2«<» S. Vill. JWY 30. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



9a 



were ground with them, instead of with pestle and 

 mortar. But, may be, I ascribe too much civilisa- 

 tion to an uncultivated period ! 



In conclusion I may as well note down that a 

 German haymaker once told me, that he remem- 

 bered having seen a thunder-chisel which always 

 sweated when a thunderstorm was approaching. 



J. H. VAN Lennep. 



Zeyst. 



With reference to Mr. Pattison's inquiry con- 

 cerning the discovery of stone celts in Jamaica, I 

 beg to state that I have in my possession one that 

 I brought from that island some years since. I 

 obtained it from a negro woman, who kept it in a 

 porous water-jar ; informing me that the fluid 

 was much cooler in consequence of the charm of, 

 this peculiar shaped stone, and I had some diffi- 

 culty in persuading her to give it to me. She 

 could not give any account as to how she became 

 possessed of it : she had never remembered it 

 being anywhere else except in the water-cooler. 



It is precisely similar in shape (pyriform) to 

 similar implements that I have seen in museums. 

 It is two inches nine-tenths in length, and one 

 inch six-tenths in the widest part, where it has a 

 cutting edge. It shows no mark of having been 

 attached to a handle, like those described by your 

 correspondent. The stone is dark green (por- 

 phyry ?), and apparently of precisely the same 

 kind as some New Zealand war clubs (pata-patoos) 

 that I have. R. Heward. 



Kensington. 



The Legend of Bethgellert (2°^ S. vii. 452.) — 

 Mb. Girdlestone has been anticipated, as will be 

 seen from the passage I subjoin from Mr. Dasent's 

 Introduction to the second edition of his Popular 

 Tales from the Norse, published in March last. 

 After resolving Tell's Mastershot into a mere 

 myth, Mr. Dasent proceeds to perform the same 

 feat for poor Gellert : — 



" Nor let any pious Welchman be shocked if we ven- 

 ture to assert that Gellert, that famous hound upon 

 whose last resting-place the traveller comes as he passes 

 down the lovely vale of Gwynant, is a mythical dog, and 

 never snuffed the fresh breeze in the forest of Snowdon, 

 nor saved his master's child from ravening Wolf. This, 

 too, is a primaeval storj-, told with many variations. 

 Sometimes the foe is a Wolf, sometimes a Bear, sometimes 

 a Snake. Sometimes the faithful guardian of the child is 

 an Otter, a Weasel, or a Dog. It, too, came from the East. 

 It is found in the Pantcha-Tantra, in the Hitopadesa, in 

 BidpaVs Fables, in the Arabic original of the Seven Wise 

 Masters, and in many mediaeval versions of those origi- 

 nals. (See Pancha-Tantra, v. ii. of Wilson's ^noZys/s, 

 quoted by Loiseleur Deslongchaipps' Essai sw' les Fables 

 Indiennes, Paris, Zechener, 1838, p. 54, where the animal 

 that protects the child is a Mangouete ( Viverra Mungo. 

 See also Hitopadesa, Max Milller's translation, Leipzig, 

 Brockhaus, p. 178, where the guardian is an Otter. In 



both, the foe is a Snake). Thence it passed into the La- 

 tin Gesta Bomanorum, where it may be read as a .service 

 rendered by a faithful hound against a snake." — Pp. 

 xxxvi. — ix. 



I cannot help remarking that though William 

 Tell and Gellert may be fictions, it does not neces- 

 sarily follow that they are such, merely because 

 they have counterparts in universal mythology. 

 By-the-way, between the labours of MM. Grimm 

 and such disciples as Mr. Dasent and Mr. Keight- 

 ley, &c., we may soon look for a classical work on 

 a large scale on Comparative Popular Mythology ; 

 or at least a new edition of Mr. Keightley's ad- 

 mirable work, Tales and Popular Fictions, their 

 Besemhlance, amd Transmission from Country to 

 Cmintry. Eirionnach. 



Medical Tract by Marat : Marat in Edinburgh 

 (2"* S. viii. 52.) — G. inquires whether any addi- 

 tional proof can be given of Marat having been 

 in Edinburgh ? Such proof is to be found in a 

 medical tract, now before me, which I have never 

 seen attributed to the Marat of infamous memory, 

 although his name stands on the title-page. Ma- 

 rat does not figure as a medical writer in Dezei- 

 meri's Diet. Historique de la M^decine Ancienne et 

 Modeme, 1836. In the Biographic Universelle no 

 mention is made of this medical tract, but Marat's 

 residence in Edinburgh is briefly mentioned, and 

 the Chains of Slavery, and also several treatises 

 on electricity, are attributed t» him. In the me- 

 dical tract the subject of electricity is again al-. 

 luded to. The title is as follows : An Enquiry 

 into the Nature, Cause, and Cure of a singular 

 Disease of the Eyes, hitherto unknown, and yet 

 common, produced hy the Use of certain Mercurial 

 Preparations, by J. P. Marat, M.D. : London, 

 printed for W. Nicoll, in St. Paul's Churchyard, 

 and J. Williams in Fleet Street, 4to., pp. 19. A 

 preliminary address to the Fellows of the Royal 

 Society is dated " Church Street, Soho, January 

 1st, 1776." The whole tract is sad trash. At the 

 end (p. 19.) is a note, which mentions his having 

 been "at Edinburgh last August" (1775). The 

 concluding paragraph of the tract is worth quot- 

 ing, as showing how the same man could write 

 like a philanthropist, and afterwards act like a 

 monster : — 



« If one cannot always be the happy instrument of 

 alleviating the misery of the unfortunate, it is, however, 

 a sort of service tendered to them to prevent their being 

 made worse." 



Jatdbe. 



Vertue's "-Draughts" (2°^ S. viii. 26.) —Your 

 correspondent Sheex, who inquires respecting 

 Vertue's Draughts, or Drawings from Ancient 

 Statues, appears to have been misled. There is no 

 record of any such work. In the first place, the 

 assurance which he has received is quite correct, 

 that there is no mention of such a publication in 

 the Catalogues of the British Museum. In the 



