Notes and Queries, Number 180, April 9, 1853

"For these lines are the veins, the arteries
And undecaying life-strings of those hearts,
That still shall pant and still shall exercise
The motion spirit and nature both imparts,
And still with those alive so sympathize,
As nourish'd with their powers, enjoy their parts."

    C. W. G.
Skating Problem (Vol. vii., p. 284.).—The Query of your correspondent recalls the one said to have been put by King James to the members of the Royal Society: "How is it," said the British Solomon, "that if two buckets of water be equipoised in a balance, and a couple of live bream be put into one of them, the bucket containing the fish does not overweigh the other?" After some learned reasons had been adduced by certain of the philosophers, one of them said, "Please your Majesty, that bucket would be heavier by the exact weight of the fish." "Thou art right," said the sapient king; "I did not think there had been so much sense among you." Now, although I do not mean to say that A Skater propounds for elucidation what he knows to be a fallacy, yet I do assert that he is mistaken as to the fact alleged. He recommends any one who is "incredulous" to make the trial—in which case, the experimenter would undoubtedly find himself in the water! I advise an appeal to common sense and philosophy: the former will show that a person in skates is not lighter than another; the latter, that ice will not fracture less readily beneath the weight of an individual raised on a pair of steel edges, than one on a pair of flat soles—all other circumstances being the same; the reverse, indeed, would be the fact. The true explanation of the "problem" is to be found in the circumstance, that "a skater," rendered confident by the ease with which he glides over ice on which he could not stand, will often also "stand" securely on ice which would break under the restless feet of a person in his shoes only. This has always appeared to be the obvious reason for the apparent anomaly to one who is

    No Skater.

Parochial Libraries (Vol. vi., p. 432.).—Let me add to the list of parochial libraries that at Wendlebury, Oxon, the gift of Robert Welborn, rector, cir. 1760. It consists of about fifty volumes in folio, chiefly works of the Fathers, and, if I remember rightly, Benedictine editions. It was originally placed in the north transept of the church, but afterwards removed to the rectory. I believe that the books were intended for the use of the rector, but were to be lent to the neighbouring clergy on a bond being given for their restoration. After many years of sad neglect, this library was put into thorough order a few years ago by the liberality of the Rev. Jacob Ley, student of Ch. Ch.

    Cheverells.

Miscellaneous

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC

Books Received.—Reynard the Fox, after the German Version of Goethe, with Illustrations, by J. Wolf. Part IV. carries us on to The Trial, which is very ably rendered.—Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, by various Writers, edited by W. Smith. This Sixth Part, extending from Cinabi to Cyrrhestica, contains numerous interesting articles, such as Constantinople, which gives us an outline of Byzantine History, and Corinth, Crete, Cyrene, &c.—Mr. Darling's Cyclopædia Bibliographica has now reached its Seventh Part, and which extends from Dr. Abernethy Drummond to Dr. John Fawcett.—The Journal of Sacred Literature, No. VII., containing articles on The Scythian Dominion in Asia; Modern Contributions to the Study of Prophecy; Heaven, Hell, Hades; Nature of Sin and its earliest Development; Life and Epistles of St. Paul; Slavery and the Old Testament; Biblical Criticism; Memphitic New Testament; and its usual variety of Correspondence, Minor Notices, &c.—Gentleman's Magazine for April, which commences with an article on Mr. Collier's Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakspeare's Plays.—Mr. Akerman, although the number of subscribers is not sufficient to cover the expenses, continues his Remains of Pagan Saxondum. The Fourth Part just issued contains coloured plates, the full size of the respective objects, of a Fibula from a Cemetery at Fairford, Gloucester; and of Fibulæ, Tweezers, &c. from Great Driffield, Yorkshire.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE

The Truth Teller. A Periodical.

Sarah Coleridge's Phantasmion.

J. L. Petit's Church Architecture. 2 Vols.

R. Mant's Church Architecture Considered in Relation to the Mind of the Church. 8vo. Belfast, 1840.

Cambridge Camden Society's Transactions. Vol. III.—Ellicott on Vaulting.

Quarterly Review, 1845.

Gardeners' Chronicle, 1838 to 1852, all but Oct. to Dec. 1851.

Collier's further Vindication of his short View of the Stage. 1708.

Congreve's Amendment of Collier's false and imperfect Citations. 1698.

Filmer's Defence of Plays, or the Stage vindicated. 1707.

The Stage condemned. 1698.

Bedford's Serious Reflections on the Abuses of the Stage. 8vo. 1705.

Dissertation on Isaiah, Chapter XVIII., in a Letter to Edward King, &c., by Samuel Horsley, Lord Bishop of Rochester. 1799. First Edition, in 4to.

Bishop Fell's Edition of Cyprian, containing Bishop Pearson's Annales Cypriania.

Athenæum Journal, 1847 to 1851 inclusive.

A Description of the Royal Gardens at Richmond in Surry. In a Letter to a Society of Gentlemen. Pp. 32. 8vo. With a Plan and Eight Plates. No date, circa annum 1770?

Memoirs of the Rose, by Mr. John Holland. 1 Vol. 12mo. London, 1824.

Psyche and Other Poems, by Mrs. Mary Tighe. Portrait. 8vo. 1811.

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Notices to Correspondents

W. S. G. is thanked. We have not inserted the two Folk Lore articles he has sent, inasmuch as they are already recorded in Brand.

W. S. D. The saying "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," made so popular by its application to Sterne's "Maria," is from a French proverb "A brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent," which, in a somewhat older form, is to be found in Gruter's Florilegium: Francfort, 1611, p. 353., and in St. Estienne's Premices, published in 1594.—See our 1st Vol., pp. 211. 236. 325. 357. 418.

C. M. I. We propose to insert some articles on Shakspeare in our next or following Number.

M. A. and J. L. S. are referred to our No. 172., p. 157.

Photography. Dr. Diamond's Photographic Notes are preparing for immediate publication in a separate form. We may take this opportunity of explaining that Dr. D. is only an amateur, and has nothing to do with Photography as a profession. We are the more anxious to make this known, since, in consequence of holding an important public office, Dr. Diamond has but little leisure for pursuing his researches.

J. B. S. will find what he requires at p. 277. of our last volume.

C. B. (Birmingham). If the hyposulphite of soda is not thoroughly removed from a Photograph, it will soon become covered with reddish spots, and in a short time the whole picture may disappear. If cyanide of potassium has been used, it is requisite that the greatest care should be used to effect its removal entirely.

W. L. (Liverpool). A meniscus lens of the diameter of four inches should have a focal length of twenty inches, and will produce perfect landscape pictures fourteen inches square. It is said they will cover fifteen inches; but fourteen they do with great definition. We strongly advise W. L. to purchase a good article. It is a bad economy not to go to a first-rate maker at once.

J. M. S. (Manchester). You will find, for a screen to use in the open air, that the white cotton you refer to will be far too light. "Linsey woolsey" forms an admirable screen, and by being left loose upon a stretcher it may be looped up so as to form drapery, &c. If you cannot depend upon the collodion you purchase in your city, pray use your ingenuity, and make some according to the formulary given in Vol. vi., p. 277., and you will be rewarded for your trouble.

C. E. F. The various applications to your bath which you have used have destroyed it in all probability past use. All solutions containing silver will precipitate it in the form of a white powder, upon the addition of common salt; and from this chloride the pure metal is again readily obtained. The collodion of some makers always acts in the manner you describe; and we have known it remedied by the addition of about one drachm of spirits of wine to the ounce of collodion. Spirits of wine also added to the nitrate bath—two drachms of spirits of wine to six ounces of the aqueous solution—is sometimes very beneficial. When collodion is inert, and the colour remains a pale milk and water blue after the immersion, a few drops of saturated solution of iodide of silver may be added, as it indicates a deficiency of the iodide. Should the collodion then be turbid, a small lump of iodide of potassium may be dropped into the bottle, which by agitation will soon effect a clearance; when this is done, the fluid may be poured off from the excess of iodide which remains undissolved.

Alex. Rae (Banff). You shall have a private reply at our earliest leisure. The questions you ask would almost comprise a Treatise on Photography.

H. N. (March 30th). 1st. You will find the opacity you complain of completely removed by the use of the amber varnish, as recommended by Dr. Diamond, unless it proceeds from light having acted generally upon your sensitive collodion in the bath, or during the time of its exposure in the camera; in which case there is no cure for it.—2ndly. A greater intensity in negatives will be produced without the nitric acid, but with an addition of more acetic acid the picture is more brown and never so agreeable as a positive. 3rd. The protonitrate of iron used pure produces a picture as delicate, and having all the brilliancy of a Daguerreotype, without its unpleasant metallic reflexion—the fine metal being deposited of a dead white; and combined with the pyrogallic acid solution in the proportion of one part to six or ten, produces pictures of a most agreeable ivory-like colour.—4th. The protonitrate of iron, when mixed with the pyrogallic acid solution, becomes of a fine violet blue; but after some minutes it darkens. It should only be mixed immediately before using. The colour of the protonitrate of iron will vary, even using the same chemicals. The cheap nitrate of barytes of commerce answers exceedingly well in most cases; but a finer silver surface is obtained by the use of the purified.—5th. We have generally succeeded in obtaining portraits in an ordinary room, the sitter being placed opposite and near the window: of course, a glass-house is much better, the roof of which should be of violet glass, ground on the inner side. This glass can be bought, made especially for the purpose, at 11d. the square foot. It obstructs no chemical rays of light, and is most pleasant to the eyes, causing no fatigue from the great body of light admitted.

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