1518 



. KNOV/LEDGE 



[Oct. 9, 1885. 



the type- wheel is turned by means of a straight handle, 

 held between the fingers, a hand points to the letter 

 ■which is in the position for printing on a dial ; simply 

 depressing the handle then prints the letter on the paper, 

 and raising the handle again moves the paper-carrier 

 forward, and inks the type for the next operation. The 

 act of depressing the handle locks the type- wheel, so that 

 it cannot turn while the letter is being printed. 



Excellent letterpress copies, two in number, may be 

 made from the writing done with the Columbia; but 

 six perfect copies may be obtained at one operation on 

 the machine itself by using thin paper and carbon paper 

 alternately. 



The Columbia Type-writer weighs less than six 

 pounds, and the price, with one wheel of type, in case 

 complete, is only £5. 5s. ; with two wheels of type, to 

 print both capitals and small letters, the price is £6. Gs. 



I have printed a few pages with the machine, and I 

 find it very easy to use. When I have had some 

 amount of practice with it, I will report further respecting 

 the speed which may be attained, as this is an all- 

 important consideration. 



THE FACE OP THE SKY. 



IKOM Oct 9 TO Oct 23 



B\ F R \ S 



m 



POTS an 1 i 



I M I 



X)f the nigh 



Oct. 20 in 1 11 



will be for all in ti 



M r 





, s in\i U hull til next fortnight 



^_ ^ s \ery bilh f laced for the observer 



„„„^,.„„i7t'oVhLrc'onsider\blc ind ripHh increasini; south decli 

 nation If seen at >11 it will be over the south nest horizon ]ust after 

 -sunset Mars Jupiter, ind Uranus are all tqualh invisible for the 

 purpose of the ordimrj amateur obsentr Saturn ib visible durin^' 

 the late workinK Qourb of the ni^'ht Hi, rises about 9h llm thib 

 evening, and ab nit a quarter past S win n 

 Hence he IS fairly hu'li "P bv midnight He ^uij....l.>.= ... .^.. 

 Ariangle with t and 4 Uemint luiu Neptune remains in the o'd bl 

 region in Taurus The Aloon enterb her first quarter at Ih 20 



•rultat 



f I 



full 



. 1 sta 



Oct 



•)h 22 6m 

 ; the period 

 n 'Virgo, but 

 is travelling 



at night : 



covered by our notes 



at 7 o'clock thib e\en 



through Libra until 4 1 



narrow northern stri] it 2 ti 60 m 



in the early morning t 1 >>s which she 



in Sagittariub until i h i in [ in n tl li ll it which hour she 

 ■crosseb into Capncornus shi 1 avis i 4 r ri us for Aquanus at 

 9 a.m. on the 17th ant Miirmstji lis s it ! 1 m on the 20tb 

 Her pasbage through tins hu,i, c ns^ell iti 11 is n t t impleted unti 

 4 p.m on the 2iTd when she pasbes into the northwest corner of 

 €etus bht ib btiU there at midmght on the 25rd 



The CI 

 the juncti 

 .square evi i 

 equal train 



loped very ripiUy in ls7 I 

 ■carried bj the Lmdon Und r 

 number had inereabed to 11-t II 

 vears the >»ew \ork Elevated 1 

 46,045 181 to 96 702,620, in otliir 

 ..showed an increase of 2'5,027,-Hb 

 expanded its figures by 50,667 430 



I business ai 

 nl 1 iilnav 



^ the Elevated bad 



By RiciiAKD A. Proctor. 



I HOPE, in the next number, wliicli will be the last 

 weekly number of Knowledge, to give a full account of 

 the probable form in which the first monthly number of 

 Knowlkdge will appear. At present I note only that it 

 will contain, besides the letter mentioned in the next 

 paragraph (which many will regard as its chief attraction), 

 an article by Mr. Grant Allen, on "Nature's Way of 

 Spreading Seeds"; the opening paper of a series by 

 Mr. Clodd, on " Tlie Story of Creation"; a paper by a 

 Fellow of the Astronomical Society, on "Colour"; the 

 beginning of a series of papers by Mr. Mattieu Williams 

 on " Coal" (in its commercial aspect), a subject which ho 

 has in a special manner made his own ; a paper on " Indian 

 Myths," by Stella Occidens ; and probably a paper by 

 Miss Ballin, on " Thought." I have not yet heard from 

 other regular contributors. I begin a series of papers on 

 the " Southern Skies," illustrated by maps prepared for 

 the latitudes of Melbourne, Sydney, Cape Town, Dunedin, 

 and other important southern cities ; in fact, suitable for 

 Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Cape Colony, &c., 

 and likely to interest northern people who wish to know 

 more than the books teach about the celestial phenomena 

 of the southern skies. I also begin a series of papers on 

 the religion of science. The "Face of the Sky" would 

 no longer have the fitness which it had in Knowledge as 

 a weekly ; but monthly astronomical announcements will 

 be made, and, perhnj s, ncircLs I'f each past month's 

 celestial phenomena. ( 'h.-.s.s v, ill cuitiuue under the able 

 management of " Mcphi.stn," who Im.s recently achieved 

 such noteworthy succe.s.s ; aiul "Mogul," the skilful 

 Whist-player, has promised a series of papers on Whist 

 which cannot but be of great interest. 



In the first monthly number of Knowledge there will 

 appear a long and most interesting letter by Sir John 

 Herschel, written in the year 1869, and hitherto unpub- 

 lished. It relates to my own inquiries, then little more 

 than begun, and presents in clear terms his ideas at that 

 time, when — in the fulness of years but also in the 

 fulness of his power.s — he was resting after the close of 

 his long and noble series of astronomical labours. 



I propose to follow up that letter by some others in 

 which Sir John Herschel discussed the theories which 

 his father had enunciated. I hope hereafter to be able 

 to publish in connected form some of the more important 

 of the elder Herschel's papers. This is much needed. 



In ner^rly every work on general astronomy which has 

 been published during the last half-century, a certain 

 theory of the stellar universe is described and illustrated. 

 According to this theory the system of stars forms a 

 figure which has been compared to a cloven flat disc. 

 Near the centre of the disc is the sun, while around the 

 sun a small circle is drawn, which is intended to represent 

 a sphere enclosing all stars visible to the unaided eye. The 

 portion outside represents a section of the cloven disc of 

 stars, — the single extension on one side corresponding to 

 the enormous array of the stars whose united lustre pro- 

 duces the light of the Milky Way where that stream is 

 single, while the double extension on the opposite side 

 corresponds to the arrays of stars producing the two 

 streams into which along one-half of its course the Milky 

 Way is divided. The theory and the illustration are 



