Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/193

 us. vm, SEPT. 6, MS.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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DIVINATION BY TWITCHING. Once when walking with a friend in London I felt twitchings in my left side. On telling my friend of this, I was informed that " some one wished to communicate with me." This superstition is mentioned in Brand's 4 Popular Antiquities,' vol. iii. p. 179, where he quotes the passage in ' Macbeth,'

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way conies ; and adds that

" Steevens observes : ' It is a very ancient super- stition that all sudden pains of the body, and other sensations which could not naturally be accounted for, were presages of something that was shortly to happen.' "

Among the Ekoi, a people of Southern Nigeria, the same superstition prevails, as is reported by Mr. P. Maury Talbot in his interesting book ' In the Shadow of the Bush,' pp. 323-4 :

" Great attention is paid to any signs supposed to foretell the future, whether from outside or

inside influences Of divination by feelings in

different parts of the body : a twitching in the upper eyelid of left eye denotes that one is about to see a bad thing, such as an ordeal by burning oil.

" A twitching in the upper eyelid of the right eye, on the contrary, foretells a fine sight, such as a dance. The same sensation in either of the bottom eyelids predicts coming cause for tears.

" Should the twitching be felt in the top of the left arm before starting on a journey, it means that evil awaits you, and that the friendly powers are trying to hold you back. If this warning be disregarded, misfortune is sure to follow. Should the twitching be felt, however, in the top part of the right arm, it is a good sign, and foretells that a friend's arm will soon lie within one's own. If this sensation comes in the hollow of the elbow of the right arm, or the palm of the right hand, it means that you will be called on to pay a debt or give a gift ; if in the left hand, that you are about to receive one, as in our own ' Right hand take, left hand pay.'

" A twitching above the heart means danger, trouble, or punishment, as also a tingling on the forehead or left thigh. On the right breast or thigh it means good luck. The same sensation below the elbow on either arm denotes that news of a death will soon reach you. On the sole of the right foot it means that a strange man is coming to see you ; on the left foot that you will be visited by a strange woman."

Perhaps some readers may be able to furnish further examples of this superstition.

W. H.-A.

CROOKED USAGE. From time to time queries have appeared in your columns concerning the origin of the name of a straight passage in Chelsea called Crooked Usage, and various surmises have appeared as to the origin and meaning of the name. It is worth while, therefore, putting on

record that Crooked Usage no longer exists, and its site is being covered by the new building of the Chelsea Hospital for Women. It may be mentioned that the name Crooked Usage Passage first appears in the rate -books on 4 Oct., 1854. J. HENRY QUINN.

Chelsea, S.W.

A SLIP IN ' THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRI- TANNICA.' ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica,' llth ed., vol. xv., art. 'Japan,' contains at p. 159 a paragraph specialized with the heading ' Lakes and Waterfalls,' which, not- withstanding, gives us no information at all as regards the waterfalls that abound in Japan nay. even the word "waterfall" is entirely absent from the eighteen component lines save in the heading.

KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA.

Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

THE ARROW. Those interested in the subject would be hardly likely to see the Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society (Longmans), but in the number for July will be found a good article, with illustrations, on ' The Evolution of the Arrow,' by C. W. Hobley.

WM. H. PEET.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct-

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE AND PRINCE LEO- POLD : PORTRAITS. I have a pair of por- traits, head and shoulders, of the Princess Charlotte and her husband the Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. They are oval engravings (coloured), measuring about 7| in. by 6 in. and 7 in. by 6 J in. respectively. They are mounted on green-grey card- board surrounded by silver cord, and the cardboard is laid upon red velvet now much faded which is festooned at the top, the festoons being edged with silver cord, from which hangs a silver tassel at each side. Above the portrait of the Princess is a raised coronet, meant for that of a royal princess.

Above the portrait of Prince Leopold is a raised coronet which befits, I suppose, his rank.

I have been told by an officer in the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berk- shire) Regiment that each battalion of the