December 1, 1887.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



45 



Eosicrucian mystery (or imposture). So much nonsense 

 has been talked and written about this imaginary order 

 that it is quite refreshing to find a writer competent and 

 willing to reduce the legend to its true proportions, and 

 show how and when it had its origin. In Mr. Waite's 

 pages we are furnished with the means of estimating the 

 rhapsodies of such writers as Fludd, Yaughan, and Heydon 

 at their true value, and of realising the extent to which 

 such deceivers were themselves deceived. "We cannot quite 

 agree with our author that '• there is no traceable con. 

 nection between Masonry and Rosicrucianism," because 

 every mason will at once detect the extent to which the 

 imaginary ceremonial of the supposititious sect was bor- 

 rowed from masonic ritual. Mr. Waite is justifiably severe 

 on the modern aping of the non-existent msdiceval fraternity. 



A Professor of Alchenuj. By Peucy Ross. (London : 

 George Red way. 1887.) — In the volume before us, Mr. 

 Ross has told the painful story of Denis Zachaire, an 

 alchymist of the sixteenth century. His weary toil after 

 the secret of the [ihilosopher's stone, and supposed success ; 

 his marriage with a nun who had fled from the vice of a 

 convent ; her batrayal, by one of the French nobility, to 

 the bloodthirsty scoundrels who, under the title of the Holy 

 Inquisition, so admirably illustrated one phase of the 

 " infallibility " of the Romish Church ; her death by poison, 

 and the subsequent murder of Zachaire himself by De 

 Fonce, afford a vivid picture of those bad old times for 

 whose return some perverted intellects yet sigh, happUy 

 in vain. 



First Lessons in Science. By the Eight Rev. .J. W. 

 CoLENSO, D.D. (Bishop of Xatal). (London : "William 

 Ridgway. 1887.) — Here is the most delightful and instruc- 

 tive introduction to astronomy for children that we have, 

 so far, ever come across. It appeiirs to have been written 

 twenty-seven years ago, but for the purpose of introducing 

 the young to a knowledge of the system of which our own 

 world forms a member, and of the universe of suns by which 

 it is surrounded, it is as valuable now as on the day in 

 which it was penned. The old solar jiarallax was, of course, 

 employed by Dr. C'olenso, and the editor of this reissue of 

 the bishop's work has left the resultiug figures and quan- 

 tities intact in it. This, however, can interfere but slightly, 

 if at all, with the educational value of the book, which we 

 heartily commend to all who are interested in the intro- 

 duction of science into our elementary schools. 



Slulies in Machine Desijn. By C. F. Archer. Series I. 

 and 11. (London : Griffith, Farran, Okeden .fc Welsh.) — 

 These clearly executed examples of mechanical di-awing will 

 be found useful alike to the apprentice in the drawing-room 

 and to the fitter at the lathe or bench. The first series con- 

 sists of six plates of elementary examples, showing how to 

 draw such simple pieces of mechanism as bolts and nuts, 

 pistons, cylinder covers, <fco. The second is of a more ad- 

 vanced character, antj deals with a launch engine as a whole 

 and in detail. Any tolerably intelligent mechanic ought to 

 be able to read a drawing from a study of Mr. Archer's 

 examples. 



The Decorators Assistant. Second Edition, Revised. 

 (London : Crosby Lockwood & Co. 1887.) — The anony- 

 mous compiler of this mass of receipts, &c., has done real 

 service not only to the professional decorator, but to every 

 household whatever. Any one who wishes to make his 

 house beautiful, externally or intemallj-, should purcha-se 

 this remarkable shilling's-worth straightway. He will find 

 aU that he requires, and much more besides, between its two 

 covers. 



We regret that space is too limited to permit us to do 

 other than call the attention of our readers to, and urge 



their support of, Messrs. Smith <fe Elder's monumental 

 enterprise, the Dictionary of National Biography, of which 

 Volume XII. lies before us. There is no slackening of zeal, 

 but rather a quickening of endeavour, in the promise of a 

 yet more rapid issue of a work which is a credit to private 

 enterprise, and as complete as the skill and erudition of 

 Mr. Lsslie Stephen can make it. The present volume 

 carries us to '• Craigie." 



Among the current journals and serials we single out for 

 special notice the Eiliiihurijh Review, which gives an ad- 

 mirable and instructive critique of Mr. Lecky's new 

 volumes of his " History of the Eighteenth Century ; " 

 Longman's Magazine, with its striking and novel account 

 of the " peculiar people " of Salonika, Jews by descent and 

 belief, but outwardly followers of Mahomet ; and the 

 Westminster Reviev, with a brief but vivid sketch of 

 Emerson, and an encouraging article on the " Progress of 

 the Masses." As for St. Nicholas, it remains far and away 

 the best magazine for boys and girls, but we think the 

 British public is getting weavy of the American presidents 

 and generals who have for months monopolised the pages of 

 the Century Magazine. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR DECEMBER. 



By F.R.A.S. 



HROUDED in the mists wbicii obscure the winter 

 horizon, and destitute of spots for days and even 

 weeks at a time, the sun has ceased for the present 

 to be an object of interest to the observer. He 

 attains his greatest south declination in the early 

 morning of December 22, which is thus " the 

 shortest day." The night sky will be found de- 

 picted on map sii.of "The Stars in their Seasons." 

 Slinimaot Algol (same map) willoccurat llh.35m. 

 P.M. on the Sth, at 8h. 23m P.M. on the 11th, at .5h. 12m. P.M. on 

 the 14th, and at lOh. 6m. P.M. on the 31st, as also at other times 

 less convenient for the amateur. Mercury is a morning star 

 throughout December. He attains his greatest western elongation 

 from the sun (20° 32') on the Sth. He rises some two hours before 

 the sun at the beginning of the month, but is travelling so rapidly 

 southward that his detection towards the end of it is in the last degree 

 doubtful. Venus is a morning star too, and is a most brilliant and 

 conspicuous object in the south-east before sunrise. She is at her 

 greatest elongation west of the sun (46° 47') on December 2. In 

 the telescope she presents the figure of the moon about the time of 

 her last quarter. Jlars and Jupiter are, for the observer's purpose, 

 still invisible. Saturn, however, is now coming into view again, as 

 he rises about eight o'clock in the evening at the beginning of the 

 month, and before 6h. P.M. at the end of it. But little alteration is 

 noticeable in his ring system. He will be found to the west and 

 north of S Cancti (" The Stars in their Seasons," map iii.) Uranus 

 is invisible ; but Xeptune may be picked up in the locality indicated 

 in this column last month. The moon enters her last quarter at 

 3h. 10 8m. in the early morning of the Sth, and is new at 7h. 21-om. 

 in the evening of the 14th. She enters her first quarter at 7h. l-2m. 

 A.M. on the 22nd, and isfuU on the morning of the 30th at 8h. 14-3m. 

 Four occultations only of fixed stars by the moon will occur during 

 December at convenient hours for the amateur observer. On the 

 evening of the 1st she will have occulted 119 Tauri, of theo^th.and 

 120 Tauri, of the 6 ih, magnitude, before she rises ; but the reappear- 

 ance of the first-named star at her dark limb may be seen at 5h. 18m. 

 P.M.. at an angle of 248° from her vertex ; and that of the second at 

 5h. 46m. P.M., at an angle from her vertex of 272°. Next, on the 

 18th, 1 Capricorni, a star of the 4Jth magnitude, will disappear at her 

 dark limb at oh. 58m. P.M., at "an angle from her vertex, of 103°, 

 reappearing at her bright limb 6h. 59m. P M., at a vertical angle of 350°. 

 Finall}-, on the 27th, 75 Tauri, a 6th magnitude star, will disappear 

 at the dark limb of the moon at 6h. 26m. P.M., at an angle of 55° 

 from her vertex, and will reappear at her bright limb at 7h. 35m. 

 P.M., at an angle from her vertex of 274°. When these notes open 

 the moon is in Tatirus (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxiii.), 

 through which she is travelling until 2h. 30m. A.M. on the 2nd, at 

 which hour she arrives at the western boundary of the northerly 

 prolongation of Orion. When, by 2 o'clock the same afternoon, she 

 has crossed this, she emerges in Gemini (" The .Seasons Pictured," 

 plate xxiv.). Her journey through Gemini occupies her tmtil 



