Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/286

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. xii. OCT. 9, 1915.


There are in Bloomsbury two streets which are almost in a straight line with each other, called respectively Great James Street and Millman Street. The first con- tains many business offices, and at No. 32 was the office of Mr. Loaden, Bulwer Lytton's solicitor. Owing to the unfortunate relations between the novelist and his wife the solici- tor's services were much in request, and Bulwer Lytton probably paid many visits to Great James Street. On leaving it he may have passed up Millman Street, and noticed that it consisted mainly of small private houses by no means on a level with those in the better thoroughfares of Blooms- bury. It is in such a house that he repre- sents Mrs. Crane to be living, though he calls the street Upper Podden Place. When two of the characters are trying to find the house, but are not certain whether they are really in Upper Podden Place, one of them ascertains it from a passing pot-boy, who is -chiming his pewter against an area rail with A dull clang, and chanting " Pots oho ! " I think this little incident worthy of mention, as at the corner of Millman Street and 'Guilford Street there is a public-house.

W. A. FBOST.

Sow METAL : PIG IBON. I believe that upwards of seventy years ago the general name for cast iron ingots was " sow metal," and for years there was no other generally common name. Since then the rough metal has been called "cast metal," pig iron," ' cast iron," and other names by iron smelters .and iron workers. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

MAKING MUNITIONS ON THE HEBREW SABBATH. The Jewish Exponent of Phila- delphia reports that

  • ' the Jews of Minsk have decided to work on the

Sabbath day in Russian ammunition factories, regarding this as of such vital importance to the -welfare of the land that the Sabbath might be violated in order to produce more ammunition."

The italics are mine. The decision does not surprise me, seeing there is ample warranty in the Talmud (the story of the saving of Hillel's life by two doctors of the Talmud on the Sabbath day is a classical example) that this holy day may be desecrated if the ^nd in view be to subserve the highest pur- poses of civilized society. English trade unions might take note and follow this noble example. M. L. R. B.

[Trade-unionists in England have been making 'munitions on Sunday for a considerable length of time.]


WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.


SIB HENBY MOODY AND HIS CAMEBA OBSCUBA. In 1634 Peter Mundy, Cornish- man and traveller, was in England, and he paid a visit to John Tradescant, sen., and saw his collection of " rareties." After describing these, he remarks :

"Alsoe att Sir Henry Moodies, lyeing in the Strand, one of his gentlemen shewed mee divers conceipts of his Masters. Amonge the rest, the roome being quite darke, only one little hole in it with a glasse through which the light strooke to the opposite side, where was placed white paper, and thereon was represented, as in a glasse, all that was without, as Boates roweing on the Thames, men rideinge on the other side, trees, etts., but all reversed or upside downe, in their true Collours."

Sir Henry Moody of Garsdon, Wilts, succeeded his father, the first baronet, in 1629, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1636, and died in Virginia in 1661. I should be glad of further particulars as to his scientific pursuits. Mundy's account appears to be an early description of the camera obscura in England. The first English - printed work on the subject that I have found is the ' Dioptrica Nova ' of Wm. Molyneux, pub- lished in 1692. R. C. TEMPLE. The Nash, Worcester.

BEWICKIANA. Some copies of the first (1818) edition of Bewick's 4 Fables of ^Esop ' were printed, and seem to have been issued, with the cut of ' The Fowler and the Lark ' fable, p. 355, appearing over the fable of ' The Fowler and the Blackbird ' at p. 263. If there are still some volumes in existence with this cut so placed, would the owners please say if the cuts for the two fables are transposed at the pages given ?

WHITE LINE.

LONDINA ILLUSTBATA,' published between 1820 and 1830. Particulars as to author and date of imprint will greatly oblige.

ANEUBIN WILLIAMS.

Carnarvon.

[' Londina Illustrata' was, according to the Cata- logue of the London Library, published by Robert Wilkinson in 2 vols. 4to, 1819-25.]

" HUMANITY'S SAVIOUB." There is a plant which among the Chinese bears the above name. Can any one tell me to what genus it belongs, and what are its properties ? and whether it is found in any part of the world but China ? RENIBA.