142. 31. Bacchanalian figures: figures dancing and drinking wine at a celebration of the worship of Bacchus, god of wine.
143. 29. parchment. What is the difference?
147. 20. aqua regia: "royal water," so called because it dissolves gold, is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids.
150. 15. Golconda: a ruined city of India, once famous as a place for the cutting and polishing of diamonds; used figuratively in the sense of a mine of wealth.
150. 30. Read Poe's article on "Cryptography," included in his collected works.
151. 13. Spanish main: that part of the Caribbean Sea adjacent to the coast of South America. It was part of the route of Spanish merchant vessels between Spain and her new-world possessions, and was infested with pirates.
THE PURLOINED LETTER (Page 160)
First published in 1845 (see comment on the detective stories in the Introduction, page xxviii). This story is peculiarly original in its incidents and subtle in its reasoning. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" should certainly be read also, and perhaps it will prove of more sustained interest to the majority of readers.
160. Quotation. Lucius Annæus Seneca (B.C. 4-A.D. 65) was a celebrated Roman philosopher and tutor of the Emperor Nero. The quotation means: "Nothing is more hateful to wisdom than excessive acumen."
160. 3. Dupin: introduced in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."