es acted upon our bodies by a
peculiar set of nerves, or through some medium of their own, was evident
from this, that they set the teeth on edge, though these, from their hard
and bony nature, are insensible to the touch. That astringents shrivelled
up the flesh and puckered the mouth, even when their taste was not
perceived. That when the skin shrunk on the application of vinegar, could
it be said that it had not a peculiar sense of this liquid, or rather of
its acidity, since the existence of the senses was known only by effects
which external matter produced on them? That the senses, like that of
touch, were seated in most parts of the body, but were most acute in the
mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. He showed some disposition to maintain the
popular notions of the Greeks and Romans, that the rivers and streams are
endowed with reason and volition; and endeavoured to prove that some of
their windings and deviations from a straight line, cannot be explained
upon mechanical principles.

Vindar is, moreover, a projector of a very bold character; and not long ago
petitioned the commanding general of an army, suddenly raised to repel an
incursion of one of their neighbours, to march his troops into
Goolo-Tongtoia, for the purpose of digging a canal from one of their
petroleum lakes into Morosofia, and conducting it, by smaller streams, over
that country, for the purpose of warming it during their long cool nights.

He has, too, a large grist and saw mill, which are put in motion by the
explosion of gunpowder. This is conveyed, by a sufficiently ingenious
machine, in very small portions, to the bottom of an upright cylinder,
which is immediately shut perfectly close. A flint and steel are at the
same time made to strike directly over it, and to ignite the powder. The
air that is thus generated, forces up a piston through a cylinder, which
piston, striking the arm of a wheel, puts it in motion, and with it the
machinery of the mills. A complete revolution of the wheel again prepares
the cylinder for a fresh supply of gunpowder, which is set on fire, and
produces the same effect as before.

He told me he had been fifteen years perfecting this great work, in which
time it had been twice blown up by accidents, arising from the carelessness
or mismanagement of the workmen; but that he now expected it would repay
him for the time and money he had expended. He had once, he said, intended
to use the expansive force of congelation fo