Jan. 20, 1SS3.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



59 



are aleo far more common amonf; men than women, as \ro mif;ht 

 natnraUy su|)|ioao, but I fancy that more women die a so-called 

 " natural " death (though 1 should like to dispute the term as 

 applied to many deaths) than men. Were women, in the dress they 

 now wear, to pursue the same avocations as men, I imagine that 

 the mortality among llicm would bo for greater than among men. 

 Again, women on the whole are more temperate than men, and 

 therefore ought to live longer. 



" An Observer " says "that it is useless to ignore the fact that 

 they (exercises) never nro or will bo practised beyond a certain 

 age, if ut all." 



I admit, with t-rief, tluit this was so in our mothers' and grand- 

 mothers' time, but as to the future — is " An Observer " a prophet, 

 that ho should si>eak so positively about it ? Judging from what I 

 have heard the elder generation say, and from books generally, I 

 should think that the tendency was in exactly the reverse direction. 

 Girls and women take far more exercise now than formerly, and the 

 more they are released from the trammels of dross, the more still 

 will they take. As far as my experience goes, girls are only too 

 ulad to get exercise, hut none of their schools in this country 

 provide it. 



I should bo sorry to take quite such a pessimistic view of society 

 as " An Observer." Ho appears to think that because a thing is, 

 never mind how bad or foolish, therefore it must be, — as in the 

 matter of exercise, and later, in a part of the letter on which I do 

 not pro|)ose to touch, inasmuch as it concerns the Editor, and ho 

 will probably refer to it in his forthcoming article, viz., the passage 

 to the effect that since all civilised nations consider slender waists 

 handsome, therefore " they are quite certain to be cultivated artifi- 

 cially." Again I i|uestion this prophetic utterance j again tho 

 tendency seems to me to be in exactly the reverse direction — see the 

 High Aj-t Movement, the Dress Reform Association, and Ladies' 

 Sanitary Association. Whereas four years ago I hardly knew a 

 person who did not wear stays, now I know over a hundred, and 

 many of these have only left them off of late years. 



In conclusion, I think that if "An Observer" would peruse a 

 certain little book entitled " Dress and Health," he would see that 

 comparing tight-lacing to "the notoriously painful and destructive 

 maiming of Chinese feet " is >io( ridiculous ; and also that a " little 

 silence " on bis part concerning this subject would have been moro 

 prudent. G. C. S. 



THE COMET. 



[694] — Can you find a comer for some of tho most elementary 

 notes and questions about the grand comet we are all admiring ? 

 Here in India we have from our clearer skies almost unequalled 

 opportunities for observation, had we only tho means and the 

 leisure. As it is, tho only well-fitted observatory is in Madras, and 

 there at this season the sky is. often as cloudy and unfavonrablo as 

 in dear old England itself. In fact, the notes from the astronomer 

 there stated that the comet had been observed there on 12th Sept., 

 a fact which appears not to have been brought to your notice, but 

 that in consequence of unfavourable weather he had not been able 

 to make another observation until the 20th or 2l8t. It is inte- 

 resting to note that the Government Astronomer states that the 

 first news of where the comet should be sought was given him by 

 the captain of a vessel which put in at Madras. Probably, there- 

 fore, valuable information as to its first appearance and tho 

 earliest observations of it may be get from the logs of homeward- 

 bound ships. 



Here, in lat. 30° long. 69', I first noticed tho comet at about 

 o-t6 a.m. on Saturday, 22nd September. It was then just paling 

 in the morning light. This was the first time the comet had been 

 seen by the people themselves, for I made inquiries of the police, 

 whose duties keep (or ought to keep) them awake all night. Tlie 

 countrj- people undoubtedly regard its appearance as portentous, 

 and refer back to the disaatrous days of 1858 for its parallel. It 

 may amuse you to know that their nnpoetic nickname for it is " the 

 Broom (jharii) " I 



On the following morning I had a view of his wonderful beauty, 

 first seeing him when his tail was half only above the horizon, and 

 I shall never forget the impression made on me. It showed like a 

 1 ast sheet of flame, due magnetic east, and was so bright that I 

 lould scarcely lx.-lieve it was not tho flame of some great fire in tho 

 distance. At that time, and every day since (don't you in foggy 

 England envy us our opportunities ?) I have risen to have a good 

 look at it, the only better or worse of the conditions being tho 

 ;.'reater or less brightness and nearness of the moon and the later 

 rising of the sun, with the increasing apparent distance of the 

 comet from the sun. I am writing now at 545 a.m. Madras time 

 (which is about 30 minutes in advance of local mean time), and the 

 moon is in the zenith of a perfectly cloudtess sky. The comet 

 bears about S.E., the nucleus being about 30° above the horizon. 



When first observed by me, and for several days after, the tail 

 appeared almost bifurcate, having a distinct ovoid space between 

 tho two tails, but latterly the two have seemed to combine, and 

 that to the appai-cnt zenith to be considerably longer and more 

 ta|>cr than tho other. It swept through about 12" of sky, but 

 appears to be gradually but slowly decreasing in size. The Madras 

 observations pointed to the conclusion that tho comet had passed 

 his perihelion, and was going away from tho sun with rapidity. 

 Now, may I ask a few very ignorant questions ':* 



1. How comes it that such a nmgnificent visitor to the sky should 

 cscajio notice from the ob.«ervatories scattered all over tho world — 

 if, as I sujijiose, ho was gradually incieasing in brightness up to 

 [wrihelion, and not very much further from the sun to the observer 

 on tho earth ? [Tho comet might have been visible long before it 

 was, if it had been as bright during approach as during recession, 

 but the circumstances were less favouriible, tho comet being in the 

 same part of the celestial sphere as the sun. — R. P.] 



2. llow is it that he should not have been seen about midnight in 

 tho longitude of Greenwich when he was seen here 70° E. long., at 

 5 a.m. local mean time ? [Because h>^ "i^ Hirn lielow the horizon 

 of Greenwich. — R. P.] I am, .\x Ad.mirer. 



Mooltan, India, jVoi'. 1. 



SUN-VIEWS OP THE EARTH.— SPICLUKG OF MISLETOE.— 

 A NEW ZEALAND GUM. 



[G95] — Allow me to thank you for your beautiful "sun-views of 

 the earth " in this week's Knowi,ed(;k. They will make splendid 

 diagrams for teaching-purposes when enlarged. It is a pity that, 

 through some oversight, tho lettering and arrangement of the four 

 views are wrong. No. 3 should stand first, and be marked " At 

 G .\..M.," while the top one should take its place and bo marked 

 " At G P.M." You have, no doubt, discovered the error before now ; 

 but it will be rather puzzling to young students who trj- to trace the 

 earth through its daily course. The fifth view is very effective 

 (see pictures in tho present number). 



There is no doubt that the spelling "misteltoo" is the most 

 correct according to etymology ; butthesoundof the "t" having been 

 dropped in pronunciation, there is a tendency (a healthy one, I 

 think) to omit it in the spelling. The history of the word is most 

 peculiar and interesting, and illustrates a point in Mr. Clodd's 

 article on Myths. The word in Anglo-Saxon is mhllelan, tan 

 meaning twig. Mistel is from A.-S. mi»t — mist, fine rain, which in 

 Old Dutch had tho sense of glue or birdlime, and in German that 

 of dung. The sense is, therefore, " birdlime-twig " (Skeat). But 

 we may trace the word mist a little farther, and see its connection 

 with the Latin minrierc, Dutch mijijen, A.-S. miyan, all meaning to 

 void urine (hence tho connection with the German mistd, dnng), 

 and may imagine our remote and childlike forefathers referring 

 mist and rain to the watery excretions of the gods. 



The fossil gnm referred to by Mr. Clark (G85, p. 27) is a resinous 

 exudation from tho bark of tho Kauri pine of New Zealand (Dam- 

 mara Auati-atis), growing specimens of which are in tho Temperate 

 House at Kew. Dr. Hooker says, " the bark is thick, yielding 

 tears of resin in great profusion ; enormous masses of a similar 

 resin, many pounds in weight, are found in the soil in many places, 

 far from where these trees now grow, and are presumed to have 

 the same origin." This resin has been prepared and advertised for 

 microscopical purposes, under tho name of "gum dammar." 



Best wishes for tho success of Kkowleiige, which supplies a great 

 want, in a bold yet considerate manner. Wm. Field. 



ELECTRICITY AND DENTISTRY. 



[GOG] — About twenty-five years ago there was such a craze for 

 extracting teeth by electricity, that, for a time, the makers of 

 batteries were hardly able to meet tho demand for them. I was 

 then engaged in tho dental practice of one of our large hospitals, 

 and I determined to test the merits of the invention there. In the 

 first experiment a patient was selected for whom it was necessary 

 to extract two corresponding, and therefore similar, teeth. The 

 first tooth was extracted in the ordinary way ; but for the second, 

 the electric ajiparatus was adjusted, and much interest was naturally 

 taken by those present to watch tho result of the new process. 

 When the tooth was removed, the patient immediately exclaimed 

 that the pain was nothing to be compared with the other tooth. 

 This seemed decidedly in favour of the electricity, until, upon 

 examining the battery, I found that tho connecting wires had been 

 coupled in such a way that it could not, by any possibility, have 

 acted at all. 



This case proved nothing as far as the electricity was concerned, 

 but it illustrated what is often an important factor in such cases, 

 viz., the power of a strong faith in tho efficacy of the means em- 

 ployed. Other experiments all tended to prove that there was no 



