Chapter C: Mansfield Ingleby

Birmingham.

It would be well if every popular error were hunted down, as your correspondents have done in the case of the snake-vomiting at Portsmouth. The public need to be told, that no animal can live in the alimentary canal but the parasites which belong to that part of the animal economy. Of these the _Lumbricus intestinalis_ is the largest, and is discharged by children even of the size mentioned in the case of Jonathan Smith.

Two years ago I met with a curious illustration of the popular ignorance of that branch of natural history which treats of our own reptiles, as well as of the mode of growth of a popular marvel. During the hot weather of the summer before last, I was asked by a respectable farmer, if I had seen the "serpent" which was lately killed in an adjoining parish. "Serpent!" I replied; "I suppose you mean some overgrown common snake--perhaps a female full of eggs?" "Well, it might have been a snake at first, but it was grown into a serpent; and pursued a boy through the hedge, but was fortunately encountered and killed by the father."

It is a moot point, whether the parasites of animals are engendered or not within the body. In the case of the bots of horses, they are known to be the larvæ of a fly which deposits its eggs on the skin; from whence they are licked off, and conveyed into the animal's stomach, where they are hatched and prepared for their other metamorphoses.

I believe the only parasite taken in with water in tropical climates is the Guinea Worm; an animal which burrows under the skin of the arms or legs, and is extremely difficult of extraction, and often productive of great inconvenience. But whether the egg of this worm be taken into the stomach, and conveyed by the blood into the limbs, there to be hatched into life, or whether it enter through the pores of the skin, I believe is not determined.

The popular delusion respecting the swallowing of young snakes, and of their continuance in the stomach, is a very old one, and is still frequent. A medical friend of mine, not long since, was called on to treat a poor hysterical woman, who had exhausted the skill of many medical men (as she asserted) to rid her of "a snake or some such living creature, which she felt confident was and had been for a long time gnawing in her stomach." I suggested the expediency of working on the imagination of this poor hypochondriac, as was done in the well-known facetious story of the man who fancied he had swallowed a cobbler; and who was cured by the apparent discharge first of the awls and strap, then of the lapstone, and, finally, of Crispin himself.

M. (2)

* * * * *

FRENCH SEASON RHYMES AND WEATHER RHYMES.

(Vol. ix., p. 9.)

The following weather rules are taken from a work which is probably but little known to the generality of English readers. It is entitled:

"Contes populaires, Préjugés, Patois, Proverbes, Noms de Lieux, de
l'Arrondissement de Bayeux, recueillis et publiés par Frédéric Pluquet,
&c.: Rouen, 1834."

Where saints' days are mentioned, I have added the day of the month on which they fall, as far as I have been able to ascertain it; but as it sometimes happens that there is more than one saint of the same name, and that their feasts fall on different days, I may perhaps, in some cases, have fixed on the wrong one:

"Année venteuse,
Année pommeuse."

"Année hannetonneuse,
Année pommeuse."

"L'hiver est dans un bissac; s'il n'est dans un bout, il est dans
l'autre."

"Pluie du matin
N'arrête pas le pélerin."

"À Noël au balcon,
À Pàques au tison."

"À Noël les moucherons,
À Pàques les glaçons."

"Pàques pluvieux,
An fromenteux."

"Le propre jour des Rameaux
Sème oignons et poreaux."

"Après Pàques et les Rogations,
Fi de prêtres et d'oignons."

"Fêves fleuries
Temps de folies."

"Rouge rosée au matin,
C'est beau temps pour le pélerin."

"Pluie de Février
Vaut jus de fumier."

"Février qui donne neige
Bel été nous plège."

"Février
L'anelier" [anneau].

This saying has probably originated in the number of marriages
celebrated in this month; the season of Lent which follows being a time
in which it is not {278} usual, in Roman Catholic countries, to
contract marriage.

"Février emplit les fosses;
Mars les sèche."

"Mars martelle,
Avril coutelle."

An allusion to the boisterous winds of March, and the sharp, cutting,
easterly winds which frequently prevail in April.

"Nul Avril
Sans épi."

"Avril le doux,
Quand il se fàche, le pis de tout."

"Bonne ou mauvaise poirette,
Il faut que Mars a trouve faite."

Poirette, in the dialect of Bayeux, means a leek.

"Froid Mai et chaud Juin
Donnent pain et vin."

"En Juignet [Juillet],
La faucille au poignet."

"À la Saint-Vincent [Jan. 22],
Tout dégèle, ou tout fend."

"Saint-Julien brise glace [Jan. 27],
S'il ne la brise, il l'embrasse."

"À la Chandeleur [Feb. 2],
La grande douleur."

Meaning the greatest cold.

"À la Chandeleur,
Où toutes bêtes sont en horreur."

Probably alluding to the rough state of their coats at this season.

"À la Saint-George [April 23],
Sème ton orge."

"Quand il pleut le jour Saint-Marc [April 25],
Il ne faut ni pouque ni sac."

"À la Saint-Catherine [April 29],
Tout bois prend racine."

"À la Saint-Urbain [May 25],
Le froment porte grain."

"À la Saint-Loup [May 28?],
La lampe au clou."

"S'il pleut le jour Saint-Médard [June 8],
Il pleuvra quarante jours plus tard."

"À la Saint-Barnabé [June 11]
La faux au pré."

"À la Saint-Sacrement [this year, June 15]
L'épi est au froment."

"Quand il pleut à la Saint-Gervais [June 19],
Il pleut quarante jours après."

"À la Madeleine [July 22],
Les noix sont pleines."

"À la Saint-Laurent [Aug. 10],
La faucille au froment."

"Passé la Saint-Clément [Nov. 23?],
Ne sème plus le froment."

"Si le soleil rit le jour Sainte-Eulalie [Dec. 10],
Il y aura pommes et cidre à folie."

"À la Sainte-Luce [Dec. 13?],
Les jours croissent du saut d'une puce."

"À la Saint-Thomas [Dec. 21],
Les jours sont au plus bas."

EDGAR MACCULLOCH.

Guernsey.

VAULT INTERMENTS (Vol. ii., p. 21.): BURIAL IN AN ERECT POSTURE (Vol. viii., pp. 329. 630.): INTERMENT OF THE TROGLODITÆ (Vol. ii., p. 187.).

In the 4th book of Evelyn's _Sylva_ there is much interesting matter on this subject, besides what has been quoted above; and, to those herein interested, the following extract from Burn's _History of Parish Registers in England_ will doubtless be acceptable:

"Many great and good men have entertained scruples on the practice of
interment in churches. The example of the virtuous and primitive
confessor, Archbishop Sancroft, who ordered himself to be buried in the
churchyard of Fresingfield in Suffolk, thinking it improper that the
house of God should be made the repository of sinful man, ought to
command the imitation of less deserving persons: perhaps it had an
influence over the mind of his successor, Archbishop Secker, who
ordered himself to be buried in the churchyard of Lambeth. The Bishops
of London in succession, from Bishop Compton to Bishop Hayter, who died
in 1762, inclusive, have been buried in Fulham Churchyard."[1]

Of the same opinion were Dr. Edward Rainbow, Bishop of Carlisle; Sir Matthew Hale, who used to say that churches were for the living and to churchyards for the dead[2]; Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, who "did not hold God's house a meet repository for the greatest saint;" and William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore, who made a canon in his synod to the following effect:

"IX. Ut corpora defunctorum deinceps in Ecclesiis non humentur, sed nec
intra quintum pedem a pariete extrorsum."

Sir Thomas Latymer, of Braibroke in Northamptonshire, by his will directed thus:

I, Thomas Latymer of Braybroke, a fals knyghte to God, &c., my wrecchyd
body to be buried where that ever I die in the next chirche yerde, God
vouchsafe, and naut in the chirche, but in the utterist corner, as he
that is unworthy to lyn therein, save the merci of God."

{279}

Dr. Isaac Barrow, Bishop of St. Asaph, was buried in a churchyard, although, from his having generously repaired and endowed his cathedral, he might be considered to have a claim of interment within its walls; and Baldwin, the great civilian, severely censures this indecent liberty, and questions whether he shall call it a superstition or an impudent ambition. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the first who made vaults under the chancel, and even under the altar, when he rebuilt the choir of Canterbury, about 1075.[3]

"The Irish long retained an attachment to their ancient customs and
pagan superstitions; and the custom of burying in consecrated ground
was not universal in Ireland in the twelfth century on the arrival of
the English, as we find it enjoined in the Council of Cashel, held in
1172, mentioned by Cambrensis. A short time since some small earthen
tumuli were opened on the Curragh of Kildare, under which skeletons
were found standing upright on their feet, and in their hands, or near
them, spears with iron heads. The custom of placing their dead erect
was general among all the northern nations, and is still retained in
Lapland and some parts of Norway; and the natives of North America bury
their dead sitting in holes in the ground, and cover them with a mound
of earth."--_Transactions of the R. Irish Academy_, vol. iii.

A Query I proposed (Vol. ii., p. 187.) in reference to the Trogloditæ never having been answered, I shall, perhaps, be allowed to use this opportunity myself to furnish an apposite and explanatory quotation, viz.--

"Troglodytæ mortui cervicem pedibus alligabant et _raptim cum risu et
jocis efferebant_, nullaque loci habita cura mandabant terræ; ac ad
caput cornu caprinum affigebant."--Coelii Rhodigini, _Lectiones
Antiquæ_, p. 792.

I shall conclude with the _rationale_ of the erect posture, as illustrated by Staveley in his _History of Churches in England_:

"It is storied to be a custom among the people of Megara in Greece, to
be buried with their faces downwards; Diogenes gave this reason why he
should be buried after the same way, that seeing all things were
(according to his opinion) to be turned upside down in succeeding
times, he, by this posture, would at last be found with his _face
upwards, and looking towards heaven_."

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

[Footnote 1: Cole's MSS. vol. iv. p. 100.]

[Footnote 2: The Assembly at Edinburgh, in 1588, prohibited the burying in kirks.]

[Footnote 3: Cole's MSS., vol. iv.]

In _Much Ado about Nothing_, Act III. Sc. 2., Don Pedro says:

"She shall be buried with her face upwards."

Theobald, Johnson, and Steevens have left notes upon this line. The following passage is part of Steevens' note:

"Dr. Johnson's explanation may likewise be countenanced by a passage in
an old black-letter book, without date, intitled, 'A merye Jest of a
Man that was called Howleglas, &c.: How Howleglas was buryed:

"'Thus as Howleglas was deade, then they brought him to be buryed. And
as they would have put the coffyn into the pytte with 2 cordes, the
corde at the fete brake, so that the fote of the coffyn fell into the
botome of the pyt, and the coffyn stood bolt upryght in the middes of
the grave. Then desired y^e people that stode about the grave that
tyme, to let the coffyn to stande bolt upryght. _For in his lyfe tyme
he was a very marvelous man, &c., and shall be buryed as marvailously._
And in this maner they left Howleglas,' &c.

"Were not the Claphams and Mauleverers buried _marvailously_, because
they were _marvelous_ men?"--Johnson and Steevens' _Shakspeare_, vol.
ii. p. 310.

J. W. FARRER.

"In Oliver Heywood's Register is the following entry [Oct. 28, 1684]:

'Capt. Taylor's wife of Brig House, buried in her garden with head
upwards, standing upright, by her husband, daughter, &c.
Quakers.'"--Watson's _History of Halifax_, p. 233.

CERVUS.

"Some Christians [Russians?] decline the figure of rest, and make
choice of an erect posture in burial."--Browne's _Hydriotaphia_, ch.
iv. p. 246.

Query, With the desire of meeting the Judge, face to face, when He cometh?

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

* * * * *

DO CONJUNCTIONS JOIN PROPOSITIONS ONLY?

(Vol. ix., p. 180.)

PROFESSOR BOOLE'S communication on the above question reminds me of some remarks of mine, published in an article on Sir John Stoddart's _Philosophy of Language_, in the _North British Review_ for November, 1850. In reference to the opinion maintained by Sir John Stoddart and Dr. Latham, that the conjunction always connects sentences, the preposition words, it is observed:

"It does not apply to cases where the conjunction unites portions of
the _predicate_, instead of the _subject_, of a proposition. If I
assert that a gentleman of my acquaintance drinks brandy _and_ water,
he might not relish the imputation of imbibing separate potations of
the neat spirit and the pure element. Stradling _versus_ Stiles is a
case in point: 'Out of the kind love and respect I bear to my much
honoured and good friend, Mr. Matthew Stradling, Gent., I do bequeath
unto the said Matthew Stradling, Gent., _all my black and white
horses_.' The testator had six black horses, six white horses, and six
pied horses. The whole point at issue turns upon the question whether
the copulative _and_ joins sentences or words. If the former, the
plaintiff is entitled to the black horses, and also to the {280} white,
but not to the pied. If the latter he has a right to the pied horses
but must forego his claim to the rest. And if the latter interpretation
be adopted, must we say that _and_ is a preposition, not a conjunction,
or must we modify the definitions of these two parts of speech?"

The following definitions are finally proposed in place of the ordinary ones:

"A preposition is a part of speech annexed to a noun or verb in a
proposition, and serving to connect it with a noun or pronoun by which
it is limited, as the subject or predicate of that proposition."

"A conjunction is a part of speech serving to unite two propositions as
parts of the same complex assertion, or two words as similar parts of
the subject or predicate of one proposition. By _similar parts_ it is
meant that the words so united stand in similar relations to the term
to which they belong. For example, 1. As attributes, both qualifying a
subject, 'Sic bonus et sapiens dignis ait esse paratus.' 2. As
prepositions, both introducing limiting nouns 'without money and
without price.' 3. As substantives, both forming parts of a collective
subject, 'two and three are five.' Whereas with the preposition, the
words united are not similar, but opposed, the _limiting_ and the
_limited_ notion."

While differing from some of PROFESSOR BOOLE'S views on the relation of logic to mathematics, I fully agree with him that the true functions of the several parts of speech must be determined by an analysis of the laws of thought. Both grammar and logic might be considerably improved by an accurate development on psychological principles.

H. L. MANSEL, B.D.

St. John's College, Oxford.

Has not your correspondent G. BOOLE fallen into an inaccuracy whilst contending about the accuracy of another's logic? He seems to employ the proposition, _all trees are endogens or exogens_, as an example of an accurate proposition.

I forget the technicalities in which the objection to such a proposition would be properly expressed; but it cannot well be denied that _all_ comprehends the whole genus, and expresses that whole collectively. If so, the proposition affirms that the whole genus of trees must either be acknowledged to be endogens, or else to be _all_ exogens. Does not such an affirmation require the word _every_ to clear it from ambiguity? Will it be cleared of ambiguity by saying, "Every tree is endogen or exogen?" Or must we say "Every tree is either endogen or exogen?"

If your correspondents should happen to take down the second volume of _Locke on Human Understanding_, b. III. ch. iii. § 11., on "Universals," his note will supply them with another knot to unravel, of which I would gladly see their solution. For he has there said, "Three Bobaques are all true and real Bobaques, supposing the name of that species of animals belongs to them." Is this name formed in jest? For the philosopher sometimes puts on an awkward affectation of humour in his replies to Bishop Stillingfleet, to whom this note is addressed.

H. W.

* * * * *

HAS EXECUTION BY HANGING BEEN SURVIVED?

(Vol. ix., p. 174.)

Two instances of criminals being restored to life after having been hanged are recorded, on good authority, to have occurred in this town. Henry of Knighton (who was a Canon of Leicester Abbey) relates in his _Chronicle_ (col. 2627), under the year 1363, that--

"One Walter Wynkeburn having been hanged at Leicester, on the
prosecution of Brother John Dingley, Master of Dalby, of the order of
Knights Hospitallers, after having been taken down from the gallows as
a dead man, was being carried to the cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre of
Leicester, to be buried, began to revive in the cart, and was taken
into the church of the Holy Sepulchre by an ecclesiastic, and there
diligently guarded by this Leicester ecclesiastic to prevent his being
seized for the purpose of being hanged a second time. To this man King
Edward granted pardon in Leicester Abbey, and gave him a charter of
pardon, thus saying in my hearing, 'Deus tibi dedit vitam, et nos
dabimus tibi Cartam?"

We learn, on the authority of a cotemporary record, preserved in the archives of this borough, and quoted in Thompson's _History of Leicester_, p. 110., that in June, 1313, Matthew of Enderby, a thief, was apprehended and imprisoned in the king's gaol at Leicester; and that being afterwards convicted, he was sentenced by Sir John Digby and Sir John Daungervill, the king's justices, to be hanged; that he was led to the gallows by the frankpledges of Birstall and Belgrave, and by them suspended; but on his body being taken down, and carried to the cemetery of St. John's Hospital for interment, he revived and was subsequently exiled. Three instances are narrated in Wanley's _Wonders of Man_, vol. i. pp. 125, 126., and another will be found in Seward's _Spirit of Anecdote and Wit_, vol. iii. p. 88., quoted from Gamble's _Views of Society, &c. in the North of Ireland_; whilst in vol. ii. p. 220. of the same work, another restoration to life is stated to have taken place in the dissecting-room of Professor Junker, of Halle: but I know not how far these last-mentioned anecdotes are susceptible of proof.

WILLIAM KELLY.

Leicester.

There appears to be no reason to doubt the truth of individuals having survived execution by hanging.

Margaret Dickson was tried, convicted, and executed in Edinburgh, in the year 1728. After {281} the sentence had been accomplished, her body was cut down and delivered to her friends, who placed it in a coffin, and conveyed the same in a cart towards her native place for the purpose of interment. On her journey the dead came to life again, sat up in her coffin, and alarmed her attendants. She was, however, promptly bled, and by the next morning had perfectly recovered. She lived for twenty-five years afterwards, and had several children.

In 1705 one John Smith was executed at Tyburn; after he had hung fifteen minutes a reprieve arrived. He was cut down and bled, and is said to have recovered. (Paris and Fonblanque, _Med. Jur._, vol. ii. p. 92.)

When it is considered that death takes place after hanging, in most cases by asphyxia, in very rare instances by dislocation of the spine, we can understand the possibility of recovery within certain limits.

That artificial means have been adopted to ensure recovery, the case of Gordon, which occurred in the early part of the seventeenth century, satisfactorily establishes.

This evil-doer had been condemned for highway robbery, and with a view to escape from his penalty, succeeded in obtaining the following friendly assistance.

A young surgeon named Chovell (concerning whose motives we will not inquire too curiously) introduced a small tube through an opening which he made in the windpipe. The hangman, having accomplished his part of the tragedy, Gordon's body was handed over to his friends. Chovell bled him, and the highwayman sighed deeply, but subsequently fainted and died. The want of success was attributed to the great weight of the culprit, who consequently dropped with unusual violence. (_Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Surgery in France_, Sydenham Society Publications, p. 227.)

How far the mechanical contrivance by which Bouthron, in Scott's _Fair Maid of Perth_, was kept alive after hanging, was founded on successful experience, I know not. Nor do I know whether Hook, in his _Maxwell_, had any farther authority than his imagination for his story of resuscitation, though I have heard it said to be founded on the supposed recovery of a distinguished forger, who had paid the last penalty for his offences, and who was said to have really died only a short time since.

OLIVER PEMBERTON.

Birmingham.

The _Cork Remembrancer_, a chronicle of local events, which I recollect seeing among my late father's (a Cork man) books, relates the fact of a men who was hanged in that city, and on the evening of the same day appeared, not in the _spirit_, but in _body_, in the theatre. I regret I have not the book, but it is to be had somewhere. Undoubtedly your late venerable correspondent, James Roche, Esq., could have authenticated my statement, and with fuller particulars, as I only relate the record of it from memory, after a lapse of many years. I think the occurrence, of which there is no doubt, took place somewhere about the year 1782 or 1784; and after all there is nothing very extraordinary about it, for the mode of execution by hanging at that time presented many chances to the culprit of escaping death; he ascended a ladder, upon which he stood until all the arrangements were completed, and then was quietly turned off, commonly in such a manner as not to break the neck or hurt the spinal marrow. It was most likely so in the case I relate and the man having been suspended the usual time, and not having been a murderer, was handed over to his friends, who took prompt measures, and successfully, to restore animation, and so effectually, that the man, upon whom such little impression by the frightful ordeal he had passed was made, mixed in the world again, and was at the theatre that evening.

Little chance is there of escaping death by the present mode of executing.

UMBRA.

Dublin.

The _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. x. p. 570., after giving the names of those executed on Nov. 24, says:

"And William Duell, for ravishing, robbing, and murdering Sarah Griffin
at Acton. The body of this last was brought to Surgeons' Hall to be
anatomised; but after it was stripped and laid on the board, and one of
the servants was washing him in order to be cut, he perceived life in
him, and found his breath to come quicker and quicker; on which a
surgeon took some ounces of blood from him: in two hours he was able to
sit up in his chair, and in the evening was again committed to
Newgate."

And at p. 621. of the same volume,--

"Dec. 9th. Wm. Duell (p. 570.) ordered to be transported for life."

Other instances will be found in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. i. p. 172., and vol. xxxvii. p. 90; and in vol. lxx. pt. i. p. 107. is the very curious case of Anne Green of Oxford, quoted from Dr. Plot's _Natural History of Oxfordshire_, p. 197., which is well worth reading. Also, in vol. lvii. pt. i. p. 33., is a letter, containing the two following quotations from Cardan, in explanation of the phenomenon of surviving death by hanging:

"Is qui diu suspensus Bononiæ jacuit, vivus inventus est, quod asperam
arteriam non cartilagineam sed osseam habuit."--_Cardanus_, lib. ii.
tr. 2. contr. 7.

"Constat quendam bis suspensum servatum miraculi specie; inde cum
tertio Judicis solertiâ periisset, {282} inventam osseam asperam
arteriam."--_Cardanus_, lib. xiv., De rerum variet., cap. 76.

In the _Newgate Calendar, or Malefactors' Bloody Register_, vol. ii. p. 233., is the account of Margaret Dickson, who was executed for child-murder at Edinburgh, June 19, 1728, with an engraving of her "rising from her coffin near Edinburgh, as she was carrying from the place of execution in order for interment."

"By the Scottish law," says the author, "every person on whom the
judgment of the court has been executed has no more to suffer, but must
be for ever discharged; and the executed person is dead at law, so that
the marriage is dissolved. This was exactly the case with Margaret
Dickson, for the king's advocate could not pursue her any farther, but
filed a bill in the High Court of Justiciary against the sheriff for
not seeing the judgment executed. And her husband being a good-natured
man, was publicly married to her within a few days after the affair
happened."

ZEUS.

For the information of your correspondent I send an extract from the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for February, 1767:

"_Saturday_ 24th (Jan.).--One Patrick Redmond having been condemned at
Cork, in Ireland, to be hanged for a street robbery, he was accordingly
executed, and hung upwards of twenty-eight minutes, when the mob
carried off the body to a place appointed, where he was, after five or
six hours, actually recovered by a surgeon, and who made the incision
in his windpipe called _bronchotomy_, which produced the desired
effect. The poor fellow has since received his pardon, and a genteel
collection has been made for him."

C. R.

I would refer your correspondent [Sigma]., who has put a Query whether persons who have suffered execution by hanging have outlived the infliction, to a case of a woman named Anne Green, which appears to be authenticated upon the most unequivocal testimony of two very estimable authors. The event to which I allude is described in Dr. Robert Plot's _History of Oxfordshire_, folio, Oxford, 1705, p. 201.; and also in the _Physico-Theology_ of Rev. W. Derham, F.R.S., 3rd edit., 8vo., London, 1714, p. 157. The above-mentioned Anne Green was executed at Oxford, December 14, 1650.

I will not trespass upon your space, which appears pretty well occupied, with a lengthened detail from the authors pointed out, as their works are to be found in most libraries; and thinking Polonius's observation that "brevity is the soul of wit" may be more extensively applied than to what relates to fancy and imagination. I would, however, crave one word, which is, that you would suggest to your correspondents generally that in referring to works they would give, as distinctly as possible, the heads of the title, the name of the author, the edition, if more than one, the place of publication, date, and page. I have experienced much loss of time from incorrect and imperfect references, not to mention complete disappointment in many instances, which I trust may plead my apology for this remark.[4]

[Gamma].

[Footnote 4: As our pages are frequently consulted for literary purposes, the suggestion of [Gamma] is extremely valuable, and we trust his hints will be adopted by our numerous correspondents.--ED.]

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_A Stereoscopic Note._--I possess a small volume entitled _A Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things_, by T. H., B.B., Fellow of the Royal Society, 1688. "To which are subjoined, by way of Appendix, some uncommon observations about vitiated sight." In this strange appendix, one of the uncommon observations is worth the notice of your correspondents who write on stereoscopic subjects. I give you an extract from it:

"It has been of late the opinion of very learned men, that though both our eyes are open, and turned towards an object, yet 'tis but one of them at a time that is effectually employed in giving us the representation of it: which opinion, in this place where I am writing but observations, it were not proper to discuss, especially because what is suppos'd to be observed will not always uniformly happen, but may vary in particular persons according to their several customs, and the constitution of their eyes: for I have, by an experiment purposely made, several times found, that my two eyes together see an object in another situation than either of them apart would do." And in giving instances for and against binocular vision, the author says: "A yet more considerable instance of such mistakes I afterwards had from a noble person, who, having in a fight, where he play'd the _hero_, had one of his eyes strangely shot out by a musquet bullet, that came out at his mouth, answered me, that not only he could not well pour drink out of one vessel into another, but had broken many glasses by letting them fall out of his hand, when he thought he had put them into another's, or set them down upon a table." The whole book is a very curious one, and I should be obliged if the Editor of "N. & Q." could tell me who T. H. was?[5]

J. LAWSON SISSON.

Edingthorpe.

[Footnote 5: The Hon. Robert Boyle.]

_Photographic Query._--I think many amateur photographers would be thankful for plain and simple directions how to mount their positives on cardboard. Would the Editor of "N. & Q." assist us in this?

J. L. S.

_Deepening Collodion Negatives._--I have lately been trying a method of deepening collodion negatives, so as to render instantaneous impressions capable of being printed from, which I have found to answer admirably; {283} and although it is but a slight modification of MR. LYTE'S process described in "N. & Q.," it is a very important one, and will be found to produce far better results. The picture having been developed in the usual way, with a solution of pyrogallic acid, is whitened by means of MR. ARCHER'S solution of bichloride of mercury. The plate is then washed with water and a solution of _iodide of cadmium_ poured on. This converts the white chloride of mercury, which constitutes the picture, into the yellow iodide, in the same manner as the solution of iodide of potassium recommended by MR. LYTE; but is much to be preferred, as it produces a more uniform deposit. The solution of iodide of potassium dissolves the iodide of mercury as soon as it is formed, and therefore cannot be left on the plate until the decomposition of the chloride is complete, without injury resulting to the picture, as the half-tones are thereby lost, and those parts over which the solution first flows become bleached before the other parts have attained their highest tone; whereas the solution of iodide of cadmium may be allowed to remain for any length of time on the plate, without any fear of its injuring the negative.

J. LEACHMAN.

_Caution to Photographers._--About six months since, I procured some gun cotton from a chemist which appeared very good, being quite soluble, and the collodion produced by it was excellent. That which I did not use I placed in what I believed to be a clean dry-stopped bottle, and put the bottle in a dark cupboard. I was much surprised the other day, upon going to the cupboard, to find the stopper blown out, and the cotton giving out dense red fumes of nitrous acid. It appears to me to be almost upon the point of combustion, and I have, accordingly, placed it under a bell-glass in a porcelain dish to watch the result. I feel satisfied, however, that there is some risk, and, as it may often be near ether, spirits of wine, or other inflammable chemicals, that caution is necessary not only in preserving it at home, but especially in its transmission abroad, which is now done to some extent.

AN AMATEUR.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Artesian Wells_ (Vol. ix., p.222.).--Wells are often so called without just pretence to a similarity with those in Artois, whence this name is derived. There are some natural springs in the northern slope of the chalk in Lincolnshire, near the Humber, called _blow-wells_, which may be considered naturally Artesian. The particular character by which an Artesian well may be known is, that the water, if admitted into a tube, will rise above the level of the ground in its immediate vicinity up to the level of its sources in the basin of the district; this basin being usually gravel, lying betwixt two strata impervious to water, formed the surrounding hills, and extending often over many miles of the earth's surface. If we conceive the figure of a large bowl, inclosing a somewhat smaller one, the interstice being filled with gravel, and the rain falling on the earth being collected within such interstice, then this interstice being tapped by boring a well, the water will rise up from the well to the same height as it stands in the interstice, or rim of the natural basin. Such is an Artesian well. Supposing this huge mineral double bowl to be broken by a geological _fault_, the same hydrostatic principle will act similarly.

The question of _preferable_ put by STYLITES must be governed by the _cui bono_. Universal adoption is forbidden, first, by the absence of a gravelly stratum betwixt two strata impervious to water; and secondly, by the excessive expense of boring to such great depths. Where expense is not in excess of the object to be attained, and where the district is geologically favourable, the Artesian wells are preferable to common ones derived from natural tanks or water caverns, first, for the superabundant supply; secondly, for the height to which the water naturally rises above the ground; and thirdly, because boring Artesian wells, properly so called, does not rob a neighbour's well for your own benefit, afterwards to be lost when any neighbour chooses to dig a little deeper than you. This is a matter with which London brewers are familiar.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Lichfield.

_Prior's Epitaph on Himself_ (Vol. i., p. 482.).--MR. SINGER quotes an epitaph on "John Carnegie," and says it is the prototype of Prior's epitaph on himself. I have looked among Prior's poems for this epitaph, and have not been able to discover anything that can be said to answer MR. SINGER'S description of it. Would your correspondent oblige me with a copy of the epitaph to which he alludes? My edition of Prior is a very old one; and this may account for the omission, if such it be.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

[The following is a copy of the epitaph:

"Nobles and heralds, by your leave,
Here lies what once was Matthew Prior,
The son of Adam and of Eve;
Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?"]

_Handwriting_ (Vol. viii., p. 639.).--In your concluding Number of last year, E. B. requested information as to any work in English, French, German, or Spanish, giving a standard alphabet for the various kinds of writing now in use, with directions for teaching the same. I fear I shall not satisfy all your correspondent's inquiries; but the following may be of some service. I have in my possession a German work, nearly of the kind he requires. The title is, _Gründliche Anweisung zum Schönschreiben_, by Martin Schüssler, Wiesbaden, 1820. It is of an oblong shape, and consists entirely of engraved plates, in number thirty-two. It begins with some directions for the form {284} and inclination of letters; then follows an explanation of five rules for writing, which are given in the German handwriting. After exhausting the German, the author proceeds to English letters and handwriting, followed by engrossing hand. Then he gives the _fractur_, or black-letter characters, with some elaborate and beautiful capitals. He next gives specimens of French handwriting, and ends with Greek current hand, and plates of large capitals of ornamental patterns; all different.

If this work would at all answer the purpose of E. B., and he would wish to see it, it shall be sent to him by post on his giving his address to the writer, whose card is enclosed.

F. C. H.

I have in my possession for sale, a scarce old work, folio, a good clean copy of Geo. Bickman's _Universal Penman_, 1733; with numerous engravings.