Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/443

 i. MAY 7, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

363

" For many curious and surprizing Instances of the effects of the Imagination of the Mother on the Foetus, the Reader may consult Fienus, who is very copious on this subject, in his Treatise 'de Viribus Imaginationis,' Malebranche's ' Recherche de la Verite,' B. ii. C. 7, and Dr. James's 'Dic- tionary' under the Article of Imagination. As some Physicians pretend to doubt, nay, to laugh at such Stories, it may not be improper to sub. join the opinion of Dr. Mead, and his Testimony to their Truth. ' Quid mirabilius iis, quse in

fraviditatibus non raro contingere videnius ? temina in utero gestans, si forte quid appetiverit, et frustra fit, interdum rei concupitse figuram quondam, aut similitudinem, in hac aut ilia corporis parte, fcetui suae imprimit. Imo, quod majus, et prodigii instar, subita partis ahcujus laesione perterrita matre, ipsa ilia pars in infante noxam sentit, et nutrimenti defectu marcescit. Scio hujus- modi onines historias a Medicis nonnullis, quoniam qui talia fieri possunt baud percipiunt, in dubium yocari. At multa, qure ipse vidi, exempla mihi hac in re scrupulum, omnem ademerunt.' ' Medica Sacra,' p. 71."

Maury, in his great work on magic, writes thus on stigmatization :

" II est done opere, en realite, un travail dans 1' economic, Tame a agi sur la chair, et, suivaut quo son action a ete plus ou moins puissante, la chair a garde des traces plus ou moms apparentes de 1'idee. Des faits de ce genre tendent a nous faire croire quo 1'opinion populaire sur les envies de femmes grosses, et sur 1'influence de la pense"e de la mere sur le corps de 1'enfant qu'elle porte dans son sein, merite un serieux examen." 'La Magie,' 1864, p. 403.

Is, then, the belief in these ncevi quite a "vulgar error" after all? There are, we know, many people bearing birth-marks of one sort or another, attributed by themselves, their mothers, and other relatives, to the cause here indicated.

Dear old Montaigne, in his very curious chapter on 'The Force of Imagination,' among many whimsicalities, has this :

" Nous veoyons par experience les femmes envoyer, aux corps des enfants qu'elles portent au ventre, des marques de leurs fantasies ; tesmoing celle qui engendra le more : et il feut present^ Charles, roy de Boheme et empereur, une fille d'auprez de Pise, toute velue et herissee, que sa mere disoit avoir este" ainsi conceue k cause d.'une image de sainct Jean Baptiste pendue en son lict." Liv. i. ch. xx.

That Dr. Mead's opinion was not peculiar to him is evidenced from the following defi- nition in Dr. Quincy's ' Lexicon Physico- Medicum,' 1794 :

"Ncevi, signify those marks that are made upon the foetus, by the imagination of the mother, in longing for anything."

JAMES HOOPER.

Norwich.

ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH AND THE QUEEN'S WESTMINSTERS.

A LARGE number of our English cathedrals and parish churches are the depositories of old regimental colours, which from a variety of causes have fallen into desuetude by the- regiments to which they belong ; and thafe they should be left to rest in these sacred buildings seems a good and salutary custom, and one against which nothing can be urged. Therefore it is only fit and proper that the interesting old colours of the Queen's West- minster Volunteers should have found a resting-place within St. Margaret's Church, for they have a very respectable antiquity, having been presented to the Westminster Volunteers in 1798 by the Countess Grosvenor, whose husband was the colonel of the regi- ment, which had just been raised. The pre- sentation took place on the site of the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square. In 1814 the corps, along with the remainder of the volun- teer force, being disbanded, the colours in question were presented at St. Margaret's Church, with a solemn service, to the rector, who laid them upon the Communion table. Hanging upon the south wall of the. church, just inside the east door, entered through the Sherbrooke Memorial Porch (see 8 th S. xi. 304), is a small framed notice :

The Colours were presented to the Saint Mar- garet's and Saint | John's Volunteer Infantry by the Countess Grosvenor on the | 17 th day of August, 1798, Robert, Earl Grosvenor, being the first | Com- mandant of the Regiment.

On the return of Peace, and the further services of the Volunteer | Infantry being dispensed with by His Majesty's Government, they were | by permis- sion of John Cooper and William Glasier Esq re , Church Ward* | of this Parish here deposited for a lasting memorial of the Loyalty, | Patriotism, and Zeal of the Inhabitants of these Parishes in times of the | utmost danger from the threatened Invasion of a powerful and malignant | foreign foe, and from the traiterous [sic] and desperate designs of domestic | enemies, but from which the mercies of Divine Providence have now | happily delivered our beloved Country.

John Jones, late Major Commandant.

Deposited 9 th December, 1814.

So far as can be ascertained, there is no evidence where the colours were afterwards placed in the church, or for what period after that date they remained on view, but ulti- mately they appear to have been put in a room in the tower where a large quantity of lumber was stored, and their existence forgotten. In 1886 they were discovered (together with the document above quoted) packed away in two boxes in a very shabby condition. It was at once arranged that they should be redelivered to the Queen's West-