2»'» S. N» 101., Dec. S. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



461 



ticulars, it would greatly oblige a constant sub- 

 scriber. James Coleman. 

 Bloomsbury. 



Foreshadowing of the Electric Telegraph (2"'^ 

 S. iv. 328.392.) —I forward the following trans- 

 lation from a work in German by Schw enter, 

 entitled Delicice Physico-Mathematiccs, dated 1686, 

 by which Me. Phillips will see that Glanville 

 was anticipated in the invention of the electric 

 telegraph. Schwenter himself quotes the inven- 

 tion from a previous author. 



" How two people might communicate wit/i each other at a 

 distance by means of the magnetic needle. 



" If Claudius were at Paris and Johannes at Rome, and 

 one wished to conve}- some information to the other, each 

 must be provided with a magnetic needle so strongly 

 touched with the magnet that it may be able to move the 

 other from Rome to Paris. Now suppose that Johannes and 

 ■Claudius had each a compass divided into an alphabet 

 according to the number of the letters, and always com- 

 municated with each other at six o'clock in the evening. 

 Then (after the needle had turned round 3J times from 

 the sign which Claudius had given to Johannes), if Clau- 

 dius wished to say to Johannes ' Come to me,' he might 

 make his needle stand still or move till it came to c, then 

 to o, then to m, and so forth. If now the needle of 

 Johannes' compass moved at the same time tO the same 

 letters, he could easily write down the words of Claudius, 

 and understand his meaning. This is a pretty invention, 

 but I do not believe a magnet of such power could be 

 found in the world." Quoted from " the author ■' by 

 Schwenter, p. 346. 



N. S. Heineken. 



The Reverend Heio Scott (2°-* S. iv. 150.) — 

 The Rev. Hew Scott, Manse, Anstruther, Fife- 

 shire, was, and probably still is, engaged in such 

 a work as your correspondent Menyanthes men- 

 tions. In addition, he intends giving a list of 

 the printed works of each of the clergymen, as far 

 as can be ascertained, even to the funeral ser- 

 mons. Mr. Scott has found about 1000 authors 

 among the Scots clergy, and possesses in his own 

 library the works of upwards of 700 of them. I 

 asked about three years ago if the work was ready 

 for the press? The reverend gentleman shook his 

 head. S. Wmson. 



Degeneracy of the Human Race (2"^ S. iv. 288. 

 317. 336.) — What shall we say to the follow- 

 ing ? 



" The journal of Madrid, The Athenee, publishes a very 

 singular letter respecting a discovery recently made, and 

 which particularly relates to natural history. It appears 

 that in digging the canal of Sopena, a rock was found 

 about eight feet under the surface, and beneath this rock, 

 at eighteen feet, some argillaceous earth. At this spot a 

 human body in a state of petrifaction was discovered, of 

 which the bones, having the marks of the veins and arte- 

 ries, resembled a whitish piece of stone. This body was 

 eighteen feet long, (ten inches and three lines French). The 

 head was two feet broad, and the chest three feet in 

 breadth, A physician and surgeon examined the body, 

 and recognised it to be a man. Several of the most re- 

 spectable persons have visited the spot for the purpose of 



seeing this great curiosity," — • See Gent. Mag., August, 

 1834. 



R. W. Hackwood. 



Ignez de Castro (2"'^ S. iv. 287. 399.) — I 

 have a tragedy on the theme of Ignez, " coraposta 

 pelo Bacharel Joaquim Joze Sabino," and pub- 

 lished in London in 1812. In a preiace the 

 author speaks of " o judiciozo Ferreira e o suave 

 Quita," as preceding dramatisers of the same he- 

 roine's tragic story ; but he makes no mention of 

 Luiz. Sabino's play is very " classical " in its 

 model (French-classical, I mean), and very heavy 

 in its modulations, but haa fine passages here and 

 there ; such aa -»» 



Pedro to Ignez. 

 " Zia-te do teu Pedro, que a teu lado 



Ainda ha de reinar. Ve como bate 



Este teu cora9ao, todo inflamado 



Em vivissimo amor." 



And 



Ignez to Pedro. 

 " Amor todos os dias me descobre 

 Novas gramas em ti, e novos sustos 

 Be accrescent iio aos outros de perder-te, 

 lies quern ^s, e Igne?; he hnma vassalla; 

 Sim amante e fiel, mas disgra9ada : 

 As almas rege Amor; mas nao os reinos." 



Has Mb. Adamson a copy of the " Bacharel's " 

 pl3,y ? If not, I will with pleasure send him mine. 

 A De8ultobv Reader. 

 Jersey. 



Devil and Church Building (2"'* S. iv. 144, 

 357. &c.) — 'This legend is told in almost every 

 parish where the church is at a great distance from 

 the village (as is very often the case), and is in- 

 vented to attempt to explain this otherwise unac- 

 countable circumstance. It seems very strange 

 that people should build a church in places the 

 most inconvenient for themselves ; but we forget 

 that churches were not then built by the people, 

 but by the lords of manors, or the great landed 

 proprietors, who erected them invariably near 

 their own houses, which usually stood in the 

 middle of large parks, and consequently at some 

 •distance from the villages, for their own conveni- 

 ence. It will be found in almost all cases where 

 a church is at a distance from the town or village 

 that the great house stands, or formerly stood, 

 close to it. The same legend is related where 

 they stand on the top of some high eminence, but 

 these churches were used for pilgrimages, and 

 consequently made as difficult of access as they 

 reasonably could be ; and " stations," or places 

 where the pilgrims could stop and pray as they 

 ascended, were provided. Such churches are very 

 common on the Continent, particularly in Italy. 

 San Miniato, near Florence, is an instance. A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



Loir, Lerot (2"^ S. iii. 289. 377. 519,)— A cor- 

 respondent from Nice writes me word that he haa 



