23 OCTOBER 1915, Page 15

[To TEE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, —The tale in

your article on the "Humours of War" in the issue of October 9th about the leg which was bitten off is a very old "chestnut." How old probably no one knows. But you will find it in Dr. Hill Burton's Bookhunter, published about 1840.50. My copy is in London or I would give date and page. It is more concisely and humorously told there,