508 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"«S. No 78., June 27. '57. 



called, the mere invention of man, and there may 

 be a reality existing in nature, that is to say, a 

 science of music yet to be discovered, or which 

 may have been partially revealed to some and 

 wholly so to others. I perceive from the pages of 

 " N. & Q." that Professor De JNIorgan has in- 

 terested himself about the temperament of musical 

 sounds; and as I have reduced the system of 

 music to one of pure science by rejecting every 

 invention, and holding only to discoveries obtained 

 from experiments in nature, I beg to offer a few 

 Queries, which I shall be too glad should the 

 learned Professor be pleased to make a note of. 



1. Can any key-note or sound generate of itself 

 the sounds of its scale ? 



2. An interval being the distance from any 

 given sound to another, by what law is an interval 

 considered either harmonic or otherwise ? 



3. If there be no inherent power in an interval 

 — as interval — to prove itself harmonic or not, 

 of what use is the calculation of intervals in de- 

 termining the character of harmonics ? 



4. How many keys are there in nature ? 



5. If there are to be twelve semitones in an 

 octave, what are the mean proportionals ? 



6. Given the key of C, what right has D natural 

 to be in the scale ? or D flat ? or D sharp ? 



7. Is not the ratio of vibrations — that is to say, 

 numbers and arithmetic, the sole foundation of 

 musical science ? 



8. Can the laws of nature be in opposition to 

 our feelings or reason ? Or can the dictates of 

 the ear and the facts of science ever be at vari- 

 ance? 



9. Is the scale in music a fact in nature, or a 

 conventionality or artifice ? 



10. Is there a principle of unity in music, and 

 if so, what is it ? 



11. Is the unit or number 1 to be considered to 

 represent the root of any or all numbers ? 



12. What is the basis of the major common 

 chord and of the minor common chord ? 



13. Given the canonic circle of Euclid, compare 

 his ratios with those in nature. 



14. Given the key of C, prove the ratio from 

 E to G, and from C to E flat, and thus demon- 

 strate the fact of a real minor third in the scale. 



15. Given C, a sound vibrating 512 times in a 

 second, and also two pipes, one sounding 1000 

 times in a second, and the other 1001 in the same 

 time, demonstrate the time of the beat, and de- 

 scribe the beat and these two sounds in ordinary 

 musical notation. D. C. Hewitt. 



Park Street, Groavwor Square. 



:^tn0r ^wxiti. 

 Marriage Medal. — I recently purchased a large 

 silver medal, — Obverse, a bride and bridegroom 



standing on opposite sides of an altar. On the 

 altar are placed two crosses; resting on the crosses 

 are two hearts linked together and suspended by 

 a chain held by a hand reaching out of a cloud, 

 above which, in an oval surrounded with rays, Is 

 a Hebrew inscription. Each of the figures holds 

 in the right hand a sceptre touching the hearts. 

 Legend, " Vel Sub Cruce Flamma Micabit." In 

 Exergue " I. B." 



Reverse, a representation of the marriage in 

 Cana. The Saviour, the bride and bridegroom, 

 and several other figures, are seated at a table 

 placed on a dais beneath a canopy. The six 

 waterpots are ranged below the dais ; a servant 

 is filling them from a well ; others are bearing 

 flagons to the governor of the feast. Legend, 

 " Qui Vinum Commutat Aquis Et Tristia Toilet." 



The whole is very well executed. The weight 

 of the medal is above three ounces. In the case 

 containing it is a written paper, stating it to be 

 the marriage medal of Philip and Mary. Can any 

 of your readers inform me if it is so, and, if not, 

 what it is, and if of rarity ? I do not find it in 

 Pinkerton's Medallic History of England. 



B. H. B. 



Bath. 



Busby. — The cap now worn by the officers and 

 men of the Royal Artillery is called a " Busby." 

 How has it got this name ? C. de D. 



" Medicus curat morhos; Nafura sanat." — Will 

 some correspondent of " N. & Q." kindly direct 

 me to where the above may be found ? I have 

 been told it is in Hippocrates, but I have searched 

 there in vain. Medic us Junior. 



Anne a Male Name. — The third son of James 

 fourth Duke of Hamilton was named Anne, after 

 the Queen his godmother. Lord Anne Hamilton 

 died in France, December 25, 1748, and his body 

 was interred at St. James's, Westminster, July 7, 

 1749. (Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, by Wood, 

 i. 721.) Is the date of his birth known ? As he 

 was the seventh child of his mother, who was mar- 

 ried in 1698, it was possibly about 1708. I should 

 like to know whether any anecdote is extant with 

 regard to the circumstances of his being named 

 Anne, and whether there are any other instances 

 of males having borne that name. J. G. N. 



Coadjutor Bishops of Coutances. — Is there any 

 means of ascertaining the names of the coadjutors 

 of the Bishops of Coutances in Normandy, pre- 

 vious to the time of the Reformation ? From 

 some loose notes by that learned Norman an- 

 tiquary, the late Mons. de Gerville of Valognes, 

 it appears that in 1497 Guillaume Cheveron, 

 Bisliop of Porphyry, and coadjutor of Geoffrey 

 Herbert, Bishop of Coutances, held ordinations in 

 the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. In 1514 a 



