no \OTITIA VENATTOA. 



in cultioatecl lands tlic heaviest rains of summer do not penetrate above 

 six inches, Lahiro also has observed, tliat in soils covered with vege- 

 tation they on no occasion penetrate more than two feet ; and he has 

 likewise stated, concerning a bed of naked earth eight feet thick, that 

 not a drop of water had penetrated to the leaden plate which supported 

 it during the fifteen years it had been exposed to every atmospheric 

 vicissitude. BufFon has supplied the results of a similar experiment, 

 for he mentions having examined in a garden a bed of earth more than 

 nine feet high, which had been undisturbed for many years, and he 

 noticed that the rain had never penetrated more than four feet deep. 

 These observations would be of the greatest import in the (piestion con- 

 cerning the origin of fountains, if the surface of the globe were covered 

 with a layer of vegetable earth of the thickness of two or three yards. 

 But the very reverse of this is the fact ; and every one knows that in 

 many places the superior layer is sand, and that sand allows water to 

 percolate as if it Avere a sieve." 



At any rate, whether Aristotle is right or not, this appears to sup- 

 port my argument, that the water which causes this moisture is filtered 

 either one way or other, and from this we may fairly conclude that the 

 vapour which I before spoke of finds its exit by the same passage. 



This vapour seems nearly allied to what is called by the hop-growci's 

 " fire-blast," which rises out of the ground when a hot gleam of sun- 

 shine has come immediately after a shower of rain. It is well known 

 that small separate portions of pellucid vapour are continually rising 

 from the ground and floating on its surface, and though not visible to 

 the naked eye, are yet considerably denser than the circumambient air ; 

 and vapours of such a degree of density may very probably acquire so 

 scalding a heat from the sun as to scorch Avhatever plants they touch, 

 especially the more tender — an efi:eet that too many gardeners have 

 found to their cost when they have incautiously put bell-glasses over their 

 cauliflowers early in a frosty morning before the dew has evaporated off 

 them ; Avhich dew being put in motion by tlic sun's warmth, and con- 

 fined witliin the glass, has produced a scalding vapour which has killed 

 and burnt the plants ; but which is, I will allow, considerably increased 

 by the action of the sun upon the innumerable globules of water, form- 

 ing, as it were, so many natural burning glasses. Now, having proved 

 before that a vapour does arise through the passage of the veins of sand 

 frotn the depths of the earth, it is reasonable to presume, in comparing 

 that excessive heat caused by so large a body of animals lying together 

 as a pack of hounds, with the beat of the sun, as in the case of the fire- 

 blast before spoken of, that the production and accumulation of the 

 noxious vapour may be not only considerably increased, but also be ren- 

 dered more dangerous in its ert'ects upon the constitution of animals. 



Some years since, tlic Albrighton hounds (then under the manage- 

 ment of Mr. Walter Giflbrd) had been removed to a new kennel which 

 was built for them. As soon as it had been used a short time, the 

 hounds became lame in their shoulders. It being suspected to be ken- 

 nel lameness, among others one remedy was tried, which Avas to dig out 

 the lodging-rooms for several feet, and fill them up with cinders. It 



