348 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[Fkr 17, 1882. 



rcRultd which you oonHidcr inoonRiHtont with that nt'coiint. Every- 

 thing you pay nbnut llio ori;fin of man inif^ht hnvo boon iviid 

 with iH|unl foriT nhotit the* ('(ipcriiifiin Theory three eentnrieR 

 ago. Souie of it li'mi nniO. The tlienrv win de(icril)C<l ns ohviouBly 

 contmry to the (.hiln tenehiiiffH of the book. Rut no one, ho fur as 

 I know, went ko fhi' nh' you ih>. and askeil thnt the followerB of 

 OopornicUH Khoulill>C;;fri hy .•</i'>ifi.i.( the t)ook " to lie unlnie." F<tr 

 my own part, I' nhnuM think it wn« much oiisiier to reeoneile (us it 

 is nbBunlly eulled) th^ modem scienlilie belief of iiian'« oripin with 

 Ihoooeountg^iven in (tie brtokyiiu men! ion than the C'opei'uieanThcorj- 

 or tho rosultn of ffeolojjieal researeh ; u5 men of neieiu'e nro far 

 liotter ubhi to imprire into the tnith of the scientific theory than into 

 thecpu'sition of that booVn aiitliority.T ciin nee na reason for nrpinp 

 them acrosB tlie line which separates science from religion. Con- 

 sider a little that Very clever (but. 1 tmspect. (renenilly niiiiuuder- 

 stood) saying of Dismeli's, " Religion beijins whero science ends," 

 —this, with a very slight change, may be tnk^n as " our mortar 

 what wc sticks to " in thift mutter :— Where dogmatic religion begins 

 Knowledok CTids. 1 say all this with no more objection to religions 

 attacks on science, than to scientific attacks on religion ; I object 

 cipinliy to both. But just think where the science of onr dayivonld 

 bo, if, before starting any theory, men of science had had to show- 

 that tho interpretation put by theologians on certain passages 

 in religions works was incorrect. — J. If. You ask when tho 

 Greater Light was called the Sun, and refer to Genesis, eh. xv. 

 V. 12 ; but that account says only when it was called by 

 another name. 'ITie present name, or form of the name, is not 

 quite so old. As a matter of curiosity I should like to know 

 why yon wish for an answer to this question. It must be of interest 

 to you, as you have been asking it for years : but why ? What can it 

 matter? — \V. J. Abbott. Many thanks ; if KNoWLEnCK had many 

 such friends as you we could afford to give what hitherto only much 

 more expensive papers ccjuld ]>resont to their readers. Geological 

 matters will soon have their turn. Do you not think the quicksilver 

 storj- — instructive though it doubtless is- -better suited for a more 

 medical journal than ours ? — W. MinDi,ET0.\ suggests that the sea- 

 blue bird of March may be the fieldfare (see Goldsmith's " Animated 

 Nature," vol. ii., p. 1 10). — J. P. Sandl.\ni).s. Nay, the article on 

 Found Links simply presents a certain part of the evidence for what 

 it is worth ; the evidence for the development of one form of creature 

 from another form is one thing, the indication of such links as 

 the development theory requires is another. Dr. Wilson's argu- 

 ment is complete, so far as it goes ; but one and the same 

 argument cannot answer all objections. I can only inf^r from 

 your remarks about luck in its relation to religion, that I should 

 not discuss the mathematical theory of probabilities, because it 

 hurts your religions feelings to be told that, so far as observation 

 extends, the laws of probabilities and of averages are never departed 

 from. That would be as unreasonable as to urge that the scientific 

 discussion of the laws of chance does not take into account the 

 possible iuHucnce of earnest prayer on the observed result in 

 the case of any particular person. A and B draw tickets 

 in a lottery, prize £1,000, number of tickets 1,000 ; and 

 science says the chance of each is worth just £1. But 

 J. P. Sandlands interferes. " Do not trespass on forbidden 

 ground," ho says : " wliethcr yon mean iter not, the inference from 

 that statement is against religious truth. If you make a state- 

 ment, and say this is all wc know, and apeak as an authority, does 

 it not follow that there is nothing more ? If you examine the state- 

 ment you will find it ignores the interaction of scientific and 

 religious truth." A, you imply, may be favoured for reasons which 

 religion suggests and can explain, and science, in making no men- 

 tion of this, to all intents and purposes suggests that there is no 

 such influence from without. It may seem so to you. I cannot 

 take your view. As I have already said, the mathematical discussion 

 of chance seems to me to have no more to do with religion than 

 religion has to do with ex]>erimente in chemistry or physics. — 

 Q. Many thanks. The mistake was di.scovered sooii after the book 

 was published. Many errors in the treatise were such as I could 

 not possibly have avoided— accents not showing which had shown 

 in proof, and the like. The work was very laboriously corrected, 

 but was unfortunately in the hands of printers of very fittle mathe- 

 matical experience.— F. W. F. Problem later.— F. S. The distance 

 you require— the sagitta (say s)—ia given in terms of the chord (2c), 

 and the railius (r) by the following formula:— s = r - ^'r-' - r '. 

 When r is very large compared with r, we have approximately 

 2rs = c=, or s = c'-!-2r.-C. H. Wingfield. Thanks: but the experi- 

 ments to be found in elementary treatises on pneumatics and 

 chemistry. We must not occupy space telling readers what so 

 many know. — F. G. Bakk.vs. As to my supposed prediction— not 

 ([uite. I would be glad to see the article you mention. There 

 would be nothing to prevent its appearance here, if the reasoning 

 seemed valid. I think it very unlikely I could lecture at ^■ewca^tlo, 

 or anywhere, next season. Thanks, equally. 



II. Mt W., It. IJavchy, Gl. Trcv.iyan. W A. C, A Fellow of the 

 Gheniical Society, N.. T. W., A. K. S.. Argr), J. Acrington, BHrljun, 

 J. Twaite, L. I'urmontcr, A. K. J^., Bronte, J. Unrineii«, L. Tulbuil, 

 M. Amb. K.., Eccc Signum, J. llurvcy. M. N. S., F. K. f; , L. 

 Purtntjas (}), E. E. 0. S. (No, 1), Hokluyt, A. I, . T. P. R . 

 P. U. G. S. (No. 2), (UirmnighttiD.) 



^otrsi on 9rt anlj ^ricnrr. 



We are informed that Messrs. Farraud A Lunds, the patcriiic-,. 

 of tlie System of Time Signalling and Clock Synchronizing no 

 largely adopted in IjOndon, have applied to the Postal Telegraph 

 Department for an extension of their Time Exchange to Telephone 

 purposes. For some time they liave been experimenting with the 

 object of utilising their existing system for teleph<ming, which hu 

 resulted in a perfect success, and they now propose to formilly 

 thus duplicate and extend their system, by which every telephone 

 subscriber would be able to receive an hourly Greenwich time 

 current by simply hanging his receiver on a hook in big telephone, 

 marked "Time Signal," without any interference with the Sfxiaking 

 ])ower of the instruments. Tho proposals arc under consideration 

 at St. Martin's-le-(irand, where so beneficial an arrangement can 

 hardly fail to receive due attention. 



Manufacture of Ga.s from Wood. — It may not be known to all 

 the readers of Knowledge that carbonic oxide (CO), the manafac- 

 ture of which " F.C.S." refers to in the number for Jan. 20, it 

 extremely injurions to life, if inhaled in any quantity. Carbonic 

 dioxide (COo) is deleterious because it takes the place that should 

 be occupied by oxygen ; whereas carbonic oxide is a distinct poison, 

 causing death in a very short time ; therefore, should any attempt 

 its manufacture, they should be very careful to allow none to escape 

 into the room. — F. D. U. 



Gi.vcEHiXE Leatuer POLISH. — Mix intimately together 3 or -lib. 

 lam|)black and i lb. of burned bones with 5 lb. glycerine and 51b- 

 syrup. Then gently warm 25 oz. of gutta-percha in an iron or 

 copper kettle until it flows easily ; then add 10 oz. of olive oil, and, 

 when completely dissolved, 1 oz. stearine. This solution, while 

 still warm, is poured into the former and well mixed. Then add 

 5 oz. gum Senegal, dissolved in 1 J lb. water, and | oz. lavender or 

 other oil to flavour it. For use, it is diluted with 3 or 4 parts of 

 water. It is said to give a fine polish, is free from acid, and the 

 glycerine keeps the leather soft and pliable. — Polyiech }CotizbIall. 



An influential company, having Messrs. Marshall Jewell, Charles 

 E. Mitchell, Morris F. Tyler, and Kobt. Wheeler Wilson on their 

 board, and with all their capital privately subscribed, has just been 

 formed in America, to be called " The Standard Time Co." Having 

 carefully examined into the various systems of synchronising clocks 

 in use both in America and Europe, the one in use in London, and 

 known as Barraud & Lunds', has been adoi>ted by them ; a gentle- 

 man was specially sent over to England to the jiatentees, negotia- 

 tions were at once opened, communications cabled, and the whole 

 concession concluded in a few days. The arrangements inclutle the 

 whole of the An.erican Continent, as well as the Unite<l States, and 

 an effort will be made to bring about a concerted system of time 

 signalling over the whole of the States ; local affiliated companies 

 are to be formed, and we shall probably soon hear of our trans- 

 atlantic cousins having once more excelled us in an extensive ex- 

 change and utilisation of time signals, as they have in their 

 telephone exchanges. 



d^ur iBatbrmatiral Column. 



T. R.- Many thanks for your algebraical proof of the relatioo 

 involved in our geometrical solution of the Messenger problem 

 " No Analyst," however, in his personal communication, said he 

 could follow a proof referring to hyperbolic area, Avhicli would, he 

 supposed, be involved, and referred to a problem which it apjiears 

 is given in Frost's Newton. Will give next week a geometrical 

 proof that area of hyperbolic section is related that way to nataral 

 iogaiithras. Unfortunately, our mathematical space is at present 

 somewhat limited, and we are obliged to indulge as little as possible 

 in analytical investigations. Dope soon to begin some simple 

 jiapers on the differential and integral calculns, which will some- 

 what widen our sphere of operations. Wo must notify our mathi'- 

 matical readers, that recently we liave allowed our consideration • 

 for those who have sent problems for solution to interfere greatly 



