1 (.2 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[Marcu 9, 1883. 



sciuirnO, no matter wliat antics tlie creature may have 

 played, without leaving the post round which the man has 

 moved. The man would none the less have gone round 

 the squirrel if he (tlie man) h.^d kopt his face always in one 

 direction — say due east— during his circuit. The puzzle is 

 only a verbal one. There is a colloquial sense in which 

 the man may be said not to have gone all round the 

 squirrel, so as to see the squirrel from all sides ; he has 

 gone all round it, but the conduct of the squirrel has 

 deprived liim of tlie satisfaction of having more than a front 

 view of it. 



Lord Walsinoham is moved because the proposed bill 

 against pigeon shooting threatens to put an end to many 

 of our old English sports — since vertebrate animals kept 

 in captivity, whether they be wild or domestic, are included. 

 vSo that the fine old sport of stag-hunting, the coursing of 

 trapped hares, and even the cheerful amusement of rat- 

 killing, may expose those who take part in them to punish- 

 ment. Bull-baiting, alas ! has long since passed away from 

 us, so that the pretty breed of dogs employed in that sport 

 have now only a fancy value ; cock-fighting is illegal, though 

 it is still practised ; and that noble old sport, prize-fighting, 

 has, to all intents and purposes, come to an end. But shall 

 sentimental legislation destroy the grand old sports which 

 still remain to us • shall our braves cease to slaughter the 

 fear-inspiring pigeon ; shall they no longer learn pluck and 

 dogged endurance by watching gallant coursing matches 

 in pursuit of the ferocious hare ? shall the buck (so fierce 

 that he has to be carted for safety) be no longer pursued 1 

 and finally, shall the terrier no longer face the terrible rat 1 

 Perish the thought that these brave amusements of our 

 great nation should be brought to an end by sentimental 

 legislation ! 



At a recent meeting of the Academie des Sciences, the 

 secretary reported that M. Mauser had succeeded in trans- 

 mitting a message through a hundred telephone wires to 

 as many destinations at once. 



Feom statistics recently published on the production of 

 Bessemer steel, it appears that Great Britain has, at 

 present, twenty-three works, with a productive capacity of 

 1,460,000 tons per annum ; Belgium has four works, with 

 a productive capacity of 380,000 tons ; Austria, fourteen 

 works, 632,000 tons; Germany, twenty -three works, 

 1,300,000 tons ; Russia, five works, 100,000 tons ; Sweden, 

 80,000 tons; the United States, 1,500,000 tons. 



TuE report of the Crystal Palace District Gas Company 

 shows that the coal carbonised during the past half-year 

 was 29,476 tons. The gas made was 294,757,000 cubic 

 feet; quantity not accounted for 21,074,700 cubic feet, or 

 no less than one-fourteenth of the whole made. 



We read that the Swan United Electric Light Company 

 has sold to the Russian Government, for £100,000 in cash, 

 the exclusive right to use the company's inventions 

 throughout the Empire, and also to sell lamps. This com- 

 pany is apparently doing a very good business in a quiet 

 way. Stockbrokers also apjiear to be of this opinion, as 

 the shares of the company remain steady in price, while 

 those of other companies (except the Hammond) show a 

 very decided decline. 



Heu Majesty's troopship Malabar is to be lighted 

 throughout by Edison lamps. There are to be 104 of 

 16-candle power, and 269 of 8-candle power. 



A coNTE.Mi'ORAJtT says that up to the 20th December 

 last 29,192 Edison lamps were in use in America, and 

 that up to the commencement of February 19,536 lamps 

 were in use in Europe. 



The Western Union Telegraph Company (of America) 

 is about to establish an extensiv>, derground system. 

 The work is to commence in New York, where it is 

 intended to lay a tube large enough to hold two hundred 

 wires. In England the tubes or pipes can rarely contain 

 more than thirty wires. 



TuE chairman of the United Telephone Company states 

 that on the 28th ult. there were 2,541 subscribers to the 

 London Exchange. 



There is every prospect that the Engineering and 

 Metal Trades Exhibition, which, as we have previously 

 announced, is to be opened at the Agricultural Hall on 

 July 5, will be a great success. It is intended mainly 

 as a business undertaking ; but the scope is so wide, 

 and the confidence reposed in the manager, Mr. Samson 

 Barnett, Jun., is so great, that there cannot fail to be a 

 great deal that will be interesting to alL We believe 

 the available space is being rapidly occupied. 



It has been lately calculated that this frostless, wet 

 winter will cost the country at large full ten millions 

 sterling. The agricultural returns tell a deplorable tale for 

 the farmer of reduced wheat areas and diminished flocks 

 and herds. Looking back the other day to twenty years' 

 record of the increasing dependence of this country on 

 foreign sources for its food-supply, we were much struck 

 by the subjoined facts. In 1860, when the population 

 was 28,778,411, the imports of cattle were valued at 

 £2,117,860; and those of corn, grain, and flour at 

 £31,676,353. In 1879, when the population had advanced 

 to 34,155,126, the value of the imported live stock had 

 risen to £7,075,386 per annum, and that of corn, grain, 

 and flour to £61,261,437. The value per head of popula- 

 tion grew during this period from £1. 9s. Id. to £2. l9s. 3d. 

 —P. R. 



Etna. — A correspondent of the Times writes from 

 Naples, Feb. 23 : " Etna is again in a state of eruption, 

 though apparently not of a violent character. Professor 

 Silvestri, who is the guardian of that volcano, as Pro- 

 fessor Palmieri is of Vesuvius, writes from Catania after 

 the following manner : ' The explosions which from the 

 bottom of the crater succeed one another incessantly at 

 intervals of four or five minutes, besides projecting hurri- 

 canes of steam, laden with the finest ashes and minute 

 sand, send out also scorire and large fragments of incan- 

 descent lava, which constitute a decided eruption in the 

 central crater. For this reason the summit of the mountain 

 is seen at a very great distance all illuminated by a blazing 

 light. The whole of the matter ejected, which is diffused 

 on the outside, is seen to be formed of fragmentary lava, 

 moUo elaborali, and " profoundly " attacked by the action 

 of acid vapours ; the very fine ashes are intermixed with 

 abundant and glittering microlitic crystals of calcareous 

 sulphate. On Feb. 7 the seismograph of the Observatory 

 Pennisi, in Acireale, registered a slight perpendicular 

 movement, and on Feb. 1 1 the instruments at Catania 

 revealed from 9 p.m. to 5.30 a.m. an extraordinary micro- 

 seismic storm, which attained its maximum later at 3 p.m. 

 The eruption of mud at Paterno has ceased, not presenting 

 more than a weak residuum of action, as happens in its 

 normal state.' " 



