THE 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
JULY, 1882. 
I. VEGETABLE SOIL.* 
By G. H. Kinahan, M.R.I.A., &c. 
(Concluded from page 341.) 
Stones on the Surface of the Ground . 
g R. DARWIN seems to be of the opinion that the 
burying of surface stones is principally due to their 
being undermined and lowered by worms burrrowing 
under them : this, however, does not appear to be proven. 
In my previous publications I have given faCfs which show 
that vegetable growth and decay, as also ant-work, are effi- 
cient workers ; not, however, as lowerers of the stones, but 
as builders up of earth around them. Surface stones are 
natural equalisers of the temperature, keeping the ground 
near them cool in summer and warm in winter, some stones 
being better conductors of heat than others ; therefore im- 
mediately around them there is more vegetable growth and 
decay than elsewhere in the same field, as will be seen in 
innumerable places in the stony portion of Connaught and 
Munster. This vegetable growth and decay, especially if 
the stone stands a foot or more over the surface of the 
ground, is greatest opposite the sun at 11 o’clock a.m. ; and 
if the stone is on a flat surface, and the increase of the soil 
is solely due to vegetable growth and decay, the earth will 
increase fastest to the S.S.E. of the stone. These results, 
however, are nearly always modified, as rain and rivulets 
may carry matter and lodge it at other sides of the stone, or 
winds will carry dust and make accumulations. The pre- 
vailing wind of a district; is a great auxiliary in burying a 
* This paper was written prior to the death of the eminent philosopher, 
Dr. Darwin, and was ready for the press when his lamentable death was 
announced, which consequently delayed its publication. 
VOL. IV. (THIRD SERIES). 2 C 
