18 
The Presidential Address. 
drainage, and both the Holly and the Yew to have been also 
more abundant than at present, though I do not know of any 
confirmation of the statement, in Mr. Palin’s 1 Stifford and 
its Neighbourhood,’ that the submerged forests at Grays 
consist largely of Yew and Elm. 22 The thickest parts of 
Epping Forest a few years back gave some idea of the 
denseness of the underwood in a primaeval forest; but, even 
there, such evergreens as the Butcher’s Broom, 23 the Lesser 
Periwinkle ( Vinca minor), and the early-flowering Daphne 
laureola and mezereum 24 could live, whilst Primulas, Orchis, 
Hetre n’etait pas assez commun pour donner des bois de construction, ou 
qu’il ne s’etait pas rencontre sur le chemin des arrnees romaines.”— 
DeCandolle, loc.cit. Professor Rolleston suggested that “praster" may 
here mean “besides,” and not “except.”—Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc., 
vol. xlix., p. 320. 
22 Op. cit., p. 41, on the authority of the late Richard Meeson, F.S.A., 
F.G.S., who writes : “ The submerged forests of the Thames in Grays are 
also worthy of notice. There are here three; the upper one consists 
almost entirely of yew-timber and brushwood, about three feet thick; 
then three feet of river mud; and then another forest about the same 
thickness, principally yew; then three feet more mud; and then the 
lowest, containing, besides the yew, large trees of elm and oak.” On 
p. 81 occurs the following further reference to “ the subterranean forest 
discovered in making the railway skirting the river to Barking. This 
moor-log, or vein of buried wood, lies three or four feet under the surface, 
and is about ten feet in depth. It contains yew trees fourteen or sixteen 
inches in diameter, and perfectly sound; willows more than two feet in 
girth, but like touchwood; and mingled with it is small brushwood, and 
even hazel-nuts, which appear sound to the eye but crumble to the touch. 
Some have indulged learned surmises that these are the remains of the 
devastation of the Deluge ; others, that they are the remnants of the old 
forest, beaten down and buried by storms and inundations at a later age; 
but the most practical conclusion is, that they were purposely laid there 
by some of the rude engineers of olden times, as foundations for works to 
shut out the troublesome flow of the Thames.” 
23 Ruscus aculeatus, the Cneoliolen, or Knee Holly, still abundant in 
Epping Forest, happens to be the first Essex plant recorded by William 
Turner, “the father of English Botany,” in his ‘ Herball ’ (1551), who 
says of it, “ This bushe groweth verye plenteously in Essex . . . . 
24 Daphne mezereum, L. “ M. Watson, malgre l’assertion de plusieurs 
botanistes, qui disent l’espece bien spontanee et qui la croient native, 
pense qu’elle est d’origine etrangere. II convient, toutefois, que la 
distribution geographique sur le continent est contraire a cette idee. 
