610 



♦ KNOWLEDGE • 



[May 19, 1882. 



lettnsf to ti)t eijitor* 



{Th* Editor dot^ not hold himfflf rerponsihU for thf opinionn of hit correnpondentM. 

 Ji« cannot undertake to rrturn mmiuiicripfi or to eorre^po'-f with their vrifen. All 

 eommunicatioTtt Mhotild be iiM $hort (U poitible, eonaitt gritty wt' h full and clear gf ate- 

 mentu of the vr\ter$ meaning.^ 



All Eilitortal commttnicationM »hmild he addretted to the Fditor o/ KiTOWLBDGl; 

 all Jitisijiem eommumcation$ to the Publitheri, at the Office, 1\. Great Queen- 

 tireet, W.C. 



Alt Sentttancet, Cheque; and PoH-OMce Ordtrt ghould be made pavabU to 

 Meter,. Wyman 4" Sont. 



•,* AU letiert to the Editor leill he yumbered. For convenience of reference, 

 correepojuienti, rAcn re/erring to any letter, iciU oblige by merUioning iia number 

 and the page on tchich it appear*. 



Alt Lett.ere or Qnerie* to the Editor vhich require attention in the tfttrrent iiitue of 

 KNOWLsnoR, Khould reach the Publishing OJice tiotlaterthan the Saturday preceding 

 the da^ (^publication, 



(T.) Lptterg to hnre a ohance of appearine miist be fonciae ; they must he drawn 

 np in the form adopted for letters hero, so that thev maj po lintounhed to the 

 printers ; private comraunicatiniis, therefore, as well as queries, or replies to 

 queries (intended lo appear aa siu-h) should bo written on separate Ipavea. 



(II.) Letters which (either because too ioii^, or unsuitable, or deahne with 

 matters which others have discussed, or for any other reason) cannot find place 

 hero, will either be briefly referred to in answers to correspondents, or acknowledged 

 in a column reserved for the purpose. 



*' In knowledge, that man only is to be contemned and despised who is not in a 



Btato of transition Nor is there anything more adverse to accuracy 



than fliity of opinion. "^Fardrfuy. 



" There is no harm in making a mistake, but great harm in making none. Show 

 me a man who makes no mistakes, and I will show you a man who has done 

 nothing." — IiVftiV. 



'* God's Orthodoxy is Truth.'*— CftaWw Kingsley. 



(^\\x Corrrspontidue Columns!. 



THE "CONEY" OF SCRIPTURE AND ITS ZOOLOGICAL 

 POSITION. 



[398] — " S. Lucas," in a letter addressed to the Editor, enters into 

 a description of the resemblance which is alleged to exist between 

 the rhinoceroses and the little hyrax, or " coney," of Scripture. 

 Mr. Lucas also gives a comparison of the habits of the former 

 animals as compared with tlie latter, and then asks how or why 

 Cuvier included both in the same family. He adds, what of course 

 no zoologist denies, that the teeth alone ai-e by no means certain 

 guides to the affinities of animals. Mr. Lucas, by consulting any 

 recent manual of zoology, will readily satisfy himself that the hyrax 

 is no longer placed near the rhinoceros-group ; Professor Owen 

 being the only authority, perhaps, who still places the hyrax-family 

 definitely amongst the "odd-toed" hoofed quadrupeds like the 

 rhinoceroses. No anatomist leans upon teeth alone as a guide to 

 classification. Furthermore, hyrax exhibits even in its teeth im- 

 portant differences from rhinoceroses ; and I may add that it was 

 not so much the similarity in numher of molars and premolars (as 

 Mr. Lucas seems to think) that suggested rhinoceros affinities, but 

 the shape and structure of these teeth. The hyrax has four incisor 

 teeth, eight premolars, and six molars in each jaw, canines or eye- 

 teeth being wanting. The upper incisors grow from permanent 

 pulps, as in Rodents. The placentation of the hyrax is utterly unlike 

 that of rhinoceroses, being deciduate and zonary, as in Caynivara. 

 Again, the nails of hyrax are not hoof-like, but almost flat ; and the 

 upper Up is cleft, as in rodents. Hyrax is also remarkable for pos- 

 sessing more Tertebrse in the back and loins than any other land 

 mammal — the number being from twenty-nine to thirty-one. The 

 modern view of the zoological position and affinities of the coneys 

 is that which regards them as intermediate between the hoofed 

 quadrupeds and tlio rodents. This is Brandt's view, and he adds 

 that it is more ungulate (not necessarily rhinocerine) than rodent 

 in its nature. Huxley says that the coneys lie between the hoofed 

 quadrujieds and the rodents and insectivora. In any view, Mr. 

 Lucas may rest assured that the position of hvrax is discussed and 

 settled to-day from a consideration of its anatomy as a whole, and 

 not from tlie shape or structure of its teeth alone. 



Andrew Wilson. 



CONSUMPTION. 

 [399]— Without infringing on the space of Knowledge, allow mo 

 to say in its columns, ilpropo.-- of Professor Tyndall on "Con- 

 sumption," that Koch does not show that hacilli are the primes, or 



first causes, or occasionB of natural consumption ; or that hereditary 

 phthisis ai'ises from them. He does not show that bacilli "^ scrofula ; 

 nor that in the course of these generations — their " culture" — they 

 are more than mere carriers of an evil matter, influence, or ineita- 

 tion ; but not the causes of it. Ordinary generation does not 

 necessarily disown spontaneous generation, or geneeis, as its begin- 

 ning. Bacilli may be not the principium of the disease, but one of 

 its consequences — perhaps a remote consequence, — capable, how- 

 ever, in rabbits, ic, of generating the disease after it has been 

 their genesis. I think it is Wilson Fox who said that scratching 

 rabbits with a sharp stick — haculuB — will sometimes produce con- 

 sumption in them, so liable are they to the peculiar rot of 

 scrofula. 



Trusting to your openness in Knowledge for the insertion of this 

 note, which opposes such a sea of opinion, I am, yours obediently, 

 Gabth Wilkin.so.n, M.R.C.S.E. 



[400] — If Koch's views, endorsed by Professor Tyndall, and 

 published in the Times, should prove to bo correct, a great social 

 revolution will be brought about by them ; for hitherto, with rare 

 exceptions, pulmonary consumption, the chief of the tubercular 

 diseases, has been looked upon as non-contagious, and its unfortunate 

 victims have freely mingled with their family connections and with 

 the people at large. But let these views be adopted by the medical 

 jjrofession, and generall}' received, and it will be imperatively 

 necessary to keep them away, in great measure, from their fellow 

 creatures, and to subject them to the same regimen as we use in 

 the rest of the contagious diseases ; and it is no small augmentation 

 of their calamity that this regimen will require to be continued, 

 not, as in other contagious diseases, for a few weeks, or months at 

 most, but, in some instances, for many years. 



Observing that you have transferred Professor Tyndall's letter, 

 which appeared in the Times, to the pages of your magazine, I ask 

 3'ou to allow me to state a fact in connection with this subject 

 which Professor Tyndall appears to have overlooked ; and a fact 

 which ought to make us cautious in accepting Koch's views on pul- 

 monary consumption without requiring for them further consideration 

 and restw^^h. 



The fact 1 Jefer to is this, — that pus, brain, cheese, and other 

 substances, when inoculated, will set np morbid processes in varions 

 organs, which cannot be distinguished from those which are set np 

 by the inoculation of tubercle itself. If, therefore, pus, cheese, 

 brain, &c., and tubercle itself produce the like results on inocula- 

 tion, how can that which tubercle produces be specific ? And, 

 further, if bacilli, such as have been observed by Koch in tubercle, 

 be also found in the rest of these products of inoculation, then, in 

 all probability, they are effects, and not causes. 



And finally, may not all the results obtained by Koch be due to 

 a septic matter introduced along with his hacilli ? If this be so, 

 then the results obtained are jji/eiiiic, plus fcaciHi, now discovered, 

 it appears, for the first time, and they are carious and interesting, 

 but 1 fear they are nothing more ; and, at least, thej' are far from 

 being proved to be the vera causa of pulmonary consumption. 



WiLLUM Dale, M.D., Londc 



PROBABILITIES. 

 [401] — In your last article on " Probabilities," you discuss the 

 fallacy contained in the assumption that A must win in the long 

 run his original stake, provided that each stake is double the pre- 

 vious one, and I think the fall.icy of such an assumption is suffi- 

 ciently clear ; but in the scheme I here submit, the fallacy, although 

 just as real, is not just as clear to me, and I should be glad if yon 

 would make it so. 



Make three columns, one for winning, two for losing, thus : — 



Write down at the top of the second column 

 the number you wish to win in as many parts 

 as you please, thus, you desire to win £7. 

 Write 1, 3, 2, 1. 



Commence by staking a small figure, say 

 £1, and, say 3-0U win, continue to stake small 

 until you lose. Make no entry of your first 

 winnings, but enter j-our loss in both losing 

 columns. Say you have lost a stake of £2. 

 Your next stake is the sum of the top and 

 bottom tigm-es, £3. You lose ; enter the loss 

 as before. Your next stake is £ I ; enter as 

 before. Your next stake is £5 ; you win. 

 Enter this in the winning column, and cross 

 out the top and bottom figures of the centre 

 column. Your next stake is the sum of the top and bottom figorea 

 not crossed out in the centre column, or3-H3 = 0. You win this, 

 and enter the G in the winning column. Proceed as before, your 



