54 SOME NOTES ON "MOORLOG,"
The moorlog varies in colour from light brown to almost
black, and in texture from a coarse, mossy deposit to a fine hard
mass of as close a texture as wood. An air-dried specimen gave
a specific gravity of 1.16.
One very marked character is that it is fissile; splitting
readily into laminae, whether wet or dry. The moorlog consists
chiefly of plant remains—stems and roots of trees, seeds, leaves,
and mosses. In addition, elytra of beetles are very common in
some specimens. These remains will be described in detail
later. Specimens of moorlog are frequently found bored by
Pholas, with the living animals in the cavities formed.
A few words with regard to the name itself may be of
interest.
The fishermen pronounce it "merlog," "morlog," or
''moorlog." Dr. Murray1 gives it as an obsolete word and
spells it "moorlog" or "moorlogg." He gives three references
to its use in literature. First in Child's Hartlib's Legacy (1655),
p. 141, from which the following quotation is taken: "This is
in briefe my Philosophy concerning moorlog." Again in Perry's
An Account of the Stepping of Daggenhaui Breach (1721), p. 72, we
have the following note:—" Moorlog is a vein of divers sorts of
rotten wood .... which lyes about 3 Foot and a half
underneath the surface of the Marsh Ground." The third
reference is given in the Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal, iii
(1840), p. 106, where moorlog is described as a "vein of matted
brushwood with nuts and pieces of rotten wood interspersed."
These extracts relate to peaty deposits formed on land, and
have no reference to submarine deposits. We are, therefore, led
to the conclusion that "merlog" is a corruption of "moorlog."
We have already stated that moorlog is chiefly composed of
plant remains. Specimens were submitted to Mr. Clement.
Reid, F.R.S., and we have received the following report:—
NOTE ON THE PLANT REMAINS BY MR. CLEMENT
REID, F.R.S., AND MRS. REID.
"The dredged cakes of peat handed to us for examination
came from different parts of the Bank; but they were all very
similar in character, and showed only the slight differences
found in different parts of the same fen. The bed is essentially
1 New English Dictionary.