436 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 74., May SO. '57.. 



Tall Men and Women (2"'' S. iii. 347.) — The 

 following tall men and women have not " come 

 within the range of my observation;" but I be- 

 lieve that their extraordinary stature is well au- 

 thenticated, if that will answer H. S.'s purpose 

 equally well : — 



News from Vienna, of May 9, 1857, stated that 

 Mr. Murphy, the Irish giant, born in Down 

 county, and standing 7 feet lOi in. in his stockings, 

 "had the honour of being admitted to the pre- 

 sence of the Emperor and Empress of Austria ; " 

 and that " the latter conversed in English with 

 Murphy, and acted as interpreter for the Em- 

 peror." 



Derham, in his Psycho-Theology, says : — 



" In 1684, 1 myself measured an Irish youth, said to be 

 not 19 years old, who was seven feet near eight inches ; 

 and in 1697 a woman, who was seven feet three inches 

 high." 



In an article on " The Human Stature," in 

 Chambers s Journal, the following instances are 

 given as well authenticated : — 



Feet. In. 



** Duke John Frederick of Brunswick - - 8 6 



One of the King of Prussia's guards - - 8 6 



Gilh', a Swede (exhibited as a show) - - 8 



Reichardt of Frielberg, near Frankfort - - 8 3 

 An Irishman (skeleton in the London 



College), \_Q,uery, O^Brien~\ - • - 8 4 



Martin Salmeron, a Mexican - - - 7 3^ 



A Danish female named La Pierre - -70" 



The stature of the Patagonians, formerly so 

 much spoken of, " was measured with great ac- 

 curacy by the Spanish officers in 1785-6, when 

 they found the common height to be six and a 

 half to seven feet, and the highest was seven feet 

 one inch and a quarter." 



The Heimskringla states that the stature of 

 Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, was " five 

 ells," or more than eight English feet. 



Rollo, or "Rolf the Ganger" (walker), leader of 

 the Northmen in the ninth century, and who mar- 

 ried the daughter of Charles the Simple, "is said 

 to have been too tall and too heavy for any horse 

 to carry, and so was obliged to journey on foot; 

 whence his name." {Annals of England, vol. i.) 



R. W. Hackwood. 



In reply to the inquiry of H, S., I remember the 

 Irish giant, Patrick Cotter, who assumed the name 

 of O'Brien after the death of the well-known 

 giant of that name. Patrick Cotter was a native 

 of Kinsale, and of humble parentage. His stature 

 was most extraordinary, exceeding eight feet, 

 three Inches. After exhibiting himself for some 

 years about the country, he retired upon the 

 fortune thus acquired, and ended his days at the 

 Hotwelis at Bristol, about the year 1806. He 

 was well made, and large in proportion to his 

 height, but never strong. His voice was weak, 

 and his manners gentle and inoffensive. After his 

 death his friends eagerly purchased relics of him. 



One friend of mine and his obtained his enormous 

 stockings, another his shoes, and I possess his 

 large gold repeater, a chronometer, made by 

 Jameson purposely for the giant. It is a remark- 

 ably strong watch, and keeps time as well now as 

 ever. It was purchased at the sale of the giant's 

 effects for seventy guineas, and with its chain and 

 seals weighed exactly one pound. It bears the 

 inscription inside, Patrick Cotter. F. C. H. 



Butterflies in Gloucestershire called ^^SouW^ (2°"^ 

 S. iii. 307.) — The Greeks, it seems, with an ac- 

 centual distinction ((l/ux^;, ^vxn)i called butterflies 

 " souls." Plutarch, speaking of the chrysalis as 

 producing the butterfly, says, 'irepov izrepwQev .... 

 rqv KdKovfj.ei'riv if/uxV fJ^fSlricri (^Symp. lib. ii. prob. 3.). 

 This passage, which appears to have been deemed 

 corrupt on no sufficient grounds, plainly implies 

 that ^vxh was a common Greek term for a butter- 

 fly. So Aristotle, writing long before : -yivoifrai 

 8' at ii.\v KCiKovixevai \j/vxal tK tS)v KajXTrcov {Hist. Anim. 

 lib. v. cap. xix.) ; and in the same chapter, 7eVoj 

 Ti -^vxSiv. 



in the Encye. Methodique (Department of Na- 

 tural History, vol. ix., Paris, I8I9), in the long 

 list of butterflies of the class " Satyr," No. 95. is 

 the Papilio Psyche of Hubner. Of this "soul 

 butterfly " we are informed " on le trouve dans 

 le midi de la France, en Portugal, etc., et non en 

 Angleterre, comme I'a cru Engramelle." (p. 509.) 

 Nevertheless, as the particular "butterfly called in 

 Gloucestershire a soul, if not the same, may possi- 

 bly be similar, I annex the scientific description 

 of the Papilio Psyche for the purpose of com- 

 parison. If not of Identification : 



" Sat. alis denticulatis, albis, basi supr&, immaculate, 

 apice nigro maculis albis et ocellis nigris : posticis subtiis 

 venis, ocellisque duobus et tribus, brunueis." — P. 508. 



Probably, however, the term " soul " primarily 

 appertains to the chrysalis while yet lying en- 

 closed in the cocoon, rather than to the butterfly 

 Itself The kernel of a nut is in Italian called its 

 soul : " Anime di pesche," the souls (kernels) of 

 peaches. Two very intimate friends are "due 

 anime in un nocciolo," two souls (kernels) in one 

 nut, or fruitstone. "L' anime delle raandorle," the 

 souls, or kernels, of almonds. Now, every one 

 who has examined an aurelia knows very well 

 that the chrysalis lies In the cocoon very much 

 as an almond lies in Its shell ; so that the term 

 "soul" Is as applicable in one case as In the other. 



In French, the soul of a statue (of plaster) Is the 

 form, or noyau, over which is applied the stuc. 

 The soul of a fiddle Is the little upright peg placed 

 within, "sous la chevalet." The soid of a faggot 

 is the small wood packed in the centre : "allumer 

 le feu avec Tame d'un fagot." 



Plautus : " Ni ego illi puteo, si occepso, animam 

 omnem intertraxero." {Amph.ll.ii.4:l.) "Anima 

 putei," the water. 



