Dec. 11. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



565 



being lost, I beg to rehearse its history. The late Dr. 

 Maginn, with whom some of us may otherwise have 

 had reason to quarrel, was however a man of varied 

 accomplishments; a wit, with singular readiness for 

 improvising, and with very extensive scholarship. 

 Amongst the jjeculiar opinions which he professed was 

 this : that no man, however much he might tend towards 

 civilisation, was to be legarded as having actually 

 reached its apex until he was drunk. Previously to 

 which consummation, a man might be a promising sub- 

 ject for civilisation, but otherwise than in posse it must 

 be premature, so he must be considered as more or less 

 of a savage. This doctrine he naturally published 

 more loudly than ever, as he was himself more and 

 more removed from all suspicion of barbaric sobriety. 

 He then became anxious with tears in his eyes to pro- 

 claim the deep sincerity of his conversion to civilisation. 

 But as such an odiously long word must ever be dis- 

 tressing to a gentleman taking his ease of an evening, 

 unconsciously perhaps, he abridged it always after 

 10 p.m. into civilation. Such was the genesis of the 

 word. And I therefore, upon entering it into my 

 neological dictionary of English, matriculated it thus ; 

 ' Civilation by ellipsis, or more properly by syncope, or 

 vigorously speaking by hiccup, from civilisation.'" 



J. D. N. 



" A hair of the dog that bit you" (Vol. vi., p. 316.). 

 — In Scotland it is a popular belief that the "hair 

 of the dog that bit you," when applied to the bite, 

 has a virtue either as a curative or preventive 

 agent. 



I have seen a shepherd pull a few hairs oflf his 

 dog, and apply them to a wound which the dog 

 had just made in the leg of a boy. In this case 

 the application was to cure the wound, and to pre- 

 vent bad consequences — such as the occurrence 

 of hydrophobia. M. E. V, E. P. 



SkvU-caps versus Skull-cups (Vol. vi., p. 441.). — 

 Cowgill's learned and ingenious explanation of 

 Ragnar Lodbrok's skull-cup seems to me to be far- 

 fetched and unnecessary. The iron cap or helmet 

 fitting close to the head, and representing its form, 

 was in use from a very early period, and would 

 naturally (as in fact it was) be called a " skull- 

 cap," or more shortly " skull : " and what more 

 fitting cup could the dying warrior image to him- 

 self than the spoil of his slain enemy, his iron 

 skull-cap whereout to drink the beer of Valhalla ? 

 But not in Valhalla alone was the " skull " of the 

 soldier used for other purposes than that of de- 

 fence. In the famine which prevailed in Ireland 

 after Edward Bruce's invasion of that island, 

 Camden relates (a.d. 1315) that "many were so 

 hunger-starved, that in churchyards they took up 

 the bodies out of their graves, and in their skulls 

 boiled their flesh and fed thereon." " Perhaps a 

 kind of vessel," says Stewart (^History of Armagh, 

 p. 179.)i noting this passage ; but the Rev. Robert 

 King {Primer of the History of the Holy Catholic 

 Church in Ireland, p. 1298.), quoting Stewart, ob- 



jects to this interpretation, and very justly, on the 

 ground that " pots " or saucepans would not be at 

 hand in such emergencies. Neither one or the 

 other, however, seem to have had an inkling of 

 what the old annalist meant to convey, namely, 

 that the iron skull-caps of the starving fugitives 

 (every one was then armed who could afford it) 

 served them as pots wherein to boil their disgust- 

 ing food — disgusting enough without the addi- 

 tional horror of being cooked in a reeking skull, 

 even were that proceeding possible. 



There is a valuable note on the same fact 

 given, sub ann. 1317, in i\i& Annals of Ireland, 

 compiled by James Grace, and edited for the 

 Irish Archaeological Society by the very rev. 

 Dean Butler, in which he advocates skull-cap 

 versus cranium ; and concludes with the following 

 analogous story : 



" We know that, during the battle of Waterloo, the 

 officers of the Guards boiled pigeons in the cuirass of a 

 dead Frenchman at Hougoumont." — P. 91. note. 



James Graves. 



Kilkenny. 



Fi-ancis Hopkinson, Author of " Dissertation on a 

 Salt-box" (Vol. vi., pp. 54. 137. 233.). — Permit 

 me to inform your correspondents J. Wn., Mr. 

 John Booker, and H. Ebff, that the author of a 

 Dissertation on a Salt-box was Francis Hopkinson 

 of this city (Philadelphia), and not Professor 

 Porson, as the latter supposes. The piece of hu- 

 mour will be found in the first volume of Hop- 

 kinson's Works, Philadelphia edition of 1792. It 

 was originally written for, and published in, the 

 Pennsylvania Magazine, as a satire uj)on the ex- 

 aminations in our old Philadelphia College. It is 

 entitled Modern Learning exemplified by a Spe- 

 cimen of a College lute Examination. The first 

 part is dedicated to " metaphysics," and commences 

 thus : 

 « Prof. What is a salt -box ? 



Stud. It is a box made to contain salt. 



Prof. How is it divided ? 



Stud. Into a salt-box, and a box of salt. 



Prof. Very well ! show the distinction. 



Stud. A salt-box may be where there is no salt, but 

 salt is absolutely necessary to the existence 

 of a box of salt." 



The student goes on and divides salt-boxes into 

 " possible, probable, and positive salt-boxes. A 

 possible salt-box is "one in the hands of the 

 joiner ;" a probable salt-box is " one in the hand of 

 one going to buy salt, who has sixpence in his 

 hand to pay the grocer ; " a positive salt-box is one 

 " which hath actually and bona fide got salt in it." 

 The examination then continues to investigate the 

 merits of salt-boxes, under the heads of " logic, 

 natural philosophy, mathematics (which is illus- 

 trated by diagrams), anatomy, surgery, the prac- 

 tice of physic, and chemistry." It is dated May, 



