tles, serpents, and some species of fish, should be able to subsist a considerable time without any nourishment whatever. A plant, with its flowers, fades and dies immediately, if exposed to the air without having its root immersed in a humid soil, from which it may draw a sufficient quantity of moisture to supply that which exhales from its substance and is carried off continually by the air. Perhaps, however, if it were buried in quicksilver, it might preserve for a considerable space of time its vegetable life, its smell, and colour. If this be the case, it might prove a commodious method of transporting from distant countries those delicate plants, which are unable to sustain the inclemency of the weather at sea, and which require particular care and attention. I have seen an instance of common flies preserved in a manner somewhat similar. They had been drowned in Madeira wine, apparently about the time when it was bottled in Virginia, to be sent hither (to London.) At the opening of one of the bottles, at the house of a friend where I then was, three drowned flies fell into the first glass that was filled. Having heard it remarked, that drowned flies were capable of being revived by the rays of the sun, I proposed making the experiment upon these: they were, therefore, exposed to the sun upon a sieve, which had been employed to strain them out of the wine. In less than three hours, two of them began by degrees to recover life. They commenced by some convulsive motions of the thighs, and at length they raised themselves upon their legs, wiped their eyes with their fore-feet, beat and brushed their wings with their hind-feet, and soon after began to fly, finding themselves in Old England, without knowing how they came thither. The third continued lifeless till sunset, when, losing all hopes of him, he was thrown away. I wish it were possible, from this instance, to invent a method of embalming drowned persons, in such a manner that they may be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to any ordinary death, the being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine, with a few friends, all that time, to be then recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! But since, in all probability, we live in an age too early and too near the infancy of science, to hope to see such an art brought in our time to its perfection, I must for the present content myself with the treat, which you are so kind as to promise me, of the resurrection of a fowl or a turkeycock, I am, &c. B. FRANKLIN, The may to make money plenty in every man's pocket 88 New mode of lending money An economical project 89 90 96 98 . 101 104 . 105 . 108 On early marriages. Effect of early impressions on the mind The whistle A petition to those who have the superintendency of education The handsome and deformed leg Morals of chess Page A parable against persecution The art of procuring pleasant dreams Precautions to be used by those who are about to under- take a sea voyage . Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout . 113 . 119 . 125 . 132 On the death of relatives . 134 The ephemera an emblem of human life . 135 Account of a whirlwind at Maryland . 138 On the same subject On the free use of air. On the saltness of sea water On the effect of air on the barometer, and the benefits derived from the study of insects On the art of swimming 140 . 142 . 145 . 150 153 On the causes of colds Tendency of rivers to the sea.-Effects of the sun's rays on cloths of different colours On the magnetism and theory of the earth Queries and conjectures relating to magnetism and the On the nature of sea coal Effect of vegetation on noxious air Observations on the prevailing doctrines of life and . 154 . 155 . 160 165 . 169 . 170 death . . 171 END OF VOL. I. T. Davison, Printer, Whitefriars, |