Mar. 31. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



243 



46,875 letters in the circle of an inch in diameter. 

 The most powerful magnifying glass reveals only 

 a few apparent scratches ; but with a microscope 

 of great power, the inscription, which is beauti- 

 fully engraved, can be plainly read. The body of 

 an ordinary pin, placed between the inscription 

 and microsco[)e, completely covered the inscrip- 

 tion ; the circle in which it is inscribed being 

 smaller than the head of a common pin. 



Can you inform me the manner in which such 

 fine writing is executed ? B. 



"Medico Mastix." — Who was the author of 

 Medico Mastix; or, Physic-craft Detected. A 

 Satirico-didactic Poem: London, 1774? 



CUTHBERT BbDE, B.A. 



" Gazza Ladra : " "TAe Thieving Magpie" — 

 The last version of this story I have come across, 

 I send you " a note of." Not long ago the ctire of 

 one of the most important parishes of Paris wished 

 to suppress the mass which on week-days was 

 celebrated in his church at one o'clock. There- 

 upon he received remonstrances from several of 

 his parishioners, who told him that the suppression 

 was impossible, because the said mass was an ex- 

 piatory mass. It had been founded, as they pre- 

 tended, for the repose of the soul of a servant 

 girl from St. Palais, who had been hanged at one 

 o'clock, as convicted of having committed several 

 thefts of which a magpie had been guilty. The 

 cure, in his difficulty, went and searched the 

 archives of his church, in which he did not find a 

 single trace of the fact alleged. He applied to 

 several persons who had perused the Causes Ce- 

 lehres. He perused, with as little success, the 

 works of Voltaire, and divers treatises of natural 

 history, which repeated one after the other that 

 the magpie is naturally thievish and secretive ; 

 but not a word did he find about the poor servant 

 girl from St. Palais. All this permits one to sup- 

 pose, as far as the cure is concerned, that the 

 story emanated primarily from a story-teller. I 

 began with a Note, I end with a Query. When 

 was the story of the " Thieving Magpie " first put 

 into circulation ? K. Q. 



Impressions of Wax Seals. — Is there any com- 

 position adapted for taking copies of wax impres- 

 sions of seals ? Every schoolboy knows of bread 

 seals, but the wax impressions from them have no 

 polish. Gutta percha takes an impression, but 

 will not give one to melted wax ; it cannot bear 

 the heat. The electrotype is not applicable to 

 deeds and documents to which you have only 

 access for a few minutes. Gum will not get hard 

 quick enough either. I have thought of putty, 

 but I fear it would crack or warp, and I do not 

 know if it would give a perfect impression. 



Y. S. M. 



Average annual Temperature. — Professor Sedg- 

 wiclc stated in a lecture, that the temperature of 

 these islands was owing to that of the water that 

 surrounds them. This notion is of some antiquity : 

 it is to be found in the Octavius of Minucius Felix, 

 who took it I believe from Cicero ; and the latter, 

 probably, from some earlier authority. How can 

 it be made to square with the extreme variations of 

 temperature in this country, at different seasons 

 and in different years ? Does the water of the 

 ocean undergo any great changes of temperature ? 

 The professor, if my memory does not deceive me, 

 farther said, that were the waters of the gulf- 

 stream, which flow round these islands, turned off" 

 by any means through the Isthmus of Panama 

 into the North Pacific Ocean, England would 

 become uninhabitable, save by walrusses and 

 seals. It will be seen that it lies between the 

 same degrees of latitude as the south part of 

 Labrador, and fixrther north than Canada, which 

 has much severer winters. Where, if anywhere, 

 is this latter theory discussed ? Is there a small 

 and inexpensive map published, containing the 

 isothermal lines, or lines of equal temperature ? 

 Is it probable that the temperature of different 

 parts of this country varies from local causes ? 



F. J. L., B.A. 

 Bedford. 



Nautical Queries. — 1. Why is a ship-rigged 

 vessel, mounting guns on a single deck, commonly 

 called a " sloop of war ;" and when was the name 

 first used ? 



2. Whence originated the term " sloop," as ap- 

 plied to a vessel having one mast ? 



3. Whence originated the term "Davy's locker," 

 as the ocean is called when named as the grave of 

 seamen ? 



4. How came the swallow-tailed "broad pen- 

 nant" to be the flag of a commodore, and the 

 square flag that of an admiral of a squadron ? 



5. How did the name of " yacht," as applied to 

 pleasure boats, originate ? 



6. Whence originates the term " Jack ; " used 

 to designate the upper corner of an American or 

 English ensign, viz. the Union Jack of England 

 bearing the several crosses of the United King- 

 dom ; and the Union Jack, the starry emblem of 

 the United States ? P. of Portland Maine. 



Sir Dawes Wyniondsold, of Putney. — What 

 became of the fiimily seat and effects ? T. F. 



" The Curious Book''' — The Curious Book, 

 12mo., Edinburgh; printed by John Pellans for 

 John Thompson, Edinburgh, and Baldwin, Cra- 

 dock, & Joy, London, 1826. A collection of 

 biographical notices, essays, &c., without either 

 Preface or Introduction. The name of the author 

 will oblige. R. H. B. 



Bath. 



