142 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 171. 



2. In re-sizing, what is the kind of size and 

 degree of strength generally made use of, and 

 mode of application ? I have tried gelatine and 

 isinglass size, of various degrees of strength, with- 

 out satisfactory results. 



3. Should the hot iron, used for improvement 

 "of tone, be applied previous to the picture being 



re-sized, or as a finishing operation ? I find much 

 difficulty from the liability of the paper to shrivel 

 under it. 



4. Is the glossy appearance, observed in finished 

 photographs, attained solely by use of the bur- 

 nisher ? 



5. What is albumenized paper ? used, I believe, 

 by some in printing ; and the mode of its pre- 

 paration ? H. B. B. 



P.S. — If I am not presuming too much upon 

 your kindness, I should feel greatly indebted for 

 information upon the above points, either privately 

 or through the medium of " N. & Q.," according 

 to the importance you may attach to them. 



Essay for a New Translation of the Bible 

 (Vol. vii., p. 40.). — This work was written by 

 Charles Le Cene, a French Protestant minister, 

 who, on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, 

 sought refuge in England, and died at London in 

 1703. The translation was made by Hugh Koss, 

 a Scotchman and sea-chaplain, but who was not 

 sufficiently ingenuous to tell his readers that it 

 was a translation. Orme says : " The essay con- 

 tains a good deal of valuable information ; points 

 out many erroneous renderings of passages of 

 Scripture ; and suggests better meanings, and the 

 means of correcting the modern translations gene- 

 rally." — Bibtiotheca Biblica, p. 94. A short ac- 

 count of Le Cene will be found in Chalmers's 

 Biog. Diet. See also Lewis's Translations of the 

 Bible, Svo. 1818, p. 338. John I. Dredge. 



I have a copy of the Essay for a New Trans- 

 lation of the Bible, second edition, 1727 (not 1717), 

 which your correspondent W. W. T. inquires 

 about (Vol. vii., p. 40.). It is the translation of a 

 work of the Huguenot refugee, Charles Le Cene, 

 Projet dune nouvelle ve7-sion francoise de la Bible. 

 H. K,., who signs the dedication, was Hugh Koss, 

 according to a note in my copy, which my father 

 made on the authority of one of the clergy of 

 Norwich about twenty years ago, I believe of Dr. 

 Charles Sutton. I have been unable to ascertain 

 anything about him, his name not appearing in 

 any biographical dictionary I have seen, and the 

 book not being in the Museum library. The 

 Biog. Unicersellc charges Le Cene with a ten- 

 dency to Pelagian or Socinian eiTors, both in his 

 Projet, and in the Version he actually made, and 



which •was printed at Amsterdam. This was a 

 great curiosity in its way, the ancient Oriental 

 titles, &c. being rendered in their corresponding 

 modern analogues. B. B. Woodward. 



Touchstone (Vol. vii., p. 82.). — I think your 

 correspondent Alphage is mistaken in alleging 

 that the word touchstone is so called because it 

 " gives a musical sound when touched with a 

 stick." 



The touchstone is the dark-coloured flinty slate 

 or schistus (the Lapis Lydius of the ancients), 

 which has been used from the remotest ages, down 

 even to our own days, for testing gold. By touch- 

 ing the black stone with the metal, it leaves behind 

 a clear mark, the colour of which indicates the 

 distinction between the pure and alloyed. Pliny 

 describes it (lib. xxxiii. cap. 43.) : 



" Auri argentiqne mentionem comltatur lapis, quem 

 cotlculam appellant, quondam non solitus inveniri, nisi 

 in flumine Tmolo, ut auetor est Theophrastus : nunc 

 vero passim ; quem alii Heraclium, alii Lydium 

 vocant. His eoticulis periti, cum e vena ut lima 

 rapuerint experimentum, protinus dicunt quantum auri 

 sit in ea, quantum argenti vel asris, scripulari differentia, 

 mirabili ratione, non fallen te." 



This is the substance referred to in the apo- 

 thegms of Lord Bacon, that "gold is tried by the 

 touchstone, and men by gold." 



The French, from the same practice, know the 

 same substance by the name of Pierre de touche. 

 The use of the touchstone, at the present day, is 

 thus described by Ure in his Dictionary of Arts 

 and Mines, under the head of " Assay :" 



" In such small work as cannot be assayed, by scrap- 

 ing off a part and cupelling it, the assayers endeavour 

 to ascertain its fineness or quality by the touch. This 

 is a method of comparing tlie colour and other pro- 

 perties of a minute portion of the metal, with those of 

 small bars, the composition of which is known. These 

 bars are called touch needles, and they are rubbed upon 

 a smooth piece of black basaltes, or pottery, which /or 

 this reason is called the touchstone." 



W. W. E. T. 



66. Warwick Square, Belgravia. 



Early Edition of Solinus (Vol. vi., p. 435.). — 

 " Solinus de Situ et Memor. Orbis, editio princeps, 

 folio, Venet. 1473." My copy was described as 

 above in the catalogue of the bookseller of whom 

 I purchased it. It contains a very fine illuminated 

 initial letter, red, blue, and gold. It has no pagin- 

 ation. At the end, in capitals : 



"IVLII SOLINI DE SITV ORBIS ET MEMOBABILIBVS QVAE 

 MVNDI AMBITU CONTINENTVR LIBER ISIPRESSVS VENETIIS 

 PER NICOLAVM lENSOK GALLICVM. M.CCCC.LXXIII. " 



Should any gentleman wish to see it, I shall be 

 happy to oblige him. Mine is marked " Qs.," and 

 below this price, " sold 10*." A. Dunkin. 



Dartford. 



