"316 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 178. 



fully. The time it will take in becoming black 

 will not exceed one minute; but as the eyesight is 

 the guide, the moment the tints have changed 

 from red to black is the proper time to arrest its 

 further progress : the combination thus obtained 

 •will not change, nor, 1 believe, become faint by 

 time ; but I repeat it may be much improved, and 

 if any abler hand, or one with better means at his 

 disposal, will take the trouble to examine its capa- 

 bilities, I shall be very thankful for his notes on 

 the subject. 



N.B. The solution of lead must contain acid ; 

 and if by keeping it does not change litmus-paper, 

 acid must be added till it does. Weld Taylob. 



7. Conduit Street West. 



HfpTtc^ ta iHtitor <!Stxitvit3. 



Contested Elections (Vol. vii., p. 208.). — There 

 is a very fair history of the boroxighs of Great 

 Britain, by Edwards, in 3 vols. 8vo., printed by 

 Debrett in 1792. J. B. 



X. Y. Z. is informed that a compilation on the 

 subject to which his Query relates was published 

 a few years since in Leeds by Henry Stocks Smith, 

 Speaking from recollection, it appears to be a work 

 of some research ; but I cannot say how fsxr it is to 

 be relied on. It may, perhaps, be one of the un- 

 fortunate works which have already fallen under 

 his censure. J. B. 



Prestwich. 



■In 



Suicide at Marseilles (Vol. vii., p. ISO.), 

 Montaigne's Essays I find, — 



" In former times there was kept, in our city of Mar- 

 seilles, a poison prepared out of hemlock, at the public 

 charge, for those who had a mind to hasten their end, 

 having first, before the Six Hundred, which were their 

 Senate, given an account of the reasons and motives 

 of their design ; and it was not otherwise lawful than 

 by leave from the magistrate, and upon just occasion, 

 to do violence to themselves. The same law was also 

 in use in other places." — Book ii. chap, iii., at end. 



This, however, is not the original authority re- 

 quired by your correspondent. 



In the earlier part of the same chapter, *' Plu- 

 tarch, On the Virtuous Deeds of Women" is referred 

 to as the authority for the statement which Mon- 

 taigne makes of 



♦' The Milesian virgins, that by an insane compact 

 hanged themselves, one after another, until the magis- 

 trate took order in it, enacting that the bodies of such 

 as should be found so hanged should be drawn by the 

 same halter, stark naked, through the city." 



J. P. 

 Birmingham. 



Acts, XV. 23. (Vol. vii., p. 204.). — From the notes 

 to Tischendorf's Greek Testament, it appears that 



Kot of is omitted by Griesbach, ed. ir. anno 1806, 

 as well as by Lachman, on the authority of the- 

 four most ancient Greek MSS. distinguished a» 

 A, B, C, and D, confirmed by the versio Ar- 

 menica, and so quoted by Athanasius, Irenasus, 

 Pacian, and Vigilius. The MS. A is referred by 

 Tischendorf to the latter half of the fifth century, 

 and is the Alexandrian MS. in the British Mu- 

 seum. B is the Vatican codex of about the 

 middle of the fourth century. C the codex 

 Ephraemi Syri rescriptus at Paris, and is of the 

 first half of the fifth century ; and D is Beza's ISlS. 

 at Cambridge, of about the middle of the sixth 

 century. Mb. Sansom may find a very interest- 

 ing letter upon this subject from Dr. Tregelles to 

 Dr. Charles Wordsworth, the present Bishop of 

 St. Andrew's, which was published very recently in 

 the Scottish Ecclesiastical Journal, and in which 

 that learned critic defends the omission of the 

 Koi 01. I regret that I cannot furnish him with 

 the number of that journal, but it was not more 

 than three or four back. 



I hope that Mr. Sansom will inform you? 

 readers of the ultimate result of his inquiries on 

 this interesting subject. P. H. 



Serpenfs Tongue (Vol. vi., p. 340.). — The Lin- 

 gua Serpentina of old MSS., and the fossil novT 

 commonly termed a Shark's-tooth. In forme? 

 days, few pilgrims returned from the East without 

 bringing at least one of those curious stones. 

 Being principally found in Malta, it was said they 

 were the tongues of the vipers, which once in- 

 fested that island, and which St. Paul had turned 

 into stone. Considered to be antidotes, and pos- 

 sessed of talismanic qualities, they were set in 

 cups, dishes, knife-handles, and other requisites 

 for the table. W. Pinkertok. 



Ham. 



Croxton or Crostin of Lancashire (Vol. vii., 

 p. 108.). — A full account of the parish of Croston 

 (not Crostin), which was formerly very extensive, 

 but is now divided into the six parishes of Croston, 

 Chorley, Hesketh, Iloole, Rufford, and Tarleton, 

 may be found in Baines's Lancashire, vol. iii. 

 pp. 395. to 440. There does not appear to have 

 been a family of Croston of any note, though the 

 name is common in the county. In Burke^s 

 Heraldic Dictionary, I find three families named 

 Croxton ; the principal one being of Croxton in 

 Cheshire, since temp. Hen. HI. Their arms are — 

 Sable, a lion rampant arg. debruised by a bend 

 componee or and gu. Broctuna. 



Bury, Lancashire. 



Bolert Dodsley (Vol. vii., p. 237.).— In tlie 

 Biographia Dramatica it is stated that " this 

 author was born near Mansfield, in Nottinghnm- 

 shire, as it is supposed;" and this supposition was. 



