128 EtTymMouocy oF LANE. 
guess without knowing the history of the word, looks rather 
like the same thing. Mr Bradley, in the New English Dic- 
tionary, s.v. Lane, gives at the end of the article, “‘ 5. Sc. A 
sluggish stream of water ; also the smooth part of a stream ”’ 
(perhaps a different word)—1825-80, in Jamieson. 1891— 
Daily News, 2nd July—‘‘. . . here a loch and there a 
lane or sullen deep stream.’’ 1897—Crockett, Lad’s Love, 
X¥XV., 253-—‘‘. . . sluggish, peaty lane.’’ 
The N.E.D. derives lane, a narrow way, from the Old 
English lane, and Sir Herbert Maxwell is of opinion that the 
word, both in English and Lowland Scots usage, indicates 
a narrow passage, whether for persons and cattle (in English) 
or for water (in Scots). 
However obscure its etymology, the word in Scots sig- 
nifies a narrow sluggish burn, flowing as outlet or passage 
from a loch. 
The Lower Nith in its Relation to Fiooding and 
Navigation. 
By RoBert WALLACE, 
The rivers flowing into the Western Seas of Britain are 
shorter than those travelling eastward, yet their proximity to 
Atlantic trade routes may give them a greater commercial 
value, notwithstanding their smaller volume. 
Of these western rivers the Clyde is the largest in Sire 
land, and the Nith second. If the English coast be included, 
only the Mersey and the Severn are of greater volume. 
While the Nith is only fourth in size, yet it is of greater 
age than the Clyde or the Mersey, and probably also of the 
Severn. Of the oldest rivers born during the Eocene uplift, 
the Nith is certainly the largest. 
A stream that has been flowing uninterruptedly for a 
prolonged period of time may be expected to have swept its 
channel clear of all obstructions, making the shape and size 
of the valley to be in proportion to the volume of the stream. 
This would remove a prolific cause of flooding, and give a 
free passage for navigation through the estuary. The Nith 
