188 



KNOWLEDGE 



[October 1, 1892. 



fact, the attempts at raising wheat from these ancient 

 seeds have not been successful. The experiment which 

 has been most talked of is that of the Count of Sternberg, 

 at Prague. He had received the grains from a trust- 

 worthy traveller, who assured him they were taken fi-om a 

 sarcophagus. Two of these seeds germinated, it is said ; 

 but I have ascertained that in Germany well-informed 

 persons believe there is some imposture, either on the part 

 of the Arabs, who sometimes slip modern seeds into the 

 tombs (even maize, an American plant), or on that of the 

 niiphijes of the Count of Sternberg. The grain known in 

 commerce as mummy-wheat has never had any proof of 

 antiquity of origin." " 



r>arley {Honlrum ruhiai-e) may probably belong to 

 Mesopotamia, but there exists a doubt with regard to the 

 matter. De CandoUe believes that all species of oats 

 (Arma) cultivated are derived from a prehistoric form, 

 and a native of eastern temperate Europe and Tartary. 

 The common species is Arena sutira, of which, as in the 

 cases of wheat and barley, there are numerous varieties in 

 cultivation. 



The most wonderful of all the grasses is the bamboo 

 ( Ilaiiihum <imiidinficea).-f It may attain a height of even 

 eighty feet, and the rapidity with which it grows may 

 fairly be said to be extraordinary — sometimes two to 

 two and a half feet a day. The young shoots are 

 eaten by the Chinese as we eat asparagus. Water 

 buckets and water bottles are.made from its stem if the 

 joints be large enough. The stem is also ixsed as 

 timber in a variety of ways ; and finer kinds of 

 paper are manufactured by the Chinese from the inner 

 portion of it. It can also be used for masts, and for 

 agricultural and domestic implements, and we are familiar 

 with it in the form of umbrella handles and walking 

 sticks. A writer in the (Tardoiers' Chronicle of July 25th, 

 1891, records a remarkable phenomenon he witnessed in 

 the province of Malabar — the seeding of the bamboo. 

 " Hundreds of square miles were thickly covered with 

 graceful clumps of this plant, many specimens being from 

 sixty to seventy feet high. The leaves left the lateral 

 branches and at the same time the inflorescence made its 

 appearance, changing the aspect of the country as if by 

 magic. No one was prepared for such an eventuality, 

 and the English planters in the district were struck 

 with something akin to dread when the fact dawned 

 upon them that, hi the course of a very brief period, 

 not a living bamboo would be left in the forest. A 

 few there were who refused to believe that the 

 culms woiild perish after ripening their seeds, and were 

 only persuaded by the actual realization of the fact." In 

 the middle of May the seed came to maturity, and then 

 there only remained the dead stems where once was a 

 leafy forest of green waving plumes. 



Of Sacchnrum, ojficinarum, the sugar-cane, another 

 interesting member of the Graminere, want of space 

 prevents us speaking. 



THE REV. JOHN MICHELL, ASTRONOMER 

 AND GEOLOGIST. 



By JouN EicHARD Sutton, B.A.Cantab. 



THE world of to-day has almost forgotten John 

 Michell, but no more bold and original thinker 

 ever devoted himself to the study of the 

 earth or the heavens. He lived at a time im- 

 mediately preceding the advent of William Smith 



* De Candolle, Origin of Cullivafed Plants, page 362. 

 t There ave other species, as Bambusa veriicillaia, etc. 



and Sir William Herschel, and his greatness has been 

 kept in the background by the honour which the world 

 has awarded to his successors. His name is mentioned 

 occasionally, in authors' footnotes chiefly ; and some later 

 writers — notably Sir Charles Lyell, Prof. Grant and 

 Arago — give him a share of commendation, though with 

 little enthusiasm.} Of all the great cyolopjedias, the 

 EncydopiTiUii fh-itannica alone deigns to mention him at 

 all, and eventhen incorrectly, though everyone of them gives 

 whole pages to lesser men. To a certain extent this is 

 due to the fact that Michell's speculations were a full 

 century before his age. 



Michell was entered at Queen's College, Cambridge, 

 and graduated fourth wrangler in 17-18§ — a position 

 scarcely worthy of his powers. 



In many ways there is something incongruous in 

 associating Michell and his severe mental characteristics 

 with the ivy-clad cloisters of Queen's and their memories 

 of Erasmus and Ridley. Newton at Trinity. Wordsworth 

 at St. John's, Young at Emmanuel, Cromwell at Sidney 

 Sussex, where altar-candles are still waging an unequal 

 battle with the persistent spirit of the old Puritanism — 

 these are all natural figures in keeping with their college 

 surroundings. But if college walls breathe inspiration at 

 all, then assuredly neither Art nor Nature ever intended 

 Queen's to be the abode of the hard and realistic sciences. 

 All the same, Michell flourished at Queen's. He took 

 holy orders, and was elected to a fellowship immediately 

 after taking his degree. He was elected Pr;elector 

 Hebraicus and Prfelector Arithmeticus in 1751, Censor 

 Theologicus and Examinator in 1752, PriPlector Georaetri- 

 cus in 1753, Censor Theologicus in 1754, Prailector 

 Grfficus in 1755. From 1756 to 1759 he was Senior 

 Bursar (Thesaurius Superior). In 1762 he was again 

 Prfelector Hebraicus. Ij 



In 1750, only two years after taking his degree, he 

 published his first work, an interesting little book of 

 eighty-one pages, entitled " A Treatise of Ai'tificial 

 Magnets, in which is shown an easy and expeditious 

 method of making them superior to the best natural ones, 

 and of changmg or converting their poles " — a most 

 charming little volume, evidently the production of a mind 

 above the common. Some of the experiments he describes 

 indicate almost an instinct for tracing the workings of 

 Nature, and are none the less interesting because of his 

 most fascinating command of language. In this respect, 

 indeed. Sir John Herschel was scarcely his superior. 



In 1760, Michell was elected to the fellowship of the 

 Eoyal Society, and in this year he published a paper on 

 the cause and phenomena of earthquakes. The paper, 

 which is very lengthy, is what such a scientific discussion 

 sliould be ; first a collection of facts, and then intelligent 

 reasoning upon them. Certainly Michell shows, at this 

 early stage of his career, a power of reasoning upon his 

 facts which, up to that time, had been unknown in the 

 history of geology. No available sources of information 

 were neglected. The spirit of Epicurus was in the man 

 tenfold. His words, to modern readers, convey the idea of 

 prophecy fulfilled, rather than of deductions likely to have 

 much weight at the time. " Some of his observations 

 anticipate in so remarkable a manner the theories 

 established forty years afterwards, that his writings would 

 probably have formed an era in the science, if his 



X It is due, however, to Mr. Kanyai'd to acknowledge that in the 

 Old and New Asfroiioin// he lias spoken of Michell's work in ;i most 

 appreciative way. 



§ Also M. A. "in 17.52 ; B.D. in 1761. 



II The author is indebted to the Rev. ,1. H. Gray, M.A., T>.:in of 

 Queen's College, for these facts. 



