318 NATURAL ILISTORY 
be carried into animal life; for discerning bee- 
masters now find that their hives should not in the 
winter be exposed to the hot sun, because such un- 
seasonable warmth awakens the inhabitants too 
early from their slumbers, and, by putting their 
juices into motion too soon, subjects them after- 
ward to inconveniences when rigorous weather re- 
turns. 
The coincidents attending this short but intense 
frost were, that the horses fell sick with an epi- 
demic distemper, which injured the winds of many, 
and killed some; that colds and coughs were gen- 
eral among the human species ; that it froze under 
people’s beds for several nights; that meat was so 
hard frozen that it could not be spitted, and could 
not be secured but in cellars; that several red- 
wings and thrushes were killed by the frost ; and 
that the large titmouse continued to pull straws 
lengthwise from the eaves of thatched houses and 
barns in a most adroit manner, for a purpose that 
has been explained already.* 
On the third of January, Benjamin Martin’s ther- 
mometer, within doors, in a close parlour where 
there was no fire, fell in the night to 20°, and on 
the 4th to 18°, and on the 7th to 173°, a degree of 
cold which the owner never since saw in the same 
situation; and he regrets much that he was not 
able at that juncture to attend his instrument 
abroad. All this time the wind continued north 
and northeast ; and yet on the 8th, roost-cocks, 
which had been silent, began to sound their clarions, 
and crows to clamour, as prognostic of milder 
weather; and, moreover, moles began to heave 
* See Letter XLI., Part I. 
