Fbb. 



1883.] 



• KNOWLEDGE 



i)i 



OFFENCE 



ir FlAf NirWO RDED -£XACTl|1 )ESCRIBED 



:.!DAY, FEBRUAL : ., - . 

 Contents of No. 66. 



riei 



Science and Art Ooamp 63 



The Chcmistrjr o( Cookery. — II. 



The Boiline of Water. Bt W. 



Mitticu Willi«ln» '. 65 



LceminK Laofrua|;M. Br Richerd A. 



Proclor 86 



OarBodicK— V. SkuUudSpine. Bv 



Dr. A. Wilson, F.R.S.E. (/'/"t."| «7 

 Optinl EtTc't.! of BcUidonni. Bv 



T. W. Webb .' «8 



Health of Corseted Women. Bt Dr. 



D. LckU 69 



[ riea 



The Ameteur Electriciin 70 



NoTelties in Tricycles. By John 



Browning 71 



Cmets- Tails 72 



The Weather PropheeicB 72 



Reviews : Electric Illumination 71 



The Face of the Sky 75 



C08BSSP05DB!rcS 76 



Our Ma'heiaalical Cclomn 76 



Our Wliist Column 77 



Our Chesa Column 78 



^rinur aixH Srt 6osfs(ip. 



It has been said of Dr. Stokes, of CambridKe, that he 

 has never made a mistake. We venture to add that "it is a 

 pity." He would be regarded now as the inventor of the 

 most important method of physical research ever invented 

 — spectroscopic analysis — if he had not been so careful to 

 avoid all possibility of mistake that he omitted to publish 

 what he had discovered. He is as careful, it must be ad- 

 mitted, in dealing with othtr men's discoveries or theories. 

 What seems absolutely certain from the evidence, he is apt 

 to descrilw as " so far supported by the facts adduced that 

 I am disposed to think it is not altogether unlikely to be 

 true." In fact, Professor Stokes is a veritable "unbelieving 

 Thomas " in matters scientific. It is currently reported 

 that when he sees the sun shining in the heavens, he "admits 

 as probable the theory that some time before the sun may 

 have crossed the horizon." 



TnB Victoria Institute, originally founded by Mr. 

 Reddie (one of the paradoxists whom De ^Morgan trod out) 

 for the support of religion against the evil ways of science, 

 recently invited Dr. Stokes to read a paper before its 

 members, on Slodern Scientific Thought. In this he, "as 

 a scientific man " (one would have thought he would only 

 have " suggested as probable " the lielief that he is a 

 student of science), repudiated the idea that the progress 

 of science would disprove the truth of revelation — a vague 

 saying till it is explained what is meant by revelation. And 

 he went on to say, that " God's Word and God's Work had 

 never clashed." Surely he must have formed a strange idea 

 of the capacity of his audience, to tell them this. If he had 

 said Truth is Truth, or Truth never clashes with Truth, 

 what would they have thought 1 Yet what he said sig- 

 nified " only this and nothing more." 



He went on to say that " Darwin's theory of 'ancestral 

 derivation and the survival of the fittest,' must rest mainly 

 on the estimate which might be formed of its own proVja- 

 bility," which really seems tolerably obvious. Only, it so 

 happens that there is no " Darwin's theory of ' ancestral 

 derivation or the survival of the fittest'" Ancestral 

 derivation is as old as the oldest literature known to man, 



and prol)ably much older, and the survival of the fittest 

 (Mr. Herl>ert Spencer's expression), is as obvious as the 

 hills. Darwin's theory is that species may be, and have 

 been, changed by natural selection, arising in the struggle 

 for existence. Dr. Stokes seems little actjuainted with 

 what Darwin really taught, since he mistakes the founda- 

 tion of Darwinism for the superstructure. It must be grati- 

 fying to those naturalists who are able to form a valid 

 opinion on the question, to learn that the deservedly 

 eminent physicist who would not publish his own 

 really demonstrated theories, lest two and two should 

 tuni out unequal to four, considers " Darwinism, though 

 highly ingenious as an hypothesis, very far indeed from 

 being admissible to the rank of a well-established theory." 

 Yet Dr. Stokes would, perhaps, "admit, as not altogether 

 improbable," the theory that men who have given their 

 whole lives to the study of natural history, and are not 

 much readier than others to give more honour to a fellow- 

 worker than he deserves, are, on the whole, more likely to 

 form a just opinion of Darwinism than a highly-distin 

 guished physicist, who appears to have taken but a super- 

 ficial view of the subject. The greatest living English 

 naturalists are now scarcely ready to waste time in defend- 

 ing either the general doctrine of biological evolution, or 

 that special part of it which is associated with the name of 

 Charles Darwin. The most eminent naturalists of the 

 Continent and of America have long since " assumed the 

 doctrine of evolution and gone on." It seems not alto- 

 gether unlikely that they know what they are about in 

 their own field of labour. 



The severe storm which commenced yesterday week 

 proved very disastrous to the inland telegraph system. 

 Snow fell heavily in the north, and as a result telegraphic 

 communication with towns north of Birmingham was 

 almost stopped. Things grew worse as the day wore on, 

 but in the evening, more moderate weather prevailing, 

 there appeared a slightly better prospect. On Saturda)' 

 night, however, the storm was again violent, and on 

 Sunday night the gale attained an almost unprecedented 

 force, and, telegraphically speaking, was felt much nearer 

 home. The result, as may be supposed, was again cala- 

 mitous, and notices of anticipated delay had to be issued 

 by the postal authorities. On Monday night there appears 

 to have been a resumption of the normal state of atiairs. 



Owisc. to its greater strength, phosphorus bronze is used 

 sometimes instead of copper for conducting electricity, 

 since much smaller wire possesses the necessary strength. 

 The resistance ofiered by phosphorus bronze is considerably 

 greater than that of copper, so that while it answers well 

 for telephone wire it is not adapted to long telegraphic 

 lines. L. Weiller, of Angouleiiie, has recently alloyed 

 copper with silicon instead of phosphorus, and made a 

 silicon bronze, the conductivity of which is twice that of 

 phosphorus bronze, while its strength is not less, and hence 

 seems well adapted to electric conductors. The relative 

 strengths of copper, silico bronze, and phosphorus bronze 

 are as 28, 70, and 90 ; conductivity as 100, Gl, and 30. 



The Reno, Nevada, (lazotlc describes a remarkable hill 

 of moving sand in the eastern part of Churchill County, 

 Nevada, about sixty miles from Land Springs Station. 

 It is about four miles long and about a mile wide. In the 

 whole dune, which is from 100 to 400 feet in height, and 

 contains millions of tons of sand, it is impossible to find a 

 particle larger than a pin head. It is so fine that if an 

 ordinary barley sack be filled and placed in a moving 



