18 



• KNOWLEDGE - 



[Jan. 12, 1883. 



Speaking of the reinarkable and most instructive Diary 

 of tho late Bisliop Wilbeiforce, we referred to tiie name of 

 Soapy Sam, by wliicli lie was wid(!ly known. This nick- 

 name has been seriously discussed in tho T'uiws and Tele- 

 graph, and while on the one' hand it has been proved that 

 the name was ^iveu by the young Wilberforces to their 

 brother Samuel because he was always washing his hands, 

 it has also been demonstrated that the initials of the 

 words S. Oxon, Alfred Pott, carved on the wall of Cuddes- 

 don College (which the Bishop helped to found), suppliid 

 the S.O.A.P. to Samuel. The last derivation is singularly 

 ingenious, because the nickname was in use before a stone 

 of Cuddesdon Collei^e had been laid. 



Other matters connected with the Diary are being 

 discussed with considerable interest — almost with warmth. 

 The effects of the soap in this lively book are somewhat 

 suggestive of those resulting when soft soap is well rubbed 

 into the eyes. The Greville Memoirs (though they are in- 

 structive too) are, by comparison, like the gentle utterances 

 of an aesthetic curate. 



In Farrar's "Life of Christ," Vol. I., p. 31, we read as 

 follows : — " On Dec. 17, 1603, there occurred a conjunction 

 of the two largest superior planets, Saturn and Jupiter, in 

 the zodiacal sign of the Fishes, in the watery trigon 

 (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces). In the following spring they 

 were joined in the fiery trigon (Aries, Leo, Sagitarius) by 

 Mars; and in September, lGO-1, there appeared in the foot 

 of Oph iuchus, and between Mars and Saturn, a new star 

 of the first magnitude, which," itc, kc. ..." Now there 

 is a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the same trigon 

 about every twenty years, but in every 200 years they 

 pass into another trigon, and are not conjoined in the 

 same trigon again till a lapse of 794 years, i months, and 

 1:^ days. By calculating backward;:, Kepler discovered 

 that the same conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces 

 had happened no less than three times in the year A.U.C. 

 147, and that the jjlanet Mars had joined them in the 

 spring of 148, and the general fact that there was such a 

 combination at this period has been verified by a number 

 of independent investigators, and does not seem to admit 

 of denial, and however we may apply the fact, it is certainly 

 an interesting one. For such a conjunction would at once 

 have been interpreted by the Chaldean observers as indi- 

 cating tho approach of some memorable event ; and since 

 it occurred in the constellation Pisces, which was supposed 

 by astrologers to be immediately connected with the for- 

 tunes of Juda'a, it would naturally turn their thoughts in 

 that direction." Does Canon Farrar, we wonder, consider 

 astrology true or false 1 



The French Minister of Public Instruction oilers a prize 

 of £2,000 for tho best industrial application of electricity, 

 open to all the world. Claims are to be sent in by June 30 

 next 



A VALUED correspondent (W. E. M.) asks us to invite 

 Mr. Grant Allen to defend his spelling " misletoe." The 

 Anglo-Saxon was " misteltan," we think ; but we are away 

 from all books of reference. W. E. M. quotes a number 

 of authorities in favour of " mistletoe " and " misteltoe." 

 Can any one tell us about the German and Danish 

 " mistel " ? 



A Butterfly in Winter. — Mr. II. W. Smith writes 

 from The Hollies, St. Anne's-hill, Chertsey, Jan. 2 : — " A 

 perfect specimen of the sulphur butterfly was observed this 

 day on St. Anne's-hill." !JIr. William Callow writes from 



Tho Firs, Great Missenden, Bucks : — " On Saturday, Dec. 

 30, I heard the song-thrush, and snowdrops have for some 

 time been visible in my garden." 



The British Journal of rhotography, and several corre- 

 spondents, point out a mistake in the article on Luminous 

 Paint. The lecturer on that substance at the Crystal 

 Palace seems unaware of the fact that, so far from pro- 

 ducing no impression on the most sensitive photographic 

 plate, it is used as a photographic test. 



It is singular how little the true use of statistics is 

 understood even by those who claim to be statisticians. In 

 fact, strangely enough, as we often find among professed 

 grammarians the worst samples of language, among pro- 

 fessed logicians (as Macaulay long since pointed out), the 

 shallowest reasoning, so do we find often among professed 

 statisticians the worst samples of the wrong use of statistics. 

 Sir Francis D. Bell quotes, as evidence of the vitality of 

 people in New Zealand, the birth-rates and death-rates 

 there as compared with European countries. But, as a 

 writer in the Times points out, in dealing with the birth 

 rates and death-rates of a country receiving immigrants and 

 having a population largely formed of recent immigrants, 

 it does not suffice to exclude from the increase the actual 

 immigrants. We have to omit from ths amount the births 

 and deaths among immigrants, and also the artificial 

 nature of the population of a new country, where therr 

 is never the normal admixture of old and middle-aged. 



We note with pleasure that Mr. D'Oyley Carte, after 

 being long troubled by the difficulty with which, at this 

 season of the year, ingress is obtained into those parts of 

 theatres where seats are unreserved, has found a perfect 

 remedy in inducing those waiting to form a double line, as 

 they do on the Continent and in America. We owe him 

 thanks, as the Romans did to Fabius, that he did not 

 despair of our civilisation, giving the British public credit 

 for being willing to do what other nations will do for their 

 own convenience. If now the managers of other theatres 

 will have confidence that what can be done at the Savoy 

 can be done elsewhere, the public will be saved much 

 trouble and some danger. 



We are glad to be able to announce that Mr. York, of 

 Lancaster-road, Notting-hill, is about to issue a series of 

 biological slides adapted for the illustration, by means of 

 the lantern, of both popular and scientific lectures. Tliere 

 has long been a felt want of such a series of slides. Whilst 

 there has been no lack of slides of an astronomical and 

 physical kind, no accurate series of slides dealing with 

 zoology or botany have been prepared. Hence it is hoped 

 that the new series will supply a decided want, and that, 

 as such, they will be largely patronised by science- 

 lecturers. We understand that the editing of the slides 

 has been undertaken by Mr. W. L. Carpenter, Dr. Andrew 

 Wilson, and others, and the names of these gentlemen 

 should alone be a guarantee for the effective selection of 

 the subjects, and for the judicious compilation of the 

 accompanying handbooks. 



A magnificent and most kindly audience greeted Mr. 

 Proctor at Leicester, where the Gilchrist Course of Six 

 Lectures on Science was opened on Monday last. More 

 than 1,500 were present in the Temperance Hall, and 

 hundreds were turned away. The editor of Knowledge 

 wishes to tell the people of Leicester that he was much 

 moved by the warmth of their greeting after the three 

 years that have passed since he last visited them. 



