Feb. 10, 1882.J 



KNOWLEDGE 



Your instance of Newton is not altogether a good one, as he 

 lived on vegetarian principles while he wrote the " Principia," 

 from the desire to keep his mental faculties unobsciued. 



J. L. JOYXES. 



[Our correspondent does not seem to notice that we were saving 

 jestingly what lie himself gravely (and of course correctly) points 

 out. — Ed.] 



THE MOON AND THE WEATHER.-INTRA-MERCURIAL 



PLANET.— THE ICE-AGE IN BRITAIN.— ACTION OF 



THUNDERSTORMS. 



[270] — Mr. BuUcy (p. 247) seems to me to be one of that 

 numerous body who mistake assertion for proof. I will deal very 

 shortly first with his science, and next with his facts. Now, im- 

 primis, he repeats a very old fallacy indeed, when he says that '' it 

 must be clear to every tyro in natural science, that if it be rational, 

 and in accordance with the verilication of science, to assert that 

 the moon's influence acts upon the waters of the ocean, it cannot 

 be foolish and irrational to hold that the same influence affects the 

 waters of the clouds and the air in which they float — both ponder- 

 able bodies, equally subject to the laws of gravitation." Just so. 

 The late Professor Daniel conducted an elaborate series of baro- 

 metrical experiments on the summit of Box Hill, in Surrey, and 

 showed conclusively that there is aciually a semi-diurnal tide in the 

 atmosphere. But what then? If the gravitational action of the 

 moon on our atmosphere affected terrestrial meteorology, the 

 weather ought to change twice a day ! Does it ? We are told, 

 though, that atmospheric changes occur when the moon either 

 crosses the equator or attains her greatest north or south decli- 

 nation. Let us try this theory for the last three months. Writing 

 with my own daily Meteorological Register and tlie Xautical 

 Almanac open before me, I will see how far Mr. Bulley's theory 

 holds for this part of England. On Nov. 22, 1S81 , at two a.m., the 

 moon was on the equator. The cold cloud and damp of the previous 

 day continued; from nine a.m. to nine p.m. the barometer rose 

 exactly 0'002 inch ; and, I may add, precisely the same weather 

 (with, however, a rise in temperature) prevailed for about a week. 

 The moon was again on the equator on the 29th, and, once more, 

 nothing happened. Nov. 8 (when she attained her greatest north 

 declination) was foggy. I am ignorant whether, according to 

 Seleno-meteorology, great north declination of the moon should 

 bring fog. On Nov. 22, when she attained her greatest south de- 

 clination, the wretched wet weather from which we suffered, both 

 before and after that date, persisted without change ; and one of 

 several gales which visited us towards the end of the month, blew 

 in some parts of the country. 



In December the moon reached her greatest declination north at 

 1 a.m. on the 6th ; and here again the wet weather which had per- 

 sisted (and subsequently persisted) from the beginning of the 

 month, underwent no alteration whatever. On the 13th, however, 

 when the moon was on the equator at noon, it actually ceased 

 raining, or practically so, tor twenty-four hours. The moon 

 reached the most southerly point of her orbit at 10 a.m. on 

 December 20 ; but the wet which distinguished the month con- 

 tinned. At 1.30 in the afternoon of December 26, the moon was 

 once more on the equator, and here again nothing whatever was 

 noticeable save the great height of the barometer, though this 

 endured from the 23rd to the 29th. On the 18th there was a 



mendous gale, and an almost equally heavy one on the 20th. 



the occasion of the former and fiercer storm of the two, the 

 ij"ii was at some considerable distance from her ** stitial colure." 

 if we turn now to 1882, the moon attained her greatest north de- 

 clination at 8 a.m. on the 2nd, and again we had a heavy gale with 

 rain. At 8 p.m., on the 9th, she was in the equator, and again it 

 blew, as it had done on the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. At 9 p.m., on 

 the 16th, the moon reached her greatest south declination, but not 

 the slightest change took place in the fog and calm, which begun 

 on the 11th, and lasted eleven or twelve days. Lastly, our satellite 

 was on the equator once more at 10 o'clock last night (22nd), the 

 high barometer of the last twelve days persisting, and one or two 

 temporary peeps of clear sky being vouchsafed ; otherwise, no 

 change whatever occnrred. Now, what are wo to say to all this? 

 Here we find all sorts of weather occurring when the moon has 

 great north declination, great south declination, and no declination 

 at all. Mr. Bulley makes certain assertions, but assertion is not 

 proof ; and the crucial test of any such theory as his is for every 

 meteorological observer to institute stich a comparison as I have 

 attempted here. His concluding paragraph about " the chemical 

 rays" of bodies whose diameters subtend angles of 40", 30", 16", 

 and 80 on, scarcely merits any serious reference. 



Mr. Jones (query 188, p. 255) may possibly be thinking of the 

 utterance of Le Terrier, in the Comptes Rendus, for Dec. 21, 1874, 

 ■has oddly translated in the R.A.S. Mnnihhi Noticex, vol. xxxv., p. 



155: — " There exists in the neighbourhood of Mercury, doubtless 

 between the planet and the sun, a matter (sic) as yet unknown. 

 Does it consist in one or more planets or in more minute asteroids, 

 or even in cosmic dust ? The theory tells us nothing on this point. 

 On numerous occasions trustworthy observers linvo declared that 

 they have witnessed ilie passage of a .small planet over the sun, but 

 nothing has been established on the subject [' on n'est parvenu ii 

 rien coordonner ik ce sujet ']." 



Referring "Amchnida" (query 192, p. 255) to that most inte- 

 resting book, Geikie's " Great Ice Age," for full details, I may say 

 here, that the stones frozen into icebergs and glaciers are polished 

 and striated in a most striking and unmistakable way, as they are 

 pushed over the rocks by the motion of the masses of ice in which 

 they are imbcdiled, and that such polished and striated stones aro 

 found over nearly every part of the United Kingdom. Moreover, 

 where the beds belonging to their geological horis^on are fossili- 

 ferous, their contained fauna is arctic. 



I think that what " F.A.S." (query 193, p. 255) apparently 

 regards as a fact is at least ciuestionable. The great heat and 

 approximate saturation of the atmosphere which generally precede 

 summer thunderstorms supply the most favourable possible con- 

 ditions for acetons fermentation ; and both beer and milk not 

 infrequently turn sour during very hot weather without any thunder 

 at all. Acetous fermentation is, though, a process of oxygenation, 

 and the abundance of free ozone in the aii* during a tlmnderstonn 

 may proximately or remotely affect liquid organic compounds, 

 although, if this were the case, it is hard to see why no acidiUcaliun 

 takes place during winter thunderstorms. I am inclined myself to 

 regaixl the belief that lightning turns beer sour because it does not 

 know how to conduct itself as a popular delusion. 



A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. 



INTELLIOENCK IX ANIMALS. 

 [271] — Some years ago, a small terrier belonging to a neighbour, 

 having shown a propensity to como and chase my cats about my 

 orchard, I repelled his visits with a stick, in flinging which I cal- 

 ciilated the distance he would have run by the time that the missile 

 reached the grormd. I thought lie had learned the lesson that I 

 intended to teach him. Instead of which, he had thought of a 

 dodge. I saw him one evening approaching the house, when my 

 weapon flew as before. To my surprise, instead of bolting right 

 away, he rushed towards me several yards, and then turned sharply 

 round, and was off. The stick, therefore, instead of dropping ob- 

 jectionably near to his heels, flew high over his head, as he had 

 calculated that it would. Thus was I outwitted by a dog — to my 

 great delight. 



Bards are often set down as but a nonsensical, visionary sort of 

 people ; but the following lines are among the many that might be 

 quoted from the writings of poets, to show that they often display 

 evidence of the possession of more common sense than can bo 

 boasted of by some of those who think themselves to be scientific 

 philosophers : — 



" Then vainly the philosopher avers 



That reason guides our deeds, and instinct theirs. 



How can wc justly different causes frame, 



When the effects entirely arc the same ? 



Instinct and reason how can we divide ? 



'Tis the fool's ignorance and pedant's pride." — Prior. 

 As an illustration of a dog's capacity to distinguish between the 

 characters of man and woman, I may mention that once, when a 

 farm-labourer was telling me that a certain big, vagabond dog made 

 himself a nuisance in the neighbourhood by entering the cottagei'.i' 

 rooms as he pleased, on my asking why they did not order him out 

 again, he replied, " Ay, but he won't go out for a woman." Which 

 feminine trait gave him this boldness to please himself in the matter ? 



F. Ram. 



INFLUENCE OF SEX UPON MIND. 

 IV. — Daily Experienxe. 



[272] — The common opinion founded on observation, that woman's 

 reasoning and reflective powers do not equal man's, is not confined 

 to physiologists deciding from head-forms and organic structure ; 

 but is held by the vast majority without theory, judging solely from 

 experience and practical knowledge. Whately* defines woman as 

 " a creature incapable of the exercise of reason, and that pokes tlio 

 fire from the top." It is a colloquial axiom that you cannot agree 

 with a woman. I have heard many lady-lecturers ; not one argued 

 consecutively ; from beginning to end it was declamation ! "They 



* Whately, was it ? Like most other stories, it has been told of 

 others ; and in my college term it was told of one of our mos 

 profoundly logical dons. — Ed. 



