no PHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. [aNW0 177I* 



squeezed, and mostly forced towards the left side ; and the anterior lobe of the liver 

 was so compressed between the diaphragm and tumour, that it appeared flattened, 

 smaller than usual, and in a withered, decaying state. 



There was nothing preternatural in the matrix, or any of the other bowels: but 

 they were greatly compressed, and the tumour, from its membranes and con- 

 tained fat, seemed to be a production and distension of that part of the omentum 

 which adheres to the stomach, though it reached and adhered to the right 

 ovarium, liver, aorta, and colon, as well as to the stomach. The operator was 

 for some time in search of the colon, before he found it, adhering to, and almost 

 forming a part of, the posterior edge of the tumour. 



XFIl. A Letter from Dr. Ducarel, F. R. S., F. S. A., to Dr. Wm. 



Watson, M.D., F.R.S., concerning Chestnut Trees; with two other 



Letters to Dr. Ducarel, on the same Subject, p. 136. 



Sir, — In a letter addressed to you, on the trees which are supposed to be indi- 

 genous in Great-Britain, published in the Philos. Trans., voh 59, p. 23, the 

 Hon. Daines Barrington has attacked a prevailing notion among the learned, 

 that chestnut trees are the native production of this kingdom. Mr. Barrington 

 argues that they are not; and his reasonings on this are now to be considered. 



In my Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 96, I had observed that " many of the 

 old houses in Normandy, when pulled down, are found to have a great deal of 

 chestnut timber about them ; as there are not any forests of chestnut trees in 

 Normandy, the inhabitants have a tradition, that this timber was brought from 

 England; and there are some circumstances which, when rightly considered, 

 will add strength to this tradition ; for many of the old houses in England are 

 found to contain a great deal of this kind of timber: several of the houses in 

 Old Palace-Yard, Westminster, and in thatneighbourhood, which were taken down 

 in order to build Parliament and Bridge-streets, appeared to have been built with 

 chestnut; and the same was observed with regard to the Black Swan Inn, in 

 Holborn, and many other old buildings lately pulled down in difterent parts of 

 England." And to this I had subjoined the following account in a note. 

 " Chestnut timber being at present rarely to be found growing in the woods and 

 forests of England, many persons are induced to think that the sweet chestnut 

 was never an indigenous tree of this island: but a little consideration will plainly 

 evince, that it always was, and is to this day, a native of England. It is gene- 

 rally allowed, that all the ancient houses in the city of London were built of 

 this timber. Certainly it did not grow far off; and most probably it came from 

 some forests near the town; for Fitz Stephens, in his description of London, 

 written in the reign of King Henry II. speaks of a large and very noble forest, 

 which grew on the north side of it. Rudhall, near Ross, in Herefordshire, an 



