EAU I)E LUCE.

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is borne in heraldry by many noble families. The ancientGauls took this bird for their first standard, and wore itsfigure on their helmets for a crest.

An old English heraldic writer says, this bird is the type ofa perfect soldier, being considered the king amoug domesticbirds; being noble of courage, and always prepared forbattaile; he has a comb for a helmet, a sharp crookedbill for a falchion, to scalp or wound his enemy; like acomplete soldier, he is. armed cap-a-pie with spurs, 9 givingan example to the valiant to expel danger by light, not by

ilight.— Gwillim.

This bird is said to be indigenous in China, 10 Persia, “Hindustan, the Malacca Islands, * 11 Pulo Condor, andmany of the South Sea Islands, and several parts of India , ,Jwhere it is found in a wild state. The true game fowlscame originally from Persia ; as we are informed by Hyde,de Rcligione Persarum.

v

EAU DE LUCE.

Eau de Luce is a compound of as late invention as'1742; yet,although so very recent, we have not been able to ascertainthe name of the inventor with satisfactory certainty. Amongso many claimants for this honour, it is difficult, with a con-sciousness of rectitude, to confer it upon any one individual.However, the best information in our power, we will sub-mit to the more penetrating judgment of our readers.

Those eminent chymists, Neumann, Hoffmann, Boer-haave, and their contemporaries, appear to have publishedrecipes : the latter named author in Elementa Chernies, 1782.4to. ii. p.370. and Fr. Hoffmanni Observat. Physico-Chymie.lib. ii. obs. 11. Those writers at the period above stated,in their works, speak of similar compounds; and so domany contemporary chymical authors.

Various surmises have been suggested, to discover thename of the inventor; some have endeavoured to trace itby the name of the composition, to that of the manufac-turer. But the most prevailing opinion appears to be, that,

9 The English * like the Greeks, frequently arm the cock with steel spurs; itis thought to render the conflict more sanguinary.

10 Bell’s Travels, p. 303. ■* Tavernier.

11 Cook’s Voyages.—Dampier, Suite du Voyage de laNouvelle Hollande, v. p. 61.13 Sonnerat, Reise nach Ostindien. Zurich , 1783. 4to. ii. p. 117. where there

is also a figure of the wild fowls.