DUCKS AND DRAKES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 53

DUCKS AND DRAKES.

Tomake"duoksaDd drakeß" of one's money is to throw it away childishly — derived fropi the child's play of " shying " flat stones alotig the surface of a sheet of water, bo as to cause them to ricochet, which game is called " ducks and drakes " ; and the skill is estimated by the number of skips mads by tbe stone before sinking. The word " ricochet " is the Frerch term of " ducks and drakes." The first time the stone emerges it ia a ;.'duck," the second a "drake"; and soon, accordicg to the old doggrel : — A duck and a drake And a halfpenny cakt>. And a penny to pay the baker, &c. MAGXKTISM.

So called from Mtgnes, a shepherd, who is said to have been detained at Mount Ida by tho nails in his boots. The attractive power of the loadstoae or magnet was «arly known, and is referred to oj Homer, As isfcotle, and Pliny ; ib waa also known to fhe Chinese and Arabians. The Greeks tne said to have obtained the loadstone from Magnesia, in Asia, B.c 10C0 Roger Bacon is said to have been acquainted with its property of pointing to the north (1294). The invention of the mariner's compass is ascribed to Flavio Gloia, a Neapolitan, about 1310; hut it was known in Norway previous to 1266. and is mentioned in a French poem 1150. — Haydn.