During a visit of the writer of this to the Isle of Wight, in 1877, the remains of an old Roman villa were being exhumed, near Newport. It had been covered by the gravitation of the soil during near two thousand years. If there be the slightest inclination, every rain causes a movement of the surface downwards, and though the surface be nearly level, a ruin below the highest point, but a few acres away, will become covered in time, though never an earth-worm had been called into being. The uncovering of these ruins, exposed the remains of the ancient baths. The warmed water flowed through cemented channels. By an Isle of Wight paper, we note that another of these old villas has been unearthed, some four miles from the one above referred to. The "puzzle," in the extract given below, could also be explained in all probability, on the theory of the circulation of warm water through a hot-water bath :

"Some new discoveries have been made at Brad-ing which will not only excite much interest, but also become a puzzle to the archaeologist. The first is a large square mass of masonry about four yards on each side. In the center is a square depression, the bottom of which is paved with a large flag. The walls enclosing it are over three feet thick. At the bottom of the wall are spouts, evidently for the purpose of letting off some liquid. The most probable suggestion is that it is a cochlea, or press, but whether used as a clothes press or an oil press is doubtful. Near this is a curious structure, one part composed of a long narrow enclosure, while another at right angles to it forms a kind of circular enclosure. What was the purpose of this it is impossible to say. At the other end of the villa there has been laid bare a square room with a circular base of masonry in the center. This base may be that of a nymphceum, which was used in elegant houses for placing plants, shrubs, and flowers upon.

This part of the villa may have been the entrance."