Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/386

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NOTES AND QUERIES. 112 s. VL JJ*K 19,

-the south. There was, however, still current & saying with regard to the Lausannois, that there were three distinct social "sets," de Cerjats." The last person to retain her title was the Gomtesse de Sellon who lived -at the Chateau d'Allaman on the route to Merges. I recollect her well and by a coincidence 1 also came in contact in 1862 with Count Jarlsberg, the last title- Jiolder in Norway. L. G. R.
 * ' the Chatelains, the rue de Bourg and the

"THE BEAUTIFUL MBS. CONDUITT " (12 S. v. 321; vi. 213). As often happens in wishing to be brief, one becomes obscure. 3lR. R. PIERPOINT would have been saved .much had it been more clearly stated that the lady was so described in one of those -numerous books of memoirs, &c., which dssued in a continuous stream between 1830 .and 1850 from the firm of Bentley, Col- bourne, &c., The portrait of Mrs. Con- duitt's sister, which I have seen, is that of .p, lady in the costume of the earlier half of the last century. If Sir John Soane had left a biographer as well as a museum to commemorate him we might have known xmore of the beautiful Mrs. Conduitt.

Bournemouth. " ** "

'THE ITINERARY OF ANTONINUS' (12 S. <vi. 252, 277). In my reply to this query

Snnted at the latter reference " Stantford ridge," and " Stainford Bridge " should in both cases be Stamford Bridge. I put a query to this, as it seems that it is still a matter for dispute whether Stamford Bridge is the .Roman Derventio or not. Camden calls it eimply "on the River Derwent." Burton in his 'Commentary on the Antonine Itin- erary ' says it is Aldby, which is to the .north of Stamford Bridge. On modern <maps the Roman road is marked as crossing 4he Derwent at Stamford Bridge. Will ome one throw more light on the matter ?

H. P. HART.

AMBEB (12 S. vi. 27 J, 297). The idea that -amber worn round the neck will confer immunity from catching cold appears at -first sight to be a relic, preserved in folk medicine, of the union of medicine and magic which was so conspicuous a feature xf Anglo-Saxon, indeed of nearly all primi- tive, medicine. It would then be regarded as the amulet which would fend from the -elf-shot. In the same category would be -cramp rings, the potato carried by the irheumatic, and the necklace of beads' made

from the root of the peony still used by West Sussex children to aid them in cutting their teeth.

I think, however, another explanation is possible. Amber was used internally by the old physicians. Dioscorides ('De Materia Medica,' 93) describes amber as the tears of the poplar which are discharged into the river Po and get concreted into a golden coloured substance. This being pul- verized and drunk stops defluxions of the stomach and bowel. Aben Mesuai calls it a hot and dry medicine: says that it strengthens the brain and is useful to men of cold tem- perament. The wearing of amber to pre- vent one catching a cold may therefore have had a rational basis according to the views once in vogue. The ancient theory that disease was due to an intemperies of one of the humours, attributed catarrh to an excess of pituita (phlegm) flowing from the brain. Pituita vf AS a cold and moist humour and we still speak of a " cold in the head." Supposing, as they probably did, that the properties of amber might be absorbed through its contact with the skin, the exhibition of a hot and dry drug would be a reasonable remedy to strengthen the brain and fortify a cold temperament.

1 use the word remedy in its primary meaning. " Remedium ne periclitemur datur. Medicamentum ad subita pericula aptatur. Atque ita Remedium submovet imminentia: Medicamentum sanat insana " ( ' Fronto de clifferentiis vocabulorum ').

At the present time the use of amber is not unknown in medicine. One to five drops of the Oleum succwi has been recom- mended in persistent hiccough, asthma and whooping cough : and a liniment of the oils of amber, clove and olive has been used as an external application in rheumatism.

RORY FLETCHER.

MONKEY'S WINE (12 S. vi. 295). It is worth while noting for comparison that the British language contains several (chiefly slang) tferms implying association with monkeys. A few may be quoted. In Botany "monkey's bread-tree" is a colloquialism for the Baobab ; " monkey flower " for the genus Mimulus ; " monkey's porridge-pot " or "monkey pot" for Lecythis olJaria and Lecythis minor ; " monkey's cup " for the genus Nepenthes; " monkey's dinner-bell" for Hum crepitanx ; and " monkey-puzzle " for Araucaria imbricata.

"Sucking the monkey," referred to in ' Peter Simple,' means either drinking from