Letter 4388

[fol. 20] September 22. 1731. N.S. Sir I am to acknowledge yours of ye first July, & 3d Augst. last, having delaied untill I received the box of the Transactions, & thermometer, that is now in the Custom house, & your bill of ladeing served to receive it of the Ann Galley just as she was under sail to carry it back again for want of being required at Leghorn; so by my next I shall give you recoverd at last Mr. Derham’s book translated by me, & that the Cicadae at least were not moulderd as the fire flies, so that you may have seen what animals they are, not grass hoppers. Pray return my most suitable humble thanks to the Society for there continuall kindness, & favours towards me, especially upon there having at my recommendation chozen Dr. Juntini of Florence Fellow of the same, who I hope will by his lucubrations ever more deserve there distinction, & as to another whose name, & qualifications I sent to you by the means of Mr. Pucci, it has been to gratifie the sollicitation made me, butt the Society must have further information of his desert, that he may pass by the due forms. I send you here enclosed a philosophical letter about the burning of the Body of that Lady at Casena, which in some parts is not unworthy of being communicated. I shall acquaint Dr. Cirillo with the thanks of the Society for his communications, & am very impatient to have the last Transactions concerning the surprizing experiments of Electricall bodies that you are pleased to mention, which I will cause in due time to be also verified in these parts of the World. Tis very fatall that such a curious thing as the Chronologicall tables should not sell of apace, butt I take your reason to be the truest,. Butt i entreat you to make all the interest you can as to the Subscriptions to the Museum Florentinum, that a work of so great merit, that a month hence will certainly come out, may not disappoint the undertakers. You will also find a Corona Lunaus here annexed that has been observed at Rome, that is very curious, & extraordinary. I must encroach upon your goodness to gett for me a small Catadrioptick Telescope that has appeared in these [fol. 21] parts & said to have cost five pound ster. supposed to be made by Ed. Scarlett Optician near St. Anns Church, butt he pleased to send the tube alone without any foot, or Basis, for it is an incumberance that may be continued even here; so lett the Telescope be of the most perfect kind, & that which is here, is little longer then a span, & coverd with chagreen, with brass work at ye extremities. Moreover a freind of mine desires to have the pictures in print of Sr. Isaac Newton, John Wallis, John Locke, Lord Bacon, Edm. Halley, Roberty Boyle, & of your good self, so you may be so kind as to putt all together into a box, & direct it to me by the means of your freind Mr. Green, & for all costs, & charges, I order Mr. Pucci to reimburs you upon demand. I am with a great deal of respect, & esteem Your most Obedient & Most humble servant Thomas Dereham P.S. I am informed by an ingenious, & curious philosophicall Observer, that a month ago he enclosed in two different glasses coverd with paper, a Tarantula spider, & a scorpion, which as yett both live, having both proved […] & since these 15 daies have upon there backs thousands of little ones they have putt forth, that are still full of life, & vigour, altho’ only nourished by the air thro’ the holes in the paper.