Minor Notes.
"Garble."—Mr. C. Mansfield Ingleby has called attention to a growing corruption in the use of the word "eliminate," and I trust he may be able to check its progress. The word garble has met with very similar usage, but the corrupt meaning is now the only one in which it is ever used, and it would be hopeless to try and restore it to its original sense.
The original sense of "to garble" was a good one, not a bad one; it meant a selection of the good, and a discarding of the bad parts of anything: its present meaning is exactly the reverse of this. By the statute 1 Rich. III. c. 11., it is provided that no bow-staves shall be sold "ungarbled:" that is (as Sir E. Coke explains it), until the good and sufficient be severed from the bad and insufficient. By statute 1 Jac. I. c. 19., a penalty is imposed on the sale of spices and drugs not "garbled;" and an officer called the garbler of spices is authorised to enter shops, and view the spices and drugs, "and to garble and make clean the same." Coke derives the word either from the French garber, to make fine, neat, clean; or from cribler, and that from cribrare, to sift, &c. (4 Inst. 264.)
It is easy to see how the corruption of this word has taken place; but it is not the less curious to compare the opposite meanings given to it at different times.
E. S. T. T.
Deaths in the Society of Friends, 1852-3.—In "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 488., appeared a communication on the great longevity of persons at Cleveland in Yorkshire. I send you for comparison a statement of the deaths in the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland, from the year 1852 to 1853, the accuracy of which may be depended on; from which it appears that one in three have attained from 70 to 100 years, the average being about 74½; and that thirty-seven attain from 80 to 90, and eight from 90 to 100. It would be useful to ascertain to what the longevity of the inhabitants of Cleveland may be attributed, whether to the situation where they reside, or to their social habits.
The total number of the Society was computed to be from 19,000 to 20,000, showing the deaths to be rather more than 1½ per cent. per annum. Great numbers are total abstainers from strong drink.
| Ages. | Male. | Female. | Total. |
| Under 1 year | 13 | 8 | 21 |
| Under 5 years | 18 | 13 | 31 |
| From 5 to 10 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| ,, 10 to 15 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| ,, 15 to 20 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| ,, 20 to 30 | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| ,, 30 to 40 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| ,, 40 to 50 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| ,, 50 to 60 | 16 | 14 | 30 |
| ,, 60 to 70 | 26 | 34 | 60 |
| ,, 70 to 80 | 20 | 46 | 66 |
| ,, 80 to 90 | 13 | 24 | 37 |
| ,, 90 to 100 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| All ages | 144 | 188 | 332 |
W. C.
Plymouth.