Random notes on "The Bizarre notes and queries" 1890 - Google Books (UNCLASSIFIED)

Wed Feb 10 15:49:54 UTC 2010

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OED has "jumping bean" from 1889, but nothing on "Mexican jumping bean" until 1972 (under the entry for "jumping").

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Victor Steinbok
> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 2:46 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Random notes on "The Bizarre notes and queries" 1890 - Google
> Books

> 2. Mexican Jumping Beans and its ancestry
>
> The second entry of interest in the volume mentioned initially
> (http://bit.ly/dBWXGa) relates to "sensitive bean".
>
> p. 8
> > 11. A friend of mine has a bean called a "sensitive bean," its
> > characteristics being a power to move about on the palm of the hand,
> > or when placed on a table. Its movements are not regular but
> > intermittent.
>
> I've never heard this particular expression, but, given the time period
> and the description, it seems to have been a reference to the "Mexican
> jumping beans". The latter are antedated in most dictionaries (don't
> know what the OED has) to 1885, with some to 1889. There had been some
> question as to the identity of the species of moth involved as late as
> 1891. But it's a trivial matter to find 1885 sources for MJB on GB.
>
> The more interesting part is that they were originally identified as
> "jumping seeds" at least as early as 1856. A rather extensive German
> bibliography on the matter appears to make 1857 the initial publication
> year on the discovery of the moth, which is confirmed by a number of
> other sources (crediting O. Westwood). (Note that GB tags this volume
> as
> 1868, when the actual publication date is 1893, pp. 277-290--
> http://bit.ly/bJH2bo )
>
> http://bit.ly/a5iOio
> Proceedings of the Linnean Society [of London], Zoology, Vol. I, 1857,
> p.xviii
> > May 6th, 1856.
> > ...
> > John Samuel Gaskoin, Esq., F.L.S., exhibited some of the so-called
> > "Jumping-seeds" described by Sir W.J. Hooker and J.O. Westwood, Esq.,
> > in the "Kew Journal of Botany;" the motion of which is due to the
> > larva of a small insect enclosed in the seed.
>
> This, however, can be improved slightly to 1854.
>
> http://bit.ly/asl4vG
> The Athenæum, No. 1413, Nov. 25, 1854, p. 1434/2
> > The subject of the jumping seeds received from Sir William Hooker,
> > adverted to at the meeting, was revived, and an interesting
> discussion
> > thereon took place, in the course of which Mr. Westwood said he had
> > satisfied himself that the inclosed [sic] larvæ were lepidopterous,
> > and some of them infested with ichneumons. As Réaumur's jumping
> > cocoons produced ichneumons, he had thought it probable that the
> > motion of the seeds in question occurred only with those in which
> > there was a larva of an ichneumon; but he had ascertained that such
> is
> > not the case, for in all theafflicted seeds the leaps were alike and
> > similarly powerful.
>
> Perhaps the following identifies the earliest mention, by reference
> (the
> review was published in 1855, but the original text is from October,
> 1854).
>
> http://bit.ly/9fiYVG
> > _Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany_. No. 69,
> > October; ..., 1854. 8vo. London: Lovell Reeve. ...
> > No. 69, October:--... Jumping or moving seeds--three of these were
> > forwarded to Sir W. Hooker, from Mexico, by the English Minister at
> > that place, and appear to belong to the Colliguaya odorifera, /Hook/.
> ...
>
> In fact, from other sources (that don't use the combination "jumping
> beans") clearly identify that the first report of the find occurred at
> the October 2, 1854 meeting.
>
> The name gradually became "Mexican jumping seeds" and then "Mexican
> jumping beans", although I have not compared British and American
> sources.
>
> There are 1858 and 1861 entries that list 'Mexican "jumping seeds"'
>  From 1868 to 1882 all references are to 'Mexican jumping seeds' (no
> quotation marks)
>
> Several citations in 1883 identify MJS 'or "Devil's Beans" as they are
> popularly called'. All are identical entries by Charles V. Riley but
> appear in different journals. (I counted at least seven different
> publications with the same article.) GB finds no other references to
> "Devil's Beans", but there are a few to "Devil's Bean" and a couple of
> variants without the possessive.
>
> 1884 Dictionary of English Names of Plants only lists Devil's Bean and
> neither MJS nor MJB. http://bit.ly/bXhST6
>  From 1885 forward they become known as 'Mexican jumping beans",
> although some references to 'Mexican jumping seeds' and 'Devil's Bean'
> persist at least through 1897.
>
> Best I can tell, below is a reprint of the first occurrence of the
> combination "Mexican Jumping Bean" in a research publication, even
> though, in the text, C. V. Riley still refers to it as Mexican Jumping
> Seeds.
>
> http://bit.ly/9HwrBt
> Entomological Society of Washington, 1885, p. 178
> > [Reprinted from Proceedings of Entomological Society, Vol, II, No.
> 2.]
> > Mexican Jumping Bean.
> > Determination of the Plant.
> > By C. V. Riley
> > In the Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Science for December,
> > 1875, Vol. III, page, CXLI, I gave some account of /Carpocapsa
> > saltitans/ Westwood, and the manner in which it produces the motions
> > of the well-known Mexican Jumping Seed or "Devil's Bean," and I there
> > called attantion to the fact that the particular Euphorbiaceous
> plant,
> > upon which these seeds occur, was not known or determined. The
> > poisonous nature of the plant, and the fact that it is used by the
> > Indians to poison their arrow-points, have long been known, and, in
> > fact, the plant is called Arrow Weed (/Yerba de flecha/) by the
> Mexicans.
>
> Why sudden change in nomenclature? Consider these three entries, also
> from 1885.
>
> http://bit.ly/cCMCmB
> Western Druggist, Vol. VII
> No. 3, March 16, 1885, p. 72/2
> > The Jumping Bean of Madagascar
> > R. C. (Cleveland, Ohio) desires information regarding the so-called
> > jumping bean of Madagascar, or devil's bean. We have seen a specimen
> > of the bean referred to, which was sent to President Arthur by the
> > Queen of Madagascar as a token of esteem. ... These beans are held in
> > high esteem by the natives of Madagascar, who, being very
> > superstitious, imagine that it is endowed with supernatural power.
> ...
>
> No. 4, April, 1885, p. 103/2
> Jumping Beans of Madagascar
> [To the Editor of The Western Druggist:]
> In your March number I noticed an Inquiry about the "Jumping bean of
> Madagascar." In Mexico they have a similar bean, in which the movement
> referred to has been proven to be due to the presence of an insect
> within the bean, which gradually works its way out.
>      Yours truly,   H. Lassing, M. D.  Editor of the N. Y. Analyst.
>
> No. 6, June 15, p. 156/1
> > Jumping Bean of Mexico
> > (Editor The Western Druggist)
> > Referring to the article on the "Jumping Bean of Madagascar" in your
> > March and April Numbers I inclose a specimen of the ""Mexican jumpong
> > bean" which has been carried by a gentleman here for a year, and
> until
> > recently was quite lively. It seems to have lost its restlessness,
> > however, and if you kindly have it examined perhaps the cause of its
> > sprightliness may be determined.
> >    Very truly yours,   Leo Eliel.
> >    South Bend, Ind., April 23, 1885.
> > The bean sent does not the Madagascar bran at all in appearance,
> which
> > is much heavier, larger, and furnished with a very thick shell,
> > something like the Calabar bean. ...
>
> Perhaps "Mexican Jumping Bean" already existed in the vernacular when
> first used by Riley. But I found no further references to a "sensitive
> bean".
>
> 3. Inclose
>
> Taking note from some of the cited materials above, as well as from
> those I posted earlier, it appears that the spelling "inclose" was
> quite
> common. Doing a search for "inclose OR inclosed OR inclosure" from 1800
> to 1899 produces nearly identical number of raw hits (about 16000) as
> those with e replacing the i.
>
>      VS-)
>
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