Clarissimo Viro Domino Henrico Oldenburgio, Illustrissimæ Soc. Regiæ Secr. Salutem & observantiam Christianus Adolphus Balduinus.

—QUanquamQuanquam elapso proximè anno officiosissimè scriptas tuas literas testari continuò debuissem quanti facerem, religioni tamen duxi id facere, antequam Phosphorum meum modis omnibus absolutum darem conficerémeque: Quod cùm non multò ante præstiterim, ecce Tibi eundem in theca argentea inaurata; quem, ceu munus exiguum, si fas sit petere à Te, humillimâ subjectione deferre velis cum ipsi Regiæ Majestati tanquam Fundatori & Patrono Societatis Vestræ, imprimis; tum verò Ejusdem Præsidi Illustrissimo, cæterisque Assessoribus & Collegis gravissimis; nihilque intermittere velis, quodcunque vel Clementiæ Regiæ, vel Favori tantorum Virorum conciliando facere arbitreris. Latet in Phosphoro isto ignis & luminis Naturæ realis scintillula, imò secretissima anima, proidéque intrinsecus atque invisibilis Sophorum ignis, visibilem Solis ignem magneticâ ratione attrahens, splendorémque ipsius vicissim in Tenebris emittens ejaculansque. Quo istud accedit non minùs mirum, Signaturam nempe Solis contineri in Universali isto Magnete unde confectus idem ille Phosphorus est; quod quidem ex adjuncto Schemate Phænomeni * * Hoc phænomenon repræsentat in vase vitreo complures imagines Solis, majores, minores; in quas materia, ab Authore nostro adhibita, jucundissimo, ut videtur, spectaculo, abiisse conspecta fuit.(per dies aliquot durante) liquidissimè patet. (789) Atque inde non est, quod subjecto isto uti desistam in Chymicis meis laboribus continuandis, quòd multò majora mihi propediem dignioráque ex se spondeat, quorumque magis arcana ratio. De quibus omnibus, philosophicâ consuetudine, Societati Illustrissimæ relaturus per literas sum quæcunque certis Experimentis comperero. Servet te Deus, & me porrò affectu tuo complectere.

Scrib. Haynæ, d. 1. Sept. 1676.

A Letter from Mr. J: Beaumont of Stony-Easton in Sommersetshire to one of the R. S. concerning a New way of Cleaving Rocks.

A worthy Gentleman, who for many years has been a Considerable adventurer in the Lead Mines on Mendip hills, being in London a while since, was pleas'd to acquaint me that the Miners there, within these twelve months, had gotten a new way of Cleaving Rocks with Gunpowder, whereupon I desir'd he would please to favour me with a Present of the Instruments us'd in it, which I conceiv'd would not be unacceptable in the Repository at Gresham Colledge, where I have now caus'd them to be deliuered.

The first Instrument, which by the miners is call'd the Borier described Fig. 7 is made of Iron, and is 2 foot 2 Inches in length, it is an Inch square at the steeled end from a to b, and somewhat lesse in the other part: the use of this Instrument is to make a hole in the Rock deep enough to receive the Powder: the second Instrument, call'd the Gun represented Fig. 8. is 6. Inches in length, 1¼ diameter, and has a hole drill'd through it to receive the priming Powder. The first Instrument is manag'd thus, one man holds it on the Rock and turns it round, while another beats it down with a hammer of five or six pounds weight; when the hole is made somewhat deeper then the length of the Gun, they dry it with a rag, and put into it about 2 or 3 Ounces of Powder, over which they put a thin paper, and on it place the Gun, which they bind firmly into the hole, by driving in against the flat side of the upper part of it, the third Instrument, which is a little Iron wedge 4 inches in length, by the Miners call'd a Quinnet described Fig. 9. when this is done, they pass down a wire through the hole drill'd in the Gun, and pierce the (854) Paper which covers the Powder and then they prime the Gun and lay a traine and goe up out of the work before the Powder comes to take fire; the Paper is put at first overover the Powder, left when the Gun and Quinet are drivedriven down, the tooles may strike fire and kindle the Powder.

In number: 5. of the Philosoph. Transact. set forth by Mr. Oldenburg there is a way of breaking Rocks with Gunpowder Communicated by Sr. Robert Moray. as he received it from Monsr. du Son the Inventor, and there is a draught of the Instruments for that purpose, but in regard those Instruments differ in severall things from these, I thought it might not be amiss if these were likewise Inserted.

I know the use of these Instruments will be of great advantage to Miners, and if there are any Minerall works where they are not yet receiv'd, the Miners may doe well to try them; for (beside what will be sav'd in timber in a year that is usd in burning Rocks, which is very considerable,) we know that as soon as a man has fired his Powder and broken the Rock, he may presently go to work again, whereas after a fire is laid in a Shaft, a man can scarce go to work in 24 hours after, the Rocks being too hot to suffer him.

TaTo which Mr. Witsen was pleased to Answer to the Effect following. SIR,

’TIS’Tis almost 28 years since I travelled into Russia, and being there merely for my own Satisfaction, I not only Conversed with the Inhabitants of those Countreys, but with Tartars of all sorts. There I grew first informed not only in the Situation of those Parts, but of such Countries as lay very remote. I have not ceased from that time, by various Methods I have found, to send Letters unto, and receive Answers from the most Northern, and North-East parts of the World. For I have maintain’d a constant Correspondence in Mosco, Astracan, Georgia, Ispahan, Polonia, and Constantinople, I have had Letters every year from Pekin, the chief City of China. I have gathered Volumes of Journals and Registers, which set forth the Names of Mountains, Rivers, Cities and Towns, together with a vast number of Drafts made by my own Order, which describe the Territories that I have mentioned.

’Tis from this Fund, which has been gathering for so many years, and by comparing and adjusting all these Materials, and by preserving without intermission therein, that the Map is made up.

(494)

After all, I am far from thinking it has no faults, ‘tis very well if such as are found, be not many, or very gross, I confess my own greatest doubts are about the stretching of the Sea-Coasts. And ‘tis therefore that I express them in a faint and pale Colour, to signify the uncertainty thereof. But as to the Latitudes, I have more assurance of their being well noted, and suspect but little mistakes, if there be any therein.

I am yet in suspence whether the North-East Point which you see bearing off in the Map, may run quite on to America; or how far thither-ward it may reach.

I formerly thought Nova Zembla had been a Continent, and when I wrote my Opinion herein to Mr. Oldenbourg, he put it into one of his Transactions. But I have since been better informed, and retracted that Error. And whereas the late Monsieur Vossius would needs persuade himself, as well as he did others to their Ruin, that there was a passage to Japan by the North, and that the Tartarian Countreys behind Nova Zembla did immediately decline towards the South; I did always oppose it, and think I can even demonstrate the Impossibility thereof. So that what he wrote to encourage Mariners to that attempt, was even directing them to the point of Death, as it afterwards ensu’d.

My intention is, if I live, and may have leisure for it, to make several particular Maps of the sundry Countries contained in this General One, and to give the Descriptions which appertain to each.