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Show ~16 ANIMAL REMAINS IN PEAT· (Ch. XIII. Among other analogous ..£~' acts we ma.y mention ' t_h a. t. indiOo' - gm• g a pi• t .w£' r a we ll near. Dulverton ' m Som. erset:shu e. , many p1. gs were £o un d m. varI 'ous posture. s ' still . entire. Th.e 1r sha.p e was we ll preserve d , the skin , wluch retamed .., the. hmr, havmg assume d a d ry, mem branous appearance. 'I. he1r w.h ole sub- stance was conver· te d m· to a white ' friable, lammated, modorous, an d taste1 e ss su bstance.' but which, when exposed to heat, cm1. tte d an od our precisely similar to broiled b. acon .* . . We naturally ask whence peat. derives tlns antlsept~c pro- perty.? It has- been attributed by some to the carbomc and gallic acids which issue from decayed wood, as also to the pre-sence of ch ar red Wood in the lowest strata of many peat-mo. ss.e s, for charcoal is a powerful antiseptic, and capable.of pur1fymg water already putrid. Vegetable gums and resms also may operate in the same way t· . . The tannin occasionally present m peat 1s the produce, says Dr. Macculloch, of tormentilla, and some other plants, but the quantity he thinks too small, and its occurren~e too casual, to give rise to effects of any importan~e. He hmts that the soft parts of animal bodies, preserved m. peat-bogs, may have been converted into adipocire by the actwn of water merely; an explanation which appears clearly applicable to some of the cases above enumerated t· The manner however, in which peat contributes to preserve, for indefinite ;eriods, the harder parts of terrestri~l ani~als, is a subject of more immediate interest to the geologist. ::he~e are two ways in which animals become occasionally b~ned m the peat of marshy grounds; they either sink down I.n~o the semifluid mud, underlying a turfy surface, upon whiC 1 tl:~y have rashly ventured, or, at ot h er t'I mes, a bog '' b.u rsts ' ' m the manner described in a preceding chapter, and ammals may be involved in the peaty alluvium. . In the extensive bogs of Newfoundland, cattle are someumes found buried with their heads only and neck above ground, * Dr. Renm·e , E ssays, & c., p. 521 • t Ibid., P· 531. l Syst. of Geol., vol. ii., pp. 340-346. Ch. XIII.] BURSTING OF SOLWAY MOSS. !17 and after having remained for days in this situation, they have been drawn out by ropes and saved. In Scotland, also, cattle venturing on the" quaking moss" are often mired, or '' 1aired," as it is termed; and in Ireland, Mr. King asserts ~hat t!1e number of cattle which are lost in sloughs is quite mcred1ble *. The description given of the Solway moss will serve to illustrate the general character of these boggy grounds. That moss, observes Gilpin, is a flat area, about seven miles in circumference, situated on the confines of England and Scot. land. Its surface is covered with grass and rushes, presenting a dry crust and a fair appearance ; but it shakes under the least pressure, the bottom being unsound and semifluid. The adventurous passenger, therefore, who sometimes in dry seasons traverses this perilous waste, to save a few miles, picks his cautious way over the rushy tussocks as they appear before him, for here the soil is firmest. If his foot slip, or if he venture to desert this mark of security, it is possible he may never more be heard of. "At the battle of Solway, in the time of Henry VIII. (1542), when the Scotch army, commanded by Oliver Sinclair, was routed, an unfortunate troop of horse, driven by their fears plunged into this morass, which instantly closed upon them: The tale was traditional, but it is now authenticated ; a man a~d hors.e, in complete armour, having been found by peatdJggers, 1ll the place where it was always supposed the affair had l~appened. The skeleton of each was well preserved, and the d1~erent parts of the armour easily distinguished i· ." Th1s same. moss, on t~e 16th of December, 1772, having been filled With water durmg heavy rains, rose to an unusual height and then burst. A stream of black half-consolidated mud be~an at first to creep over the plain, resembling, in the rate of Its progress, an ordinary lava current. No lives were lost, but the deluge totally overwhelmed some cottages, and * Phil. Trans., vol. xv., p. 949. t Observations on Picturei'lque Beauty, &c. 1 1772. |