198 



• KNOWLEDGE - 



[March 30, 1883. 



Lord Elpliinstono and Mr. Clmg. W. Vincont.and it is bolibved that it 

 IB dcatincd to tnko a very impnrtiint place in tho liiatory of electri- 

 city. .Ml tho electrieiana iiiul oleetrical engineers wlio have seen it 

 have been miicli atriick with the way in which correct electrical 

 and enffinoerinK prinriples have Ijeen combined, and the neccsaity 

 for skilleil manual labour avoided in ita conatruetion. For instance, 

 the coiliuff of the arinaturo is effected in the course of a few hours, 

 and tho whole machine can bo taken to pieces like a clock, and put 

 toffothcr easily in three days. 



Among other experiments ahown, a length of about 'tO ft. of gal- 

 vanised iron wire J-in. thick was rendered red hot. As tho heat 

 increased, the zinc burnt off in brilh'ant cornacations, forming an 

 electrical firework of great beauty ; the heat still increasing reached 

 Avhitcness, and finally the wire fused, parts of it, as it struck the 

 floor, breaking up into brilliant globules of melted wrought iron. 

 Lengths of ateel and also copper wire each became in turn incan- 

 descent, the steel being fused. 'Die current was then made to run 

 through a coil of iron wire immersed in a glass vessel holding three 

 quarta of water; instantly there was a hiss, as when a red-hot 

 poker is plunged into water. This was followed almost immediately 

 by steam ; in half a minute the water boiled, and before a minute 

 had ela])sed half the contents of the vessel were on the floor. An 

 ordinary steel tlat file 1-in. by i-in. was then placed instead of one 

 of the carbons in an arc light, and the current being passed through, 

 the end of the file was melted and consumed like a tallow candle in 

 a fire, throwing off a ahower of sparks with a Catherine-wheel-like 

 effect. The experiments concluded by the lighting up of a very 

 powerful " Search Light," as used by the Xavy, the carbons of 

 which are li-in. in diameter, capable of giving a light equal to 

 100,000 candles. This was a brilliant display, far too dazzling to 

 look upon, except with the aid of coloured glass. 



The whole of the mechanical arrangements were carried out by 

 Mr. Arthur Rigg, engineer to Lord Elphinstone and Mr. Charles W. 

 Vincent, under the superintendence of Mr. S. G. Wilmott, his 

 managei-, who also assisted Mr. Vincent with the electrical display. 

 The motive-power used for driving the dynamo-machine was su])- 

 plied by one of Rigg's patent high-speed engines, capable of de- 

 veloping 00 indicated horse-power. The patentees are now in a 

 position to supply these machines, and can be communicated with 

 at their office, 70i, Gracechnrch-street. 



Prior to the electrical experiments the party was conducted 

 through Messrs. Unwin Brothers' ostensivo works by their manager, 

 Mr. W. B. Marr, and as many of the processes of printing were seen 

 for the first time, much interest was excited, particularly among the 

 ladies, in all that they saw. In fact, the pleasure of the visit may 

 be said to have been fairly divided between printing and electricity. 

 (In the lighting up of the " Search Liglit " for the first time, a false 

 alarm of fire was raised, and as a memento of this visit to The 

 Gresham Press, a reprint of the newspaper record of this amusing 

 incident was presented to each visitor by Messrs. Unwin Brothers. 



LOGICAL PUZZLE. 



I STILL receive letters showing that, after all, this is a puzzle 

 to many. One correspondent, A. M. S., gives arguments leading 

 np to this as simplest illustration of the wrongness of the syllogism 

 which I had ascribed as evident. 



" There are 10 football players (Z) ; and there are 10 non- 

 rowing (not Y) cricketers (X) ; i men who row (Y) play football. 

 The fact that •! men who row play football does not make them 

 cricketers. Therefore, unless some Y can only mean some X's which 

 are Y's, the conclusion — some cricketers are jiot football players 

 way bo true, but is not necessary." I should have thought it ab- 

 solutely necessary, whether the 4 Y's are cricketers or not. There 

 are 10 football players, of whom -i are rowing men, leaving only 

 6 non-rowing football players, whereas there are 10 non-rowing 

 cricketers ; must not 4 at least of these bo not football players ? 



Another correspondent, \V. B., thinks that because for every Z 

 there is an X which is not Y, every Y which is, or, as he writes, 

 becomes a Z, becomes also .an .\, "for there is no Z without a 

 corresponding X." Taking the above example, which gives for 

 every Z a corresponding X, do the i-owing men who play football 

 necessarily become cricketers ? 



Mr. W. II. S. .Mtuiek writes that tho syllogism cannot be called 

 a puzzle. It was De Morgan, great in logic, who presented it as 

 one. / have always said it is not one. Mr. Monck, as a writer on 

 logic, defends tho atudy of logic ; but I do not find that logic, as 

 he defines and defends it, ia more than tho analysis of the ways in 

 which men reason. He quotes Mill (J. .S.) as saying that in cases 

 of doubt we must throw our reasoning into the syllogistic form. 

 The best pi-oof that this is not so is found in the great number of 

 men noted for their skill in reasoning about doulitful and diflicult 



matters, who either know nothing of syllogisms or never 'use 

 syllogistic reasoning. 



Mr. S. E. Clark finds a dilBcnlty which has no real existence, 

 lie donbts whether, because the .\'s, which match the Z's numeri- 

 cally, are not Y's, wc can infer that the YZ's are not to be counted 

 as against these, and seems to think the syllogism not a nnmerical 

 question. But this is just what it is. 



F.ll.A.S., (2), however, is right in saying De Morgan's syllogism 

 is very loosely worded. 



©nv paraioir Cornrr. 



FLAT EARTU ver^"^ GLOBE. 



III.VVE published every line of description or explanation which 

 Mr. Hampden has sent me ; besides, in his first paper, what 

 was neither descriptive nor explanatory, but simple abuse of the 

 accepted views and those who believe in them. About as much of 

 the same kind, accompanying his last contribution, I excluded as a 

 mere matter of justice to readers of Knowledge. 



His diagram, in tho last number, of course explains itself. It 

 suggested certain questions which, were his theory sound, he could 

 readily answer. But he declines to attempt this. He considers, or 

 rather says, that these questions have " nothing whatever to do 

 with his subject," — on which point I may safely leave readers to 

 judge for themselves. He will, therefore, write no more. But this 

 is no great loss, as he has already written enough. His theory, as 

 Professor De Morgan long since said of it, is worth examining. It 

 shows what absurdity men can believe ; for Mr. Hampden really 

 believes, as he says he does ; whereas the original founder of this 

 flat earth theory was by no means so simple. 



I am a little pleased with my new invention for silencing para- 

 doxists. Reasoning has been tried in vain (one can furnish 

 reasons, but of what nse are they without understandings to 

 match ?) ; ridicule is ineffective, and a bad example; dennnciation 

 is idle. The plan with paradoxists is to ask them to explain their 

 ^^ews and to remove the difficulties, which are, of course, in reality 

 fatal. They either give up the attempt in despair, like our enthu- 

 siastic earth-flattener, Mr. Hampden, or flounder so absurdly in 

 their efforts to explain their preposterous notions, that even the 

 unlearned (for whom alone, of course, the thing is done) see at 

 once how hopelessly at sea the paradoxists are. 



R. A. PROCTOi;. 



It is a popular belief, easily sustained by statistic, that we live 

 in an age remarkable for an excessive devotion to literature, and 

 that the number of writers is inordinately great. We are not pre- 

 pared to dogmatise on the proportion that the literary class should 

 bear to the rest of the community, but it may interest, and at the 

 same time inform some persons, to state that more than a century- 

 and-a-quarter since the above assertions were authoritatively made, 

 and that, too, when the population was reckoned to be in England 

 and Wales only 7,055,706 ! If we turn to a once famous work, 

 " Magna> Biritannite Notitia ; or the Present State of Great Britain," 

 by John Chamberlayne, we find in Part I., page 1S8 of the thirty- 

 seventh edition, the following remarkable passage : — " The English 

 are so much given to literature, that all sorts are generally the most 

 knowing people in the world ; men and women, children and 

 servants cannot only read but write letters, to the greatest 

 increase of commerce and the prodigious advantage and aug- 

 mentation of the post-office, in jiroportion beyond any other 

 post-oHice in Europe." This is much, but it is far from all, for 

 the writer goes on to say ; — " The English have been so much 

 addicted to the writing of books, especially in their own language, 

 and with so much licence, that there were, during our late troubles 

 and confusions " [alluding to the Jacobite movements prior to and 

 during the reign of George II., to whom the work whence we quote is 

 dedicated], " more good and bad books published in the English 

 tongue than in all the vulgar languages of Europe." This is 

 another example of the fact, too little recognised, that the grumb- 

 lings of one generation greatly resemble those of another, and, as 

 a fiu-ther illustration, it may bo added that in the Spectator are two 

 jiapers complaining, respectively, of ladies adopting a too manlike 

 style of dress, wearing hats and coats siniil.ar to those of the sterner 

 sex, and lamenting over the excessive number of young men who 

 were rushing into the liberal jirofessions, already so overstocked, 

 that the vast majority were foredoomed to failure. Truly there is 

 nothing new under the sun ! — P. R. 



