Nov. 4, 18aL] 



KNOV/LEBGE 



3 



t V^ AN 1LUi&lRATED V>" , 



MAGAZINE o?5l^IENCE 



P UlNLy ^ORDED-EXACTlV PESCRIBED 



LOXDOX: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1881. 

 CONTENTS. 



FAGS. I 



ToOmREiDKxs 3 



Science and Relieion. By the Editor 3 

 Tho Relation of Food to Muscular 



Work.— Part I. By Dr. W. B. 



Carpenter, F.R.S. 5 



Aro Women Inferior to Men ? 6 



Cometx.— ilUuttrated) 8 



lUusiona. By Thomas Foster— (IHin- 



traltd) 10 



The Eastern Skies in Kovember — 



{nluttrated) 13 



rAGB. 



Darwin on Mould and Worms 14 



CoRRBSPONDBNCB. — Introductory — 

 Hints to Correspondents — Is tho 

 Sun Hot ?— Can Ice- Yachts sail 



faster than the Wind? 15 



The Birmingham and Midland Insti- 

 tute. Bv W. Mattieu Williams ... 16 



Colour of Sunlight 18 



The rwjiiiif Riddle 18 



Our Mathematical Column 19 



Our Chess Column 19 



TO OUR READERS. 



" T^ ^'-^^-'-'^^^'^ ' *^ ^ weekly magazine intent^ed to 



-l\- bring the truths, discoveries, and inventions of 

 Science before the public in simple but correct terms — 

 to be, Ln fact, the minister and interpreter of Science for 

 tliose wlio have not time to master technicalities (whether 

 of Science generally or of special departments). 



KvowLEDGE will contain Original Articles by the ablest 

 exponents of Science ; Serial Papers explaining scientific 

 methods and principles ; Scientific News translated into 

 the language of ordinary life; a Correspondence Section 

 (including columns of Notes and Queries) for free and full 

 discussion, and especially for inquiry into matters whicli 

 the readers of original articles may find tliiEcult or per- 

 plexing; and Reviews of all scientific treatises suitable 

 for general reading. In addition to these portions, there 

 ■will be a section for Mathematics, and columns for Chess 

 and Wliist (regarded as scientific games), conducted on a 

 novel plan intended to render these portions at once useful 

 to learners and interesting to proficients. 



I have long regai'ded the material benefits derived from 

 Science, great though these unquestionably are, as small 

 by comparison with those to be derived from Science as 

 a means of mental and moral culture. Nearly ten years 

 have passed since, recognising this, I pointed out the 

 necessity for such a journal as the present. We have none 

 doing the work which Knowledge is mtended to perform. 



But I felt that before attempting to conduct such a 

 Journal, I should obtain as wide an experience as possible 

 of the wants of the class of readers for which it is in- 

 tended. During the last ten years I have come in contact 

 as lecturer and writer, with tons of thousands belonging to 

 that class. The experience I have thus gained is altogether 

 exceptional. From letters addressed to me during my lecture- 

 tours in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Aus- 



tralia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, as well as those almost 

 equally numerous written to me from other countries, T 

 have learned the nature of the difiiculties which commonly 

 perplex scientific students and the readers of scientific 

 treatises. 1 believe this experience must prove of great 

 value to me in conducting Knowledge. 



The tone of the articles will be that which I have 

 found most useful in lecturing and writing. The general 

 public do not want Science to be presented to them as 

 if they were of intelligence inferior to their teacher's. 

 But they cannot be expected to take interest in state- 

 ments couclicd in absti-use or technical terms. Nor is 

 Science degraded when plain untechnical language, such as 

 we propose to use in Knowldge, is employed; when, 

 for instance, instead of speaking about the " mean equa- 

 torial horizontal solar parallax," a writer refers to the 

 sun's distance ; or when a race of men is not described as 

 "microseme and dolichocephalic," but as small-faced and 

 long-headed. 



Discoveries and inventions communicaied to scientific 

 societies at home and abroad will not be presented until 

 they have been translated from technical language which 

 to the general reader is mere jargon. 



The price of Knowledge is lower than that which has 

 heretofore been assigned to periodicals of the same class. 

 It is trusted that those who approve of the plan above 

 sketched, and wish to see the Magazine firmly established, 

 will help to 



" Let knowlctlgc c^ow from more to more," 

 by making its existence known to their friends. In this 

 and other matters cordial co-operation from all quarters is 

 invited. Rich.4RD A. Proctor, 



SCIENCE AND RELIGION. 

 By the Editor. 



MANY seem to imagine that the tendency of Science, 

 especially in its more recent developments, is irre- 

 ligious. Some give a special reason for tliis strange 

 opinion, namely, the inconsistency which they conceive to 

 exist between some of the results to which modem Science 

 \mmistakably points, and ideas which have been derived 

 from poetical descriptions found in the Bible. So far as 

 this particular form of objection is concerned. Science need 

 be at no pains to formulate a reply. It would be as 

 reasonable to do sof I conceive, as it would be seriously 

 to answer such a question as this : " How can the Dar- 

 winian theorj' of the remote cousinship of man and 

 monkeys be reconciled with Job's statement (Job, xxx. 29), 

 'I am a brother to dragons'^" or this: "How can thej 

 views of modern medical men sCljout the intestines be 

 reconciled with Job's assertion (Job, xxx. 27), ' My bowels 

 boiled and rested not'1" Moreover, the world is not 

 interested (or should not be) in hearing the views of 

 Science as to the real meaning of words which theologians, 

 after much time and trouble given to a matter lying 



