802 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Feb. 3, 18Si. 



takon pinco, ovon to tho amount of j^^ of a sccoml. Yet had 

 thoro bcfii n dimioation of tho cartli's dinmrtor, tho dny woold 

 havo BhurteiH'd. (Soo Whewoll'B " Hint. Ind. Sci.," 1837, vdI. a, 

 p. C<i<), and vol. 3, p. tS3.) Sir Charles Lyoll Bays tho di- 

 miuutiun of tho day ia not ,J- of a nccond. (" IVincipli-s of (iiMi- 

 lofry." 1W57, Tol. 1, p. 301.) " Tho eartli'saurfuco appears now to have 

 rcachud u tonipcratnro which is rirtually fiiod, and on which tho 

 gain of heat from the san i.i, on the wholo, just compensated by 

 tho loss by radiation into surrounding space." (General Strarhcy, 

 Britiali Association. 1875, sections p. 181.) On tho other hand, a 

 scientific frentleman alloijea that thoro aro roquin-d " 'J,'70.t'jiii\i 

 million cubic yards of crushed rock to produce the wholo" of the 

 fnaiiiR, heating, lifting, aad waste<i work at all the active volcanoes 

 of the earth. Also ho saya : — " 3. Itcat wasted and disKipated in 

 steam, Ac, at volcanic vents, 5,8-li2,8i8 millions of cubic yards." 

 Who is correct ? The present writer is no aatronomer ; he is 



A GKOLOGI.-iT. 



[When Laplace expressed tho opinion quoted, he supposed the 

 lunar acceleration fully explained by his investigation. It has 

 since been shon-n by Adams that about half still remains nnac- 

 counted for, unless the earth's rate of rotation is supposed to be 

 diminishing. It was not till a very short time before 18t;7 that 

 this result became generally known. Strachey's views and 

 Mallet's, which are by no means opposed to each other, Iwive very 

 little to do with the question any way. — Ed.] 



FLESH FOOD. 



[26t]— Allow me to reply to " Practical's " note of Dec. 30, ISSl. 

 Hear what Dr. W. A. Alcott says on this very subject :— " The 

 only instance which, on a proper comparison, will probably be ad- 

 duced to prove the incorrectness of these views, will be that of a 

 few tribes of American Indiana, who, though they have extremely 

 robust bodies, are eaters of much flesh. But they live also in the 

 open air, and have many other good habits, and are healthv in spite 

 of the inferiority of their diet. But, perfect physically as t'hcy seem 

 to be, and probably arc, examine the vegetable-eaters among them 

 of the same tribe, and they will be found still more so." 



Again, " Practical " most compare men of the same nation and 

 people, and not of different nations j compare Englishmen and Eng- 

 lishmen, and not English and Spanish, as climate varies. 



T. E. Alli.vsox, L.K.C.P. 



[Let the mixed-food advocates and the vegetarians meet on tl.is 

 ground, and make out each a list of, say, one hundred of England's 

 greatest and best belonging to each class. The former might start 

 with Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, &c., Newton, the Herschels, 

 aad so forth, five or six for each class of distinguished men. The 

 vegetarians could then name an equivalent number of each class. — 

 Ed.] ^ 



WATCH. 



[265]— Can you or any of your correspondents explain the fol- 

 lowing circumstance, and suggest a remedy ? 



I have a very good watch, with chronometer balance, which on 

 other people keeps admirable time, but will not go accurately when 

 I near it. Lately, I sent it to be cleaned, and had a similar watch 

 lent mc by tho maker, which only varied thirty seconds a month. 

 In a fortnight this watch had lost thirty-tive minutes ! Some people 

 say this is caused by a magnetic condition of the body. Have others 

 similar experience ? and what can be done to prevent it ? 



Chronometer. 



THE MIN'UOCAO. 



[266] — The attention of the public is from time to time called 

 to the supposed existence of a sea-serpont of enormous size, and the 

 question of its existence has of late found a place in your columns. 

 Probably few people have heard of the llinhocao, a worm of, 

 according to some accounts, fifty yards length, and five yanls 

 breadth, covered with bones as with a coat of armour, and in its 

 burrowings rooting up mighty trees, diverting courses of streams 

 into fresh chanm^ls, throwing up heaps of earth, and in its cour.se 

 making trenches about three metres in breadth. The reports of this 

 animal, which has its existence in the highlands of the southern 

 provinces of Brazil) seem well authenticated, and are as marvellous 

 as those of the sea-.serpent, if not more so. The accounts, 

 however, as to the size and appearance of tho animal aro uncertain. 

 It is supposed to be a relic of the race of gigantic armadilloes, 

 which in past geological epochs are said to have been abundant in 

 South Brazil. 



Tho belief in this monster is not confined to Brazil, but is shared 

 in by tho jieople of Nicaragua, where a traditioa of such a monster 



ban existed from time immemorial ; and as recently as the year 1866 n 

 Nicnraguan fla:rll« givea a circumstantial account of an object 

 much tho same as the Minhix'oo. Tho accooDts, however, of tho 

 Minhoeoo of llrazil are still more recent. 



t have read that the ilomans in their wars with the Corthaginiaiu 

 are said to hove fallen in with a «er|>ont 120 foot long, which dwelt 

 upon tho banks of a river and had tough scales. 



As tho existence of such an animal seems as interesting a subject 

 of inquiry as that of tho sea serpent, perliapa Knowleihje may 

 admit inquiries on the subject. A. T. C. 



FOSSILS IN METEOBITES. 



[267] — In No. XI. of K.s'OWLKtioK, you give an extract from tho 

 Chico'jo Herald, stating that fossils of sponges, C4.»rals, ice, have 

 been fonnd in metooritce, which, tho extract goes on to say, are 

 doubtless organic remains from an exploded planet. I have no 

 doubt that they originally came from a planet, but the question is, 

 What planet i' The aforesaid tavans say the exploded planet. But 

 I believe it ia infinitely more probable that this meteorite from 

 which the fossils were obtained was originally expelle<j from tho 

 earth when first its solid crust was formed. Tho said fossils belong 

 to the earliest geological epochs, and so far agree with this theory. 



I believe Dr. Ball first set forth this theory, and I give nearly his 

 words, extracted from the Editor's " Poetry of Astronomy" : — '• Me- 

 teorites are always angular fragments, even before they reach our 

 air. Many meteorites have a crystalline structure, and, according 

 to Haidinger, this indicates a very long period of formation at a 

 nearly constant temperature — a condition only to be fulfilled in a 



large mass Many meteorites show markings resembling those 



seen on terrestrial rocks, and caused by the rubbing together of 

 adjacent masses." This, I think, sufRciently proves that they were 

 expelled from some planet, and are not merely "dust of the system," 

 which was, at some time or other, nearly captured by some planet 

 in the process of aggregation. 



And now we will attempt to find the most probable body for the 

 origin of the aforesaid meteors. 



To take the sun first. The requisite energy is certainly there, 

 but where are the projectiles ? The sun's lK)dy being certainly not 

 solid, I think we may dismiss him as impossible. Then we find the 

 moon. Here we find two objections. Firstly, if the projectile is 

 given an orbit intersecting that of the earth, it will strike it in its 

 first revolution, and so end its career for ever. If, secondly, ita 

 orbit does not intersect the earth, it will revolve round it for ever, 

 and so never touch it. Thus, if we admit the moon to be the source 

 of meteorites, its volcanoes must be still active, which is known not 

 to be the case. 



Thirdly, to take the case of the planets. Each planet may eject 

 matter with such force as to pass out of reach of its attraction, but 

 the chances are 50,000 to 1 against any such crossing the earth's 

 orbit. But if we consider that every meteorite the earth expelled 

 must cross the place of its ejection once in every revolution, we see 

 that the chances are that the number of earth-born meteorites which 

 reach the earth exceeds the number of those fnmi other |<lanets 

 infinitely. Attraction of other orbs may, and no doubt does, canse 

 the orbits of the earth and her meteorites to oscillate, but at some 

 time or other they will come into collision. The fossils resemble 

 those of the earth's earliest strata, and this was the surface of the 

 e.orth in its intensely volcanic era. 



To sum up, I consider the chances are that these meteorites were 

 expelled from the earth itself, and carried some organic remains 

 with them. 



If there is a particle of evidence in the "exploded planet" theory, 

 I should be glad to hear it. I do not wish to set myself up agninst 

 those eminent gai-<inii, nor to contradict conclusions formed by 

 years of toil and labour, but Knowledge is a medium through 

 which the humblest may express their opinions, and as such an on© 

 I offer them. Vignoles. , 



[It is hardly necessary for me to say that I share in large degree 

 Mr. Vignoles' views, as the essay to which ho refers will show. 

 However, we have as yet no evidence of organic ivmains in meteors. 

 The exploded planet theory, and the theory of two planets smashed 

 in collision, seem to need no discussion. It seemed to me a jest 

 when first advanced, and despite? the gravity with which it has been 

 recently urged by Sir W. Thonisou, 1 can only regard it as a jest 

 still. Despite the profound mathematical and physical le.arning of 

 its author, even the assurance that he was in earnest would not lead 

 me to regard it as deserving discussion. But like Professor Tait's 

 notorious "sea-bird analogy," in explanation of the phenomena of 

 comets' tails, it has not yet lioen advanced according to scientific 

 rules. No attempt has yet been made to show that it explains 

 observed facts, or that observed facts correspond with it in any 

 definite nay. — Ed.] 



