KNOV/LEDGE 



[Skpt. 4, 1885. 



This would be two octaves below "the lower C "—i.e., C below the 



I was lodging ten years ago at No. 1, Gloicester-terrace, 

 Campden-hill. The rail passes nearly beneath the house, and there 

 is an open part of the line behind the house. Sometimes — not after 

 every train, but after few— J used to hear, after the clatter and 

 roar of the train had quite died away, a faint sound, so horribly low 

 that I was fain to stop my ears, fearinj^ some injury. It occurred 

 to me, on thinking, that this sound must be the note of the tunnel, 

 considered as an organ-pipe. IIow many vibrations would that 

 give ? The rarity of the occurrence I conjectured to arise from its 

 vibrating only when two trains chanced to pass each other exactly 



Is there any probable determination of the musical value of the 

 grunt of a very fat hog (not, of course, its value to an impressario, 

 though I have heard a wild tale of an Admiral, who, lacking a band, 

 and possessing a lot of pigs, had them ranged in the order of their 

 pipes, and then played like musical glasses) ? Hallyards. 



ANT- ACIDS. 

 [1'J15]— I have just made a curious discovery. Writing in 

 8 usual, and over-run by smallish black ants, I smashed 



in my fingers, being very fond of the smell of formic acid, found in 

 them only (which shows how very human I am, for it is the proper 

 sauce of man — the Maoris always stuffed long pig with ants before 

 roasting). To my surprise, the smell was that of a first-rate fresh- 

 cut lemon. I tried another ; same result. I suppose hence that 

 this species is full of citric instead of formic acid. 



After a few minutes my fingers still have a lemony smell, but 

 not so marked as at first. Hallyakds. 



EDIVIYUS. 



nee happened to me at Pnlney 



[1916]- 



leof n: 



MUNCHAUSEN I 



s thre 



se down immediately. The boy told me what 

 had happened ; so I took my fishing-rod, which was leaning against 

 the house, down to the loch, and put a fly on. At the very first 

 cast I hooked a large trout, landed it, and laid it on the walk. 

 In two seconds the mouse ran out of its mouth, and got into a hole 

 io the wall before I could catch it." — W. Sorope's " Salmon- 



" It is a sign of narrow-mindedness to be incredulous," remarks 

 the Saturday. There is in the story of Jonah nothing more 

 intrinsically incredible than in this of the mouse. It teaches that 

 a small mammal may live, without syncope, in the maw of a fish 

 for a much longer time than it would live under water, or, at least, 

 seem to live. Now, in 1879, a woman was recovered at Paris 

 after a twenty-four hours' apparent death by drowning, through 

 the incessant (and, one would say, insane) efforts of a doctor and 

 a druggist. Given a man (of the old, tough type, now extinct) in 

 the maw of a mammal, kept warm, resisting through his life the 

 gastric juice, and receiving air as frequently as the mammal itself, 

 and there is|no impossibility in his maintaining this position for three 

 times twenty-four hours. If he thus remained, resisting digestion, 

 and probably not quiet, it is certain he would presently be vomited 

 up, like any other tough morsel. A boa swallowed its blanket once, 

 and it was rejected after (I think) a month, with all the nap 

 digested off it. Experts were of opinion that, when the Captain 

 foundered, asphyxia would not finally triumph before the end of 

 twenty or thirty minutes. This is perhaps the saddest outcome of 

 the "(cs triplex " of the first mariner. 



Captain Lloyd, in his " Field Sports of the North of Europe," 

 says that eagles sometimes seize pike, and are dragged down and 

 drowned by them, being unable to disengage themselves ; but this 

 acquisition of an imperial crest is by no means a feather in the 

 pike's cap, for, of course, they can't swim with any speed, so 

 handicapped (or unhandicapped), and are forced to skirt the 

 surface. The eagle's skeleton, grown green with weed, thus flits 

 o'er the waters of the lake, and is taken by the natives for the 

 water-sprite — a harbinger of misfortune. A pike thus crowned was 

 shot. Three cases are also given where an eagle stuck one talon 

 into a root, and the other into a salmon, and, the fish darting off, 

 was forthwith split from rump to beak. Note the immense strength 

 of the bird's legs, which one would suppose would give before his 

 body. A similar fate had nigh befallen me once. Stepping into a 

 boat, the shore-foot got between two stones and the other entangled 

 in a rowlock ; had the forces at work been disproportioned, the 

 result would have been dislocation of the hips or knees. 



On entering one day the coffee-room of the Star and Garter, 

 at Kew, I saw a cat with a canary in her mouth. I immediately 

 went for the cat, who, strange to say, did not run, though two doors 

 were open; put my thumb on her throat and delivered the bird, 



I;T ANSWERS. 



I'.icity for receiving 



end of tjepli' 

 to letters rec 

 appear in art 

 Knowledgj 



■•work the or 



-^Y.r 



what either Mr. Tait or the reviewer meant.— 

 Hundredweight. "Farther from " was intended. See "Hall- 

 yards' " letter, and my " Gossip.''— 1{. Lewins. We must beg to be 

 excused.— W. N. JIacaktnky. In my lecture on "The Sun," I 

 usually dwell on the terrestrial effects of solar ravs. Also in my 

 lectures on "Life of Worlds" and "Origin of Solar System.'— F. J. 

 BuRGOTNB. Your society's name would then be first on that list, 

 which is as yet not opened. — C. Moon. Of course the difiiculty is 

 that most mathematicians do not know about the practical wants 

 of seamen in such matters. - F. C. W. Begin with the " Origin of 

 Species" — then the "Descent of Man." — K. S. Tarr. Found 

 nothing enclosed.— T. B. 8. I differ from you, but I have no dif- 

 ference with you. When a man says, I differ with you, he does not 

 mean I have a difference with you, but I differ from you. That a 

 man may differ from another in height, colour, &c., gives no reason 

 why he should not also differ from him in opinion.— BoEDEBER. 

 You will find the lines in Anstey's translation of " Faust." As you 

 say, they have been given in Knowledge, so space must not be 

 used in "repeating them among replies.— Thos. Smith. When has 

 man been regarded as not an animal ? If you ask what difference 

 there is between man and other animals, I point out that man 

 speaks, reasons, and is moved by feelings and emotions either not 

 experienced at all by other animals or not in the same degree. If 

 a man is dumb, idiotic, and brutal, he is not in these respect.s 

 unlike other animals — and I must go back to some such definition 

 as Plato's, Man is a featherless biped, though even that was spoiled 

 when a plucked fowl was thrust before Plato's pupils. In short, 

 I expect you know as well as I can tell yon in what man differs 

 from other animals. 



(Bnv asafti'st Column. 



Bt "Five of Clubs."' 



BRILLIANT ECT NEEDLESS STRATAGEMS. 



MANY seem to imagine that the Whist games which appear in 

 books and papers are necessarily examples of perfect play, 

 especially when those engaged are good players. As a matter 

 of fact this is far from being the case. Often in the exercise of his 

 best judgment, but on the spur of the moment — for at Whist a 



' -'- --" "'" '- ' prolonged calculations- even 



s afterward to have been ill- 

 3 fewest mistakes, — that is all 



player is not permitted ti 

 the finest player does wiiai 

 judged. The finest player m 

 that can be said. 



■ But apart from this we so: 

 selected as examples of fine 

 it seems at a first view n- i 



better example" of this th^in 

 ■Whist, to which I refcrn .1 ;,, 



card, and then the grand cou 



etimes find that in games specially 

 ])lay.* the very stratagems by which 



i_:. ~ I r, — h;,.l been forced, have 



,', ;; . './ ii. tlnuwing the winning 

 ill u-siiig a surplus trump to capture 



ish, i 



1 his review of my " How to Play Whist,"' remarks 

 ne of the games. Representing actual plaj-, they 

 free from mistakes : but, after all, the worst fault 

 n some games the antepenultimate is played, in 



taken from real j 



, as in Pole, five games, and in many of the 

 1, bad play is selected for commendation. 

 s week may be cited as an " awful example.'' 



