Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/69

 10 s. x. JULY is, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

53

HIPPOCRATES LEGEND (10 S. ix. 408 ; x. 35). Is there any connexion, between the legend referred to in the poem of Paul de Bellviure and that of ' The Daughter of Hippocrates,' told by Leigh Hunt in his essay bearing that title ? C. C. B.

CANNING PORTRAITS (10 S. ix. 448). There is a Hoppner portrait of Canning at Eton. Lawrence's fine whole-length belongs to Sir Robert Peel, and is on view at Graves' s Galleries until the 25th inst. See also the new * Catalogue of Engraved British Por- traits ' in the British Museum.

W. ROBERTS.

" SABARITICKE " (10 S. ix. 488 ; x. 33). A multitude of correspondents have sent to me the obvious, but, I think, untenable suggestion that the word is a misspelling or a misprint for " Sybaritic." It does not seem to me that "Sybaritic sea" would have any point. The only conjecture that has occurred to me is that the reference may be to " the gulf of Sabara " (KOA.TTOS Sa/fopaico?), the coasts of which, according to Ptolemy, ' Geog.,' vii. 2, 4, were in- habited by cannibals. But if this be the right explanation, it is hardly likely that Hutton can be referring directly to Ptolemy's text, and it would be of interest to ascertain what was his immediate source.

HENRY BRADLEY. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

PORTFOLIO SOCIETY (10 S. ix. 510). As a member, from its commencement, of the " long-defunct Portfolio Society," about which MR. BRESLAR is inquiring, let me assure him that as long as I was connected with it which was till late in 1861 it had nothing to do with " the reform of certain legal abuses," but was composed mostly of young people devoted to literature and art. Besides Jean Ingelow, there were certainly two other poetess- members, Isa Craig and Adelaide Anne Procter, who, like Chibiabos, was the sweetest singer of all. Among Miss Procter's 4 Legends and Lyrics ' are several short pieces which were read at the Portfolio meetings ' Too Late,' ' Returned " Mis- sing," ! ' My Will,' ' Rest,' ' The Tyrant and the Captive,' ' Expectation,' and * A Contrast ' being of the number. ^ The Society had its birth in Blandford Square at the house of Mr. Benjamin Smith, sometime M.P. for Norwich. He had three daughters liberally endowed with good looks and intellectual gifts, the eldest being Bar- bara, afterwards Madame Bodichon, a clever

amateur artist, one of the founders of Girton College, and the inspirer of the Married Women's Property Act. The youngest sister, my contemporary and intimate friend, Annie Leigh Smith, was the originator of the Portfolio Society and the chooser of its name. A subject some well-known saying, a phrase, or even a single word, to be illustrated by poem, very brief essay, or oil or water-colour sketch would be proposed, the result being shown at our next " merry meeting." As a rule, the poems were read, and always admirably, by one of the other sex, often George Mac Donald, whose forte was elocu- tion ; and a Portfolio held the sketches, which, after the reading, were turned over and criticized, our votes deciding which picture merited the prize. Then followed the distribution of the sketches ; and I still possess and value a clever humorous drawing of the canny Jack and the two-headed giant supping together, done by the son of the well-known author of the ' Thesaurus.'

ELEANOR C. SMYTH. Sonning, Golder's Green, N. W.

FIG TREES : MATURING MEAT (10 S. ix. 389). As to Carica papaya, " the juice of the fruit or the macerated leaves, if rubbed on animal flesh, make it very tender. It is best to roll the meat and leaves together for a few hours" ('New Cy. Amer. Flori- culture,' ii. 246). This property was known before America was discovered, and so Hughes, in ' Hy. Barbadoes,' 1750, says : "If this unripe fruit when unpeeled is boiled with the toughest old salt meat, it will soon make it soft and tender." Heat is not necessary, for the digestive activity is quite as potent cold as hot. So W.I. natives have always hung fowls and joints in the growing trees (but for this state- ment no authority can now be produced, my notes on papaw, pineapple, and similar vegetable ferments being now inaccessible). "The milky juice of the papaw can be imagined as quite akin to the gastric or pancreatic juice of the animal organism" ('United States Dispensatory,' 1907, p. 1603, where details are given which would be almost incredible were they not in this handbook of the apothecaries). There is a variety quercifolia, which is hardy, and whose " large halberd-shaped leaves contain a larger percentage of papaine, now used in medicine in preference to pepsin " (' New Cy. Am. Floriculture,' ii. 246), which may be what is referred to in the article cited in the query.