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NOTES AND QUERIES. p* s. L AHUL 23, i*.
relation to the position of the stars with
respect to the prolongation of that axis and
be functions, so to speak, of the star's appa-
rent place in the heavens. This is by no
means the case. The late Mr. Proctor dis-
cussed a very large number of proper motions,
and succeeded in showing that in several
instances groups of stars drifted in certain
directions; but these directions were very
various and had no relation to their positions
with respect to the earth's axis, so that they
were really cases of star-drift. Besides these
there are a considerable number of instances
in which " runaway " stars are moving much
more rapidly than any neighbouring stars ;
Groombridge, 1830, has lately been super-
seded as the largest known case of these. MR.
HAINES says that he has as much contempt
for popular books on astronomy as I have.
Let me then state that I have none at all
the very reverse. What I understand by a
- ' popular " book on science is one which
avoids technical and mathematical details, and seeks to make known the results obtained for the benefit of general readers. Such admirable books as Airy's 'Popular Astro- nomy,' Prof. Newcomb's ' Popular Astronomy,' and many others that might be named, fulfil a very useful purpose, though many of them are brief, and cannot enter into matters in great detail. In conclusion (and this is my last word on the subject) I should like to ask MR. HAINES how his remark on the "con- spiracy of silence" with regard to General Drayson's theory is consistent with the latter's own statement that his views have been so widely accepted, both in Europe and America, that those who do not accept them are in a fair way to be considered " fossil astro- nomers." Amongst these I am afraid the undersigned must still be included. In the words of the Director of the Goodsell Obser- vatory, " there is no such second rotation of the earth." W. T. LYNN.
"DiFFicULTED" (8 th S. xii. 484; 9 th S. i. 55, 156). I venture to suggest that your first correspondent on this point should again consult the ' Historical English Dictionary.' Under 'Difficult' (verb) he will find plenty of instances of a phrase which is by no means unusual. Surely the Clarendon Press need not spend their funds in giving a separate entry for every inflexion of every word.
Q. V.
AUTOGRAPHS (9 th S. i. 268). I have a collec- tion of about 3,000 or 4,000 autograph letters. They are all contained in large " guard " books, labelled "Literature," "Science," " Art," " Music and the Drama," &c. As the
book lies open I fix the autograph letter
(with a slight dab of stickphast on the four
corners at the back) in the centre of the right-
hand page. Beneath I write the full name
and title of the man or woman as the case
may be. Beside the letter I generally fasten
a photograph or engraving of the writer of
the autograph. The opposite page is devoted
to scraps culled from newspapers, &c., all
connected in some way with the same person.
Should this person be an author, I invariably
insert characteristic extracts from his or her
books. In the case of an artist, engravings
of that particular artist's pictures are much
in evidence. The " guard " is very useful for
large sheets of letterpress or engravings.
To it these are attached with stamp edging.
I have devoted much spare time to the build-
ing up of these volumes during the past
twenty years, and I must own that some of
them are by this time getting very bulky.
I need hardly add that they are amongst my
most cherished possessions, and that I have
never had cause to regret my system of
arrangement. JOHN T. PAGE.
P.S. Of course each of my seventeen volumes is paged and indexed.
An excellent method of keeping autograph letters in order is to attach them by a piece of narrow white tape to the leaf of the album; by doing this it is possible to hold the letter in your hands, disorder is impossible, and rearrangement becomes a simple matter.
A. K. 0.
PATTENS (9 th S. i. 44). It seems hardly fair that the writer of the article in the Sporting Magazine of 1812 should be held blamable for giving to the world " a sample of deriva- tion-making," amusing nay, absurd though it may be. The idea is, to say the least of it, very funny ; but it comes from a greater than the anonymous writer in question, for Gay, in ' Trivia,' i. 281, has these lines :
The patten now supports the frugal dame, Which from the blue-ey'd Patty takes the name.
As the date of the publication of this poem is, I believe, generally placed between the years 1715 and 1717, it would appear that the poet has a prior right to the authorship of the idea, and to be placed among those who now seem to take so much delight in giving us new-fangled and far-fetched derivations, which often prove annoying, if they are laughed at by the students of such matters. W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY. 14, Artillery Buildings, Victoria Street, S.W.
The writer in the Sporting Magazine (1812), when probably in jocular mood suggesting
