Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1881-01-29

but proDaDly Inc btranBes' coii1P
ton is that of the word woys-bame.
Bane is the Teutonic word for all
poisonous herbs. The Greeks, mista-
king banes for beans, translated it
kuamos, as they did hen-bane (haos'
ksamos.) Now toolfs bane is an AGO.
mite, with pale yellow flower, and
therefore called whits-bane to distin-
guish it from the blue aconite. The
Greek for white is leukos, hence lcukos-
kuan,os, but lukos is the Greek for
wolf, and by blunder lexkos-k,lamos
(white- bean) got muddlsd into lukos-
k,tamos (wolfs-bane.) Now science
steps in and makes confusion worse
confounded. Botanists, seeing the
absurdity of calling accnite bean,
restored the original word "bane,"
but retained the corrupt word htkos
"a wolff and hence we get the name
woyfs-bane for white aconite.
China as name for porcelain gives
rise to the contradictory expressions
British china, Sevres china, Dresden
china, Chelsea china, Dutch china,
etc., like shoe-h horns, stssl-pens, etc.
Black lead does not contain sim
gle particle of lead, but is composed
of carbon and iron.
Galvanized iron is not galvanized.
1t is simply iron coated with zinc, and
this is done by dipping it in a bath
containing muriatic acid.
Burgundy pitch is not pitch, nor is
it manufactured at or exported from
Burgundy. The best is a resinous
substances prepared for common
frankincense and brought from Ham
burg; but by far the larger quality is
q mixture Ct resin and palm oil.
Prussian blue does not come from
Prussia, but is the precipitate of the
salt of protoxide of iron with red
prussiate of potash.
Salt is no salt at all, and has long
been wholly excluded from the class
of bodies denominated as salts.
Whalebone is no bone at all, nor
does it possess any properties of bone.
1t is substance attached to the upper
Jaw of the whale, aud serves to strain
the water which the creature takes up
in large mouthfuls.
Speaking of whales reminds me of
sperm oil, which properly means
"seed oil, Latin sperma,) from the
notion that it was spermaceti (the
spawn or melt of uhale.) The
spermaceti whale is the one that gives
this "seed oil" which is taken chiefly,
but not wholly, from the head.
Longitude and latitude, the great
dimension and the little a broad di-
mension of the earth. According to
the ancient notion, the world was
bounded on the west by the Atlantic.
but extended an indefinite length
eastward. 1t was similarly terminated
on the south by the tropic of Cancer,
whence it extended northward, but
this extent bsing much less than that
east and west, was called the breadth
or latitude.
Kensington Palace is not in Ken
sington at all, but in the parish Of st.
Margaret, Westminster.
Jerusalem artlchoke has no connsc-
ton with Jerusalem, but with the sun
flower, gerasOIe, which it resembles.
ERRORS AS TO PERSONS.
Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liege,
is made by Sir Walter Scott, in
."Quentin Durwood.' an "old man"
whereas he was only eighteen years of
age, and a scholar at Louvain. He
made his entry into this see in scar
let ieskin and cap set jauntily on one
side.
Philip vi, of France, was calle d te
bien fortune, but never was name more
inappropriate. He was defeated at
Sluys and again on the field of Cresse
he lost Calais and fourth of all his
subjects were carried off by the "black
death"
Louis XIV was styled the "Well
Beloved" which was certainly most
singular and inappropriate title for
this most detestable and verify de-
tested of all kings.
Absalom means "a Fathers Peace"
a fatal name for Dsvid's rebellious
son.
Did you ever think, when reading
that beautiful poem, "on the Shores
of Tennessee" of the age of Ralph
Vervair? If not, just consider the
lapse of time between "when they