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KNOWLEDGE 



[Mat 2C, 1882. 



Itttfisf to tfje (Elirtor, 



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 end the pofje o« tchieh it appearn. 



All Lettrrt or Queries to the Editor tthich require attention in the current imm* o/ 

 "KvoyFLKnaii, rhould reach the FuhHehing Office not later than the Saturday preceding 

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"In Imowled^e, that man only is to be contemned and despised who is not in a 



state of transition Kor is there anything more adveree to accuracy 



tha^fixity of opinion." — Faraday. 



' ) barm in making a mistake, but great harm in making 



me a man who makes no mistakes, and I will sho 

 nothing."— iiVAii?, 



'* God's Orthodoxy ia Truth." — (Carles Kingsley, 



ffho has done 



©\\x Corrfsfpontidirf Columns. 



THE LATE MR. THOMAS DUNMAN. 



[409]- — I trust you will find me space to record the inexpressible 

 grief with which I res.d in this week's Knowlehoe of the deatli, 

 under the most painful circumstances, of Mr. Thomas Dunman. 

 Though personally unacquainted with him, I am sure many who 

 have read hig excellent words of wisdom and kindness in the Essays 

 on Lite and Duty which he wrote for the " "Universal Instructor," 

 will feel with me that they have lost almost a personal friend. 



It is difficult to avoid the conclusion indicated by the melancholy 

 example of poor Thomas Dunman, viz., that " science does not 

 pay;" certainly in his case it did not. Often, doubtless, but in- 

 adequately remunerated, ho laboured to improve an ignorant but 

 nuappreciative generation, only to fall an early prey to an over- 

 zealous devotion to them and to science. 



I earnestly hope the publicity which yon have given to the fact 

 that the bereaved family is unprovided for, will induce many friends 

 to come to their assistance ; I shall esteem it a privilege to bo 

 allowed to add my contribution, and I feel sui-e there will be many 

 like myself, who will only await an opportunity to pay a similar 

 tribute to the memory of him who has been so sadly cut off in the 

 flower of a useful and earnest life. 



May 19, 1882. J. L. W. 



AURORA BOREALIS. 



[410] — Aurora Borealis here last night ; brilliant from about 11.15 

 to 11. 'IS ; three principal masses of vertical pencillings, like an aerial 

 Statfa, one under Polaris, another about Auriga, a third in Gemini ; 

 the limits E. and Vf. Cassiopeia and Cancer, and altitude about that 

 of the former. Colour not pronounced ; pinkish drab, perhaps. 

 This is the only aurora I liave seen here in six years, and follows on 

 the hottest weather ever known in the second week of May ; defini- 

 tion at nisht magnificent ; therm. 61° at midnight a night or two 

 ago. Stiff E. wind. 



Pomic, France. Hallyakds. 



TOBACCO AND CONSUMPTION. 

 [411] — The light that has recently been thrown on the cause and 

 nature of consumption (see Prof. Tyndall's letter) has prompted mo 

 to propose tobacco as a preventative and cure for that disease. Some 

 years since, I hcanl a lecture in New York, by the Turkish Consul 

 for that port, who said consumption was comparatively rare in 

 Turkey. The lecturer claimed that freedom was owing to tho 

 peculiar manner in which the Turks inhale tho " supreme solace." 



Your Turkish smoker not only draws tho smoko into his month 

 but inhales it into the lungs ; and it was further stated that tho 

 lungs of a 'I'lirkiwli smoker after death- wore found to bo stained 

 a light yellow or buff by tho condensed products of the com- 

 bustion or distillation of tho tobacco. Tho lectortr claimed 

 that tlieso products kept up n constant irritation in the air 

 colls of tho lungs, preventing any accumulation of morbid matter. 

 How true all this may bo I leave to others better qualified 

 to decide. Tho importance of the subject makes the slightest facts 

 bolont;ing to it worthy of consideration. It struck me, on reading 

 the lute discovery of organic genns of consumption, that not only 

 miglittho smoke and its constituents act as an irritant on the lungs, 

 but tiiiit the condensation and deposition of tho empyreumatic oils, 

 Ac, might prevent the germs taking root. But a word as to how the 

 Turk smokes. From what I can learn, his shortest " cutty " is fully 

 a yard long (the " tchibouk"), and we all know tho construction of 

 tho " hookah," and tho tempering and purification it exercises on 

 the smoke passing through it. Such smoke, after passing through 

 the long tubes, must lose a great portion of its active and biting 

 ^iroperties, and, again, Turkish is not a very pungent variety 

 of tho " weed " j so, after all, such a mode of smoking 

 is not so pungent in its eftects as it would seem at first 

 sight. Now, don't let these remarks induce any one to try 

 the experiment of taking smoke into the lungs from a short pipe, 

 and using "shag*' tobacco, or a violent fit of coughing, and perl>aps 

 vertigo, may be the I'esult. If the experiment is tried, let it be with 

 a cigarette or a long-stemmed cherrywood pipe, using the mildest 

 of tobaccos. I have for some time smoked that way myself, and 

 find that the smoke frequently loosens little round globules of 

 mucilaginous phlegm. Some jieople refuse to believe it is possible 

 to take the smoke entirely into the lungs. They say it gets no 

 farther than the throat, and thence out of nasal passages ; but one 

 can draw a good mouthful of smoke, then take a deep breath 

 through the mouth, and speak or repeat the alphabet, and then 

 emit the smoke, proving the smoke to be taken down into the 

 lungs. Whether these suggestions are of value I leave to the 

 faculty to determine. If tobacco is really a remedy, I would rather 

 see us a nation of smokers than a nation of consumptives. 



W. B. WiCKEN. 



ENCORES AT CONCERTS. 

 [412] — It is a little too bad tliat the best singers at concerts, 

 those with voices best worth careful treating, should be rewarded 

 for their skill and excellence by being called on to repeat their 

 songs. At a charming concert the other day, at the Alexandra 

 Palace, an idea occurred to me about this, wliich strikes me as 

 being original. Those who use uufaii-Iy the right of applauding a 

 singer should be treated by the manager of the concert to repe- 

 tions (for the sake of practice) by the worst singers ; while the 

 singers who perform best should, as a reward, take a rest. Thus, 

 Signer Maas, who, if not phenomenal in vocal qualities, is one of 

 the very sweetest tenors of tlte day, should have been let off one 

 of his four songs because he gave such perfect satisfaction with 

 the other three. Instead of this, he was ask'sd for more, which is 

 unreasonable and unfair. When there is encore money, the 

 manager of the corcert ia wronged ; where there is not, the singer 

 suffers. M. P. 



A MOUNTAIN 3,000 FEET HIGHER THAN EVEREST. 

 [413] — In a journey through the Island of Papua, made by 

 Capt. J. A. Lawson in 1871, that explorer discovered a mountain, 

 which he named Hercules, the height of which he estimated at 

 at 32,783 ft. above sea level. Has it never been visited or measured 

 by any other explorer ? It would seem strange if no expedition had 

 since been sent to verify Lawson's result. E. C. E. 



" SxrniEs OF Venus Transits." — Those sheets of the work 

 originally published as " The Universe and the Coming Transits," 

 which relate to the Transits of Venus in 187 1 and 18S2. are now 

 published by Messrs. Longmans & Co. under tho above title. 

 Portions are now necessarily out of date, but all that relates (1) to 

 the transit of Venus in 1882, and (2) to the comparison betrtveen 

 the transits of 1882 and 1874, remain as trustworthy now as when 

 originally published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society. The chart which appeared in the last number 

 but one of Knowledge, is copied from eno of tho charts (in two 

 colours) illustrating these studies. Price 5g. 



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