March 2, 1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



133 



sion being anything but correct. To start with any pre- 

 miss in which the X'a are not of tlie same general order 

 as the /?'s must inevitably make the conclusion (following 

 the terms of the sj llogisni) a necessity ; while starting w ith 

 any premisses in which the A''& are of necessity Zs, must as 

 manifestly lead to absurdity. 

 Thus it we begin — 



1. For every man (/^) there is a house (-V) which is 



not an animal { ]'), 

 We must not be greatly surprised if, continuing, 



2. Some animals are men. 



We arrive at the presumably correct result that 

 . •. Some houses are not men. 

 For those who like such puzzles, here is another, which 

 also should not need a moment's consideration after the 

 premisses are properly grasped : — 



1. For every Z there is an A', which is )'. 



2. Some Z's are not X's. 

 . ■. Some Ps are not Z's. 



Here, as in the other, the reasoning is simple, almost 

 instinctive. 1. Tells us there are as many X's which are 

 )''s as tliore arc Z's, and tlierefore, (from 2), more X's which 

 are J^s, than there are Z's which are ^s. For some of 

 these XY^s, then, there are no Z's : i.e., some Y's are 

 not Z's. 



Here is a simpler one : — 



There are a thousand Z's ; 800 A'^s are Z's ; 300 )''s are 

 Z's ; therefore, at least 100 X's are l''s. 



Professor Perry stated at a meeting of the Society of 

 Telegraph Engineers, yesterday week, that the Edison 

 Company of New York regard the electricity supplied by 

 them for illuminating purposes as almost a waste product, 

 inasmuch as their generators are far more profitably em- 

 ployed in the production of electricity for manufacturing 

 purposes. In other words, it pays them better to supply 

 power than light 



TuE (lovernmental Xorth German Gazette refers re- 

 proachfully to the fact that the North German Lloyd 

 Company has ordered from a well-known Clyde firm a 

 couple of steamers, each of 2,. 500 tons burden and 

 6,000-horse power. Such conduct, it suggests, is both 

 unpatriotic and anti-protectionist — two very heinous faults 

 in the eyes of the German Chancellor and his accredited 

 organs. 



The total number of houses inspected by the officers of 

 the Sanitary Protection Association during the year 1882 

 was 362. Of these 21, or 6 per cent, were foimd to have 

 their drains entirely choked up, and no communication 

 whatever with the sewer ; all the foul matter sent down the 

 sinks and soil-pipes simply soaking into the ground under 

 the basement of the houses. In 117 houses, or 32 per 

 cent, the soil-pipes were found to be leaky, allowing sewer- 

 gas, and in many cases liquid sewage, to escape into the 

 house. In 137, or 37 per cent, the overflow pipes from 

 the cistern were led direct into the drains or soil pipes, 

 allowing sewer gas to pass up them, and contaminate the 

 water in the cisterns, and in most cases to pass freely 

 into the house. In 263, or nearly three-fourths of the 

 houses inspected, the waste-pipes from baths and sinks 

 were found to be led direct into the drain or soil-pipes, thus 

 allowing the possibility of sewer gas passing up them 

 instead of being led outside the house, and made to dis- 

 charge over trapped gullies in the open air, as they should 

 be. 



KebirtDd. 



S N A K E S. * 



MISS UUPLEY, in her introduction to the work 

 before us, quotes a noteworthy statement by Mr. E. 

 Newman, first editor of the Zoolo(/isl, to the effect that 

 " the attempt to combine scientific truths with readable 

 English was considered by his friends" exactly half a century 

 ago " one of surpassing rashness ; ' he had many " solicita- 

 tions to desist from so hopeless a task," many " supplica- 

 tions to introduce a few Latin descriptions to give it a 

 scientific character." Miss Hopley has attempted — and 

 what is more, has achieved — a task regarded now as mucli 

 more unusual. Even the " Hatfeet " of science no longer 

 consider it necessary to nse long technical words lest the 

 dignity of science should sufl'er ; or if they do, they ([uickly 

 learn that the general public is too intelligent to put up 

 with such nonsense. 15ut there is still a widely-spread 

 feeling that to make scientific work attractive by nar- 

 rative and gossip is an unsafe experiment, and that tlie 

 chatty and tale-telling books about science are mostly full of 

 errors. Now the science of Miss Hopley's book is not only 

 sound in the main, but corrects many common and widely- 

 spread errors which have been again and again repeated 

 in professedly scientific text-books of zoology. Yet the 

 book is as amusing as a novel — we should rather say as a 

 good novel, for our railway bookstalls teach us that thi' 

 really readable novels form but a small percentage of the 

 total number. Of course, the accuracy of Miss Hopley's 

 book is chiefly due to her study of the best authorities ; 

 she has not herself been able to test or observe a tithe of 

 the facts she here presents. But that was unavoidable. 

 For the brightness of the book, and the store of well- 

 placed narratives, we have to thank Miss Hopley only. 

 And it is worthy of notice that she deserves thanks in the 

 name of science, seeing that whatever attracts readers to 

 the study of a scientific subject (while legitimately apper- 

 taining to its discussion) does good service. A dry list of 

 facts, qualities, dimensions, and so forth, occupies less 

 space, and is for reference more convenient ; but it is 

 certainly not likely to attract new recruits to the study of 

 a science. 



Snakes may appear a strange subject of study for a lady, 

 though there are few creatures more graceful, more beau- 

 tiful, and more innocent than the greater number of these 

 much-hated creatures. Among birds, which are considered 

 specially suited for feminine study, there is not greater grace 

 of motion, there arenot more beautiful conibinationsof colour, 

 and if some snakes are repulsive and hideous, they are not 

 more so than the vulture or the carrion crow. Yet snakes 

 have had a bad character from time immemorial. If they 

 have been worshipped, it has been through fear and hate, 

 rather than for any good qualities they have been supposed 

 to possess. As the dove has been associated with the Spirit 

 of Good, so the serpent has been regarded as a fit, if not 

 the natural, abode of the Spirit of Evil : (not that the 

 narrative in Genesis gives anywhere authority for Milton's 

 theory on this subject.) Because the serpent was more 

 subtle than any beast of the field, he suggested (u.c. 4004) 

 to our first feminine parent (" to suit his private 

 ends,") that she should eat of the fruit of the Tree 

 of Knowledge. The result proved unfortunate for all 

 parties concerned ; but in a scientific sense we are chiefly 

 interested in the statement that from that time forth, or 



• " Snakes : CnriositicB, and Wonders of Serpent Life." By 

 Catherine C. Hopley. (Oriftith & Farrcn, London.) 



