36 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 33. 



word hippopotamus is a Roman corruption of the 

 Greek substantive and adjective, and is not a pro- 

 per Greek word. Why this animal was called a 

 horse is not evident. In shape and appearance it 

 resembles a gigantic hog. Buffon says that its 

 name was derived from its neighing like a horse 

 (Quad., torn, v., p. 165.). But query whether 

 this is the fact ? 



Bochart (Hierozoicon, P. il., lib. v., c. 15, 16.) 

 identifies the "behemoth" of Job (c. 40.) with 

 the hippopotamus, and the "leviathan" with the 

 crocodile. This view seems to be generally adopted 

 by modern commentators. (See Winer, Sibl. 

 Real- Worterbuch, art. " Nilpferd.") 



A Historia Hippopotami veterum Critica, by 

 J. G. Schneider, is appended to his edition of 

 Artedi Synonymia Piscium, p. 247. 



The accounts of the hippopotamus since the 

 revival of letters, beginning with that published by 

 Federigo Zerenghi, a Neapolitan surgeon, in 1603 

 (see Buffon), appear to have been all derived from 

 dead specimens, or from the reports of travellers 

 in Africa. Query, Has there been a live hippo- 

 potamus in Europe since the reign of Commodus, 

 with the exception of the young animal now in the 

 Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park ? L. 



FOLK LORE. 



Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire. 

 Charming. — There are few villages in this dis- 

 trict which are not able to boast a professor of the 

 healing art, in the person of an old woman who 

 pretends to the power of curing diseases by "charm- 

 ing ;" and at the present day, in spite of coroners' 

 inquests and parish officers, a belief in the efficacy 

 of these remedies appears to be undiminislied. Two 

 preliminaries are given, as necessary to be strictly 

 observed, in order to ensure a perfect cure. First, 

 that the person to be operated upon comes with a 

 full and earnest belief that a cure ivill be effected ; 

 and, secondly, that the phrases " please" and 

 " thank you" do not occur during the transaction. 

 The established formula consists in the charmer's 

 crossing the part affected, and whispering over it 

 certain mysterious words — doubtless varied ac- 

 cording to the disorder, but the import of which I 

 have never been able to learn ; for as there 's a 

 very prevalent notion that, if once disclosed, they 

 would immediately lose their virtue, the possessors 

 are genei'ally proof against persuasion or bribery. 

 In some cases it is customary for the charmer to 

 " bless " or hallow cords, or leathern thongs, which 

 are given to the invalids to be worn round the 

 neck. An old woman living at a village near 

 Brackley has acquired a more than ordinary re- 

 nown for the cure of agues by this means. Ac- 

 cording to her own account, she received the 

 secret from the dying lips of her mother ; who, in 

 her turn, is said to have received it from her's. 



As this old dame is upwards of ninety, and still 

 refuses to part with her charm, the probability of 

 its perishing with her, forms a constant theme of 

 lamentation among her gossips. It must not be 

 imagined that these ignorant people make a trade 

 of their supposed art. On the contrjiry, it is be- 

 lieved that any offer of pecuniary remuneration 

 would at once break the spell, and render the 

 charm of no avail : and though it must be ad- 

 mitted that the influence and position naturally 

 accruing to the possessor of such attributes, affords 

 a sufficient motive for imposture, yet I think, for 

 the most part, they may be said to be the dupes 

 of their own credulity, and as fully convinced of 

 their own infallibility as can be the most credulous 

 of their admirers. 



The following are a few of the more common 

 traditionary charms (used without having recourse 

 to the charmer) at present current among the rural 

 population of this district. 



Warts. — Take one of the large black snails, 

 which are to be found during summer in every 

 hedgei'ow, rub it over the wart, and then hang it 

 on a thorn. This must be done nine nights suc- 

 cessively, at the end of which time the wart will 

 completely disappear. For as the snail, exposed 

 to such cruel treatment, will gradually wither 

 away, so it is believed the wart, being impregnated 

 with its matter, will slowly do the same. 



Wens. — After a criminal is dead, but still 

 hanging, his hand must be rubbed thrice over the 

 wen. (Vifle Brand, vol. iii. p. 153.) Many persons 

 are still living who in their younger days have 

 un<]ergone the ceremony, always, they say, attended 

 with complete success. On execution days at 

 Northampton, numbers of sufferers used to con- 

 gregate round the gallows, in order to receive the 

 " dead-stroke," as it is termed. At the last exe- 

 cution which took place in that town, a very few 

 only were operated upon, not so much in conse- 

 quence of decrease of faith, as from the higher fee 

 demanded by the hangman. 



Epistaxis. — For stopping or preventing bleed- 

 ing at the nose, a toad is killed by transfixing it 

 with some sharp pointed instrument, after which 

 it is inclosed in a little bag and suspended round 

 the neck. The same charm is also occasionally 

 used in cases of fever. The following passage 

 from Sir K. Digby's Discourse on Sympathy 

 (Loud. 1658) may enlighten us as to the prin- 

 ciple : — 



" In time of common contagion, they use to carry 

 about thera the powder of a toad, and sometimes a 

 living toad or spider shut up in a box ; or else they 

 carry arsnick, or some other venemous substance, which 

 draws unto it the contagious air, which otherwise would 

 infect the party." p. 77. 



Another for the Same. — If it be a man who 

 suffers, he asks a female to buy him a lace, (if a 



