George slew the dragon, from which, at certain periods, issue myriads of
small flies, which tradition reports to proceed from the carcass of the
dragon. It is thought when the Danube rises, as it does in the early
part of the summer, the caverns are flooded, and the water which remains
in them becomes putrid, and produces the noxious fly. But this
supposition appears to be at fault, for the people closed up the
caverns, and still they were annoyed with the flies. The latter resemble
mosquitoes, and appear in such swarms as to look like a volume of smoke,
sometimes covering a space of six to seven miles. Covered with these
insects, horses not unfrequently gallop about until death puts an end to
their sufferings. Shepherds anoint their hands with a decoction of
wormwood, and keep large fires burning to protect themselves from them.
_Remarkable Echoes._
In the gardens of Les Rochas, which was the residence of Madame de
Sevigne, is a remarkable echo which finely illustrates the conducting
and reverberating powers of a flat surface. The chateau is situated near
the old town of Vitre. A broad gravel walk on a dead flat conducts
through the garden to the house. In the centre of this, on a particular
spot, the listener is placed at the distance of about ten or twelve
yards from another person, who, similarly placed addresses him in a low
and, in the common acceptation of the term, inaudible whisper, when,
"Lo! what myriads rise!" for immediately, from thousands and tens of
thousands of invisible tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as
if every pebble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is
repeated with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small
shot through the air. On removing from this spot, however trifling the
distance, the intensity of the repetition is sensibly diminished, and
within a few feet ceases to be heard. Under the idea that the ground was
hollow beneath, the soil has been dug up to a considerable depth, but
without discovering any clue to the solution of the mystery.
An echo in Woodstock Park, Oxfordshire, repeats seventeen syllables by
day and twenty by night. One on the bank of the Lago del Lupo, above the
fall of Terni, repeats fifteen. The most remarkable echo known is one
on the north side of Shipley church, in Sussex, which distinctly repeats
twenty-one syllables. In the Abbey church at St. Albans is a curious
echo. The tick of a watch may be heard from one end of the church to the
other. In Gloucester Cathedral a gallery of an octagonal form conveys a
whisper seventy-five feet across the nave.
In the Cathedral of Girgenti, in Sicily, the slightest whisper is borne
with perfect distinctness from the great door to the cornice behind the
high altar, a distance of two hundred and fifty feet. In the whispering
gallery of St. Paul's, London, the faintest sound is faithfully conveyed
from one side of the dome to another, but is not heard at any
intermediate point.
In the Manfroni Palace at Venice is a square room, about twenty-five
feet high, with a concave roof, in which a person standing in the centre
and stamping gently with his foot on the floor, hears the sound repeated
a great many times; but as his position deviates from the centre, the
reflected sounds grow fainter, and at a short distance wholly cease. The
same phenomenon occurs in a large room of the library of the Museum at
Naples.
_Moving Gods._
The Italian temples were celebrated for their moving gods. In the fane
of the two fortunes at Antium, the goddess moved her arms and head when
that solemnity was required. So at Præneste, the figures of the youthful
Jupiter and Juno, lying in the lap of Fortune, moved, and thereby
excited awe. The marble Servius Tullius is said to have shaded his eyes
with his hand whenever that remarkably strong-minded woman, his daughter
and murderess, passed before him. When the Athenians were tardy in
deserting their capital, and taking to the ships for flight, it is said
that the sacred wooden dragon of Minerva rolled himself out of the
temple and down into the sea, as though to indicate to the people the
direction in which safety was to be secured.—_Dr. Doran._
_Roving Tinkers._
In the Irish county of Donegal there is a tradition antagonistic to the
race of tinkers. The alleged cause of this is the belief that, when the
blacksmith was ordered to make nails for the Cross, he refused, but that
the tinker consented. Hence he and his race had cast on them the doom of
being perpetual wanderers, without any roof to cover them.
_The Freischutz._
The free-shooters is the name given in the legend to a hunter or
marksman who, by entering into a compact with the devil, procured balls,
six of which infallibly hit, however great the distance, while the
seventh, or, according to some, one of the seven, belonged to the devil,
who directed it at his pleasure. Legends of this nature were rife among
the troopers of Germany of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and
during the thirty years' war. The story was adapted, in 1843, to the
opera composed by Weber in 1821, which has made it known in all
civilized countries.
_Moon-struck._
In the 121st Psalm it is written of those who put their trust in God's
protection, "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by
night." The allusion to the moon is explained by the common belief in
the East that exposure to the moon's rays while sleeping is injurious.
Travelers in oriental countries have noticed that when the natives slept
out of doors they invariably, if the moon was shining, covered their
faces.
_Curious Locality for Saying Prayers._
Francis Atkins was porter at the palace gate at Salisbury from the time
of Bishop Burnet to the period of his death, in 1761, at the age of 104
years. It was his office every night to wind up the clock, which he was
capable of performing regularly till within a year of his decease,
though on the summit of the palace. In ascending the lofty flight of
stairs, he usually made a halt at a particular place and said his
evening prayers. He lived a regular and temperate life, and took a great
deal of exercise; he walked well, and carried his frame upright and
well-balanced to the last.
_Egyptian Physicians._
Montaigne says it was an Egyptian law that the physician, for the first
three days, should take charge of a patient at the patient's peril, but
afterwards at his own. He mentions that, in his time, physicians gave
their pills in odd numbers, appointed remarkable days in the year for
taking medicine, gathered their simples at certain hours, assumed
austere and even severe looks, and prescribed, among their choice drugs,
the left foot of a tortoise, the liver of a mole, and blood drawn from
under the wing of a white pigeon.
_Not Divine until Smeared with Red Paint._
The inhabitants of the village of Balonda, in Africa, manufacture their
idols by rudely carving a head upon a crooked stick. There is nothing
divine about the idol, however, until it is dotted over with a mixture
of medicine and red ochre.—_Livingstone._
_Gipsy Reticence._
A gipsy will never give a history of himself nor of his race. "My father
is a crow, and my mother a magpie," is frequently the only answer
obtained.
_Carrying Coals to Newcastle._
The old North of England phrase, "To carry coals to Newcastle," finds
its parallel in the Persian taunt of "carrying pepper to Hindostan," and
in the Hebrew, "To carry oil to the City of Olives."
_Mammoth Pawnbroker's Shop._
The _Monte de piété_, in Paris, established by royal command in 1717,
often has in its possession forty casks filled with gold watches that
have been pledged.
_Half-Penny and Farthing._
In 1060, when William the Conqueror began to reign, the penny was cast
with a deep cross, so that it might be broken in half, as a half-penny,
or in quarters, for _four_-things or _far_things, as we now call them.
_An Egg Mistaken for a Pearl._
Linnæus announced to the king and council, in 1761, that he had
discovered an art by which mussels might be made to produce pearls. In
the year 1763 it was said, in the German newspapers that Linnæus was
ennobled on account of his discovery, and that he bore a pearl in his
coat-of-arms. Both statements were false. His patent of nobility makes
no mention of the pearl discovery, and what in his arms has been taken
for a pearl is an egg, which is meant to represent all nature, after the
manner of the ancient Egyptians.
_Spacious Halls._
The old English halls were sometimes so spacious as to admit of a knight
riding up to the high table, as the champion of England was accustomed
to do at the coronation. Chaucer says—
"In at the hall door all suddenly
There came a knight upon a steed,
And up he rideth to the high board."
_Medallions only for the Royal._
Medallions, prior to the time of Hadrian, are rare and of great value,
one of the most beautiful and most famous being a gold medallion of
Augustus Cæsar. Of the Roman medallions, some were struck by order of
the emperors—some by order of the senate. No portrait of a person not
princely occurs on any ancient medal—a remarkable circumstance,
considering the numerous contemporary poets, historians and
philosophers.
_The Queen's Vow._
Catherine de Medicis made a vow, that if some enterprises which she had
undertaken terminated successfully, she would send a pilgrim on foot to
Jerusalem, and that at every three steps he advanced he should go one
step back. A citizen of Verberic offered to accomplish the queen's vow
most scrupulously, and her majesty promised him an adequate recompense.
She was well assured, by constant inquiries, that he fulfilled his
engagement with exactness, and on his return he received a considerable
sum of money and was ennobled.
_Swearing on the Book._
In testimony, oaths have always been associated with something to be
touched or kissed. In England people used to kiss their thumbs instead
of the Bible, and so supposed that they had saved their consciences. A
rustic, in one of Mr. Meredith's novels says, "I swore, but not upon
oath," meaning that he had kissed his thumb, not the book. Arthur Orton,
in the Bush, laid his hand on a copy of Sheridan's plays, "which, though
not a Bible, bore a cross." So Zeus lays his hand on the earth, in
Homer, when he swears by that planetary body. People had to touch relics
when they swore in the Middle Ages, as in the famous oath of Harold. The
Danes, when they invaded England, were ready to take any oath with
impunity, save that of touching a certain sacred ring or armlet. Hamlet
made his comrades lay their hands on the blade of his sword.
_Chinese Oath._
At the Thames public office, in London, some years ago, two Chinese
sailors were examined on a charge of assaulting another Chinese sailor.
The complainant was examined according to the custom of their country. A
Chinese saucer being given to him, and another to the interpreter, they
both advanced toward the window, directed their eyes to heaven, and
repeated in their own tongue the following: "In the face of God I break
this saucer; if it comes together again, Chinaman has told a lie, and
expects not to live five days; if it remains asunder, Chinaman has told
the truth, and escapes the vengeance of the Almighty." They then smashed
the saucers in pieces on the floor, and returned to their places to be
examined.
_Color of the Hat for Cardinals._
Innocent IV. first made the hat the symbol or cognizance of the
cardinals, enjoining them to wear a _red_ hat at the ceremonies and
processions, in token of their being ready to spill their blood for the
Saviour.
_Cat-Concert._
Some years ago there was a cat-concert held in Paris. It was called
"Concert Miaulant," from the mewing of the animals. They were trained by
having their tails pulled every time a certain note was struck, and the
unpleasant remembrance caused them to mew each time they heard the sound
again.
_Mob Wisdom._
A singular instance of a mob cheating themselves by their own headlong
impetuosity is to be found in the life of Woodward, the comedian. On one
occasion, when he was in Dublin, and lodged opposite the Parliament
House, a mob, who were making the members swear to oppose an unpopular
bill, called out to his family to throw them a Bible out of the window.
Mr. Woodward was frightened, for they had no such book in the house, but
he threw them out a volume of Shakespeare, telling the mob they were
welcome to it. They gave him three cheers, swore the members upon the
book, and afterwards returned it without having discovered its
character.
_Queer Arctic Music._
One of the greatest curiosities in the arctic regions is the music which
the traveler has with him wherever he goes. The moisture exhaled from
his body is at once condensed and frozen, and falls to the ground in the
form of hard spikes of crystals, which keep up a constant and not
unpleasing clatter.
_Fineness of Indian Muslins._
At the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the local committee of
Dacca, in India, gave notice that they would award prizes for the best
piece of muslin that could be woven in time for the Exhibition. The
piece which received the first prize was ten yards long and one yard
wide, weighed only three ozs. two dwts., and could be passed through a
very small ring.—_Prof. Royle._
_Mummies Converted into Paint._
Few persons are aware that veritable Egyptian mummies are ground into
paint. In Europe mummies are used for this purpose—the asphaltum with
which they are impregnated being of a quality far superior to that which
can elsewhere be obtained, and producing a peculiar brownish tint when
made into paint, which is highly prized by distinguished artists. The
ancient Egyptians, when they put away their dead, wrapped them in
clothes saturated with asphaltum, and could never have realized the fact
that ages after they had been laid in the tombs and pyramids along the
Nile, their dust would be used in painting pictures in a country then
undiscovered, and by artists whose languages were unknown to them.
_Swallowed by an Earthquake and Thrown out Again._
A tombstone in the island of Jamaica has the following inscription:
"Here lieth the body of Lewis Galdy, Esq., who died on the 22d of
September, 1737, aged 80. He was born at Montpellier, in France, which
place he left for his religion, and settled on this island, where, in
the great earthquake, 1672, he was swallowed up, and by the wonderful
providence of God, by a second shock was thrown out into the sea, where
he continued swimming until he was taken up by a boat, and thus
miraculously preserved. He afterwards lived in great reputation, and
died universally lamented."
_Scripture Prices._
Abraham paid 400 shekels of silver ($200) for a piece of land for a
burying-place. In Solomon's time (1 Kings x. 29) it is mentioned that
the price of a chariot from Egypt was 600 shekels of silver ($250). The
price of a horse was 150 shekels (about $72).—_Wells._
_Manufacturing Feat._
In 1811 a gentleman made a bet of one thousand guineas that he would
have a coat made in a single day, from the first process of shearing the
sheep till its completion by the tailor. The wager was decided at
Newbury, England, on the 25th of June in that year, by Mr. John Coxeter,
of Greenham mills, near that town. At five o'clock that morning Sir
John Throckmorton presented two Southdown sheep to Mr. Coxeter, and the
sheep were shorn, the wool spun, the yarn spooled, warped, loomed and
wove, the cloth burred, milled, rowed, dried, sheared and pressed, and
put into the hands of the tailors by four o'clock that afternoon. At
twenty minutes past six the coat, entirely finished, was handed by Mr.
Coxeter to Sir John Throckmorton, who appeared with it before more than
five thousand spectators, who rent the air with acclamations at this
remarkable instance of despatch.
_Wall Paper Pattern._
In the Great Exhibition at London, in 1851, a single pattern of wall
paper, representing a chase in a forest, attracted much attention. To
produce the pattern, twelve thousand blocks had been used.
_Feathers for the Ladies._
Statistics of a late feather sale in England show that to furnish
material for that one sale, at least 9,700 herons or egrets and 15,574
humming birds must have been killed.
_A Man Carries his House on his Head._
Simeon Ellerton, of Craike, Durham, died in 1799, aged 104. This man, in
his day, was a noted pedestrian, and before the establishment of regular
"Posts," was frequently employed in walking commissions, from the
northern counties to London and other places, which he executed with
fidelity and despatch. He lived in a neat stone cottage of his own
erecting, and, what is remarkable, he had literally carried his house on
his head. It was his constant practice to bring back with him from
every journey which he undertook, some suitable stone, or other material
for his purpose, and which, not unfrequently, he carried 40 or 50 miles
on his head.
_Queen Anne's Farthings._
The farthings of Queen Anne have attained a celebrity from the large
prices sometimes given for them by collectors. Their rarity, however,
has been much overrated; it was, indeed, long a popular notion that only
three farthings were struck in her reign, of which two were in public
keeping, while a third was still going about, and, if recovered, would
bring a fabulous price. The Queen Anne farthings were designed by a
German named Crocker or Croker, principal engraver to the mint. They
were only patterns of an intended coin, and, though never put into
circulation, are by no means exceedingly rare.
_No Lead in Lead Pencils._
Lead pencils contain no lead. Lead pencil is as much a misnomer as it
would be to call a horse a cow. Red lead is an oxide of lead, and white
lead is a carbonate of lead, but the black lead used in pencils is
neither a metal nor a compound of metal. It is plumbago or graphite, one
of the forms of carbon.
_Whalebone._
This substance is improperly named, since it has none of the properties
of bone; its correct name is baleen. It is found attached to the upper
jaw, and serves to strain the water which the whale takes into its
mouth, and to retain the small animals upon which it subsists. For this
purpose the baleen is abundant, sometimes eight hundred pieces in one
whale, placed across each other at regular distances, with the fringed
edge towards the mouth.
_Light from Potatoes._
The emission of light from the common potato, when in a state of
decomposition, is sometimes very striking. Dr. Phipson, in his work on
"Phosphorescence," mentions a case in which the light thus emitted from
a cellarful of these vegetables was so strong as to lead an officer on
guard at Strasburg to believe that the barracks were on fire.
_A Very Long Word._
The longest Nipmuck word in Eliot's Indian Bible is in St. Mark i. 40,
_Wutteppesittukgussunnoowehtunkquoh_, and signifies "kneeling down to
him."
_Cobblers' Stalls in Rome._
The streets of Rome in the time of Domitian were so blocked up with
cobblers' stalls that he caused them to be removed.
_Luminous Human Bodies._
Bartholin, in his treatise "De Luce Hominumet Brutorum" (1647), gives an
account of an Italian lady whom he designates as "mulier splendens,"
whose body shone with phosphoric radiations when gently rubbed with dry
linen; and Dr. Kane, in his last voyage to the polar regions, witnessed
almost as remarkable a case of phosphorescence. A few cases are recorded
by Sir H. Marsh, Professor Donovan and other undoubted authorities, in
which the human body, shortly before death, has presented a pale,
luminous appearance.
_Sacred Anchors._
The ancient Greek vessels carried several anchors, one of which, called
the "sacred anchor," was never let go until the ship was in dire
distress.
_Anne Boleyn's Gloves._
Anne Boleyn was remarkably dainty about her gloves. She had a nail which
turned up at the sides, and it was the delight of Queen Catherine to
make her play at cards without her gloves, in order that the deformity
might disgust King Hal.
_Adding Insult to Injury._
This expression has reached us from a fable by Phædrus, a Roman author
who lived in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, and whose writings were first
discovered to modern literature in 1596, at Rheims, in France. The fable
is called "The Bald Man and the Fly," and reads as follows:—
"A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who, endeavoring to crush it,
gave himself a heavy blow. Then said the fly, jeeringly, 'You wanted to
avenge the sting of a tiny insect with death. What will you do to
yourself, who have added insult to injury?'"
_St. Anthony's Fire._
St. Anthony's fire is an inflammatory disease which, in the eleventh
century, raged violently in various parts. According to the legend, the
intercession of St. Anthony was prayed for, when it miraculously ceased;
and, therefore, from that time, the complaint has been called St.
Anthony's fire.
_Before Houses were Numbered._
Before houses were numbered it was a common practice with tradesmen not
much known, when they advertised, to mention the color of their next
neighbor's door, balcony or lamp, of which custom the following copy of
a hand-bill presents a curious instance:—
"Next to the _Golden Door_, opposite Great Suffolk street, near Pall
Mall, at the Barber's Pole, liveth a certain person, Robert Barker, who
has found out an excellent method for sweating or fluxing of wiggs; his
prices are 2_s._ 6_d._ for each bob, and 3_s._ for every tye wigg and
pig-tail, ready money."
_Monkish Prayers._
The monks used to say their prayers no less than seven times in
twenty-four hours—
1st. Nocturnal, at cock-crowing (2 o'clock in the morning).
2d. Matins, at 6 o'clock in the morning.
3d. Tierce, at 9 o'clock in the morning.
4th. Sext, at 12 o'clock noon.
5th. None, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
6th. Vespers, at 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
7th. Compline, soon after 7.
Quarles wrote a neat epigram on the subject—
"For all our prayers the Almighty does regard
The judgment of the _balance_, not the _yard_;
He loves not words, but matter; 't is His pleasure
To buy His wares by _weight_, and not by _measure_."
_A Mammoth Feast._
Leland mentions a feast given by the Archbishop of York, at his
installation, in the reign of Edward IV. There were disposed of—300
quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns of wine, 1000 sheep, 104
oxen, 304 calves, 304 swine, 2000 geese, 1000 capons, 400 swans, 104
peacocks, 1500 hot vension pasties, 4000 cold ones, 5000 custards, hot
and cold.
_Gluttony of the Monks._
The monks of St. Swithin made formal complaint to Henry II. because the
Abbot deprived them of three dishes out of thirteen at every meal. The
monks of Canterbury had seventeen rich and savory dishes every day.
_Ancient Smokers._
When the ancient tower of Kukstatt Abbey fell, in 1779, Whitaker, a few
days afterwards, discovered, embedded in the mortar of the fallen
fragments, several little smoking pipes, such as were used in the reign
of James I., for tobacco, a proof of the fact, which has not been
generally recorded, that long prior to the introduction of that plant
from America, the practice of inhaling the smoke of some indigenous
vegetable prevailed in England.
_Gipsy Dance._
The gipsy women of Spain especially and exclusively dance the Romalis,
imported from the Orient. It is said to be the voluptuous dance which
the daughter of Herodias danced before Herod and his court.
_Chinese Medical Prescriptions._
The Chinese divide their prescriptions into seven classes: 1. The great
prescription; 2. The little prescription; 3. The slow prescription; 4.
The prompt prescription; 5. The odd prescription; 6. The even
prescription; 7. The double prescription. Each of these recipes apply to
particular cases, and the ingredients are weighed with scrupulous
accuracy.
_Queer Evidence of Divinity._
Among the ancients the voluntary motion of inanimate objects was
considered an evidence of their divinity. When Juno paid her celebrated
visit to Vulcan, she found him engaged in the manufacture of tripods,
which moved about and performed their office with a bustling air of
zealous activity—
"Full twenty tripods for his hall be framed,
That, placed on living wheels of massive gold,
Wondrous to tell, instinct with spirit, roll'd
From place to place around the blest abodes,
Self-moved, obedient to the beck of gods."
_Picnics Centuries Ago._