Jan. 1, 1870.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



23 



find in their present form many new readers. 

 The first volume contains the letter-press, and 

 the second the atlas of plates. Enough has 

 already been written of the respective merits ot 

 these 'treatises, and we doubt whether any one ot 

 them deserves to be better known than that which 

 we now commend to the notice of our readers. The 

 full title is—" Geology and Mineralogy, as exhibiting 

 the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, by the 

 Very Rev. W. Buckland, D.D., E.R.S. ; with addi- 

 tions bv Professor Owen, Professor Phillips, and 

 Robert Hunt. Fourth edition, edited by Francis 1. 

 Buckland, M.A. In 2 vols. London : Bell & Daldy. 

 1869." 



Ribs of the Dun Cow. — It would be interesting 

 to ascertain how many of these so-called ribs exist, 

 and also what led to their being placed in churches. 

 There is one in the fine old church of Chesterfield, 

 in this county, so famous for its crooked or leaning 

 spire : there' is I believe one or more at Warwick. 

 It is singular that these, as well as St. Mary's, 

 Bristol, are all connected by tradition with the 

 fabulous story of Guy of Warwick. The rib above 

 named is in the Eoljambe chapel, and is placed near 

 to the effigy of an unknown knight, whose marble 

 figure is represented in a suit of armour in the 

 attitude of prayer; he is kneeling on a richly em- 

 broidered cushion, and resting on the altar tomb on 

 which he is placed is the large bone ; it measures 

 on the outside 7 feet 4 inches, and is from 

 12 to 13 inches iu circumference. Local tradition 

 has given the name of Guy, Earl of Warwick, to the 

 knight. The man who took me through the church 

 said, this is Guy who slew the Dun Cow, it was 

 during a period of great scarcity, and the flesh ot the 

 cow was eaten by the people who would otherwise 

 have perished iu the famine. Another legend is, 

 that the cow had been driven mad by the over- 

 milking of a witch, and was killed by Guy, and its 

 bones sent to various places as a memento of his 

 victory. These bones are thought by some to be 

 those of small or young whales, or of some other 

 marine animal ; and this idea is favoured by that at 

 Chesterfield having the name of Thomas Fletcher 

 deeply cut into it in old English characters, from 

 which it is inferred that he placed it in the church. 

 This would be about the year 1G50, when the in- 

 fluential family of Eoljambe having all passed away, 

 they were succeeded by one having the above name; 

 and being wealthy, one of them would no doubt have 

 travelled, and he may have brought this bone as one 

 of his trophies, perhaps the others may be accounted 

 for in the same way. I have no doubt a satisfactory 

 solution will be found for the difficulty by some of 

 your readers, who may also be able to state how it 

 was that the story of Guy of Warwick came to be 

 associated with the bones. Whales' bones were 

 formerly much thought of in country places, and are 

 very often seen set up in gardens or forming an 

 entrance arch to some well-to-do village-house or 

 farmyard.— 67. B. 



St. Mart's Redcliff, Bristol. — Your corre- 

 spondent, " H. N.," describes a large bone which he 

 saw placed on the capital of one of the pillars of 

 this grand old church, and he mentions a tradition 

 which be was informed was attached to it, viz., that 

 the bone was said to be the rib of a dun cow which 

 supplied the city of Bristol with milk. I never heard 

 this account of the relic, but in 1834, when I offi- 

 ciated as organist at Redcliff church, I of course 

 often saw this " old bone," and very near it was 



suspended a dirty-looking picture, representing a 

 fierce-looking dun cow. The tradition which at that 

 time was narrated to visitors by the sexton of the 

 church, stated the bone to have been " one of the 

 ribs of the famous dun cow which was slain by Guy, 

 Earl of Wawick, and that the picture close by it 

 represented the terrible animal." I had not been 

 inside the time-honoured pile from the year 1836 

 until about three years ago, when, in passing through 

 Bristol I paid a brief visit to the scene of my first 

 agreeable labours as organist, and there I found the 

 "old bone" just where I first saw it in 1834. I 

 have been informed that a similar bone is preserved 

 in Warwick Castle, and the same tradition is attached 

 to it. Visitors there are also shown a wonderful 

 cup which holds several gallons, the custodian 

 gravely informing the public that "Guy, Earl of 

 Warwick, emptied this cup every morning at his 

 breakfast."— W. II. Grattcam, Exmouth. 



Preserving Fossils.— Will any of your readers 

 inform me what is the best process to employ for 

 preserving fossils ? I procured many very good 

 specimens of leaves from the cliffs at Bournemouth 

 a few months ago, and I wish to preserve them, as 

 they are in such very good condition. — S. J. B., 

 Moseley, Birmingham. 



The Cat.— The interesting papers that appeared 

 lately referring to the cat have led me to send you 

 a few remarks on this animal. The most interesting 

 of my experiments are those connected with elec- 

 tricity. When I have taken the usual means of 

 ascertaining its presence I have frequently not at- 

 tained to the desired result, while on other occasions 

 a result which may be classed among modifications 

 of the 2nd class of ordinary disruptive discharges 

 has beenreached. The first owing to the cats being 

 old ; the second, because members of the family 

 Felidce are, like all electric bodies, much influenced 

 by the weather— a sharp frosty day finding them 

 highly productive, while in wet or damp the reverse 

 is the case, which of course would influence the 

 first instance also. No animal is capable of distin- 

 guishing with greater acuteness between friends 

 and foes than a cat. I say this advisedly, not even 

 excepting dogs. A cat will often understand words 

 alone with marked keenness. The principal com- 

 plaints from which puss suffers manifest themselves 

 by 1st, listlessuess, a rough coat, and sometimes 

 sullemiess ; 2nd, holding one ear depressed (which, 

 however, is common to the first and third classes), 

 thirst, want of appetite, and increased roughness of 

 coat ; 3rd, sickness, running at the eyes and nose. 

 These are among the most common complaints, all 

 of which puss and nature can better remedy than 

 we can. The extreme shyness of this little creature's 

 disposition, for it often appears more at home 

 than it is, makes it difficult to teach it such tricks 

 as many dogs learn, though many cats will " shake 

 hands " at pleasure. One of mine is in the habit 

 of leaping on to my shoulder at dinner, and at first 

 used to waylay morsels on their transit to my mouth, 

 but as even I, although she met with great indul- 

 gence as a rule, objected to this, puss now waits 

 serenely in this position for her turn. — W. H. S. 

 Beaufort, B.A. 



Aciiyla prolifera. — It will take some little 

 time to prepare a bibliography of this plant and its 

 allies, but we will endeavour to furnish our querist 

 with one shortly. The most complete recent con- 

 tribul ion on the subject appeared in Pringsheim's 

 Jahruiicher—we think by Dr. de Bary. 



