THE COVA, OR LINEATION at Pekin communicated to Leibnitz the following Chinese symbol, called by them the Cova, or "lineation," and attributed to Fohi, the founder of the Empire. It is suspended in their temples. Who can give us the interpretation of this lineation?

OF FOHI. (Vol. II, p. 650.) A Jesuit

K. T.

A correspondent "K. T." asks for the interpretation of the Chinese symbol printed in his communication on page 650 (N. AND Q., November, 1885). In the Sacred Book of the East, edited by Max Müller, Volume xvi contains a translation of the Yi-King translated by James Legge. On page 32d is found Fu-hsi's Trigrams, and in Appendix v, page 422 and ff, is found an interesting discussion. The eight trigrams attributed to Fu-hsi or Pao-hsi (B. C. 3322) are called collectively khien, tui, li, kan, sun, khan, kan, and khwan. (“K. T." has inverted the order of these sacred signs, and to refer to his list as printed, I give his numbers in parentheses.) Their signification is as follows: khwan (8th in Fu-hsi's list and 1st in "K. T's." list) means the earth; kan (2d in "K. T's." list) means a mountain; khan (3d) means water in a stream or in rain; sun (4th) means the wind; kan (5th) means the thunder; li (6th) means fire; tui (7th) means water collected in a lake; khien (8th) means sky or heaven. For interesting critical remarks on these symbols see Hegel's "History of Philosophy," Vol. 1, pp. 139 and 140 of the second German edition. But the volume here referred to-Legge's—gives an immense mass of commentary on the part of Chinese wise men who have taught this philosophy. WM. T. HARRIS, Concord, Mass.

THE SHAPIRA MANUSCRIPTS. Will some one furnish a translation of the so-called "Shapira Manuscripts," said to have been obtained from an Arab of the tribe of Ajayah by Mr. Shapira.

H. LANGDON LARKIN.

These manuscripts, it is claimed, form an earlier text of the Book of Deuteronomy than any before discovered. They are said to contain about one-third of the Book of Deuteronomy. The following is one part of the manuscripts which appeared in the London News, and is sufficient to give the general character of all that has thus far been deciphered :

The Shapira Manuscripts.

AND GOD SAID unto me, senD MEN TO SPY OUT JAAZER; AND WE TOOK JAAZER AND DWELT IN THE CITIES OF THE AMORITES. AND OG, the King of BASHAN, WENT OUT AGAINST US TO THE BATTLE, AND WE SMOTE HIM UNTIL NONE WAS LEFT TO HIM REMAINING, AND WE TOOK FROM THEM THREE SCORE CITIES, ALL THE REGION OF ARGOB, CITIES FENCED WITH WALLS, GATES, AND BARS, BESIDES UNWALLED TOWNS A GREAT MANY. AND ALL THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN, AND ALL GILEAD, AND ALL BASHAN UNTO SALCHAR AND EDERI [WHICH WAS CALLED] *** THE LAND OF giants, for Ög, King of BASHAN, REMAINED OF THE REMNANT OF THE GIANTS. AND WE TURNED AND JOURNEYED AND ABODE OVER AGAINST BETH-PEOR. AND AT THAT TIME THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB AND THE WIVES OF THE MIDIANITES CAME OUT AGAINST YOU, AND THEY CALLED UNTO YOU TO EAT OF THEIR ACRIFICES, AND WE DID EAT OF THEIR SACRIFICES AND DRANK OF THEIR DRINK-OFFERINGS, AND YE BOWED DOWN TO THEIR GODS AND COMMITTED WHOREDOM WITH THE WIVes of the MIDIANITES, AND YE JOINED YOURSELVES UNTO BAAL-PEOR ON THAT DAY. AND THE ANGER OF GOD WAS KINDLED AGAINST YOU, AND HE SMOTE YOU AT THAT TIME WITH A GREAT PLague. AND I SENT FROM AMONG YOU MEN TO FIGHT THE MIDIANITES, AND YE SMOTE THEM WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, AND YE TOOK FROM THEM CAPTIVES VERY MANY, AND THE PLAGUE WAS STAYED. AND GOD COMMANDED ME AT THAT TIME TO TEACH YOU STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS THAT YE MIGHT DO THEM IN THE LAND WHITHER YE GO OVER TO POS

SESS IT. TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES, YE SHALL NOT ADD TO MY STATUTES NOR DIMINISH THEREFROM. TAKE HEED UNTO YOURSELVES, LEST YE FORGET, AND MAKE YOU A GRAVEN IMAGE AND SIMILITUDE, THE LIKENESS OF ANY FIGURE WHICH IS IN HEAVEN ABOVE OR ON THE EARTH BENEATH OR IN THE WATERS UNDER THE EARTH, AND HIS ANGER BE KINDLED AGAINST YOU, AND HE DESTROY YOU SPEEDILY FROM THIS GOOD' LAND. KNOW, THERefore, this DAY, AND SEEK HIS STATUTES AND HIS COMMANDMENTS THAT IT MAY GO WELL WITH YOU [AND THAT] YE MAY PROLONG YOUR DAYS UPON THE EARTH THAT THY GOD GIVETH UNTO YOU. HEAR, O ISRAEL, GOD OUR GOD IS ONE GOD [AND THOU SHALT LOVE] GOD THY GOD WITH ALL THINE HEART AND WITH ALL THY SOUL EXCEEDINGLY. AND THESE WORDS WHICH I COMMAND THEE THIS DAY SHALL BE IN THY HEART, AND THOU SHALT TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY UNTO THY CHILDREN, AND THOU SHALT TALK WITH THEM WHEN THOU SITTEST IN THINE HOUSE, AND WHEN THOU WALKEST BY THE WAY, AND WHEN THOU LIEST DOWN, AND WHEN THOU RISEST UP. AND THOU SHALT BIND [THEM] FOR A SIGN UPON THINE HAND, AND THEY BETWEEN THINE EYES, AND THOU SHALT WRITE

SHALL BE FOR

***

[THEM] UPON THE POSTS OF THY HOUSE AND ON THY GATES. FOR GOD MADE A COVENANT WITH THEE IN HOREB IN THE DAY OF THE ASSEMBLY, AND I STood between God and you *** AT THAT TIME, FOR ye were afraid BY REASON of the fire, and [WENT] NOT [UP] TO SHOW YOU THE WAY OF YOUR GOD.

INDIAN COUNting.

(Vol. II. p. 616.) This subject is worth more than a hasty enquiry. My astonishment was great when I found that one of the Indian forms was identical with what my mother had taught me as Welsh, and which she said that she had learnt from a serving man when a child. I have sent to one of my tradesmen for the true Welsh system and though there is a resemblance, yet not identity. Welsh, up to twenty, is as follows:

Un, dan, tri, pedwar, pump, chuech, saith, wyth, naw, deg, unardeg, dauddeg, triarddeg, pedwarddeg, pymtheg, unarbymtheg, dauarbymtheg, triarbymtheg, pedwarbymtheg, ugain.

Now the Scandinavians claim, on the authority of one of their Sagas, to have discovered America in the 9th century A. D., but the Bardic annals of the Welsh assert that Scandinavia was peopled from Britain before the Christain era, by a drain of 100,000 men, who never returned. The Rev. Mr. Morgan asserts, on, apparently some national characteristics, that the Celts discovered America before any other nation. The Celtic language has very considerable affinity with the Semitic, and both people claim to have been diluvian races. I do not assert that there is an ancient similarity between Celtic, Semitic, and Indian, but it would be curious if it should turn out that there is such. The probable historical deluge is that mentioned by Plato as occurring about 11,000 years ago, when Atlantis sank into the ocean, and D. le Plongern has recently shown some confirmation of the state of the Egyptian priests, by showing that the hieroglpyhics of Yucatan are in all respects identical with those of early Egypt. It is possible that in modern times a few Welsh settlers may have taught the Indians their method of counting, but it is singular they should have adopted it in preference to the more widely known English. Is it not therefore worth while to enquire whether there is not some ancient race affinity between Indian and Welsh. May I ask what the numerals are resembling "sheep scoring," mentioned by "DJAFAR" in Vol. II, page 666?

JOHN YARKER, (Withington,) Manchester, Eng.

MISSOURIUM. (Vol. II, p. 447.) Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his "Representative Men," page 104, mentions the Missourium. Is the State-name Missouri" the plural form of the word "Missourium?" LOGOS.

"Missouri" is not the plural form of "Missourium," but is an Indian word. "Missourium" is a name which was given to a real or supposed fossil animal found in Missouri. PRIGGLES.

ORIGIN OF SUB ROSA.

(Vol. II p. 639.)

What is the origin or the historical association connected with the words sub rosa, as mean

ing a matter to be kept in confidence?

HAZEL SHEPARD,
New York City.

"But when we with caution a secret disclose,
We cry, be it spoken,' sir,' under the rose.'
Since 'tis known that the rose was an emblem of old,
Whose leaves by their closeness taught secrets to hold;
And 'twas thence it was painted on tables so oft
As a warning, lest, when with a frankness men scoft
At their neighbor, their lord, their fat priest, or their nation,
Some among 'em next day should betray conversation."
-British Apollo, 1708.

The origin of the phrase, "under the rose," implies secrecy, and had its origin during the year B. C. 477, at which time Pausanias, the commander of the confederate fleet of the Spartans and Athenians, was in an intrigue with Xerxes for the subjugation of Greece to the Persian rule, and for the hand of the monarch's daughter in marriage. Their negotiations were carried on in a building attached to the temple of Minerva, called the Brazen House, the roof of which was a garden forming a bower of roses; so that the plot, which was conducted with the utmost secrecy, was literally matured under the rose. Pausainas, however, was betrayed by one of his emissaries, who, by a preconcerted plan with the spliori (the overseers and counselors of state, five in number), gave them a secret opportunity to hear from the lips of Pausanias himself the acknowledgment of his treason. To escape arrest, he fled to the temple of Minerva, and, as the sanctity of the place forbade intrusion for violence or harm of any kind, the people walled up the edifice with stones and left him to die of starvation. His own mother laid the first stone. It afterwards became a custom among the Athenians to wear roses in their hair whenever they wished to communicate to another a secret they wished to be kept inviolate. Hence, the saying sub rosa among them, and since among Christian nations. J. H. W. SCHMIDT, Ansonia, O.

BACCALAUREATE SERMONS. (Vol. II, p. 544.) Why are commencement sermons at colleges called Baccalaureates ? ANDREW SMITH.

Commencement sermons were called baccalaureate, because they were preached when graduates received their degree of "B. A.," or Bachelor of Arts, in mediæval Latin Baccalaureus Artium. The last three syllables came to pass in the making up of this low-Latin equivalent for "bachelor "; but "baccalaureus" has no connection excep mere coincidence with the good Latin words "bacca,” and “laurea, nor with "laureate." PRIGGLES, San Francisco, Cal.

(Vol. II, p. 639.) High German,

HIGH AND LOW GERMAN, AND CHURCHMAN. What are we to understand by the linguistic terms, and "Low German"? Also, by the denominational terms, "High Churchman," and "Low Churchman "?

LAURA.

The Low German dialects are those dialects spoken by the people inhabiting the low-lying lands of North Germany, towards the Baltic and the German ocean, or North Sea. Old and modern High German was spoken originally by people inhabiting the high lands of Southern Germany.

High Church and Low Church are two ecclesiastical parties or sects, which became distinct after the Revolution of 1680. The High Church was supposed to favor the Papists, or at least to support the high claims to prerogatives which were maintained by the Stuarts. The Low Chuch entertained more moderate notions, manifested great enmity to Popery, and were inclined to circumscribe the royal prerogatives. This distinction is now less marked than formerly, but not wholly obliterated. J. H. W. SCHMIDT. "IMITATION OF CHRIST," OR SHAKESPEARE. (Vol. II, p. 639.) Which works have passed through the more editions of the two following authors: "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas à Kempis, or the works of Shakespeare? I have heard it stated the former, which WANT TO KNOW. Dean Milman, in his "Latin Christianity," says of the "Imitation of Christ : "

seems incredible.

"In its pages is gathered and concentrated all that is elevating, passionate, profoundly pious in all the elder mystics. No book, after the Holy Scriptures, has been so often reprinted; none translated into so many languages, ancient and modern, extending even to Greek and Hebrew, or so often retranslated." J. H. W. SCHMIDT.

NEW YORK CITY? OR NEW YORK CITY? (Vol. I, p. 220) Which is correct, New York city, or New York City? ARTEMAS MARTIN. The best usage avoids capitals; so that the word "city" should begin with a lower case c. PRIGGLES.

LETTERS OF "JOB SASS." (Vol. I, p. 151.) Have the letters of "Job Sass" (George A. Foxcroft), published in the Boston Herald thirty years ago, ever been collected and printed in book form? FRANK, Concord, N. H. Foxcroft's "Letters of Job Sass" were never published in book form. They did very well for newspaper writing, but were rather thin for a book. PRIGGLES.