Dec. 9, 1881.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



117 



ETOLUTIOX— STAR-MAPS— BRITISH MUSEUM. 



[103] — While defending, to the beat of my ability, the theory of 

 evolution, I have been asked the following question, which I have 

 been unable to answer : " If man be an ' evolved ' being, why has 

 ho not improved ? " 



I should like to be informed whether — (1) Since man has existed 

 has the process of evolution effected any change in him ? (2) If so, 

 what change r (3) If not. why not? 



With reference to your star-maps, you say in No. 4 of Knowlkdge 

 that the times given in Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are one hour out, but that 

 the error iscorrectod in Xo. 4. Vet taking the same dates, the times 

 in Xo. I agree with the others. I would bo glad if you would 

 explain this.* 



Could you, or any of your readers, inform me on what conditions 

 and by what means admission can be gained to the British Museum 

 library and reading-room ?+ G. M. 



PROTECTIXG HOUSES FROM LIGHTXIX(i. 



ri04] — I msh to protect a square house which has iiiiio 

 chimneys, all of eqnal height, from lightning, by means of iwo iron 

 rods 3 ft. above two of the ccnfrt^ chimneys, connected iWth the 

 iron water-pipe which supplies the ci.>itenis from the nuiin, by a 

 galvanised iron mro conductor. Will you kindly tell me if this 

 protection mil be sufficient, and whether I have chosen the right 

 chimneys. I prefer using the centre ones, as the conductors will 

 be less conspicuous than if they were placed on chimneys near the 

 corner^i of the house, the roof being nearly hidden from view by a 

 parapet. 1 am delighted «-itli Knowi.kdok. but I vfish you would 

 print the names of the stars of the first and second magnitude on 

 the map. B. 



A QUESTION OF GEAMMAK. 

 [105] — Is '"Nameless" (query 24) correct in writing '" v:ould the 

 editor," Ac. ? Should not he have written " u-ill the editor" ? " Xame- 

 less's " mode of asking his question, I know, is frequently adopted, 

 and my eye just now lights upon a letter in the Guardian, where the 

 writer has " 7nighf I call your attention," &c. Would not maij have 

 been the proper word Y Again, '" I cannot but think " i.=! an expres- 

 sion of e very-day occurrence, and I presume right ; but is " I can 

 bat think" wrong? "I can but think" seems only another way 

 of saying " I can only think," which is also of common occurrence. 

 If " I can but think" is not wrong, then we have both expressions, 

 one ■\\'ith the negative, and the tither without, meaning the same 

 thing. Wo have the word "annul " and also " disannul," both meaning 

 much the same thing, but '*dis" is not used as negative, but as 

 intensive. Would that be the cage with the word " not," in the 

 tirst instance ? A. T. C 



THE MISSING LINK. 



'[106] — Jlr. Wilson, in Letter 33, admits " where the links that 

 connect man to his lower neighbours are to be found is a difficult 

 question to answer," but until it is answered satisfactorily, I am 

 afraid that common ignorance (?) will continue to ask the unfortu- 

 nate question. One evolutionist to whom I put the question 

 answered that he supposed the remains were all under the sea. 



It seems to me that evolutionists would call everj' one that doe.s 

 not agree with their dogmatical statements an ignoramus. — I am, 

 &C., A.VOTHKB IGNOKAMUS. 



THE MISSING LINK (Abstract). 



[107] — I aijproach a criticism of Dr. Wilson's remarks (p. 74, 

 No. 4) on the " Missing Link " with a ner\-ousnes8 that is only 

 equalled by my desire to know and possess the tnith respecting the 

 circunustances surrounding the c.nse. 



Your correspondent. '' Ignoramus," if not satisfied as to the 

 foundation of evolution, has, I think, a right to ask for that which 

 evolutionists declare exists, and is the only fonndation upon which 

 evolution is s?M to exist. 



ProfessorH nxley (" Encyclopaedia Britannica," 9th edition, vol. iii., 

 p. 690) speal;8 thus: "The only perfectly s.ife fonndation for the 

 doctrine of < ivolution is in the historical, or rather archa?ological, 

 evidence that, particular organism, have arisen by the gradual modi- 



* When ■■ m wrote as above, we supposed oui" correction was in 

 time ; but, as a matter of fact, the map, which, to ensure perfect 

 blackness, was printed separately, had been for hours in the 

 machine-r oom, and nearly half the impressions had been already 

 struck off when the correction was made. 



+ By I etter to chief Librarian, accompanied by a letter from a 

 househo ider, certifying respectability, and stAtiag objects of appli- 

 cant : r ,ge must be over twenty-one. — Ed.] 



fication of tlieir predecessors (which is) furnished by fossil remains." 

 Similarly Bastian, Darwin, Herbert Sjiencer, and others. 



Now 1 ask for one species from the lowest to the highest strata in 

 any of the geological periods that have been transformed into 

 another ? 



Secondly, if the truth of evolution rests on fossil remains 

 (■' Missing Link "), where are those fossil remains ? Whore found r 

 Who found by ? Where are they now ? Ha>ckel, Buchnor, Darvrin. 

 &c., have failed to find or give any. Evolution's foundation doo?: not 

 rest on rudimentaiT organs, but on fossil remains. 



I only plead for wliat evolutionists declare has led them to teach 

 and hold the doctrine of evolution. To tell me that the fossil remains 

 are gone down to the bottom of the sea — that where men first lived 

 is all ocean — is to mock me in my earnest cry for more light. — 



Yours. &C., MlTCHELI.. 



KNOWLEDGE FOR THE YOUNG. 



[108 j — 1 am very pleased with Kxowr.EDOK. and am endeavouring 

 to make my children like it. Parents do not sufticiently estimate 

 t)ie imporiance of watching boys' literature. I have great diffi- 

 culties before me, but if, when my boys are young men, these diffi- 

 culties right themselves, I may be satisHcd, but not before. The 

 penny weekly journals started vrithin tlio last few years by the 

 Religious Tract Society and others, pi-ofessed to supply an improved 

 literature, but I fail to see it in such brutal tales of adventure as 

 " From Powder-monkey to Admiral." &c. Boys eagerly read them, 

 and the principles they learn are carried into practice in their 

 every-day life. The few chapters similar to those in Knowledge 

 are not read at all. I find it much easier to read " The Land of the 

 Midnight Sun." with the map before me. to my boy aged nine, than 

 to get his elder brother to look at it — he is too bu.sy over some tale 

 of the ■■ to be continued in our next ' class. I was really astonished 

 to watch the interest the younger boy took in Darwin's book on 

 worms, which I read to him, and he has since studied their habits 

 to a surprising degi*ee. How, then, will it be possible to rectify the 

 mischief already done by the penny journals ? Can you offer a 

 column of inducements to boys for short essays on scientific or 

 natural history subjects suited to certain ages (with permission to 

 consult a parent or guardian in the composition) ? It seems to me 

 this would bridge over the difficulty I am now experiencing ^vitli 

 the two elder of my eight children. Wishing your magazine much 

 success. R. Gii.i.. 



[We fear it would not be possible yet to give a column to short 

 essays by boys ; but possibly a colunm or two especially for boys 

 would be a useful addition. — En.] 



KNOWLEDGE— ILLUSION— TRISECTING AN ANGLE. 

 [109] — In addressing you a few words of congratulation on your 

 success in producing K.\owledge, I beg to suggest that there are 

 a great many questions which may be elucidated in it (such as the 

 method used by the American meteorologists in predicting storms, 

 the present theory of the spectrum colours ss diflfering from that 

 taught in ordinary text books, papers on biology, &c.) which are 

 caviare to the general public, and, therefore, exactly fitted for its 

 pages, even at the risk of crowding out chess and whist, which are 

 very fairlj- dealt with in the ordinary magazines, and hardly coma 

 within the special sco]je of Knowledge, as it seems to me. How- 

 ever, the many must be studied, of course. I personally should 

 like to see it exclusively devoted to the dissemination of sound 

 natural science, hence this hint. Your interesting notes on illusions 

 have recalled to me the following, wherein the oblique lines 

 enclosed within the parallel straight line A and B cause the latter 



to appear zigzag instead of straight — which they really are. I 

 send also a mechanical way of trisecting an angle, in reply to 

 Query No. 48, thinking it cannot be done by pure geometrj'. It 

 was got by me from " Wormell's Plane Geometry," and I find it 

 ([uite correct for angles under 120". ABC is the angle to be tri- 

 sected. From B draw a semicircle, as in the figure. Then mark 

 off the radius used for the semicircle on the straight edge of a piece 

 of paper, which must then be placed so that the edge cuts through 



