448
NO PES AND QUERIES. [n s. xn. DEC. 4, 1915.
THE EFFECT OF OPENING A COFFIN
(11 S. xii. 300, 363, 388). In her recent book,
' My Own Past,' Mrs. Ffoulkes relates an
incident imparted to her by the Countess
Marie Larisch, the niece of the late Empress
of Austria, which may best be given in her
own words :
" One day we were talking about the Empress Elizabeth and her extraordinary care of her beauty, and the Countess suddenly observed :
- Yes, fortunately Aunt Cissi was spared the
knowledge of what happened to her body after she had been embalmed.' She then told me a gruesome story about a surreptitious visit which she and her aunt, the late Duchesse d'Alencon, once paid to the vault beneath the Capuchin Church at Vienna, as the Duchesse was most anxious to look upon the features of her beloved sister once again. The coffins of the royal dead are padlocked, and the keys are given into the keeping of the head of the order, but, by dint of much persuasion, the coffin which contained the body of the Empress was opened. A horrible sight, however, met the eyes of her sister and her niece, as something had gone wrong with the preservative process which had been applied to the body. It had turned a bright blue. Exactly, said the Countess, the colour of ultramarine.
' What happened to the Duchesse d'Alencon? ' I asked, much interested in the dreadful story.
' ' She fainted,' replied the Countess, ' and, so did I.' "
WlLLOTJGHBY MAYCOCK.
I possess a pamphlet published at Meaux, by A. Le Blondel, libraire, in 1854, which gives an account of the ' Reconnaissance du Tombeau de Bossuet,' from which I borrow part of the statement given by Houzelot, head surgeon at the hospital at Meaux. Bossuet had been buried in the cathedral in 1704, his corpse being laid in a lead coffin :
" Lorsque le plomb fut enlev, on apercut une couche de poudre composed de tan, de matieres aromatiques et de platre qui remplissait les vides du cercueil .... Les quatre 6paisseurs du linge .... ayant ete e"carte"es, la tete apparut. La tete 6tait dans un 6tat de conservation aussi bon que possible apres un siecle et demi. . . .cheveux longs, fins, colored en brun rougeatre par les substances conservatrices. La peau brunie .... est ferme ; appliquee sur les os, elle laisse voir encore le bel ovale du visage parfaiteinent dessine\ Les ^ cartilages du nez sont d^truits/ La bouche entr 'ouverte laisse voir a la machoire supe>ieure la plupart des dents bien conserves. La langue est dessechee Les yeux sont detruits."
A drawing of the face as it appeared was taken by an artist named Charles Maillot, and a print of it may be seen in the pamphlet. It exactly answers the surgeon's report, and. when compared with Drevet's print from Rigaud's painting, shows how little death had altered the features of the famous bishop after one hundred and fifty years.
A. F. BOURGEOIS.
Allow me to thank several correspondents-
who have replied to my query at the first
reference ; but I must still confess to great
difficulty in understanding the matter..
Only one reply mentions the material of
the coffin, which in that instance was stone,,
and, it is highly probable, was not airtight.
Hence the mere opening of the coffin could
not much alter the chemical conditions, for -
the likelihood that light has anything to do
with the case is very remote. I have
always seen it stated that the crumbling
takes place in a few seconds, and this seems
to imply such a rapid chemical action that
one would almost expect heat, or even, one
might say, fire, to be produced. Moreover,,
if the remains were in such a very delicate
state as is implied, the slightest vibration
would probably cause them to crumble,,
and this vibration would probably be
administered by the act of opening, so that
the crumbling would take place before the
features could be seen. If the body were
in a really airtight lead coffin, the pheno-
menon would seem more likely, though even
then most of the above objections would
hold. ALFRED S. E. ACKERMANN.
HENRY GOSSON, BOOKSELLER (11 S. xii. 401). In vol. xii. of the ' Miscellaneous Publications of the Bibliographical Society ' it is stated that Henry Gosson, 1601 40 f . was one of the sons of Thomas Goscon, and that he had a business at (1) "The Sun," Paternoster Row, 1603-9 ; (2) London Bridge, near the Gate, 1608-40 ; (3) Cathe- rine Wheel Alley, 1613 ; and (4) Pannier Alley ? 1615-22. * He was admitted a free- man of the Stationers' Company on 3 Aug., 1601, " per patrimonium," and presented by his mother, Alice, widow. He dealt extensively in popular literature such as ballads, broadsides, newsbooks, romances, and jest-books. His father died between 1598 and 1600, and his mother kept on the business until her son was made a freeman in 1601. ARCHIBALD SPARKE, F.R.S.L.
THE GERMAN WAR FETISH (US. xii. 198,. 399). Many notes illustrative of the ancient custom of hammering nails into trees, posts,, and statues might be collected from German books on folk-lore. The English version of Grimm's ' Teutonic Mythology ' will almost certainly afford information on the subject.
The practice may now and then be heard of in England. A native of the parish of Hibaldstow in Lincolnshire informed me some years ago that his mother could remember a large tree into which the young:
