfive heat of this fummer,
which is much greater than has
been known in Rome for many
years. Friday, the 19th inllant,
the mercury in a well-regulated
thermometer according to Fahren-
heit’s fcale, expofed at a north
window, ‘where there was no fun
and very little reflection, ltood from
een o’clocl< in the morning until
about five in the evening at ninety-
nine. About half an hour after
fun-let it fell to ninety, and at mid-
night was fallen to eighty-five,
where it remained all night. This
is the hotteli day we have had; but
for theft: three weeks pali, at midday
the mercury has been always above
ninety-four, and at midnight fel»
dom under eighty-three, which is
the more extraordinary, asI do not

ANNUAL REGISTER, 1769.

remember to have obfcrvetl any
other (ummer above eighty-nine at
tniddayi, nor above fevcnty-five at
midnight. Notwithlianding this
great heat, there never was a more
healthy fummer at Rome: all the
holpitals are almoll empty.

James Barnes.

 

Thefbl/artuing account of an cxtraari
dirtatyfi/i) cf the eel trihe, which
1/55 authzr call: the Torporljic Eel,
i! taken from Mr. Bancroft’: in-
genious Eflgl an the Natural 
Iary hf Guiana, line/J’ fuh/z/hed;
and our” canlrrhute to il/u/irate the
‘various atromt: that harve hem
given of the Tarp/rein, as we]! a:
the theories that hwue hertz efia-
h/t/hm’ to account for it: amazing
ojleralzons.

‘H I S filh is a native of frefh
water, and is molt commonly

found in the river Ejfiqueho, being
usually about three feet in length,
and twelve inches in circumference
near the middle. It is covered with
a fmooth fltin, of a bluifh lead c0-
lour, very much like that of {hect-
lead which has been expoled to the
weather, being entirely deliitute of
fcales. The head is equal in fize
to the largell part of his body, but
fomewhat fiat on the upper and
lower fides, and its upper lurface is
perforated with feveral holes, like
thole of a Lamprey eel. The up-
per and lower jaws extend an equal
diliance, terminating in a lemicir-
cular lhape, and forming a wide
mouth, without teeth. On the back
part of the head are two [mall fins,
one 0n each lide, which, like the
ears of an horfe, are either elevated
or deprelTetl, as the filh is pleafed
or difpleafed. From about eight
inches below the head the body
gradually