There are alwaies at work 280 persons, according to the relation I received from a very civil person, who informed me also of all the other particulars above mentioned, whose name is _Achatio Kappenjagger_; his Office, _Contra-scrivano per sua Maesta Cesarea in Idria del Mercurio_. To give some light to this Narrative, take this Diagramme: F. is the water, C. B. a vessel, into which it runs. DG. EH. FI. are streams perpetually issuing from that vessel; D. E. F. three sives, the distance of whose wires at bottom lessen proportionably. G. the place, wherein the Earth, that pass'd through the sive D. is retained; from whence 'tis taken by the second man; and what passes through the sive E. is retained in H. and so of the rest. K. L. M. wast water, which is so much impregnated with _Mercury_, that it cureth Itches and sordid Ulcers. See Fig. 1. [Illustration] I will trespass a little more upon you, in describing the contrivance of blowing the Fire in the _Brassworks_ of _Tivoli_ neer _Rome_ (it being new to me) where the Water blows the Fire, not by moving the Bellows, (which is common) but by affording the Wind. See Fig. II. Where A. is the {26} River, B. the Fall of it, C. the Tub into which it falls, LG. a Pipe, G. the orifice of the Pipe, or Nose of the Bellows, GK. the Hearth, E. a hole in the Pipe, F. a stopper to that hole, D. a place under ground, by which the water runs away. Stopping the hole E, there is a perpetual strong wind, issuing forth at G: and G. being stopt, the wind comes out so vehemently at E, that it will, I believe, make a Ball play, like that at _Frescati_. [Illustration] * * * * * _An Extract of a Letter, containing some Observations, made in the ordering of _Silk-worms_, communicated by that known _Vertuoso_, Mr. _Dudley Palmer_, from the ingenuous Mr. _Edward Digges_._ I herewith offer to your _Society_ a small parcel of my _Virginian_ Silk. What I have observed in the ordering of Silk-worms, contrary to the received opinion, is: 1. That I have kept leaves 24. hours after they are gathered, and flung water upon them to keep them from withering; yet when (without wiping the leaves) I fed the worms, I observed, they did as well as those fresh gathered. 2. I never observed, that the smell of _Tobacco_, or smels that are rank, did any waies annoy the worm. 3. Our country of _Virginia_ is very much subject to Thunders: and it hath thundered exceedingly when I have had worms of all sorts, some newly hatched; some half way in their feeding; others spinning their Silk; yet I found none of them concern'd in the Thunder, but kept to their business, as if there had been no such thing. 4. I have made many bottoms of the Brooms (wherein hundreds of worms spun) of _Holly_; and the prickles were so far from hurting them, that even from those prickles they first began to make their bottoms.