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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. ix. FEB. w, 191*.

OCTOPUS, VENUS'S EAR, AND WHELK. Can any one refer me to ancient accounts of the use of these in medicine ? Are there any modern superstitions relating to their me- dicinal value ? RENIRA.

MACAULAY A.VD LATHBURY. Some time ago I met with a paragraph referring to a dispute between Macaulay and a Mr. John Lathbury regarding the correct rendering of a passage from the Greek of (I think) Hero- dotus, on which point Mr. Lathbury was proved to be right.

Can any of your readers inform me if this Mr. Lathbury was the same who was principal of an educational establishment at Ancaster, Lincolnshire, in the early fifties, and also what was the point at issue ? JOHN SARDESON.

Montevideo.

THE YOUNGER VAN HELMONT. (See US. yii. 307, 378, 468 ; viii. 54 ; ix. 86.) Can any information or suggestion be given as to the present whereabouts of the three follow- ing MSS. ?

(1) Collectio Genealogico-Heraldica de variis Fanri-

liis illustrious Belgicis, facta per Ambrosium Megem, Scabirmm Bruxellensem. Constant maximam partem ex epitaphiisaliisque monu- mentis calamo atque color-ibus depictis variis etiam, quos vacant, deduction ibus & instru- mentis publicis lingua Gallica & Belgica scriptis ac sigillis appensis munitis.

Collection des Families de Helmont, Megem, Longain, Halmale & autres, faite par Am- broise de Megem, Eschevain de la Ville de Bruxelles.

Occurrunt autem in hoc volumine XCIV. diplomata ac alia scripta ad historian! & genealogiam faniiliarum illustrium facientia. This was formerly in the library of Zach. Conrad von Uffenbach, from whose library cata- logue the above entry is extracted. * Bibliothecee Uffenbachiarise Universalis Tomus III.,' Franco- furti ad Moenum, 1730, p. 411, xix.

(2) (Spaeth, Johann Peter, also known as Moses

Germanus) Johannis Petri Spsethii (i.e.,

Mosis German!) Proxila ad Helmontium

epistola sine die & consule.

Also formerly in Uffen bach's library. The

ate was circa 1697 ; v. ' Bibl. Uff. III.,' p. 445, x.

(3) Wachter, Johann Georg. Theologia Martyrum,

oder der Heiligen Alt-Vater geheimde Lehre

yon dem Erstgebohrnen aller Creatur, aus

ihnen selbst dargethan und vertheidiget

wider den falschen und unvollkommenen

Vortrag eines Theologi unserer Zeit. 1712.

This was formerly in the library of Jacobus

Fridericus Reimmannus ; cf. Reimmann's ' His-

toria Atheismi,' Hildesise, 1725, p. 516, and his

'Catalogus Bibliothecse Theologies,' 1731, p. 977.

F. S. DARROW. Point Loma, California.

(To be continued.)

TYING LEGS AFTER DEATH. It is the custom when a dead body is " laid out " to tie the legs together at the ankle at any rate, amongst poor folk. Many old people object to this, and make their friends pro- mise that, when dead, they shall lie free in their coffins. Some time ago an old Derby- shire lady, near her end, exacted this pro- mise from her relatives ; and I know a Scotch lady who made a similar request. Can any one say if this custom is common, and why there is this dread of it ?

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED. I should be glad to obtain any particulars relating to the following men, who were all educated at Westminster School : ( 1 ) Harper Brade, born 26 April, 1808, and James Brade, bom 23 Nov., 1809, both of whom were admitted in 1822 ; (2) Peregrine Brad- shaw, admitted in 1721 ; (3) Robert Smith Bradshaw, admitted in 1782; (4) William Smith Bradshaw, admitted in 1772; (5) Arthur Bransby, admitted in June, 1715, aged 10 ; (6) John Bransby, aclmitted January, 1724/5, aged 8 ; (7) Mansel Bransby, admitted January, 1718/19 ; and (8) Robert Bransby, admitted January, 1722/3, aged 7. G. F. R. B.

STEWART FAMILY OF WILMONT, co. DOWN. In January, 1804, according to the ' Dic- tionary of National Biography,' the Rev. B. W. Mathias " married a daughter of Mr. Stewart of Wilmont, co. Down." Who was Mr. Stewart ? and is anything further known of the family of which he was a member ? J. G. LAITHWAITE.

Trinity College, Oxford.

REV. WILLIAM GORDON, M.A., BARBADOS. This person, who gave the Governor of the island and the Colonial officials at home much trouble in 1716-19, says he was " the son of a worthy gentleman of a very ancient family." He was educated at Oxford, went to Barbados as a King's Chaplain in May, 1699, returned in the autumn, took his M.A. at Oxford (although Foster does not mention him), arid was ordained at St. Paul's at Christmas, after which he returned to Barbados. He

E reached (1710) a funeral sermon on his
 * iend Col. Codrington, the real founder of

Codrington College, and a benefactor of All Souls, Oxford. A thanksgiving sermon which he preached in August, 1716, to com- memorate the suppression of the Jacobite rising, got him into trouble with the Gover- nor, Robert Lowther. He published this