We all know that, after spoiling a dozen or twenty pictures, which have perhaps cost us much toil and fatigue to procure, and which, in many cases, we cannot try for again, we shall find out how strong the solutions ought to have been, MR. CROOKES knowing all the time the exact strength required. It is greatly to be desired that you would favour us at once with DR. DIAMOND's paper processes. The present state of the weather, so far from affording a good reason for the delay, is, on the contrary, just that which enables one to get all things ready against the first outbreak of sunshine. There is a grievous inconvenience in the waxedpaper process, as hitherto described, I mean in the development by floating on the gallo-nitrate. Of course, you can float only one sheet at a time in the same dish; so that a man bringing home twenty views, each requiring to be floated an hour, must either have twenty dishes at work, or consume twenty hours in the development. I presume that immersion one upon the other would not do. So also the paper has to be excited by a careful floating on the aceto-nitrate for above ten minutes, and then again washed by floating on distilled water. I hope DR. DIAMOND will have been enabled to simplify this process. Very unkind of DR. D.'s friend not to have told him what proportions of amber to use in his collodion: for I consider this a valuable hint. DR. DIAMOND, p. 320., recommends "amber" for one varnish, and a few lines further on "the common amber of commerce" for another varnish. What is the difference, and where are they to be procured? I. W. [No amber is better than the broken mouth-pieces of pipe stems and cigar tubes, being entirely free from extraneous substances. They may be bought for about 2s. per oz. of many tobacconists, and especially of Onderwich, the German pipe merchant, Princes Street, Leicester Square. The common amber of commerce may be procured at the varnish -maker's or chemist's, and although it gives a varnish it is always coloured, and not so satisfactory as the finer sort.] Solution for Positive Paper.- Probably some of your correspondents will be good enough to say, what the strength of the solution for positive paper should be, when chloride of sodium (common salt) is used for the preparatory processes instead of muriate of ammonia; and what strength of solution of nitrate of silver to be applied with a brush should be used afterwards to render the paper sensitive? I have followed Le Gray's directions, in using one part saturated solution of common salt, and three parts water; and for the nitrate of silver ninety-six grains to the ounce of distilled water; but I find that it is requisite to apply three washes of the nit. sil. solution before the paper is rendered properly and easily sensitive, and of course is troublesome. After the first the paper on exposure will only become of a slate colour; after the second it deepens in larly in blotches, and cloudy; but after the thr darkens quickly and uniformly on exposure, es on a day that is not very bright, at this seas the year. The paper I have used is Nash's. I pref tone of colour obtained for the positive by chlor. sodium to that given by mur. am least for portraits. By using mur. amm. I found a single wash of nit. sil. solution suffs but that the paper requires a much longer sure to deepen sufficiently, than that pres with chlor. sod. and three washes of nit. s described. C.L Photography applied to the Microscope, One of the earliest uses I made of collodion apply it to taking the images through ther scope: in fact, I may say that on the f that Mr. Archer introduced to me the car. 2 in the autumn of 1850, some experiments performed, and the images of monochrom &c., seemed to be very successful; but in a substances, as sections of wood, fossil inf tissues, where a great deal of yellow or yellows brown prevails, the productions appear to 3 very inferior from drawings made by the ca lucida. Some of my friends carried these expe results by printing from the negatives. I ments to a great extent, and multiplied beg to mention also, that the film of collod been successfully floated off the glass, and taken up upon prepared copperplates and wood, p both of which etchings and wood engraving been made, the operator following natures in his delineations, instead of relying upon imperfect powers of drawing. ba his o H. W ther Origin of Collodion: French and ExWeights and Measures. In your No. for O there is an inquiry by Q. Q. as to the orig the name of collodion, and who first recomme its use in photography. I cannot tell him gave it the name of collodion, or the origin o name; but it was discovered by Le Gray in He mentions it in his work on photography: the whole of the process, &c. The work mar got at Claudet's or Henneman's, of Regent S The work is in the French language. I bar should therefore feel obliged if you, or some but just become a subscriber to "N. & Q;" !] back Numbers I may find an account of the Frens your subscribers, would inform me in which of the weights and measures; their relative value pared with the English, &c. G.C [In Brande's Chemistry, the relative value of the plained, as well as in many elementary works.] French and English weights and measures is fully e 1823; and I find in the Bodleian Catalogue, Answer to Sherlock's Knowledge of Christ, &c., printed in 1675. TYRO. Dublin. "The Choice of Hercules " (Vol. vi., P. 485.).There is a long poem so called in the third volume of Dodsley's Collection, edition 1782, without the author's name. It begins thus: "Now had the son of Jove mature attained BRAYBROOKE. Lenses and their Makers. The complaint of E. S. in No. 161., p. 515., on the subject of his disappointment in finding that the chemical and visual foci of a newly purchased lens did not correspond, has overwhelmed us with a mass of communications, principally from the friends of that very scientific optician Mr. Ross. We could not understand why this was so, until we received a letter from that gentleman himself, in which he remarks that, in the communication in question, "the terminal 's' appends very euphoniously to my name, and with those who should draw such Is this the production inquired for? in inference, I might be stigmatised as an incompetent optician and an unfair tradesman." Now, though it is quite obvious, from the construction of the sentence, that the name which we thought right to omit from E. S.'s letter might just as well have been Smith, Brown, Jones, or Robinson, and the terminal "'s" must still have been there, we think it fair towards Mr. Ross to remove any impression that he was the party referred to. He certainly was not. We may add that the only allusion to Mr. Ross which has to our knowledge appeared in "N. & Q.," is at p. 542. of our last Number. He is the London optician there referred to, and A. R-G having kindly exhibited to us the specimens alluded to in that communication, we have no hesitation in saying they justify all A. R-G's commendations. And with one word more we must dismiss the question of lenses, and makers of lenses, from our columns. All our successful experiments had been made with Voightlander's lenses; had we tried Ross's, and experienced, as we presume from the letters which have reached us we should have done, the same results, we should just as unhesitatingly have stated of Ross's lenses what we have honestly said of Voightlander's. "Nine Tailors make a Man" (Vol. vi., p. 390.). and Comical Conceits of Motley and Robin GoodIn Democritus in London, with the Mad Pranks Fellow, will be found the following Note, which is an earlier authority than yours of 1742 for the above saying: Edward Polhill (Vol. vi., p. 460.).—I am unable to furnish your correspondent G. with any information regarding the personal history of Edward Polhill, but may state that some of his works have been recently reprinted by T. Ward & Co. of Paternoster Row. Among these I find two treatises not mentioned by G., viz. : 1. "The Divine Will considered in its Eternal Decrees, and Holy Execution of them." 2. "A Preparation for Suffering in an evil Day." Besides these, A Discourse of Schism, originally printed in 1694, was reprinted by Hatchard in 66 Let the following be recorded in honor of the tailors! There is a proverb which has been of old, And many men have likewise been so bold, Nine Taylors joyn'd their purses together then, Persons Goose Fair (Vol. vi., p. 149.).—The origin of this name arose from the large quantities of geese which were driven up from the Fens of Lincolnshire for sale at this fair, which is on the 2nd of October, when geese are just in season. now living can remember seeing fifteen or twenty thousand geese in the market-place, each flock attended by a gooseherd with his crook, which he dextrously threw round the neck of any goose and brought it out for inspection by the customer. A street on the Lincolnshire side of the town is still called Goose Gate, and the flavour of the goose is still fully appreciated by the good people of Nottingham, as on the fair-day one is sure to be found on the table of ninety-nine out of a hundred of the better class of the inhabitants. an Newark. J. W. Ecclesiastical Year (Vol. vi., p. 462.).—This is erroneous heading; the ecclesiastical year begins at Advent. The question raised by MR. RUSSELL GOLE is between what were distinguished, prior to the reformation of the style in 1752, as the legal and the historical. The legal year began on the 25th of March, the historical year on the 1st of January, and used frequently to be used together in this form, January 168, the upper being the legal year, and in all public, and most private, written documents; the latter generally used in print, as it was all over the Continent. There, therefore, can be no doubt on the point raised, and that September 1660 preceded January 1660, which should be designated as January 168. It is inconceivable what a difficulty this difference of style makes in arranging the dates of old papers; but the legal year was most generally followed, even in private letters. C. Editions of the Prayer Book prior to 1662 (Vol. vi., p. 435.).—The object of my Query, printed at page 435., was to obtain an accurate list of the various editions of the Book of Common Prayer which issued from the press from 1549 to 1662 inclusive. The very valuable work, Keeling's Liturg. Brit., refers rather to the revisions which the Prayer Book underwent. I have not access, at present, to Mr. Pickering's elegant reprints, but I do not think that even this work would supply my desideratum. The following very imperfect list will, perhaps, form a groundwork for a correct one, to the compilation of which I solicit the attention of your correspondents: 1549. Whitchurche. 7th March, London. (Brit. Mus.) Whitchurche. 4th May, London. (Brit. Whitchurche. 16th June. (Brit. Mus.) 1550. Grafton. 4to. 30th July. (Brit. Mus.) Booke of Common Praier. Noted, This list has been compiled chiefy fra following sources; Rev. J. Ketley's Trol of Edward VI. (Parker Society); Rev. L ling's Liturgia Britannica, 1st edit.; Mr. St reprint of the Sealed Books (Eccl. His and Johnson's Typographia, vol. i. I do not remember to have seen any is editions of the Prayer Book prior to when it assumed its present form; thoug not but think that some such list may istence in one of the many works deve history. If a complete list has not printed, the literary history of the Pr will receive a valuable addition from the nications of those of your correspondents be disposed to correct and amplify the pa enumeration; which, permit me to say forth, not as having any pretensions to ness (especially towards its conclusion), ba as a nucleus for further information. W. SPARROW SIMP Office for Commemoration of Benefact pp. 126. 186.).—It has been suggested t in order to complete my former comm I should send you a transcript of the Col referred to; it is as follows: "O Lord, we glorify Thee in these Thy Server Benefactors, departed out of this present life; be ing Thee, that as they for their time bestowe ritably for our comfort the temporal things wh didst give them, so we for our time may fruit the same to the setting forth of Thy Holy Wen laud and praise, and, finally, that both the may everlastingly reign with Thee in glory; Jesus Christ our Lord. · Amen." W. SPARROW SIMPSON "The Right Divine of Kings to govern (Vol. iii., p. 494.; Vol. iv., p. 125. &c.).—Cmemorable line have originated from Mike fensio pro Pop. Ang.? I quote a passage** out of many: "Detur illa regia licentia male faciendi."· p. 15., Londini, 1651, 4to. "Noli igitur Deo hanc atrocissimam injuria quasi is regum pravitates et nefaria facinora jas gium doceret.". Cap. ii. p. 23. 篇一 jects to this interpretation, and very justly, on the tional horror of being cooked in a reeking skull, being lost, I beg to rehearse its history. The late Dr. J. D. N. "A hair of the dog that bit you" (Vol. vi., p. 316.). -In Scotland it is a popular belief that the "hair of the dog that bit you," when applied to the bite, has a virtue either as a curative or preventive agent. I have seen a shepherd pull a few hairs off his dog, and apply them to a wound which the dog had just made in the leg of a boy. In this case the application was to cure the wound, and to prevent bad consequences - such as the occurrence of hydrophobia. M. E. V. E. P. There is a valuable note on the same fact given, sub ann. 1317, in the Annals of Ireland, compiled by James Grace, and edited for the Irish Archæological Society by the very rev. Dean Butler, in which he advocates skull-cap versus cranium; and concludes with the following analogous story: "We know that, during the battle of Waterloo, the officers of the Guards boiled pigeons in the cuirass of a dead Frenchman at Hougoumont."-P. 91. note.. JAMES GRAves. Kilkenny. "Prof. What is a salt-box? -- Francis Hopkinson, Author of " Dissertation on a Salt-box" (Vol. vi., pp. 54. 137. 233. Permit 423 me to inform your correspondents J.WN., MR. JOHN BOOKER, and H. EBFF, that the author of a Dissertation on a Salt-box was Francis Hopkinson of this city (Philadelphia), and not Professor Porson, as the latter supposes. The piece of humour will be found in the first volume of HopIt kinson's Works, Philadelphia edition of 1792. was originally written for, and published in, the Pennsylvania Magazine, as a satire upon the examinations in our old Philadelphia College. It is entitled Modern Learning exemplified by a SpeSkull-caps versus Skull-cups (Vol. vi., p. 441.)-cimen of a College lute Examination. The first COWGILL'S learned and ingenious explanation of part is dedicated to "metaphysics," and commences Ragnar Lodbrok's skull-cup seems to me to be far- thus: fetched and unnecessary. The iron cap or helmet fitting close to the head, and representing its form, was in use from a very early period, and would naturally (as in fact it was) be called a "skullcap," or more shortly "skull:" and what more fitting cup could the dying warrior image to himself than the spoil of his slain enemy, his iron skull-cap whereout to drink the beer of Valhalla? But not in Valhalla alone was the "skull" of the soldier used for other purposes than that of defence. In the famine which prevailed in Ireland after Edward Bruce's invasion of that island, Camden relates (A.D. 1315) that "many were so hunger-starved, that in churchyards they took up the bodies out of their graves, and in their skulls boiled their flesh and fed thereon." 66 Perhaps a kind of vessel," says Stewart (History of Armagh, p. 179.), noting this passage; but the Rev. Robert King (Primer of the History of the Holy Catholic Church in Ireland, p. 1298.), quoting Stewart, ob Stud. It is a box made to contain salt. Stud. Into a salt-box, and a box of salt. A The student goes on and divides salt-boxes into "possible, probable, and positive salt-boxes. possible salt-box is "one in the hands of the joiner;" a probable salt-box is "one in the hand of one going to buy salt, who has sixpence in his hand to pay the grocer; a positive salt-box is one "which hath actually and bonâ fide got salt in it." The examination then continues to investigate the merits of salt-boxes, under the heads of "logic, natural philosophy, mathematics (which is illustrated by diagrams), anatomy, surgery, the practice of physic, and chemistry." It is dated May, 1784, the time when it was written. The Facetiæ Cantabrigiensis does not contain the whole of Hopkinson's paper, which occupies twelve or fifteen pages in his works. Thus much is due to the memory of an American patriot. Francis Hopkinson was a member of the American Congress in 1776, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and an active politician in his day. He was the author of The Battle of the Kegs, a satirical poem, composed whilst the English army occupied Philadelphia, which was very popular at the time, and is yet popular among Americans of the present generation. T. WESTCOTT. Philadelphia. Junius, Letter LVI., and the Continuation of Tom Jones (Vol. iii., p. 188.; Vol. vi., p. 341.). — The continuation of Tom Jones is entitled The History of Tom Jones, the Foundling, in his married State: Utile dulci: Lond., printed for J. Robinson, 1750, 12mo. p. 323. Its author is not known, nor is the point material, as it is a very poor production. Black George is not introduced in it, nor does it throw any additional light upon the allusion in Junius. I must confess, however, that I do not see any difficulty in the passage. Blifil and Black George, by different means, though not acting in concert, used their best endeavours, from interested motives, to ruin Tom Jones. The "union of Blifil and Black George" merely seems to express the concurrence of two different actors-one a hypocritical and sanctimonious cheat, and the other a bolder ruffian to work injury to the public. The personal allusion in the two names is obvious enough. JAS. CROSSLEY. The Word Brow, or Brough, in Essex (Vol. vi., p. 411.). This is called clam in Devonshire, being a rough tree thrown across a river or brook for a foot-bridge. I find clamber (in Johnson), to climb up, pronounced, in Devonshire, to climm. W. C. Harlow. Phonetic Spelling (Vol. vi., p. 357.).-In 1730 there was published at Amsterdam, in seven vols. 12mo., a work entitled Abrégé chronologique de Histoire d'Angleterre. Throughout this book the author, who calls himself M. J. G. D. C., has deviated in a remarkable manner from the customary orthography of the French. He justifies himself thus: "In the neglect with which this part of the French language is now every day treated, I should be sufficiently shielded from criticism if I only cited in my favour the authority of Ménage, Richelet, Furetière, Amelot de la Houssaie, and others of the like weight. . . I have wished to avoid discrder, and restrict myself to exact uniformity. By this means my aim has been to reduce the system of orthography to fixed but general rules, to remove the crowd of inconvenient and repulsive exceptions, and to proscribe the nintermingling of antiquated spelling, which a foreign to the pronunciation introduced b usage. In one word, I have not hesitated to letters to their natural functions, as assigned t the first elements of language. It is notice z same time, that this operation presents us at o the true pronunciation and facility of writing The author developes his plan, and ea its details in the remaining pages of his but I am unwilling to extend this Note, in son for writing which is to add another | authorities quoted on the subject of pa spelling a system which appears to me to all that is venerable in antiquity, dear ciation, and sacred in philology. B. H. Earlier attempts than that of Howell (165) made to reform our orthoepy. The first plied himself to effect this change was Siri Smith; and, according to Strype, in his most learned personage, pp. 27, 28., the n bet framed by him was compiled in 1542. similar attempt was made by Sir John 1557. A third scheme, with a like object was offered in 1621, by Dr. Alexander famous master of St. Paul's School, in La and curious Logonomia Anglica, quá Ges facilius addiscitur. In addition to these we many other works advocating the use of spelling, which preceded that of Howell; Orthographie, &c. of John Hart, Chester E 1569; Bullokar's Booke for the Ame Orthographie, &c., 1580; Mulcaster's Righ ing of our English Tongue, 1582; Peter Order of Orthographie, in his Writing master, 1590; and Charles Butler's English mar, 1633. Then, there is the well-knowsof Bishop Wilkins; that of George Dalg his Ars Signorum, &c., 1661; and the pr forth in the Friendly Advice to the Corres the English Press, &c., 1682. Co Simile of the Soul and Magnetic Needle pp. 127. 207. 368.).—A much older auf Leighton, or others mentioned recently "N. & Q.," made use of the comparison magnet, namely, Raimond Lull, of Maj died in 1315. These are his words, as g Neander, in his "Memorials of Christis Works, vol. vii. p. 429., Bohn's edition: "As the needle turns by nature to the north it is touched by the magnet, so it behoves that vant should turn to praise his Lord God, and Him, since out of love to him He willed to endan griefs and heavy sufferings in this world." Sea Water (Vol. vi., p. 290.).—In answ the Query concerning the use of sea water, Humboldt, Prichard, or Mrs. Somerville me |