236 



* KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[August 1, 1888, 



scarcely but know. Yet rather than attribute to them 

 either (1) deliberate unfairness, or (2) -wilful misrepresenta- 

 tion, or (3) gross blundering, or (4) inability to appreciate 

 the rules which customarily guide men of honour, I 

 generouslj- took it for granted that they had been misled by 

 a person known to have striven by untruths to injure 

 another, and therefore unquestionably capable of untruth 

 for his own benefit. It appears that T was altogether mis- 

 taken, so that one or other of the four explanations which 

 alone I'emained available must be accepted. I am sorry for 

 this. But my sorrow is by no means apologetic. It signifies 

 rather my strong feeling that an apology is due to mj-self. 



* * * 



On the other hand, I am glad to find that I was not 

 right in supposing that Mr. Fraser — (see Knowledge for 

 June, pp. 180, 187) — had any thought of attributing unfair- 

 ness, either to myself or to the author of the criticism to which 

 he objected. I still think that Air. Fraser was wrong in 

 writing as he did, but I withdraw all that in my remarks 

 about him went be3'ond that. 



* * * 



With regard to his heat theory of gravity, Mr. Fraser 

 writes to me admitting that if the instantaneous action of 

 giavity is proved the heat theory fails. But he asks 

 whether the instantaneous action is proved 1 May not '• the 

 obstruction from meteoric gas and other matter in inter- 

 planetary space neutralise the acceleration which would be 

 caused by the non-in.stantaneity of gravity " ? I have 

 never had much liking for the " may not " style of argu- 

 ment ; but in presence of the absolute perfection with 

 which all the planetary movements are explained, when 

 gravity is assumed to be practically instantaneous, the 

 suggestion that the various measuralile departures from 

 perfect agreement necessarily arising if gravity travels no 

 I'aster than heat are all exactly corrected by the resistance 

 of meteoric gas is too wild to be admitted for a moment. 

 It would scarcely be less reasonable to suggest that gravity 

 has no existence at all, but that the .several planets are all 

 kept in their proper paths l)y the resistances of meteoric 

 gas and other matter in interplanetary space. The theory 

 of gravity is regarded as established because it accounts in 

 quantity and quality for all the movements of all the 

 heavenly bodies. If all we could say of it was that possibly, 

 were all the conditions known, gravity might be found to 

 explain the planetary movements, the astronomy of to-d,ay 

 would be where astronomy was in the days before Coper- 

 nicus. 



Mil. Malet, the author of '• Sunlight," has not written to 

 me complaining about the criticism of his p.aradox — or, 

 rather, his letters, though addressed to the Editor, were not 

 forwarded to me (the said Editor) in my distant home, but 

 to the gentleman who criticised Mr. JIalet's speculations 

 about light. From what I learn about Mr. Malet's letters, 

 his light is wanting in sweetness. 



In Pursuit r>f a Shadow. By A Lady Astronomer. 

 (London : Triibner & (Jo.) — Among the English astronomers 

 who undertook a journey to Russia to observe the total 

 solar eclip.se of August 19, 1887, appears to have been the 

 authoress of the very pleasant, chatty, and agreeable little 

 book before us. In company with another lady, she foced 

 an experience of more or less toilsome travel of between 

 two and three thousand miles into the heart of Kussia, 



unhappily only to meet with disappointment, clouds 

 practically hiding the whole phenomenon from the view 

 of those who had come so far and toiled so bravely to view 

 it. But if our " Lady Astronomer " was disappointed, her 

 readers assuredly will not be, for it is long since we have 

 seen in print so readable and unafleoted an account of a. 

 journey through a comjiarativcly strange country as she has 

 given us. She tells of her voyage from Hull to Christiania, 

 thence to Stockholm, on to St. Petersburg, and through 

 Moscow to Pogost, where she was apparently the guest of 

 Professor Bredichin ; and whence, had the weather been 

 propitious, the eclipse was to have been observed. After 

 the disappointment of her.solf and her lady companion, she 

 went on to see something of the world-famed fair of Nijni- 

 Novgorod, and returned home via Smolensk, Warsaw, and 

 Berlin. All this is told in the most delightfully chatty 

 manner, without a tr.aco of guide-book padding, irrelevant 

 quotation, or any of the otiier devices by which modern 

 works of travel are swollen into bulky books. We can 

 cordially recommend this tiny volume. 



Faustrestra : a Drama, with Other Poems and Essays. 

 By Verestra, B.Sc. (London). (Clapham : T. Fox. 1887.) 

 Whether the author of this ridiculous trash is simply 

 irresponsible for his actions, or whether ho is indulging in 

 some form of "chaff" too esoteric for our comprehen.sion, 

 we cannot take upon ourselves to determine. An extract, 

 taken absolutely at random from the so-called " Drama," 

 may perhaps enable some more penetrating reader to divin3 

 which (if either) of these two hypotheies is correct : — 



UNDINE. 



Not to nienlion clear'}' all the 

 Cii'cumstances. 



LADY ,TOAN. 

 I've lived all my 

 Life lonpr in ilie sacred fame nf , 

 All the Virtues so to speak till. . . . 



UNDINE. 

 Many were the escapades which 

 Took place in the misty shadows 

 Ot its aisles. I've heard about them. 



LADY JOAN. 

 kSince you are so very le.irned 

 On the subject may I ask from 

 Whom you heard about these mighty 

 Escapades. 



MADAM ANYBODY. 

 We knew about them. 

 W.alls have ears, you know, — You humbugged 

 Many — not us, though. 



LADY JOAN. 



It .seems you 

 Know more of my history than 

 I myself do, so you'd better 

 Tell it, or proceed to tell 3-our 

 Own ones. 



The author seems to lapse into something approaching tem- 

 porary sanity in a concluding Essay on the Senses. 



Granites, and our Granite Industries. By Geo. F. 

 Harris, F.G.S. (London : Crosby Lockwood & Son. 

 1888.) — Within the space occupied by 134 pages Mr. 

 Harris has contrived to convey a very large amount of 

 information on the subject to which his volume is devoted. 

 The geologist will here find an exposition of the latest 

 theories of the origin of granite, and the petrographer full 

 details of its lithological structure ; while all interested in 

 it, in its commercial and economical aspect, m.ay learn 

 whence it is obtained, and how quarried and worked. A 

 description of the method of turning it in the lathe, and of 

 the other mechanical processes by whose aid it is wrought, 

 form the subject of the eleventh chapter. Fifteen woodcuts 

 illustrate the text, and there is a very full index. 



