That chemist proves conclusively:—1. That of the cases adduced none is well authenticated, while in most it is admitted that the victims were drunkards, and that generally a candle or lamp was in the room, and after the alleged combustion was found turned over. 2. That spontaneous combustion is absolutely impossible, the human frame containing 75 or 80 per cent. of water; and since flesh, when saturated with alcohol, is not consumed upon the application of a light, the alcohol burning off first, the causes assigned to account for the spontaneous ignition are à priori extremely improbable.
A. W. Wills.
Univ. Coll., London.
Ecclesia Anglicana (Vol. vii., p. 12.).—This has always been the appellation of the Church of England, just as much before the Reformation as after. I copy for G. R. M. one rather forcible sentence from the articles of a provincial synod, holden A.D. 1257:
"Et super istis articulis prænotatis fecit Bonifacius, Cant. Arch. suorum suffraganeorum sibi subditorum universorum, prælatorum pariter et cleri procuratorum, convocationem isto anno apud Londonias semel et secundo, propter gravamina et oppressiones, de die in diem per summum pontificem et D. Henricum Regem Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ irrogatas."—Wilkin's Concilia Mag. Brit. et Hib., vol. i. p. 726.
For other examples of the ante-reformational use of Ecclesia Anglicana, I can give him so large a reference as to Wilkins' book, passim; to the Writs for Parliament and Mandates for Convocation contained in the Appendix to Wake's State of the Church and Clergy; and to the extracts from The Annals of Waverley, and other old chronicles, quoted in Hody's History of English Councils and Convocations.
W. Fraser.
Tor-Mohun.
Wyle Cop (Vol. iv., pp. 116. 243. 509.; Vol. v., p. 44.; Vol. vi., p. 65.).—The summit of a steep hill in the town of Shrewsbury bears the name of The Wyle Cop. I think that these are two Welsh words, Gwyl Cop, meaning watch mound, slightly altered. Gop, near Newmarket in Flintshire, has a longer Welsh name, which is written by English people Coperleni. This, when correctly written, means, the mound of the light or fire-beacon. Mole Cop, the name of a lofty hill near Congleton, appears to be a slight corruption of the Welsh words Moel y Cop, the mountain of the mound. There is another lofty hill in Staffordshire called Stiles Cop. It seems probable that on both of these hills mounds may have been made in ancient times for the erection of fire-beacons. It would appear that Dr. Plot did not understand the Welsh language, as he has stated that he thought, in these instances, the word Cop meant a mountain.
N. W. S. (2.)