[ 16 I
moved from the r,uios o f the neighbouring city o f Nona, and-
tranlpprted to Zara, at the ex penceof this, zealous lover of anr
tiquity. He alfo. poflefies. feveral. ancient infcriptions on done,
brought from various parts of Dalmatia, among which, is that
valuable one mentioned by Spon, as being then, in the houfe o f
Signori Tommafoni ; it lay hid.ever finc.e. the year 167,5, under
a covering o f plafter, and being difcoyered by Dr. Danieli, was.
by him published, in cpnfequence of the. mention made o f it by.
the Freijçh ,traveller, *’
I further obferved, among the laid.infcriptions,. three-Greek;.
tables, which were brought from the ifland of. Liffa, and.
feem to belong to fome Pfephifma, being fragments, o f fubfcrip-
tions. o f fenators, M y good friend and hoft, has likewife a ;
large collection of-ancient Roman, coins, befides ..many Greeks
ones, in excellent prefervation,
I law at. Zara, an hermaphrodite foal, iingularized by that
monftrous marring of. the fexual parts,'..well, known to anato-
mifts, and commonly called, hermaphroditifm. I f this.; animal
had been produced at Paris, the. learned would probably have
determined its place.among the Stallions,= as,a male, according
to the curious decifion, which obliged the Drouart .to wear the
drefs.of a, man becaufe tbe,vtrikfex.predominated in her,.j~ T h is
beaft,
* Spon vciages, vol. I. tha-infçriptîon is.at the end o f the jd .v o l.'.
-(■ jVlichd Anne Drouart who was at Venice in 1769, and expofed to view for
money, was particularly examined by the celebrated profeflbr Caldani, of thé
univerfity of Padoua, and underftood to -be a monftrous loathfome woman; although
M. Morand, the King of Kraneels .furgean, .and a. member, of the.aca.
demy of fciences, had. declared her an hermaphrodite, in whom, the virile fex
predominated. And in coofequence of.thU curious decifion, the archiepifcopal
chancery,.
beail (alfft. refetnbling the Drouart in the organs o f generation)
though o f a good fize, and well made, was fold at a very low
price, by a Morlacco, in whofe houfe it was foaled; to avert
the bad omen, which that fuperftitious nation draws from the
birth, or appearance o f monfters.
The fea gains ground on the City o f Zara continually; and i f
this was not fufiiciently confirmed by the high tides, that overflow
feveral places, which, when built, were certainly intended
to be out. o f their reach;. the old pavements o f the ftreets, which
actually lie below the ordinary level o f the fea, are certainly
fufficient proofs o f it, as well as the many noble fabricks, discovered
only a few years ago,- in cleaning, and deepening that
part o f the harbour, which they call the Mandrauhis. The various
circumftances that occur along the coafts o f the Adriatick,
tending to prove the gradual elevation of the waters, leave us no
room to doubt the truth o f it. The fea conftantly pervades
on this coaft, notwithftanding the partial increafe o f the land,
by the quantities o f mud and fand, depofed. at the mouths o f rivers
: And whether the coafts of.-our gulph be marfhy, Tandy,
mountainous, or ftony, there are always found ruins of ancient
fabrics now fubmerfedby the fea : Proofs are alfo daily difcover-
ed, that its level a&ually rifes. Whether this proceeds from the
quantity o f itones, and earth wafhed down into it from the
mountains, or from whatever other caufe, may be a matter o f conje
tu r e to the curious. Thofe who have made repeated obferva-
tions on this fubjeCt, cannot therefore ealily admit the opinion.:,
D (once
chancery ordered her, by a precife decree, to drefs in man’s cloaths. Any one
may read M. Morand’s memorial,. among thofe of the academy, and be fcanda-
lized by it»