June 16. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



459 



and " The Fisherman and the Piskies " are not so 

 •common. The former will, however, remind the 

 reader of the adventures of Lord Duffers, as given 

 by Aubrey. In Mackie's Castles, Palaces, and 

 Prisons of Mary Queen of Scots, a similar tale is 

 told of a butler in the house of Monteith ; with 

 this difference, that the traveller had witches for 

 his companions, and a bulrush for his nag. 



ThoxMas Q. Couch. 

 Cornwall. 



ANTICIPATED INVENTIONS, ETC. 



Here is a volume entitled Les Recreations Ma- 

 tTiematiques, primierement revues par D. Henrion, 

 &c., 5th edit., Paris, 1660, in 12mo., pp. 416. This 

 may or may not be a scarce book ; but it con- 

 tains a number of curious items, which relate to 

 things which we have been wont to regard as but 

 of yesterday. To some of these I shall refer ; 

 selecting some for amusement, and some for in- 

 struction : 



1. To guess the number which any one has 

 thouglit of (p. 1.). 



2. To divide equally eight pints of wine by 

 means of three unequal measures : one of eight, 

 one of five, and one of three pints (p. 32.). 



3. To find the weight of the smoke produced 

 by the combustion of any body (p. 41.). 



4. Of the magnet, and needles touched by it 

 (p. 158.). This article contains an anticipation of 

 the electric telegraph, very similar to the one 

 given in the Spectator. He says : 



" ?ome say that by means of a magnet, or such like 

 stone, persons who are distant from each other may con- 

 verse together. For example : Claude being at Paris, 

 and John at Rome, if each had a needle touched by a 

 stone of such virtue, that as one moved itself at Paris, the 

 other should be moved at Rome ; then let Claude and 

 John have a similar alphabet, and agree to speak every 

 day at six o'clock in the evening. Let the needle make 

 three turns and a half, to signal that it is Claude and no 

 other who wishes to speak with John. Claude wants to 

 say, the king is at Paris (' Le Roi est h, Paris ') ; and 

 makes his needle move and stop at L, then at E, then at 

 E, O, I, — and so of the rest. Now, at the same time, the 

 needle of John agreeing with that of Claude, will go on 

 moving and stopping at the same letters ; so that he can 

 easily understand or write what the other Avould signify 

 to him." 



The writer adds : 



" It is a fine invention, but I do not think there is a 

 magnet in the world which has such virtue; besides, it 

 is inexpedient, for treasons would be too frequent and too 

 much protected." 



This article is illustrated with a dial, inscribed 

 with the letters of the alphabet, and furnished 

 with a needle as an index, the needle turning upon 

 a pivot in the centre. 



5. Of CEolipiles (p. 168.). We have here a 



sentence which is anticipatory of the steam-engine. 

 The words are : 



" Some fix before the holes mills, or like things, which 

 revolve by the motion of the steam : or they make a ball ■ 

 turn by means of two or three tubes curved outside." 



6. Of the thermometer (p. 170.). 



7. How to load cannon without powder (p. 254.). 

 It is proposed to use air or water, both of which 

 are to be subjected to heat, which rarefies the air 

 and evaporates the water. Very much like an 

 anticipation of air and steam-guns. 



8. How to convey a stream of water from one 

 mountain to another, without an aqueduct, on the 

 principle that water will rise to the level of its 

 source (p. 281.). 



9. How to make a pound of water weigh as 

 much as ten, twenty, or thirty ; and to balance 

 10,000 or 100,000 lbs. of lead (p. 299.). Pre- 

 cisely that which the hydraulic press was invented 

 to do. 



10. How to enable a blind man to read (p. 318.). 

 This is so remarkable as to deserve notice. From 

 Aristotle's observation, that the sense of touch is 

 dxnrep necnT7)s of the rest, he infers that a blind 

 man may read by means of touch, and proposes 

 large well-shaped letters in relief: "de grosses 

 lettres relevees en bosse et bien taillees." 



From these specimens it is apparent that the 

 work contains a good deal of curious, amusing, 

 and instructive matter. Perhaps some of your 

 correspondents can tell me who was its original 

 author, and when it was first published ? We see 

 how some of the most useful inventions were in 

 their origin mere idle fancies, or at most but 

 playthings ; and we may learn hence to hope that 

 some of our brightest geniuses may yet learn 

 great lessons, even from the unambitious precincts 

 of a toyshop, or from the pages of a book of 

 sports. B. H. C. 



BEN JONSOn's " CATILINE." 



To a passage in this noble drama (Act IV. 

 Sc. 2.), Mr. GifFord has appended a note, which, 

 from a critic so deeply versed in our elder literature, 

 displays a singular misapprehension of a not very 

 obscure word. It occurs in the speech of Cicero 

 before the senate, after Catiline had unexpectedly 

 entered ; and which is, in fact, merely a spirited 

 version of Cicero's first oration : 



« . . . . Canst thou here 

 Deny, but this thy black design was hinder'd 

 'i'hat very day by me? thyself closed in 

 Within my strengths, so that thou could'st not move 



' Against a public reed : " 



Gifford's predecessor, Whalley, being sorely 

 puzzled by the passage, had ventured in his edi- 

 tion to alter the reading to " Against the public 

 weaV "And so," adds Gifibrd, "it actually 



