Notes and Queries, Number 74, March 29, 1851 | Page 8

bell than any in the peal (the sanctus bell of old, perhaps, and now sometimes vulgarly called "Tom Tinkler") announces that divine service is about to begin.
The object of these remarks is to elicit clearly what is the right way of ringing the bells of a church on the several occasions of their being used.
ALFRED GATTY.
Ecclesfield.
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MAZER WOOD: GUTTA PERCHA.
In the Mus?um Tradescantianum, or a Collection of Rarities preserved at South Lambeth, near London, by John Tradescant, 1656, I find, amongst "other variety of rarities," "the plyable Mazer wood, which, being warmed in water, will work to any form;" and a little farther on, in the list of "utensils and household stuffe," I also find "Mazer dishes." In my opinion, it is more than a coincidence that Doctor Montgomery, who, in 1843, received the gold medal of the Society of Arts for bringing gutta percha and its useful properties under the notice of that body, describes it in almost the same words that Tradescant uses when speaking of the pliable Mazer wood: the Doctor says, "it could be moulded into any form by merely dipping it into boiling water." It is worthy of remark that Tradescant, who was the first botanist of his day, seems to have been uncertain of the true nature of the "Mazer wood," for he does not class it with his "gums, rootes, woods;" but, as before observed, in a heterogeneous collection which he styles "other variety of rarities." Presuming, as I do, that this Mazer wood was what we now term gutta percha, the question may be propounded, how could Tradescant have procured it from its remote locale? The answer is easy. In another part of the Mus?um Tradescantianum may be found a list of the "benefactors" to the collection; and amongst their names occurs that of William Curteen, Esq. Now this William Curteen and his father Sir William, of Flemish Descent, were the most extensive British merchants of the time, and had not only ships trading to, but also possessed forts and factories on, some of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, the native habitat of the sapotaceous tree that yields the gutta percha. Curteen was a collector of curiosities himself, and no doubt his captains and agents were instructed to procure such: in short, a specimen of gutta percha was just as likely to attract the attention of an intelligent Englishman at Amboyna in the fifteenth century, as it did at Singapore in the nineteenth.
If there are still any remains of Tradescant's collection in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, the question, whether the Mazer wood was gutta percha or not, might be soon set at rest; but it is highly probable that the men who ordered the relics of the Dodo to be thrown out, showed but little ceremony to the Mazer wood or dishes.
A curious instance of a word, not very dissimilar to Mazer, may be found in Eric Red's Saga, part of the Flat? Annals, supposed to be written in the tenth century, and one of the authorities for the pre-Columbian discovery of America by the Icelanders. Karlsefne, one of the heroes of the Saga, while his ship was detained by a contrary wind in a Norwegian port, was accosted by a German, who wished to purchase his, Karlsefne's, broom.
"'I will not sell it,' said Karlsefne. 'I will give you half a mark in gold for it,' said the German man. Karlsefne thought this a good offer, and thereupon concluded the bargain. The German man went away with the broom. Karlsefne did not know what wood it was; but it was M?sur, which had come from Wineland!"
Perhaps some reader may give an instance of Mazer wood being mentioned by other writers; or inform me if the word Mazer, in itself, had any peculiar signification.
W. PINKERTON.
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Minor Queries.
Paul Pitcher Night.--Can any of the contributors to "NOTES AND QUERIES" throw light upon a curious custom, prevalent in some parts of Cornwall, of throwing broken pitchers, and other earthen vessels, against the doors of dwelling-houses, on the eve of the Conversion of St. Paul, thence locally called "Paul pitcher night?" On that evening parties of young people perambulate the parishes in which the custom is retained, exclaiming as they throw the sherds,--
"Paul's eve, And here's a heave!"
According to the received notions, the first "heave" cannot be objected to; but, upon its being repeated, the inhabitants of the house whose {240} door is thus attacked may, if they can, seize the offenders, and inflict summary justice upon them; but, as they usually effect their escape before the door can be opened, this is not easily managed.
Query, Can this apparently unintelligible custom have any reference to the 21st verse of the IXth chap. of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans: