Various

“ I excite my paper with equal proportions of saturated solution of gallic acid and aceto-nitrate of silver, one or two drops of each to the drachm of distilled water. I always plunge the bottle of gallic acid solution into hot water when first made, which enables it to take up more of the acid; on cooling, the excess crystallises at the bottom. This ensures an even strength of solution: it will keep any length of time, if a small piece of camphor be allowed to float in it. ”

“ The changes of weather affect me much; the mornings are my life, in the evenings I am not dead indeed, but sleepy and stupid enough. I love reading still better than conversation, but my eyes fail, and the hours when most people indulge in company, I am tired, and find the labour of the past day sufficient to weigh me down ”

“ Cyanide of Potassium (Vol. ix., p. 230.) .—I have for a long time been in the habit of using a solution of the above-named substance for fixing collodion positives, because the reduced silver has a much whiter appearance when thus fixed, than when the hyposulphite of soda is used for the same purpose; but I cannot quite agree with Mr. Hockin that it is equally applicable to negatives, though in many cases it will do very well. I find the reduced metal is more pervious to light when fixed with the cyanide solution, particularly in weak negatives. ”

“ I should be glad to see some more information in your pages relative to the early use of the pulpit hour-glass. It is said that the ancient fathers preached, as the old Greek and Roman orators declaimed, by this instrument; but were the sermons of the ancient fathers an hour long? Many of those in St. Augustine's ten volumes might be delivered with distinctness in seven or eight minutes; and some of those of Latimer and his contemporaries, in about the same time. But, Query, are not the printed sermons of these divines merely outlines, to be filled up by the preacher extempore? ”

“ Double Iodide of Silver and Potassium.—I shall feel greatly indebted to you, or to any correspondent of "N. & Q.," for information as to the proportion of iodide of silver to the ounce of water, to be afterwards taken up by a saturated solution of iodide of potassium, and converted into the double iodide of silver and potassium.
I generally pour all waste solution of silver into a jar of iodide of potassium solution; and last year, having washed some of the precipitated iodide of silver, I redissolved it in a solution of iodide of potassium of an unknown strength. ”

“ This is a retrospective survey of the several administrations of George III. from 1760 (his accession) to the regency in 1811; evincing much political insight, with some spirited portraits, and indicative both of a close observation of public measures and events, and of personal connexion or intercourse with men in high place. ”

“ Dr. John Pocklington.—Can any of your correspondents oblige me with information respecting the family, or the armorial bearings of Dr. John Pocklington? He wrote Altare Christianum and Sunday no Sabbath. The parliament deprived him of his dignities A.D. 1640; and he died Nov. 14, 1642. Dr. Pocklington descended from Ralph Pocklington, who, with his brother Roger, followed Margaret of Anjou after the battle of Wakefield, A.D. 1460. He is said to have settled in the west, where he lived to have three sons. The family is mentioned in connexion with the county of York, as early as A.D. 1253. ”

“ This film may be observed by any one who takes the trouble of looking at the eye of the mackerel.
I have looked into every book on natural history I could get hold of, and in none is the slightest notice taken of this; therefore I suppose my conclusion as to its blindness is wrong; but I do not consider this to be conclusive, as all we can learn from books is, "Scomber is the mackerel genus, and is too well known to require description." I believe less is known about fish than any other animals ”

“ Wellington.
[The resultant iodide from fifteen grains of nitrate of silver, precipitated by means of the iodide of potassium, will give the requisite quantity of iodide for every ounce of water; or about twenty-seven grains of the dried iodide will produce the same effect. It is however far preferable, and more economical, to convert all waste into chloride of silver, from which the pure metal may be again so readily obtained. Iodide of silver, collected in the manner described by our correspondent, is very likely to lead to disappointment.] ”

“ Albumenized Paper.—I have by careful observation found that the cause of the albumen settling and drying in waving lines and blotches on my paper, arose from some parts of the paper being more absorbent than others, the gelatinous-like nature of the albumen assisting to retard its ready ingress into the unequal parts, and, consequently, that those places becoming the first dried, prevented the albumen, still slowly dripping over the now more wetted parts, from running down equally and smoothly, thereby causing a check to its progress ”

“ The effects of eminences, rivers, roads, woods, marshes, &c., should be made plain; in short, nothing should be omitted which is necessary to render an account of a battle intelligible to ordinary readers, instead of being, as is too often the case, a mere chaotic assemblage of words. ”

“ When a boy, I remember an old gentleman, who came from one of the Midland Counties, always stood up at the "Glory" in the Litany. In many country churches, the old women make a courtesy.
In many country churches, the old men bow and smooth down their hair when they enter the church; and women make a courtesy. ”

“ Patrick's, Dublin.—It is remarkable (and yet it has not been noticed, I believe, by his biographers) that Dean Swift was suspended from his degree of B.A. in Trinity College, Dublin, for exciting disturbances within the college, and insulting the junior dean. He and another were sentenced by the Board to ask pardon publicly of the junior dean, on their knees, as having offended more atrociously than the rest. These facts afford the true solution of Swift's animosity towards the University of Dublin, and account for his determination to take the degree of M.A. at Oxford ”

“ It is certainly possible, by a strong mental effort, to keep pain in subjection during a dental operation. A firmly fixed tooth, under a bungling operator, may be wrenched from the jaw without pain to the patient, if he will only determine not to feel. ”

“ As the spot is always is one place, it must depend upon light reflected from some one spot.
M. De S. (Tendring) . We trust to be able to send a very satisfactory reply in the course of a few days. We have delayed answering only from a desire to accomplish our Correspondent's object. ”

“ A remote correspondent finds all help to fail him from bibliographers and cotemporary reviewers in giving any clue to the authorship of the works described below. But he has been conversant enough with the "N. & Q." to perceive that no Query, that he is aware, has yet been started in its pages involving a problem, for which somebody among its readers and contributors has not proved a match. ”

“ The dog, in most cases a greyhound, very frequently appears at the feet of a knight or civilian, as on the brasses of the Earl of Warwick, 1401, Sir John Falstolf at Oulton, 1445, Sir John Leventhorpe at Sawbridgeworth, 1433, Sir Reginald de Cobham at Lingfield, 1403, Richard Purdaunce, Mayor of Norwich, 1436, and Peter Halle, Esquire, at Herne, Kent, 1420. Sir John Botiler, at St. Bride's, Glamorganshire, 1285, has a dragon; and on the brass of Alan Fleming, at Newark, 1361, appears a lion with a human face seizing a smaller lion. ”

“ That body has not only the means of securing the best judges of such matters, but an invitation from such a body would probably call into the field of competition all the best photographers, whether professional or amateur. ”

“ Ferguson, of the Exchequer Record Office, Dublin, returns his best thanks to J. O. for his most acceptable present of a book of poems.
Will An Old F.S.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., who writes to us that the "Eyre drawings are authentic," oblige us with his name? It is obvious that anonymous testimony can have little weight in such a case, when opposed to that of known and competent authorities.
Working Man will find the English equivalents for French weights and measures, and much of the information he desires, in Walich's Popular Tables. ”

“ Standing while the Lord's Prayer is read (Vol. ix., p. 127.) .—A custom noted to prevail at Bristol: in connexion with it, it would be interesting to ascertain in what churches there still remain any usages of by-gone days, but which have generally got into desuetude. It is probable that in some one or other church there may still exist a usage handed down by tradition, which is not generally recognised nor authorised in the present day. Perhaps by means of our widely spread "N. & Q.," and the notes of its able contributors, this may be ascertained. ”

“ Charms are devoutly believed in. A ring made from a shilling offered at the Communion is an undoubted cure for fits; hair plucked from the crop of an ass's shoulder, and woven into a chain, to be put round a child's neck, is powerful for the same purpose ”

“ When the ancients were getting up in the morning, if they chanced to sneeze whilst putting on their shoes, they immediately went back to bed again, in order that they might get up more auspiciously, and escape the misfortunes which were likely to occur on that day. ”

“ In the Preface to the Bishops' Bible, printed by John Day in 1569, Archbishop Parker is represented with an hour-glass at his right hand. And in a work by Franchinus Gaffurius, entitled Angelicum ac Divinum opus Musice, printed at Milan in 1508, is a curious representation of the author seated in a pulpit, with a book in his hand; an hour-glass on one side, and a bottle on the other; lecturing to an audience of twelve persons. This woodcut is engraved in the second volume of Hawkins' History of Music, p. 333.
Hour-glasses were often very elegantly formed, and of rich materials. ”

“ COLLODION PORTRAITS AND VIEWS obtained with the greatest ease and certainty by using BLAND & LONG'S preparation of Soluble Cotton; certainty and uniformity of action over a lengthened period, combined with the most faithful rendering of the half-tones, constitute this a most valuable agent in the hands of the photographer.
Albumenized paper, for printing from glass or paper negatives, giving a minuteness of detail unattained by any other method, 5s. per Quire. ”

“ The observation of unlucky days and seasons is by no means unusual. The phases of the moon are regarded with great respect: in one medicine may be taken; in another it is advisable to kill a pig; over the doors of many houses may be found twigs placed crosswise, and never suffered to lose their cruciform position ”

“ Your observations upon the manufacturers of paper, respecting the intrinsic value of a premium, are equally applicable to this proposition, because, should the collodion prepared by any of the various dealers who at present advertise in your columns be deemed to be the most satisfactory, your sanction and that of your friends alone would be an ample recompense. ”

“ By the first book of King Edward VI., this duty was devolved upon those who had the cure of souls, with a provision "that the parishioners of every parish should offer every Sunday, at the time of the offertory, the just value and price of the holy loaf ... to the use of the pastors and curates" who had provided it; "and that in such order and course as they were wont to find, and pay the said holy loaf." This is, I think, the correct answer to the Query of T. J. W.
J. H. B.
"Could we with ink," &c. (Vol. viii., pp. 127. 180.) ”

“ This derivation is evidently the true one. I may take this opportunity of recommending the above-cited work to all persons who feel an interest in the etymology of the Romance languages. It is not only more scientific and learned, but more comprehensive, than any other work of the kind.
L.
Longfellow (Vol. ix., p. 174.) .—There was a family of the name of Longfellow resident in Brecon, South Wales, about fifty or sixty years ago, who were large landowners in the county; and one of them (Tom Longfellow, alluded to in the lines below) kept the principal inn, "The Golden Lion," in that town. ”

“ It is by no means improbable that the name is a corruption of Longvillers, found in Northamptonshire as early as the reign of Edward I., and derived, I imagine, from the town of Longueville in Normandy. There is a Newton Longville in this county.
W. P. Storer.
Olney, Bucks.
Canting Arms (Vol. ix., p. 146.) .—The introduction to the collection of arms alluded to was not written by Sir George Naylor, but by the Rev. James Dallaway, who had previously published his Historical Enquiries, a work well known.
G.
Holy Loaf Money (Vol. ix., p. 150.) ”

“ Hope Johnstone of Annandale, to whom it is believed the titles also, in so far as claimed, of right belong, and whose restoration to the dormant honours of the family would afford universal satisfaction in this part of Scotland; because it is the general feeling that he has a right to them, and that in his family they would not only be supported, but graced." Some farther particulars of the three marquisses will be found in Douglass' Peerage of Scotland (by Wood) , vol. ”