June 30. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



505 



will be found more interesting, so far as relates to 

 inventions claimed for the Greeks and Romans. 

 The chapter on the plurality of worlds will show 

 that the opinion now under discussion was very- 

 common. Dutens gives in full all the passages on 

 which he depends. 



The Mathematical Magick, by Bishop Wilkins, 

 of which the first edition is said to be of 1648, was 

 probably suggested by Van Etten's work. Some 

 of your readers have perhaps seen in it the ma- 

 chine for uprooting an oak by the breath of one 

 man's mouth. How many years the operator 

 must keep on blowing, the bishop does not tell us ; 

 threescore and ten would go a very little way. 



All the preceding works were meant to be po- 

 pular and amusing ; but there are many books of 

 the same argument, and of a more ponderous 

 character. Of these I shall first notice the Pro- 

 dromo overo saggio di alcuni inventione nuove 

 (Brescia, 1670, folio), by the Jesuit Francis Lana: 

 this work distinctly foreshadows the differential 

 thermometer, but only as a toy. Next comes the 

 Collegium Curiosnm of Christopher Sturmius, 

 first published about 1675, (second edition, Nu- 

 remberg, 1701, 4to.). This second edition (I have 

 not seen the first) contains a very distinct account 

 of the differential thermometer, with a drawing of 

 it in the form now used, except only that the legs 

 are not of equal length. Sturmius is greatly in- 

 debted to Lana for the contents of his book. 



The Jesuit Gaspar Schott published at least 

 seven thick quarto volumes of this kind, to mention 

 those only which I myself have seen. They were 

 all published at Wurtzburg (Horbipolis). First, 

 the Physica Curiosa (1662), in two volumes, on 

 angels, demons, men, spectres, possession, monsters, 

 portents, animals, meteors, &c. Secondly, one 

 Tolume of Mechanica Hydraulico- Pneumatica 

 (1657). Thirdly, four parts, in three volumes, of 

 Magia Universalis Naturce et Artis (1657 and 

 1658), followed by a fourth and last part in 1659. 



In all probability, much revival of such works 

 as the Physica Curiosa will shortly take place. 

 Your pages from time to time bear witness that 

 various phenomena which areheld to be either above 

 or beneath explanation, according as the holders 

 have or have not seen them, are not novelties, but 

 have had their like recorded in very ancient 

 times. Collections such as that which I have men- 

 tioned are the shortest road to the authorities 

 for facts, and the original statements of opinion. 



A. De Mokgan. 



WAT-SIDE CROSSES. 



(Vol. xi., p. 445.) 



; These crosses were erected, sometimes to record 

 ' great victories or remarkable events, as Neville's 

 '. Cross, near Durham, to commemorate the victory 



over the Scots by Lord Ralph Neville, in 1346 ; 

 and the cross by the roadside over Hedgeley Moor, 

 of which the shaft still stands, as a memorial of 

 the death on that spot of Sir Ralph Percy, before 

 the battle of Hexham, in 1464 : but perhaps 

 oftener to mark the several resting-places, or 

 stages, where the funeral processions of illustrious 

 persons had stopped on their way to the final 

 place of interment ; so that the passers-by might 

 be admonished to say a prayer at the cross for the 

 soul of the departed, whose decease it comme- 

 morated. The most remarkable crosses of this 

 kind were those erected in memory of Eleanor, 

 queen of Edward I., which was brought from 

 Herdeley, in Nottinghamshire, to Westminster 

 Abbey about 1290. Of these there were fifteen, 

 but the only ones still remaining are those at G^d- 

 dington, Northampton, and Waltham. 



No special service was used at these crosses, 

 though they were always places inviting to holy 

 prayer. And such also were other way-side 

 crosses, placed either where four roads met, or at 

 the entrance or centre of a village, or some other 

 remarkable spot, of which many are still left, more 

 or less perfect. There were many large crosses 

 in the wide fens around Crowland. Near Louth, 

 in Lincolnshire, stands a tail cross, said to be of a 

 single stone. There are some interesting spe- 

 cimens remaining in Norfolk. F. C. H. 



Way-side crosses were in use among the Saxons 

 very soon after their conversion to Christianity, 

 and continued to be erected in England until the 

 period of the Reformation. Their uses were 

 various : sometimes they were employed as bound- 

 ary stones, more frequently to mark the spot 

 where a murder or sudden death had happened, 

 or where the body of some distinguished person 

 had rested on its way to burial. Occasionally 

 they had legends inscribed on them. On a frag- 

 ment of one near Doncaster may be read, — 



" ijl ICEST EST LA CRVTCE OTE D TILLI 

 A KI ALME DEV EN FACE MEKCI. — AMEN." 



At Braithwell, in the county of York, is to be 

 seen the remains of a cross, said to be of Early 

 English date, on which was once written : 



"JESU LE FIZ MARIE 



PENSE TOY 



LE FEERE NO ROT 



JE VUS PRIE." 



These memorials of the ancient faith and manners 

 of our forefathers are fast passing away. But a 

 few weeks ago I met with the shaft of a Saxon 

 cross which had but very recently (as it seemed 

 to me) been broken up for building materials. 

 Very few now remain, although there is evidence 

 that they once existed in great numbers. Those 

 who, like myself, take an interest in such matters, 



