144 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Dao. 16, 1861. 



"Our London RciPTitific nnd EflncotionnI CorroRpondcnt," whose 

 work was to supply n weekly column or two, by monns of wliich the 

 renders uf the piiixT Hlumld bo kept iic(|uninti'd with the general 

 progress of science and scientific education. My original programme 

 included an account of the proceedings of the Scientific Societies, 

 but I met with a rebuff at the outset. Tho secretary of the Royal 

 Society informed me tlint I sliould not be admitted to any of their 

 meetings if I reported any portion of tho discussions or conversa- 

 tions following tho reading of their papers, and that thoy would 

 rather not have any newspaper anticipiitions of tho oHicial publica- 

 tion of the pajjcr themselves. Tho titles of the papers were at my 

 service- I began by heading each of my communications with a list 

 of the papers read at the principal Ijondon Societie>i, and supple- 

 menting this by a short notice of some of those likely to be popu- 

 larly interesting ; but alas ! how few were they — not !> per cent, of 

 the whole. This was in January, 1871. By tho middle of May, I 

 gave up even tho titles of the papers, finding them about as readable 

 as the Post-ofiico Directory, and practically worthless as a record of 

 scientific progress, seeing that London is not all the world. If I had 

 added tho titles of papers rend at foreign societies, my weekly 

 colnmn would have been tilled with these alone. 



To give your readers an idea of what would become of 

 Knowledge if you gave abstracts of current scientific papers, I 

 have counted the number included in one month's Journal of the 

 Chemical Societtj, wherein abstracts of papers read outside of the 

 Society are given : — 



General and Physical Chemistry 26 papers 



Inorganic Chemistry 25 ,, 



Miner.xlogical Chemistry 74 ,, 



Organic Chcmistrj' 113 „ 



Physiological Chemistry 7 ,, 



Chemistry of Vegetable Physiology and Agri- 

 culture 10 „ 



Analytical Chemistry 23 „ 



Technical Chemistry 23 ,, 



Making a sum total of 371 papers 



in one month (June last) on one branch of science only. A staff 

 of thirty experts. Fellows of the Society, are engaged in making 

 these abstracts. Tho annual volume of abstracts (all very short) 

 averages above 1,000 pages, besides tho transactions, which usually 

 run to about 800 pages. 



To tho professional chemist these are invaluable ; to tho genera! 

 public they are mere waste paper. 



W. M.\TTiEf Williams. 



THE MISSING LINK. 



[133] — This question seems to genei-ate new ideas (and not 

 always reasonable ones) as time passes. One correspondent, 

 " Another Ignoramus," says : " Common ignorance (?) will continue 

 to ask the unfortunate question. " Why "unfortunate" is more 

 than I can imagine. In my previoES answer I tried to show that 

 the phrase " missing link " was a misnomer. It implies that there 

 was but one link connecting man in the past with lower life, and it 

 thus implies an amount of knowledge which honest science declares 

 it does not yet possess. Persons whoso demands arc all for the 

 " missing link," generally ignore tho overwhelming evidencff of 

 evolution as a fact of nature that Mr. Darwin, Mr. Wallace, and 

 others preseut. Nobody calls anybody else an " ignoramus " 

 except those bigoted minds who object either to receive evidence, 

 or who are unable to appreciate and weigh evidence of evolution or 

 any other topic. I certainly colled no ono an " ignoramus." On 

 the contrary, I did my best to assist a comprehension of the 

 question concerning man's relationship to his lower neighbours. 

 Any ono may object to the views of another, but objections should 

 be stated in full. Quenilons complaint assists no cause, least of 

 all that of scientific truth. 



" Mitchell " likewise writes on the " Missing Link " subject. Has 

 " Mitchell" any knowledge whatever of geolog\", or of the history 

 of fossils ? I ask this, because if (as I suspect) ho expects to find 

 every animal and plant sjiecies that lived in the past preserved as 

 fossils, he is simjily quarrelling with Nature's flaws, and neither 

 with evolution nor with mo. I refer him to the " History of the 

 Horse," as disclosed by Professor Mai-sh in America, for an e^tcellent 

 illustration of the transformation (or evolution) of ono order, genus, 

 and species into another. He will find the account in Huxley's 

 " American Addresses." To answer his second inqnirj-, he should 

 acquire a knowledge of geology. " The imperfection of the geo- 

 logical record," as treated by Dar«-iii in tho " Origin of Species," 

 will give him a capital outline of the whole case, and an acquaint- 

 ance with geology as a whole will show him that tho probabilities 

 of evolution are overwhelmingly supported by the conclusions dnnvn 

 from fossil history. People must know there is no " royal road " to 



the truths of natura, either in the pages of K.sowlrdce or anywhere 

 else. My advice to " Mitchell" and to "Another Ignoramus" ia, 

 to acquire a general knowledge of bjjiogy and geology in a cla<s- 

 room, or by a course of wide reading. Otherwise they will alwayi 

 bo encountering difficulties, or, perchance, complaining of the lack 

 of light in others. Andkew Wilsok. 



DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING " KNOWLEDOK." 

 [13'1-] — Can ynu tell me why there is so much difficulty in pro- 

 curing KxowLEnoE? I never had to much trouble in procuring any 

 periodical or paper before. So far, I have never been able to procure 

 any of the numbers until perhaps six, seven, and eight days after 

 date of publication, although it is regularly ordered (every day) by 

 my bookseller here, who has a London parcel daily. Everj- time I 

 call at the bookseller's I meet with the same disappointment — "not 

 yet arrived ; must be published irregularly, or perhaps it is dying." 

 Now I think it fills a great want, and would be sorry if it ceased to 

 exist, although I myself will be obliged to give np, as I cannot go 

 on calling at the bookseller's eight, nine, and ten times fur each 

 number. 



However, wishing Knowledge all success, as it deserves to 

 succeed, — Yours, &c., H. Abmstbono, 



[We regret that our correspondent should havo been so badly 

 treated. Not knomng either his bookseller or the bookseller's 

 London agents, we cannot tell where the fault lies. One or other 

 must have neglected to do what he was asked to do. KNOffLEDOl' 

 is published exceptionally early, and with perfect regularity. So 

 far from dying, it thrives amazingly. — Ed.] 



THE EQUALITY OF THE SOLAR ILLUMINATION 

 THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM. 



[135] — I have lately fallen in with a rather curious theory con- 

 cerning the " Solar Illumination throughout the System." It8 

 originator appears to be perfectly satisfied that he has completely 

 disposed of the long-accepted law of inverse squares, and seems to 

 think that he has conclusively demonstrated that the sun's light is 

 equally intense throughout the system. According to his theory, 

 scientific men have for ages been labouring under a great delusion. 

 Their idea that light decreases as the square of tho distance, is- 

 a mistake. In our atmosphere, he admits, there is a decrease 

 with the distance ; but this, he affirms, is due to absorption 

 by the air, and he is prepared to prove (to his own satis- 

 faction, at any rate) that in space, where there is no 

 absorbing medium, light does not diminish as the square of 

 the distance. This theory is so bold and startling, that I should 

 like to have the opinion of the readers of Knowledge 00&. 

 ceruing it. For my part, the arguments the author of the theory 

 (Mr. CoUyns Simon) uses are not conclusive enough to warrant ont 

 rejection of long and [firmly-established principles. The admissioa 

 of the truth of the theory necessitates a number of absurd con* 

 sequences. The stars should appear to us as bright as our son. 

 And if the sun's ! ii;/i ( follows this law, so also must his radiant heat^ 

 which amounts to saying that the sun's heat would remain constant, 

 even although it were possible to approach to his surface. Hoping 

 to hear other of your readers on the subject, — I am, &c., 



An Admires of Knowlkdge. 



[Our correspondent is right in rejecting the theory of Mr. Collyns 

 Simon. It is utterly untenable. I have had many letters from him, 

 as well as books and pamphlets. Analysing his ease, I find he mis- 

 understands the eridenco which leads to the sound theory, that apart 

 from absorption, a luminous body presents a surface of equal appa- 

 rent brightness from whatever, distance it may be viewed — so long 

 as it presents a visible surface at all. If we receded from the sun 

 till our distance was twice as great as it is, his disc would look just 

 as bright, but only onc-foiu'th as large, as it does. The correct 

 inference is that we should get but one-fourth of the light we actu- 

 ally receive. But somehow Mr. Simon makes out that we sliould get 

 quite as much as we do at present. — Ed.] 



[NoTK. — We have been compelled to emit the Chess Column for 

 this week, owing to tho pressure of coiTcspondence on the ono 

 hand, and the necessity of assigning a certain portion of our space 

 to original matter on tho other. Our correspondents must not be 

 surprised at the compression in many cases, and the omissioa in 

 others, of letters, many of which we should have been glad to 

 publish in full, had space permitted. .^. long letter from our 

 esteemed correspondent, " A Fellow of tho Royal .\stronomical 

 Society," is deferred till next week. It contains answers to many 

 of the questions which have been asked by oorrespondenta. — En.] 



