470 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[March 31, 1885 





M 



3RrbifU)sf. 



THE TWO HEMISPHERES.* 



/| R. CHISHOLM gives as complcto an account of the 

 I J_ continents and countries, tho oceans and seas, of the 

 two hemispheres, as could well V)e presented in a single 

 volume (l)ut of nearly a thousand pages). The book is 

 pleasantly written, and the information for the most part 

 accurate, though in places ratluT behind the time. For 

 instance, we are told that the largest of the rivers in 

 North Island, New Zealand, are the Waikato and the 

 Manawatu, no mention being made of the Wanganui, a 

 much more important river than the Manawatu. Some of 

 the information respecting the United States is singularly 

 out of date, and serves to gi\o but inadequate ideas of the 

 progress made in the Western States during the last quarter 

 of a century, in some cases even within the last ten years 

 or so, though statistical information is in most cases brought 

 up to date. The illustrations of natural scenery are, for 

 the most part, good ; but the views of towns are in many 

 cases behind the time. A "street in Chicago" gives no 

 correct idea of any of the principal streets in that wonder- 

 ful city ; and the view of Madison-square must have been 

 taken before the gigantic Hand of Liberty had been set up 

 which has now for several years formed a characteristic 

 feature of the square. Still, these are not points of great 

 importance ; and in the main we are struck rather by the 

 amount of exact and recent information which the book 

 contains, than by occasional shortcomings. 



Messrs. Biackie &. .Sox note that ilessrs. Marcus Ward & Co. 

 have not published Vere Foster's Drawing Books (see reply to 

 query 274) for 3 J years ; these books arc pubhshed by Messrs. 

 Blackie & Son. 



DID THE EGYPTIANS KNOW OF THE MOVE- 

 MENT OF THE EARTH IN SPACE? 



IN confirmation of the translation of the Berlin papyrus by M. 

 Chabas, a paper is published in the " Transactions of the Con- 

 gress of Orientalists at St. Etienne," by M. Lieblein, one of the 

 greatest authorities on the Egyptian vocabulary, pointing out 

 another text alluding to the motion of the earth in very similar 

 terms. This second sentence occurs in a kind of chant to the god 

 Ptah, found in what is known of the gi-eat Harris papyrus, con- 

 tained in the British Museum, and speaks of him as "creator of the 

 gods, maker of heaven, and founder of the earth circulating in the 

 great ocean of heaven." This te.^t liad formerly been translated 

 by Dr. Birch and Professor Eisenlohr as " encircling the earth 

 with the waters of the great sea," and thus it will be seen at once 

 that the difference between tho two readings is that where one 

 translator reads travelling or circulating in, the other reads sur- 

 rounding tcith. M. Lieblein, consequently, in order to prove his 

 case, gives a large number of instances of exactly similar words, 

 wliere if the verb were really to surround, and the preposition with, 

 instead of in, such a translation would make nonsense, and also 

 refers to many texts where this very word has been rendered to cir- 

 culate, several of these having reference to tho path of the sun. In 

 controverting any decision arrived at by one so pre-en-.iuent as Dr. 

 Birch, tho very greatest caution must be observed, but no one, after 

 reading M. Liobloin's essay, can doubt that there is at least as 

 mncli right to his idea of tho true interpretation of the sentence as 

 to that of our greatest Egyjitologist. 



Before apjiroaching our subject from a point of view not pm-ely 

 Egj'iitian, it will be well to point out that these remai-kable texts, in 

 speaking of the stars or sun navigating the heavens in boats and the 

 innumerable allusions to tho sky as a celestial ocean, must not bo 

 taken to do more than clothe in elegant imagery the phenomena of 

 tho universe. Their writers no more considered the interstellar 



• " The Tivo Hemispheres : A Popular Account of the Countries 

 and Peoples of the World." By G. G. Chishohn, M.A. (Blackie & 

 Son, London.) 



Bpaco OS a liquid than wo do. The idea itaolf nndoubtodly orif^inatcB 

 in tho beautiful account uf the creation given in the scvontccnth 

 chapter of llio Kittinl of the Dead, when it HtatoH that tho Deity, 

 there alluded to as Toiini, separated tho t<-rreBtrial waters which 

 gnvo rise to all rivers and oceans, from (lie celestial waters, sus- 

 pending tho latter in heaven. That behind and beyond all these 

 allegorical rcferonecs to the surroundings of our planet existc*! a 

 conception well-nigh panillel to our own, can bo scon by comparing 

 many texts ; for instance, in tho inscription of Amencmhcb, known 

 as " Tho Praise of Thotmes IIL," in speaking of tho King's death 

 at evening ho soys : — " Then ho fled up to heaven when tho disk of 

 tho sun went down, and the servant of Ood joined himself to his 

 Creator " (see Ecclcs., xii., 7). If it were legitimate to consider 

 that the Egyptians spoke of a liqaid heaven literally, then they con- 

 tradict themselves, for almost as frequently it is spoken of as 

 forming the body of tho goddess Nout, whose figure is delineated 

 adorned with the stars, her hamls touching the horizon on one side, 

 her body extended above, and her feet forming the horizon on the 

 other, 'i'hen, again, there is another figurative theory mentioned by 

 M. Maspero as being common, which speaks of the stars being fixed 

 as lamjis suspended in the celestial vault, and lighted each night by 

 divine power to illuminate the earth. 



A Member of the Society op Biblical ABcn.coLoov. 



The Solar Spectrum. — For more than twenty years I have had 

 on my study table a prism, brass-mounted, and moving on a ball- 

 and-socket joint. Tho apparatus may bo had at any optician's. 

 For two months in the spring, and for an equal period in the 

 autumn, the sun is in a suitable position for showing through the 

 prism a fine spectrum on the wall. It is one of the most lovely 

 sights in nature. It never tires or becomes indifferent ; and if I 

 felt disposed to idolise a phenomenon, it would not be a sun-flower, 

 but a sun-spectrum. Its interest to myself has been heightened by 

 a spice of mysterj'. In the inexpressibly tender sliading-off of the 

 violet rays may be seen a tremulous motion ; not always, but when- 

 ever the spectrum is very fine. Some of my family and friends can 

 see it, but not all. This secret of many years I now suspect to be 

 the passage across the violet of undulations of air ascending from 

 the lower and more heated red portion of the spectrum. Any con- 

 venient method by which a curl of white smoke can be disengaged, 

 so as to ascend gently through the path of the refracted rays, will 

 afford a floating spectrum of exquisite beauty. Seen through the 

 prism, the bars of the window, especially about sunset, are gorgeons. 



HeNEY H. HiGGtNS. 



The Lamson Case. — Dating from the Lamson trial, wc may expect 

 to find the history of cadaveric alkaloids will be more fuUy investi- 

 gated ; and, although in this particular case none of the conditions 

 essential to their existence were fulfilled, it «all not be without 

 some advantage, by stimulating inquiry into a very important and at 

 the same time all but unknown class of decomposition products. 

 In the whole masterly structme of the defence there was no more 

 ingenious point raised than this of cadaveric alkaloids. Against 

 the possibility of any reliance on it, however, were three 

 fatal objections, which effectually and for all disposed of it. These 

 were that tho body of the murdered boy was not decomposed 

 when the poison it contained produced fatal effects on animals it 

 was injected into ; that the vomited matter, preserved in alcohol, 

 and thus free from decomposed substances, gave indisputable proof 

 of aconitiue ; and that we have no proof that cadaveric alkaloids 

 are capable of producing the physiological effects of normal 

 vegetable alkaloids. Application has been made to tho Home Secre- 

 tary for a respite of tho sentence passed on Lamson, on several 

 grounds, among the reasons given being two chiefly interesting to 

 ns — viz., that the jur)' were not composed of medical experts, and 

 the unreliability of the experiments made with mice. The first of 

 these can need no serious consideration. The cWdence was of a 

 kind, more than is usuallj- so in mm-dcr cases, to approve itself to 

 the non-scientific mind. The symptoms of jioisoiiing by aconite 

 were carefully explained to tho jmy, and the evidence was snch as 

 to prove conclusively that these verj' symptoms were observed. 

 Dr. Stevenson's testimony, moreover, was especially such as a child ' 

 might comprehend ; the only difference an expert jurv' would have 

 made would have been to shorten the time in which the verdict 

 was arrived at, and which even now is made one of the grounds of 

 aiiplication for remission of sentence. Of the objection to the ' 

 experiments made by Dr. Stevenson it is needless to sjieak further. 

 Xo competent judge of their value and importance can hesitate a 

 moment as to their weight ; we venture to think none does so. On 

 every ground, the Lamson trial will take rank as of high im- 

 portance in a medico-legal sense; and as to the justness of its 

 result we think no question can be raised. — The iUdical Press and 

 Circular, 



