OF SELBORNE. 



27 



have also been shown pieces of fossil- 

 wood of a paler colour, and softer nature, 

 which the inhabitants called fir : but, 



rounding morass. Nor does this seem to be a fan- 

 ciful notion, but consistent with true philosophy. 

 Dr. Hales saith, ^' That the warmth of the earth, at 

 " some depth under ground, has an influence in pro- 

 moting a thaw, as well as the change of the wea- 

 <^ ther from a freezing to a thawing state, is mani- 

 " fest, from this observation, viz. Nov. 29^ 1731, a 

 *' little snow having fallen in the night, it was, by 

 " eleven the next morning, mostly melted away on 

 " the surface of the earth, except in several places in 

 " Bushy-park, where there were drains dug and 

 " covered with earth, on which the snow continued 

 " to lie, whether those drains were full of water or 

 '•^ dry ; as also where elm-pipes lay under ground : a 

 " plain proof this, that those drains intercepted the 

 warmth of the earth from ascending from greater 

 " depths below them ; for the snow lay where the 

 " 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 Hales's Haemastatics, p. 360. 

 Quere, Might not such observations be reduced to 

 domestic use, by promoting the discovery of old ob- 

 literated drains and wells about houses ; and in Ro- 

 man stations and camps lead to the finding of pave- 

 ments, baths and graves, and other hidden relics of 

 curious anti(j[uity ? 



