Nov. 30. 18.50.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



435 



very fine ring round it, wbich apparently was based 

 near the liorizon, and spread over a considerable 

 area of tbe heavens. This was noliced by myself 

 and others as we returned home from church ; and 

 upon my mentioning it to my man-servant, who 

 is a counti-yman, he said he had been noticing it, 

 and that it reminded him of the old saying, " the 

 bigger the ring, the nearer the wet." On the next 

 day, however, it was fine and windy, and my 

 faith began to be shaken as to the truth of the 

 saying ; but the almost incessant rain of the four 

 or five subsequent days fully proved its cori'ectness. 



o . A. 



Poicer of prophesying he/ore Death. — To the 

 passages on this subject lately supplied by your 

 correspondents (Vol. ii., pj). 116. 196.) may be 

 added the following from Tertullian, De Aiiima, 

 c. 53. (vol. ii. col. 741 , ed. Migne, Paris, 1844) : 



" Evenit sspe aniraam in ipso divortio potentius 

 agitari, sollicitiore obtutu, extrnoidinarid loqiiacitate, 

 dum ex niajoi-i suggestu, jam in libeio constituta, per 

 superflimm cjuod adliuc ciinctatur in corpore enuntiat 

 qua; videt, quae audit, qua; iiicipit nosse." 



J. C. R. 



Change in the Appearance of the Dead. — A 

 woman near Maidstone, who had had much ex- 

 perience as a sick-nurse, told me some years ago 

 that she had always noticed in corpses a change 

 to a more placid expression on the third day after 

 death ; and she supposed this to be connected with 

 our Lord's resurrection. I omitted to ask her 

 whether the belief were wholly the result of her 

 own observation, or wliether it had been taught 

 lier by others, and were common among her 

 neighbours. J- C. R. 



Strange Remedies. — I find some curious pre- 

 scriptions in an old book entitled The Pathwap to 

 Health, &c. (I will not trouble you with the full 

 title), "by Peter Levens, Master of Arts in Ox- 

 ford, and Student in Physick and Chirurgery." . . . 

 " Printed for J. W., ami are to bee sold by Charles 

 Tym, at the Three Bibles on London Bridge, 

 iMUCLXiv." The first is a charm 



" For all manner of falling evils. — Take the blood of 

 his little finger that is sick, and write these three verses 

 t'jllowuig, and hang it about his neck : 

 ' .Jasper fcrt Mi rrham, Tlius Melchior JiaUhaznr Aurum, 



Iltv.c qulciim seciim portal triii 7wniina r(r/nm, 



Solvitur a morho, Domini pietatc, caduca.' 

 and it shall help the party so grieved." 



" For a man or woman tliut is in a consumption. — 

 Take a brasse pot, and fill it wiih water, and set it on 

 the lire, and put a great earthen ])ot williin that i)(>t, 

 and then ])ut in these parcels following : — I'ake a cock 

 and pull him alive, then ilea oil' his skin, then heat him 

 in pieces; take dates a |)ound, and slit ont the stones, 

 and lay a layer of them in the bottom of the pot, and 

 then lay a piece of the cock, and ui)on that some more 

 of the dates, and take succory, endive, and jiarsley 



roots, and so every layer one upon another, and put in 

 Kne gold and some pearl, and cover the pot as close as 

 may bee with coarse dow, and so let it distill a good 

 while, and so reserve it for your use till such time as 

 you have need thereof." 



I could select some exceedingly ludicrous pre- 

 scriptions (for the book contains 400 pages), but 

 the most curious unfortunately happen to be the 

 most indelicate. Besides this, I am afraid the 

 subject is scarcely worthy of much space in suck 

 an important and useful work as "Notes and 

 Queries." Alexandeb Andrews. 



Abridge, Essex. 



Mice as a Medicine (Vol. i., p. 397.). — An old 

 woman lately recommended an occasional roast 

 mouse as a certain cure for a little boy who wetted 

 his bed at night. Her own son, she said, had got 

 over this weakness by eating three roast mice. I 

 am told that the Faculty employ this i-emedy, and 

 that it has been prescribed in the Oxford Infir- 

 mary. J. W. IL 



Omens from Birds. — It is said that for a bird 

 to fly into a room, and out again, by an open win- 

 dow, surely indicates the decease of some inmate. 

 Is this belief local ? J. W. II. 



MODE OF COMPUTING INTEREST. 



The mode of computing interest among the 

 ancient Greeks appears to have been in many 

 respects the same as that now prevailing in India, 

 whii'h has proljal)ly undergone no change from a 

 very remote period. Precisely the same term, too, 

 is used to denote the rate of interest, namely, 

 TOKOS in Greek, and taka or tuha in the languages of 

 Western India. Tokoe iin.oix.aTOi, in Greek, and 

 dus take, in Hindostanee, respectively denote ten 

 per cent. At Athens, the rate of interest might be 

 calculated either by the month or by the year — 

 each being expressed by different terms (Bockli. 

 Pub. Econ. of Athens, i. 165.). Precisely the same 

 system prevails here. Pono taka, that is, three 

 (juarters of a taka, denotes -J per cent, per month. 

 Nau take, that is, nine take, denotes nine per cent. 

 per annum. For the Greek mode of reckoning 

 interest by the month, see Smith's Dictionary of 

 Greek and Roman Antirpdties, p. 524. At Athens, 

 the year, in calculating interest, was reckoned at 

 360 days (Biickh, i. 183.). Here also, in all native 

 accotints-current, the year is reckoned at 360 days. 



The word tokos, as apjjlied to interest, was un- 

 derstood by the Greeks themselves to be derived 

 from riKTO), " to produce," i. e. money begetting 

 money ; the offspring or produce of money lent 

 out. Whether its identity may not be established 

 with the word in current use for thousands of 

 years in this country to express precisely the same 

 meaning, is a question I should like to see dis- 



