OF SELBORNE. 



19 



shown pieces of fossil wood of a paler colour, and softer 

 nature, which the inhabitants called fir : but upon a nice 

 examination, and trial by fire, I could discover nothing 



PAKTRIDGE. 



resinous in them ; and therefore rather suppose that they 

 were parts of a willow or alder, or some such aquatic 

 tree. 1 



drain had more than four feet depth of earth over it. It continued 

 also to lie on thatch, tiles, and the tops of walls." See Hole's Hcema- 

 statics, p. 360. Quere, Might not such observations be reduced to 

 domestic use, by promoting the discovery of old obliterated drains and 

 wells about houses ; and, in Roman stations and camps, lead to the 

 finding of pavements, baths, and graves, and other hidden relics of 

 curious antiquity ? G. W 



See also the letter to Daines Barrington, numbered LXI. ; in which 

 the effects of the short but intense frost of 1768 are described. ED. 



1 A more recent instance of the occurrence of bog-oak is recorded 

 in Letter LIX. to Daines Barrington : and probably the stock is by no 

 means yet exhausted. In addition to the oak, fir and birch are also 

 found. They are in various stages of carbonization, dependent on their 

 position, or, in other words, on the length of time during which they 

 have been subjected to the action of moisture and pressure. Above 

 the peat is a layer of sand of eighteen inches or two feet in thickness. 

 On the top of this rests a thick layer of turf ; consisting of the blended 

 roots of many generations of heath and other plants, and approaching, 

 in its lower part, to the character of the genuine bog. It is from this 

 compact layer that the majority of the larger trunks are obtained. 



ED. 



