compiled in the twelfth century, there is a list of the abbey's tenants
in the town of Battel. Among many such names as Gilbertus Textor,
Godwinus Cocus, Rotbertus filius Siflet, Rotbertus de Havena, I find
that of "Ædricus qui signa fundebat." As this phrase is susceptible of
several widely different renderings, I shall be grateful to any of your
ingenious readers who will give me their opinions as to its actual
meaning. I may add that Ædric was living about the year 1170, so that
the phrase can have no reference to events connected with the battle of
Hastings.

M.A. Lower.

Lewes, July 30. 1850.

_Osmund the Waterman._--In his description of the _Flowering Fern
(Osmunda regalis)_, Mr. Newman observes, that "the rhizoma [root-stock],
when cut through, has a whitish centre or core, called by old Gerarde in
his _Herbal_, 'the heart of Osmund the waterman.' My lore is
insufficient to furnish my readers with the history of the said Osmund."
(_History of British Ferns_, by Ed. Newman, 2nd ed., p. 334.) Can any of
_your_ readers supply this deficiency?

J.M.B.

_Logic._--What is the earliest printed book on logic? meaning the first
which gives the common theory of the syllogism. Does it contain the
celebrated words _Barbara, Celarent_, &c. The difficulty will probably
arise from this, that each book has some _undated_ editions which are
probably earlier than the dated ones. Of books with dates there is the
exposition of Petrus Hispanus by Joh. Versor, in 1473, and the _Summulæ_