452 MR MILNE ON THE DRYING UP OF THE 



I may be permitted to make two short extracts, descriptive of the pheno- 

 menon generally, in order to shew more clearly the bearing of the facts as given 

 in the summary. 



The first extract I shall give is from Dr Douglas's letter. 



" At the mill at Maxwellheugh (immediately above the confluence of the 

 Teviot with the Tweed), the supply of water in the dam began to diminish at 

 6 A. M. Nov. 27. It nearly ceased at 8 a. m. The whole water in the river was 

 diverted by means of the cauld into the mill-lead, but the quantity was so small 

 that the wheel could not be kept in motion. This state of things continued until 

 12 noon, when the flow began to be re-established, and at 1 p. m. the river had 

 assumed its ordinary size. The miller distinctly told me, that the supply came 

 gradually, and not in a rush. 



" At Hawick, six miles above Minto, a correspondent there writes me, that, 

 during the morning and forenoon, the mills were stopped for want of an adequate 

 supply of water, and that near mid-day, the supply was again estabhshed, and the 

 mills again at work. For several miles above Hawick, the river was remarkably 

 small, and the same appearance was observed in the tributaries ; but this, he ob- 

 serves, is of such common occurrence during frost, that it scarcely excites atten- 

 tion. The bed of the Rule Water (which joins the Teviot just at Minto), was so 

 dry, that a friend told me he walked through the channel without wetting his 

 feet." 



Mr Jerdan, in his letter to Professor Forbes, states that, " on the morning of 

 the 27th, which had been freezing hard during the night, and which was an un- 

 common cold frosty day, with a keen and bitter wind from SE., the miller, who 

 Avas at his work between five and six, on setting the mill agoing, found a great 

 rush of water, so much so, that he could hardly check it sufficiently. On going 

 up to the sluice or grating at the head of the dam, to his astonishment he found 

 the cauld or weir so frozen with the bitter night and high wind blowing right on 

 it, that not a drop was going over it, and a bank or wall of ice, about 16 inches 

 high he thought, was formed on the lip or top of the weir, by the accumulation 

 of the floating ice, and the severity of the fi*ost, and which kept the whole water 

 in the pool, and so forced an additional quantity down the dam, when the floating 

 ice was removed from the grating, which he had to do occasionally. From this 

 obstruction, which seems to have been very effectual, the stream immediately 

 below the weir was in a great measure dry, so much so that he could have easily 

 gone over it. In a few hours the accumulation of water carried away the ice 

 from one-half of the cauld, which is separated from the other by an island, and 

 the water flowed as usual, covering all the bed. The ice on the other part of the 

 weir, remained most part of the day. 



" This easily explains the occurrence at Maxwellheugh, where, on examina- 

 tion, I find the water was not only dry below the cauld, probably from the cauld 



