Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/139

128. I. FEB. 12, 1916. J

NOTES AND QUERIES.

133 composed his own epitaph he had determined to resign his office in 1764.

It is, perhaps, interesting to note that, although when he wrote the epitaph (1762) the New Style was not quite ten years old, he says that he wrote it "pridie nonas Junii die natali Georgii III." (see 10 S. iv. 26, 173). Presumably the "small vase" mentioned by Ingram, if it still exists, contains the heart of Dr. King.

The 'Dictionary of National Biography' records the deposit of the heart. It also says: "There is a striking likeness of King in the orator's rostrum in Worlidge's picture of the installation of Lord Westmoreland." In the said engraving King appears in profile, having some resemblance to William III.

Perhaps, or some other Oxford correspondent, will tell us whether the silver case or vase still exists.

To the latest reply on this subject it may be useful to add—by way of record, for it must be well known to most of the Fellows—that a section of the trunk of the great tree under which Dr. Livingstone's heart was interred is preserved in the museum of the Royal Geographical Society at Kensington.

(11 S. xii. 442).—G. W. Marshall in his 'Genealogist's Guide' mentions a pedigree of Lydiard of Cheltenham (T. P.), 1865, folio page. This perhaps would supply the information required.

SKULL AND IRON NAIL (US. xii. 181, 306, 389, 409, 490 ; 12 S. i. 77). I should like to suggest to L. L. K. that it is possible to put the matter to the test, and prove once and for all whether or not a wooden peg can be driven through the skull in the temporal region. I dare say the professor of anatomy at some medical school could be persuaded to let the test be made. For my own part I shall be considerably surprised if it is not easy to drive a wooden peg, made of some tough wood and only about three- quarters of an inch in diameter, right through the temporal bones with the help of nothing more heavy than an ordinary carpenter's mallet. L. L. K.'s reference to an abattoir suggests to me that he does not ilize that the skull in the frontal region is much thicker than it is in the temporal ?gion in man ; and I believe that in animals oxen the difference is greater still.

M.D.

If the wooden spike or nail were hardened by fire, as probably tent pegs or nails were so hardened from earliest times, the point would be easily driven through the two temporal bones into the ground by means of a hand hammer or mallet such as is now use4 to drive home tent-pegs. A fire-hardened peg or nail made of wood can be driven with ease into any kind of timber almost.

THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Southfleld, Worksop.

LEITNER (12 S. i. 48). Mrs. Elizabeth Amery, wife of Charles F. Amery, of the Pan jab Forest Department, was the sister of Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner, Ph.D., so well known at Lahore, where he was for more than, twenty years Principal of the Government College there ; but the name Leitner was I believe assumed, and was not their patronymic. F. DE H. L.

SHRINES AND RELICS OF SAINTS (12 S. i. 70). St. Medan's Well lies in a cleft of the sea-cliff beside the ruins of Kirkmaiden formerly a parish church, but at the Re- formation the old parish was united to that of Glasserton, Wigtownshire. The well issues just above high-tide mark, and to reach it one has to thrust an arm far into the cleft and bring the water out in a cup.. It is now known as the Chincough or Kink- hoast Well, the water being reputed a specific against whooping-cough. The legend con- nected with it is too long to repeat here ; suffice it to say that it affirms that an Irish maiden, Medana virgo, having, towards the end of the fourth century, made a vow of perpetual virginity, was the object of the ardent affection of miles quidam nobilis* To escape from his suit, she left Ireland cum duabus ancillis arid landed in Galloway, where, after many adventures, she built a cell, which gave its name to the parish of Kirkmaiden, the southernmost parish in Scotland (referred to in Burns' s verse " Frae Maidenkirk to John o' Groat's"). That parish still exists. But, having been followed thither by miles nobilis, Medan crossed the Bay of Luce on a rock miraculously con- verted into a boat, and, cum duabus ancillis,. landed on the east side, where she built another cell, which gave its name to a second parish of Kirkmaiden (now sup- pressed). Again her lover overtook her ; she climbed into a tree and remonstrated with him from the upper branches. He declared that he could not resist the at- traction of her beautiful eyes ; whereupon, eripuit oculos she tore them out and flung