THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 165
the welfare of the forest were Mr. E. A. Fitch (President), Professor Boulger and
Mr. Walter Crouch, (Vice-Presidents), Mr. J. E. Harting, Mr. Andrew Johnston,
Mr. Charles Browne (Hon. Counsel to the Club); Mr. Howard Vaughan (Hon.
Solicitor); Mr. Wire, Mr. Percy Lindley, Mr. Letchford, Mr. White, Mr. J. H.
Porter, Mr. F. C. Gould, Rev. Linton Wilson, Rev. W. C. Howell, Lord
Gainsborough, Mr. F. W. Elliott, Mr. B. Corcoran, Rev. E. S. Dewick, Mr. G.
Day, Mr. H. A. Cole, the two Hon. Secretaries Messrs. W. and B. G. Cole, and
a representative of the "Evening Post," in which paper the most stringent of the
charges against the present system of forest management had appeared.
An inspection was first made of the section of forest to the left of the high
road, from the junction of Hagger Lane to the lane opposite the "Napier Arms."
In this part a great number of trees had been felled, and it was these clearings
that called forth much of the "strong writing" in the newspapers. Thence the
party was driven over Woodford Green, along Monkham's Lane to the South-
eastern corner of Lords Bushes, which pretty piece of woodland was traversed in
order to allow the company to judge of the effects of the clearings after the lapse
of a few years—this part having been mainly thinned some seasons back. A
route was then taken by the Epping New Road, across Fair-mead, to High Beach
and the "Wake Arms," and thence by the Loughton Road to York Hill, where
the party again dismounted and inspected, under the guidance of Mr. Percy
Lindley, the extensive clearings there, which had been so severely commented
upon in the newspapers.
Tea was taken at the "Crown Hotel," Loughton, about 6 o'clock, and after-
wards the 101st Ordinary Meeting was held in the Loughton Public Hall, Mr.
E. A. Fitch, President, in the Chair.
The Librarian read lists of donations, and additions by purchase, to the Library,
and votes of thanks were passed to the donors.
The following were elected members of the Club:—Messrs. J. Avery, Lewis
Belsham, T. Butler Cato, T. Clifton, E. A. Dixon, and Dr. G. Brown.
The Rev. W. C. Howell called attention to the statement made, in the pro-
gramme of the meeting at Colchester, that Dr. Gilberd had invented the word
"electricity." Mr. Howell said that Gilberd, in his work "De Magnete" used
the adjective "electrica" and the adverb "electrice," as in the phrases "electrice
attrahere"—"veim illam electricam nobis placet appellare"—"efluvia electrica"
—"attractiones electricae" ; but he did not apparently use or invent the abstract
term "electricitas" nor the barbarous term "magnetismus," which was introduced
in the 18th Century.
Gilberd appears to have said nothing of "repulsion" or of the difference between
"insulators" and "conductors." If Humboldt was correct it was Otto von
Guericke, the inventor of the air-pump, who first recognized the "phenomena" of
"repulsion" which afterwards led to a knowledge of the laws of the distribution
of "electricity." It was he who heard the first sound and saw the first light of
artificially-excited electricity. And in an experiment of Newton, in 1675, the first
traces of the "electric charge" in a rubbed plate of glass were seen. (See
Humboldt's "Cosmos" Sabine edition, 1848, vol. ii, and Brewster's "Life of
Newton.") This being so, it is not surprising that Gilberd did not use or invent
the word "electricity."
Some remarks on this subject were made by the President, Prof. Meldola, and
Mr. Charles Browne, who mentioned that in the "Spectator" there was a
description of a fanciful kind of telegraph, consisting of two dials with magnetic