Feb. 16, 1883.] 



• KNOWI.EDGE 



95 



MAGAZINE OF SQIENCi 



i PLAINIY yfO KDED-EXACTO ilESCRIBED 



LOXDOX: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16 1883. 



GONTBNTS OF No. 68. 



fl«tenee and Art Oo8!iip 9^ ' 



Herbert Spencer in Americn 9/ 



The Chemistry of Cookerv. — III. i 



By W. Mattieu Williams " 97 



"■ ■ Hi Trieycles for 1883. By 



John Br. 



03 



Learning Languages. By Richard A. 



Proctor 00 



On the Formation of Comets' Tail... 



ilUnitraled.) By A. C. RanT»rd.lOO 

 The Amateur Electriciui (/»u.) ...102 



Proctor : 103 



The Abuse of ETolution. By R. A. 



Procor lOJ 



The Face of the Sky 105 



COBBBSPONDKNCB ; — fdolWfisa — 



G'rse nnJ Broom— Dark Suns— A 



Disinfectant. Sic 106 



Our Mathematical Column 107 



Our Whist Column 107 



Our Chess Colunm 103 



;S>cifna aiili art (gos!£»ip. 



It is arranged that tlie lectures to ho, gi\en liy ]\Ir. 

 Proctor at St. James's Hall shall be the following : — 



Wednesday, March 21, "The Birth and Death of 

 Worlds." 



Wednesday, March 1'8, " The Sun — Ruler, Light, and 

 Lifa" 



Wednesday, April 4, " The Moon — Planet and Satel- 

 lite." 



Saturday, April 7, "The Planets and their Families." 

 Wednesday, April 11, "Comets and Meteors." 

 Saturday, April 14, " Glories of the Star Depths." 

 The lectures will be illustrated by the oxyhydrogen 

 light, showing more than 200 photographic views. 



We shall give next week the first of a series of illu-strated 

 papers on the " Way to Use our Eyes," by Mr. Jolm 

 Browning, F.R.AS., which all who value their eyesight 

 should carefully study. 



Prrssi'Re of other matter has hitherto prevented our 

 «ommenciug the publication of Mr. Foster's papers on 

 certain social questions, but these will soon be begun ; and 

 the papers on " How to Get Strong " will very soon bo 

 resumed. 



Ox the twelve large maps of "The Stars in their 

 Seasons," are named the days and hours, from eight in 

 the evening till midnight, at which the stars are situated 

 as shown in the map ; and in a, little table on page C of 

 the letterpress, the information necessary for using the 

 maps at any time of the night is given. This is, of course, 

 more than sufHcient for all uses to which the maps are to 

 be applied. Unfortunately, in the three lines footnote, 

 added in an excess of zeal, to right and left of each map, 

 giving tlie times two hours earlier and two hours later, 

 the words " earlier " and '• later " somehow got inter- 

 changed. The mistake is not likely to have done any 

 harm, as it is so obviously contradicted in the maps them- 

 selves ; and it will be corrected in later editions. But 



those who possess "The Stars in their Seasons" will do 

 well to interchange the words "earlier" and "later "in 

 these paired footnotes in all twelve maps. 



Ix response to tlie wishes of a number of correspondents, 

 an otler has been made to I^lr. Hampden (in the columns 

 of this week's Xnrcdstle Week/i/ Chronicif) to present, suc- 

 cinctly and without denunciation, the real and unadul- 

 terated theory of the earth's (latness, as maintained by the 

 astronomers of the Zetetic school. Our Paradox Column now 

 awaits his contribution, should he see fit to send one. 



It is stated that the Edison incandescent lamp is to be 

 introduced into the corridors and passages of the House 

 of Commons. The gas inside the House is said to satisfy 

 e\ery requirement. 



Railway wheels with paper bodies are being used on 

 the Saarbrnck Railway, and are expected to be adopted on 

 a large scale in Germany, as better than other wheels for 

 running on the iron permanent way, of which there is now 

 considerably over a thousand miles in use in (iernmny. 



Mkssus. a. L. NiMMOtfcC. Minns state that the Tilbury 

 and Gravesend Tunnel, for which they are engineers, and 

 which will connect tlie London, Chatham, and Dover and 

 the South-Eastern Railways with the Tilbury and South- 

 end Railway, near the new Tilbury Docks, will pass under 

 the river wholly in the chalk. 



Mr. Jay Gofld is trying to improve New York morality. 

 He gives as a reason for stopping the late trains on the 

 elevated road the statement that "The night trains are 

 conducive to late hours and dissipation. If they do not 

 run, people who would do otherwise will go home, and the 

 tone of society will be improved." The citizens fail to 

 appreciate this moral reform agency, and are petitioning 

 the Legislature to compel the company to accommodate 

 those whose business requires late trains. — Enjiuftrr. 



Last year, according to the Industrie Zcilung, 1,790 

 shipwrecks occurred, in all seas, as against 2,039 in 1881, 

 1,G80 in 1880, 1,688 in 1879, and 1,-594 in 1878. These 

 wrecks, .")76 of which were on the British coasts, involved 

 the lo.ss of 4,129 men's lives. During the last five years 

 no fewer than 21,763 men have peri.shed by sea. 



The Suez Canal. — The revenue of the Suez Canal ex- 

 perienced a further very reniarkal)le increase last year. 

 The annexed figures show the transit revenue of the canal 

 year by year during the ten years ending with 1882 in- 

 clusive :— 187.3, ,£91.'3,839 ; 1874, .£994,375 ; 1875, 

 ,£1,1.5.'),4.j2 ; 1876, £1,199,000 ; 1877, £1,311,093 ; 1878, 

 £1,243.929; 1879, £1,187,442 ; KS.SO, £1,. 592,419 ; 1881, 

 £2,0.50,974 ; and 1882, £2,421,835. The temporary check 

 experienced in the revenue in 1878 and 1879 was due to a 

 reduction of duties, which appear.s, liowev(;r, to have 

 greatly stimulated business between liritish India and the 

 mother country. Tliis, at any rate, is the conclusion which 

 Enrjirirrriiii/ draws from the largely augmented earnings 

 of the canal in 1881 and 1882. 



The Lighting of Holborn-viadict. — The Edison 

 Company have received permission from the Commissitnera 

 of Sewers to continue the lighting of llolborn-viaduct by 

 their system for one year from the 24th ult. 



