294 
NATURAL HISTORY 
fhade, it fprung up to i 6is. — a mofl: nnufual degree of cold this 
for the fouth of England ! During thefe four nights the cold was 
fo penetrating that it occafioned ice in warm chambers and under 
beds ; and in the day the wind was fo keen that perfons of robuffc 
conftitutions could fcarcely endure to face it. The Thames was at 
once fo frozen over both above and below bridge that crowds ran 
about on the ice. The ftreets v/ere now ftrangely encumbered with 
fnow, which crumbled and trod dufty; and, turning grey, re- 
fembled bay-falt : what had fallen on the roofs was fo perfeftly 
dry that, from fa-ft to laft, it lay twenty-fix days on the houfes in 
the city-, a longer time than had been remembered by the oldeft 
houfekeepers living. According to all appearances we might 
now have expecfled the continuance of this rigorous weather for 
weeks to come, fmce every night increafed in feverity; but be- 
hold, without any apparent caufe, on the i ft of February a thaw 
took place, and fome rain followed before night ; making good 
the obfervation above, that frofts often go off as it were at once, 
without any gradual declenfion of cold. On the 2d of February 
the thaw perfifted ; and on the 3d fwarms of little infefts were 
frifking and fporting in a court- yard at South Lambeth, as if they 
had felt no froft. Why the juices in the fmall bodies and fmaller 
limbs of fuch minute beings are not frozen is a matter of curious 
inc]uiry. 
Severe frofts feem to be partial, or to run in currents ; for, at 
the fame juncture, as the author was informed by accurate corre- 
% At Selborne the cold was greater than at any other place that the author could hear 
of with certainty : though forae reported at the time that at a village in iTf^i the ther- 
mometer fell two degrees below zero, 'vi%. 3+ degrees below the freezing point. 
The thermometer ufed at Selborne was graduated by Benjainin Martin. 
fpondentS;^ 
