s. Perhaps
PROFESSOR DE MORGAN will give the _rationale_ of this procedure.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_Denison Family._--Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." inform me how the
Denisons of Denbies, near Dorking, in Surrey, and the Denisons of
Ossington, in Nottinghamshire, were related? Who was Mr. Robert Denison of
Nottingham, who took a very active part in politics at the commencement of
the French Revolution? His wife had a handsome legacy from a rich old lady,
one Mrs. Williams, of whom I would much like to know something farther.

E. H. A.

_"Came."_--In Pegge's _Anecdotes of the English Language_, p. 189., we
read:

"The real preterit of the Saxon verb _coman_, is _com_. _Came_ is
therefore a violent infringement, though it is impossible to detect the
innovator, or any of his accomplices."

When was the word _came_ introduced into our language? Early instances of
its use would be very welcome.

H. T. G.

Hull.

_Montmartre._--By some this name is derived from _mons martis_; by others
from _mons martyrum_. Which is the more satisfactory etymology, and upon
what authority does it rest?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_Law of Copyright: British Museum._--Observing that the _new_ law of
copyright, which was passed and came into operation on the 1st of July,
1842, _expressly repeals_ all of the statutes previously existing on that
subject, I am anxious to know, through the medium of "N. & Q.," if the
British Museum authorities can claim and enforce the delivery of any book,
_although not entered on the books of Stationers' Hall_, which may have
been printed and published _before_ the passing of the said act of 1842. If
so, then what is the state of the act or statute which bears upon that
particular privilege?

J. A.

Glasgow.

_Veneration for the Oak._--The oak--"the brave old oak"--has been an object
of veneration in this country from the primaeval to the present times. The
term _oak_ is used in several places in Scripture, but nowhere does it
appear to refer to the oak as we know it--_our indigenous oak_. The _oak_,
under which God appeared to Abraham, bears apparently a resemblance to the
_tree of life_ of the Assyrian sculptures; and, perhaps, the _Zoroastrian_
{469} _Homa_, or sacred tree, and the _sacred tree of the Hindus_; and the
same may yet be found in the _British oak_. Is there a botanical affinity
between these trees? Are they all _oaks_? Was the _tree of life_, a