EDITOBIAL GLEANINGS. B59 



the-way treasures prized by literary men. It is well to be 

 reminded that St. John, the seer of Patmos, was a contemporary 

 of Pliny, the naturalist, and Dr. Fletcher remarks : " Pliny's 

 great work on Natural History, published in 77 a.d., only two 

 years before his death, tells us what was known about minerals 

 by naturalists at the time when St. John himself was living." 

 While of Theophrastus, whose Greek work on Stones, which, 

 " though brief is very useful," we read : " The author lived 

 about 370-287 e.g., and therefore, though his book was probably 

 completed before the Septuagint translation was begun (270 or 

 280 B.C.) ; he must have been a contemporary of the translators 

 themselves." These are truly links of the past, and they help 

 us to rightly understand it. May other naturalists who are 

 also scholars follow Dr. Fletcher's lead. 



EDITOKIAL GLEANINGS. 



Whittlesea Mere sinks over Ten Feet in Sixty Years. — The 

 drought has had an extraordinary effect on the bed of the once 

 famous Whittlesea Mere, the greatest of the Cambridgeshire Fens. 

 Ever since the mere was drained in 1851 the land has gradually 

 shrunk. During the previous few years no perceptible difference has 

 taken place, but this year there has been a further shrinkage, and 

 probably the bed of the mere is now as low as it can possibly get. 

 After the mere was drained in 1851 an iron post was driven firmly 

 through the peat into the underlying bed of gault. The gault was 

 unshrinkable and as firm as a rock. The post was driven in until the 

 top was level with the spongy land, and then a large square iron plate 

 bearing the date was fixed. Deprived of the water of the mere the 

 peaty fenland has shrunk to a marked degree this year, and now the 

 iron pillar stands over ten feet out of the ground. The pillar has not 

 risen ; it is immovable. — Daily Chronicle, Sept. 13th. 



This is an interesting record in connection with a reference to 

 the Mere on a previous page {cf. notice of Mr. Eegan's book, ante, 

 p. 357). 



