SCARBOROUGH, a town of the North Riding of Yorkshire, seated on a steep rock, near which are such craggy cliffs that it is almost inaccessible on every side. On the top of this rock is a large green plain, with two wells of fresh water springing out of the rock. It has of late been greatly frequented on account of its mineral waters called the Scarborough-Spa; on which account it is much mended in the number and beauty of the buildings. The spring was under the cliff, part of which
"Neither the severest frosts in our climate (says Mr Rack), nor even keeping them in water, will kill them. I have kept some in water near a week; they appeared motionless; but on exposing them to the sun and air a few hours, they recovered, and were as lively as ever. Hence it is evident they can live without air. On examining them with a microscope, I could never discover any organs for respiration, or perceive any pulsation. When numerous, they are not destroyed without great difficulty; the best method is, to plough up the land in thin furrows, and employ children to pick them up in baskets; and then strew salt and quick-lime, and harrow in. About 30 years since I remember many farmers crops in Norfolk were almost ruined by them in their grub-state; and in the next season, when they took wing, the trees and hedges in many parishes were stripped bare of their leaves as in winter. At first the people used to brush them down with poles, and then sweep them up and burn them. One farmer made oath that he gathered 80 bushels; but their number seemed not much lessened, except just in his own fields."
The scarabæus carnifex, which the Americans call the tumble-dung, particularly demands our attention. It is all over of a dusky black, rounder than those animals are generally found to be, and so strong, though not much larger than the common black beetle, that if one of them be put under a brass candlestick, it will cause it to move backwards and forwards, as if it were by an
which fell down in 1737, and the water was lost; but in clearing away the ruins in order to rebuild the wharf, it was recovered, to the great joy of the town. The waters of Scarborough are chalybeate and purging. The two wells are both impregnated with the same principles, in different proportions; though the purging well is the most celebrated, and the water of this is usually called the Scarborough water. When these waters are poured out of one glass into another, they throw up a number of air-bubbles; and if they are shaken for some time in a phial close stopped, and the phial be suddenly opened before the commotion ceases, they displace an elastic vapour, with an audible noise, which shows that they abound in fixed air. At the fountain they have a brisk, pungent, chalybeate taste; but the purging water tastes bitterish, which is not usually the case with the chalybeate one. They lose their chalybeate virtues by exposure and by keeping; but the purging water the soonest. They both putrefy by keeping; but in time recover their sweetness. Four or five half pints of the purging water drunk within an hour, give two or three easy motions, and raise the spirits. The like quantity of the chalybeate purges less, but exhilarates more, and passes off chiefly by urine. These waters have been found beneficial in hectic fevers, weaknesses of the stomach, and indigestion; in relaxations of the system; in nervous, hysterical, and hypochondriacal disorders; in the green sickness, scurvy, rheumatism, and asthmatic complaints; in gleets, the fluor albus, and other preternatural evacuations; and in habitual costiveness. Here are assemblies and balls in the same manner as at Tunbridge. It is a place of some trade, has a very good harbour, and sends two members to parliament. E. Long. 54. 18. N. Lat. 0. 3.