"In Selkirkshire it has been observed to descend to the shore at night time to feed upon mollusks, particularly upon the large basket mussel (_Mytilus modiolus_)."
Selkirkshire, as you well know, is an inland county, nowhere approaching the sea by many miles: I would fain hope, for Mr. Fennell's sake, that Selkirkshire is either a misprint or a misquotation.
_Begging the Question_ (Vol. viii., p. 640.).--This is a common logical fallacy, _petitio principii_; and the first known use of the phrase is to be found in Aristotle, [Greek: to en archê aiteisthai] (Topics, b. VIII. ch. xiii., Bohn's edition), where the five ways of "begging the question," as also the contraries thereof, are set forth. In the _Prior Analytics_ (b. II. ch. xvi.) he gives one instance from mathematicians--
"who fancy that they describe parallel lines, for they deceive themselves by assuming such things as they cannot demonstrate unless they are parallel. Hence it occurs to those who thus syllogise to say that each thing is, if it is; and thus everything will be known through itself, which is impossible."
_Termination "-by"_ (Vol. viii., p. 105.).--On going over an alphabetical list of places from A to G, I obtained these results:
Lincoln 65 Leicester 21 York 24 Northampton 9 Cumberland 7 Norfolk 6 Westmoreland 3 Lancashire 2 Derby 2 Nottingham 2 Sussex 1 --- Total 142 ===
Results of a similar character were obtained in reference to _-thorp_, _-trop_, _-thrup_, or _-drop_; Lincoln again heading the list, but closely followed by Norfolk, then Leicester, Notts, &c.
_German Tree_ (Vol. viii., p. 619.; Vol. ix., p. 65.).--ERYX has mistaken my Query owing to its vagueness. When I said, "Is this the first notice of a German tree in England?" I meant, "Is this the first notice of a German-tree-in-England?" and not "Is this the first notice-in-England of a German-tree?" as _Eryx_ understood it.
_Celtic Etymology_ (Vol. ix., p. 40.).--If the _h_ must be "exhasperated" (as Matthews used to say) in words adopted into the English language, how does it happen that we never hear it in _hour_, _honour_, _heir_, _honest_, and _humour_? Will E. C. H. be so kind as to inform me on this point? With regard to the word _humble_, in support of the _h_ being silent, I have seen it stated in a dictionary, but by whom I cannot call to mind, in a list of words nearly spelled alike, and whose sound is the same: