10 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"^ s. X. July 7. '60. 



OxERON. — Whence does the French island so 

 called derive its name ? G. J. S. 



f As former names of this island, Expilly, in his Diet. 

 Geog., iii. 860., gives Ularius, or Olario ; and Forbiger, 

 in his Handb. der alt. Geog. iii. 172., gives Uliarus, or 

 Olarionensis Insula, referring for the former to Plin. 4. 

 19. 33., and for the latter to Sidon. Apoll. Ep, 8. 6. Ac- 

 cording to Valesius, an excellent authority, Uliarus is the 

 more ancient name {Notit. Gall., 1675, p. 616.) The town 

 of Oleron (in the Lower Pyrenees) was formerly Oloro, 

 Eloro, or Iloro, and still more anciently Civitas Elloro- 

 nensium. ] 



Toads found alive in Stone Coffins, etc. — 



At Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire, a large stone 

 coffin is shown to the visitor ; and he is expected 

 to believe that upon its being opened (after lying 

 buried for centuries) a large toad crawled out. 



And I have heard several workmen most posi- 

 tively declare that upon breaking one of the 

 round ironstone nodules (common in certain coal 

 mines), they found it similarly occupied ; and that 

 in this instance the toad crawled a few yards on 

 the ground, and immediately died. Perhaps some 

 of the readers of " N. & Q." will be able to furnish 

 more authentic accounts of this curious and inter- 

 esting phenomenon. H. F. 



[It is a well known fact in natural history that the 

 toad, like many other amphibia, can support a long ab- 

 stinence, and requires but a small quantity of air ; Dr. 

 Shaw, however, questions the accounts generall}' given of 

 such animals discovered in stones, wood, &c. after the 

 lapse of many years, as will be seen in the following ex- 

 tract from his General Zoology, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 144. (edit. 

 1802): "It might seem unpardonable to conclude the 

 history of this animal without mentioning the very ex- 

 traordinary circumstance of its having been occasionally 

 discovered iifclosed or imbedded, without any visible ' 

 outlet, or even any passage for air, in the substance of 

 wood, and even in that of stone or blocks of marble. For 

 my own part, I have no hesitation in avowing a very 

 high degree of scepticism as to these supposed facts, and 

 in expressing my suspicions that proper attention, in 

 such cases, was not paid to the real situation of the ani- 

 mal .... The general run of such accounts must be 

 received with a great many grains of allowance for the 

 natural love of the marvellous, the surprise excited by 

 the sudden appearance of the animal in an unsuspected 

 place, and the consequent neglect of minute attention at 

 the moment to the surrounding parts of the spot where it 

 was discovered." The French Academj', in 1771, enclosed 

 three toads in as many boxes, which were immediately 

 covered with a thick coat of plaster or mortar, and kept 

 in the apartments of the Academy. On opening these 

 boxes eighteen months afterwards/two of the toads were 

 found still living ; these were immediately reinclosed, but 

 upon being again opened some months after Avere found 

 dead.] 



COLLEGE SALTING. 



(!•* S. i. ii. V. vi. passim.) 



No satisfactory account of the origin of the 



custom of college salting has as yet been given in 



reply to the inquiries made in the first and sub- 



sequent volumes of the 1" Series of " K. & Q." 

 Nevertheless it has been considered, even by 

 ecclesiastical writers, of sufficient importance for 

 discussion, as will he found by the reader who 

 consults that cyclopaedia of amusement, Dornavii 

 Amphitheatrum Sapientia: Socraticce Joco-Serice, 

 containing four articles on the " Depositio in Aca- 

 demiis usitata," which, as your valuable corre- 

 spondent Dr. Kimbault has remarked, included 

 the ceremony referred to. As this book is become 

 extremely rare, I shall extract some passages from 

 the original Latin, which show the antiquity and 

 religious origin of this " scholastica militia." Of 

 one containing a description of the tricks played 

 upon Freshmen, I venture to subjoin a transla- 

 tion : — 



_ " Verba Gregorii Nazianzeni breviter contracta, quo- 

 niam multam doctrinam continent, subjicio. Quando 

 aliquem (Atheniensis academise docti viri) nacti sunt, 

 inquit, discipulum, ridiculum sane quern in modum illuiii 

 exagitent aut deludant, ut ejus fastum et arrogantiam 

 (si quam forte habet) exstinguant, et humanum, ac fa- 

 cilem reddant." 



He then compares the initiations in various 

 countries, and the end contemplated, viz. to con- 

 sider how the nature of the novitiates " sorteth 

 with professions and courses of life :" — 



" Exposui hactenus causas, ut pollicitus sum ; sequitur 

 typus. Depositio est ritus in scholis usitatus a majoribus 

 institutus lusui jocoso non absimilis, ostendens omnes eas 

 difficultates atque calamitates quas quemque ex Dei op- 

 timi altissimique voluntate, aut concessione ferrc con- 

 venit, atque adeo oportet in hac sua scholastica militia." 



He confirms this signification of the ceremonies 

 by an interesting anecdote in the life of Luther, 

 related by Johannes Matthesius. Of the par- 

 ticular ceremony, whicli was originally referred to 

 by Dr. Maiti.and (P* S. i. 261. "College Salt- 

 ing "}j our author supplies the same symbolism as 

 that in P' S. il. 151. But In juxta-posltlon with 

 " sal doctrinse et saplentlas symbolum," is " wine 

 which maketh glad the heart of man," as in the 

 plate described by Dr. Rimbault (P' S. i. 492.) : 



" Sicut ille (sal) in cibis paulo liberalius aspersus, si 

 tamen non sit immodicus, adfert aliquid propriae volupta- 



tis ita per hunc adumbrata omnium actionuni 



sapiens institutio quiddam habet quod potiundi sitim 

 facit. Ha2c aurea mediocritas est per subsequentis in 

 ritu de quo agimus vini adhibitionem indicata. Hoc 

 enim mediocritatis norma servata adhibitum cor hominis 

 exhilarat, in excessu ridicules, bellicosos, lachrymosos et 

 sordidos ciet aft'ectus. . . . Usus itaque vini modum, op- 

 portunitatem, locum atque tempus in decoro sapientiae 

 usu sails monstrataj denotat . . . ne inconcinni videa- 

 mur." (Compare Bacon's Advancement of Learning, 

 book viii. chap, ii., and the authorities cited by Shaw, in 

 Devey's edition, p. 298.) 



In the next article Martin Luther inculcates 

 the usefulness of these humiliations (depositiones), 

 as prceludia of the cares and dangers of life. 



The Dialogue of Jacobus Pontanus, from which 

 the concluding extract is taken, is followed by 



