to the ground; there came to him a great schoolmaster, who was said to be one of the best wrestlers of all Britany; he entered into the lists, having taken off his long jacket, in hose and doublet, and being near the little man, he seemed as if he had been tied to his girdle; notwithstanding, when each of them took hold of the collar, they were a long time without doing any thing, and they thought they would remain equal in force and skill: but the little man cast himself with an ambling leap under this great pedant, and took him on his shoulder, and cast him on his back, spread abroad like a frog, and then all the company laughed at the skill and strength of the little fellow. This great Dativo had a great spite for being cast by so little a man: he rose again in anger, and would have his revenge. They took hold again of each other's collars, and were again a good while at their hold without falling to the ground: in the end, this great man let himself fall upon the little fellow; and, in falling, put his elbow upon the little man's stomach and burst his heart, and killed him stark dead; and knowing that he had given him his death-blow, took again his long cassock, and went away with his tail between his legs, and hid himself, seeing that the little man came not again to himself, either for wine, vinegar, or any other thing that was presented unto him. I drew near to him, and felt his pulse, which did not beat at all, then I said he was dead. Then the Britans who assisted the wrestling, said aloud, in their jabbering, That is not in the sport. And some said that the said pedagogue was accustomed to do so; and that, but a year past, he had done the like in a wrestling. I would needs open the body, to know the cause of this sudden death, where I found much blood in the thorax, and in the inferior belly, and I strived to find out any apertion in the place from whence might issue so great a quantity of blood, which I could not do for all the diligence I could make. Now, I believe it was by the apertion of the mouths of the vessels, or by their porosities. The poor little wrestler was buried. I took leave of Messieurs De Rohan, De Lowal, and D'Estampes. Monsieur de Rohan gave me a present of fifty double ducats, and an ambling horse, and Monsieur De Lowal, another for my man; Monsieur D'Estampes, a diamond of the value of thirty crowns; and so I returned to my house at Paris."

The Voyage of Perpignan, 1543.

In this chapter, Parey relates a case of a soldier who had received a musket ball, which several of the most expert surgeons endeavoured to extract, but in vain. They were, therefore, obliged to send for Parey, to discover where it lay: "Having found it, I shewed them the place where it was, and it was taken out by Master Nicholas Lavernant; yet, notwithstanding, the honour remained to me for finding it." The following history is not uninteresting:

"I saw one thing of great remark, which is this:-That a soldier in my presence gave to one of his fellows a stroke with an halbard upon his head, penetrating even to the left ventricle of the brain, without falling to the ground. He that struck him said, that he had heard

that he cheated at dice, and that he had drawn a great sum of money, and that it was his custom to cheat. I was called to dress him, which I did, as it were, for the last, knowing well that he would quickly die. Having dressed him, he returned all alone to his lodgings, which was at least two hundred paces distant. I bid one of his companions send for a priest to dispose of the affairs of his soul; he helped him to one, who staid with him to the last gasp. The next day the patient sent for me by his she-friend, in a boy's apparel, to come to dress him, which I would not do, fearing he would die under my hands; and to put it off, I said that I must not take off the dressing till the third day, by reason he would die, though he were never touched. The third day, he came staggering, and found me in my tent, and prayed me most affectionately to dress him, and shewed me a purse, wherein he had a hundred and six-score pieces of gold, and that he would content me to my desire; for all that, notwithstanding, I deferred taking off his dressing, fearing lest he should die at the same instant. Certain gentlemen desired me to go to dress him, which I did at their request; but, in dressing, he died under my hands in a convulsion. Now this priest accompanied him until death, then seized upon the purse, lest another should take it, saying, he would say masses for his soul. Moreover he furnished himself with his clothes, and with all the rest of his things. I have recited this history as a monstrous thing, that the soldier fell not to the ground when he had received this great stroke, and was in his senses even till death. Soon after, the camp was broken for divers causes; the one, because we were advertised, that four companies of Spaniards were entered into Perpignan; the other, that the plague begun much in our camp; and it was told us by the people of the country, that shortly there would be a great overflowing of the sea, which arose in such manner that there remained not one tent which was not broken and overthrown, for all the strength and diligence that could be given; and the kitchens being all uncovered, the wind raised so the dust and sand, which salted and powdered our meat in such a manner that we could not eat it, so that we were constrained to boil it in pots and other vessels well covered. Now we did not encamp ourselves in so good time, but that there were many carts and carters, mules and mule-drivers, drowned in the sea, with great loss of baggage. The camp broken, I returned to Paris."

The Voyage of Boulogne, 1545.

"A little while after we went to Boulogne, where the English, seeing our army, left the forts which they had, that is to say Moulambert, the little paradise, Monplaisir, the fort of Chatillon, the fort Dardelot. One day, going through the camp to dress my hurt people, the enemies who were in the Tower of Order, shot off a piece of ordnance, thinking to kill horsemen who staid to talk with one another. It happened, that the bullet passed very near one of them, which threw him to the ground, and it was thought the said bullet had touched him, which it did not at all, but only the wind of the said bullet in the midst of his coat, which went with such a force that all the outward part of the thigh became black and blue, and he had much ado to

stand. I dressed him. and made divers scarifications to evacuate the effused blood, which the wind of the said ball had made; and the rebounds that the ball made from the ground, killed four soldiers, which remained dead in the place. I was not far from this stroke, so that I felt, somewhat, the moved air, without doing me any more harm than a little fear, which made me stoop my head very low; but the bullet was already passed far beyond me. The soldiers marked me to be afraid of a bullet already gone. My little master, I think if you had been there, that I had not been afraid alone, and that you would have had your share of it."

In the above chapter, Parey's account of what is termed the wind of a cannon-ball is interesting. It is a singular fact, that a cannon-ball may produce most dreadful injury, and even death, without breaking the skin. The bones may be broken, and the texture of the muscles destroyed, and yet the skin remain without a wound. This injury was thought to arise from the violent motion of the air produced by the cannon-shot; an idea now exploded; for it has been well remarked, if this theory were correct, the effect in question would constantly happen whenever a ball passes near any part of the body. That this is not the case, however, we know from the fact that pieces of soldiers' and seamen's hats, of their feathers, clothes, and even hair, are often shot away without doing any injury. Professor Thomson, of Edinburgh, who visited the wounded after the battle of Waterloo, in his observations, made in the British Military Hospitals, has given the following information on this subject. 'We saw, and were informed, of many instances in which cannon-balls had passed quite close to all parts of the body, and had removed portions of the clothes and accoutrements, without producing the slightest injury of any kind. In other instances, portions of the body itself were removed by cannonballs, without the contiguous parts having been much injured. In one case, the point of the nose was carried off by a cannonball, without respiration being at all affected; and in another very remarkable case, the external part of the ear was shot away, without even the power of hearing being sensibly impaired."*

*In the Eventful Life of a Soldier,' vol. ii. p. 24, an instance of this kind occurs.

"A French officer, while leading on his men, having been killed in our front, a bugler of the 83rd regiment, starting out between the fire of both parties, seized his gold watch; but he had scarcely returned, when a cannon-shot from the enemy came whistling past him, and he fell lifeless on the spot. The blood started out of his nose and ears, but with the exception of this, there was neither wound nor bruise on his body."

While we are quoting from this curious work, which we recom

"At the bombardment of the French fleet in the basin of Antwerp, in 1814," says Mr. Samuel Cooper, a cannon-shot shattered the legs of two officers so badly that the limbs were amputated. These gentlemen were walking at the moment of the accident in the village of Merksam, taking hold of the arm of my friend, Surgeon Stobo, who was in the middle. Now the ball, which produced the injury, did not the slightest harm to the latter gentleman, although it must have passed as close as possible to his lower extremities, and, most probably, between them. The mischief," says this intelligent surgeon," which is imputed to the air, is occasioned by the ball itself. Its producing a violent contusion, without tearing the skin and entering the limb, is to be ascribed to the oblique direction in which it strikes the part, or, in other instances, to the feebleness with which the ball strikes the surface of the body, in consequence of its having lost the greater part of its momentum, and acting principally by its weight, being, in short, what is called a spent ball. Daily observation evinces that balls, which strike a surface obliquely, do not penetrate that surface, but are reflected; though they may be impelled with the greatest force, and the body struck may be as soft and yielding as water."

We think the above facts and arguments are tolerably conclusive on this subject; and we must confess, we do not put much faith in what Parey tells us, of his feeling the wind. He is as remarkable for candour as for genius; but, in the above case, his imagination appears to have got the better of his judgment.

We shall not make any extracts from The Voyage of Germany, 1552, as it does not contain any thing very interesting. We now come to

mend to all our readers for its vivid pictures of war, and its interesting narratives of individual exploits, as well as for the apparently amiable and worthy character of its author, who, though a private soldier, is an excellent writer; we will add from it another remarkable surgical phenomenon.

"A few of our lads, and some of the 79th, were standing together, where a poor fellow lay a few paces from them weltering in his blood. As he belonged to the 79th, they went over to see who he was: the ball had entered the centre of his forehead, and passed through his brain, and to all appearance he was completely dead; but when any of the flies which were buzzing about the wound, entered it, a convulsive tremour shook his whole body, and the muscles of his face became frightfully distorted; there could scarcely be imagined any thing more distressing or more appalling to the spectator."

The Voyage of Dauvilliers.

"At the return from the German camp, king Henry besieged Dauvilliers; those within would not render. They were well beaten, and our powder failed us; in the mean time, they shot much at our people. There was a shot passed the tent of Monsieur De Rohan, which hit a gentleman's leg, who was of his train, which I cut off without applying hot irons.

"The king sent for powder to Sedan; which being come, they began a greater battery than before, in such sort, that they made a breach. Messieurs De Guise and the High Constable, being in the chamber, told him, that they concluded the next day to make assault, and that they were assured they should enter into it, and that they should keep it secret, lest the enemy were advertised. And all of them promised not to speak of it to any one. Now, there was a groom of the king's chamber, who lay under the king's bed, in the camp, to sleep; he, understanding that they resolved the next day to give an assault, presently revealed it to a certain captain, and told him, that for certain, the day following, assault would be given, and that he had heard it of the king, and prayed the said captain, that he would not speak a word of it to any body, which he promised; but his promise was not kept. So, at the same instant, he went and declared it unto a captain, and this captain unto another captain, and from the captains to some of the soldiers, saying always, say nothing. It was so well hid, that the next day, early in the morning, there was seen the greatest part of the soldiers, with their round hose and their breeches cut at the knee, for the better mounting of the breach. The king was advertized of the rumour which ran through the camp, that the assault must be given, whereof he much marvelled; seeing there were but three of that advice, who had promised, one to another, not to tell it to any one.

"The king sent for Monsieur De Guise, to know if he had not talked of this assault: he swore and affirmed to him, that he had not told it to any body. And Monsieur the Constable said as much; who said to the king, he must expressly know who had declared this secret counsel, seeing there were but three. Inquiry was made from captain to captain,—in the end, the truth was found; for one said, it was such an one told me; another said as much, till, at length, they came to the first, who declared he had learnt it of a groom of the king's chamber, named Guyard, born at Blois, the son of the barber of the late King Francis. The king sent for him into his tent, in the presence of Monsieur De Guise, and of Monsieur, the Constable, to understand from him whence he had it, and who told him that this assault was to be given. The king told him, that if he did not tell the truth, that he would cause him to be hanged; and then he declared, he lay down under his bed, thinking to sleep, and so having heard it, he declared it to a captain, a friend of his, to the end, that he might prepare himself, with his soldiers, the first for the assault. After the king knew the truth, he told him, that he should never serve him again, and that he deserved to be hanged, and forbade