Chapter C: E. F

_Mr. Crookes on restoring old Collodion._--I am happy to explain to your correspondent what I consider to be the _rationale_ of the process.

The colour which iodized collodion assumes on keeping, I consider to be entirely due to the gradual separation of iodine from the iodide of potassium or ammonium originally introduced. There are several ways in which this may take place; if the cotton on paper contain the slightest trace of nitric acid, owing to its not being _thoroughly_ washed (and this is not as easy as is generally supposed), the liberation of iodine in the collodion is certain to take place a short time after its being made.

It is possible also that there may be a gradual decomposition of the zyloidin itself, and consequent liberation of the iodide by this means, with formation of nitrate of potassa or ammonia; but the most probable cause I consider to be the following. The ether gradually absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere, being converted into acetic acid; this, by its superior affinities, reacts on the iodide present, converting it into acetate, with liberation of hydriodic acid; while this latter, under the influence of the atmospheric oxygen, is very rapidly converted into water and iodine.

I am satisfied by experiment that this is one of the causes of the separation of iodine, and I think it is the only one, for the following reason; neither bromised nor chlorised collodion undergo the slightest change of colour, however long they may be kept. Now, if the former agencies were at work, there is no reason why bromine should not be liberated from a bromide as well as iodine from an iodide; but on the latter {207} supposition, could take place, the affinities of acetic acid being insufficient to displace hydrobromic acid.

A great many experiments which I tried last autumn, for the express purpose of clearing up this point, have convinced me that, _cæteris paribus_, the addition of free iodine to the iodizing solution, tends to diminish the sensitiveness of the subsequently formed iodide of silver. On paper, this diminution of sensitiveness is attended with some advantages, so that at present I hardly know whether to introduce the free iodine or not; but in collodion, as far as my experience goes, I see no reason for retaining it; on the contrary, everything seems to be in favour of its removal.

I can hardly imagine that the increased sensitiveness mentioned by MR. HENNAH is really due to the free iodine which he introduces. Such a result being so contrary to all my experience, I would venture to suggest that there must be some other cause for its beneficial action; for instance, commercial iodide of potassium is generally alkaline, owing to impurities present; the tincture of iodine in this case would render the collodion neutral, and unless a very large excess of iodine were introduced, its good effects would be very apparent. This, however, involving the employment of impure chemicals, is a very improbable explanation of a phenomenon observed by so excellent an operator as MR. HENNAH: there is most likely some local cause which would be overlooked unless expressly searched for.

With regard to the point, whether the free iodine is the _sole_ cause of the deterioration of old collodion, I should say decidedly not, at least in a theoretical view; the liberation of free iodine necessitates some other changes in the collodion, and the result must be influenced by these in one way or another, but practically I have as yet found nothing to warrant the supposition that they perceptibly interfere with the sensitiveness of the film.

In the above I have endeavoured as much as possible to avoid technicalities, in order to make it intelligible to amateurs; but if there be any part which may be considered obscure, on its being pointed out to me, I will endeavour to solve the difficulty.

WILLIAM CROOKES.

Hammersmith.

_Photographic Queries._--1. Would you, Sir, or DR. DIAMOND (DR. MANSELL is too far off), be kind enough to inform your readers whether DR. MANSELL'S process, recommended in No. 225., is equally applicable to _inland_ as to sea-side operations; or must we, in the one case, follow DR. DIAMOND, and in the other DR. MANSELL, and thus be compelled to prepare two sets of papers?

2. DR. MANSELL recommends, as a test for the iodized paper, a _strong_ solution of bichloride of mercury; may we ask _how strong_?

3. MR. SISSON'S developing fluid has undergone so many changes, and has been so much written about, that we are at a loss to discover or to determine whether it has been at length settled, in the mind of the inventor, that it will do equally well for negatives as for positives.

FOUR PHOTOGRAPHIC READERS.

[1. Both papers are equally available for both purposes. In actual
practice we have not ourselves experienced any difference in their
results.

2. It is quite immaterial. A drachm of bichloride dissolved in one
ounce of spirits of wine will cause a cloudiness and a precipitate, if
a very few drops are added to the tested water.

3. In general the salts of iron are more adapted for positives, and
weak pyrogallic acid solutions for negatives; say one and a half grain
of pyrogallic acid, twenty minims of glacial acetic acid, and an ounce
of distilled water.]

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_London Fortifications_ (Vol. ix., p. 174.).--In last week's Number is an inquiry as to "London Fortifications" in the time of the Commonwealth.

There is a Map by Vertue, dated 1738, in a folio _History of London_; there is one a trifle smaller, copied from the above; also one with page of description, _Gentleman's Magazine_, June, 1749. I subscribed to a set of twenty etchings, published last year by Mr. P. Thompson of the New Road; they are very curious, being facsimiles of a set of drawings done by a Capt. John Eyre of Oliver Cromwell's own regiment, dated 1643. The drawings are now I believe in the possession of the City of London.

A CONSTANT READER.

[The drawings referred to by our correspondent are, we hear, by
competent judges regarded as _not genuine_. Such also, we are told, is
the opinion given of many drawings ascribed to Hollar and Captain John
Eyre, which have been purchased by a gentleman of our acquaintance, and
submitted by him to persons most conversant with such drawings. Query,
Are the drawings purporting to be by Captain John Eyre, drawings of the
period at which they are dated?]

_Burke's Domestic Correspondence_ (Vol. ix., p. 9.).--In reference to a Query in "N.& Q." relative to unpublished documents respecting Edmund Burke, I beg to inform your correspondent N. O. that I have no doubt but that some new light might be thrown on the subject by an application to Mr. George Shackleton, Ballitore, a descendant of Abraham Shackleton, Burke's old schoolmaster, who I believe has a quantity of letters written to his old master Abraham, and also to his son Richard, who had Burke for a schoolfellow, and continued the friendship afterwards, both by writing and personally. When Richard attended yearly meetings in London, he was always a guest at Beaconsfield. Burke was so much attached to Richard, that on one of these visits he caused Shackleton's portrait to be painted and presented it to him, and it is now in the possession of the above family. I have no doubt but that an application to the above gentleman would produce some testimony.

F. H.

{208}

_Battle of Villers-en-Couché_ (Vol. viii. _passim_).--A good account of this celebrated engagement, with several authentic documents relating to what happened on the occasion, will be found in that very interesting little work, _Risen from the Ranks_, by the Rev. E. Neale (London, Longmans, 1853).

JAMES SPENCE HARRY.

"_I could not love thee, dear, so much_" (Vol. ix., p. 125.).--These lines are from an exquisite _morceau_ entitled _To Lucasta, on going to the Wars_, by the gay, gallant, and ill-fated cavalier, Richard Lovelace, whose undying loyalty and love, and whose life, and every line that he wrote, are all redolent of the best days of chivalry. They are to be found in a 12mo. volume, _Lucasta_, London, 1649. The entire piece is so short, that I venture to subjoin it:

"Tell me not, sweet, I am unkinde,
That from the nunnerie
Of thy chaste breast and quiet minde,
To warre and armes I flie.

"True, a new mistresse now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith imbrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

"Yet this inconstancy is such,
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, deare, so much,
Loved I not honour more."

To the honour of Kent be it remembered that Lovelace was CANTIANUS.

[We are also indebted for Replies to E. L. HOLT WHITE, GEO. E. FRERE,
E. C. H., J. K. R. W., H. J. RAINES, M.D., F. J. SCOTT, W. J. B. SMITH,
E. S. T. T., C. B. E., F. E. E., &c. "Lovelace (says Wood) made his
amours to a gentlewoman of great beauty and fortune, named Lucy
Sacheverel, whom he usually called Lux casta; but she, upon a strong
report that he was dead of his wound received at Dunkirk (where he had
brought a regiment for the service of the French king), soon after
married."--Wood's _Athenæ Oxonienses_, vol. iii. p. 462.]

_Sir Charles Cotterell_ (Vol. viii., p. 564.).--Sir Charles Cotterell, the translator of _Cassandra_, was Master of the Ceremonies to Charles II.; which office he resigned to his son in 1686, and died about 1687. I cannot say where he was buried. I am in possession of a copy of--

"The Memorialls of Margaret de Valoys, first Wife to Henry the Fourth,
King of France and Navarre; compiled in French by her own most delicate
and Royal hand, and translated into English by Robert Codrington,
Master of Arts: London, printed by R. H. 1661."

It is dedicated to "To the true lover of all good learning, the truly honourable Sir Charles Cotterell, Knight, Master of the Ceremonies," &c. On the fly-leaf of it is written, "Frances Cottrell, her booke, given by my honor'd grandfather Sir Cha. Cottrell." This edition is not mentioned by Lowndes; he only speaks of one of the date of 1662, with a title slightly different.

C--S. T. P.

_Muffins and Crumpets_ (Vol. ix., p. 77).--Crumpet, according to Todd's _Johnson_, is derived from A.-S. [Anglo-Saxon: crompeht], which Boswell explains, "full of crumples, wrinkled." Perhaps muffin is derived from, or connected with, the following:

"MOFFLET. _Moffletus._ Mofletus Panis delicatioris species, qui diatim
distribui solet Canonicis præbendariis; Tolosatibus _Pain Moufflet_,
quasi _Pain molet_ dictus; forte quod ejusmodi panes singulis diebus
coquantur, atque recentes et teneri distribuantur."--_Du Cange._

The latter part of the description is very applicable to this article.

Under _Panes Præbendarii_, Du Cange says, "Innoc. Cironus observat ejusmodi panes Præbendarios dici, et in Tolosano tractu _Moufflets_ appellari." (See "N. & Q," Vol. i., pp. 173. 205. 253.)

ZEUS.

Todd, for the derivation of crumpet, gives the Saxon [Anglo-Saxon: crompeht]. To _crump_ is to eat a hard cake (Halliwell's _Archaisms_). Perhaps its usual accompaniment on the tea-table may be indebted for its name to its muff-like softness to the touch before toasting.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

"_Clunk_" (Vol. viii., p. 65.).--The Scotch, and English, _clunk_ must have different meanings: for Jamieson defines the verb _to clunk_ "to emit a hollow and interrupted sound, as that proceeding from any liquid confined in a cask, when shaken, if the cask be not full;" and _to guggle_, as a "straight-necked bottle, when it is emptying;" and yet I am inclined to believe that the word also signifies _to swallow_, as in England. In the humorous ballad of "Rise up and bar the door," _clunk_ seems to be used in the sense of to swallow:

"And first they eat the while puddins, and then they eat the black;
The gudeman said within himsel, the Deil _clunk_ ower ai that."

That is, may you swallow the devil with the black puddings, they perhaps being the best to the good man's taste. True, I have seen the word printed "clink," instead of _clunk_ in this song; but erroneously I think, as there is no signification of _clink_ in Jamieson that could be appropriately used by the man who saw his favourite puddings devoured before his face. To _clink_, means to "beat smartly", to "rivet the point of a nail," to "propagate scandal, or any rumour quickly;" none of which significations could be substituted for _clunk_ in the ballad.

HENRY STEPHENS.

_Picts' Houses_ (Vol. viii., p. 392.).--Such buildings underground as those described as Picts' {209} houses, were not uncommon on the borders of the Tweed. A number of them, apparently constructed as described, were discovered in a field on the farm of Whitsome Hill, Berwickshire, about forty years ago. They were supposed to have been made for the detention of prisoners taken in the frays during the Border feuds: and afterwards they were employed to conceal spirits, smuggled either across the Border, or from abroad.

HENRY STEPHENS.

_Tailless Cats_ (Vol. ix., p. 10.).--The tailless cats are still procurable in the Isle of Man, though many an unfortunate pussey with the tail cut off is palmed off as genuine on the unwary. The real tailless breed are rather longer in the hind legs than the ordinary cat, and grow to a large size.

P. P.

Though not a Manx man by birth, I can assure your correspondent SHIRLEY HIBBERD, that there is not only a species of tailless cats in the Isle of Man, but also of tailless barn-door fowls. I believe the latter are also to be found in Malta.

E. P. PALING.

Chorley.

"_Cock-and-bull story_" (Vol. v., pp. 414. 447.).--DR. MAITLAND, in his somewhat sarcastic remarks respecting "cock-and-bull stories," extracted from Mr. Faber's work, has, no doubt, given a true account of the "cock on the church steeple, as being symbolical of a doctor or teacher." Still I cannot see that this at all explains the expression of a "cock-and-bull story." Will DR. MAITLAND be so good as to enlighten me on this point?

I. R. R.

_Market Crosses_ (Vol. v., p. 511.).--Does not the marriage at the market cross allude simply to the civil marriages in the time of the Commonwealth, not alluding to any religious edifice at all? An inspection of many parish registers of that period will, I think, prove this.

I. R. R.

"_Largesse_" (Vol. v., p. 557.).--The word _largesse_ is not peculiar to Northamptonshire: I well remember it used in Essex at harvest-time, being shouted out at such time through the village to ask for a gift, as I always understood. A. B. may be referred to _Marmion_, Canto I. note 10.