Sept. 23. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



243 



being affected, swollen, and very painful, he was bled on 

 the arm ; Egyptian allum helps at the outset." — Epid. v. 

 69. " At Candia, the child of Metradorus, in consequence 

 of toothache, had a sphacelus of the jaw ; overgrowing 

 flesh on the gums, the suppuration was middling, the 

 molar teeth and the jaw fell (o{r):'—Epid. v, 100. 



Although we perceive some grave cases of teeth 

 maladies have been mentioned, we find not the 

 least allusion to their having been extracted, for 

 which, nevertheless, there was every indication. 

 After some inquiry,! was informed that there exists 

 a passage bearing on this subject in Sprengel's His- 

 tory of Medicine. It is the reference to a text of 

 Ccelius Aureliaims *, where, speaking of the tablets 

 and presents offered to the Greek temples by 

 patients who have been cured, he says : 



" Even surgical instruments were bequeathed by the 

 inventors to these sacred shrines of Medicine. Thus, 

 Erasistratus presented to the Delphic Temple of Apollo 

 an instrument for extracting teeth." 



And the passage of Gael. Aurel. contains some more 

 interesting allusion to that subject. 



Geobgb Hates. 

 Conduit Street. 



Minax ^mviti. 



Dr. Broome (Vol. x., p. 222.). — By some mis- 

 take the Query which I proposed to put respecting 

 Dr. Broome in my communication of last week 

 was omitted. It was, whether anything is known 

 of the members of Dr. Broome's family mentioned 

 in his will ; whether they have any descendants 

 living, and if so, where ? T. W. Bablow. 



Manchester. 



Latin Poetry. — Can any of your readers inform 

 me whence the following quotations are taken ? 

 They are all given in Ford's Illustrations of the 

 Gospels. 



" Ecce stat innocuis spinis redimitus acutis, 

 ^mula sunt cujus bella labella rosis : 

 Et vero, Judaee, illudis arundine Regi? 

 Impie, sed nescio te mala quanta manent." 



On St. Matthew xxvii. 28., p. 383. 



*' Lucus, Evangelii et medicinae munera pandens, 

 Artibus hinc, illinc Religione, valet : 

 TJtilis ille labor, per quem vixere tot agri ; 

 Utilior, per quem tot didicere mori ! " 



On St. Luke, p. 2. 



"Lux vitse, pastus cordis, portabile coelum, 

 Immensum in parvo, pagina fceta Deo : 

 Nejam Pierias quisquam mihi praedicet imdas, 

 Dulcius e vitae fonte bibuntur aquae ! " 



On St. Luke iv. 4., p. 110. 



Cpl. 



*' Talent:" " Con/wror." — At what period did 

 the word " talent " obtain its modern conventional 



* Cselius Aurelianus de morbis acutis et chronicis, Am- 



stelod. 1709, 4to. 



use, in lieu of its old classical signification, of a 

 weight or piece of money ? 



May I ask for similar information as to the 

 period when the word " conjuror " obtained its 

 present signification ? W. W. E. T. 



66. Warwick Square. 



Astronomical Query. — Can any of your scien- 

 tific readers explain why the sun and moon ap- 

 pear larger when near the horizon than when high 

 in the firmament ? Dr. Lardner (in his article 

 on Popular Fallacies in vol. i. of the Museum of 

 Science and Art, pp. 83. and 84.) appears to 

 render the subject quite unintelligible. He at- 

 tempts to explain the phenomenon, although he 

 states " that whatever be the cause of the illusion, 

 the apparent magnitude of the sun or moon is not 

 greater at rising or setting than in the meridian." 

 It is my own opinion that the apparently greater 

 size of these bodies near the horizon than on the 

 meridian is the efiect of the denser medium 

 through which they are seen. It is well known 

 that the atmosphere is much denser near the sur- 

 face of the earth than it is higher up. As the 

 rays of the sun, when it is at the horizon, have to 

 travel through a much larger extent of this dense 

 air near the surface of the earth, may not this cir- 

 cumstance afi'ect the apparent magnitude of the 

 sun? 



I would be glad to see this opinion either con- 

 firmed or refuted by some of your more scientific 

 readers. Thos. Redmond. 



Dublin. 



Chiselhurst Church, Kent. — A curious custom 

 existed, less than a hundred years ago, in this 

 church, of hanging the walls of the interior with 

 paper garlands. Does this custom still exist? 

 and what was the origin of it ? 



I would also wish to know if any of your corre- 

 spondents could inform me, if there be any monu- 

 mental inscriptions in or about the church relating 

 to the family of " Snagg," who for some years, 

 towards the end of the last century, resided at 

 Chiselhurst ? T. W. S. 



Dublin. 



Chevalier, — In a letter from Monsieur de 

 Guilleragues (ambassador to Constantinople in 

 1684) to Racine, occurs the following allusion to 

 the title of Chevalier : 



" Je vous ai decouvert qu'un tresorier de France prend 

 le titre de Chevalier et a le droit honorable d'etre enterr^ 

 avec des eperons dor^s.". 



Can any one inform me in what era, and for what 

 service, the title of Chevalier was originally con- 

 ferred upon the sons of France ? L. A. 



Manchester. 



Phalanthus. — Can any one inform me by. 

 whom the following beautiful lines were written ? 



