136
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. AUG. 15, iocs.
BRASS AS A SURNAME (10 S. viii. 350 ; ix.
358 ; x. 74). This is by no means an un-
common surname. In ' The Clergy List '
the names occur of the Rev. Henry Brass
and the Rev. John Brass ; the latter I know
personally.
To refer to a work of fiction, ' The Old Curiosity Shop,' who can forget Sampson Brass of Bevis Marks and his sister Sally Brass ? JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.
Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.
JOHNSON'S 'TROPICAL CLIMATES' (10 S. x. 89). The well-known work entitled
- The Influence of Tropical Climates on
European Constitutions ' was first published in 1813, and the author was James Johnson, M.D., a physician whose name will be found in the ' Dictionary of National Biography.' A sixth edition of this book was published in 1841, with many additions, by the late Sir James Ranald Martin. Johnson died in 1845 and the seventh edition in 1855 had become practically a new book under the editorship of Martin. The title was enlarged as follows :
" The Influence of Tropical Climates on European Constitutions, including Practical Observations on the Nature and Treatment of the Diseases of Euro- peans on their Return from Tropical Climates."
A second edition of Martin's work appeared in 1861 as
" The Influence of Tropical Climates in producing the Acute Endemic Diseases of Europeans, in- cluding Practical Observations on the Nature and Treatment of their Chronic Sequelre under the Influence of the Climate of Europe."
Martin died in 1874, and his name is also included in the ' D.N.B.'
HENRY B. WHEATLEY.
The author of the book (1812) was James Johnson, M.D. (1777-1845). In 1798 he was appointed surgeon's mate in the Navy ; and in 1800, as surgeon to the Cynthia sloop of war, he accompanied the expedition to Egypt. He was placed on half-pay in 1814, and settled in general practice at Portsmouth, whence he removed to London. He was the author of several books besides the one MR. SHORTER mentions, and the editor of The Medico -Chirurgical Journal (see ' Men of the Reign,' edited by Thomas Humphry Ward, Routledge, 1885).
WM. H. PEET. [MR. A. R. BAYLEY also thanked for reply. ]
CROWS " CRYING AGAINST THE RAIN "
(10 S. x. 88). The verses in Miss Silberrad's book are a quotation from George Gas- coigne's ' Good Morrow,' written about
1572, and " against," as used by the old
poet, means " before," referring to the-
proverb that the crow forebodes rain by
chattering. Of course, the same thing is
said about parrots and other birds, Ovid
in his Elegies, Book II. No. IV., and Festus
Avienus, in his ' Prognostics,' varying the
reference by mentioning the jackdaw.
Shakespeare calls this faculty in man, bird,
and beast, of being conscious beforehand
of ensuing danger, change, or storms to-
come, " a divine instinct."
C. CRAWFORD.
In Virgil the " villainous " or " good-for- nothing " raven invites the rain :
Turn cornix plena pluviam vocat improba voce. with which Conington compares Lucretius,, v. 1084 ff :
Cornicum ut saecla vetusta
Corvorumque greges, nbi aquam dicuntur et imbri Poscere, et interdum ventos aurasque vocare.
Pliny (' Hist. Nat.,' xviii. 363) says : " Cum terrestres volucres contra aquam clangored dabunt perfundentesque sese, sed maxime cornix ardea [not cornix] in mediis harenis tristis."
EMERITUS.
Virgil in his first Georgic has the line Turn cornix plena pluviam vocat improba voce ; and this Dryden has translated
The crow, with clamorous cries, the showe demands.
Horace, in the seventeenth ode of the third book, has written thus :
Cras fpliis neirms Multis et alga litus inutili Demissa tempestas ab Euro
Sternet aquae nisi fallit augur, Annosa cornix.
E. YARDLEY.
Numerous quotations for the belief that crows foretell rain can be found in Richard Inwards's 'Weather Lore' (London, 1898> and elsewhere. L. L. K.
The raven's croak against rain is one- signifying his unhappiness :
" Ravens and crows, when they do make a hoarse r hollow, and sorrowful noise, as if they sobbed, it presages foul weather approaching. Crows flocking together in great companies, or calling early in the morning with a full and clear voice, or at any time of the day gaping against the sun, forshe\vs hot and dry weather ; but if at the brink of ponds they do- wet their heads, or stalk into the water, or cry much towards the evening, are signs of rain."- Willsford's ' Nature's Secrets,' p. 133, quoted ina Brand's ' Antiquities ' (Bohn, 1855, vol. iii. p. 212).
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
