224 
NATURAL 
HISTORY 
As to tliat on tlie Plestor, 
" The late vicar stubb'd and burn'd it," 
when he was way-warden, regardless of the remonstrances 
of the bystanders, who interceded in vain for its preserva- 
tion, urging its power and efficacy, and alleging that it had 
been 
" Keligione patrum multos servata per annos." 
LETTER XXIX. 
TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 
Selborne, Feb. 7. 1776. 
N heavy fogs, on elevated situations, espe- 
cially, trees are perfect alembics; and no 
one that has not attended to such matters 
can imagine how much water one tree will 
distil in a night^s time, by condensing the 
vapour which trickles down the twigs and boughs, so as to 
make the ground below quite in a float. In Newton Lane, 
in October, 1775, on a misty day, a particular oak in 
leaf dropped so fast that the cartway stood in puddles, 
and the ruts ran with water, though the ground in general 
was dusty. 
In some of our smaller islands in the West Indies, if I 
mistake not, there are no springs or rivers ; but the people 
are supplied with that necessary element, water, merely by 
the dripping of some large tall trees, which, standing in the 
bosom of a mountain, keep their heads constantly enveloped 
with fogs and clouds, from which they dispense their kindly 
never-ceasing moisture ; and so render those districts habit- 
able by condensation alone. 
Trees in leaf have such a vast proportion more of surface 
than those that are naked that, in theory, their condensa- 
tions should greatly exceed those that are stripped of their 
leaves ; but as the former imbibe also a great quantity of 
moisture, it is difficult to say which drip most : but this I 
