Sept. 4, 1885.] 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



sncralcloui 



REMARKABLE SKY. 

 [1904]— August 3, goiug out between ten and elevf 

 noticed parallel banks of nimbua in the north, i 

 elaewhere. In a short time these banks spread ovm luc yyuuik m^v 

 and then an arrangement supervened which ia unique in raj 

 memory. The nimbus became reticulated j one saw cumulus 

 through meshes of jet-black nimbus. The sky looked like the eye 

 of an insect under the microscope ; or an immense net thrown 

 over the world. It gave me the impression of being translated 

 to some other planet, with different conditions prevailing Near 

 the zenith was an intensely-bright white opening, apparently 

 cloud, but I could see stars, and even small ones, through it 1 

 thought at first this cloud was moon-lit, but there were no signs of 

 the moon rising for long after (she had just entered her Kst 

 quarter). I inclined to think the apparent illumination was only 

 an effect of contrast j the nimbi being so intensely black They 

 then broke up into irregular, menacing masses ; finally, they united 

 into the semblance]of a giant balloon— really balloon-shaped with a 

 depression in one shoulder, and stretching from E. to W This 

 was really awe-inspiring ; not only did it suggest a messenger from 

 another world, but I feared it was going to swamp me completely 



Parturient monies, however, no rain fell that night orthemonow 

 I cast about for a cause for this singular reticulation and think 

 I found it. The upper air was no doubt hot, the weathtr having 

 been so for long ; nimbus for some reason spread over m\ region 

 there blew a chill northerly breeze, and this would create i % ertical 

 upward current into the hotter upper air. This, i leetmg the 

 stratum of nimbus, would punch holes in it where it wis weakest 

 hence the network. IIai i \ARr 



[More probably, 1 should imagine, the cause was akin tj that 

 which produces reticulate waves — a wind producing a serits of 

 longitudinal atmospheric undulations followed by a cross wind 

 producing a similar series at right angles to the former — R P ] 



EVOLUTION. 



[1005] — " It would be disappointing to those who believe in a 

 natural evolution towards perfection to learn from Mr Colquhoun 

 that the modern Shans are quite as low in the scale of c v ilization 

 as their ancestors were four thousand years ago. Some of these 

 who have deserted the mountains for the plains of feiam have 

 shown their capability for advance by adopting the culture of the 

 Siamese ; but those who still remain in the hills are neither better 

 nor worse than the Mon, Knei, and others, from whom they 

 sprung."— Safurduy Henew, June 13, 1885. 



Is it not well to bring to the front all instances, like the above, 

 which run eounter to received and fashionable theories ? 



Hallvards. 



[But who that knows anything of the doctrine of evolution does 

 or can believe in " a natural evolution towards perfection." That 

 writer in the Saturday Review has evidently not been a reader of 

 works on natural selection. The facts recorded do not in the 

 slightest degree run counter to the theory of evolution by natural 

 selection. — R. P.] 



(:i906]~Having in t 

 editorially and conduct 

 lightning stroke of ar 

 many a time and oft It 

 ment, when falling on 



1, both 



ditioi 



.wiUti 



r slij/a a 

 a the b; ' 



the suirouiiding physical c< 



I quote these in full because it ib so astoniahing that in the face 

 of these verj definite statement^ he should admit a\erj real diffi 

 cultj in understanding the ongin of simple parts of which the 

 imj-ortance does not seem sufhcient to cause the preservation of 

 succeshively larying indniduals He does not mean such develop 

 mcnts ab aie uselesb but those of minor alvantage ( f gir^ " 



fl flai 



3>) 



voulde- 



r thib 



He 



■ giraffes 



ippea. 



1 ler the control of Natural Stlecti 

 I rt CI t abandoned- but that «uch 

 iffcct in organ of m re import 

 Infinitesimal variations arc jostul 

 brought face to fvcc with the fact 

 163 are silently abandoned 

 There is nothing else in mv letter that I t 

 )ntend for though I should like to leiti 

 t ition in accepting theories so agreeable to 



andConluctoi in both enleavourmg to 



f Darn : 

 fallin II 



[I a ■ 



fib 



QV letter 

 ;s that I had not read' a dozen pages 

 e of the danger of 

 P J De\ebidce 





al n tr 1 f/ itt (^ wf ten pages Vc It is curious 

 ^ Mr lev 111 c letter in proof before I had noticed 

 theEditorirl n te I thought of adding aim w^ri for word what 

 the acting Editor had alreadj a 1 led A\ liat I aetu ilh said mav be 

 regarded as a comment in support of the Ed tonal note I still 

 consider that Mr levcnke his not caught the true meaning of 





him in bieathin might be a matter of mu _ _ 

 If men had to feed in haste and the lonc' moubtached could noi 

 get a sufficient suprh then— unless length of moubtache gave some 

 equal or greater counterbalancing advantage— the case considered 

 by Darwin would arise. Long-moustached persons would be 

 weighted in the struggle for life, and in the long run the 

 small difference would tell. As for Mr. Beveridges present 



SKIN-CASTING OF SNAKES. 

 [1907] -In reference to Dr. Hutchinson's letter (1S8G) o 



under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of 



affair much resembled the drawing off of a 



