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colour, as the wild boars. They have fine, silky, curled bristles. Never did a Spanish hog's bristle pierce a shoe. What a quantity of dandruff is daily secerned from the glands of a stabled horse, the curry-comb and haircloth ever in hand; how clean is the skin of a horse that lives in the open air!

I am, Sir, &c. 1764, May and June.

W. B.

XXXVII, Observations on Parish Registers.

SIR,

Whittington, June 14, 1764. OUR Parish Registers, to speak generally, were very

ill kept during the time of the grand usurpation; but after the Restoration of King Charles II. that is, from the year 1660, the entries were more regularly made. The consequence of this has been, that, till of late years, it has been difficult to ascertain the ages of those people that pretended to exceed a century; but this can now, and at all times from henceforward, very easily be done. I shall here give you an instance of this, in a person who is at this instant upon record to be in her hundred and first year. In our register, at this place, the entry is, Miria filia Ephraim Houlms bap. tricessimo Januarij 1663.

I must observe here, that my predecessor, James Hewet, sometimes wrote this christian name Miria, and sometimes Maria ; and further, that he began the year the 25th of March. Now, this Mary Houlms, in 1703, married George Stubbinge, and is now living, being the widow of the said Stubbinge, this 14th of June, 1764; from whence it appears. she is now in her 101st year.

I say nothing of Mary Stubbinge's intellects, being of opinion, that notwithstanding what is said, now and then, in the papers, of people's enjoying their eye-sight, and their other senses, in great perfection to the last, it is very far from being a desirable thing, in a general way, to attain any such great age: Their strength then is but labour and sorrow. 1764, Yuly

SAM. PEGGE, R.

XXXVIII. Remedy for the Sting of a Wasp in the Throat.

MR. URBAN,

Leigh, Oct. 12. READING lately in the public papers, of a man, who, by drinking beer in a cellar, did therewith swallow a wasp, which, stinging him in the throat, was the cause of his death, soon after; it induced me to offer

you a similar case, but of a more fortunate consequence, that fell under my own practice and observation, to which, the other day, I was providentially the lucky instrument, by means of the following safe and simple medicine, of procuring both a speedy and effectual cure, and thereby, beyond expectation, of preserving my patient's life, of which I here send you the full account; that by your communicating the same to the public, it may hereafter conduce to the preservation of the lives of several others, who may at any time labour under the like dangerous accidents. The whole story is this :

On the 2d day of September last, I was called up in the morning, in haste, to Samuel Stenhoe, a shipwright, of Burnham, who was at work on a vessel at this town. He, by drinking a mug of beer brought to him, much frotheá upon the top, which thereby concealed a wasp, swallowed the insect; it stung him in the gullet; yet he continued caulking the hoy he was at work upon for some minutes after; till such a sudden and violent strangulation seized him, as constrained him to hurry to my house for assistance.

Wherefore, while I was, after the first notice, hastening on my clothes, and putting up a short prayer, or ejaculation rather, for success, I had a fresh call to be as expeditious as possible, or the person would be dead before I could see him, who waited below with his friend, speechless, and black in the face, kicking, and Ainging his limbs about for breath, with the utmost agony and consternation, expecting nothing else but sudden death every moment.

I bid him point to the place stung; he directed his finger to his throat, at the upper end of his breast bone, on the right side. It being a case I had never met with before, and having no time to lose, I quickened my thoughts, and son concluded all manual operations, as with those who are choaked with other kinds of extraneous bodies, would excite, instead of mitigating the spasmodic strangulation; when the following method came suddenly into my mind,

a

and to make the more haste, I made up the medicine with my own hands.

I took some honey and sweet oil, with a little vinegar, and with a spoon beat them all up well together in a half-pint bason. This mixture I then set down on the table by him, bidding him swallow a spoonful of it every minute, while the neighbour who attended him, and I, sat in the same room to observe the consequence. The first three spoonfuls we perceived, by his wry faces, passed down with great difficulty and pain, after which, he soon swallowed very easily and freely, and spoke out all at once, to onr agreeable surprise, like a dumb man come to his speech again, as loudly and boldly as ever.

Then I bid him carry the hason with the mixture with him to his lodging, and continue taking a spoonful of it often, though seldomer than before, and lie down on his bed, and compose himself, talking to no one, nor suffering any one to talk to him, least the choaking, I told him, should return again. He did so, and next morning went well to work, and continued easy without the least return of any of the symptoms.

Now, as gentlemen of our profession, in such sudden exigencies, are not always at hand, and most families have the three aforesaid ingredients within their own possession, or, at least, may soon obtain them in the neighbourhood ; I thought such a general publication of this uncommon case might possibly prove of universal benefit, and wish, whenever wanted, it may prove as successful from the hands of others as it did from mine.

Yours, &c.

JOHN COOK, M. D.

1765, Oct.

XXXIX. The famous American Receipt for the Rheumatism.

TAKE of garlick two cloves, of gum-ammoniac one drachm; blend them by bruising together; make them into two or three boluses with fair water, and swallow them one at night, and one in the morning ; drink, while taking this receipt, sassafras tea, made very strong, so as to have the tea-pot filled with chips. This is generally found to banish the rheumatism, and even contractions of the joints, in a few times taking. It is very famous in America, and 100). has been given for the receipt,

1766, June,

XL Account of the Conclave at Rome, and the proceedings upon

the Election of a new Pope.

THE title of cardinal was formerly common to the presby. ters and deacons of great churches in cities. But in the eleventh century, the presbyters and deacons of the church of Rome restrained the appellation to themselves, and as the dignity of the Pope increased, so did theirs ; tbe first dawn of this affected grandeur appearing under Pope Nicholas II. Innocent IV. at the council of Lyons, in the year 1243, gave them the red hat. Boniface VIII. in 1249, the red vestments, and Urban VIII, the title of Eminentissimi; whereas before they were only stiled Illustrissimi.Sixtus V. at the council of Basil, fixed their number at seventy, which is seldom complete. They are divided into three classes. 1. Six cardinal bishops, namely, the bishop of Ostia, dean of the sacred college; the bishop of Oporto, sub-dean; and the bishops of Sabina, Palistrati, Frescati, and Albano. These bishoprics may be held with other

. bishoprics, or archbishoprics. 2. Fifty cardinal priests; and 3. Fourteen cardinal deacons. The deans of these three classes are called their chiefs. Each of the cardinal priests and deacons bears the title of a church in the city of Rome. The Cardinals insist on precedency before the electors of the empire, and require to be treated on the same footing as crowned heads. The title of cardinal has no revenue an, nexed to it; but embassies, protections of Roman Catholic nations, governments, archbishoprics, prelacies, and other ecclesiastical benefices, enable them to live in great state, though not suitable to the rank they assume, more especially when they are of mean extraction, and have no fortune of their own.

The conclave is the place where the cardinals chiefly endeavour to give proofs of their genius and address. The decease of the

Pope is made known to the people of Rome, by tolling the great bell of the capitol, firing the cannon of the castle of St. Angelo, and opening the prisons; and to foreign cardinals by circular letters from the cardinal Cam, merlingo, who invites them to the approaching conclave.

Till the conclave meets, the Cammerlingo acts as regent; he is attended by the Pope's life-guard, and orders all things necessary for the opening of the conclave, which is held in the galleries and some of the anti-chambers of thay woble palace, the Vatican, and consists of a number of small rooms, separated by common wooden partitions, and distributed by lot, both among the cardinals then in Rome, and those that are absent. Each usually has two; one for himself, and one for his conclavist, (who are usually people of consequence, and act as secretaries.) These little rooms only contain a bed, three or four chairs, and a table. On the uth day after the Pope's death, all the cardinals in the city meet in the morning in St. Peter's church, where the mass Sancti Spiritus is celebrated ; and after a sermon on the duties to be observed in the election of a Pope, they proceed two by two into the conclave, which is then shut up by the governor and marshal, who are appointed upon those occasions, none being let out, except in cases of dangerous illness, till a new Pope is elected, and even then the person who leaves the conclave is not allowed to return, but loses bis vote. The governor of the conclave is always previously chosen by the cardinals; and together with the marshal, resides at the entrance of the Vatican. Without their express licence, no person is suffered to go in or out. Whilst the cardinals sit in conclave, refreshments are brought to the outside of the Vatican and deposited in boxes, which turn round like those usually placed at the gates of convents, 80 that whatever they contain may be received by the person within. Every conclave is said to stand the apostolic chamber in 200,000 scudi, or according to some in 300,000. Each cardinal orders his conclavists to write down on a slip of paper, the name of the person to whom he gives his suffrage for being elected Pope. This is thrown into a chalice which stands on a long table covered with green cloth, in the beautiful chapel of the conclave, which was built by Pope Sixtus IV. Two cardinals appointed for that purpose, successively read aloud the notes, marking the number of votes for every cardinal. He who has two thirds is declared Pope : otherwise the scrutiny is repeated till this number is complete. If this manner of election does not take place, recourse is had to another, called Accessus, by which the nates of the former scrutiny being set aside, every cardinal must give in writing his vote to another; and if by this way two thirds do not appear of one mind, there is still another resource, called Inspiratio, by virtue of which, such of the cardinals as are unaniinous, come out of their cells and call aloud to each other, and openly mention the name of him they fix upon for Pope: on this the others, to avoid incurring the displeasure of the new elected VOL. III.

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