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By Dr. A. J. HARRISON, M.B. Lond. 



T HAVE given this title to the remarks I have the honour 

 -^ of bringing before this Society this evening, and must 

 ask the members to regard my " notches " as observations or 

 notes ; or, in other words, that, in looking and searching 

 about amongst trees, where a remarkable specimen has been 

 found, we have made a notch or incision upon it, — mental 

 only, not with an axe, — as it were, to particularise it. 



Every one, I am sure, must take an interest in old trees, of 

 whatever kind and wherever placed ; and it occurred to me 

 some time ago that it might not be uninteresting to others 

 to have brought before them in, I trust, a fairly concise form 

 a few details about the giants and patriarchs of the old 

 forest kingdom, A noble-looking tree must strike every be- 

 holder with awe and admiration — with awe at its gigantic 

 proportions and age, and with admiration at its marvellous 

 form and beauty ; and to these feelings is added one of deep 

 veneration when we reflect upon the age of some, of their 

 associations with the past, and their connection with the 

 present time. 



It is scarcely probable there are any oak trees now living 

 which were flourishing when Julius Coesar and his Roman 

 legions landed in Britain, but there are doubtless many yew 

 trees ; and if we go to foreign lands, the sequoias of America 



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