fluid, are only the corporal principles of animals, not animals, having observed that their motion is always uniform and arbitrary, that this motion is preserved in boiling water, and that the same moving bodies are found in the infusions of the seeds of vegetables. These moving bodies he calls molecule, or moving original parts, serving as well to the formation of animal as vegetable bodies. He supposes that there are parts proper to form the head, heart, and every other particular part, in the proper fluids of both sexes, that when these fluids are mixed, the parts appointed to form the several members respectively, are, by mere physical causes, brought together, and so the head, arms, legs, and heart, are perfectly formed by this union; taking all this for granted, M. Eller is of opinion, that monsters by excess are caused by superfluous parts in the mixture. But the case of the monstrous dog, just mentioned, is still unsolved, for this dog was a monster by the accession of parts proper to a different species, and a want of parts proper to its own. To solve this difficulty then, with out having recourse to imagination, M. Eller supposes, that the mother of this little dog eat up one of the turkey's eggs, and the molecule of the egg not being destroyed by the heat or action of the stomach, did, in the course of circulation, by some means or other, get to the matrix, and join themselves to the molecule of the dog, to the great injury of such moleculæ, and having turned the dog head moleculæ out of their place, violently substituted themselves in their stead, and thus produced the phænomenon, which fools and wo men imputed to the force of ima gination, and a fright. As these surreptitious molecule related only to the head, and were yet able to establish themselves against all opposition, it seems not at all improbable, that by eating eggs, especially under the direction of a philosopher, dogs may be made to produce, not only compleat turkeys, but fowls of all kinds, to the great improvement of experimental knowledge, and illustration of occult principles, An account of the transmutation of one species of corn into another. observed in Sweden, where HIS phænomenon was first it was discovered by mere accident. A countryman having sown some oats in his field, and wanting provisions for his horses, mowed the young shoots of the grain, soon after they were come up: the grain shot forth again, as usual, and the farmer mowed it as before. He did this at intervals, three times; the winter coming on, no more blades appeared till the following spring; when, shooting up as before, they were permitted to grow to perfection; and the crop, to the surprize of the poor husbandman, instead of proving oats, turned out absolutely good rye. This fact coming to the ear of a very ingenious naturalist of that country, Mr. Job-Bern Vergin, he suspected there might be some deception : and accordingly, in the year 1756, repeated the experiment, observing exactly the same measures, by design, as the countryman had taken by chance. The result of his experiment was the same; and his oats oats produced good rye, as that of the peasant had done before. A circumstantial relation of this extraordinary discovery was soon afterwards sent to their High Mightinesses the States General, by Mr. de Martiville, their envoy at the court of Sweden. Curiosity, and the desire of farther knowledge concerning this surprising phænomenon, induced some of the naturalists of that country, to try the experiment again. Among the rest was Mr. Syperstein, one of the · magistrates of Haerlem, and then president of the society, lately established there, for the improvement of arts and sciences. This gentleman sowed a handful of oats, on the 21st of June, 1757; and again another on the 26th of July following. The first he cropt at three several times, viz. on the 29th of July, the 8th of September, and the 18th of November. The last he cut only twice, viz. on the 13th of September, and the 18th of November. The succeeding winter happening to prove very severe, almost all the grains perished in the earth, through the inclemency of the weather: five of them, how ever remained alive, shot up in the spring, and produced large and full ears of good rye; which was reaped the 7th of last August. As the utmost care was taken in this experiment, to avoid any mixture in the grain, as well as to. prevent any grains of rye from falling accidentally, or otherwise, on the spot of ground sown, this transmutation, however strange it may appear to the ignorant, or inconsistent with the systems of naturalists, is looked upon here as an indubitable fact. With a view of prosecuting this discovery still further, M. Syperstein has sown a fresh parcel of oats, treating them as before. He has also sown some of the rye produced from the oats; which he has cropped in the same manner as he did the oats that produced it. He proposes also to make several experiments, with a little variation, in order to improve on this discovery. I am, Sir, Your's, &c. A. Q. The late Mr. A. Hill's directions for cultivating vines in America. R. Hill observes, that the board of trade, in a state of the plantations laid before the house of Lords, affirm that they had reason for concluding it practicable, to produce at Bermudas the wine made in Madeira; and that the plantations of Carolina and Virginia could produce excellent wine, is evident, says Mr. Hill, from their being encumbered with wild vines; and likewise from another circumstance, that slips or cuttings of vines brought from Europe, being planted in Virginia, in the spring, produce grapes in the autumn of that very same year they are planted. Since grapes are of so easy a growth in those countries, why is not wine a staple commodity among them? The truth is, says Mr. Hill, they want skill and philosophy. Their glebe, having never been weakened by culture, retains too rich and too oily a rancour. Hence the flesh of their grapes is too clammy, and instead of a free fluid liquor, emits, in the pressing, a juice of a ropy consistence, like jelly, mixed with a fibrous burnt taste in their room, that requires very long keeping, extraordinary agitation in the casks, and sometimes a too warm and improper exposure, before it can throw fibrous and pulpous coarse sub first to all palates. The wearing the the reasons of former attempts miscarrying, proceeds to mention the method by which thousands of wine-cuttings may be brought from Madeira at a very small expence; how they are to be planted and managed when they get to the plantations; the method of gathering and pressing the grapes, as also of the making, safe keeping, and sale of the wine; and, lastly, its calculated charges and profit. But for these particulars must refer your readers, who desire further information, to the book itself, as I have said enough to shew, that former attempts not proving successful, owing to wrong management, ought not to discourage the planters, from further trials, since Mr. Hill, who was well acquainted with the methods in all the wine countries in Europe, declares that the plantations, by following the directions laid down by him, would produce excellent wine. Before I conclude, I must observe, that Mr. Hill, in one of his letters to Mr. Popple, inserted in the same volume the above is extracted from, has some excellent directions to prevent that twang of the fire, so much complained of in the rum of the Leeward Islands, and gives us likewise the way they make the best sort of arrack in the East Indies, which is made from sugarcanes, and might with small ex-, pence be made at Barbadoes. Your's, &c. S. E. Acacia food for catile. M Bodasch, counsellor of comM. ..merce to the Queen of Hungary, professor of physic and natural philosophy in the univer sity of Prague, and member of the Florentine academy, published the last year, a treatise in the German language, wherein he proposes a noble addition to the food of horses and horned cattle; by cultivating the acacia. In consequence of a long course of observations, he asserts, that cattle are exceedingly fond of its leaves, which are to them a more agreeable nourishment than any of the most reputed vegetables, as lucerne, saintfoin, clover, &c. The leaves may be given them either green or dry; alone, or mixed with hay or chopped sraw. The culture of the acacia is no way difficult; it delights more in dry elevated soils, but almost any will suit it; and may be raised from seed or slips. Care indeed should be taken not to plant it near gardens and arable lands, because its roots are apt to spread to a great distance. The species of acacia fit for this purpose, is probably the acacia Americana siliquis glabris of Ray. Hist. Plant. Robinia Pseudo-acacia of Linnæus, not only because it has long gone under the name of acacia simply, and as it is naturally an inhabitant of North America, bears our climate extremely well, but principally as it is a tree of the diadelphous or leguminous class, of which the leaves are well known, almost without exception, to be very acceptable to cattle: my acquaintance with exotic plants, however, is but slender, and therefore I leave this matter to the determination of better judges. Your's &c. R. P. Essay as ever sprung from the earth; but Essay on the smut of corn, and a cure upon casting a few bushels of it for it. T is agreed on all hands, that can possibly happen to a crop of wheat, is that of its turning black or smutty; and as the real cause of such blackness (I fear) hath not yet been found out, the remedy against it hath not been generally and constantly made use of.-The cause assigned by all, or most of the writ-ers on agriculture, is, that at certain seasons a dense glutinous vapour descends, between the setting and rising of the sun, upon the ears of corn, and so binds up the valves, (commonly called the chaff) in which the growing corn is inveloped, that vegetation is thereby obstructed, because on such circumstances, it cannot imbibe those nitrous particles of the air, which tend to its maturation, and of consequence it becomes a mere rotten heap of putrefaction. From this method of reasoning, we observe the English farmers frequently in a summer's morning hauling a rope extended by two persons along and through the corn fields, to shake off this condensed air or dew; but I humbly apprehend, from the following reasons, that they are much mistaken, as to the real cause of that distemper. It being a difficult matter, some time ago, to procure good clean seed wheat, in that part of the country where I occupy a farm, I prevailed upon a friend to obtain for me three barrels of the red lammas wheat from England; when I had it home, it carried the appearance of as fine grain, and as clean and clear of dirt and smut, VOL. II. into my vessel of pickle, I found that at least a sixth part swam at top, and notwithstanding the freforce it to subside; thereupon I skimmed it off, but to my great astonishment it had the appearance of as plump and round grain as that which fell to the bottom; I spread it upon a table and examined it more minutely, and could not perceive the least defect in it; but upon opening it with my penknife I found it was concaved, or made hollow on one side of the grain, and not in the centre, which I apprehend was occasioned by some animalculæ imperceptible to the naked eye; whereupon, for experiment's sake, I sowed the whole of what I skimmed off, on one part of my fallows by itself, and sowed what subsided on another part, and the consequence of that experiment was, that the greatest share of that swimming corn at the ensuing season, produced a smutty crop, and, I had not a single smutty head on the part of the field where the subsiding corn was sowed: but not being satisfied with what then appeared, I examined more strictly that smutty crop and I found not only there, but in my neighbour's fields, which I also examined, that where two or more stamina or stalks were produced from one grain of corn (which I discovered by traceing them downward to the root) they were all smutty; and the different sound stamina proceeding from one and the same root, were all sound; from whence it may be reasonably inferred, that vegetation is principally produced, and plants are sustained and grow, by the Cc roots |