♦ KNOAVLEDGE 



[Sept. 11, 1885, 



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etom 



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OCULAR SPECTEA— DAKWINISII. 

 [1917]— It is with sincere regret I pen these lines, as they are 

 probably mj- last effusion to Knowledge — at any rate for some 

 time. In a few days I shall be starting for a voyage half round the 

 globe, in the hopes" of hindering for a while the ravages of an in- 

 curable disease. lUit, before I go, I feel it incumbent on me to reply 

 to the Conductor's note (1SG4) and to your constant correspondents 

 F. W. H. and Mr. Cave Thomas (1861). F. W. H. requests that I 

 wiU read Uaeckel's " Pedigree of Man " for myself. I own the soft 

 impeachment. I have not read Haeckel's " Pedigree of Man." I 

 accepted as accurate F. 'W'. H.'s quotations. I did not think it 

 necessary to spend x .shillings on the book (I am within reach of no 

 good library) to prove that Haeckel's syllogisms were fairly sound 

 when I cannot admit his definitions. But, if ever I come within 

 reach of the book, I will read it, and, it possible, let F. W. H. know 

 the result. 



Mr. Cave Thomas says (instead of answering my objection to his 

 statement that " ocular spectra have no c.vtern<il fu-isfinci trim t ever") 

 that it is not clear that I am intimatclv acqu:iinfc<l with tlie phe- 

 nomena in question. It it will help Mr. Thomas in .iny way. let me 

 assure him that I am, and have been for many years. :Wr. Thomas 

 says I object to the statement that ocular spectra had no ohjectire 

 existence. I know nothing of objective or subjective. I am per- 

 fectly williug to agree with Dr. Lewius, if he wishes it, that every- 

 thing is subjective, or with somebody else that everything is ob- 

 jective ; but I should not feel much wiser. What I objected to was 

 " external existence whatever." I was under the impression that in 

 such discussions external meant physical, and that the nerves of the 

 eye were as much external as the pigments on the leaves of the 

 spectra book. The only thing that can possibly have no external 

 existence is the mind which perceives. Every sensation must have 

 a corresponding physical phenomenon. Even if the mind can excite 

 sensations, it can only do so by iirst acting on the matter which 

 produces them 



The Conductor's note is, " Mr. Alexander should go to Darwin's 

 books for Darwin's ideas." But I have gone, and when I went I 

 took notes. I grant it is a dozen years ago, but I still have the 

 notes written, with Darwin's books at my right hand. It is true 

 Darwin never speaks of a single pair, but nevertheless he uses 

 the term common progenitor in the singular, and he certainly 

 means that the two branches, man and gorilla, meet the common 

 stem higher up than the point at which the carnivora meet it. 



I am under the impression also that he uses some such argument 

 as follows to account for the peacock's tail. A cock bird of the 

 pheasant genus by a sport of nature developed a tail with a 

 brilliant spot or spots. This so attracted the admiration of the hen 

 birds of his day that nearly all the next generation of cock pheasants 

 in his locality had spots on their tails, and so on for each succeeding 

 generation until the peacock in all his glory. What 1 wished to 

 draw attention to was that Darwin seemed hardly satisfied witli the 

 explanation that it was the nature of plants and animals to evolve 

 higher types. He tried to show how each species had varied, and 

 that generally it was due to natural or to sexual selection. Darwin 

 seemed rather to come to the conclusion, that if left alone 

 IS had a natural tendency to revert to the original type. 

 Jos. W. Alexandeb. 



MISPROXUXCIATIOX. 

 [1919]— .Another instance of "words in common use among the 

 natives (of India), but derived from English," is to be found in the 

 expression " Jam do," generally employed by the signalmen on the 

 Indian railways when they desire that a danger-signal, or one im- 

 plving that tlie hne is " jammed," or blocked, should be exhibited. 

 G. H. 



THE GAME OF DRAUGHTS. 



[192U]- I am elad to see that Mr. A. E. llodson, in letter No. 

 1884, (lui - r. ; Irt ill .:- LTtion quoted in letter No. 18.56, to the 

 effect ti : (iraughts is played out, pass unchallenged. 



In ail. Ill; • i I! ^->us remarks, I would like to quote an 

 estrati ii -n: il:. .\, ,,,,<'/,■ Weekbj Chronicle for April 24, 1880, 

 where we iiud a lew iii;iiils given to show that there is at least a 

 little play left for those who wish to amuse themselves with 

 draughts, or " checkers " as the Americans call the game. 



" A young man (A. L. Myers), a clerk in an hotel at Wilming- 

 ton, O., was fancied and taken along by a travelling artist on account 

 of his great skill with the pen and brush. Being a checker player 

 besides ... he said the beauties of the game captivated, and its 

 capabihties fairly astonished him, and he intended to turn eastward 

 and locate in some great checker centre, where he could indulge his 

 leisure in contests with players of note. He fancied Philadelphia. 

 This young aspirant to checker fame certainly filled the measure of 

 his ambition, for he discovered a draw for the whites in a variation 

 of the ' Old Fourteenth' opening that stood in Sturge's work for 

 seventy- five years as a sure win for the black men, and so pronounced 

 by every famous player. . . ." 



Lastly, R. E. Bowen, one of the ablest analytical and impromptu 

 plavers living, gives these interesting figures as to the inexhausti- 

 bili'ty of checkers. He says :— " To know how many variations we 

 shall have, we have only to dtciile how manv moves there shall be 

 in a game. The match i'.,.} 1 :■:..-. \VUlie and Martins in 

 1864 seems to be about ai. ! m . re sixty-two games 



and 4,001 moves, average .v. . - to a game— suppose 



we make it sixty. I find w > -(lii iim i.' following surprising 



number of variations :—l.l.-,_.;.- ;...u;, ;.-i.;,;i7r,. If 40,000,000 



people could play together at tljo same time, each couple plsying 

 one game every ten minutes, ten hours a day, and three hundred 

 days a year, it would take them one million six hundred thousand 

 two hundred and seventy-nine years to play the above number of 

 games. If the games were printed in a series of books, 2 



each ■ 



lake i 



6,460,7; 



13,422 



volumes. If these books were the size of the ' American Draught 

 Player,' they would form a wall 200 ft. wide and 590 high arouncj 

 the world— 25,000 miles— and yet we hear men talk of grinding np 

 all its wrinkles. The game of checkers is far more profound than 

 human knowledge can fathom : its ever-varying position cannot be 

 solved. The true position will never be written ; though one had the 

 brain of an Anderson, the years of a Methusalab. and the wealth of 

 a nation, he would not unfold a hundredth part I'— (Originally pub- 

 lished in the Tvrf, Fu-ld. and Farm.) 



From this extract we learn that we are liable t.. attacks by some 

 who imagine the game is exhausted, but a little theoretical analysis 

 will soon dispel this illusion. Mr. Bowen is no more talker. " In 

 1880, he published 940 variations on the " Bri-tol ' opening, com- 

 mencing from the third move of tlie trunk came, and probablv in 

 half-a-dozen years, a hundred impro\cd methods of play will be 

 disco\-cred on these games. But sliould any player become tired of 

 draughts and fancy he knows all about it, I can safely recommend 

 him to the Polish game on the -Major board of 100 squares to drive 

 any remnant of conceit out of his mind. The British champion 



