56 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 273. 



" Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius " (Vol. x., 

 pp. 447. 527.). — A printer's error unfortunately 

 stultifies my communication on this subject. I 

 wrote to show that the manufacturer of the note, 

 which you quoted in reply to Mr. Fraser's 

 Query, had mistaken the words of Erasmus him- 

 self for an extract from Pliny, and never having 

 taken the trouble of referring to the latter writer, 

 had set them down as the result of independent 

 research, though, like many other purloiners of 

 other folks' goods, he was only leaving a certain 

 clue for his detection and exposure. This was the 

 "fashion" after which "the note-maker had 

 blundered." Your printer, however, kind man! 

 by substituting a colon for the full-stop after 

 " Item Plinius libro decimo-sexto," and by placing 

 the two succeeding periods, which form the pas- 

 sage in question (" Quidam superstitiosus . . . 

 artibus"), between inverted commas, has made 

 me the sole blunderer : — in other words, making 

 me show that the passage actually is an extract 

 from Pliny, while the express object of my com- 

 munication was to declare that it is not. 



A. Challsteth. 



Sonnet by Blanco White: Bacon (Vol. x., p. 311.). 

 •' Scitissime dixit quidam Platonicus," &c. 



Has this quotation been traced to the original 

 author, or does it remain to be discussed ? I find 

 the same comparison as the one here quoted, and 

 whi(!h is repeated in the Novum Organon, prajfat. : 



" Sensus enim instar Solis globi terrestris faciem aperit, 

 coelestia claudit et obsignat." 



In Philo Judseus, Legum AUegorice, lib. ii. : 



" Itaque sensuum evigilantia mentis somnus est, mentis 

 vero evigilantia somnus sensuum. Quemadmodum et 

 sole oriente splendores aliarura stellarum obscuri sunt: 

 occidente autem manifest! : sic solis plane in modum 

 mens evigilans quidem inumbrat sensus : dormiens autem 

 ipsos facit effulgere." 



I had written thus far when I looked into Wats's 

 translation of Bacon's Advancement of Learning, 

 where there is a reference, in loco, to Philo 

 Judseus de Somniis. Neither are these " Night 

 Thoughts," any more than the preceding, the same 

 verbatim as Bacon's, to whom language was a 

 virgula divinu, and — 



" Who needs no foil, but shines by his own proper light." 

 BiBLIOTHECAB. CheTHAM. 



Cannon-ball Effects (Vol. x., p. 386.). — Apro- 

 pos to my former inquiry on this subject, I here- 

 with subjoin an illustrative extract, culled from the 

 columns of this day's Edinburgh Ladies^ Journal : 



« 7%e Wind of a Cannon-hall. — The Salut Public of 

 Lyons relates the following fact, which it points out to 

 the attention of physiologists : — ' An officer of the French 

 army, whom General de Martimprey had sent to make a 

 reconnaissance in the neighbourhood of Sebastopol, was 

 knocked down, not by a cannon-ball itself, but by the 



wind of it as it passed close to him. The commotion pro- 

 duced was so intense that the tongue of the officer in- 

 stantly contracted, so that he could not either put it out 

 of his mouth or articulate a word. Having obtained 

 leave of absence, he returned to Marseilles, where he 

 underwent treatment by means of electricit3\ After the 

 first few shocks the tongue began to move with more 

 facility, but without his being able to speak. On the 

 twelfth day he was subjected to an unusually violent 

 shock, which produced the desired effect, and in a few 

 minutes after the patient recovered his speech. He is 

 now fully recovered, and expects to return to his post in 

 a few days.' " 



David Forsyth. 

 Edinburgh, Dec. 23, 1854. 



Praying to the Devil (Vol. v., pp. 273. 351.). — 

 The infomous " Society of Blasters" was exposed 

 in Dublin in 1738. One of its members, Peter 

 Lens, a printer, in his examination, declared him- 

 self a votary of the Devil ; and acknowledged 

 having offered up prayers to him, and publicly 

 drunk to his health. See speech of Earl Granard, 

 Friday, March 10, 1737-8. I copy from a paper 

 of the period. R. C. Warde. 



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