gud §, No 15., Aprit 12. °56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
303 
- 
Baptismal Superstition (2"* 8. i. 226.) — In the 
west of Scotland there is something unlucky at- 
tached to telling the names of infants before they 
are christened or baptized. All curiosity til! then 
must usually be suspended, and the child is hailed 
by its name after having been brought home from 
church. 
In presenting the child to the minister for bap- 
tism, it is understood that the child’s head must 
be supported on the right arm of the male parent, 
and that when a number of baptisms are to occur 
at the same time, all the male children take the 
precedence of the female. The best reason I have 
ever heard assigned for this certainly partakes of 
a superstitious order; namely, that if the practice 
was reversed, the females when of age would be 
distinguished for that particular pilious ornament 
which garnishes the male chin. That any dis- 
tinction is made (as in the case adverted to, 
p- 226.) when the baptismal ceremony is performed 
bya married clergyman or a Celebs, must, I think, 
relate only to some country districts of England 
among the most ignorant of the population ; it, so 
far as I am aware, not having reached Scotland, 
where there are yet remnants enow of the “ dark 
ages.” e 
A custom existed in country places, but I think 
nearly now exploded, for a mother when carrying 
her child to church for baptism, to take along 
with her a considerable supply of bread and 
cheese, a portion of which was given to the first 
person she met on the public road after leaving 
her house. I have had in such an instance a 
whang, or slice of the cheese forced upon me, and 
which it would have been accounted a high insult 
peremptorily to have refused. I consider that the 
provision borne along was part of the blythe meat 
presented to the friends in the house who had as- 
sembled after the birth to pay their congratula- 
tions to the pair who had been blessed with this 
addition to their number. It is not unlikely that 
in such offerings traces may be found referring to 
the period when the old Romans inhabited the 
Caledonian regions, which some of your learned 
correspondents will be able to canvass. G.N. 
Common-Place Books (1* S. xii. 866. 478.) — 
In Lectures in Connection with the Educational 
Exhibition of the Society of Arts, delivered at St, 
Martin's Hall, 8vo., Routledge, 1854, will be found 
an interesting paper on common-place books, with 
an account of a new plan with great merits, of 
forming a common-place book by gradual accu- 
mulation, “ corresponding with the mental process 
ty which sciences are built up.” It is mentioned 
at fifty loose leaves, ruled, &c., with a stout 
portfolio, for this plan may be had, with directions, 
of Messrs. Street, 11, Serle Street, Lincoln’s Inn, 
for one shilling. ed 
Birmingham. : 
| 
Philosophy of Societies (1% S. xii. 126.) — At 
the end of vol. ii. of Mr. Charles Bray’s Philosophy 
of Necessity, two vols. 8vo., Longman & Co., 1841, 
will be found a full and interesting account of the 
principle of co-operation, and a historical review 
of the various attempts to bring it into practice, 
from the earliest times to the present day. In a 
more extensive sense, reference may be made to 
the second volume of the English translation of 
Auguste Comte’s Philosophy, two vols. 8vo., John 
Chapman. Jaks 
Birmingham, 
Systems of Short-hand (2°78, i. 152. 263.) — 
If “curious works” on this subject are note- 
worthy, there is the following : 
“Short-Writing, The most Easie, Exact, Lineal, and 
Speedy Method that hath ever been Obtained or Taught. 
Composed by Theophilus Metcalfe, Author and Professor 
of the said Art. The last Edition. With a New Table 
for shortning of Words. Which Book is able to make 
the Practitioner perfect without a Teacher. As many 
hundreds in this city and elsewhere that are able to write 
Sermons word for word, can from their own Experience 
Testifie.” London, 1674. 
An additional engraved title to “ the 10th Edi- 
tion” exhibits “ The X. Commandments” in 
short-hand within the space of rather more than 
a square inch, and “The Lord’s Prayer” in a 
circle somewhat less than a modern fourpenny- 
piece. Opposite, by way of frontispiece, is the 
effigy of “ Theophilus Metcalfe, M*. in the Art of 
Short Writing.” He holds in his right hand a 
book inscribed “ RADIO-Stenografie,” and be- 
neath are these verses : 
“ Czsar was prais’d for his Dexterity 
In Feates of Warr and Martiall Chevalry ; 
And no less famous art thou for thy skill 
In nimble turning of thy silver-quill ; 
Which with the preacher’s mouth houlds equall pace, 
And swiftly glides along, vntill the race 
Of his discourse be run, so that I thinke 
His words breath’d from his mouth are turn’d to Inke.” 
Dr. Isaac Watts used Metcalfe’s system of 
short-hand. S. W. Rix. 
Beccles. 
Discovery of the Safety-Valve (2° S. i. 240.) 
— Both your correspondents seem in error as 
to the name of the party for whom they claim 
this discovery. I have now before me A Con- 
tinuation of the New Digester of Bones. Together 
with some Improvements and New Uses of the Air 
Pump, &e. By Denys Papin, M.D., F.R.S. (1687.) 
For Passin, therefore, read Papin; regarding 
whom I find the following note in Evelyn’s Diary 
(vol. ii. p. 166. edit. 1854): 
“D. Papin, a French physician, and mathematician, 
who possessed so remarkable a knowledge of the mathe- 
matics, that he very nearly brought the invention of the 
steam engine into working order, He assisted Mr. Boyle in 
his pneumatic experiments, and was afterwards mathe- 
matical professor at Marburg. He died in 1710.” 
