102 



♦ KNOWLEDGE « 



[Jan. 1, 1886. 



sophicai essays between the " Conservation of Energy " 

 and a property — unknown (at least as a general property) to 

 exact quantitative knowledge — entitled the " Persistence 

 of Force," may fail to be cleared up when new meanings 

 are given to the words Force and Energy ; but perhaps 

 that difficulty may be avoided. 



* * * 



Speaking as a student of mathematical mechanics, to 

 whom the constant use of words in the same meaning is 

 of some importance, I may note here that in the mathe- 

 matically mechanical sense Force and Energy are quite 

 distinct. Whatever causes or changes motion we call 

 Force ; the effects of Force wB call Worh ; and Energy is 

 stored Worh, whether in change of position or in gene- 

 rated motion. The word Power is used only in relation 

 to mechanisms. 



* * * 



The fulfilment of the prediction made in November, 

 1872, with regard to Biela's comet, and the occurrence of 

 yet another display of meteors following in the track of 

 that comet on November 27th last, miisfc have removed 

 all possibility of doubt as to the actui',1 connection be- 

 tween the meteors of November 27, 1872, November 28, 

 1878, and November 27, 188.5, with the divided and 

 eventually dissipated comet which appeared in 1826, 

 returned in 1832, 1839, 1846, 1852, 18.59 possibly, but 

 not in recognisable form in 1872, 1878, and 1885 as it 

 would but for disintegration. 



* * * 



In discussing the movements of the meteors seen on 

 the night of November 27th, some members of the 

 Astronomical Society touched on the theory — quite 

 inadmissible, it seems to me, — that Biela's comet and 

 meteor stream may have been ejected in remote times 

 from the earth in the sunlike state. Say Jupiter, and 

 the idea is likely enough. 



* * * 



Ode contributor who prefers " Bill, Tom and Harry," to 

 " Bill, Tom, and Harry", asks if we have not blundered 

 in saying that such a sentence as " The Greek, Roman 

 and English, have fought for liberty " is nonsense. Would 

 " Bill, Tom and Harry, walked to town " be nonsense ? 

 he asks. In our opinion it would actually he nonsense, 

 though it would be understood sensibly enough. Once 

 it has been shown that the omission of the comma is 

 essential for a particular meaning, its omission must be 

 understood to imply that meaning, which in either of the 

 sentences just given is absurd. 



* * * 



I have noticed many cases in well known writers, 

 since I last wrote on the subject, where this point of 

 punctuation has come in. As an example take the 

 remark made by that very foolish person Silas Lapham, 

 that that inconceivably snobbish hero Mr. Thomas Corey, 

 has "an honest, fair and square face." The necessity for 

 omitting the comma here implies the necessity for intro- 

 ducing it in such a sentence as " Tom Corey has a super- 

 cilious, conceited, and bumptioTis manner." 



* * * 



Mr. Howell's idea by the way of a refinement is amusing. 

 The descendant of the Coreys (a sort of Norfolk Howard 

 or " big bug " family it would seem) shows his refinement 

 by discussing with his even more snobbish father, and 

 with his unutterably coarse mother and sisters whether 

 the lady he is supposed to love, is worthy of his aristo- 

 cratically refined affections ! 



i^rb) ^oofes; to ftf lUati— anli asilji'. 



King Solomori's Mines. By H. Rider Haggard. 

 (London : Cr.ssell k Co.) — Because the story is full of 

 interest and, though relating chiefly to an imaginary 

 race of Africans, gives a good idea of life in Africa. 

 Probably j-oung readers may be led to suppose that there 

 really is such a r^ce as the Kukuanas, so natural is Mr. 

 Haggard's narrative in all that relates to travel, customs, 

 and the like. The fighting is a trifle complicated, how- 

 ever, and in particular the combat between Twala and 

 Sir Henry Curtis is rather too much in the style of 

 the great fight in the "Legend of the Rhine" 

 (if only Twala had made a few remarks after 

 his head was removed, the resemblance would have 

 been perfect). The behaviour of the tun and moon 

 in Kukuana land is remarkable. The sun has scarcely 

 set when the fine crescent of the moon rises in the east. 

 This, to saj^ the least, is unusual. But a crescent moon 

 which could thus face the sun would do anything ; so 

 that we are not greatly surprised to find the moon full 

 next night ; and eclipsing the sun the day after. The 

 eclipse of the sun, also, is remarkable ; for total darkness 

 lasts for nearly an hour. We do not have such solar 

 eclipses, or such a strangely acting moon, outside of the 

 neighbourhood of Kins: Solomon's Mines. No wonder 

 they have not been found except in fiction. Possibly they 

 never will be. 



Tiryns. By Dr. Henry Schliemann. (London : 

 John Murray. 1886.) — Because, in this account of his 

 excavations and discoveries in the prehistoric Palace of 

 the Kings of Tiryns, Dr. Schliemann extends and 

 developes that knowledge of a period lost in the mists of 

 the hoariest antiquity, for which we are indebted to his 

 former researches in Mykena^ and Troy ; and shows us 

 something of the vast architectural resources and con- 

 siderable artistic taste of a people whose very existence 

 has been conceived to reside only in myth and legend. 



Methods of Besearch in Microscopical Amtomy and 

 Embryology. By C. O. Whitman, M.D. (Boston : S. E. 

 Cassino ifc Co. London : Triibner it Co.) — Because it 

 contains in a succinct, readable, and thoroughly intelli- 

 gible form as comprehensive a series of instructions as 

 we have seen for the histologist and embryologist. 

 Mounting, staining, section-cutting, injection, the rearing 

 of various forms of organic life, &c. for embryological 

 research, &c., iSrc, amply illustrated and well indexed, 

 are some of the subjects treated of in a volume invaluable 

 to the physiological microscopist. 



-1 First Course of Physical Lahoratory Practice. By 

 A. M. WoETHiNGTON, M.A. (London: Rivington. 1886.) 

 • — Because it is a most intelligently- written and admirably- 

 arr.iuged book for all incipient students of phj-sical 

 science, and may be thoroughly recommended as a trust- 

 worthy introduction to more pretentious works on the 

 same subject ; such, for example, as Glazebrook and Shaw's 

 " Pr.-.ctical Physics " in Longman's series. 



Our Land Laws as they are. By H. Greenwood, M.A. 

 (London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, <ii Rivington. 

 1885.) — Because it contains the best popular account 

 that we have so far seen of the existing laws which 

 regulate the possession and tenure of land in England — a 

 suljject on which an enormous amount of nonsense has 

 been but too recently uttered. Mr. Greenwood strives 

 earnestly to be impartial, but j^rofessioual prejudices per- 

 force peep out here and there, No layman cei'tainly ca^ 



