NOTES AND QUERIES

The history of books and periodicals of a similar character ought to be
the object of interest to the readers of this work. The number of works
in which answers have been given to proposed questions is not small. Not
to mention the _Spectator_ and its imitators, nor the class of almanacs
which give riddles and problems, nor mathematical periodicals of a more
extensive character,--though all these ought to be discussed in course
of time,--there yet remains a class of books in which general questions
proposed by the public are answered periodically, either by the public
or by the editors. Perhaps an account of one of these may bring out
others.

In 1736 and 1737 appeared the _Weekly Oracle; or, Universal Library.
Published by a Society of Gentlemen._ One folio sheet was published
weekly, usually ending in the middle of a sentence. (Query. What is the
technical name for this mode of publication? If none, what ought to be?)
I have one folio volume of seventy numbers, at the end of which notice
of suspension is given, with prospect of revival in another form
probably no more was published. The introduction is an account of the
editorial staff to wit, a learned divine who "hath entered with so much
discernment into the true spirit of the schoolmen, especially Thomas
Aquinas and Duns Scotus, that he is qualified to resolve, to a hair's
breadth, the nicest cases of conscience." A physician who "knows, to a
mathematical point, the just tone and harmony of the risings pulses...."
A lawyer who "what he this day has proved to be a contingent remainder,
to-morrow he will with equal learning show must operate as an executory
devise or as a springing use." A philosopher "able to give the true
reason of all things, from the composition of watches, to the raising of
minced pies ... and who, if he is closely questioned about the planner