272 WINTER OF 1776. 



for the four following nights, the thermometer fell to eleven, 

 seven, six, six ; and at Selborne, to seven, six, ten ; and on 

 the thirty-first of January, just before sunrise, with rime on the 

 trees, and on the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sank exactly 

 to zero, being thirty-two degrees below the freezing point ; 

 but by eleven in the morning, though in the shade, it sprang 

 up to sixteen and a half,* a most unusual degree of cold this 

 for the south of England ! During these four nights, the cold 

 was so penetrating, that it occasioned ice in warm chambers, 

 and under beds ; and, in the day, the wind was so keen, that 

 persons of robust constitutions could scarcely endure to face 

 it. The Thames was at once so frozen over, both above and 

 below bridge, that crowds ran about on the ice. The streets 

 were now strangely encumbered with snow, which crumbled and 

 trode dusty ; and, turning gray, resembled bay salt : what had 

 fallen on the roofs was so perfectly dry, that, from first to 

 last, it lay twenty-six days on the houses in the city ; a longer 

 time than had been remembered by the oldest housekeepers 

 living. According to all appearances, we might now have 

 expected the continuance of this rigorous weather for weeks 

 to come, since every night increased in severity ; but behold, 

 without any apparent cause, on the first of February, a thaw 

 took place, and some rain followed before night ; making 

 good the observation above, that frosts often go off as it were, 

 at once, without any gradual declension of cold. On the second 

 of February, the thaw persisted ; and on the third, swarms of 

 little insects were frisking and sporting in a court-yard at 

 South Lambeth, as if they had felt no frost. Why the juices 

 in the small bodies and smaller limbs of such minute beings, 

 are not frozen, is a matter of curious inquiry, f 



* At Selborne, the cold was greater than at any other place that the 

 author could hear of with certainty ; though some reported at the time, 

 that, at a village in Kent, the thermometer fell two degrees below zero, 

 viz. thirty-four degrees below the freezing point. The thermometer used 

 at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin Martin. 



f It is surprising the degree of cold which the eggs and chrisalids of 

 insects can endure, without destroying the vital principle j nor is it less 

 astonishing the degree of heat they are capable of sustaining. Spallanzani, 

 and John Hunter, have made some curious experiments on these subjects. 

 " Intense cold," says Spallanzani, " does not destroy the eggs of insects." 

 The year 1 709 was celebrated for the intensity of its cold, and its fatal 

 effects on animals and plants. Fahrenheit's thermometer fell to one 

 degree. * Who can believe,' exclaims Boerhaave, ' that the severity of 

 this winter did not destroy the eggs of insects, especially those exposed 

 to its influence in open fields, on the bare earth, or on the exposed branches 



