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extinguish it. The same land burnt, in the same manner, about 
forty years ago. Perhaps this hypothesis, of its kindling by fer- 
mentation, may be confirmed by the frequent firing of hay-stacks 
this year, of which we have had many more instances than in several 
years before.” 
Upon the authority of Schoockius, we learn that this species of 
combustion is no rare occurrence in the peat-pits of Germany. 
More or less frequently, he says, it happens ; but chiefly when the 
heat has been more violent, and the rains have fallen less plentifully, 
that either by accident, or by some one!s malice, not only the dry 
peat, but even the marshy earth itself, become drier than usual, 
is set on fire ; when the flame spreads far and wide, occasioning a 
calamity, not less dreadful to those labourers who dwell at the pits, 
whose little hovels it lays waste and reduces to ashes, than to those 
who derive their livelihood from these pits. For this reason, proper 
watchmen are appoint sd to go round, not merely to keep it together 
in heaps, but to be ready to extinguish, in time, the fire which might 
break out. This they do not so much by water, which is not always 
found in sufficient quantity, as by smothering it, by turning over it 
with shovels the adjoining earth. If this be not done, the flames 
continually acquiring more fuel, the fire ravages, not for a few days, 
but for weeks and even months, as dreadful experience has shown, 
so that the extended plain may be regarded as a lamentable and 
distressful kind of volcano. 
Thus far, I may surely venture to remark, that analogy confirms, 
the opinion, that peat is the product of peculiar fermentation. 
Yours, &c. 
