MARTIN. Edmond About, speak of his treatise on Death Watch Superstition.-Whence arose "The Roman Question," and I myself have the superstition connected with the death been for many years familiar with the book.watch? But in Connop Thirlwall's "Letters to a Friend," p. 13, we are informed that the "Préliminaires de la Question Romaine, de M. Ed. About," were written by one F. Petrucelli della Gattina, who had permission from About to send forth the work with the above descriptive title. QUERIES. M. F. W. Whip-poor-Will Superstition. There is a superstition in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, which says that the person who hears the whip-poor-will's call in day time will die before the end of the year. tion known and observed outside of the States named ? Knoxville, Iowa. J. W. W. (Nicholas Nickleby" chap. 49) a ghost called Cock-lane Ghost, what is the story of this particular apparition? Cock Lane Ghost.-Dickens mentions Iona, Mich. G. B. Bay, a Color. The question has been reIs this supersti-cently discussed at a farmers' club meeting in this vicinity how the name "bay" as the color of a horse originated. The dictionary (Webster's) traces it through the French to Latin badius, brown. In Zachariah vi, 2, 3, we find "In the first chariot were red horses; * * * and in the fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses." Ground-Hog Day.-At about what date did the American pioneers begin to observe "Ground-Hog Day," and to foretell the weather accordingly? Knoxville, Iowa. J. W. W. "Snowing" Worms.-The Lancaster, Pa., Daily Examiner, for March 1, contains the following: "To-day's snow storm produced a singular phenomenon. Some observant person saw what he imagined to be 'life' among the snow. In other words he thought he saw something moving in the snow. "A microscopical examination revealed. the presence of thousands of amber-colored worms, about one-fourth of an inch in length. Some of the snow in the yard of Mr. H. C. Demuth, East King street, revealed, under the glass, the presence of these worms; and, when placed on a sheet of paper they crawled about in great shape. We have heard of them in other yards than that of Mr. Demuth. Where did they come from? How did they get there?'" Echo answers: "How did they get there?" Есно. The Great Pyramid of Egypt.-When and why was the Great Pyramid of Egypt built? MARTIN. * Norristown, Pa. ELLWOOD ROBERTS. New Cæsar, Washington ?-I have just seen the following in the Doylestown (Pa.) Intelligencer: coin of 1787, ridiculing George Washington New Cæsar. "A Jersey colonial copper Hilliary E. Skreen in the débris of the old as the New Cæsar,' has just been found by Edelman store and mansion, Pottstown." Can this be true with regard to Washington ? SCEPTIC. REPLIES. The Sleepy Disease (Vol viii, p. 211).. This peculiar ailment,-known also by the names of "African Lethargy", "Negro Lethargy", "Lethargus", "Nelavan " (which I guess to be a native name), and "Sleeping Dropsy ", (owing to the edema and the enlargement of the lymphatic glands with which it is more or less accompanied), is an endemic disease very common, and very fatal, among the negroes along the coast of West Africa. It might be described as consisting of three stages marked respectively by heavy headache, a morbid and gradually increasing somnolence, and emaciation, the latter culminating in death in from three to six months. No treatment, hitherto de HISTORY OF THE OLD LIBERTY BELL. vised, has proved effective, the reason being known as 66 M. N. in Philadelphia, in 1751. "Cast in England for the old State House Cracked by a stroke of the clapper before being properly hung in 1752. tower of Independence Hall in June, 1753: Recast and hung in the Proclaimed Liberty throughout all the land' at noon, Monday, July 8th, 1776 (not July American troops when they evacuated Phila4th). Removed to Allentown, Pa., by the delphia (to prevent it being cast into cannon balls by the British) in 1777. Restored to its original position at the close of the RevoI would say in answer to the above query lution, where it remained until 1828. Broken that the "Sleepy Disease" is technically again while ringing out a fire alarm one murky Narcolepsy." The Louisville, morning in the fall of 1828. Placed on its (Ky.) Medical News, of Sept., 1880, says: original timbers, in the vestibule of Inde"We have encountered two cases of Nar-pendence Hall, where it may now be seen, colepsy', the sleepy disease. One was a in 1872." Lieutenant of Calvary in the Confederate Army; his narcolepsy dating from childhood. Before the war he was a dry goods merchant, and often fell asleep while selling goods, or in the midst of a conversation. In a few seconds, or minutes at most, he would awake, apparently unconscious that he had slept. An enormously obese man of great intellect was the second case. * * * * If talking when the sleep came on, these gentlemen would, on waking, resume where they had left off." Knoxville, Iowa. J. W. W. It Old "Liberty Bell" (Vol. viii, p. 211) Long continued and constant use is the only reason that can be given for the "exact cause of the crack in Liberty Bell.'' was originally cast in England in 1751, cracked upon being tested, and recast here in 1753. In 1776, it sounded out the glad tidings of the Declaration of Independence. "For full fifty years, as nearly as can be as certained, our Liberty Bell-for so it should be universally denominated-continued to celebrate every national anniversary, and then it cracked, it had performed its mission and was mute forever. ELHEGOS. OLD "LIBERTY BELL."-I have the following, which was printed on a card for sale or for distribution at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876: Knoxville, Iowa. J. W. W. Pronunciation of "Wound" (Vol. viii, p. 203).—I cannot admit that "woond" is an affectation of modern date. It is a long half century since I was at school. I was specially taught that "woond" (for a hurt) was the test of an educated person, while "wownd" was the mark of ignorance and vulgarity. As the past participle of the verb to wind, "wound was correct. I am not rich in old pronouncing dictionaries. Fulton and Knight, Edinburgh, 1811, give "woond" and "wownd" respectively, as above. Craig, London, 1849, gives "woond" and omits the participle. I do not consider that my practice carries any weight, but I have all my life said "woond," though I have been surrounded with "wownd." I look upon the general return to "woond" as a correct and sensible change. The limited utility of the word in poetry, counts for little. Many words are of limited use in rhyme. Several are impossible in that re spect. DOLLAR. "Old Probabilities" in Epithets of Noted People (Vol. viii, p. 215).—Is not your correspondent mistaken. in applying "Old Probabilities" to Professor Cleveland Abbe? While Professor Abbe is one of the principal scientists in the Weather Bureau, my recollection is that the sobriquet "Old Probabilities" was applied to General Albert J. Myer, who as Chief Signal Officer of the U. Harrisburg. are worn not only in Ecuador, but in nearly all the west coast countries by those who can afford to buy them. They never wear out, but are readily soiled and blackened with dust. The natives clean them with soap and water and lime juice, drying them carefully and reblocking them. At Maracaibo in Venezuela, Panama hats of inferior quality are also made, but the stock is poor and lacking in flexibility." Keats's Rhymes: Slough, Bough (Vol. viii, p. 197, etc.)-In what is said ante, p. 198, in regard to the "mistake" of some poetpresumably Lowell-in using slough to rhyme with bough, your correspondent perhaps overG. R. T. looked the fact that the Century gives the preference to that pronunciation-giving Rind Tents (Vol. viii, p. 221.).—Accord"slou or sluf" with the explanation that uning to Loudon's Arboretum III, p. 1709, marked ou has the sound of "ou in pound the Canadians make excellent tents of the or ou in now." Possibly the poet's mistake bark of the paper birch, Betula papyracea. was intentional. "E. M. H." Palm-leaf Hats (Vol. viii, p. 198, etc).The enclosed appears in the American Agriculturist for March, over the signature F. I. Nicola, Guayaquil, Ecuador. It may be of interest in this connection: "Before leaving Callao for a journey to Ecuador, I had been told that I would find at Payta, on the Peruvian coast, an interesting industry-that of the manufacture of Panama hats. I went ashore and attempted to buy one, but ransacked the forlorn adobe town in vain for one of these highly-prized hats. The American consular agent informed me that the industry had once flourished there, but had disappeared altogether, Guayaquil having become the centre of the trade. Two days afterward, I was at Guayaquil and had no difficulty in buying for eight dollars a hat which would have cost seventy five dollars in New York. These hats are no longer made at Panama, but in a few Indian villages on the coast of Ecuador. The material is supplied from a plant about five feet high looking like a palm. It has fanshaped leaves about three feet in length. The veins in the leaf are removed and the fibers plaited by hand-a laborious process for which stolid Indian patience is required. The coarsest hats can be made in a few days, but the finest involve three or four months of hard labor. The fiber is bleached in the sun after having been treated with boiling water. The Indian women use a wooden block in shaping the hat, and beginning at the centre of the crown gradually round out the brim. These Quayaquil hats These are called rind tents. Pa. ILDERIM. St. Lambert (Vol. viii, pp. 186, 196).—I have five copper medals about the size of the old fashioned half cent. Three of them have on the obverse a mitred bust of St. Lambert. All are of different types and all show a young man. The inscriptions are: S. Lambertus, Sanctus Lamber., and Sanctus Lambert. The reverses are different busts of the Madonna with: S. Maria, Santa Maria (sic) and Sancta Maria. Another piece has no devices, and merely the legends: obv. S. Lambertus; rev., Mandata. The fifth specimen shows another variety of bust, with mitre and halo, S. Lambertus, 1635. Rev., the Madonna and child. Capit. Leodien. S. M. (Capitolium Leodiensis. Sancta Maria. I hope some correspondent will oblige me "Chapter-House of Liege. Holy Mary.") with the why and wherefore of these tokens, and also explain the connection of St. Lam bert, bishop of Maestricht, with Liege. Does the one date mark any particular event? What does Mandata refer to ? DOLLAR. "Earth with her Ten Thousand Flowers " (Vol. viii, p. 212).-The hymn beginning with this line was written by Thomas Rawson Taylor, an English Congregational clergyman, who died of a pulmonary affection in 1835, in the twenty-eighth year of his age. He was also author of the more familiar hymn, "I'm but a stranger here." His Memoirs, in which were incorporated his most noteworthy hymns, were published in England the year following his decease, by Seeing Stars in Day-time (Vol. vi, p. 211 and 233].-I have never been exactly satisfied with "E. P's" answer to my query as to whether one can see stars on entering a deep mining-shaft or well and looking out at the opening above. I am an amateur geologist myself and have spent days in deep mines. I have been at the bottom of at least one mining shaft that was over 300 feet deep, several between 100 and 200 feet in depth, but have never yet been able to get even the glimpse of a star by looking at the blue canopy above unless it was at star time (night). Can any reader cite scientific authority on this subject? J. W. W. Knoxville, Iowa. "Preserved Fish" in "How Names Grow" (Vol. viii, p. 215).-The extract from Geo. W. Sheldon's interesting article in the February, 1892, issue of Harper's Magazine, on "The Old Shipping Merchants of New York," does not, it seems to me, sufficiently explain the origin of Preserved Fish's very singular name. I have another and more probable version from an old New England sea captain, drawn out a few weeks ago while discussing the Magazine article in question. He assures me the embryo shipping merchant was not "picked off a wreck," but was found in Coenties' Slip (a dock used in that day by coasting vessels) on the East river, near the Battery, in a floating box marked "Pickled Fish." The little waif rescued in such a marvelous manner, was adopted, supported and educated by the merchants doing business in the immediate vicinity of the slip, and it was from his foster fathers he received the appropriate name of Preserved Fish. Germantown, Pa. CONVERSE CLeaves. Spade Guineas (Vol. viii, p. 172, 198, etc.) -I happen to own two guineas of George III. One of 1769 has his young, or baby head on the obverse. The reverse has a I have a gold one-third of a guinea, 1802. Cold Harbor (Vol. viii, p. 213, etc.).— Thomas Powel, of London and Cambridge, wrote a book entitled "Wheresoever you see mee, Trust unto yourselfe. Or the Mysterie of Lending and Borrowing. Serial Jocis or the Tickling Torture." It was printed in 1623, and contains a description of the noted places of refuge and retirement for persons wishing to avoid bailiffs and creditors. These are Ram-alley in Fleet Street; Fulwood's Rents, Gray's Inn Lane; Milford Lane in the Strand; the Savoy; Rents; Cold Harbor; Black and WhiteDuke Humphrey; Montague Close; Ely friars, also called Alsatia, and St. Bartholomews. The author from acknowledged experience dwells on the separate conveniences of each, but especially upon the facilities of escape and concealment afforded by Ramalley. This Cold Harbor appears to have been a very disreputable part of the city, where men who were wanted could hide, and in which it was unsafe for any process server to venture. It might also be of interest to note that the spelling is Harbor and not Harbour, the modern method which English writers and printers insist upon. MILES STRANGFORD. The Lincoln Club, Brooklyn. COMMUNICATIONS. A Quaint XVIth Century Sermon (contin. fr. p. 227).-Thirdly, and lastly, beloved, I come to a clear demonstrative argument to prove this man to be a good man, and a man of God, and that is this: there was one Thomas Proctor, a very poor beggar boy, he came into this country upon the back of a dun cow, it was not a black cow, nor a brindle cow, nor a brown cow; no beloved, it was a dun cow; well, beloved, this poor boy came a begging to this good man's door, he did not do as some would have done, give him a small alms and send him away, or chide him, and make him a pass and send him into his own country; no beloved, he took him into his own house and bound him an apprentice to a gunsmith in Norwich; after his time was out he took him home again, and married him to a kinswoman of his wife's one Mrs. Christian Robertson here present, there she sits, she had a very good fortune, and to her this good man gave a considerable jointure; by her he had three daughters; this good man took home the eldest, brought her up to a woman's estate, married her to a very honorable gentleman, Mr. Buxton, here present, there he sits; who gave him a vast portion with her, and the remainder of his estate he gave to his two daughters. Now, was not this a good man, and a man of God, think you, and his wife a good woman? and she came from Helston Hall beyond Norwich. man to be a good man, and his wife a good 3. His favorableness in his tithes. 5. His devotions in his prayers, in saying Amen! Amen!! Amen!!! to the prayers of Mr. Cole, Mr. Gibbs and myself. THE END. Stephenson Antedated.-Close upon forty years before Stephenson's victory, a Swedish engineer, Karl Hogstrom by name, not only constructed a locomotive on similar lines to the one of Trevithick and Vivian, but also His first notion was that his locomotive conceived the plan of a regular railroad. should be used on ordinary roads, but soon realizing the insurmountable difficulties attending this style of locomotion, he, in the year 1791, brought out his railroad scheme. The rails were to be of cast iron and perfectly smooth, and in order to prevent derailment, the wheels were to have a projecting edge. Convinced of the insufficiency of friction between the smooth wheels and rails for the propelling of heavy trains, Hogstrom proposed that a tooth wheel on his locomotive should work on a central toothed Beloved, you may remember some time bar or rail placed between the other since I preached at the funeral of Mrs. Procrails-a plan which of late has been tor, all which time I troubled you with many adopted in several instances where the of her transcendent virtues; but your mem-gradient has been exceptional. Hogstrom's ories perhaps may fail you, and therefore, I shall now remind you of one or two of them. The first is, she was a good knitter, as any in the county of Norfolk; when her husband and family were in bed and asleep she would get a cushion and clap herself down by the fire, and sit and knit; but, beloved, be assured she was no prodigal woman, but a sparing woman: for to spare candle she would stir up the coals with her knitting pins; and by that light she would sit and knit, and make as good work as many other women by daylight. Beloved, I have a pair of stockings on my legs that were knit in the same manner; and they are the best stockings that I ever wore in my life. Well, beloved, the days are short, and many of you have a great way to your habitations, and therefore I hasten to a conclusion. I think I have sufficiently proved this plan was laid before several scientists, who were unanimous in denouncing it as utter madness, as it was absurd to imagine that a carriage could ever be propelled by steam alone. nothing more appears to be known as to the The plan was entirely shelved, and fate of Hogstrom, who afterward went abroad. (Scientific American). Tip-Cat (Vol. viii, p. 134).-As corroborating the ubiquity of this game, I read in one of our papers lately that in China the game is played as it is here, but it is called "little peach.' "little peach." In Japan the game is called "ten,' and is played with a small stick, pointed at both ends, called ko, "son," and another stick, usually a foot or a foot and a half long, called the oya, or "parent." In Europe it is of course quite as common as with us. BOSTONIAN. |