2"^ S. N» 86., Aug. 22. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



155 



Thames. And as we learn from Crantz's Green- 

 land (1770, i. 146.), that the " Jupiter-fisch " was 

 called Gibbar, from a hump on its back, while 

 Sir R. Sibbard, in his Phalcenologia Nova, informs 

 us that some whales were called in Scotland pyked 

 whales from having on the back a point or pyke, 

 so it is not impossible that either the M. vulgaris 

 or the M. microcephalus may have acquired 

 among 'longshore people and fishermen, from its 

 dorsal stripe, the name of Rygge. 



Rig, which with us has now become ridge, was 

 once an English as well as a Scottish word, in the 

 sense of a back (a pake at his rigge, a pack at his 

 back). In like manner the old English word 

 brigg, brig, has become bridge. 



The German word corresponding to rig, a back, 

 is riicken, which is used, like rig, in describing the 

 backs of animals. Thus we find riicken-flosser, a 

 fish havinw dorsal fins ; riicken-haar, the ridge or 

 dorsal stripe of a beaver, or in some cases of a 

 dog ; riicken-kamm, the dorsal crest of some 

 lizards. May not a " great fyssche " then, as well 

 as a cow, have acquired the name of Rygge from 

 its dorsal stripe ? 



Of the two terms in question, Rygge and Whar- 

 poole, neither appears to have been at any former 

 time very generally adopted by our learned pro- 

 genitors, who chronicled the marvels of the sea. 



Thomas Boys. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Photography Anticipated. — I do not know whether 

 your observation has ever been called to Kearsly's Pocket 

 Ledger for the year 1775, which contains the following 

 extract from Dr. Hooper's Rational Recreations in four 

 volumes : — 



" Writing on Glass by the Rays of the Sun. 



"Dissolve chalk in aqua fortis, to the consistence of 

 milk, and add to that a strong dissolution of silver. Keep 

 this liquor in a glass decanter, well stopped. Then cut 

 out from a paper the letters you would have appear, and 

 paste the paper on the decanter ; which you are to place 

 in the sun, in such a manner that its rays may pass 

 through the spaces cut out of the paper, and fall on the 

 surface of the liquor. The part of the glass through 

 which the rays pass will turn black, and that under the 

 paper will remain white. You must observe not to move 

 the bottle during the time of the operation." 



We see from this interesting record, that photography 

 was discovered eighty years ago! Had it been duly 

 followed up, how many striking pictures might we not 

 have had of the tremendous scenes which took place 

 during the great French Revolution, and consequent wars 

 of Napoleon. C. Noel Welman. 



Norton Manor, near Taunton. 



Mr. Crookes's Wax Paper Process. — Mr. Crookes, 

 whose opinion on every matter connected with photo- 

 graphy is deserving of the best attention, is of opinion 

 that the waxed paper process is " more particularly ap- 

 plicable to the requirements of the tourist or amateur 

 than any other process whatever;" and that, "though 



the various operations appear at first sight rather com- 

 plex, they are easily reduced to practice, while average 

 results can be obtained by it with a smaller share of ma- 

 nipulative skill than is required in most other paper pro- 

 cesses." Acting on this belief, Mr. Crookes has just 

 published A Hand-book to the Waxed Paper Process in 

 Photography, in which he gives most minute and definite 

 directions for the successful practice of this process ; and 

 as Mr. Crookes is not a mere theorist, but has reduced 

 his theory to practice in his photometeorographic regis- 

 trations at the Ratcliffe Observatory, the reader may feel 

 assured that if he essays the waxed paper process under 

 Mr. Crookes's directions — and follows those directions 

 strictly and carefully — he need be under no apprehen- 

 sions as to the result. 



Dr. Diamond's Portraits. — Dr. Diamond has just added 

 to his series of truthful and characteristic Portraits of 

 Literary Men, a very striking photograph of Dr. Doran, 

 whose pleasant anecdotical writings are just now so ex- 

 tremely popular : and one of Dr. Richardson, the learned 

 editor of the great Dictionary of our language which 

 bears his name. But the work which will probably 

 spread far and wide Dr. Diamond's reputation as a skilful 

 photographer, is his series of four portraits of Douglas 

 Jerrold, taken by him but a few weeks before the death 

 of that extraordinary man. To those who knew Douglas 

 Jerrold these portraits are invaluable as memorials of 

 their lost friend ; while to those who had not that advan- 

 tage, they give a most accurate notion of the personal 

 characteristics of that brilliant genius. 



SRcfiltj^ to Minav ^utvit^, 



Channel Steamer (2"*^ S. iv. 106.) — In answer 

 to Exploratok's inquiry respecting " Channel 

 Steamers," I beg to state that I had the honour 

 to command the first sea-going steamer that ever 

 went down St. George's Channel into the Atlantic. 

 She was called the " St. Patrick," of 300 tons, 

 and 120 horse-power engines, and was built at 

 Liverpool, under my superintendence, expressly 

 to run between Liverpool, Dublin, and Bristol, 

 and she made her first trip in May, 1822. The 

 complete success which attended this undertaking 

 led to the establishment of Her Majesty's mail 

 steam packets between Liverpool and Dublin, one 

 of which I commanded during a period of twenty 

 years. I am aware that a small steamboat was 

 taken from the Clyde to the Thames, by a Captain 

 Dodd, as early as the year 1815, but this vessel 

 was a mere river boat, not a " sea-going steamer," 

 and that hap-hazard and tedious enterprise, oc- 

 cupying upwards of three weeks, could not justly 

 be called the inauguration of the sea steamer. 



John P. Philipps, Lieut., R.N. 



Leaving the main question to be settled by others, 

 it is worthy of record that the first steamer esta- 

 blished on the Mersey, for river traffic, was in 

 1815 ; and that to the late Mr. George La French 

 is due the honour of running the first steamboat 

 between Birkenhead and Liverpool in 1821. 



T. HOGHJES. 



Chester. 



