226 



Peacock : The Soil Storehouse. 



of the Rook roosts around Bradford. There are other notes, 

 some of local interest, but others, whilst interesting in their 

 way, have no local bearing whatever, and unless the ' Bradford 

 Scientific Journal' is going to appear as a scientific 'Tit-Bits,' 

 these should be rigidly excluded. The publication is to appear 

 quarterly, at 6d., and we can only hope that our Bradford 

 scientific friends will be able to keep the paper going as long as 

 did the Halifax naturalists theirs. There is a strong editorial 

 staff, amongst which, however, we notice some unexpected 

 omissions. In Part 2 a little more care should be taken with 

 the proof-reading. 



THE SOIL STOREHOUSE. 



Rev. E. a. W^OODRUFFE PEACOCK, F.L.S., F.G.S., 



Cadney, Brigg. 



It has long been known that the blanket of soil which covers the 

 surface of the earth in temperate lands, can bury and preserve 

 for an indefinite time any durable articles which may chance to 

 find a resting place on the ground. It is not so generally recog- 

 nised, however, how common and rich such deposits are in 

 spots which have long been inhabited and ' turfed ' to the doors. 

 These old 'home-places,' still green with the original sod, are 

 scattered irregularly throughout the whole country. All are not 

 stored with equally interesting memorials of the past. Even in 

 the oldest pasture lands of richly endowed neighbourhoods, the 

 quality of the soil records varies greatly in human interest. 



Regarded merely as a storehouse of evidences of man's 

 occupation, the soil may be defined as the humic stained regolith 

 or rock-blanket, made conjointly by natural weathering and the 

 vital actions of animals and plants. There is no diff'erence in 

 the black earth of soils formed from the varying" rocks of the 

 earth's crust, when it is merely considered as the means and 

 vehicle of preservation. The dark colour of a damp soil is 

 derived directly from plants' decay ; and the earthworms, as 

 Darwin long ago pointed out, are the great soil makers. The 

 moles and field mice, and every species of burrowing insect help 

 on the work, aided by billions of bacteria in every square yard 

 of the ground. For such mighty results the means seem trifling, 

 but when sufficient time is allowed the most insignificant causes 



Naturalist, 



