2ni S. NO 35., Aca SO. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



173 



or three stars. I believe Sahagun to be the an- 

 cient Saguntum, where the first hostilities oc- 

 curred between Hannibal and the Romans; and 

 more recently distinguished as being the scene of 

 a cavalry engagement during the Peninsular War. 



Ca(jadobb. 



Can Fish he Tamed ? — In Mr. Neale's Me- 

 diceval Preachers * there is an extract from the 

 Sermon addressed by Vieyra to the fishes^ " be- 

 cause it was of no use to preach to the people of 

 Maranhao." Vieyra says : 



"Aristotle, speaking of fishes, says that they alone 

 among all animals can neither be tamed nor domesticated." 



Now it strikes one at once that this statement is 

 at variance with one made by the Apostle James 

 (iii. 7.) : 



" Every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, 

 and of things in the sea, is tamed and hath been tamed of 

 mankind." 



Of course it might be said that this latter is a 

 mere figure of speech or hyperbole; but, as a 

 matter of fact, is not the Apostle more accurate 

 than the philosopher ? Tame carp in ponds 

 coming to be fed from the hand are by no means 

 uncommon ; and perhaps your correspondents 

 could mention other like cases. A. A. D, 



The Worm in Wood. — Can any of your readers 

 inform me of the cause of worm in wood ? In 

 the house of a friend, who lives near me, the fur- 

 niture more or less is all affected in this way. It 

 seems to be worse in those tables and chairs that 

 stand against the oldest wall of the castle (a por- 

 tion of the house is quite modern) ; but though 

 there is much of both ancient and modern fux-ni- 

 ture, the worm does not seem to infect the one 

 more than the other. What is the remedy, if 

 there is one ? Millicent Erskinb Wemyss. 



Bastards. — It is often said that bastards can- 

 not span their own wrist. Can any of your corre- 

 spondents trace the history of this opinion ? 



A. A. D. 



John Duncumh. — George Duncumb, Esq., of the 

 Inner Temple, and of Weston in Albury, co. 

 Surrey, at one time principal of Clifford's Inn, 

 and a Court keeper in large practice, speaks in his 

 will, anno 1646, of the fees of office of his son 

 John. The office in question was no doubt con- 

 nected with some of the law courts. Can any of 

 your readers tell me what it was ? and how long, 

 and the period John Duncumb held it ? 



James KNowtps. 



Singular Plant. — I have lately seen a plant 

 which had remained for years apparently dried 

 up, and curled up like a ball. It was put on a 



* I only know this book from a review in the Literary 

 Churchman, ii. 289. 



plate full of water in the evening; and by the 

 next morning its leaves had become of a fine 

 olive-green, and lay gracefully round the plate, 

 flat and fully expanded on every side. When the 

 water was poured off, this curious plant began to 

 curl up again, and gradually returned to its pre- 

 vious state, appearing like a ball or a dry sponge. 

 It was evidently some sea-weed, but I should be 

 glad to know its name. F- C. H. 



Early Illustrated English Versions of Ariosto. — 

 Are there any old editions, in English verse, of 

 Aristo's Orlando Furioso ? and, if so, are any of 

 them illustrated ? W. T, 



Bisselius. — Is anything known of Bisselius the 

 Jesuit, author of Gestorum Seeculi X VII. Synopsis,^ 

 as follows : 



« 1601. 

 " Astronomum Primi rapit anni Parca Tychonem. 

 Kex oritur Celtes. Wallachus ense cadit. 



« 1602. 

 " Excipit hunc MosES, Siculorum ductor ; ut armis 

 In Dacos, paribus ; sic quoque csede pari." 



These lines I find in a battered old volume of 

 the above author, entitled Delicice JEstatis, and 

 dated 1644. Threlkeld. 



[John Bissel, or Bisselius, was a German writer of the 

 seventeenth century, born at Babenhausen in Swabia in 

 1601. He early joined the Jesuits, and was professor of 

 philosophy and rhetoric in the colleges at Uillengen, In- 

 goldstadt, and Amberg, and died at the latter place in 

 1677. In his native country he had the reputation of _a 

 good poet and elegant prose writer. For a list of his 

 works see Jocher, Gelehrten- Lexicon, a. v."] 



Medlars introduced into England. — Can any of 

 your readers inform me when the fruit called 

 medlar was first introduced into this country ? 

 It seems to have been known in, or soon after, the 

 reign of Henry YIII. 



In Heywood's Works, 4to,, 1566, First Hun- 

 dred of Epigrams, 89. is one — 

 « OfMedlers. 



" To feede of any frute at any feast, 

 Of all kynds of medlers meddell with the least ; 

 Meddle not with greate meddlers. For no question 

 Meddlyng with greate meddlers maketh yll digestion." 



Y. S. 



[An earlier notice of the medlar occurs in Chaucer, 

 The Romaunt of the Rote : 



" And many homely trees there were. 

 That peaches, coines, and apples here, 

 Medlars, plummes." 



In fact, the Mespilus Germanica, the German or common 

 medlar, is indigenous, as stated by Dr. W. A. Bromfield in 

 Loudon's Magazine of JVatural History, vol. ix. p. 86. 

 He says: ^^ M. germanica is scattered over a very ex- 

 tensive district, as about Hastings, and at the back pf 



