Quiz of the week
1) What is the name of Postman Pat’s cat?
2) On which date is St George’s Day?
3) By what name is the longest side of a right-angled triangle known?
4) A dotterel is a type of what?
5) What is the name of the bluish-green patina found on copper or brass?
Riddle me this
I am often offered, but not accepted. Use me once and I will be of less use to you next time. What am I?
1) Jess 2) April 23 3) Hypotenuse 4) Bird 5) Verdigris. Riddle me this: An excuse
Cabinet of curiosities
by David Profumo
Two-headed duckling
THE , or freak of Nature, was a staple item of early cabinets of curiosities (), such as the proto-museum of the 17th-century antiquary Olaus Wormius or the fine collection of Sir John Soane (1698), which included a supposed zoophyte called Borametz that was a Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. Fabulous bio-logical rarities were frequently faked: in Antwerp, there thrived an industry manufacturing Jenny Hanivers (counterfeit mermaids made from skate and carp parts).
