A Legend of Sethe.

This legend is found Dr. J. M. Neale's "Collections," London, 1847 "The Cristene Men, that dwellen bezond the See, in Grece, seyn that the Tree of the Cros, that we callen cypresse, was of that Tree, that Adam ete the Appulle of; and that synde thei writen. And thei seyn also, that here Scripture seythe, that Adam was seek, and seyde to his Sone Sethe, that he scholde go to the Aungelle, that kepte Paradys, that he wolde senden hym Oyle of Mercy, for to anoynte with his Membres, that he myghte have hele. And Sethe wente. But the Aungelle wolde not late hym come in, but seyd to hym, that he myghte not have of the Oyle of Mercy. But he toke hym htree Greynes of the same Tree, that his Fadre ete the Appulle offe; and bad hym, as sone as his Fadre was ded, that he scholde putte theise three Greynes undre his Tonge, and gave hym so and he dide. And of thiese three Greynes sprong a Tree as the Aungelle seyde that it scholde, and bere a Fruyt, thorghe the whiche Fruyt Adam scholde be saved. And whan Sethe cam azen, he fonde his Fadre nere ded. And whan he was ded, he did with the Greynes, as the Aungelle bad hym; of the whiche sprongen three Trees, of the whiche the Cros was made, that bere gode Fruyt, and blessed our Lord Jesu Crist; thorghe whom, Adam and alle that comen of hym, scholde be saved and delyvered from drede of Dethe withouten ende, but if they dye it be thei own defaute."

Legends of Adam.

Jacobus Vitriacus, in his "Jewish History" (ch. lxxxv), has the following legend :

"There are in that land (Palestine) wonderful trees, which for their par-excellence are called Apples of Paradise, bearing oblong fruit, very sweet and unctuous, having a most delicious savor, bearing in one cluster more than a hundred compressed berries. The leaves of this tree are a cubit long and half a cubit wide. There are three other trees, producing beautiful apples or citrons, in which the bite of a man's teeth is naturally manifest, wherefore they are called' Adam's Apples.""

Eisenmenger, in his works (i, pp. 376-377), has the following: "The angel Raphael had instructed Adam in all kinds of knowledge out of a book containing mighty mysteries. In that book were seventy-two parts, and six hundred and seventy writings which were known; but from the middle to the end were one thousand five hundred hidden secrets of Wisdom. This book Adam preserved and read in daily; and he left it to his son Seth; Seth to Enoch; Enoch to Noah ; and from Noah it descended to Abraham."

ROBINSON CRUSOE-ALEXANder Selkirk-DANIEL DE FOE. Were these characters one and the same person? (N. AND Q., Vol., VI, p. 348.) ALONZO.

Alexander Selkirk, a native of Scotland, left on shore at Juan Fer. nandez (an island in the south Pacific ocean), by Captain Stradding, in November, 1704, lived alone until he was discovered by Captain Woodes Rogers in 1709 He died lieutenant of H. M. S. Weymouth, 1723. A monument to his memory was erected on the island in 1868, then colonized by Germans. From his narrative Daniel De Foe is said to have derived his " Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," first published in 1719. De Foe, speaking in the person of his hero, informs the reader that" the Story, though allegorical, is also Historical, and that it is the beautiful Representation of a life of unexampled Misfortunes, and of a Variety not to be met with in the World. There is a man alive, and well known too, the actions of whose life are the just subject of these Volumes, and to whom all or most Part of the story directly alludes."

De Foe, in 1710, resided at Stoke-Newington, and appears to have been comfortable in his circumstances. The last volume of the "Review" was closed in 1712. In a long preface to this volume De Foe has a most eloquent defence of this work, and of the mode in which he had conducted it. Nothing could be finer, more manly, or more conclusive. In allusion to his sufferings, during the progress of the work, he says: I have gone through a life of wonders, and am the subject of a vast variety of providences; I have been fed more by miracles than Elijah when the ravens were his purveyors.

some time ago summed up my life in this distich :

No man has tasted suffering fortunes more,

And thirteen iimes I have been rich and poor.”

I have

There can be no doubt that the idea of the work was suggested to De Foe by the story of Alexander Selkirk, which had been given to the public seven years before. The enemies of De Foe charged him having obtained this man's journal, and from its contents producing "Robinson Crusoe." The truth is, De Foe was as much indebted to Selkirk for the materials used in his immortal work, as was Vandyke for his portrait to the colorman who furnished him with pigments. MRS. L. T. GEORGE, Chicago, Ill.

Remarks on the Probable Origin of the
Decimal Notation.

Probably no discovery of science, or in art, is a brighter product of the human mind than our decimal system of notation. It is but natural that a system possessing such transcendent advantages over any other should have various claimants for its origin. The honor of its invention, has been claimed for the Greeks, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Arabs, but the profoundest researches of mathematicians and philologists have at length awarded the honor to the Hindoos. As the Arabs early intrduced into Europe the characters of our system of notation; the nine digits and the cypher, it came to be known as the Arabic method of notation. The Arabs themselves lay no claim as the inventors of the system, but all their writers state that their knowledge was derived from the East.

The Hindoos claim these symbol of their notation to be of divine origin, which indicates that their earliest use antedates all existing records. The sacred books of the Hindoos, which have been in the hands of the priests for centuries, contain the numeral characters quite similar in form to those now in use. The origin of these sym bols, like that of the system, is veiled in obscurity. As regards the origin of these numerals, the only three theories now regarded as worthy of notice are :

1. That they are formed by the combination of straight lines, as the primary representation of numbers.

2. That that they are formed by the combination of angles.

3.

That they are the initial letters of the Hindoo numerals.

The last of these theories is the most recent, and we think the mos probable. Dr. Edward Brooks, the author of that most admirable work, the "Philosophy of Arithmetic," supports this view by such authority as Princeps, a profound Sanscrit soholar, and also Max Müller. This follows the general law of representing numbers by letters, after the analogy of the Roman, Greek, and Hebrew systems.

This theory does not account for the origin of the zero, the most important character of them all. Max Müller says:

"It would be highly important to find out at what time the naught first occurs in Indian inscriptions. That inscription would deserve

to be preserved among the most valuable monuments of antiquity, for from it would date in reality the beginning of true mathematical science, impossible without the naught, nay, the beginning of all the exact sciences, to which we owe the invention of telescopes, steamengines, and electric telegraphs."

A sort of mystery hung over the practice of using the cipher, which has been imprinted on the language; and we still speak of cipher or deciphering, as if in allusion to some dark or concealed art. The Hindoos had no knowledge of the decimal scale descending, and their management of fractions was cumbrous and tedious.

Another claim to the origin of our denary system is worthy of notice. Of all the systems of numerical words that of Thibet must be admitted to be the most simple in its structure, and most nearly approaches to our arithmetical notation of local value. It is not to be wondered at that some have suggesed the probable origin of our decimal system from that country. We give here the first 29 numerals as given incidentally by Turner in his observations of the Thibetan months and

From 21 to 29 the name for 2 acquires a value from position in a manner which bears the closest analogy to our notation. Dr. Peacock, who has written the ablest article on arithmetic to be found in our language, claims its superiority to all other methods of word - notation, but its want of resemblance to the words applied to numerals of the western nations cannot be said of the Sanscrit names. The following are the names of the first ten Sanscrit numerals:

I, Eca.

2, Dwan.

3, Traya.

5. Ponga. 7, Sapta. 6, Nova. 4, Chatur. 6, Shata. 8, Ashta. 10, Dasa.

It is said that the Arabians and Persians had no word to express the period above a thonsand. These people expressed 1,000,000 by

saying a thousand thousand, and the next higher period by repeating the thousand three times. An old author of arithmetic, says

cock, to express 1063, made use of by Archimedes in his Arenarius," said, ein tausend tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tau tausand mahl tausend.

The following shows the great extent to which the Sanscrit numeral language can be carried:

This luxury of names for numbers, much greater than required for the most extended astronomical calculations, is without parallel in any other language.

The writings of Max Müller, who has given special attention to the Sanscrit, have thrown a flood of light upon the writings and intelligence of the Hindoos. Their invention of the decimal notation is certainly not to be regarded as the product of a feeble mind, but as one of the highest triumphs of inventive genius known in the history of scientific investigation. H. A. WOOD,

The Stevens School, Hoboken, N. J.

DAY OF THE CAMEL. When was the so-called day of the camel? (N. AND Q., Vol. V, p. 180.) DAVID M. DRURY.

The " day of the camel” was November 4, 656 A. D. (but according to some others it was 658 or 659), when Talha and Zobeir, rebel Arab chiefs, were defeated and slain by the caliph Ali. Ayesha, Mahomet's widow, friend of the chiefs, was present in a litter on a camel, hence the name. MRS. L. T. GEORGE.

"ETERNAL FITNESS OF THINGS." Where and by whom was this phrase first used? (N. AND Q., Vol. VI, p. 348). J. G. T. CRUSE.

The author of this phrase was Dr. Samuel Clarke, a celebrated English philosopher, metaphysician, and divine, born at Norwich, Oct. 21, 1675, died in May, 1729. He says, in his "Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion: ""The foundation of morality consists in the immutable differences, relations, and eternal fitness of things." MRS. L. T. GEORGE, Ghicago, Ill.