VOL. XXVII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 681 



Some people out of curiosity, after they have set the water on fire, have put 

 a kettle of water over the cistern, and in it green peas, or a joint of meat, and 

 boiled it much sooner than over any artificial fire that can be made. If there be 

 put green boughs, or any thing else that will burn, upon it, it presently con- 

 sumes them to ashes. The water of itself is as cold as any water I ever felt ; 

 and what is remarkable, as soon as ever the fire is out, if hands be put into it, 

 it feels as cold as if there had been no such thing as fire near it. 



Observations on the Sahterraneous Trees in Dagenham, and other Marshes, 

 bordering on the River Thames, in the County of Essex. By the Rev. Mr. 

 W. Derham, F. R. S. N° 335, p. 478. 



Between 4 and 5 years ago, there happened an inundation at Dagenham and 

 Havering marshes, in Essex, by a breach in the Thames wall, at an extraordi- 

 narily high tide ; and by means of the great violence of the water, a large chan- 

 nel was torn up, or passage for the water, of 100 yards wide, and 20 feet deep 

 in some places ; in some more, some less. By which means a great number of 

 trees were laid bare, that had been buried there many ages before. 



The trees were all of one sort, excepting only one, which was a large oak, 

 with the greatest part of its bark on, and some of its head and roots. The rest 

 of the trees are by most persons taken to be yew ; but a very ingenious gentle- 

 man convinced me they might more probably be some other wood, as alder, 

 which grows plentifully by our fresh water brooks, or else hornbeam ; but I 

 rather incline to the opinion of its being alder ; the grain of the wood, and 

 manner in which the boughs grow, &c. much resembling that of alder, more 

 than hornbeam. 



By lying so long under ground, the trees are become black and hard, and 

 their fibres are so tough, that one may as easily break a wire of the same size, 

 as any of them. They maintain this toughness, if the wood be kept dry. But 

 by drying, the trees become cracked, and very flawy within, but look sound 

 outwardly, and with difficulty yield to wedges. But for the trees lying in the 

 marshes, which are covered every flood, and laid bare every ebb, in a short 

 time they became very rotten. 



There is no doubt but those trees grew in the place where they now lie ; and 

 that in vast multitudes, as they lie so thick upon, or near each other, that in 

 many places I could- step from one to another. And there is great reason to 

 think, that not only the marshes, which are now overflown, which are about 

 3000 acres, are stored with those subterraneous trees, but also all the marshes 

 along by the river side, for several miles : for we discover these trees all along 



VOL. V. 4 S . 



