Silex.
Mr. Fox Talbot's Patents.—-The injunction moved for by Mr. Fox Talbot, as reported in The Times of Saturday last, reminds us of a Query which we have been sometimes asked, and which may just now be brought forward with advantage, namely: If Mr. Talbot's patents extend to the collodion process, how comes it that the earliest practisers of the collodion art had to make their own researches? We know one skilful photographer whose experiments were so extensive before he made any tolerable pictures, that his spoiled glass and cuttings were more than a man could lift.
Replies to Minor Queries.
The Olympic Plain (Vol. ix., p. 270.).—I have just seen, in examining the contents of a German periodical, that in May, 1853, a proposal was submitted to the public by Professor Ross, of the University of Halle, for setting on foot a subscription to defray the expense of making excavations in Olympia, thus anticipating, by nearly a year, a recent suggestion to the same effect in "N. & Q." Professor Ross expatiates at considerable length (see Jahrbücher für Philologie und Pädagogik, vol. lxviii. p. 203.) on the advantages to be derived, as regards the arts, the literature, and the history of Greece, from the exploration of so celebrated a spot; but, notwithstanding all his arguments and eloquence, the amount of the subscriptions, after the lapse of nine months, only amounted, in February, 1854, to about 38l. As this sum was so utterly inadequate for the object intended, it was resolved to devote it to excavations in Mykenæ. Professor Ross takes occasion to pay a high tribute of praise to Lord Aberdeen, for the service rendered by his Lordship in discovering the treasury at Mykenæ. The facilities at Olympia for carrying on excavations are stated by Professor Ross to be very great. It is but a few miles distant from the sea, on the banks of a navigable river, and opposite to the very populous island of Zante; so that workmen, and means, and helps of all kinds can easily be procured. It was intended to give the superintendence of the excavations to Professor Alexander Rizo Rangabe, of the University of Athens, who was to be supplied with an adequate staff of artists, &c. Whatever discoveries might be made, were to become the property of the Greek nation. Travellers were to be permitted to visit the excavations during their progress, and to see all that was going on; and it was thought that a considerable number might be attracted to the spot, as the Austrian steamers convey passengers weekly in three or four days from Trieste to the western coast of the Morea.
J. Macray.
Encyclopædia of Indexes, or Table of Contents (Vol. ix., p. 371.).—Your correspondent Thinks I to Myself inquires respecting the desirableness and practicability of forming an "Encyclopædia of Indexes, or Tables of Contents." It was to meet this want (which is very commonly felt) that the publication of the Cyclopædia Bibliographica was undertaken. The work has met your approval, and I have the pleasure of announcing that the volume will be completed on June 1. I think it will meet the desire of your correspondent and many others, who, "in reading up on any subject, wish to know whether any author treats upon it, without being obliged to examine his works, at a great expense of time and labour."
James Darling.
"One New Year's Day" (Vol. ix., p. 467.).—The lines quoted by Mr. Skyring are the opening lines of an old ballad, entitled "Richard of Taunton Dean, or Dumble Dum Deary." It may be found in Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, edited (for the Percy Society) by J. H. Dixon, Esq., who says:
"This song is very popular with the country people in every part of England, but more particularly so with the inhabitants of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. There are many different versions."