and a few strokes of an axe, or a run of a few yards, brings a strong man, unaccustomed to breathe such ether, to the ground panting and exhausted. The Times, April 1873. 1. APPROXIMATELY, coming near; approaching. (Lat. proximus, nearest, superlative of prope, near.) 2. PAMIR STEPPE, a large and elevated plain in Central Asia, on the borders of Turkestan; it is also called Barn-i-Dunia. 3. MYTHOLOGISTS, persons learned in mythology, the study of ancient fables or myths. 4. MARCO POLO, a celebrated traveller of the thirteenth century ; he was a native of Venice; he visited Tartary, China, Japan and other parts of Asia, countries, until then, almost unseen by Europeans. Polo wrote an interesting narrative of his travels; some of his accounts are incredible and absurd, but the greater number are both curious and true. A SUBMERGED FOREST IN THE THAMES. IT is not generally known that both at Plumstead and Dagenham, and in other parts of the Thames between Woolwich and Erith, there are visible, at low water, the remains of a submerged forest, over which the river now flows, suggesting curious questions as to the former physical geography of the country. The phenomenon was first described by Captain Perry about 150 years since, in the interesting narrative he has left of his repairs of Dagenham Breach; and in 1817 the late Dean Buckland brought it before the notice of the Geological Society of London. Still more recently the existence of this forest bed right across the valley of the Thames, and even under the river itself, has led a wellknown geologist to trace the former physical geography of the district, and by the correlation1 of other local phenomena to conclude, that the present outlet to the Thames to the North Sea is of quite recent origin (speaking geologically), the waters having formerly passed southwards into the Weald,2 by channels which still remain. To see the forest bed for themselves was the object of our visitors. Accordingly, the party proceeded across the Plumstead Marshes to Crossness, where they were to take boats to examine the outcrop of the trees at the river side. This arrangement, however, was found to have been defeated, for the tide had turned and was rapidly rising above the level of the buried trees. But the contingency had happily been provided against, an excavation some twelve feet deep having been made in the marsh for the occasion. Here the forest bed, with its interesting contents, lay well exposed to view. Overlaid by some six or eight feet of marsh-alluvium was seen a great bed, full of twigs, leaves, seed vessels, and stools of trees, the species of which were determined by the botanists to be chiefly yew, alder, and oak. A collection of animal remains, consisting of antlers of red deer, jaws of the long-fronted ox, and other recent species, obtained from the same forest bed during the excavations in 1862-3, was also exhibited. Extract from the "Times," 1873. 1. CORRELATION, the relation or connection of one thing or person with another. 2. THE WEALD, an extensive and fertile plain in Surrey and Sussex, lying between the North and South Downs. The name is derived from the Saxon Wald, a forest, and this plain was formerly a great forest. THE SUPPLY OF WATER. IN an address to the Cockermouth Scientific and Literary Society, Mr Isaac Fletcher, M.P., referred to the rainfall among the Cumberland mountains. He said the prevailing winds being from the south-west, came to the shores of Cumberland laden with the warm vapour from the Gulf Stream, and that vapour, impinging1 on the cold sides of the mountains which attracted it, was condensed into those prodigious falls of rain, which had made Cumberland famous among meteorologists.2 The annual fall at Carlisle was about 25 inches, in London 23 inches, and the probable average of the whole of England from 25 to 30 inches. The average at the sequestered hamlet of Seathwaite, in Borrowdale, was 134 inches, but at the end of the valley on the sloping face of the Stye,3 at an elevation of 1077 feet above the sea level, the average fall was probably about 170 inches. The year 1872 would long be remembered as one of the wettest on record. The average fall of rain in Cockermouth and the neighbourhood was 46 inches, but last year it was 56 or 57, and on the Stye the fall was actually 244 inches, being by far the largest annual fall ever recorded in Europe. Now, a uniform depth of one inch of water over a surface of one acre represented a weight of 100 tons; consequently on the Stye in the year 1872 the amount precipitated on each acre of ground was no less than 24,400 tons. He had little doubt, that the rain-gauge 4 he had had on the Stye, since 1864, would some day bring both fame and fortune to some enterprising engineer. We all know the great expense to which all large towns are subjected in order to provide a water supply for their inhabitants. In London this difficulty has become so great, that schemes have already been placed before the public for supplying the metropolis from the mountain regions of Wales; but it was not only possible, but highly probable, that ultimately they would have to come to the Cumberland lakes and mountains for a permanent supply, for they possess every necessary element for the purpose. In the first place there is abundance of water, and in the second place ample storage in the lakes and valleys, and if reservoirs are required at great elevations, they can be easily and cheaply constructed. The gorge of Styehead Pass has, at its south-western extremity, at an elevation of 1472 feet, a beautiful tarn 5 where the fall last year was 170 inches, and connected with it on the ascent towards Scawfell Pike, at a height of 1985 feet, is Sprinkling Tarn, where the fall was 177 inches. These two tarns, with no great amount of engineering skill, could be converted into immense reservoirs, with a watershed sufficient to supply every town in the north of England with abundance of perfectly pure water without pumping power, and by gravitation alone. He looked forward with the utmost confidence to some scheme of this kind being carried out, and that not in the remote future, but possibly in the lifetime of some in that room. Extract from the "Times," 1873. 1. IMPINGING, striking against. (Lat. pango, to strike.) 2. METEOROLOGISTS, persons skilled in the science of meteorology, a science which treats of the atmosphere and its phenomena. 3. STYE, a mountain in Cumberland. 4. GAUGE, a standard of measure. 5. TARN, a small lake among mountains. (Derived from the Icelandic tiörn.) USEFUL TREES OF THE PINE FAMILY. THE trees of the pine family (Conifera) are of great importance, from the number of species which afford valuable timber, and also from the various products obtained from some of them. Among those most valued for the sake of their timber are: Scotch fir, affording yellow deal-this is the only pine now native in Britain; the Norway spruce, yielding white deal, formerly a British tree, as its cones are found in very recent geological formations; Weymouth pine, the most valuable timber fir of North America; Douglas pine, of which a spar 159 feet in length is erected as a flag-staff in the pleasure-grounds at Kew; larch, used largely for railway sleepers; the New Zealand "Cowdi” or Kauri pine, affording mast spars 200 feet long. The wood of the cypress-which is also a member of the pine family-is almost imperishable; the gates of Constantinople made of this wood, lasted 1100 years. The wood of the Juniperus Virginiana is commonly used to enclose lead pencils, under the name of the red cedar; the wood of the true cedar is, however, comparatively worthless. The wood of the yew is said never to be attacked by insects; bows were formerly made of it in Britain, and by an Act of Edward IV., every Englishman was obliged to possess a bow of his own length, made either of yew, wych-hazel, or ash. Yews attain a very great age, some English trees being estimated at about 2000 years. The largest trees in the world are members of the pine family; they are called Wellingtonia Gigantea, grow in California, and are mammoths among trees; one specimen has been described 450 feet high, and 116 feet in circumference. Of resinous products, the most important are tar and turpentine. Tar is distilled from faggots of pine, chiefly Scotch fir, in the north of Europe. The residuum, left after the distillation of the liquid part from tar, is called pitch. Turpentine is afforded by several species of pine, |