The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical: A Cabinet for the Curious — John Shaqi
The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical: A Cabinet for the CuriousStauffer, Frank H.
History
The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical: A Cabinet for the Curious
Stauffer, Frank H.
Literary curiosa
Lightning-prints are appearances sometimes found on the skin of men or
animals that are struck by lightning, and are currently believed to be
photographic representations of surrounding objects or scenery.
At Candelaria, in Cuba, in 1828, a young man was struck dead by
lightning near a house, on one of the windows of which was nailed a
horse-shoe; and the image of the horse-shoe was said to be distinctly
printed upon the neck of the young man. On the 14th of November, 1830,
lightning struck the Chateau Benatonière, in Lavendèe. At the time a
lady happened to be seated on a chair in the salon, and on the back of
her dress were printed minutely the ornaments on the back of the chair.
In September, 1857, a peasant-girl, while herding a cow in the
department of Seine-et-Marne, was overtaken by a thunder-storm. She took
refuge under a tree, and the tree, the cow and herself were struck with
lightning. The cow was killed, but she recovered, and on loosening her
dress for the sake of respiring freely, she saw a picture of the cow
upon her breast.
_No Buttons but Brass Buttons._
There is a curious law extant in England in regard to brass buttons. It
is, by Acts of Parliament passed in three reigns, (William III., Anne
and George I.), illegal for a tailor to make, or mortal to wear, clothes
with any other buttons appended thereto but buttons of brass. The law
was put in force for the benefit of the button-makers of Birmingham; and
it further enacts, not only that he who makes or sells garments with any
but brass buttons thereto affixed, shall pay a penalty of forty
shillings for every dozen, but that he shall not be able to recover the
price he claims, if the wearer thinks proper to resist payment. The Act
is not a dead letter. Not more than thirty years ago a Mr. Shirley sued
a Mr. King for nine pounds sterling due for a suit of clothes. King
pleaded non-liability on the ground of an illegal transaction, the
buttons on the garments supplied being made of cloth, or bone covered
with cloth, instead of glittering brass, as the law directs. The judge
allowed the plea; and the defendant having thus gained a double suit
without cost, immediately proceeded against the plaintiff to recover his
share of the forty shillings for every dozen buttons which the poor
tailor had unwittingly supplied. A remarkable feature in the case was,
that the judge who admitted the plea, the barrister who set it up, and
the client who profited by it, were themselves all buttoned contrary to
law!
_Curious Signs in New York._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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