nifhed with that moisture which is ef fential to the performance of their functions. Fantonus, a writer of refpectable authority in the eftimation of Morgagni, relates the history of a woman, who obftinately refused to take any fuftenance, except twice, during the space of fifty days, at the end of which period he died. But he adds, that the ufed water, by way of drink, though in small quantity. Redi, who made many experiments (cruel and unjustifiable in my opinion) to alcertain the effects of fafting on fowls, obferved, that none were able to fupport life beyond the ninth day, to whom drink was denied; whereas one indulged with water lived more than twenty days. 1783, mentions a girl, of fixteen years of age, who remained eleven days without food, under the ruins of a house at Oppido. She had a child in her arms, five or fix months old, who died the fourth day. A light through a small chafm en abled her to afcertain the time of her confinement, and the gave a very clear relation of her fufferings. When Sir William Hamilton faw her, she did not appear to be in bad health, drank eafily, but with difficulty fwallowed any thing folid. In cafes of this kind, is it not probable that the body may be fapplied with fluids from the external air, by the exertion of fome extraordinary powers in the lymphatic fyftem? Thus the negro mentioned by Dr Chalmers, who was gibbered at Charlestown in March 1779) and had nothing given him afterwards, regularly voided every morning, till he died, a large quantity of urine t. The foring feafon in South Carolina is attend ed with great nocturnal dews; which be ing imbibed by the pores of the fkin, furnished the poor negro with a fuperabun dance of fluids in the night, and a fufficiency to fupport perspiration in the day, I vifited, not long fince, in confultation with her kinfman Dr Eaton, an elderly lady, who laboured under a very fevere hentery. Her evacuations, as often hap. pens both in this difeafe and in the diabetes, far exceeded in quantity the li quids which the swallowed, or what could be ascribed to the diffolution of her fo hids. During five or fix days before her death, the took no aliment whatever, and only occafionally moiftened her mouth, by putting her fingers into it, after they had been dipped in water. Yet the difcharged a pint of urine once in twenty-four hours. I am inclined to conjecture, that the moisture of the coal pit was favourable to Travis; but how long he might have fubfifted under fuch ciruth or nature; becaufe the power to endure cumftances, it is not poffible to determine. It may, however, be presumed, that his death was rather accelerated than retarded, by the changes and the hurry which be underwent. In famine, life may be protracted with lefs pain and mifery, by a moderate allowance of water. For the acrimony and putrefaction of the humours are obviated by fuch dilution, the small veffels are kept permeable, and the lungs are fur* Philofophical Tranfactions, vol. LXXIII. P. 169. † Chalmers on Fevers, p. 2. Hippocrates has obferved, that children are more affected by abftinence than young perfons; thefe, more than the middle aged; and the middle aged, more than old men. Agreeably to this aphorifm, Dante is faid, by his countryman Morgagni, to have framed the incidents in the affecting ftory of Count Ugolino, a nobleman of Pifa, who was confined, with his four fons, in the dungeon of a tower, the key of which being caft into the river Arno, they were, in this horrible fituation, ftarved to death. And they are reprefented by the poet, as dying at different periods, according to their refpective ages . Travis, being in the prime of life, was fitted to bear the extremities of want better than he could have done in a state of adolefcence, when Morgagni de Sedibus et Caufis Morborum, Epift. 27. ↑ On reviewing the ftory of Count Ugolino, as related by Dante, in his thirty-third Canto, I find that Morgagni is mistaken in fuppofing the incidents of it conformable to the obfervation of Hippocrates. Nor is the poet to be condemned, as deviating from famine must depend no lefs upon the state of health and strength, than on the age of the fufferer. The following lines are copied from the tranflation of this Poem, by the Earl of Carlife. Now the fourth morning rofe; my eldest child Fell at his father's feet, in accent wild, Struggling with pain, with his last fleeting breath, "Help me, my fire," he cried, and funk I faw the others follow one by one. the body calls for conftant nutriment, to fupport its growth. But of what he felt we are left in uncertainty, as he declined, through weakness, to give any relation of it. There are conftitutions, which do not fuffer much pain from the calls of hunger. I have been informed, by a young phyfician from Geneva, that, when he was a ftudent at Montpelier, he fafted three nights and four days, with no other refreshment than a pint of water daily. His hunger was keen, but never painful, during the first and fecond days of his abftinence; and the two following days he perceived only a faint nefs, when he attempted either bodily or mental exertion: A fenfe of coldnet's was diffused over his whole frame, but more particularly affected his extremities. His mind was in a very unusual ftate of pufillanimity; and he experienced a great tendency to tears, whenever he recollected the circumftance which had been the occafion of his fafting During the whole period, the alvine excretions were fuppreffed, but not thofe by the kidney: and at the clofe of it, his fkin became tinged with a shade of yellow. The first food he took was veal-broth, which had fomething of an intoxicating effect, producing a glow of warmth, and railing his fpirits, fo as to render him afhamed of his defpondency. Perhaps in the cafe of Sextius Baculus, as recorded in the Com. mentaries of Cæfar *, the extraordinary courage and prowefs which he fuddenly exerted, might be aided by the exhilirating effect of fuftenance, which, under fuch circumftances, it is probable he would no longer decline. The fact how ever evinces, that neither his fickness nor the fenfations of hunger had been fo violent, as much to impair his ftrength of body or vigour of mind. Pomponius Atticus, the celebrated friend of Cicero, who put a voluntary end to his life in the 77th year of his age, by refusing all food, appears to have experienced eafe from his diforder, rather than any acute fufferings by famine t. From the former circumftance it has been conjectured, that he did not wholly deny himself the ufe of water, or of fome other diluent. But though a few examples of this kind may * De Bello Gallico, lib. 6. + Sic cum biduo cibo fe abftinuiffet, fubito febris deceffit, leviorque morbus effe cœpit: tamen propofitum nihilo fecius peregit. Itaque die quinto, poftquam id confilium inierat, decellit. Corn. Nepos in Vit. Pomp. Attic. be adduced, we have the evidence of numerous melancholy facts to fhew, that the preffure of want is agonifing to the human frame. "I have talked," fays an ingenious writer, "with the captain of a fhip, who was one of fix that endured it in its extremity, and who was the only perfon that had not loft his fenfes when they received accidental relief. He affured me his pains at firft were so great, as to be often tempted to eat a part of one of the men who died, and which the reft of his crew actually for fome time lived upon: He faid, that during the continuance of this paroxyfm, he found his pains infupportable, and was defirous at one time of anticipating that death which he thought inevitable: but his pains, he said, gradually decreased after the fixth day, (for they had water in the thip which kept them alive fo long), and then he was in a ftate rather of languor than defire; nor did he much with for food, except when he faw others eating; and that for a while revived his appetite, though with diminished importunity. The latter part of the time, when his health was almost deftroyed, a thousand strange images rofe upon his mind, and every one of his fenfes began to bring him wrong information. The most fragrant perfumes appeared to him to have a fetid fmell; and every thing he looked at took a greenish hue, and fometimes a yellow. When he was prefented with food by the fhip's company that took him and his men up, four of whom died fhortly after, he could not help looking upon it with loathing instead of defire; and it was not till after four days that his ftomach was brought to its natural tone, when the violence of his appetite returned, with a fort of canine eagerness t. See Goldsmith's History of the Earth, vol. 2. p. 126. A circumftantial Narrative of the loss of the Haljewell Eaft Indiaman, Captain Richard Pierce, which was unfortunately wrecked at Seacombe, in te ifle of Purbeck, on the coast of Dorfetfive, on the ning of Friday, Jan. 6 Compiled from the communications, and under the autho rities of Mr Henry Meriton and Mr John Rogers, the two chief officers who happily efcaped the dreadful catastrophe. THIS is perhaps one of the most affect. ing narratives that is to be met with in any language. It is told with all the fimplicity of truth, and enlivened with every little incident that, without the aid of fiction, can excite pity, create terror, or keep the mind in anxious folicitude for those who are the fubjects of it. It is impoffible to read the account of the laft tender scene, where the afflicted father is preffing to his bofom his mourn ful daughters, in the moments of their impending fate, without sharing in his griefs; nor can the most obdurate heart bring to mind the fituation of the little friendly group that compofed the amicable fociety, in the cabin of this unfortunate fhip, late fo happy in their prospects and in their enjoyments, amidst accumulated diftrefs, aggravated by the darkness of the night, the horrors of a boisterous ocean, and the ravings of a frantic crew, rendered desperate by defpair, without partaking of the dread which they must have felt, who could have no other hope but that every moment should put an end to their mifery. -After a fhort introduction, the writer proceeds in these words: "On Tuesday Jan. 3. at four in the morning, a ftrong gale came on from E. N. F.and the ship driving, they were obliged to cut their cables, and run off to tea. At noon, they spoke with a brig bound to Dublin, and having put their pilot on board her, bore down Channel immedi ately. At eight in the evening, the wind freshening and coming to the fouthward, they reefed fuch fails as were judged neceffary. At ten at night it blew a violent gale of wind at fouth, and they were obliged to carry a prefs of fail to keep the fhip off fhore, in doing which the hawfe plugs, which according to a new im provement were put infide, were washed in, and the hawfe bags washed away, in confequence of which they fhipped a large quantity of water on the gun deck. VOL. XLVIII, On founding the well, and finding the fhip had fprung a leak, and had five feet water in her hold, they clued the main top fail up, hauled up the main fail, and immediately endeavoured to furl both, but could not effect it. All the pumps were set to work on discovering the leak. Wednesday the 4th, at two in the morning, they endeavoured to wear the fhip, but without fuccefs, and judging it necellary to cut away the mizen maft, it was immediately done, and a fecond attempt made to wear the fhip, which fucceeded no better than the former; and the fhip having now feven feet water in her hold, and gaining faft on the pumps, it was thought expedient, for the prefervation of the fhip, to cut away the main maft, the fhip appearing to be in immediate danger of foundering; in the fall of the maft, Jonathan Moreton, cockfwain, and four men, either fell or were drawn by the wreck over-board and drowned; and by eight in the morning the wreck was cleared, and the fhip got before the wind, in which pofition the was kept about two hours, in which time the pumps cleared the thip of two feet of water in the hold. At this time the ship's head was brought to the eastward with the fore-fail only. At ten in the morning the wind abated confiderably, and the ship labouring extremely, rolled the fore top maft over on the larboard fide; in the fall the wreck went through the fore-fail, and tore it to pieces. At eleven in the forenoon, the wind came to the weftward, and the . weather clearing up, the Berry-head was diftinguishable bearing north and by east, diftant four or five leagues. They now immediately bent another fore-fail, erected a jury main-maft, and fet a top gallant-fail for a main-fail, under which fail they bore up for Portsmouth, and employed the remainder of the day in getting up a jury mizen-maft. Thursday the 5th, at two in the morning, the wind came to the fouthward, blew fresh, and the weather was very thick: at noon Portland was feen bearing north and by eaft, diftant two or three leagues. At eight at night it blew a ftrong gale at fouth, and at this time the Portland lights were feen bearing north west, diftant four or five leagues, when they wore the fhip, and got her head to the weftward, but finding they loft ground on that tack, they wore her again, and kept ftretching on to the C caftward, eaftward, in hopes to have weathered Peverel point, in which cafe they intended to have anchored in Studland-bay. At eleven at night it cleared, and they faw St Alban's-head a mile and a half to the leeward of them, upon which they took in fail immediately, and let go the small bower anchor, which brought up the fhip at a whole cable, and the rode for about an hour, but then drove; they now let go the fheet anchor and wore away a whole cable, and the ship rode for about two hours longer, when the drove again. Whilft they were in this fituation, the captain fent for Mr Henry Meriton, the chief officer who furvives, and afked his opinion as to the probability of saving their lives; to which he replied with equa! calmnefs and candour, that he apprehended there was very little hope, as they were then driving fast on the shore, and might expect every moment to ftrike. The boats were then mentioned, but it was agreed that at that time they could be of no ufe; yet in cafe an opportunity fhould prefent itself of making them ferviceable, it was propofed that the officers fhould be confidentially requefted to referve the long boat for the ladies and themselves; and this precaution was im mediately taken. About two in the morning of Friday the 6th, the ship ftill driving, and approaching very faft to the fhore, the fame officer went again into the cuddy, where the Captain then was, and another converfation took place. Captain Pierce expreffed extreme anxiety for the prefervation of his beloved daughters, and earneftly asked the officer if he could devife any means of faving them; on his anfwering with great concern that he feared it would be impoffible, but that their only chance would be to wait for the morning, the Captain lifted up his hands in filent and diftref-ful ejaculation. At this dreadful moment the fhip ftruck with fuch violence as to dafh the heads of those who were ftanding in the cuddy, against the deck above them, and the fatal blow was accompanied by a fhriek of horror, which burst at one inftant from every quarter of the ship. The feamen, many of whom had been remarkably inattentive and remifs in their duty during great part of the ftorm, and had actually skulked in their hammock, and left the exertions of the pump, and the other labours attending their fitu ation, to the officers of the ship and the foldiers, roufed by the deftructive blow to a fenfe of their danger, now poured upon the deck, to which no endeavours of their officers could keep them whilft their affiftance might have been useful, and in frantic exclamations demanded of Hea. ven, and their fellow fufferers, that fuccour which their timely efforts might poffibly have fucceeded in procuring; but it was now too late, the hip continued to beat on the rocks, and foon bulged, and fell with her broadfide towards the shore. When the ship ftruck, a number of the men climbed up the ensign staff, under an apprehenfion of her going to pieces immediately. Mr Meriton, the officer whom we have already mentioned, at this crifis of horror offered to thefe unhappy beings the best advice which could poflibly be given to them; he recommended their coming all to that fide of the ship which lay loweft on the rocks, and fingly to take the opportunities which might then offer of cfcaping to the fhore. And having thus provided to the utmoft of his power for the fafety of the defponding crew, he returned to the round-house, where by this time all the passengers, and moft of the officers were affembled, the latter employed in offering confolation to the unfortunate ladies, and with unparallelled magnanimity, fuffering their compaffion for the fair and amiable compa nions of their misfortunes to get the better of the fenfe of their own danger, and the dread of almoft inevitable annihilation. At this moment, what must be the feelings of a father-of fuch a father as Capt. Pierce. The ship ftruck on the rocks at or near Seacombe, on the island of Purbeck, between Peverel-point and St Alban's head, at a part of the shore where the cliff is of vaft height, and rifes almost perpendicu lar from its bafe. But at this particular spot the cliff is excavated at the foot, and prefents a cavern of ten or twelve yards in depth, and of breadth equal to the length of a large fhip, the fides of the cavern so nearly upright as to be extremely difficult of accefs, the roof formed of the ftupendous cliff, and the bottom of it ftrewed with fharp and uneven rocks, which feem to have been rent from above by fome convulfion of nature. It was at the mouth of this cavern that the unfortunate wreck lay ftretched almost from fide fide to fide of it, and offering her broad fide to the horrid chaẩm. But at the time the ship ftruck it was too dark to discover the extent of their danger, and the extreme horror of their fituation; even Mr Meriton himself conceived a hope that the might keep together till day-light, and endeavoured to chear his drooping friends, and in particular the unhappy ladies, with this comfortable expectation, as an answer to the Captain's inquiries, how they went on, or what he thought of their fituation. In addition to the company already in the round houfe, they had admitted three black women and two foldiers wives, who with the husband of one of them had been permitted to come in, though the feamen who had tumultuously demanded entrance, to get the lights, had been oppofed, and kept out by Mr Rogers, the third mate, and Mr Brimmer the fifth, fo that the numbers there were now increafed to near fifty; Captain Pierce fitting on a chair, cot, or fome other move able, with a daughter on each fide of tim, each of whom he alternately preffed to his affectionate bofom; the reft of the melancholy affembly were feated on the deck, which was ftrewed with muficalinftruments, and the wreck of furniture, trunks, boxes, and packages. And here alfo Mr Meriton, having previously cut several wax candles into pieces, and ftuck them up in various parts of the round-house, and lighted up all the glass lanthorns he could find, took his feat, intending to wait the happy dawn, that might prefent to him the means of effecting his own escape, and afford him an opportunity of giving affiftance to the partners of his danger; but obferving that the poor ladies appeared parched and exhausted, he fetched a basket of oranges, and prevailed on fome of them to refresh themselves by fucking a little of the juice. At this time they were all tolerably compofed, except Mifs Manfel, who was in hyfteric fits on the floor deck of the round house. But a confiderable alteration in the appearance of the ship foon took place; the fides were vifibly giving way, the deck feemed to be lifting, befides other ftrong fymptoms that he could not hold to gether much longer; Mr Meriton therefore attempted to go forward to look out, but immediately faw that the ship was feparated in the middle, and that the fore part had changed its pofition, and lay rather farther out towards the fea; and in this emergency, when the next moment might be charged with his fate, he determined to feize the prefent, and to follow the example of the crew, and the foldiers, who were now quitting the ship in numbers, and making their way to a fhore, of which they knew not yet the horrors. Among other measures adopted to fayour thefe attempts, the enlign staff had been unfhipped, and attempted to be laid from the ship's fide to fome of the rocks, but without fuccefs, for it snapped to pieces before it reached them; however, by the light of a lantern, which a feaman, of the name of Burmafter, handed through the sky-light of the round-houfe to the deck, Mr Meriton discovered a spar, which appeared to be laid from the fhip's fide to the rocks, and on this fpar he determined to attempt his efcape. He accordingly laid himself down on it, and thruft himself forward, but he foon found that the fpar had no communication with the rock; he reached the end of it, and then flipped off, receiving a very violent bruife in his fall, and be fore he could recover his legs, he was washed off by the furge, in which he fupported himself by fwimming, till the returning wave dafhed him against the back part of the cavern, where he laid hold of a fmall projecting piece of the rock, but was fo benumbed, that he was on the point of quitting it, when a seaman, who had already gained a footing, extended his hand, and affifted him till he could fecure himself on a little shelf of the rock, from which he clambered ftill higher, till he was out of the reach of the furf. Mr Rogers, the third mate, remained with the Captain and the unfortunate ladies, and their companions, near twenty minutes after Mr Meriton had quitted the fhip. Soon after the latter left the round-house, the Captain asked what was become of him, and Mr Rogers replied, that he was gone on the deck, to fee what could be done. After this a heavy fea breaking over the fhip, the ladies exclaimed, "Oh! poor Meriton-he is drowned-had he flaid with us he would have been fafe." On this occafion Mr Rogers offered to go and call in Mr Meriton, but this was oppofed by the ladies, from an apprehenfion that he might share the fame fate. |