Greek writers constantly call this
animal ~hippos potamios~. The Latin writers use the improper compound
_hippo-potamus_; which, according to the ordinary rule of Greek
composition, means, not a _river-horse_, but a _horse-river_. The only
Greek writer in whom I have found the compound word ~hippopotamos~ is
Damascius, who wrote in the sixth century. Achilles Tatius, who lived
about the same time, calls the animal ~hippos tou Neilou~, which is, he
says, its Egyptian name. It seems probable that the word _hippopotamus_
is a Roman corruption of the Greek substantive and adjective, and {36}
is not a proper Greek word. Why this animal was called a horse is not
evident. In shape and appearance it resembles a gigantic hog. Buffon
says that its name was derived from its _neighing_ like a horse
(_Quad._, tom. v., p. 165.). But query whether this is the fact?

Bochart (_Hierozoicon_, P. ii., lib. v., c. 15, 16.) identifies the
"behemoth" of Job (c. 40.) with the hippopotamus, and the "leviathan"
with the crocodile. This view seems to be generally adopted by modern
commentators. (See Winer, _Bibl. Real-Woerterbuch_, art. "Nilpferd.")

A _Historia Hippopotami veterum Critica_, by J. G. Schneider, is
appended to his edition of _Artedi Synonymia Piscium_, p. 247.

The accounts of the hippopotamus since the revival of letters, beginning
with that published by Federigo Zerenghi, a Neapolitan surgeon, in 1603
(see Buffon), appear to have been all derived from dead specimens, or
from the reports of travellers in Africa. Query, Has there been a live
hippopotamus in Europe since the reign of Commodus, with the exception
of the young animal now in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park?

L.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire._

_Charming._--There are few villages in this district which are not able
to boast a professor of the healing art, in the person of an old woman
who pretends to the power of curing diseases by "charming;" and at the
present day, in spite of coroners' inquests and parish officers, a
belief in the efficacy of these remedies appears to be undiminished. Two
preliminaries are given, as necessary to be strictly observed, in order
to ensure a perfect cure. First, that the person to be operated upon
comes with a full and earnest belief that a cure _will_ be effected;
and, secondly, that the phrases "please" and "thank you" do not occur
during the t