2 That is, like as I were in fickness did I loath, &c. This will preferve the allufion, which is otherwise deftroyed. Indeed it is little better than nonsense to make DEMETRIUS fay, (as all the editions have hitherto done) that he loathed the food like as he loathed a sickness; nor can any other conftruction be put on the paffage, as it now stands, but what will be forc'd and unnatural. SIR, A To the STUDENT. S we have never had any particular account of the Pietra di Cobra publish'd in our language, the following detail of the wonderful virtues of that celebrated stone cannot prove unacceptable to your curious readers. That fome of the falutary qualities there afcribed to it are real, and not imaginary, I myself have had ocular demonftration; and have alfo been affured by Sig. TIBERIO SCALA, a very skilful and eminent apothecary in Leghorn, who had a most noble collection of natural curiofities, from his own knowledge and experience, that feveral others of them might be abfolutely depended upon. Sig. TIBERIO died in the year 1733, and what became of the abovementioned collection, I never was yet informed. But as this stone is doubtless to be met with in several of our English repofitories of natural rarities, and may poffibly be hereafter introduced into many others; it may not be improper for the owners of those collections to know what a treasure they are in poffeffion of. Besides, the following little piece may be justly confidered as an additional, and even most curious, article in natural history, hitherto omitted by all our English naturalifts. But I fhall not offer any thing farther, by way of apology for fending you the enclos'd; but only beg leave leave to affure you, that you are at liberty to make what use of it you please, and that I am, with great truth, T LA PIETRA DI COBRA. HIS ftone, call'd by the Italians, LA PIETRA DÍ COBRA, and by the Portuguese LA PIEDRA DE COBRA, is the produce of several parts of the East Indies, and particularly of the province of Quamfi, or Quang fi, in China. In those countries there is found a fpecies of moft venemous ferpents, denominated, from the hair growing on their heads, by the Italian miffionaries, ferpi capelluti, i. e. hairy ferpents. These creatures are taken in great numbers by the hermits, or anchorets, called fogues, who are a fort of priests, or philofophers, held in the highest veneration and esteem by the idolatrous nations fettled in thofe diftant regions. In the head of this animal grows that celebrated ftone, fome of whose excellent virtues we shall here beg leave to enumerate. The PIETRA DI COBRA is for the moft part of a blackish colour, tho' fometimes it is interfpers'd with cinericious, ash colour'd, or pale grayish fpots. In order to know whether it be genuine or not, it is to be applied to the lip; and if it fticks pretty closely to that part, it may be pronounced undoubtedly genuine. 1. If this ftone be applied to the puncture, or wound, made by the bite of any venemous animal, it will immediately adhere to that wound fo closely as not to be very easily separated from it; and, after it has imbibed the poifon, will of itfelf 1 itfelf fall off from the part affected, and leave it perfectly cured. After it has thus difengaged itself, it must be thrown into some wine, water or milk, where it will foon discharge all the poifon imbibed; and, after it has been thoroughly washed, may be reserved for another occafion. 2. If the pain ftill continues in the wounded part, after the ftone falls from it, which fometimes happens, the same stone, after having been thoroughly cleansed, as before directed, must be again applied to that part. And this must be repeated, after the proper discharges made into milk, water, or wine, in the manner above mentioned, 'till the ftone will no longer stick to the part affected. When this happens, the pain will be intirely removed; for the ftone will not fail adhering to the wound, or puncture, as long as any poison remains. 3. If the wound, or puncture, fhould happen to be extremely fmall, or quite clofed up, it must be opened with the point of a penknife, bodkin, or fome fuch like instrument; that the ftone may attract the more ftrongly, and consequently fuck out the malignant matter the fooner. 4. This invaluable stone cures the bite of a mad dog, a viper, a fcorpion, a spider, a wasp, or any other venemous. animal, in a very short time. 5. It likewife immediately heals all fcrofulous eruptions, peftilential bubo's, malignant humours, and all fimilar diforders; but a fmall incifion must be first made, that it may the more effectually and expeditiously imbibe the morbific matter occafioning them. 6. If the PIETRA DI COBRA be pulveriz'd, and drunk either in a little wine, or water, it certainly expels the poison introduced into the more noble and interior parts of the body, by the bite of any of the preceding venemous animals. 7. It has likewife been used, with good fuccefs, for the cure of ulcers, wounds, and other inward diforders occafioned by the venereal diftemper. But it has been observed to be the most efficacious in ftrengthening the yard, when by weakness of nature it has been render'd incapable of an erection, a small incifion being first made on the glans, that the ftone may be thereby enabled to exert itself with the greater vigour. 8. All kinds of swellings and tumours, occafioned by the pricking of thorns, or a concourse of the moft malignant humours, are cured by the continued application of this ftone, in the manner above related. 9. The fame ftone pulveriz'd is good for all wounds and fcrofulous eruptions. 10. It has likewife been found to be a fovereign remedy for the bite of a tarantula, in an incredible fhort time. Many people in Puglia, or Apulia, a province of the kingdom of Naples, have lately experienced this, and been immediately delivered by our stone from the racking pain caused by the poifon of that animal. II. 'Tis to be obferved, that after the ftone has difengaged itself from the wounded part, it is to be put into warm milk, water, or wine, and suffered to remain there for the fpace of three or four hours, according to the quality of the poifon to be discharged; that it may, by this means, be thoroughly washed and cleanfed. As for the milk, water, or wine impregnated with the poisonous matter, it must be immediately thrown away; left any creature, by drinking it, fhould be destroyed, or greatly hurt, according to the noxious quality of the venom imbibed by the ftone. 12. As } 12. As soon as the Indians and Chinese find themselves attacked by a malignant fever, or any other acute violent diftemper, they presently make an incifion in fome part of the body; and, upon the application of the PIETRA DI COBRA thereto, they foon recover their former health. 13. In fine, the virtues of this inestimable stone are infinite, and therefore cannot be enumerated here. But, for a fuller account of them, our curious readers may have recourse to the Fathers ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, MICHAEL BOIM, VALENTINE STANZEL, and GIUSEPPE PIETRUCCI, who have favoured the learned world with copious descriptions of them. Many furprizing experiments have been made of the fingular efficacy of this stone, in Asia, America, Europe, and particularly in Italy. Done from the Italian original publish'd at Bologna, and A new SYSTEM of CASTLE-BUILDING. CHA P. IV. Of the fervice CASTLE-BUILDING is to geniuses, and the advantages of an ideal above a real estate, Tis ufual to compliment fuch young gentlemen, who I have spent their health and fortunes in riotous living, with the title of geniuses; not that it requires any very great understanding to be extravagant, (for prodigality is no more a science, than it is a cardinal virtue) but because fuch is the courtesy of the kingdom, and the propriety of the language.- -Now it is not to this fort of geniuses I am addreffing myself, who have no other virtues than their vices, but to men of real merit and good understandings, who have nevertheless play'd the fool, and brought upon themselves that |