264 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2»d S. VII. Mar. 26. '59. 



say nothing of the testimonies of the holy Fathers, 

 the constant tradition of the Church, and the fact 

 of the holy Empress Helen having built a church 

 on Mount Olivet, over the place of our Lord's 

 ascension. F. C. H. 



Molluscous Animal (2"'^ S. vli. 172.) — The 

 mollusc of the Edinburgh Review is the spotted 

 Irish slug (Geomalacus maculosus) discovered in 

 West Kerry, hitherto its sole habitat, by W. An- 

 drews, Esq., in 1842, and made into a genus by 

 Dr. G. J. Allman, now Prof, of Nat. Hist. In the 

 University of Edinburgh, who is likely enough to 

 be the writer of the article in question. 



For farther information, see Annals and Mag. 

 o/N.H.xvn.297. F. S. 



Churchdown. 



Hundredschot, ^c. (2°<* S. vii. 198.)— Hundred- 

 schot seems to have been the scot, tax, or con- 

 tribution (A.-S. fceat, part, portion), paid by 

 the inhabitants of a Hundred to the Hundred- 

 arius, bailiff, or other person who had the juris- 

 diction over it. Redd. ass. means redditus assists, 

 which is fully explained 1" S. v. 188. ; viii. 81. ; 

 and in Cowel and Spelman, " certain determined 

 rents of ancient tenants paid in a set (assessum) 

 quantity of money or provisions." J. Eastwood. 



The Bull and Bear of the Stock Exchange. — 

 (2"* S. vii. 172.) —These terms originated at the 

 time of the South Sea scheme, and were applied 

 to those jobbers who entered into engagements at 

 a certain price for a future day. No " stock" was 

 passed, the "difference" being settled according 

 to the quotation of the day, as is the practice now 

 in consols and other securities dealt in for " the 

 account." 



The seller in such transactions was called a 

 " Bear," in allusion to the fable of a huntsman 

 selling the skin of the bear before the animal was 

 caught ; the buyer a " Bull," perhaps only as a dis- 

 tinction. How, or upon what occasion, the words 

 were first used is, I believe, unknown ; very pro- 

 bably they were originally " cant " expressions, 

 and I doubt whether they were in use generally 

 for some time afterwards. 



These transactions were,^ and are, mere bets, 

 and so regarded by the law, which takes no cogni- 

 sance of them. Hence the stringent rules and 

 strict code of honour observable among the mem- 

 bers of the Stock Exchange. 



The word " Bubble " dates from the same 

 period, and was in allusion to the many projects 

 produced by the boiling ferment of the South Sea 

 scheme. It was not a term of reproach " till time 

 completed the metaphor, and the bubble broke." 

 (See note in Sketches of Imposture, Delusion, and 

 Credulity, 1837, p. 265.) 



It is not, after all, extraordinary that a time 

 of such excitement should have called new phrases 



into existence. In later days, it will be remem- 

 bered, the railway mania of 1846 made " stag " a 

 familiar expression, though, to the uninitiated, the 

 allusion to that animal is quite as unintelligible as 

 that to the " Bull " or the " Bear." 



Chablbs Wtlib. 



John Rutty, M. D. (2"^ S. vii. 147.) — The 

 biographical sketch inquired for was published in 

 the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science 

 for May, 1847, and was compiled by Jonathan 

 Osborne, M.D. It was afterwards published as a 

 pamphlet by Hodges & Smith of this city. 



I should greatly like to see the work alluded 

 to as being in the possession of your correspondent 

 Abhba. I wonder has he ever seen the doctor's 

 Spiritual Diary, a singular, and now a scarce 

 book : if not, it would give me pleasure to lend it, 

 did I know his address. Q. 



Dublin. 



Abhba will find the Life of Kutty in the Dub- 

 lin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, No. 6. 

 May, 1847, written (It Is believed) by Mr. Wilde. 



M.D. 



Southey's ''Holly Tree" (2°'' S. vii. 26. 154.) —I 

 am very glad to see F. C. H.'s explanation of the 

 true rationale of the holly-leaves. It accounts for 

 the phenomenon which I have observed for some 

 years past, that, in all the hollies which present 

 smooth and prickly leaves, the prickly are on the 

 lower, the smooth on the upper branches. Most 

 of the hollies which I have noticed being hedge- 

 row trees, the lower shoots have probably been 

 frequently cut with the rest of the hedge, — a pro- 

 cess which would, according to F. C. H., cause 

 the leaves tb be prickly, while the upper shoots 

 have been allowed to straggle. 



Whatever may be the cause, the results of my 

 own observation coincide with Southey's. I can- 

 not call to my mind that I have ever seen a 

 smooth leaf on a shoot low enough to be within 

 reach of cattle. S. C. 



Bishop Bedell (2"^ S. vii. 164.) — Add his let- 

 ters to Ward, printed in the British Magazine, 

 vol. X. pp. 132, seq. 674, seq. As respects his 

 translation of Father Paul, see Birch's Life of 

 Prince Henry, p. 373. 



Chalmers had copies of Burnet's Life of Bedell, 

 with MS. notes by Kennet and Farmer. Where 

 are these ? A correspondent has kindly called 

 my attention to a paper by the Rev. Henry 

 Hasted in the Proceedings of the Bury and West 

 Suffolk ArchcBological Institute, vol. i. p. 54. 



J. E. B, Mayor. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 



Christian Names (2"* S. vii. 27.) — Had M. S. 

 R. been conversant with Scottish genealogies, he 

 would have known that Nicolas is not a very 

 uncomnion name there in the case of a female. 



