call: "In their ragged regimentals, T. C. Z. Paul Bourget quotes from "one of the greatest later English poets" this line: "The siren loves the sea-and I love the past." Who was the poet and in what poem does the line occur? W. S. in your columns ? B. L. F. Aloysia, the lemon verbena, was named only a few lines of which the writer can refrom Maria Louisa, a queen of Spain; Beaufortia, after Mary, Duchess of Beaufort; Beaumontia, after a Mrs. Beaumont, of Bretton Hall; Burlingtonia, after the Countess of Burlington; Cinchona, for the Countess of Chinchon Clivia, from a duchess of Northumberland, by birth a Clive; Cummingia, from Lady Gordon-Cumming; Humea, after Lady Hume; Lapageria, for the Empress Josephine [de la Pagerie]; Leopoldinia, for Leopoldina, one of the many Christian names of the first empress of Brazil; Libertia, for Mdlle. Liebert, a Flemish of the inventor of the Vey Syllabary noticed Vei or Vey Syllabary.-What was the name lady; Marianthus is a genus named in honor of the Blessed Virgin: Monsonia, for Ann, Lady Monson; Morna, from one of Ossian's heroines; Pawlownia, in honor of a daugh- Paddy and Pat. I heard an Irishman from ter of a Russian emperor; Portlandia, for "Downshire" remark that Paddy and Pat the Duchess of Portland; Strelitzia, named were not originally the same Saint; and now in compliment to the wife of George III- I find in Jamieson's Dictionary that St. Palshe was of the house of Mecklenburg-Stre- ladius's Day is called Padiday, or Paddy-day, litz; Telfairia commemorates a Mrs. Tel-in some parts of Scotland. Was St. Pallafair; Victoria is named for the Queen of dius the true and original Paddy? England; Zichya stands for the Countess Molly Zichy; Amherstia commemorates an English countess; Carludovica honors Don Carlos and Doña Luisa, of Spain; Veronica apparently does not commemorate the saint of that name; Zenobia, the queen, gave name to the genus; Maurandia commemorates a Madame Maurandy; Griffithsia was Q. X. V. have just been told that although women are Women's Age in the Old Testament.-I mentioned ever so often in the Old Testament, no reference is made to their actual age, except in one instance: that of Sarah. You will excuse my ignorance, won't fact. named for Mrs. Griffiths, an English algolo-you? if I ask you whether that is really a logist of note. bury strangers in." Is this the right solu- writer much given to drawing great and tion? T. C. Z. Mincio. The reference to this river, ante, p. 236, has brought to my mind that famous production, "The Elbows of the Mincio", a copy of which I should be pleased to obtain, if ever produced in a form to make it possible. My first introduction to it was upon its first appearance in the Herald, and as I was a school lad at the time, well up in geography, I became somewhat rattled in trying to follow its windings, since my lesson of the day before had been the map of Italy. Can any one tell me where to obtain a copy and the name of the writer? Walden, N. Y. REPLIES. "CITIZEN." The Aryan Race (Vol. viii, p. 241).-I would like to ask your correspondent "C" a few questions. The Hindus, Persians, Armenians, Assamese, Dards, Ceylonese, Afghans, etc., all speak languages which are (at the foundation) of Aryan affinity. Did the old Kelts conquer the ancestors of these peoples, too, and impress their language upon them so forcibly that they adopted it? There is not a fair bosom, a rosy cheek, a blue eye, nor a golden head without at least a drop of Celtic or its congeneric blood". How about the Esths? They speak a Finnic, or non-Aryan language; yet many of the people are blondes; it is even said that a brunette Esthonian girl is very likely to grow up a spinster. Have these people sprung from the Kelts, but given up their language? What a delightful science craniology must be. I think, however, I should rather call it a religion, since its conclusions seem largely to be based on faith. Far be it from me to sneer at faith, or at religion, for to my mind life without them is not worth living; but I do not mix them up with science. I will confess to your correspondent "C" that I have not read Canon Taylor's "Origin of the Aryans", but I have read others of his writings, and I do not place a high value upon them. Prof. Sayce, whom he quotes in a note on page 243, is another often impossible consequences from unimportant facts. I expect to read Canon Taylor's book on the strength of what your correspondent has said. I may say that I have not the slightest grudge against the Celtic race. My own ancestors left the Celtic, or North Cymric region of Cumberland for America about 1635; and I have no reason to doubt that I must have a partially Celtic "The Science of Language ", chap. v, sec. ancestry. Yet a late writer (Hovelacque, 6), declares that the Cymric race, though Keltic in speech, is by no means Keltic in blood. This he says has been proved. But I don't believe it has been proved, or ever will be. Your correspondent speaks "of great brawny, fair-skinned, red-haired Celts "; but Hovelacque (loco citato) says the old race was "small and swarthy"; and later, that they were "small, dark, brachycephalous". How did the "Iberic blood" that C. mentions, get mixed with that of the Greeks? Is there any proof wharever that the "Iberic ' race was "small and bronzed"? If we may consider the Basques as of this Iberic race, we find at present both blonde and brunette Basques, and their skulls are about as often dolichocephalic as otherwise. There is a considerable sprinkling of small dark people in Ireland and in South Wales. Some people have rushed into print with the declaration that this proves a large admixture of Iberic as non-Aryan blood. I am disposed to believe that it is true that there is a large non-Aryan element, but I deny strenuously that there is the slightest evidence that this element was "Iberic ". But there is almost certainly a small, but important, Finnic element in the Irish language. Who knows but that the Irish people, and the French, and the Welsh, have derived their admirable national qualities from this nonAryan, rather than from the truly Celtic side? I knew a gentleman, of Philadelphia, of Welsh Quaker stock, who used to declare seriously, solemnly that England never produced a great man that was not at least in part of Welsh stock. On the other hand, I know a gentleman who asserts that Rome never was anything but a petty town till she began to enlist German mercenaries, who won for her all her conquests. He asserts that every great historic movement of progress came from Germany; that every respectable invention has been German; that France got all her good blood from the Franks; that Joan of Arc was a German, and what not. I believe that craniology is a respectable science, so long as it confines itself to fact, but when it goes back and speculates upon the events of prehistoric times, it is no longer a science. N. F. Browning Puzzles (Vol. viii, p. 221).-I give the entire list of the "Unsolved Difficulties" from Dr. Berdoe's "Cyclopedia", with their references to book and line of the longer poems, numbering the questions for convenience of reference. Andrea Del Sarto.-(1.) What are the "cue-owls" referred to? (2.) Does Andrea refer to any existing picture of Rafael's in which the arm is incorrectly drawn? Pictor Ignotus.-(3.) What streets in Florence were re-named after the picture mentioned passed through them? Sordello.-(4.) What is the name of the plant referred to? Bk. ii, 1, 297. (5.) Who was "Pappacoda?" ii, 843. (6.) What is meant by Saponian strength?" iii, 486. (7.) Who was the "Mantuan Albert? v, 203. (8.) Is anything known of "the Caliph's wheel-work man" here named? v, 453 (9.) What is meant by the phrase "gained. . to brakes at balmshed, asphodels in blow"? vi, 323. (10.) What was "the old fable of the two eagles"? vi, 614. The Ring and the Book.-(11.) Was there a poet named "Mirtillo"? vii, 1153. (12.) What was the torture referred to as the "Vigiliarum"? viii, 39. (13.) Who was "Butringarius"? viii, 1542. (14.) What was the sole joke of Thucydides"? ix, 1109. Red Cotton Night-cap Country.—(15.) Who was "L'Ingegno"? p. 140 of 1st. Ed. [p. 49 of Houghton and Mifflin's Ed.] Italian law; "Mirtillo" is doubtfully a person; and Pappacoda, more attractive, appears in an involved sentence in connection with Tagliafer (Taillefer), William of Normandy's minstrel, who rode to his death in the battle of Senlac chanting the song of Roland. Dr. Berdoe suggests that Pappacoda may have been a troubadour. Of the remaining ten "difficulties ", all of interest, some have already been solved, and others seem not impossible to trace. Mr. H. T. Wharton offered a plausible explanation in the Academy, of "Saponian strength." "Despaired Saponian strength of Lombard grace"? He supposes that Browning had in mind Martial's Epigram (xiv, 26), often called Sapo. Caustica Teutonicos accendit spuma capillos: Citing Pliny (N. H., 23:32 and 28:51), Mr. Wharton says commentators agree that the Germans (a vigorous race) used a pomade, spuma, to redden, caustica, their hair, the epigram implying that by the same means the Romans might obtain the coveted golden locks. This meaning, he thinks, is made more probable by the comparison with "Lombard grace", and by the shortly subsequent lines: "Azzo better soothes our ears Than Alberic? Or is this lion's crine From over-mounts (this yellow hair of mine) So weak a graft on Agnes Este's stock"? For the solution of another of Dr. Berdoe's difficulties (14), we were referred some time ago to the Scholiast's comment upon Thucydides, Bk. i, ch. 126, ¶ 3, quoted A. N. AND Q., Vol. iii, p. 33. Will Professor Estoclet, or some other classical scholar, do me the favor of giving a literal translation of that scholion for comparison with one that seems correct to my scanty knowledge of Greek? This note is already too long, or more might be said about the inference to be drawn from Browning's use of this allusion, as well as about "L'Ingegno" (15), a difficulty so easily removed, that one wonders how Dr. Berdoe could have stumbled over it. M. C. L. All these questions receive much light if read in connection with the passages in which they respectively belong. So read, questions (2) and (3) seem based on doubtful facts; in the last passage especially the poet's expression is far more like a supposition. Nos. (5), (11) and (13), when referred to the The Sole "Joke" of Thucydides.—The xt, would appear not to be of burning in- better to reply to the query above, it may not rest to most people, even if solved. Bu-be amiss to recall the original passage in ngarius" was some one well versed in old Thucydides. By way of an incident in the midst of the preparations for the war, we are there told that there lived a certain Cylon, an old-time Athenian, of noble birth and influential, a man who had conquered at the Olympic games, who had married the daughter of the then ruler at Megara, etc. Now when this Cylon consulted the oracle at Delphi, "the god told him to seize upon the acropolis of the Athenians during the greatest feast of Jupiter ” (ἀνεῖλεν ὁ Θεός ἐν τῇ τοῦ Διός τῇ μεγίστῃ ἑορτῇ καταλαβεῖν τὴν Anvalcov anponoliv). Whereupon Cylon gathers up a force and, forthwith, when comes the Olympic festival in the Peloponnese, he seizes upon the acropolis, "judging this to be both the greatest feast of Jupiter and a rather befitting occasion for him the whilom hero of the Olympics" to act (νομίσας ἑορτὴν τε τοῦ Διὸς μεγίστην εἶναι καὶ ἑαυτῷ τι προσήκειν Ολύμπια νενικήκοτι). The Scholion referred to by M. C. L. (and given in AM. N. AND Q., vol. iii, P, 33) places on record a comment made on this passage to the effect that "right here the lion laughed” (ὃτι λέων εγέλασεν ἐντα υθα). This expression seems to me far more felicitous than the designation "a joke." Of one of our modern "jokes" grand old Thucydides was, naτά ye éμé, utterly incapable, while, methinks, one can readily picture the sober historian and deep thinker indulging in a quiet smile, the benign smile of self-conscious superiority, at poor, conceited human nature as he goes on describing Cylon to us and seems to take pains in explaining how, associating his own exploits at the Olympics with the performances of Zeus himself, our hero most naturally concludes that the greatest feast of Jupiter must needs be this one, of course; what greater could there be? Moccasin (Vol. viii, p. 246).—"Game of the Moccasin", (Ing-Kee-Ko-Kee).— "Take care of yourself-shoot well, or you lose, This song is sung in this curious and most exciting, as well as fascinating game, which is played by two, or four, or six-seated on the ground in a circle, with three or four moccasins lying on the ground, when one lifts each moccasin in turn, and suddenly darts his right hand under each, dropping a little stone, the size of a hazelnut, under one of the moccasins, leaving his adversary to hit upon one or the other, and to take the counter and the chance if he chooses the is, perhaps, one of the silliest-looking games one under which the stone is dropped. This to the spectator, but it all goes to music, and in perfect time, and often for hours toof the principal gambling games of these gether without intermission, and forms one From George Catlin's gambling people." "Eight Years Among the American Indians." H. R. Tacoma (Vol. viii, p. 248, etc).-I lately asked one of our best Indian experts about the origin of the name Tacoma. He said that he had given the question careful study, but could make nothing out of it thus far. He added that it might after all be a real Indian name. My informant is connected with the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology. N. S. S. Palm-Leaf Hats (Vol. viii, p. 233, etc.).— It should be remembered that the tree that A more composed mind might have re- produces the Panama hat stock is not a genmembered the Diasian festivities and calcu-uine palm; but it approaches the character of a palm so closely that it will probably do to speak of it as a palm, in a loose way. H. TYRRELL. lated that, as these took place outside the walls of the city, a specially opportune time had been indicated by the oracle for capturing the acropolis; but the victory-elated conqueror at the Olympic games jumped at once to the (to him) only possible conclusion, and dearly paid for it, as the reader knows. Omnium Gatherum (Vol. viii, p. 138, etc.) -For some old examples of the use of this expression see Jamieson's Scottish Diction ary. S. MACN. Lat. latus, broad. One species of Latania, growing in Rodriguez Island is called in French the plantane (see En. Br., art. RODRIGUEZ) which in this case is merely a nasalized form of platane, being attracted into that form by the influence of the word plan tain. G. Cold Harbor (Vol. viii, p. 234).—There is a place in Nova Scotia called Cold [or Cole] Harbor. There is a Kalterherberg in Germany, a few miles south of Aachen and very Oldest Bible in America (Vol. viii, p. 251.) near the Belgian frontier. I am reminded-There are in New York City two copies of by a gentleman of Swiss birth and education the very oldest Bible ever printed, namely, that places called Kaltenherberge are not at the so-called Mazarin Bible, printed by John all uncommon among the Alps. It is under- Gutenberg. One of these is in the Lenox stood that in that country these "cold har- Library, and another was bought in 1881 for bors" originally were houses of shelter for Hamilton Cole, of New York. Of this travelers, who had to furnish their own fire Bible twenty-seven copies only exist. I saw and food, or else go without them. a copy two or three years since in Philadelphia, but it was owned by Mr. Quaritch, off London. M. P. ISLANDER. Indian Food-Plants (Vol. vii, p. 173).—In the report for 1870 of the U. S. Agricultural Department there is a long report on Indian food-plants, their various Indian, French and English names-evidently written by a very competent author. A. S. G. Pseudo Americanisms (Vol. viii, 210-246.) There is such a thing as a Basket-meeting among our negroes at the South. It is a continued religious service, going on most of the day and to avoid breaking into its continuity food is brought and eaten on the ground, something like a picnic, only with a different object. I have often heard the Muck-a-Muck (Vol. v, pp. 258, 271, etc.) -The origin of this Chinook-jargon word is very curious. It is believed to be a Patago-word nian word, signifying "to cook." Sailors watering their ships at Port Julian learned this word, and when they arrived at Puget Sound they tried it upon the natives there, and thus it found its way into the new jargon. As to how the word came to have its very common meaning of "a big chief", there is considerable doubt. "Deacon" and " Deaconing", referring to a fraudulent way of packing fruit in barrels, the best on top. "Fox" is the word. used to indicate repairing a shoe by new toes and ornamental leather at the sides, to cover worn places. I have often heard "Bay", a low swampy tract covered with bay trees, is. common in Florida and Louisiana. ler", for a small flask, is slangy, but not at all uncommon in the South and West. E. P. "Tick |