J AX. 13, 1882.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



229 



iftttrsi to ti)t etii'tor. 



{The Editor doet no( UUhinwelfrtrponsihUfor the opmioni of hit KrrttpondnU. 

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 menti of the vriter't meaning.'\ 



All Editorial eommunuratiom should te addrened to the Editor of KnowiBDOB; 

 all Butixeu cemtnunicationt to the FubUsheri, at the Office, 71, Oreat (^ueen- 

 etreH, W.C. 



All Semiltanee), Cheques, and Fott-Offiee Order! should he made pat/able to 

 ilestrs. Wyman If Som. 



',' All letters to the Editor vill he If umbered. Tor eonvenience of reference, 

 eorrefpondents, when referring to any letter, viU oblige by mentioning its number 

 and the page on vhich it appears. 



All Letters or Queries to the Editor ir»i<-» require attention in the eurrent issue of 

 "KnowLBvan, should reach the Publishing Office not later than the Saturday preceding 

 the day qf publication. ^^_^_^ 



"In knowledRe, that man only is to b* contemned and despwed who is not in a 



state of transition Nor is there anything more adverse to accuracy 



ihan tility of opinion." — Faraday. 



harm in making a mistake, but preat harm in making 1 ^^ 



me a man who makes 

 notlling." — lAebig, 



mistakes, and I will show you a : 



0m' Cont^ponticmt Columns!. 



A PRETTY GEOMETRICAL PROBLEM.— FOX AND GUNS.— 

 INTELLIGENT DOG.-FOUR FOURS.— MISSING LINKS.-- 

 THE MAGIC WHEEL.— FUNGI AND LICHENS.— FLESH 

 FOOD.— URSA MAJOR, VENUS, AND THE NORTH POLE. 



[184]. — " Student" gives the following puzzle, to which he says 

 there are twenty-five solutions ; but there are really many more. 

 We withhold his solution : — 



Take a s<{uare piece of paper, and remove from it a corner square 

 (equal to one-fourth of it), Icavinf,' three small squares in one piece. 

 It is required to divide this tliree-square piece so that the parts 

 can be jiut together to form a single square. 



At the same time we submit the following puzzle, sent us by 

 " Mogul," who promised, but did not send, a solution : — 



Given any rectangle, to divide it by the fewest possible straight 

 cuts, so that the parts can be put together to form a square. 



J. Rae points out that from the way in which the string is 

 fastened, which Mr. Henslow considered a fox might pull " out of 

 the line of fire," our interpretation of these words (letter 158, 

 p. 187), cannot be correct. The fo.'C would inevitably be in the line 

 of fire in touching the string ; and in the condition in wliich the 

 String usually is, would run great risk. Such a fox would "do a 

 most foolish thing, as foolish as a sportsman who should drag his 

 gun on full cock by the muzzle tlu'ough a hedge." 



The Rev. J. P. Sandlands describes how a strange dog stopped 

 him in Westboume-park, until lie responded to the appeal in the 

 dog's eyes that a gate leading to the dog's master's house should be 

 opened. 



E. Clarkson,'Geo. D. Brown, J. A. Miles, Nemo, F. J. J., and others, 

 give solutions of the four fours, for numbers from 1 to 20 inclusive, 

 except 19. Other problem, Yarlotoman gives for 19 the formula;. 



L± -4- 1 

 4 



( + ) 



and 



F. J. J. gives -— 



V -4. 4 



which is manifestly erroneous. E. Clarkson and F. G. Hooton give 



4 + 4 _ -4. 

 for 19, — — — J. Bosworth points out that four S's will give 



the same numbers as three 5's (except for number 17) ; and 

 that 19 may be given for any number whatever by the formula 



* -I- e — '1^ r. ■ , 



: = 19. It seems to me that as " Amicus Scicntise ' 



X 



gives, like the others, for 11, the formula • 

 44 

 v/4-(-v'4 

 in which the first 4 in numerator really stands for ten times 4. '4, 

 which stands for 4 divided by 10, is admissible for 19. Otherwise 

 11, as well as 19, must be reg.arded as insoluble. I'he solutions 

 given by "Amicus Scientije" are as follows i — 



9. 



(4 » 4) -I- n/4 



V'4 



" Another Ignoramus " writes that the argument of the evolu- 

 tionists is not strengthened by showing that there are many missing 

 links. He supposes Prof. Wilson " would have us believe that man 

 is connected with some anomalous creature which exists only in 

 his own imagination." Dr. Wilson holds in reality, as every evolu- 

 tionist holds, that man is related to the Simians ; and it is not a 

 mere fancy, but an obvious common sense deduction from what is 

 kDO\vn about evolution, that the Simians must have changed from 

 the common ancestor as much as man as changed ; so that since 

 man differs widely from all Simians, however obWously related to 

 them, both man and Simian must differ widely from the common 

 ancestor of both. "Another Ignoramus" seems to overlook the 

 circumstauce that no one has called him an ignoramus but himself. 

 At the close of his letter he says he can see no reason why we should 

 cease to admire the wisdom of God in creation. Neither does any 

 one else. ^Vhat the evolutionists really say is that we do not quite 

 so thoroughly understand that wisdom as men formerly thought 

 they did. Instead of a finite, and therefore possibly intelligible 

 plan, we find a plan which is infinite alike in time and space, 

 and therefore for us absolutely unintelligible. We can follow 

 its workings over an over widening domain, but, -with the 

 widening of this domain, the domain around, wliich may be 

 regarded as that of the unexplained, is ever enlarging. Man in the 

 past may be compared to a child, who, having been in ignorance up 

 to a certain age of all the laws of nature, all which constitutes what 

 we call knowledge, should have been told that everything had been 

 fashioned just as he sees it, in a moment of time, out of nothing. If 

 such a child, observing what takes place around him, should gra- 

 dually learn something of the operation of the simpler laws of 

 nature, he might imagine in his ignorance that they implied, not 

 the operation of a Being lining in and through all things, but the 

 blind action of mere matter. Or if, instead of observing these 

 things himself, he was simply told about them by others, he might 

 wish to close his ears and his eyes, lest he should " cease to admire 

 the wisdom of God in creation." The fear would be very idle and 

 foolish, we know. Even the opponents of evolution must see that. 

 But they act in this way themselves, and expect to be regarded as 

 exceptionally devout admirers of the wisdom of God, because they 

 would limit His domain in time, and narrow it in space. 



C. n. Wingfield points out that by having eleven slits (at equal 

 distances) instead of ten, the horses round the magic wheel seem 

 not only to move their limbs but to advance. Certainly with the 

 same number of slits as horses, the liorse presents a somewhat 

 singular appearance, flourishing his legs about, but not getting over 

 the ground. In La Nature the picture in the Scientific Ainericuti. is 

 given without change, viz., twelve figures of the trotting-horse, the 

 u|)pcrmost of our view and the one next to it on tlie left being given 

 twice over. We have tried the magic wheel with this arrangement, 

 and find that the horse seems to trot with a singularcxtra kick once 

 in each double stride. We liave not yet tried Mr. Wingfield's plan, 

 but have no doubt it would act as he says. 



E. 0. Cowley desires to learn Mr. English's address from Mr. W. 

 W. Highbur}-, and to know in what sense the " subscription list is 

 opeu " to any one desiring a copy of the book. 



" A Fellow of the Chemical Society " points out that if it can be 

 shown, as he believes -Mrs. Kingsford has shown, that man in 

 physical formation is nearest to the apes and iti striking contrast to 

 the flesh-eaters, the natural food of man must be that which we 

 find apes eating. Might one not argue, almost as effectively, that 

 men should limit their pursuits to those which satisfj- their Simian 

 cousins ? I do not say men might not live, and thrive, and work, 

 and think, on a diet of nuts, fruits, and vegetables, or that they do 

 not, as a rule, eat much more flesh than is good for them ; but we 

 must not adopt a false system of reasoning even to establish the 

 truth. " F. C. S." states what is more to the point, that many who 



