256 



KNOV/LEDGE • 



[Jan. 20, 1882. 



Know i.KpiiK, who, I mil sure, will not consider it too mnvU trouble 

 to nsaist unmtour b(jtnnifta by i^ivinpj nnnies of flowers when re- 

 quested to do so.-- J. E. Geobok. [Wo are not pcrsonnlly bolnniciil, 

 worth niontionin); : better trust in the book. Tlioui;h we would 

 forward specimen to botanist.— En.] 



[130] — Known- Languages. — Uoralncquc calculates 499 Ian- 

 {fuagco ^ how many more have been made known sioce he wrote I 

 do now know. -fi. T. Uariiap. 



[133] — In addition to "Puugnl's" references, "Querist" will 

 find several of Mr. Dollirgor's papers in the Monthly Microscopical 

 Journal, vols. X., XL, XII., XIII., XIV'., XVI., XVIII.— B. J. 



AfSTIN. 



[146] — CiiEMiCAl,. — Tho reason why the O. of the air is utilised 

 in the body, while tho N. is rejected, is that the former is essential 

 to thoso transformations which convert the potential oncrgj' of 

 certain constituents of food into actual cncrf^-, while tho latter is 

 useless for that purpose. Fats and other carbohydrates, when taken 

 into tho body, fumieh, by their oxidation, tho actual enorfry which 

 is in part transmuted into muscular power ; and it is to this process 

 of oxidation that animal heat is due. There being no other avail- 

 able source of O,, the amount necessary for the said oxidation of 

 the carbohydrates used as food must come from the inhaled air. 

 It is only the heat and muscular-power-producing constituents of 

 food — the carbohydrates — that get oxidised in tlie body, the nitro- 

 genous or flesh-forming constituents, together with the" jjhosjihates 

 and carbonates, being capable of performing tlieir functions without 

 nndcrgoing the jprocess of oxidation. Now, as the products of 

 oxidation, CO^ and OLI .,, are exhaled, there cannot remain in tho 

 body anything tliat can be termed "food already oxidised." In 

 fact, the utility of carbohydrates docs not consist in their adding 

 anrthing to the structure of the body, but in their producing mns- 

 cular power and heat when being transformed into the gases exhaled 

 in the breath. In starch and sugar, the O. and H. exist in the same 

 proportion.^ as they do in OH,, and, as the whole of the 0. and H. 

 of those carbohydrates leave the body as OHj, all the carbon is in 

 a position to be oxidised by the inhaled 0. of the air, and is, conse- 

 quently, available to produce its full amount of force and heat. — 

 E. M. D. 



[157]— ALrMi.s-iUM, page 211.— Cryolite (a fluoride of sodium 

 and aluminium, which occurs in great abundance in Greenland) is 

 powdered, mixed with half its weight of common salt, and either 

 placed in alternate layers with two piirts of sodium in a crucible, nr 

 roasted with the same quantity of sodium in a furnace. The chief 

 advantage in using ci-yolite is that the costly and troublesome pro- 

 cess of i^reparing the double chloride of aluminium and sodium is 

 thus dispensed with. There was a process patented in Germany a 

 short time ago, the main point in which consisted in fusing the 

 sulphide of aluminium with iron ; but sm-ely other chemists thought 

 of this process before : I did tliree years ago. — A Gkeexock 

 .Stl'iie.nt. 



!3nc(li)fr5 to €oirfefpontifnt5. 



•. Ml eonmumcalwm for tit Editor requiring early aHntion thouU reach the 

 Office 0(1 or Itfore llie Saturday preceding the current ittue nf Khowlbdob, the 

 mcreanng circulation o/tchich compete ui to ijo to prett early in the iceek 



UlSTS TO CoRUESl'OXDBNTS.- 1. H'a que'tliont atking for tcienlijic information 

 can he anmered through the pout. 2. Letter, ,ent to the Editor for eorreepondentt 

 cannot be fortcarded ; nor can the namet or addreeiet qf eorretponJent, be gicen in 

 anerer to prnate inquiriea. 3. No queriee or repliee lacouring of the nature of 

 adcertigemcnte can he micrted. -l. Letltr,, queries, and replieg are inserted unleaa 

 contrary to Rule 3, free of charge. 6. Correspondents shouUI write on one side 

 only of the paver, and put dratcing, on a separate leiff. 8. Each letter, querv, or 

 rtply should have a title, and in replying to Utters or queries, r^erence should be 

 BJde to the number qf Utter or query, the page on which it appears, and its title. 



J. Cargili,. Thanks for encouraging words. Your student friend 

 who thinks we are too abstruse for tho masses and too popular for 

 scientilic students is right enough ; that is what we have aimed at. 

 But he is unwise in calling it a fault. We do not write for science 

 students, though among thoso who write for us are some who can 

 teach the teachers of science students. Xor do wo write for those 

 who neither think nor care to think. —J. 1). J[. 1 have never seen 

 unusual fents of strength done under mesmeric inlluence, but Dr. 

 Carpenter gives instances of tho kind. Thev illustrate the influence 

 of miagmalion, but they have not yet been "explained.— J. Wir.i.soN. 

 Larduer's works are not absolutely out of date, but they would 

 suit better one who was well up in all tlie modem views, so as to 

 be able to distinguish at once what is obsolete.— J. Pbeston Bat- 

 TERSBY. Many thanks. Your notes aro very interesting. I return 

 them as you desire. I think you are mistaken in imagining thei-e 

 IB any prejudice about so-called mesmeric iihenomena. They are 

 treated very fairly by some of our most eminent physiologists.— M. 



If, knowing what the planets arc, their distances, lie., tho slightest 

 reason for conceiving that they can influence our weather coald he 

 shown, it might be worth wliilc to make such observations u 

 you suggest; but none can be imagined. — Bbenton. Vou are 

 quite right ; T. K.'s solution may be made by embodying hi* 

 demonstration of the projierty on which it depends to 

 all intents and purposes a soliilion within the limits of 

 Books I. and II.; but with the extra matter you show to be 

 necessary to complete it, it contrasts very unfavourably with either 

 of the other proofs depending on books III. and VI. — Zares. Wliat 

 series to 1 do you mean ? - M. J. Harding. Orion, on the cover 

 of my " Easy Star Lessons," is " quite too utterly awful." I liad 

 nothing to do with it. It is the binder's c nceit. Trj-ing to correct 

 it would be useless. In the present position of science, a worlC 

 " containing a most exhaustive refutation of the Darwinian theory " 

 must either be a vorj' wonderful perfonnance (as you say), or very 

 bad. Science has not been jirofonndly stirred by the book. The 

 sub-title seems open to objection, to say the least, as suggesting 

 that the Xewton of Biology is a sort of " devil's advocate."— 

 A. G. P. We misread your letter ; but onr reply was not meant as 

 you suppose. The absence of centrifugal force would produce a 

 very slight but measurable increase of weight. -W. A. C. We 

 have no objection ; you may prefer a dog to your nearest and 

 dearest ; you must allow us, though we like Rover very much, to 

 prefer our dear ones of human sort. To be consistent, you ought 

 not to breathe, for, at every breath, you destroy multitudes of 

 " creatures belonging to races below us." — Winter. Yes; he pro- 

 bably smiled; but "he laughs longest who laughs last." — Vega. 

 Yes; but tho point really is whether the classification adopted by 

 Owen is es.'^entially wrong. For convenience, the other may bo 

 better; but it is a merely arbitrary distinction. — H. D. P. Xot 

 about Sorghum just now; so many things wanted and promised. 

 Sorry am unable. — Gradatim. The loxodromic cune approaches 

 the pole by an infinite series of circlings, though the total di.stanco 

 is finite, each whorl bearing to the juevious one a ratio less than 

 unity. Thus your whole question involves a paradox, as no ship could 

 follow such a course; no wonder no ship could leave the Pole on tho 

 loxodi-omic spiral. Eemembering that the stereographic projection 

 of the loxodromic curve on the equatorial plane with .South Polo 

 as pole of projection is an equi-angular spiral, and that this curve 

 approaches the pole asymptotically, you will find no diOiculty in 

 interpreting your paradox.— B. Donkavand. Your letters at least 

 five times too long for admission. — J. P. Sandlanps. South cone 

 is up, means that tliis weather signal is hoisted — viz., a cone with 

 its point downwards. Mrs. Kingsford says the teeth of man indi- 

 cate that he is a fruglvorous animal ; others regard them as showing 

 him to bo omnivorous. As a matter of fact, he is omnivorous, 

 whatever his dental formula ni.iy be. The other query seems 

 answered by what is stated in our review of Mrs. Kingsford's book. 

 — One interested in " Knowledge." Xo one asks you to believe 

 that mau is descended flora monkeys — only that he is related to them j 

 so that what you believe is closely akin to the scientific faith, 

 for you think monkeys descended from men. The tone of yonr 

 remark that "no theory will make you believe'' so and so, is un- 

 scientific in the extreme. The student of science is prepared to 

 believe whatever facts may prove. — J. R. See p. 170, where pre- 

 cisely such a problem is solved. — Peter Knowles. I return the 

 twelve stamps. If I " published " the work you name I would 

 send it, but I do not publish that or any work. I did not even 

 write it, I only revised it. If I remember rightly the publisher is 

 Bailliiire, King William-street, Strand. — Ursa Major. A lunar 

 rainbow is caused precisely as a solar rainbow is caused, only that 

 the light comes from the moon instead of the sun. -V. C. C. D. I 

 do not see how reasoning so sound and mocterate as that you quote 

 can be answered. I should imagine few evolutionists would be so 

 extreme as those who seem to be disposed of by this reasoning.-r 

 G. T. Uarrap. You "disagree with vaccination," but yonr letter 

 would disagree with our readers. - Sai.uto. Yea, microscopy 

 is as desirable in our pages as telescopy.— F. C. S. Many 

 thanks : marked for insertion. — J. B. More rapid respirtl- 

 tion, increasing the combustion, seems to account for the 

 difference.— G. S. Bodkin. Wo point out mistakes (where we see 

 them) frankly aud without apology, because that is doing to others 

 what we wish them to do to us. — J. ilcXEii.L. In issuing monthly 

 parts, the jiublishers aro endeavouring to meet the wishes of the 

 l>ublic; when 1 note that reprints have been necoss;iry to make up 

 the first two montlily numbers, you will understand their jjrice. The 

 reprint of a newspaper always means loss of money, and the pub- 

 lishers have reprinttnl (setting up every line of contents and adver- 

 tisements afresh) in some eases twice ; and made up sets out of 

 the back numbers which had been intended for volumes. Many 

 thanks for good wishes. — C. J. BuowN. Gravity vanishes at tho 

 earth's centre, but pressure is there at its maximum. Apart from 

 a very slight diminution, duo to the greater or less rigidity at 



