Aug. 11.1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Ill 



only dead mortals subject in life to the same 

 pas^iions and vices with themselves, and declared 

 the unity of the Godhead, the supreme cause of 

 all things. 



Such, according to "Warburton, was the design 

 of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Many writers agree 

 with him (as Jablonski, author of the Pantheon 

 JEgyptiorum, but he maintains that the Egyptian 

 j^ods could not have been supposed to be of the 

 same nature as the Greek) that the mere hu- 

 manity of the Greek hero-gods was revealed in 

 the Mysteries ; but some of them cannot believe 

 that such a disclosure was made witli any par- 

 ticular . view of depreciating the established re- 

 ligion : 



" Whether the Mysteries were good or bad," says 

 Bishop Laviiigton, Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists 

 Compared, vol. ii. p. 245., " authors are pretty well agreed 

 as to the preparatory ceremonies and manner of initiation, 

 whereby they were to represent and act over again the 

 actions and passions of the deities, for whose honour the 

 Mysteries were instituted. As to any real good, it might, 

 for what I know, be as great as what hath been effected 

 by Free Masons or Free Methodists. . . . What I 

 have said stands confirmed by unquestionable authority ; 

 I mean that of the eminent Platonist, Jamblichus, to 

 whom mankind gave in general the precedency in the 

 knowledge of the Mysteries. .- . . That master of the 

 Mysteries thus plainly owneth the truth of the facts ; he 

 gives not the least intimation of their being any innova- 

 tion or corruption of the original design. And his pleas 

 and excuses for such infamous sights, discourses, and 

 actions, may fairly be left to the judgment of the most 

 ordinary capacity." 



The extract subjoined, from the same work 

 (p. 239.), confirms the origin of the word " Sibyl," 

 suggested by Faber in his Dissertation on the 

 Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. ii. p. 431. note n : 



" The Sibj'llte seem to have been priestesses of Cybele, 

 from whom, according to the usual custom of the pagans, 

 they borrowed their name ; " 



and by Mr. Fox Talbot*, who ingeniously meets 

 the objection that the resemblance of the names 

 depends upon the English pronunciation of the 

 word Cybele as Si/bele, and that it disappears in a 

 great measure if we consider that the Greeks said 

 "Kybele." 



" The Mysteries are generally allowed to have been a 

 cunning device, invented with politick views by men sup- 

 posed to be inspired, or some prophetic women ; such as 

 Orpheus, one of the fathers of the Mysteries, and com- 

 poser of hymns for the use of the initiated ; or the pro- 

 phetess Sibylla, inspired by Apollo, &c. (^n. vi.) She 

 was guide to iEneas, prescribed his prayers and night 

 sacrifices to Hecate (or Cybele)," &c. 



On the history of Orpheus the Encyclopedia 

 Metropolitana, vol. ix. p. 122., may be consulted. 



In conclusion, I may observe that the deities 

 were not so much distinct persons as passing 

 under different names, and that the ceremonies 



* The Antiquity of the Book of Genesis illustrated by 

 some New Arguments, 

 No. 302.] 



instituted in honour of them were very much. 

 alike. It is a remarkable coincidence, that not 

 only have the Sybilline Books (for thus the word 

 was often spelt in the seventeenth century, as if 

 the origin of the word above given was then ac- 

 knowledged) been interpreted as prophecies of the 

 Messiah, but the ceremonies and symbols used at 

 the mysteries of Bacchus have been traced to 

 some parts of the prophetical writings of Isaiah. 

 See Dr. Lamb's Hebi'ew Characters derived from 

 Hieroglyphics, ^c. To which is added. An In- 

 quiry into the Origin and Purport of the Rites of 

 Bacchus. BiBLioTHECAK. Chetham. 



PHOTOGKAPHIC COBEESPONDENCE. 



Photographic Tests. — Can any of jonr chemical corre- 

 spondents suggest any tests of simple application for the 

 discovery of the following, viz. : 



1. The existence of nitric acid in the silver bath ; acid 

 reaction to test paper may be caused by acetic acid. 



2. The existence of pyrogallic acid. 



3. Of hypo, in the silver bath ; and the remedies, if any, 

 to be applied. 



I believe the existence of nitric acid in aqueous com- 

 pounds is not easily determined. The fogging complained 

 of by your correspondent P. may have been caused by 

 the stopper of a bottle containing nitric, sulphuric, or 

 hydrochloric acid becoming loosened, and the fumes from 

 the acid contaminating the chemicals. I was for some 

 days annoyed by the constant fogging of my plates, which 

 I have every reason to believe was caused bj' the fumes 

 from a bottle of hjairochloric acid, the stopper of which 

 had got loosened. How is the presence of hydrochloric 

 acid in the silver bath to be detected ? J. H. P. • 



On the Employment of Collodionized Paper by M. A. 

 Festeau, communicated to the Sncieie Fran<;aise de Photo- 

 graphic. — M. Festeau takes two plates of glass, perfectly 

 cleaned with tripoli and alcohol, and a piece of waxed 

 paper, from which the surplus wax has not been so com- 

 pletely removed as is usually done ; upon the first plate 

 of glass he pours a sufficient quantitj-- of alcohol to cover it 

 completely; he places upon this the waxed paper, which 

 adheres perfectly and without any bubbles of air. The 

 waxed paper should be a few millimetres smaller than the 

 glass plate. He holds the plate with the paper upon it in his 

 left hand, and covers it with collodion in the ordinary way. 



Having detached the collodionized paper from the glass, 

 he places it gentlv, but without pausing, on the surface 

 of a solution of 9' grammes of fused nitrate of silver in 

 150 grammes of distilled water. After it has remained in 

 this position a few seconds, he plunges it completely into 

 the liquid, and agitates it until the veins which are always 

 produced disappear. 



When it is sensitised, he places it while wet upon the 

 second plate of glass, to which it adheres perfectly. 



It is then exposed in the camera the same time as in 

 the case of collodion on glass. 



On removal from the camera he immerses it, with the 

 collodionized surface upwards, in the following solution : 



Distilled water - - - 1000 grammes 



Pyrogallic acid - - - 2 do. 



Pyroligneous acid - - - 75 do. 



and allows the image to develope. As soon as it has arrived 

 at a sufficient degree of intensity, he washes it well in a 



