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Philosophical Transactions, Vol. L, Part I (1757) is a bound collection of scientific papers presented to the Royal Society, each introduced by a brief title page and the name of its author or correspondent. The volume opens with a formal title page that records its London printing by L. Davis and C. Reymers for the Society, followed by a contents list that enumerates thirty‑nine separate communications ranging from an earthquake report in New England to observations on magnetic needle variation. The first full article begins with a letter from Professor Winthrop describing the November 18, 1755 tremor, offering a meticulous narrative of the event’s timing, atmospheric conditions, and eyewitness testimony. Throughout the opening pages the text retains original spelling, hyphenation, and occasional punctuation quirks, while an errata section notes modern corrections.
The work reflects the mid‑eighteenth‑century style of learned correspondence: formal, densely descriptive, and peppered with Latin phrases and titles. Its voice is that of learned gentlemen and physicians reporting observations, experiments, and natural curiosities to a scholarly audience. Readers fascinated by the history of science, the development of empirical reporting, or the early modern exchange of ideas across Europe and the Atlantic will find this volume rewarding. It appeals especially to those who enjoy primary sources that reveal how scholars of the Enlightenment documented phenomena, from earthquakes and mineral waters to botanical curiosities and early electrical experiments.
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PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, GIVING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, OF THE INGENIOUS, IN MANY Considerable Parts of the WORLD.
VOL. L. +PART I.+ For the Year 1757.
LONDON.
Printed for +L. DAVIS+ and +C. REYMERS+, Printers to the +ROYAL SOCIETY+, against Gray’s-Inn Gate, in Holbourn.
M.DCC.LVIII.
THE CONTENTS TO PART I. VOLUME L.
I. AN Account of the Earthquake felt in New England, and the neighbouring Parts of America, on the 18th of November 1755. In a Letter to Tho. Birch, D.D. Secret. R.S. by Mr. Professor Winthrop, of Cambridge in New England. Page 1.
II. The strange Effects of some effervescent Mixtures; in a Letter from Dr. James Mounsey, Physician of the Russian Army, and F.R.S. to Mr. Henry Baker, F.R.S. Communicated by Mr. Baker. p. 19.
III. Extract of a Letter of J. Wall, M.D. to the Rev. Dr. Lyttelton, Dean of Exeter, and F.R.S. concerning the good Effects of Malverne Waters in Worcestershire. p. 23.
IV. An Account of the Carlsbad Mineral Waters in Bohemia: In a Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Macclesfield, President of the R.S. by the Rev. Jeremiah Milles, D.D. F.R.S. p. 25.
V. An Essay towards ascertaining the specific Gravity of living Men. By Mr. John Robertson, F.R.S. p. 30.
VI. An Instance of the Gut Ileum, cut thro’ by a Knife, successfully treated by Mr. Peter Travers, Surgeon, at Lisbon. Communicated by John Huxham, M.D. F.R.S. p. 35.
VII. An Account of a Visitation of the leprous Persons in the Isle of Guadaloupe: In a Letter to Mons. Damonville, Counsellor and Assistant-Judge at Martinico, and in the Office of King’s Physician at Guadaloupe. By John Andrew Peyssonel, M.D. F.R.S. Translated from the French. p. 38.
VIII. An Account of the late Discoveries of Antiquities at Herculaneum; in an Extract of a Letter from Camillo Paderni, Keeper of the Herculanean Museum, and F.R.S. to Thomas Hollis, Esq; dated Naples, Dec. 16, 1756. p. 49.
IX. An Account of some Trees discovered underground on the Shore at Mount’s-Bay in Cornwall: In a Letter from the Rev. Mr. William Borlase, F.R.S. to the Rev. Dr. Lyttelton, Dean of Exeter. p. 51.
X. Experiments on applying the Rev. Dr. Hales’_s Method of distilling Salt-water to the Steam-Engine. By_ Keane Fitzgerald, Esq; F.R.S. p. 53.
XI. Extract of a Letter of Mr. Abraham Trembley, F.R.S. to Tho. Birch, D.D. Secret. R.S. Translated from the French. p. 58.
XII. A brief Botanical and Medical History of the Solanum Lethale, Bella-donna, or Deadly Nightshade, by Mr. Richard Pulteney. Communicated by Mr. William Watson, F.R.S. p. 62.
XIII. An Account of some of the Antiquities discovered at Herculaneum, &c. In a Letter to Thomas Birch, D.D. Secret. R.S. By John Nixon, A.M. F.R.S. p. 88.
XIV. An Account of the Effects of a Storm of Thunder and Lightning, in the Parishes of Looe and Lanreath, in the County of Cornwall, on the 27th Day of June 1756. Communicated to the Rev. Jeremiah Milles, D.D. F.R.S. in two Letters, one from the Rev. Mr. Dyer, Minister of Looe, and the other from the Rev. Mr. Milles, Vicar of Duloe, in Cornwall. p. 104.
XV. An Account of the Peat-pit near Newbury in Berkshire; in an Extract of a Letter from John Collet, M.D. to the Right Reverend Richard Lord Bishop of Ossory, F.R.S. p. 109.
XVI. An Account of the Alterations making in the Pantheon at Rome: In an Extract of a Letter from Rome to Thomas Hollis, Esq; Communicated by John Ward, LL.D. R.S. Vice-Præs. p. 115.
XVII. An Account of a new medicinal Well, lately discovered near Moffat, in Annandale, in the County of Dumfries. By Mr. John Walker, of Borgue-house near Kirkudbright in Scotland. p. 115.
XVIII. An Account of the State of the Thermometer at the Hague on the 9th of January 1757. Extracted from a Letter of Mr. Abraham Trembley, F.R.S. to Tho. Birch, D.D. Secret. R.S. p. 148.
XIX. Experimental Examination of Platina. By William Lewis, M.B. F.R.S. Paper V. ibid.
XX. Experimental Examination of Platina. By William Lewis, M.B. F.R.S. Paper VI. p. 156.
XXI. An Account of the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli in the Kingdom of Naples: In a Letter to John Ward, LL.D. and R.S. Vice-Præs. by the Rev. John Nixon, M.A. F.R.S. p. 166.
XXII. Some Remarks on a Parthian Coin with a Greek and Parthian Legend, never before published. In a Letter from the Rev. John Swinton, M.A. of Christ-Church, Oxon, F.R.S. to the Rev. Tho. Birch, D.D. Secret. R.S. p. 175.
XXIII. An Account of a Red Coral from the East-Indies, of a very singular Kind: In a Letter from Mr. John Ellis, F.R.S. to Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S. p. 189.
XXIV. An Account of the Effects of a Storm at Wigton in Cumberland. Communicated by Mr. Philip Miller, F.R.S. p. 194.
XXV. An Account of the Effects of Lightning upon the Steeple and Church of Lestwithiel, Cornwall; in a Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Macclesfield, President of the R.S. By Mr. John Smeaton, F.R.S. p. 198.
XXVI. An Account of the Case of the late Right Honourable Horace Lord Walpole; being a Sequel to his own Account published in the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. xlvii. p. 43 and 472. p. 205.
Postscript to Dr. Whytt_’s Observations on Lord_ Walpole_’s Case_. p. 385.
XXVII. An Account of the Virtues of Soap in dissolving the Stone, in the Case of the Rev. Mr. Matthew Simpson. Communicated by John Pringle, M.D. F.R.S. p. 221.
XXVIII. An Account of the Impressions of Plants on the Slates of Coals: In a Letter to the Right Honorable George Earl of Macclesfield, President of the R.S. from Mr. Emanuel Mendes da Costa, F.R.S. p. 228.
XXIX. A Catalogue of the Fifty Plants from Chelsea Garden, presented to the Royal Society by the worshipful Company of Apothecaries, for the Year 1756, pursuant to the Direction of Sir Hans Sloane, Baronet, Med. Reg. & Soc. nuper Præses, by John Wilmer, M.D. clariss. Societatis Pharmaceut. Lond. Socius, Hort. Chels. Præfect. & Prælector Botan. p. 236.
XXX. Remarks on the Opinion of Henry Eeles, Esq; concerning the Ascent of Vapour, published in the Philosoph. Transact. Vol. xlix. Part i. p. 124. By Erasmus Darwin, M.D. Communicated by Mr. William Watson, F.R.S. p. 240.
XXXI. An Account of a new-discovered Species of the Snipe or Tringa: In a Letter to the Rev. Tho. Birch, D.D. Secret. R.S. from Mr. Geo. Edwards, Librarian of the College of Physicians. p. 255.
XXXII. Observationes de Corallinis, iisque insidentibus Polypis, aliisque Animalculis Marinis: Quas Regiæ Societati Londinensi offert Job Baster, Med. Doct. Acad. Cæsar. Reg. Societ. Lond. & Scient. Holland. Socius. p. 258.
XXXIII. Remarks on Dr. Job Baster’s Observationes de Corallinis, &c. In a Letter to the Right Hon. George Earl of Macclesfield, President of the R.S. from Mr. John Ellis, F.R.S. p. 280.
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