382 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. .V., No. 118. 



Slangs 



Smish ....... 



Snuskin 



Spotted, you're .. . 



Spread 



Star a glaze, to . . 



Suck 



Tapster 



Thumpkin .... 



Topt 



Tonch, to .... 



Trick 



Undub, to ... . 

 Water-sneak . . . 



Wheel 



Wibble 



Yapster 



[When a date alone 



Irons 1790 (slanged = ironed) ; 1811; 1859 (slanged; also slang = watch-chain) ; 1873 



(only a watch-chain). 

 A shirt 1573 (mish or commission); 1790 (mish or smeesh) ; 1811 (same as 1785); 1859 



(mish) ; 1873 (both mish and smish). 



A nail [Snuskin = a delicate morceau. Halliwell.] 



You are like to be found out, i 1859 (spot = point out as suspected) ; 1873 (marked by the police) . [Mentioned as 



' recent ' in Bartlett's ' Americanisms.'] 

 A saddle. 

 To cut out a pane . . . . 1811; 1859; 1873. 



Rum [liquor] 1785; 1790; 1811 ; 1859; 1873 (only suck-casa = a public-house). 



A dog [Probably a mere variation of Yapster.} 



A barn of hay [ Thumpkin = a clown. Halliwell.] 



Hanged 1673, 1785 (topping cove = the hangman) ; 1790; 1811; 1859; 1873. 



To rob 1785; 1790; 1811; 1859. 



A watch 1859 (trick = any thing stolen by a pickpocket). 



To unlock 1859 (under-dubber = turnkey). 



Breaking into a vessel . . 1785 (waterpad = robber of ships) ; 1790 (same). 



A dollar. 



An anger 1785 (wibble = bad drink); 1811 (same); 1859 (same). [Wimble = an auger. 



Dry den.] 



A dog [ Yap = a cur. Halliwell.] 



is given in the above table, the dictionary of that date gives both word and definition as Tufts gives them.] 



It will be observed that a certain number of 

 Tufts's words are not to be found in any of 

 the books of English slang ; while, from the 

 correctness of the remainder, it is unlikely 

 that he invented even these. The words 

 bonny lay (robbery ), briar (a saw), drag (a 

 prisoner, i.e., one dragged ?), Jlamer (vitriol), 

 gentleman (a crowbar) , hammers to you (im- 

 plying comprehension) , hooJcses (cattle) , jarvel 

 (a jacket) , kin (a stone) , nipping-jig (gallows) , 

 roram (the sun), to scrag a lay 

 (to steal from a hedge), snuskin 

 (a nail) , spread (a saddle) , tap- 

 ster and yapster (a dog) , thump- 

 kin (a barn of hay), and wheel 

 (a dollar) , — these are not found 

 in the other lists, and some of 

 them are difficult to explain. 

 Other phrases, though not else- 

 where mentioned, are easy of 

 derivation ; as crabkin (crab- 

 ken?), dead up to (like dead 

 sure), dinge (dingy), leg-bags 

 (stockings), long togs (long- 

 clothes), mitre (hat), and prad- 

 holder (bridle). In a few cases 

 the phrase is preserved b} T Mat- 

 sell (1859) as a part of Ameri- 

 can slang, although not now to 

 be found in the English slang 

 dictionaries ; thus, trick, in the 

 sense of something stolen, and 

 undub (unlock), which apparently survives 

 here in the phrase under-dubber (turnkey) . In 

 regard to any word untraced, I should be glad 

 of suggestions. T. W. Higginson. 



Cambridge, Mass. 



useless effort; and the few good runners or walkers 

 are not necessarily those with great muscular force, 

 or power to withstand fatigue, or those who have 

 merely a special aptitude in this direction, but rather 

 the persons who by training have found, little by 

 little, the best possible means of using their natural 

 powers. They are incapable of transmitting the 

 secret of their ability, and, indeed, they hardly have 

 time to reflect upon the movements which they exe- 

 cute so mechanically. It is hoped that by means of 

 the camera this secret can be found. 



WALKING AND RUNNING. 1 



Although every one pretends to know how to 

 walk and run, still there are few who do not make 



1 Abridged from La Nature. 



Fig. 1. 



Experiments have been undertaken at the physio- 

 logical station in Paris to study these movements. In 

 fig. 1 a man is seen running upon the experiment- 

 track, and in the same figure the recording apparatus 

 is shown. A telegraph-line, resting upon poles placed 

 fifty metres apart, reaches around the track, which is 

 half a kilometre in circumference. The runner, as 

 he passes each post, finds his course barred by a hori- 

 zontal rod (fig. 2), which gives way before the slight- 

 est pressure, but which cannot be moved without 

 causing an interruption in the circuit of the telegraph- 

 line. This interruption records itself in the laboratory 



