336
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. ix.
191*.
never, knew one to bite any one. Thunder
is believed to affect snakes, and I have
heard old huntsmen declare that a snake
is unable to inject its poison during a
thunderstorm. There is no doubt that all
such animals are peculiarly affected by the
electrical state of the atmosphere at such
times. FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.
Un thank Road, Norwich.
After sending you this query, I have come across the following passage, which proves some peoples besides the Japanese and Australians to have also associated thunder with certain chelonians :
" I may remark here that the German name for the tortoise is Schild-krote (toad with shields) ; that the Korybantes produced their noisy music, and accompanied their Pyrrhic dances with kettledrums and the sound of arms ; and that the Kuretes, in order to conceal from Kronos the birth of Zeus, struck their shields with their lances. It is interesting to observe that in Sanskrit also kacchas is the name given to the little shields of the tortoise or kacchapas ; that kacchapL is the term applied to the noise of the thundering
Sarasvati, or the thunder ; that kurmas
(another designation of the tortoise) is also an
epithet applied to the flatus ventrin, which is com- pared to a clap of thunder (cf. the roots kar, kur, gar, yur). In the chapter on the ass we saw this flatus compared to the noise of a trumpet or a kettledrum ; here we have the thunderbolts that strike upon the shields, the spots of the celestial tortoise, of the rainy moon, upon the clouds, attracted by or formed from the moon's spots, that is, which produce the thunder. According to the Hellenic myth, the tortoise obtained from Zeus himself that is, from the pluvial god, from the god of the clouds, the god in connection with the shield-clouds which concealed his birth, and, we may add, from the god tortoise the power of con- cealing itself under shields, and of carrying its house along with it." Angelo de Gubernatis, ' Zoological Mythology,' 1872, vol. ii. pp. 366-7.
KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA. Tanabe, Kii, Japan.
' THE ETHICS OF THE DUST ' (11 S. ix. 289). 1. Patent-metal is also known as Muntz metal, after the inventor a kind of brass (three parts copper to two parts zinc), used for the tubes of surface condensers and loco- motive boilers, also for sheathing wooden ships (' Encyclopaedic Dictionary ').
TOM JONES.
1. Patent metals are simply alloys, which, having been worked out for certain special purposes, are often patented. Examples are German silver, which is an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc; and Britannia metal, which is an alloy of tin, antimony, copper, and zinc, in prescribed proportions. Others are alb at a, Dutch metal, aluminium bronze,
pinchbeck, and many more. The very
mention of brass and bronze among these
shows how indiscriminate Rusk in often was
in his abuse brass being a metal of great
utility and beauty, while the invention of
bronze was a material factor in the civiliza-
tion of the world.
4. I do not know Richter's illustrations to the Lord's Prayer, but I take it they would be by Henry James Richter, 1772-1857, a painter of English birth but German parentage, who was very popular in his day, and many of whose works were engraved. In company with his father he issued an illustrated edition of * Paradise Lost.' See tho ' D.N.B.' HOWARD S. PEARSON.
5. The Lac de Chedde formerly lay on the right bank of the River Arve, and on the old * carriage road between Sallanches and Servoz (on the way to Chamonix). It was cele- brated for the fine view of Mont Blanc reflected in its clear waters, but was filled up and destroyed in 1837 by a mud avalanche.
W. A. B. COOLIDGE. Grindelwald.
G. W. CURTIS (US. ix. 290). Is not the ' Castle-Building ' mentioned by L'owell the same paper as that entitled ' My Chateaux ' in the volume of Curtis's essays called * Pruo and I ' ? A neat shilling edition of these very pleasant papers was published by Mr. David Douglas of Edinburgh in 1884. The publisher's note which faces the title-page says :
" The series of delightful sketches by Mr. Curtis called ' Prue and I ' appeared originally in Putnam'* Monthly Magazine, and were after- wards published in one volume in 1857. They have not, as far as the writer is aware, hitherto been printed in Britain."
G. L. APPERSON.
The article was entitled ' Castles in Spain/ and was published in Putnam's Monthly Magazine, vol., ii., 1853, p. 657.
ARCHIBALD SPARKE, F.R.S.L.
Bolton.
ALTARS (11 S. ix. 187, 238, 275,314). In the disused chapels of the hospitals of St. Mary Magdalene and of St. Anne at Ripon the stone altars remain in situ on their original supports. The mensce of altars, either now again in use or laid in floors, sometimes used as inscribed grave -covers, are not so un- common as is sometimes supposed. There are two in the church at Bottesford, near Brigg, Lines ; and I have seen many more s though I cannot just now remember where.
Winterton, Lines.
