Lighthouse stairwells

I'm a sucker for those photographs looking up or down a spiral staircase, but with enough contextual information that the image does not become entirely abstract. I thought of lighthouse interiors this morning and picked some out for your viewing pleasure...

1st image) Looking up inside Grays Harbor lighthouse, Westport, Washington. Photo by Joe Mabel.

2nd image) Sandy Hook lighthouse stairwell, Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Photo by Oliver Lopena.

3rd image) The interior of the Cape Jaffa lighthouse lens, Kingston SE, South Australia. Photo by Garry Searle.

4th image) Inside the Cordouan lighthouse, Gironde, France. Photo at Planetware.com.

5th image) Interior of the Charlotte-Genesee lighthouse in Rochester, New York. Photo by Corey Seeman.

6th image) Downward spiral inside the Currituck Beach lighthouse, Corolla, Outer Banks, North Carolina. Photo by Jacques Gates.

Scrolls and codices

Newly discovered ancient texts have been compared to the Dead Sea Scrolls, so let's do a brief review of the earlier find before reading about them:

1946/7
The Dead Sea Scrolls (fragment, 1st image) were discovered in a series of caves on the now Israeli-occupied West Bank. The 972 ancient texts on parchment and papyrus, dating from roughly 150 B.C. to 70 A.D. were deciphered from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. They fall into 3 groups: texts from the Hebrew Bible (40%), Apocryphal manuscripts (30%), and sectarian writings. After an extremely complicated history, the scrolls are being digitized and made available to the public. The Dead Sea Scrolls may be seen in Israel's Shrine of the Book, but Jordan continues to petition for their return.

2005/7
A collection of ancient lead codices (1st and 2nd images) were discovered 5 years ago in a cave in Jordan. The 70 wire-bound books are small (only a few inches in size), but have huge implications if they are authenticated. Initial tests based on the corrosion of the metal indicate that they may date from the 1st c. A.D. If the dating is verified, the books - which contain images, symbols, and text that appear to refer to Jesus and possibly to his crucifixion and resurrection - would be among the earliest Christian documents, and may even be the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation. British scholar David Elkington, who examined the books (and took the photographs above), says, "It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church." Another British scholar, Philip Davies, sees potential evidence of that in a picture map of Jerusalem: "As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck. That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city....The possibility of a Hebrew-Christian origin is certainly suggested by the imagery and, if so, these codices are likely to bring dramatic new light to our understanding of a very significant but so far little understood period of history." Like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the books have a complicated history and are now in Israeli hands. And Jordan wants them back.

All aboard!

A little over 2 weeks ago, I heard on the news that a dolphin propelled itself onto the deck of a boat off Marco Island, Florida, spraining a woman's ankle. I remembered other incidents of marine animals jumping into boats - including a notable fatality involving an eagle ray (1st image) - and researched a possible post. Lo and behold, just last night the local news broadcast another story of an eagle ray jumping on board a boat and pinning a woman to the deck. Here are the 2 stories:

• March 25, 2011: Jenny Hansch, a tourist on a charter boat off Islamorada, Florida, is OK after a 300lb spotted eagle ray (2nd image) leaped out of the water and landed on top of her, pinning the woman to the deck. Captain Kelly Klein describes, "The thing was trying to swim out, and it's slamming, it's doing its thing with its body, trying to get out of the boat, and she is underneath it."
• March 20, 2008: Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, was killed by the impact (not the barb) of a 75lb devil ray with a 5'-6' wingspan (3rd image) after it jumped up out of the water into the boat her father was driving off the Florida Keys. "It happened within a fraction of a second. There's nothing that anybody could have done any differently. There's nothing that the father, who was operating the vessel, could have done differently. There's nothing that the victim could have done differently. It's just a freak accident," said a Florida wildlife official.

And here are the other incidents I found in my search:

• July 2004: Ziggy Zablotny, 65, had his hand broken and his finger badly lacerated by a 30lb barracuda that jumped 30' into a 33' boat near Wilmington Island, Georgia.
• July 2005: Stephen Schultz, 18, is struck in the face by a 600lb black marlin while fishing off the coast of Panama. He recalls, "I was fighting with the fish for about 25 minutes before it happened. He jumped once, facing away from the boat and turned around in mid-air; he was about 15 feet away; went back into the water, made one more jump toward the back of the boat and his bill struck me on the left side of the face and knocked me onto the ground."
• April 2006: Dawn Poirier was hit in the face by a leaping Gulf sturgeon on the Suwanee River near Gainesville, Florida, and required plastic surgery to her face.
• August 2009: Michael Powers narrowly missed being injured when a 5 1/2 foot bull shark leaped onto their 21' boat and violently thrashed about the deck off Haulover Beach, Florida.
• June 2010: Koral Wira, 14, received multiple gashes in her left arm when a 30lb, 4' barracuda, leapt out of the water.
• July 2010: Ralph Mothes and Paloma Werner were on their 33' yacht when it was smashed off the coast of South Africa by a 40-ton whale leaping into the air.

And here is a last laugh, brought to you by the invasive Asian carp of Indiana's Wabash River.

Workers find fossils

These stories in the news today trumped what I was going to write about...

Padre Hurtaldo, Chile
Construction workers building a hydroelectric power plant beside a river noticed the pointed end of a tusk that turned out to belong to the skull of a giant mastodon. The beast died 2 million years ago when it sunk in a swamp. "Practically the whole skull is complete and in perfect conditions, with its four molars and together with both tusks of almost four feet in length. In addition, inside the skull one was part of the vertebrae of the spine," said paleontologist Rafael Labarca. This is Chile’s 1st discovery of a complete mastodon skull.

Fort McMurray, Alb., Canada
Shovel operator Shawn Funk was clearing ground ahead of development in the vast Canadian oil sands when he recognized something unusual. In fact, he may have been predisposed, since he had visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum to see the dinosaurs only the week before. The man unearthed the fossil of an ankylosaur 16 1/2' (5M) long, estimated to be 110 million years old. The herbivore had powerful limbs, armor plating, and a club-like tail. "It is pretty amazing that it survived in such good condition. It is also the earliest complete dinosaur that we have from this province," said curator Donald Henderson. Scientists have been given 3 weeks to excavate the 3-dimensional skeleton.

Beswick above-ground

The painting above, "L'Inhumation précipitée" by Antoine Wiertz (1854), depicts a cholera victim awakening after being placed in a coffin (1st image). Like others, I am using it to illustrate the story of Hannah Beswick (1688-1758), who had a fear of premature burial. Because of this, her body was kept above ground for 110 years - yet there are no images of her, either before or after her death.

Beswick did not mention a desire to be embalmed in her will, and it is believed that her family's physician, Dr. Charles White (2nd image) took to extreme her request that she be checked periodically after death for signs of life before being interred.

He preserved her body and placed it in a clock case (example, 3rd image), which was soon stored at his home and shown upon request to visitors - including a young Thomas de Quincy, English author. When Dr. White died in 1813, Beswick's remains passed to another doctor and then, in 1828, to the Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society, where she acquired the nickname of the "Manchester Mummy." Beswick was also known as the "Mummy of Birchen Bower," after a house she lived in (and near which her apparition appears). Her mummy reposed with that of a Peruvian and an ancient Egyptian, and a local historian described, "The body was well preserved but the face was shrivelled and black." After the collections were transferred to Manchester University in 1867, Beswick's mummified body was finally interred. Her grave in Harpurhey Cemetery is unmarked.

Beswick had good reason to be concerned about premature burial. Some time before her own death, her brother John's eyes had flickered at his funeral. Confirmed alive by Dr. White, John regained consciousness a few days later and lived for many more years.

Weird webs

Boffins were baffled in 2007 when trees at Lake Tawakoni in Texas were found entirely swathed in a giant spider web (2nd image). It was discovered by park superintendent Donna Garde, who took the photo and described, "At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland. Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs." Joseph T. Lapp provides a plausible explanation for the phenomenon in his "Spider Joe" videos. Orbweaver spiders were making their round webs, but because there were so many midges to feast on, they did not need to recycle the protein in the webs by eating them each night. At the same time, male longjawed orbweavers were encroaching on their webs in search of mates. As they traversed the tree from web to web, they left trails of their own silk, joining them into one giant shroud.

Now something similar is happening in Pakistan (1st image) after flooding in 2010. There, the spiders took to the trees to escape rising floodwaters, which have been slow to recede. As creepy as their giant webs are, they are trapping a remarkable number of mosquitoes and reducing the number of cases of malaria.

Lizard skin 3 ways

Fashion (1st image) Lizard leather is extremely versatile and is used to make boots, shoes, handbags, watch straps, belts, and wallets. Roje Leather sells wholescale skins from the Java (a.k.a. monitor or ring) lizard, which has a unique texture and numerous applications. Roje has 10,000 hides on hand at any one time (see video), but is willing to supply customized colors, prints, and metallic finishes within 30 days.

Fossil (2nd image) The intact skin of a fossilized lizard has given a team of U.K. and U.S. scientists a new window on the prehistoric past. They are using a new technique in which light is shined through a needle at the specimen's surface. A little more absorption at a certain frequency indicates the fingerprint for a particular organic compound. Geochemist Roy Wogelius explains, "These new infra-red and X-ray methods reveal intricate chemical patterns that have been overlooked by traditional methods for decades. We have learned that some of these compounds, if the chemistry is just right, can give us a bit of a whiff of the chemistry of these ancient organisms."

Food (3rd image) Lizard skin is what is left over after you have eaten the creature. The length of this animal was 4' and it was purchased by a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon more than 25 years ago. As he explains, "This skin was waved at me as I was passing by a jungle village. The owner needed the money so I bought it for 700 CFA. I saw one of these alive run across the road while in a bush taxi and what a majestic and powerful beast. The occupants of the taxi chorused 'there goes a great meal'."

Acid alternative

Sinister associations with multiple murderers John George "Acid Bath" Haigh, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Santiago "Stew Maker" Meza López notwithstanding, dissolving bodies in acid has been put forward by the funeral industry as a green alternative to cremation. Alkaline hydrolysis achieves in a matter of hours the decomposition that occurs naturally over months or years. A 300°F water-based chemical solution of lye is sprayed on a body at 60lbs (or more) of pressure per square inch in what looks sort of like a body-shaped stainless steel pressure cooker. Chemically, this forces water molecules between the bonds that hold the molecules such as fats, DNA, and proteins together. Tissue is broken down to its original small molecular building blocks. The resulting liquid may be disposed of down the drain, and the bone residue (2nd image) may be collected, dried, and pulverized for disposition like cremated remains.

The process, carried out in large steel cylinders, is already used in the U.S. at dozens of veterinary schools, universities, pharmaceutical companies, and the U.S. government to dispose of medical waste and animal carcasses, and is how cadavers at the University of Florida and the Mayo Clinic have been disposed of for years. Its use in funeral service is currently legal in Florida, Maine, and Oregon, and under review in New Hampshire. The legality of resomation is being evaluated in Ohio, where funeral director Jeff Edwards (1st image) has already performed the service for clients 20 times. "Getting the public to accept a process that strikes some as ghastly may be the biggest challenge," writes Norma Love for the Associated Press. Calling the method "resomation" rather than "tissue digestion" is a start. While the headline refers to it as "liquid cremation," Edwards prefers his own euphemism: "aquamation."

Murderer/murderess

7/25/1875 Eugenia Falleni is born in Florence, Italy, and moves with her family to Wellington, New Zealand, at the age of 2.

c. 1890s A teenage runaway takes work in a brickyard, later signing on as a cabin boy aboard a ship.

c. 1898 A pregnant woman disembarks at Newcastle, New South Wales, and leaves her newborn daughter Josephine in the care of a woman in Sydney.

c. 1910s Harry Leo Crawford hires himself out in Sydney as a manual laborer in a meat factory, hotels, laundries, and a rubber company.

c. 1912 Crawford is hired as a yardman and driver for Dr. G.R.C. Clarke of Wahroonga, where he becomes friendly with one of his boss's domestic servants, widow Annie Birkett, and her 9-year-old son.

2/19/1913 Harry Leo Crawford weds Annie Birkett and settles in Balmain. The marriage is stormy and the couple are heard to argue frequently, especially after a young woman named Josephine joins the family.

1918 Crawford fails to report his wife missing after a picnic. Claiming she left him, Crawford sold everything and moved out with his stepson.

9/29/1919 Harry Leo Crawford, representing himself as a widower, marries Elizabeth King Allison in Canterbury.

7/5/1920 Harry Leo Crawford (1st image) is arrested on suspicion of the murder of his 1st wife Annie Crawford, whose body had finally been identified after being discovered in October 1917, charred beyond recognition and apparently battered.

10/1920 Eugenia Falleni (2nd image) faces charges of murder. She is convicted and condemned to death, but her sentence is commuted to detainment at the Governor’s Pleasure.

8/16/1928 Eugenia Falleni (3rd image) is photographed after serving 8 years in the State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, N.S.W.

2/1931 Jean Ford, recently released from prison, lives in Paddington and works as a landlady.

6/10/1938 Jean Ford dies of injuries at Sydney, a day after being struck by a car.

Eugenia Falleni, the cabin boy, the pregnant woman, Harry Leo Crawford, and Jean Ford were one and the same. "I always wondered why he was so painfully shy..." said Crawford's 2nd wife.

Bear bones

Did you know that when skeletal or mummified remains are found in the woods and presumed to be human, they sometimes turn out to bear paws? Without claws, bear paws exhibit remarkably “finger-like” features that mimic the human hand (1st image, skinned bear paw). Partial wildlife remains found out of context can cause concern that a murder may have occurred, as they did in Nebraska in November. There, the state police mounted a task force in the belief that the bones belonged to a woman who had disappeared 2 years earlier. Analysis by a 2nd radiologist confirmed that they were not human after all. As x-rays (2nd image) and a careful morphological examination of the skeletal remains (3rd image) show, the articular surface of the 1st phalanx of each finger is flat and smooth in a human (on the left) and deep with a v-shaped groove in a bear (on the right). According to an identification guide published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "There have even been cases involving skinned bear paws that had been deliberately placed in public areas to startle those who mistaken them as human hands." Iowa officials believe the "hand" that a passerby found in a ditch near the Des Moines airport this month may have been placed there as a prank.

Wild boy diagnosed

This story in the weird news recalled so many earlier posts (Recent feral children, Diagnosing the canvas, Court dwarfs) that I decided it deserved more than a follow-up mention.

"Peter the Wild Boy" (see 18th c. mezzotint, 1st image) was found living on all fours in the wild near Hamelin in 1725. After seeing him in Germany, Britain's King George I (1660-1727) sent for Peter and tried to have him educated. He could not be taught to speak or behave, but did acquire a love of music. His contemporary, Swiss traveler César de Saussure (1705-1783), left a firsthand description of the royal court's "pet," in which he described his wild appearance, hairiness, and broken fingernails, writing: "He frightened me." The king gave his ward to his daughter-in-law and Princess of Wales, Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737). After his patron's death, Peter lived out his life on a farm - from which he once escaped - and was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's, Northchurch, where his grave (2nd image) can still be seen.

The news is that Peter the Wild Boy has been diagnosed more than 200 years after his death. The posthumous diagnosis was sought by British historian Lucy Worsley (3rd image, pictured in front of a painting from the 1720s), whose research indicated that Peter may have been autistic. "He was actually quite lucky that King George I heard about him, and summoned him to court, even though there he was treated like a performing dog rather than a damaged little boy." Based on Peter's physical characteristics and behavior, geneticist Phil Beale determined that the boy suffered from Pitt-Hopkins syndrome. Symptoms of the chromosomal disorder that can be seen in portraits include cupid's bow lips, short stature, coarse hair, and drooping eyelids. But other possible pointers include his 2 fused fingers, deformed palate, and developmental disabilities. "He was a famous figure in Georgian times and he hasn't been forgotten today, people still lay flowers on his grave. It's hugely satisfying to winkle another secret out of the painting, which I've been obsessed with for some years now."

A flamingo fell down

Why is this cabinet-worthy? Well, other than the fact that this marvelous photo - taken by Tatiana Adamenko on a visit to the Moscow Zoo - makes you do a double-take, flamingos are known for their ability to stand on one leg for hours at a time. As you may surmise, a bird's tail is largely responsible for keeping its balance, specifically the feathers known as retrices, which the U.K.'s Flamingo Resource Centre offers helpful advice about measuring in living birds. But as biologists Fritz Hertel and Kenneth E. Campbell, Jr., determined in 2007, the hips of birds are also especially designed to aid in balance:

"The antitrochanter is a uniquely avian osteological feature of the pelvis that is located lateral to the postero-dorsal rim of the acetabulum. This feature makes the avian hip joint unique among all vertebrates, living and fossil, in that a significant portion of the femoral pelvic articulation is located outside of the acetabulum....The avian antitrochanter is a derived feature of birds that evolved as an aid in maintaining balance during bipedal terrestrial locomotion."

Posture expert Lena Ting and locomotion expert Young-Hui Chang are studying the balancing abilities of flamingos at Georgia Tech's Center for Biologically Inspired Design in hopes of developing better human prosthetics or physical therapy. "The flamingo's ability to balance on one leg for long periods represents the extreme in balance control. It's a good model to study," says Chang. The Internet journal MedGadget points out, "Odd that the animals adorning kooky old ladies' lawns might hold the key to better hip replacements for the very same..."

Strolling through the shallow pool in his enclosure, the bird in the photo lost its footing when it dipped his head underwater. It took a tumble, thrashed about wildly trying to regain its equilibrium, finally stood back up after somersaulting several times, and then "casually swam away like nothing had happened."

Pretend you never saw this...

Fossil sex

Time for some fossils - and there is some interesting news to report! Oozing sap preserved 2 mites in the act of having sex 40 million years ago (1st image). The Baltic amber fossil has been analyzed by Pavel Klimov of the University of Michigan and Ekaterina Sidorchuk of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Their study shows that while today's male mites dominate the act of mating, the females of their extinct ancestors Glaesacarus rhombeus had the upper hand, so to speak. What they had, actually, was a special pad-like structure used to hold the male in place (and what he lacked was the clinging structure he now uses to keep the female in position). This gave the girl mites an evolutionary advantage by being able to choose superior males for mating partners and to avoid harassment by "losers."

Last month, analysis of a 160-million-year-old pterosaur fossil by Junchang Lü of Beijing's Institute of Geology and David Unwin of the University of Leicester revealed some new difference between the sexes of the Darwinopterus. The new Chinese fossil (4th image) shows a female pterosaur that suffered a broken wing and fell into a lake, where it was preserved beneath the sediments after gases caused by its decomposition expelled an egg. This allowed the scientists to determine that the small flying reptiles laid leathery eggs like turtles rather than hard-shelled eggs like birds. In addition - because they are certain this fossil is female - they can state that only the males sported large head crests, making them the "peacocks of the Mesozoic."

In an earlier post about frisky fossils, I noted that in 2010 paleontologists had identified fish as the first creatures to engage in sex for pleasure. Well, back in 2008 they determined that Funisia dorothea (2nd image), tube-like organisms that lived on the sea floor in flocks 570 million years ago, were the first to engage in the act at all, rather than reproducing asexually like everything else. "I don't think they would wind around each other. But I could be wrong - I would like to think they enjoyed it," said researcher Mary Droser of the University of California Riverside.

Just days after the mating mites made headlines, University of Cincinnati geology professor Carlton E. Brett revealed his assessment of large trilobite gatherings, preserved often in the fossil record (example, 3rd image), as opportunities for molting and mating. As he put it, "It's an orgy."

Hunger and thirst

The symptoms of extreme dehydration were cataloged in 1906 by W.J. McGee in a classic published paper entitled "Desert Thirst as Disease," based on the experiences of 40-year-old Pablo Valencia, who survived almost 7 days in the Arizona desert without water:

Saliva becomes thick and foul-tasting. The tongue clings irritatingly to the teeth and the roof of the mouth. Though speech becomes difficult, sufferers are moved to complain ceaselessly about their thirst until their voices become cracked and hoarse. Even when they can no longer speak, they continue to moan and bellow. When the mouth ceases to generate saliva, the tongue hardens into a "senseless weight, swinging on the still-soft root and striking foreignly against the teeth." A lump forms in the throat causing repeated swallowing in a vain attempt to dislodge it. Severe pain is felt in the head and neck. The face feels full because the skin shrinks. Hearing is affected and many people begin to hallucinate. The tongue swells to such proportions that it squeezes past the jaws. The eyelids crack and the eyes begin to weep tears of blood. And the throat swells to such a degree that breathing becomes difficult, causing the incongruous yet terrifying sensation of drowning.

The physiological and psychological effects of severe and prolonged dietary restriction were observed in a classic study by Ancel Keys, conducted in 1944-45 and referred to as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment:

As the subjects began to lose weight, they became lethargic and irritable. Concentration became difficult. They experienced lack of physical strength and balance, and many blacked out when they stood up quickly. Their limbs swelled. Their sexual desire was replaced with an obsession with food, manifesting itself in recounting meals and reading cookbooks. They lost initiative and creativity. "Many of the so-called American characteristics - abounding energy, generosity, optimism - become intellible as the expected behavior response of a well-fed people."

This post was inspired by the book In the Heart of the Sea, which chronicles a 19th c. account of survival cannibalism.

Electroplating the dead

In the book of morbid trivia I was reading, there was mention of a French doctor who devised a way of preserving corpses by coating them with a layer of metal. The account, dated to the turn of the 20th c. (and illustrated by the 1st image), is repeated exponentially and word-for-word on the web:

"Dr. Varlot, a surgeon in a major hospital in Paris, has developed a method of covering the body of a deceased person with a layer of metal in order to preserve it for eternity. The drawing illustrates how this is done with the cadaver of a child. The body is first made electrically conductive by atomising nitrate of silver on to it. To free the silver in this solution, the object is placed under a glass dome from which the air is evacuated and exposed to the vapours of white phosphorous dissolved in carbon disulphide. Having been made conductive, the body is immersed in a galvanic bath of sulphate of copper, thus causing a 1 millimetre thick layer of metallic copper to be deposited on the skin. The result is a brilliant red copper finish of exceptional strength and durability."

It sounds plausible and the blogger quoted above references the book Victorian Inventions, but sources the image to the macabre illustrations of American cartoonist Charles Addams (1912-1988). I wasn't satisfied that the story was authentic, and kept searching. I found mention of an earlier French patent granted in 1857 to Eugene Theodore Noualhier, whose process is quoted as follows:

"First stop all the apertures with modellers' wax, or some other convenient material, and place the dead animal body, which may be a human corpse, in a suitable attitude, and spread over the skin, which is of a greasy nature, a layer of a suitable metallic salt; we use in preference pulverized nitrate of silver, which is very easily applied; this salt then penetrates into the pores of the skin, and when a sufficient quantity of nitrate of silver has been thus applied to the body in question, by means of a brush or otherwise, it is then put into a bath of sulphate of copper, and, the galvanic current being established, the whole surface soon becomes covered with a metallic deposit of copper of the requisite thickness, the result being a metallic mummy."

The newspaper clippings make it a little more convincing, but I wondered if such a thing had been tried (and documented) in the United States. Bingo! A patent was issued in 1934 to Levon G. Kassabian for his Method of Preserving Dead Bodies, which is illustrated above (image 2) and summarized below:

"The herein described method of preserving dead bodies, which consists in coating the entire surface of the body to be preserved with wax, then applying to the wax coated body a thin layer or coating of a copper containing solution, then winding the body with copper wire so as to completely enclose same then applying braces to the neck and feet portions of the wire bound body, which braces are provided with electric terminals and then electroplating the wire wound coated body."

You can read the entire patent application here.

Itty bitty books

A treasure trove of antique miniature books from a family collection is being auctioned off by Bamfords Auctioneers in Derby, U.K., at a 3-Day Antiques and Fine Art Sale this week. The tiny books, by definition under 3 1/8" in height, width, and thickness, include the following:

• 1896 Holy Bible (1st and 2nd images), 40mm, 376pp., published in Glasgow with engraved plates, a gilt-stamped Moroccan leather binding, and a magnifying glass in a rear pocket (valued at £200-300).
• 1896 Book of prayers and poems, 258pp., with fine foil-stamped binding
• 1842 London Almanack, with listings of gold prices and shipping charges, and fold-out charts
• 1810 Bijou Picture of London, or The Gems of the Metropolis, 30mm tall with 31 engravings of London landmarks (valued at £150-200)
• 1812, Bijou Picture of Paris (3rd image), also 30mm with 31 engravings (valued at£150-200)
• 1810 Alfred Mills, Natural History of 48 Birds, 48 engraved plates, Moroccan leather binding, (valued at £60-80)
  
• 1841 The Liliputian Sacred Annual, loose pages, 40mm x 30mm
• n.d. C. Duff, The Life of Abraham, cloth cover with gilt, 45mm x 30mm
• 1904 Charles Dickens, The Chimes: A Goblin Story, reverse calf binding, 50mm x 35mm
• n.d. Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, Moroccan leather gilt binding, 50mm x 35mm
• n.d. William Moodie, Editor, More Old Scotch Songs, Moroccan leather gilt binding, 80mm x 25mm
• n.d. H. Miller, Going Into Breeches, children's book with 12 hand-colored engravings, £60-80
• n.d. R. Taylor, The Child's First Book, engraved vignettes throughout, 45mm x 30mm
• n.d. R. Taylor, The History of Sam Wood, 60mm x 40mm, £60-80
  

Miniature books, novelty products that became examples of a printer's skill, became fashionable during the Renaissance. The 16 little books are expected to fetch a total of more than £2000 at auction.

Hi Chase!

"Pulling a Quigley"

I just learned that our family's name is a slang term. Read on...

In the 1990 film "Quigley Down Under," the title character - an expert marksman played by Tom Selleck - kills 2 men with 1 bullet from an 1874 Sharps rifle (reproduction, 1st image). "We see the results of a long range shot, two men are taken down towards the end of the movie from great distance, being hit before the sound of the rifle arrives."

In August and September 2009 Serjeant Tom Potter, 30, and Rifleman Mark Osmond, 25, (pseudonyms) of the British Army had 75 confirmed kills between them in Afghanistan. They used suppressors to reduce the noise of the guns to the sound of a ballistic crack, the origin of which could not be determined. "With the bullet travelling at three times the speed of sound, a victim was unlikely to hear anything before he died." On a previous occasion, the pair of expert snipers had killed 8 Taliban in 2 hours, most from 1,200m with a 7.62mm L96 rifle (2nd image). The longest-range shot taken was when Potter killed an insurgent at 1,430m away. But the most celebrated shot was by Osmond at a range of 196m when he killed a known Taliban commander and his passenger through their heads with a single bullet as they rode away on a motorcycle. "He had achieved the rare feat of ‘one shot, two kills’ known in the sniping business as ‘a Quigley’."

Library jumpers

A 3rd person has committed suicide by jumping from a 100' landing inside Utah's Salt Lake City Library. The library (pictured) was designed by architect and urban designer Moshe Safdie and built to great acclaim in 2003 (see slideshow). The building houses 500,000 books in its 240,000 sq. ft. and offers reading galleries, a 300-seat auditorium, a ground-level plaza with shops and services, and a roof-top garden with a 360-degree view of the city and the outlying Wasatch Mountains. Reflecting during a lecture in 2006, Safdie said, "I was told that it would be impossible to keep people in town past five o' clock. We proved them wrong." With 9,000 visitors a day, the library is now the most visited site in Utah. But within the library's six-story interior is a pedestrian bridge leading to the bathrooms on the west side. That is the spot from which a middle-aged woman jumped to her death on Friday morning - the 3rd to choose the downtown public library to do so. Several people heard a woman screaming and then saw her lying on the ground inside the library. Her actions were also captured by a surveillance camera. Police lieutenant Bryce Johnson stated, "There was no question how it took place. It was an intentional suicide.” The library's executive director Beth Elder does not want to see any repeats and said, “We are saddened and extend our condolences to the family. The building design is very transparent. It has great advantages to how it can be used, but we will be exploring ways in which we can make it safe.”