Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/164

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. ix. FEB. 21, 191*.

Christians " pour estre manges des chres- tiens."

But the superstition died hard, and a hundred years later Charles II. died with strange physic inside him. One prescription is signed by fourteen doctors.

"The patient was bled largely. Hot iron was applied to his head. A loathsome volatile salt extracted from human skulls was forced into his mouth."

Sir Thos. Browne writes :

" Mummy is become merchandise, Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh is sold for balsams."

More interesting is the use of live animals : split pigeons to the feet, and sometimes sheep ; puppy dogs' oil, with that of snakes ; swallowing live frogs for ague and such ; this last has continued to our own times. The idea, perhaps, of sacrifice is suggested. A fresh -killed eel's skin, laid across the loins for the cure of lumbago, I encountered quite lately on the skin of a great Hebrew scholar ! GEORGE WHERRY.

Cambridge.

Among the numerous drugs administered to King Charles II. on his death-bed was " spiritus cranii humani." Macaulay relates the fact in his usual florid style : "A loath- some volatile salt, extracted from human skulls, was forced into his mouth." In the fourth Pharmacopoeia of the College of Physicians (1721) there are still preparations of human fat. In the earlier editions were " cranium hominis violenta morte ex- stincti," " nephriticus lapis hominis," and " mummy " (mumia Sepulchorum). It was not till the fifth Pharmacopoeia (1746) was published that " mummy " was excluded. Numerous other preparations from ani- mals and their various organs were also used. Indeed, it would seem that the very prevalent employment in the present day of many animal extracts is only the revival, in a new and perhaps more scientific form, of an old and half -forgotten custom.

J. FOSTER PALMER. 8, Royal Avenue, S.W.

THE GREAT EASTERN, THE FIRST OF THE LEVIATHANS (US. viii, 506 ; ix. 55, 116). I have a pamphlet of thirty- three pages entitled

''The Great Eastern, An Illustrated Description of the great Steam-Ship, the property of the Great Ship Company, Limited. Authentic Edition."

Published by H. G. Clarke & Co., 252, Strand, it bears no date, but apparently it .was issued very soon after the shin's voyage to Portland Bay, 7-10 Sept., 1859.

This account differs from A. N. Q.'s (US. viii. 507) in two particulars: (1) ac- commodation for 4,000 (not 5.000) 800 first class, 2,000 second class, and 1,200 third class independently of the ship's comple- ment, about 400 ; (2) the explosion caused the death of 6 firemen (not 10), and destroyed the fittings of the saloon. J. J. FAHIE.

AUTHORS WANTED (11 S. ix. 109). 1. "The tear down childhood's cheek " is the opening of the eleventh stanza of the fourth canto of * Rokeby ' ; but in the third line Scott wrote " breeze," not " wind.' r

JOHN B. WAINE WRIGHT. [MR. ARCHIBALD SPARKE also thanked for reply.] 1

TARRING (11 S. viii. 368, 416, 473). Your correspondent who inquired about occurrences of this surname may be inter- ested to learn that John Tarring is a carrier in Plymouth ; that R. Tarring is a resident in Devonport ; while at Torpoint, on the opposite side of the Tamar, there is an inhabitant of the name of W. Tarring. Stonehouse does not hold one of this name,, but a Mrs. E. Tarran lives there.

W. S. B. H.

"MARRIAGE" AS SURNAME (11 S. viii. 287, 336, 378, 457 ; ix.'14, 92). Clement or Clemence, widow of William Maryadge or Mary edge, is mentioned in the wills of her mother, Elizabeth Nevell of Feringe (Essex),. in 1609, and of her brother, Thomas ISTevell, also of Feringe, 1613. The latter made her sole executrix. Her son John and his three children are mentioned, and her daughter Hester. Thomas and Robert were also probably sons. The wills are in the collection of the Commissary of London and Essex at Somerset House.

RALPH NEVILL. F.S.A.

Castle Hill, Guildford.

" TROD," " TRODE," PAST TENSE OF "TREAD" (11 S. ix. 27, 116). It is not always remembered by readers that the final e in such words as bade (St. Luke xiv. 9), sate (Ps. 1. 20), and trode (2 Kings vii. 20) mpukes no difference to the pronunciation. Satest. if it rimes with latest, comes from the verb to sate ; as a past tense, sate, safest, are identical with sat,*sattest. W. E. B.

UPRIGHT STONES IN CHURCHYARDS (11 S. viii. 490 ; ix. 35, 91). In the churchyard at Wigtown, N.B., is a roughly hewn, upright stone of hard whinstone, or trap, with an incised shield bearing the date 1620 and the letters " Ke." A. W. ANDERSON.