2-'<« s. VI. 132., JuLv 10. '58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



39 



though more than when cut by the binder. Gilt 

 edges are the best, dust little adhering to metal, 

 and is easily wiped off. 



Any more effective way of preserving books 

 from dust and dirt than the methods in common 

 use would be a great boon to the lovers of books : 

 and I, for one, should feel much obliged by a de- 

 scription of any plan not indicated here. 



Luke Limner, F.S.A, 



Regent's Park. 



Lilliputian Azteca (2""^ S. v. 382.) — I am much 

 obliged for the notice taken of my query. I have 

 recently found the following note, which confirms 

 my own supposition, and I think settles this 

 JBarmnn business : — ■ 



" Manj' of them were of mixed Indian and Negro blood, 

 and were small, undersized, but strongly-made men, with 

 reserved, ugly, and brutal looking faces. The mixture 

 of two races so degenerate as the Indian and Ethiopian 

 is not likely to have a beneficial effect on the descend- 

 ants ; but it is a mixture unfortunately very common on 

 the frontier of this state (San Salvador) towards Hon- 

 duras." 



A note adds : — 



" The two mulatto children, which a speculative 

 Yankee actually imposed on the credulous in Europe, as 

 the last scions of the almost extinct priestly caste of the 

 Aztecs, are nothing more than two remarkably unde- 

 veloped individuals of this mixed descent, the twin-chil- 

 dren of two persons named Innocent and Martina Burgos, 

 who are still living in the village of Decora, in the de- 

 partment of San Miguel. A Spanish trader, of the name 

 of Ramon Selva, got them from the mother, to whom 

 they were very burdensome on account of their helpless 

 awkwardness, under pretence of having them educated in 

 the United States; but instead of that, he made a show 

 of them, and afterwards sold them to a person named 

 Morris, who is at present, 1 believe, parading them about 

 in the best company of Europe." — Travels ih the Free 

 States of Central America, by Dr. Carl Scherzer, 1857, 

 vol. ii. p. 23i. 



F. C. B. 



Milton's Autograph (2°* S. iv. 287. 3.34. 371. 

 459.; V. 115. 173.) — I have in my possession an 

 old fcap. Svo., black-letter Latin grammar in ex- 

 cellent preservation (" Systema Grammaticum, 

 Opera et Studio Tho. Farnabii, Londini, Excude- 

 bat T. & R. C. impensis Andreae Crooke, 1641 "). 

 On the title-pajre of the above is written " Ii. 

 Milton," evidently an abbreviation of the Latin for 

 John in the dative case. As you cannot give to 

 your readers a fac-siniilc of the autograph, it is 

 necessary to explain that the capital " I " is formed 

 exactly like the small "i" which immediately 

 follows it, and like the other small " i" in the sur- 

 name, excepting that it is double their height, and 

 is not, like them, dotted. The date of the book 

 agrees with the time when Milton, having re- 

 turned from Italy, was engaged in su|)erintending 

 the education of his two nephews, and preparing 

 a collection of his Latin poems for the press. It 

 is annotated in the margin of that part of the 



book which treats " De ultimis syllabis," — a part 

 which more than all others would be interesting 

 to a poet. Washington Moon. 



Colour of University Hoods (2"* S. vi. 19.) — 

 In justice to myself and your other correspondents, 

 I beg to draw C. M. A.'s attention to the fact, 

 that the distinction which he alludes to as not 

 having as yet been hit upon by any of us, has 

 already been twice distinctly stated in your pages ; 

 by myself more than a year ago (see 2°'' S. iii. 

 435.), and by D. C. L., Cantab., only a few num- 

 bers back (2'^'' S. v. 501.). J. Eastwood. 



Among the number of communications made 

 from time to time as to the shape and colour of 

 these articles of university costume, I cannot find 

 any reply to a Query I once before submitted to 

 the learned in these matters, namely, whether the 

 hoods of each degree are, or should be, worn with 

 the ordinary black-college or preaching-gown or 

 not ? I know of a variety of opinion and usage : 

 some persons maintaining that the hood should 

 only be woi n with the surplice ; others (myself 

 included) considering that it is an academic dis- 

 tinction, and as properly, if not more so, connected 

 with academic costume than with that prescribed 

 by church ritual. One word as to which is right 

 from some competent authority will oblige 



A. B. R. 



British Pearls (2"'^ S. v. 285, &c.)— I have seen 

 a fair-sized tolerably-well-coloured pearl from the 

 common English oyster. I have seen ma7iy small 

 indifferently-coloured pearls taken from the large 

 fresh- water muscle — once abundant in the Ser- 

 ven in Assynt — now rare from the constant chasse 

 kept up by the Highlanders. I have seen dozens 

 of very small beautil'ully-coloured pearls taken 

 out of the common muscle (^Mytilus edulis), when 

 using them for bait, on the east coast of Suther- 

 land. I see no reason why we should not find a 

 pearl of some sort in any shell lined with nacre. 



Professor Quekett seems to believe that all 

 pearls are produced by the boring of small animals 

 through the shell, and the pushing forward the 

 inner plate of nacre, so as to irritate the animal. 

 That pearls can be produced in this way there is 

 no doubt : that all are produced in this way I 

 doubt very much. I remember remarking that 

 the sea muscles, in which I found the roundest 

 and fiiirest pearls, had particularly smooth clean 

 shells. I rather incline to the old theory of "abor- 

 tive ova" as the cause of the round pearls free in 

 the animal ; the pedunculated pearls may be pro- 

 duced at will by the Chinese method of introduc- 

 ing foreign bodies. 



I have heard that pearls arc found most plenti- 

 fully in fresh-water muscles about fords, and 

 places where cattle go to drink, as if accidental 

 injury had something to do with their production. 



