ii s. xii. AUG. as, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
167
THEOLOGICAL, DISPUTATIONS BY MEANS
OF SIGNS (US. xii. 96). The interesting
note from tar Japan, at ante, p. 96, prompts
me to cite a parallel or variant. It is a
passage in the life of a Spanish Ambassador
who, with letters of recommendation from
James I., went to Aberdeen University.
The Ambassador believed much in himself,
in gesture language, and in the rumour of
some teacher who used it at Aberdeen.
Xot to disappoint the King or the Ambas-
sador, the Aberdonian professors selected
one Geordy, a local butcher with one eye,
and they plied him with ample hints to
play the dumb man. Geordy, in a gown,
duly met the expectant Ambassador in a
private chamber. At length the Ambas-
sador, who went in with the wish and the
will to believe, came out a greater believer
than ever. He had, as he told the pro-
fessors, lifted one finger to signify that
there was one God. The intelligent mute
had replied by raising two fingers, and this
could only mean that God ruled over two
worlds, the material and spiritual. The
Ambassador had then lifted three fingers,
thereby, of course, asserting the Trinity ;
and again came the appropriate response,
to wit, the closed fist of the mute. The
Ambassador was certain that thus he had
plainly denoted that the Trinity was also
Unity. Exit the satisfied Ambassador.
Enter an angry Geordy to tell how r he had
been insulted. That Spaniard had raised
one finger to say that Geordy had but one
eye. But Geordy had replied with two
fingers, to mean that his one eye was as
good as any two. Then the Spaniard had
raised three fingers, which could only mean
that they had but three eyes between them.
So, as he admitted, Geordy clenched his
fist to strike the rude foreigner, who,
however, took himself off just in time.
This tale, for which I accept no responsi- bility, is to be found in ' Introduction to the Study of Sign Language,' by Garrick Mattery, Washington (1880), p. 43 (Smith- sonian Institute, Bureau of Ethnology), and in other books there reterred to.
I would ask leave to add that, if we condescend to be serious, we may find that gesture - language, like the Greek studies of Browning's professor, is a topic which " branches wide." Its psychological and symbolical aspects, its relations to dance, drama, pictograph, speech, elo- quence, magic, and ritual, its use amongst savages, children, and mutes, its history from palaeolithic man to the modern orator, its capacities even for long narrative, its
limitations, and other relevant matters
would fill pages of ' N. & Q.' Amongst
many references, as to the ancients, see
Quintillian, Institutiones Oratoriae,' XI.
iii. 65 ; Lucietius, v. 1028-32. Amongst
the moderns, in addition to the useful
Mallery, see Sir E. B. Tylor, 'Early History
of Mankind,' chaps, iii. and iv. ; E. J. Payne,
' History of the New World called America,'
ii. (1899), pp. 193 ff. ; Sir A. Evans in
"Anthropology and the Classics' (1908),
pp. 19-24. There are plentiful allusions
to gesture in Y. Him, ' Origins of Art '
(1900) ; E. K. Chambers, ' Mediaeval Stage '
(1903) ; and in ethnological works, e.g.,
Ratzel, ' History oi Mankind ' (1896), i.
p. 36 ; and in books of travel, e.g.. amongst
the more recent, D. Crawford, ' Thinking
Black' (1912), p. 86. See also Hastings,
' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics,'
vi. (1913), s.v. ' Hand,' pp. 496-8, and
' Head,' p. 540, where many authorities are
cited. But, since I do not wish to imagine
a gesture of impatience by editor or reader,
the very incomplete bibliography of this
reply shall here have an end.
GEOBGE WHALE. Savile Club, Piccadilly.
THE PENDRELL PENSIONS (11 S. xii. 99). The descent of some of the beneficiaries is shown in The Pedigree Register, i. 77, notably the families of Yates, Dyson, Fenwick, Winniett, Greenwood, Walker, Hall, Andrews, and Adlam, in a contribution by Mr. N. J. Hone.
GEORGE SHERWOOD.
ALEXANDRETTA (11 S. xii. 93). The consular-agents Charles Usgata, C. D. Hayes, and possibly others, are mentioned in the Aleppo Register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (eighteenth century), now appearing in The Pedigree Register.
GEORGE SHERWOOD.
227, Strand, W.C.
THE VIRTUES OF ONIONS (US. xii. 101, 149). Other virtues claimed for the onion are that it expels catarrh from the system ; stimulates the digestive organs ; softens the skin and clears the complexion ; induces sound, refreshing sleep ; promotes a healthy appetite ; preserves the teeth. For these beneficent powers Allium cepa is said to be indebted to the sulphur it contains. Another ingredient, phosphorus, makes it unsurpassed as a bone-maker and a re newer of the grey matter of the brain. Its tiny globules of volatile oil are said to be so fine that they escape emulsification,
