242 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



on the very first advances of spring, they shoot away, and 

 so are cut off by the severe nights of March or April. 



Dr. Fothergill and others have experienced the same 

 inconvenience with respect to the more tender shrubs from 

 North-America ; which they therefore plant under north- 

 walls. There should also perhaps be a wall to the east to 

 defend them from the piercing blasts from that quarter. 



This observation might without any impropriety 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 unseasonable warmth awakens the 

 inhabitants too early from their slumbers ; and, by putting 

 their juices into motion too soon, subjects them afterwards 

 to inconveniences when rigorous weather returns. 



The coincidents attending this short but intense frost 

 were, that the horses fell sick with an epidemic distemper, 

 which injured the winds of many, and killed some ; that 

 colds and coughs were general 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 redwings 

 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 3d of January, Benjamin Martin's thermometer 

 within doors, in a close parlour where there was no fire, fell 

 in the night to 20, and on the 4th to 18, and the 7th to 

 1 7 1, 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 north-east ; and 

 yet on the eighth 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 

 and work, and a manifest thaw took place. From the 

 latter circumstance we may conclude that thaws often 

 originate under ground from warm vapours which arise ; 



^ See Letter xli. to Mr. Pennant. 



