Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/200

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

194


NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. 11. SEPT. 2, me.


not rise, and so large were her arms that, between the joints, the flesh hung down like large loose stuffed puddings. Then in came their children, all models of the Abyssinian type of beauty, and as polite in their manners as thoroughbred gentlemen. They had heard of my picture books from the king, and all wished to see them ; which they no sooner did, to their infinite delight, especially when they recognized any of the animals, than the subject was turned by my inquiring what they did with so many milk pots. This was easily explained by Wazeeeru himself, who, pointing to his wife, said, ' This is all the product of those pots ; .from early youth upwards we keep those pots to their mouths, as it is the fashion at court to have very fat wives.' "

A. L. HUMPHREYS. 187 Piccadilly, W.

In 1859 Speke, in two articles in Black- wood's Magazine, openly assumed the main credit of the Burton and Speke expedition of 1856-8, and expressed the view that the Victoria Nyanza was the source of the Nile. These articles were answered by Burton in his book, ' The Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa,' in which he criticized Speke's Nile theory. A. R. BAYLEY.

The information which your correspondent seeks will be found in Speke's ' Journal,' pp. 209-10, and is quoted in The London Quarterly Review for April, 1864, p. 118. Capt. Speke was sent out by the Royal Geographical Society, assisted by Capt. Grant, to ascertain how far a former theory by Speke and Burton was correct.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

FOLK-LORE : CHIME-HOURS (12 S. i. 329, 417 ; ii. 136). It may be well to read again of the superstition which Norfolk attaches to chime-hours. But surely I have not so conducted myself during the many years I have joyed in ' N. & Q.' that any one should write himself down as being " greatl daring " when he happens to differ from me. I must mend my ways : full gladly do ] lerne, and gladly teche. Y. T. has misunder- stood my meaning. I did not deny that Norfolk cherished the article of folk-lore faith referred to by him and by MARGARET W. but, in answer to the query of the latter, -" What are chime-hours?" gave what ] believed to be an accurate reply, and added, " Chime-hours [i.e., the chosen hours for chiming] hardly belong to folk-lore." They did not arise from the superstition of ignoranl people, but from the knowledge of learnec men who sought to sanctify all time, by connecting recurrent portions of it with recollections of the Saviour. They chose six nine, twelve, and three, perhaps/because oJ


he sacred number involved in them, and Because of their importance in the catalogue jf " Hours," marked as being occasions of pecial devotion by the Church. Perhaps '. need hardly say here that there are seven of them altogether. ST. SWITHIN.

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DENTISTS (12 S. ii. 89, 115). Permit me to add the following announcement to those gathered by MR. HORACE BLEACKLEY, DR. CLIPPINGDALE, and MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS. It is extracted irom the advertisement columns of Fielding's

'ovent Garden Journal for April 18, 1752:

"At the Two Heads in Coventry Street, between Piccadilly and Leicester Fields, all Persons of what Age, Sex, or Condition soever, who have had the Misfortune of losing their Teeth, or only Part of them, but more particularly their Front ones, by any accidental Blow or Fall, or thro' Decay of their Teeth or Gums, to the great Disfigurement of their mouth, and Interruption of their Speech and Pronunciation, may have such Deficiencies replaced M'ith artificial ones, so admirably adapted as to serve every Use of natural ones, and no way painful or discernable, they being made, fitted, and set after an entire new Method, never before put in Practice by any other than Paul Tullion, Operator for the Teeth, at the above place, who is the only and sole Inventor of them,"

Those who have enjoyed the advantage of visiting the Historical Medical Museum at 54 Wigmore Street, organized by Mr. Henry S. Wellcome for theSeventeenthlntemational Congress of Medicine, 1913, will recollect the extremely interesting exhibits of surgical instruments used by eighteenth -century dentists. J. PAUL DE CASTRO.

Jacob Hemet, who is mentioned at the first reference, took out a patent for his dentifrice on Jan. 22, 1773 (No. 1031), the specification of which has been printed, and may be seen at the Patent Office Library in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. He describes himself as residing " in the parish of St. Pancras in the County of Middlesex."

DR. CLIPPINGDALE, at the second reference, mentions Von Butchell, but I think this should be " Vanbutchell." In 1783 he took out a patent (No. 1404) for harness, in which he is described as surgeon-dentist " of the liberty of Westminster." He is noticed in the ' Dictionary of National Biography.'

R. B. P.

THE STONES OF LONDON (US. vii. 16, 77, 211 ; viii. 18). A great deal of the granite used for Waterloo Bridge came from quarries on Helmentor in Lanlivery, Cornwall. See Durell's ' The Triumph of Old Age,' p. 179.

J. H. R.