BOTHAMLEY : MINERAL WATERS OE ASKERN IN YORKSHIRE. 359 
numerous sick who resorted thither, I could not but be convinced of 
its cleansing and healing quality in divers inveterate and rebellious 
eruptions on the skin ; and in some scald heads ; and in many old 
stubborn ulcers, which had baffled the common methods of use." 
This account of the Irish bog waters has a curious resemblance 
to Dr. Short's account of the Askern water. The Irish waters prob- 
ably contain a higher proportion of peaty matter than the Askern 
waters, but are free from sulphuretted hydrogen, and contain only 
very small quantities of calcium and magnesium salts. 
A Pool that never Freezes. 
About 120 yards to the south of the Askern Pool is an irregularly 
shaped piece of water about 100 yards long and 55 yards across at 
the widest part. It is known locally as the Mather or Madder Pool 
or Pits, and is shown under that name on the 6-inch Ordnance 
Survey Map. So far as I could learn it is of no great depth, and it 
communicates by narrow drains with the large drains that intersect 
the Common. 
This pool has never been frozen over in the memory of anyone 
living in the neighbourhood, and there is a local tradition that it 
never has been frozen. 
During the severe winter of 1890-91 the Askern Pool was covered 
with a thick sheet of ice, but the Mather Pool, although close by, 
showed no traces of ice even in the shallow water at the edge. On 
January 17th, 1891, after the frost had continued unbroken for 
weeks, the temperature of the air was 1*5° C. (29*3 F.), and the Pool, 
as already stated, was covered with a thick sheet of ice and had been 
so covered for days, and the temperature of the water drawn from the 
Mather Close Well was 4'8° C. (40'6 F.), yet the temperature of the 
water of the Mather Pool, about three feet from the edge and where 
it was still quite shallow, was as high as 9 0° C. (48° F). 
This water contains magnesium and calcium sulphates and cal- 
cium carbonate, together with dissolved peaty matter, but without 
any sulphuretted hydrogen. There is nothing in the position or 
surroundings of the Mather Pool to explain its peculiar behaviour, 
and it would probably repay investigation. 
