56 
Dr MacCulloch on Peat. 
occur from the dispersion of sand in the neighbourhood of the 
sea, from the intermixture of clay and sand near the estuaries 
of rivers, and from other more tedious actions by which its tex- 
ture is loosened, and maintained in a lax state. It is in these 
cases that peat becomes naturally susceptible of cultivation with 
comparative ease ; and it is by attending to these circumstances, 
that the agriculturist must be directed in the choice of subjects 
for his improyement, wherever a choice is in his power. A con- 
sideration of the effects produced by the application of calca- 
reous manures, by burning, and by other means, must be left to 
those under whose peculiar province this subject falls. 
The brown colour of mountain-streams evinces the partial 
solubility of peat in cold water, or at least proves that the mass 
in question contains a soluble ingredient. The quantity of mat- 
ter thus held in solution is however small, and seems only to be 
extracted during the incipient or incomplete stages of the pro- 
cess. Peat, of which the formation is perfected, appears to com- 
municate no stain to cold water, although boiling water still ex- 
tracts a portion of the same ingredients. Water thus impreg- 
nated has been supposed to possess some peculiar antiseptic 
powers, the existence of which is, at best, doubtful, and which, 
if they do exist, appear to depend on accidental impregnations, 
not on the peculiar hydro-carbonaceous compound which com- 
municates the brown colour. The obscurities which have at- 
tended this subject, appear to have arisen from inattention to the 
various nature of the substances which may be, and occasional- 
ly are, dissolved by waters flowing over peat, or stagnating in its 
cavities. One of these must be considered of an accidental na- 
ture, and it is the tanning principle extracted from the unde- 
composed bark and roots of various vegetables, and, among o- 
thers, from the Tormentilla erecta. It is probable that, where 
animal bodies have been preserved in a state of integrity in peat 
water, this tanning process has been the cause ; although, in cer- 
tain cases, the constant application of mere water is capable of 
preventing the putrefaction of the muscular and membranous 
parts of animals, by converting them into adipocire. Peculiar 
effects are also produced by ferruginous solutions, which must 
also be considered as accidental, and which appear to arise from 
the conversion of pyrites ihto sulphate of iron. It is not impro- 
