Replies.

BATTLE OF VILLERS EN COUCHÉ.

(Vol. viii., p. 8.)

I possess a singular work, consisting of a series of Poetical Sketches of the campaigns of 1793 and 1794, written, as the title-page asserts, by an "officer of the Guards;" who appears to have been, from what he subsequently states, on the personal staff of His Royal Highness the late Duke of York. This work, I have been given to understand, was suppressed shortly after its publication; the ludicrous light thrown by its pages on the conduct of many of the chief parties engaged in the transactions it records, being no doubt unpalatable to those high in authority. From the notes, which are valuable as appearing to emanate from an eye-witness, and sometimes an actor in the scenes he describes, I send the following extracts for the information of your correspondent; premising that the letter to which they are appended is dated from the "Camp at Inchin, April 26, 1794."

"As the enemy were known to have assembled in great force at the Camp de Cæsar, near Cambray, Prince Cobourg requested the Duke of York would make a reconnoissance in that direction: accordingly, on the evening of the 23rd, Major-General Mansel's brigade of heavy cavalry was ordered about a league in front of their camp, where they lay that night at a farm-house, forming part of a detachment under General Otto. Early the next morning, an attack was made on the French drawn up in front of the village of Villers en Couchée (between Le Cateau and Bouchain) by the 15th regiment of Light Dragoons, and two squadrons of Austrian Hussars: they charged the enemy with such velocity and force, that, darting through their cavalry, they dispersed a line of infantry formed in their rear, forcing them also to retreat precipitately and in great confusion, under cover of the ramparts of Cambray; with a loss of 1200 men, and three pieces of cannon. The only British officer wounded was Captain Aylett: sixty privates fell, and about twenty were wounded.

"Though the heavy brigade was formed at a distance under a brisk cannonade, while the light dragoons had so glorious an opportunity of distinguishing themselves, there are none who can attach with propriety any blame on account of their unfortunate delay; for which General Otto was surely, as having the command, alone accountable, and not General Mansel, who acted at all times, there is no doubt, according to the best of his judgment for the good of the service.

"The Duke of York had, on the morning of the 26th, observed the left flank of the enemy to be unprotected; and, by ordering the cavalry to wheel round and attack on that side, afforded them an opportunity of gaining the highest credit by defeating the French army so much superior to them in point of numbers.

"General Mansel rushing into the thickest of the enemy, devoted himself to death; and animated by his example, that very brigade performed such prodigies of valour, as must have convinced the world that Britons, once informed how to act, justify the highest opinion that can possibly be entertained of their native courage. Could such men have ever been willingly backward? Certainly not.

"General Mansel's son, a captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, anxious to save his father's life, had darted forwards, and was taken prisoner, and carried into Cambray. Since his exchange, he has declared that there was not, on the 26th, a single French soldier left in the town, as Chapuy had drawn out the whole garrison to augment the army destined to attack the camp of Inchi. Had that circumstance been fortunately known at the time, a detachment of the British army might easily have marched along the Chaussée, and taken possession of the place ere the Republicans could possibly have returned, as they had in their retreat described a circuitous detour of some miles."

Mr. Simpson will perceive, from the above extracts, that the brilliant skirmish of Villers en Couché took place on April 24th; whereas the defeat of the French army under Chapuy did not occur until two days later. A large quantity of ammunition and thirty-five pieces of cannon were then captured; and although the writer does not mention the number who were killed on the part of the enemy, yet, as he states that Chapuy and near 400 of his men were made prisoners, their loss by death was no doubt proportionately large.

The 15th Hussars have long borne on their colours the memorable words "Villers en Couché" to commemorate the daring valour they displayed on that occasion.

T. C. Smith.

In Cruttwell's Universal Gazetteer (1808), this village, which is five miles north-east of Cambray, is described as being "remarkable for an action between the French and the Allies on the 24th of April, 1794." The following officers of the 15th regiment of light dragoons are there named as having afterwards received crosses of the Order of Maria Theresa for their gallant behaviour, from the Emperor of Germany, viz.:

"Major W. Aylett, Capt. Robert Pocklington, Capt. Edw. Michael Ryan, Lieut. Thos. Granby Calcraft, Lieut. Wm. Keir, Lieut. Chas. Burrel Blount, Cornet Edward Gerald Butler, and Cornet Robert Thos. Wilson."

D. S.

SNAIL-EATING.

(Vol. viii., p. 33.)

The Surrey snails referred to by H. T. Riley, are thus mentioned by Aubrey in his account of Box Hill:

"On the south downs of this county (Surrey), and in those of Sussex, are the biggest snails that ever I saw, twice or three times as big as our common snails, which are the Bavoli or Drivalle, which Mr. Elias Ashmole tells me that the Lord Marshal brought from Italy, and scattered them on the Downs hereabouts, and between Albury and Horsley, where are the biggest of all."

Again, Aubrey, in his Natural History of Wiltshire, says:

"The great snailes on the downes at Albury, in Surrey (twice as big as ours) were brought from Italy by * * * Earle Marshal, about 1638."—Aubrey's History, p. 10., edited by John Britton, F.S.A., published by the Wiltshire Topographical Society, 1847.

The first of these accounts, from Aubrey's Surrey, I have quoted in my Promenade round Dorking, 2nd edit. 1823, p. 274., and have added in a note:

"This was one of the Earls of Arundel. It is probably from this snail account that the error, ascribing the planting of the box (on Box Hill) to one of the Earls of Arundel, has arisen. The snails were brought thither for the Countess of Arundel, who was accustomed to dress and eat them for a consumptive complaint."

When I lived at Dorking (1815-1821) a breed of large white snails was found on Box Hill.

John Timbs.

Mr. H. T. Riley is informed that the breed of white snails he refers to is to be plentifully found in the neighbourhood of Shere. I have found them frequently near the neighbouring village of Albury, on St. Martha's Hill, and I am told they are to be met with in the lanes as far as Dorking. I have always heard that they were imported for the use of a lady who was in a consumption; but who this was, or when it happened, I have never been able to ascertain.

Nedlam.

The breed of large white snails is to be found all along the escarpment of the chalk range, and is not confined to Surrey. It is said to have been introduced into England by Sir Kenelm Digby, and was considered very nutritious and wholesome for consumptive patients. About the end of the last century I was in the habit of collecting a few of the common garden snails from the fruit-trees, and taking them every morning to a lady who was in a delicate state of health; she took them boiled or stewed, or cooked in some manner with milk, making a mucilaginous drink.

E. H.

I have somewhere read of the introduction of a foreign breed of snails into Cambridgeshire, I forget the exact locality, for the table of the monks who imported them; but unfortunately it was before I commenced making "notes" on the subject, and I have not been able to recollect where to find it.

Seleucus.

INSCRIPTION NEAR CIRENCESTER.

(Vol. viii., p. 76.)

This inscription is not "in Earl Bathurst's park," as your correspondent A. Smith says, but is in Oakley Woods, situated at some three or four miles' distance from Cirencester, and being separated and quite distinct from the park; nor is the inscription correctly copied. Rudder, in his new History of Gloucestershire, 1779, says:

"Concealed as it were in the wood stands Alfred's Hall, a building that has the semblance of great antiquity. Over the door opposite to the south entrance, on the inside, is the following inscription in the Saxon character and language [of which there follows a copy]. Over the south door is the following Latin translation:

"'Fœdus quod Ælfredus & Gythrunus reges, omnes Anglia sapientes, & quicunq; Angliam incolebant orientalem, ferierunt; & non solum de seipsis, verum etiam de natis suis, ac nondum in lucem editis, quotquot misericordiæ divinæ aut regiæ velint esse participes jurejurando sanxerunt.

"'Primò ditionis nostræ fines ad Thamesin evehuntur, inde ad Leam usq; ad fontem ejus; tum recta ad Bedfordiam, ac deniq; per Usam ad viam Vetelingianam.'"

I copy from Rudder, with the stops and contracted "et's," as they stand in his work; though I think the original has points between each word, as marked by A. Smith.

The omissions and mistakes of your correspondent (which you will perceive are important) are marked in Italics above.

Rudder adds,—

"Behind this building is a ruin with a stone on the chimney-piece, on which, in ancient characters relieved on the stone, is this inscription:

"It would have been inexcusable in the topographer to have passed by so curious a place without notice; but the historian would have been equally culpable who should not have informed the reader that this building is an excellent imitation of antiquity. The name, the inscription, and the writing over the doors, of the convention between the good king and his pagan enemies, were probably all suggested by the similarity of Achelie, the ancient name of this place, to Æcglea, where King Alfred rested with his army the night before he attacked the Danish camp at Ethandun, and at length forced their leader Godrum, or Guthrum, or Gormund, to make such convention."

It is many years since I saw the inscription, and then I made no note of it; but I have no doubt that Rudder has given it correctly, because when I was a young man I was intimately acquainted with him, who was then an aged person; and a curious circumstance that occurred between us, and is still full in my memory, impressed me with the idea of his great precision and exactness.

I would remark on the explanation given by Rudder, that the Iglea of Asser is supposed by Camden, Gibson, Gough, and Sir Richard Colt Hoare to be Clayhill, eastward of Warminster; and Ethandun to be Edington, about three miles eastward of Westbury, both in Wilts.

Asser says that, "in the same year," the year of the battle, "the army of the pagans, departing from Chippenham, as had been promised, went to Cirencester, where they remained one year."

On the signal defeat of Guthrum, he gave hostages to Alfred; and it is probable that, if any treaty was made between them, it was made immediately after the battle; and not that Alfred came from his fortress of Æthelingay to meet Guthrum at Cirencester, where his army lay after leaving Chippenham.

If the treaty was made soon after the battle, it might have been at Alfred's Hall near Cirencester, especially if Hampton (Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire), which is only six miles from Oakley Wood, be the real site of the great and important battle, as was, a few years since, very plausibly argued by Mr. John Marks Moffatt, in a paper inserted, with the signature "J. M. M.," in Brayley's Graphic and Historical Illustrator, p. 106. et seq., 1834.

The mention of Rudder's History brings to my mind an inscription over the door of Westbury Court, which I noticed when a boy at school, in the village of Westbury in this county. This mansion was taken down during the minority of Maynard Colchester, Esq., the present owner of the estate. Rudder, in his account of that parish, has preserved the inscription—

He reads the first three letters "Deo Optimo Maximo," and says the subsequent line contains the initials of the following hexameter:

alluding to the successive descent of property from one generation to another.

Perhaps one of your readers may be enabled to tell me whether the above line be original, or copied, and from whom.

P. H. Fisher.

Stroud.

The agreement referred to is no other than the famous treaty of peace between Alfred and Guthrun, whose name, by the substitution of an initial "L." for a "G.," among various other inaccuracies for which your correspondent is perhaps not responsible, has been disguised under the form of "Lvthrvnvs." The inscription itself forms the commencement of the treaty, which is stated, in Turner's Anglo-Saxons, book iv. ch. v., to be still extant. It is translated as follows, in Lambard's Αρχαιονομια, p. 36.:—

"Fœdus quod Aluredus & Gythrunus reges ex sapientum Anglorum, atque eorum omnium qui orientalem incolebant Angliam consulto ferierunt, in quod præterea singuli non solum de se ipsis, verum etiam de natis suis, ac nondum in lucem editis (quotquot saltem misericordiæ divinæ aut regiæ velint esse participes), jurarunt.

"Primo igitur ditionis nostræ fines ad Thamesim fluvium evehuntor: Inde ad Leam flumen profecti, ad fontem ejus deferuntor: tum rectà ad Bedfordiam porriguntor, ac denique per Usam fluvium porrecti ad viam Vetelingianam desinunto."

Another translation will be found in Wilkins's Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ, p. 47., and the Saxon original in both. As to the boundaries here defined, see note in Spelman's Alfred, p. 36.

At Cirencester Guthrun remained for twelve months after his baptism, according to his treaty with Alfred. (See Sim. Dunelm. de gestis Regum Anglorum, sub anno 879.)

J. F. M.

CURIOUS CUSTOM OF RINGING BELLS FOR THE DEAD.

(Vol. viii., p. 55.)

W. W., alluding to such a custom at Marshfield, Massachusets, asks "if this custom ever did, or does now exist in the mother country?" The curiosity is that your worthy Querist has never heard of it! Dating from Malta, it may be he has never been in our ringing island: for it must be known to every Englishman, that the custom, varying no doubt in different localities, exists in every parish in England.

The passing bell is of older date than the canon of our church, which directs "that when any is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and the minister shall not then slack to do his duty. And after the party's death, if it so fall out, then shall be rung no more than one short peal."

It is interesting to learn that our colonists keep up this custom of their mother country.

In this parish, the custom has been to ring as quickly after death as the sexton can be found; and the like prevails elsewhere. I have known persons, sensible of their approaching death, direct the bell at once to be tolled.

"Defunctos plorare" is probably as old as any use of a bell; but there is every reason to believe that—

"the ringing of bells at the departure of the soul (to quote from Brewster's Ency.) originated in the darkest ages, but with a different view from that in which they are now employed. It was to avert the influence of Demons. But if the superstition of our ancestors did not originate in this imaginary virtue, while they preserved the practice, it is certain they believed the mere noise had the same effect; and as, according to their ideas, evil spirits were always hovering around to make a prey of departing souls, the tolling of bells struck them with terror. We may trace the practice of tolling bells during funerals to the like source. This has been practised from times of great antiquity: the bells being muffled, for the sake of greater solemnity, in the same way as drums are muffled at military funerals."

H. T. Ellacombe.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

At St. James' Church, Hull, on the occurrence of a death in the parish, a bell is tolled quickly for about the space of ten minutes; and before ceasing, nine knells given if the deceased be a man, six if a woman, and three if a child. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the custom is now almost peculiar to the north of England; but in ancient times it must have been very general according to Durandus, who has the following in his Rationale, lib. i. cap. 4. 13.:

"Verum aliquo moriente, campanæ debent pulsari; ut populus hoc audiens, oret pro illo. Pro muliere quidem bis, pro eo quod invenit asperitatem.... Pro viro vero ter pulsator.... Si autem clericus sit, tot vicibus simpulsatur, quot ordines habuit ipse. Ad ultimum vero compulsari debet cum omnibus campanis, ut ita sciat populus pro quo sit orandum."—Mr. Strutt's Man. and Cust., iii. 176.

Also a passage is quoted from an old English Homily, ending with:

"At the deth of a manne three bellis shulde be ronge, as his knyll, in worscheppe of the Trinetee; and for a womanne, who was the secunde persone of the Trinetee, two bellis should be rungen."

In addition to the intention of the "passing-bell," afforded by Durandus above, it has been thought that it was rung to drive away the evil spirits, supposed to stand at the foot of the bed ready to seize the soul, that it might "gain start." Wynkyn de Worde, in his Golden Legend, speaks of the dislike of spirits to bells. In alluding to this subject, Wheatly, in his work on the Book of Common Prayer, chap. xi. sec. viii. 3., says:

"Our Church, in imitation of the Saints of former ages, calls in the minister, and others who are at hand, to assist their brother in his last extremity."

The 67th canon enjoins that, "when any one is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and the minister shall not then slack to do his duty. And after the party's death, if it so fall out, there shall be rung no more than one short peal."

Several other quotations might be adduced (vid. Brand's Antiq., vol. ii. pp. 203, 204. from which much of the above has been derived) to show that "one short peal" was ordered only to be rung after the Reformation: the custom of signifying the sex of the deceased by a certain number of knells must be a relic, therefore, of very ancient usage, and unauthorised by the Church.

R. W. Elliot.

Clifton.

WHO FIRST THOUGHT OF TABLE-TURNING?

(Vol. viii., p. 57.)

Respecting the origin of this curious phenomenon in America, I am not able to give your correspondent, J. G. T. of Hagley, any information; but it may interest him and others among the readers of "N. & Q." to have some account of what appears to be the first recorded experiment, made in Europe, of table-moving. These experiments are related in the supplement (now lying before me) to the Allgemeine Zeitung of April 4, by Dr. K. Andrée, who writes from Bremen on the subject. His letter is dated March 30, and begins by stating that the whole town had been for eight days preceding in a state of most peculiar excitement, owing to a phenomenon which entirely absorbed the attention of all, and about which no one had ever thought before the arrival of the American steam-ship "Washington" from New York. Dr. Andrée proceeds to relate that the information respecting table-moving was communicated in a letter, brought through that ship, from a native of Bremen, residing in New York, to his sister, who was living in Bremen, and who, in her correspondence with her brother, had been rallying him about the American spirit-rappings, and other Yankee humbug, as she styled it, so rampant in the United States. Her brother instanced this table-moving, performed in America, as no delusion, but as a fact, which might be verified by any one; and then gave some directions for making the experiment, which was forthwith attempted at the lady's house in Bremen, and with perfect success, in the presence of a large company. In a few days the marvellous feat, the accounts of which flew like wildfire all over the country, was executed by hundreds of experimenters in Bremen. The subject was one precisely adapted to excite the attention and curiosity of the imaginative and wonder-loving Germans; and, accordingly, in a few days after, a notice of the strange phenomenon appeared in The Times, in a letter from Vienna, and, through the medium of the leading journal, the facts and experiments became rapidly diffused over the world, and have been repeated and commented upon ten thousand fold. As the experiment and its results are now brought within the domain of practical science, we may hope to see them soon freed from the obscurity and uncertainty which still envelope them, and assigned to their proper place in the wondrous system of "Him, in whom we live, and move, and have our being."

John Macray.

Oxford.

SCOTCHMEN IN POLAND.

(Vol. vii., pp. 475. 600.)

"Religious freedom was at that time [the middle of the sixteenth century] enjoyed in Poland to a degree unknown in any other part of Europe, where generally the Protestants were persecuted by the Romanists, or the Romanists by the Protestants. This freedom, united to commercial advantages, and a wide field for the exercise of various talents, attracted to Poland crowds of foreigners, who fled their native land on account of religious persecution; and many of whom became, by their industry and talents, very useful citizens of their adopted country. There were at Cracow, Vilna, Posen, &c., Italian and French Protestant congregations. A great number of Scotch settled in different parts of Poland; and there were Scotch Protestant congregations not only in the above-mentioned towns, but also in other places, and a particularly numerous one at Kieydany, a little town of Lithuania, belonging to the Princes Radziwill. Amongst the Scotch families settled in Poland, the principal were the Bonars, who arrived in that country before the Reformation, but became its most zealous adherents. This family rose, by its wealth, and the great merit of several of its members, to the highest dignities of the state, but became extinct during the seventeenth century. There are even now in Poland many families of Scotch descent belonging to the class of nobles; as, for instance, the Haliburtons, Wilsons, Ferguses, Stuarts, Haslers, Watsons, &c. Two Protestant clergymen of Scotch origin, Forsyth and Inglis, have composed some sacred poetry. But the most conspicuous of all the Polish Scotchmen is undoubtedly Dr. John Johnstone [born in Poland 1603, died 1675], perhaps the most remarkable writer of the seventeenth century on natural history. It seems, indeed, that there is a mysterious link connecting the two distant countries; because, if many Scotsmen had in bygone days sought and found a second fatherland in Poland, a strong and active sympathy for the sufferings of the last-named country, and her exiled children, has been evinced in our own times by the natives of Scotland in general, and by some of the most distinguished amongst them in particular. Thus it was an eminent bard of Caledonia, the gifted author of The Pleasures of Hope, who, when

has thrown, by his immortal strains, over the fall of her liberty, a halo of glory which will remain unfaded as long as the English language lasts. The name of Thomas Campbell is venerated throughout all Poland; but there is also another Scotch name [Lord Dudley Stuart] which is enshrined in the heart of every true Pole."—From Count Valerian Krasinski's Sketch of the Religious History of the Sclavonic Nations, p. 167.: Edinburgh, Johnstone and Hunter, 1851.

J. K.

ANTICIPATORY USE OF THE CROSS.

(Vol. vii., pp. 548. 629.)

I think The Writer of "Communications with the Unseen World" would have some difficulty in referring to the works on which he based the statement that "it was a tradition in Mexico that when that form (the cross) should be victorious, the old religion should disappear, and that a similar tradition attached to it at Alexandria." He doubtless made the statement from memory, and unintentionally confounded two distinct facts, viz. that the Mexicans worshipped the cross, and had prophetic intimations of the downfall of their nation and religion by the oppression of bearded strangers from the East. The quotation by Mr. Peacock at p. 549., quoted also in Purchas' Pilgrims, vol. v., proves, as do other authorities, that the cross was worshipped in Mexico prior to the Spanish invasion, and therefore it was impossible that the belief mentioned by The Writer, &c. could have prevailed.

On the first discovery of Yucatan,—

"Grijaha was astonished at the sight of large crosses, evidently objects of worship."—Prescott's Mexico, vol. i. p. 203.

Mr. Stephens, in his Central America, vol. ii., gives a representation of one of these crosses. The cross on the Temple of Serapis, mentioned in Socrates' Ecc. Hist., was undoubtedly the well-known Crux ansata, the symbol of life. It was as the latter that the heathens appealed to it, and the Christians explained it to them as fulfilled in the Death of Christ.

Mr. Peacock asks for other instances: I subjoin some.

In India.—The great pagoda at Benares is built in the form of a cross. (Maurice's Ind. Ant., vol. iii. p. 31., City, Tavernier.)

On a Buddhist temple of cyclopean structure at Mundore (Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i. p. 727.), the cross appears as a sacred figure, together with the double triangle, another emblem of very wide distribution, occurring on ancient British coins (Camden's Britannica), Central American buildings (Norman's Travels in Yucatan), among the Jews as the Shield of David (Brucker's History of Philosophy), and a well-known masonic symbol frequently introduced into Gothic ecclesiastical edifices.

In Palestine.—

"According to R. Solomon Jarchi, the Talmud, and Maimonides, when the priest sprinkled the blood of the victim on the consecrated cakes and hallowed utensils, he was always careful to do it in the form of a cross. The same symbol was used when the kings and high priests were anointed."—Faber's Horæ Mosaicæ, vol. ii. p. 188.

See farther hereon, Deane on Serpent Worship.

In Persia.—The trefoil on which the sacrifices were placed was probably held sacred from its cruciform character. The cross () occurs on Persian buildings among other sacred symbols. (R. K. Porter's Travels, vol. ii.)

In Britain.—The cross was formed by baring a tree to a stump, and inserting another crosswise on the top; on the three arms thus formed were inscribed the names of the three principal, or triad of gods, Hesus, Belenus, and Taranis. The stone avenues of the temple at Classerniss are arranged in the form of a cross. (Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall.)

In Scandinavia.—The hammer of Thor was in the form of the cross; see in Herbert's Select Icelandic Poetry, p. 11., and Laing's Kings of Norway, vol. i. pp. 224. 330., a curious anecdote of King Hacon, who, having been converted to Christianity, made the sign of the cross when he drank, but persuaded his irritated Pagan followers that it was the sign of Thor's hammer.

The figure of Thor's hammer was held in the utmost reverence by his followers, who were called the children of Thor, who in the last day would save themselves by his mighty hammer. The fiery cross, so well known by Scott's vivid description, was originally the hammer of Thor, which in early Pagan, as in later Christian times, was used as a summons to convene the people either to council or to war. (Herbert's Select Icelandic Poetry, p. 11.)

Eden Warwick.

Birmingham.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Glass Chambers for Photography.—I am desirous to construct a small glass chamber for taking portraits in, and shall be much obliged if you can assist me by giving me instructions how it should be constructed, or by directing me where I shall find clear and sufficient directions, as to dimensions, materials, and arrangements. Is it essential that it should be all of violet-coloured glass, ground at one side, as that would add a good deal to the expense? or will white glass, with thin blue gauze curtains or blinds, answer?

Probably a full answer to this inquiry, accompanied with such woodcut illustrations as would be necessary to render the description complete, and such as an artificer could work by, would confer a boon on many amateur photographers, as well as your obliged servant,

C. E. F.

[In the construction of a photographic house, we beg to inform our correspondent that it is by no means needful to use entirely violet-coloured glass, but the roof thereof exposed to the rays of the sun should be so protected; for although the light is much subdued, and the glare so painful to the eyes of the sitter is taken away, yet but few of the actinic rays are obstructed. It has been proposed to coat the interior with smalt mixed with starch, and afterwards varnished; but this does not appear to have answered. Calico, both white and coloured, has also been used, but it is certainly not so effectual or pleasant. Upon the whole, we think that the main things to attend to are, firmness in its construction, so as to avoid vibration; ample size, so as to allow not only of room for the operator, but also for the arrangements of background, &c., and the sides to open so as to allow a free circulation of air; blinds to be applied at such spots only as shall be found requisite. Adjoining, or in one corner, a small closet should be provided, admitting only yellow light, which may be effectually accomplished by means of yellow calico. A free supply of water is indispensable, which may be conveyed both to and from by means of the gutta percha tubing now in such general use. We apprehend, however, that the old proverb, "You must cut your coat according to your cloth," is most especially applicable to our querist, for not only must the house be constructed according to the advantages afforded by the locality, but the amount of expense will be very differently thought of by different persons: one will be content with any moderate arrangement which will answer the purpose, where another will be scarcely satisfied unless everything is quite of an orné character.]

Dr. Diamond's Replies.—I am sorry I have not before replied to the Queries of your correspondent W. F. E., contained in Vol. viii., p. 41.; but absence from home, together with a pressure of public duties here, has prevented me from so doing.

1st. No doubt a small portion of nitrate of potash is formed when the iodized collodion is immersed in the bath of nitrate of silver, by mutual decomposition; but it is in so small a quantity as not to deteriorate the bath.

2nd. I believe collodion will keep good much longer than is generally supposed; at the beginning of last month I obtained a tolerably good portrait of Mr. Pollock from some remains in a small bottle brought to me by Mr. Archer in September 1850; and I especially notice this fact, as it is connected with the first introduction of the use of collodion in England. Generally speaking, I do not find that it deteriorates in two or three months; the addition of a few drops of the iodizing solution will generally restore it, unless it has become rotten: this, I think, is the case when the gun cotton has not been perfectly freed from the acid. The redness which collodion assumes by age, may also be discharged by the addition of a few drops of liquor ammoniæ, but I do not think it in any way accelerates its activity of action.

3rd. "Washed ether," or, as it is sometimes called, "inhaling ether," has been deprived of the alcohol which the common ether contains, and it will not dissolve the gun cotton unless the alcohol is restored to it. I would here observe that an excess of alcohol (spirits of wine) thickens the collodion, and gives it a mucilaginous appearance, rendering it much more difficult to use by its slowness in flowing over the glass plate, as well as producing a less even surface than when nearly all ether is used. A collodion, however, with thirty-five per cent. of spirits of wine, is very quick, allowing from its less tenacious quality a more rapid action of the nitrate of silver bath.

4th. Cyanide of potassium has been used to re-dissolve the iodide of silver, but the results are by no means so satisfactory; the cost of pure iodide of potassium bought at a proper market is certainly very inconsiderable compared to the disappointment resulting from a false economy.

H. W. Diamond.

Surrey County Asylum.

Trial of Lenses.—When you want to try a lens, first be sure that the slides of your camera are correctly constructed, which is easily done. Place at any distance you please a sheet of paper printed in small type; focus this on your ground glass with the assistance of a magnifying-glass; now take the slide which carries your plate of glass, and if you have not a piece of ground glass at hand, insert a plate which you would otherwise excite in the bath after the application of collodion, but now dull it by touching it with putty. Observe whether you get an equally clear and well-focussed picture on this; if you do, you may conclude there is no fault in the construction of your camera.

Having ascertained this, take a chess-board, and place the pieces on the row of squares which run from corner to corner; focus the middle one, whether it be king, queen, or knight, and take a picture; you will soon see whether the one best in the visual focus is the best on the picture, or whether the piece one or more squares in advance or behind it is clearer than the one you had previously in focus. The chess-board must be set square with the camera, so that each piece is farther off by one square. To vary the experiment, you may if you please stick a piece of printed paper on each piece, which a little gum or common bees'-wax will effect for you.

In taking portraits, if you are not an adept in obtaining a focus, cut a slip of newspaper about four inches long, and one and a half wide, and turn up one end so as it may be held between the lips, taking care that the rest be presented quite flat to the camera; with the help of a magnifying-glass set a correct focus to this, and afterwards draw in the tube carrying the lenses about one-sixteenth of a turn of the screw of the rackwork. This will give a medium focus to the head: observe, as the length of focus in different lenses varies, the distance the tube is moved must be learned by practice.

W. M. F.

Is it dangerous to use the Ammonio-Nitrate of Silver?—Some time ago I made a few ounces of a solution of ammonio-nitrate of silver for printing positives; this I have kept in a yellow coloured glass bottle with a ground stopper.

I have, however, been much alarmed, and refrained from using it or taking out the stopper, lest danger should arise, in consequence of reading in Mr. Delamotte's Practice of Photography, p. 95. (vide "Ammonia Solution"):

"If any of the ammonio-nitrate dries round the stopper of the bottle in which it is kept, the least friction will cause it to explode violently; it is therefore better to keep none prepared."

As in pouring this solution out and back into the bottle, of course the solution will dry around the stopper, and, if this account is correct, may momentarily lead to danger and accident, I will feel obliged by being informed by some of your learned correspondents whether any such danger exists.

Hugh Henderson.