THANKSGIVING Day. (11, 103.) The earliest Thanksgiving-day proclamation that is to be found in a printed form is the one issued by His Excellency Francis Bernard, Captain-General and Governor-inChief in and over His Majesty's province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, and Vice Admiral of the same in 1767. It reads as follows:

As the Business

A PROCLAMATION FOR A PUBLIC THANKSGIVING. of the Year is now drawing towards a Conclusion, we are reminded, according to the laudable Usage of this Province, to join together in a grateful Acknowledgement of the manifold Mercies of the Divine Providence conferred upon Us in the passing Year: Wherefore, I have thought fit to appoint, and do with the advice of His Majesty's Council appoint, Thursday, the Third Day of December next, to be a day of public Thanksgiving, that we may thereupon with one Heart and Voice return our most humble Thanks to Almighty God for the gracious Dispensations of His Providence since the last religious Anniversary of this kind; and especially for-that he has been pleased to preserve and maintain our most gracious Sovereign King GEORGE in Health and Wealth, in Peace and Honor; and to extend the Blessings of his Government to the remotest Part of his Dominions; that He hath been pleased to bless and preserve our gracious Queen CHARLOTTE, their Royal Highnesses the Prince of WALES, the Princess Dowager of WALES, and all the Royal family, and by the frequent Encrease of the Royal Issue to assure to us the Continuation of the Blessings which we derive from that illustrious House ;—that he hath been pleased to prosper the whole British Empire by the Preservation of Peace, the Encrease of Trade, and the opening of new Sources of National Wealth; and now particularly that he hath been pleased to favor the people of this province with healthy and kindly Seasons, and to bless the Labor of their Hands with a sufficiency of the Produce of the Earth and of the Sea.

And I do exhort all Ministers of the Gospel, with their several Congregations, within this Province, that they assemble on the said day in a Solemn manner to return their most humble thanks to Almighty GOD for these and all other of His Mercies vouchsafed unto us, and to beseech him, notwithstanding our Unworthiness, to con:inue His gracious Providence over us. And I command and enjoin all Magistrates and Civil Officers to see that the said day be observed as a Day set apart for religious worship, and that no servile labor be permitted thereon.

GIVEN at the Council Chamber at Boston, the Fourth Day of November, 1767, in the Eighth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign

Lord GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c.

By his Excellency's Command.

GOD SAVE THE KING.

FRA. BERNARD. A. OLIVER, Secy.

CAXTON.

DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL. (p. 639, a.) This proverbial expression is taken from the door nail, that is the nail on which, in old doors, the knocker strikes. It is therefore, used as a comparison to any one irrecoverably dead.

Falstaff What! Is the old King dead?

Pistol-As nail in door.-Shakespeare. 2 King Henry IV., (v. 3.) DEAD AS A HERRING has a similar origin. That fish, which when fat is called a 66 bloater," dies immediately upon its removal from the sea. It wants air and can live only in salt water; whereas an eel lives a long time after leaving its native element. Swimming so near the surface as it does, the herring requires much air, and the gills when dry can not perform their function-that of breathing.

By gar the herring is no dead so I will kill him.-Merry Wives of Windsor, (II, 3.) CAXTON.

WRITING THE DECIMAL POINT. (p. 630.) In France and Germany 1-4 reduced to a decimal is written 0,25; in England usually o'25; in the United States, 0.25; that is, the first two countries use the comma for a decimal point, while [American writers use the period. For the purpose of indicating the units place Sir Isaac Newton proposed that the point be placed near the top to distinguish it from the punctuation mark, and this practice, says Dr. Peacock, is followed by all good mathematicians. English writers generally use the point as proposed by Newton, and the period as a sign of multiplication. W. BRAINS. (432, 469.) The cranium of Descartes the Erench metaphysician and mathematician was 1700 centimetres cubic capacity. CAXTON.

CHEEK BY JOWL. (p. 639, a.) Taken from The Midsummer Night's Dream, (III, 2,) implies a tête-à-tête. Jowl is either from the Irish gial, or from the Saxon ceol or cide a cheek. The proverb is sometimes pronounced "jig by jole." CAXTON.

ANTAGONISTIC WOODS. Walnut and cypress, and cypress and cedar, will rot each other while joined together, but on separation the rot will cease.

J. Q. A.

JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY. (p. 624, h.) Derives its name from the Latin judex, or judge. But anciently this term had a wider meaning. The rulers of Carthage and Palestine were called suffetes or judges. These officials belonged to the caste of priests, who were the cohens, manter's or diviners of those days. As a technic it was long ages older than Judea, although practiced there as much as elsewhere. It is hardly prudent for one to speak candidly of astrology, now that every mention of it invites supercilious contempt and a villainous ribaldry. It seems based upon the idea that life and destiny are universal, and that every globe, planet and star, is their abode and avator. From Zarcastle to Kepler, a God, angel, or soul was believed to be in every star. Since modern science has sought to turn God, angels and souls out of the universe, it has still been recognized that polarity and magnetism exist in every heavenly body, and influence the motion, the telluric and atmospheric condition of every stellar world. It can be but a step farther to perceive that such influence will also affect the health, the mental and moral condition, and so the actions and destinies of Causation is eternal and from the. region beyond time and Hence, after all consideration has been given, which is due to the charlatanic practices and utterances of those who profess the art of astrology, there is abundant room left for a teachable confidence in the truth which may underlie the whole matter. See Genesis, I, 14— "let them be for signs"-Hebrew A T u T,-signs, symbols and

men. sense.

attests.

A. WILDER.

MAD AS A HATTER. (p. 639, a.) This is a corruption of "mad as an atter." Atter is the Saxon equivalent for our word adder. Conf. German, "natter."

CAXTON.

PSEUDONYMS ETC. "A fictitious name is either a pseudonym, a geonym, a titlonym, a phraseonym, a phrenonym, a demonym, a prenonym, a cryptonym, a polynym, an aristonym, an ironym, a scenonym, a translationym, an allonym, a pharmaconym, a pseudandry, a pseudojyn, an apocryph, an ananym, an anastroph, ana nagram, a telonysm, an alphabetism, initialism, an abbreviation, a pseudo-geonyn, etc., etc." [See page 107, No. 17, EDUCATIONAL NOTES AND QUIRIES, when edited by W. D. Henkle.] We should like to see some of these terms explained. H. A. WOOD.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES, ETC. (p. 590, e.) This oftquoted saying originated at the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland, when London was inundated with Scotchmen. Jealous of their invasion, the Duke of Buckingham organized a movement against them, and parties were formed for the purpose of breaking the windows of their abodes. By way of retaliation a number of Scotchmen smashed the windows of the Duke's mansion, known as the "Glass House," in St. Martin's Fields, and on his complaining to the King, his majesty replied: "Steenie, Steenie, those who live in glass houses should be carefu' how they fling stanes." CAXTON.

ALL SAINTS' DAY. (p. 650, f.) The Pope of Rome A. D. 610, ordained that the pantheon should be converted into a Christian church and dedicated to the honor of all martyrs. On May 1st of that year the festival of All Saints, or All Hallows, was first held, but was changed to November 1st in A. D. 834. CAXTON.

TRANSLATION OF LUCRETIUS. (p. 608, k.) I suppose this translation of Lucretius as good as any: De nihilo nihil, in nihilnm nil posse reverti;-from nothing comes nothing, into nothing can nothing A. W.

return.

PAN-HANDLE. (p. 624, b.) Pan-Handle is a designation of that district of country intersected by the railroad thence called Pan-Handle route. I never gave the matter attention, but rested content with the surmise that a little strip of Virginian territory between the Ohio river and Pennsylvanian line was so named in burlesque of the shape on the map. A. W. means "heart"; Sieur is simply a CAXTON.

COEUR SIEUR. (p. 639, c.) The former word hence, "coeur-de-lion," lion-hearted, valiant, brave. contraction"Signeur," or "Signior."

EUCLID, FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION. (p. 640, d.)

has been answered on page 9 of vol. 1.

This query.

BOOK, FIRST PRINTED IN ENGLAND. (p. 640, e.) This query has been answered on page 8 of vol. 1.

FIRST DAILY PAPER IN AMERICA. (p. 640, f.) This query has been answered on page 9 of vol. 1.

GOLOID DOLLAR. (p. 640, m.) This query has been answered on page 218 of vol. 1.

CAXTON.

ERRATA. On page 634, twelfth line from bottom, for "independent " read indeterminate.

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