Reverend Doctor Chandler's Travels in Afia Minor.

UR paffage thro' the ftrait of Gibraltar was amufing and delightful beyond imagination. The coaft on each fide is irregular, adorned with lofty grotefque mountains of various shapes, the majestic tops worn white with rain, and looking as crowned with fnow. From one of the narrow vallies a thick smoke arcfe. The land is of a brown complexion, as fun-burnt and barren. On the Spanish fhore are many watch-towers, ranging along to a great extent, defigned to alarm the country by fignals on the appearance of an enemy. We had Spanish and Moorish towns in view, with the rock and fortrefs of Gibraltar. Sea birds were flying, and numerous fmall craft moving to and fro, on every quarter. We had a gentle breeze, and our fails all fet, with the current from the western or atlantic ocean in our favour. In this, the water was agitated and noify, like a fhallow brook running over pebbles; while in the contrary currents, it was fmooth and calm as in a mill-pond, except where disturbed by albi cores, porpuffes, and fea-monsters, which fported around us, innumerable. Their burnished fides reflected the rays of the fun, which then fhone in a picturefque fky, of clear azure softened by thin fleecy clouds, imparting chearfulness to the waves, which feemed to fmile

on us.

Our entry into the Mediterranean is here faintly defcribed, as no words can convey the ideas excited by fcenes of fo much novelty, grandeur, and beauty. The vait affemblage of bulky monfters in parVOL. XVIII. 1775.

ticular was beyond measure amazing; fome leaping up, as if aiming to divert us; fome approaching the fhip, as it were to be feen, floating together, abreaft, and half out of the water. We counted in one company fourteen, of the fpecies called by the failors The BottleNofe, each, as we gueffed, about twelve feet long. Thefe are almost fhapelefs, looking black and oily, with a large thick fin on the back, no eyes or mouth difcernible, the head rounded at the extremity, and fo joined with the body, as to render it difficult to diftinguish, where the one ends or the other begins; but on the upper part is a hole about an inch and a half in diameter, from which, at regular intervals, the log-like Being blows out water accompanied with a puff audible at fome distance.

To complete this wonderful day, the fun before its fetting was exceedingly big, and affumed a variety of fantastic fhapes. It was furrounded firft with a golden glory, of great extent, and flamed upon the furface of the fea in a long cor lumn of fire. The lower half of the orb foon after immerged in the horizon, the other portion remaining very large and red, with halt of a fmaller orb beneath it, and feparate, but in the fame direction, the circular rim approaching the line of its diameter. These two by degrees united, and then changed rapidly into different figures, until the refemblance was that of a capacious punch bowl inverted. The rim of the bottom extending upward, and the body lengthening below, it became a mushroom on a ftalk, with a round head. It was next metamorphofed into a flaming cauldron, of which the lid,

rifing up, fwelled nearly into an orb, and vanished. The other portion put on feveral uncircular forms, and after many twinklings and faint glimmerings flowly difappeared, quite red; leaving the clouds, hanging over the dark rocks on the Barbary fhore, finely tinged with a vivid bloody hue.

And here we may recollect, that the antients had various stories concerning the fetting of the fun in the atlantic ocean; as for inftance, that it was accompanied with a noife, as of the fea hiffing, and that night immediately followed. That its magnitude in going down apparently increased, was a popu

lar remark, but had been contradicted by an author, who observed thirty evenings at Gades, and never perceived any augmentation. One writer had affirmed, that the orb became an hundred times bigger than its common fize.

This phenomenon will vary, as it depends on the ftate of the atmosphere. It is likely to be mott remarkable when wefterly winds have prevailed for fome time; thefe coming over the atlantic ocean, and bringing with them the gros vapours, which arife continually, or are exhaled from that immenfe body of water.

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water. Thefe gentlemen perceived with deep regret, that numbers, and thofe principally among the moft laborious and deferving part of the community, were annually drowned; and it was justly conjectured that fome at leaft might have been faved, had they not been entirely abandoned as dead, or very fuperficially treated. They, therefore, fedulously fet about collecting the hints that were difperfed thro' various publications, concerning the method of treating perfons in fuch critical circumftances; made thefe hints public; and propofed rewards to thofe who should put them into execution. Thefe humane attempts far exceeded their moft fanguine expectations. They became inftrumental in the reftoration of feveral, who must otherwife have perished inevitably. This furprifing fuccefs engaged the general notice, and was fo univerfally countenanced, that they were at length enabled to form themfelves into a refpectable fociety, which extended their plan over the feven provinces. And it must afford real pleasure to every friend of the unfortunate to be informed, that about 150 perfons, of whom the lives of many were very important to their families, and to the community, have been redeemed from death, by their means, in the fpace of a few years. In feveral of thefe cafes, the recovered patients had continued upwards of an hour, without any figns of life, after they had been taken out of the water.

Such numerous and authentic teftimonies of fuccefs, inftigated fome other countries to imitate their example. In the year 1768, the magiftrates of health at Milan and Venice iffued orders for the treatment of drowned perfons. The city of Hamburgh appointed a fimilar ordinance to be read in all their churches, extending their fuccour not only to the drowned, but to the ftrangled, to those suffocated by noxious vapours, and to the frozen. The first part of the Dutch Memoirs was prefented to the Imperial academy at Petersburgh, and was tranflated into the Ruffian language, by command of the Emprefs. In the year 1769, the Emprefs of Germany published an edict, extending its directions and encouragement to every case of accident, like death, that afforded a poffibility of relief. In the year 1771, the magiftrates of the city of Paris founded an inftitution alfo in favour of the drowned. And the repeated inftances of fuccefs in every country have abundantly confirmed the truth of the facts related in the Amfterdam Memoirs.

In the year 1773, Dr. Cogan of London, tranflated thefe Memoirs into English, in order to inform this part of the world of the practicability of recovering perfons apparently drowned; and Mr. Wm. Hawes, Apothecary in the Strand, whom we have already mentioned in the title of this article, and shall have frequent occafion to mention in the fequel, exerted himself like

wife to excite the attention of the public to the fame fubject. Thefe gentlemen then united, and propofed a plan for the introduction' of a fimilar inftitution into thefe kingdoms. This plan was fo well received, and met with fo much encouragement from feveral gentlemen of influence, that they were foon enabled to form a Society to promote its laudable defigns. It is as follows:

THE PLAN.

I. THE Society undertook to publifh, in as extenfive a manner as poffible, the proper methods of treating perfons in thofe unfortunate circumftances.

II. To diftribute a premium of two Guineas among the first perfons, not exceeding four in number, who should attempt to recover man, woman, or child, taken out of the water for dead, within the cities of London and Westminster, or the parts adjacent; provided they had not been longer than two hours under the water; and provided the affiftants perfevered in the use of the means recommended, and no others, unless under the direction of a regular practitioner, for the space of two hours: this reward to be given though they might not prove fuccefsful.

III. To diftribute in like manner four Guineas wherever the patient fhould be reftored to life.

IV. To give to any publican, or other perfon, who fhould admit the body into his houfe without delay, and furnish the neceffary accommodations, the fum of one Guinea; and alfo to fecure them from the charge of burial, in unfuccessful cafes.

V. A certain number of medical gentlemen, ftationed near to the

places where difafters by water are moft frequent, engaged to give their affiftance gratis; thefe gentlemen were to have a fumigator, and other neceffaries, always inreadinefs; and Mr. Hawes informs the writer, that the 'compleat ap paratus, neceffary in fuch unfor tunate cafes, may be had of Mr. Wrigglefworth, furgeon's inftrument-maker in the Minories. The names of the gentlemen, who then and fince had the opportunity to of fer themselves for this benevolent purpofe, will be found at the end of this article, difpofed in fuch order, that, wherever any accident happens, the reader may readily find out the addrefs of the nearest medical affiftant; though perhaps it might be prudent to fend for two at leaft of those most within reach, left the nearest might be out of the way.

The Society likewife propofed, in cafe they fhould meet with due encouragement, to prefent an honorary medal to any medical gentleman or other, who might not chufe to accept of a pecuniary reward, in all thofe cafes in which they might prove inftrumental of fuccefs.

The Society flattered themselves; that by thefe regulations many individuals, in and about this metropolis, would be fecure of the best and fpeedieft affiftance in fuch critical cafes and where it should

not prove fuccessful, their relations might always have the fatisfaction of reflecting, that the laft efforts had not been neglected. The Methods of Treatment, recommended by the Society, in confsquence of the first of the foregoing Refolutions, are as follows: 1. In removing the body to a convenient place, great care muit H 3

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