208 



♦ KNOWLEDGE • 



[April 6, 1883 



that the minimum of auroras coincides with the maximum 

 of spots, and rim-versd. 



According to Weyprecht, the auroral zone, or terrestrial 

 zone of greatest freqiumcy, experiences an oscillation which 

 moves it towards the south at the period of the equinoxes. 

 At the winter solstice, this zone takes up a more northerly 

 position, which coincides with the fact that a maximum of 

 auroras is then ol>served in polar, and a minimum in tem- 

 perate regions. Troniholt confirms this, and says towards 

 the autumnal equinox the auroral zone tends towards the 

 south, then passes northwards, to reach its most northerly 

 position towards the solstice ; after which it proceeds south 

 and reaches its soutliern maximum towards the spring 

 equinox ; after which it turns again northwards. He also 

 tinds that while evening auroras which appear in the 

 zenith, or more north, are less frequent than auroras of 

 the soiith, these conditions are reversed as regards the 

 morning auroras. The auroral zone suffers a displacement 

 in twenty-four hours, so that during the night it is directed 

 towards the north. This explains the diurnal period esta- 

 blished for mean latitudes, and the fact that the northern 

 aurora attains its maximum some hours before midnight, 

 and diminishes afterwards. He also finds that during the 

 period of eleven years the auroral zone is displaced laterally, 

 so that during the minimum of solar spots it inclines more 

 to the north than during the spot maximum. Also, that 

 the maximum of auroras, which coincides in temperate 

 zones with the maximum of spots, is due to the fact that 

 the auroral zone is then in its most southern position — 

 when the polar regions have a minimum of auroras ; on the 

 contrary, the auroral zone has its most northern position 

 when solar spots are at a minimum, when fewest auroras 

 occur in temperate regions, and most in the polar region. 

 Thus the three periods of the northern aurora — the unde- 

 cennial, the annual, and the diurnal — are dependent upon 

 the same cause : the oscillation of the auroral zone between 

 north and south. 



The most splendid aurora ever recorded in Belgium was 

 totally invisible at Godthaab, which coincides with the 

 above statement concerning the auroral zone. 



MR. WHISTLER'S ETCHINGS. 



TT7HILE Mr. Whistler's staring study in yellow and 

 V T white was open to the public we did not notice it ; 

 for notice would have been advertisement, and we did not 

 choose to advertise him. He has shown that he likes to 

 be talked about at such times ; and it was pretty obvious 

 that the scurvy little brown-paper-covered catalogue was 

 meant to invite such comment as would have served his 

 purpose in this respect. Comment now can do no harm — 

 and can do Mr. Whistler no good ; now, therefore, is the 

 proper time for comment to come. 



Of the arrangement in yellow and white, we note that 

 it was simply an insult to the visitors, — almost intolerable 

 to any one possessing an eye for colour, — which Mr. 

 Whistler, fortunately for him, does not — and absolutely 

 sickening (in the strictest sense of the word) to those at 

 all sensitive in such matters. " I feel sick and giddy in 

 this hateful room," remarked a lady to us after she had been 

 there but a few minutes. Even the common cottage chairs, 

 painted a coarse yellow, did not solace the visitors ; and the 

 ornaments on the mantelpiece, something like old bottle- 

 necks, only excited a faint smile in the sickened company. 

 Mr. Whistler's catalogue, however, is our present game. 

 Ife takes for its motto, " Who breaks a butterfly upon a 

 wheel?" But Mr. Whistler mistakes his vocation. He is 



no butterfly. He might Vje compared, perhaps, to a bird — 

 the bird that can sing but won't. If one judged, however, 

 from some of his etchings, one would say a spider was 

 nearer his mark. But a Ijutterfly ! the emblem of all that 

 is bright and beautiful in form and colour! Daniel Lambert 

 might as reasonably have taken the part of the Apothecary 

 in " Romeo and Juliet," or Julia Pastrana have essayed the 

 rOle of Imogen. 



After this quiet claim to the character of a butterfly, — 

 as if an owl (Mr. Whistler loves nocturnes) should pose 

 as a Paphian dove, — he appended to the titles of his 

 etchings, instead of much-needed explanation, certain lines 

 from criticisms which men like Ruskin, Colvin, and 

 others have passed on him, — criticisms confirmed (though 

 confirmation was not needed), liy the Press of this country, 

 the Continent, and America, — which is indeed breaking a 

 rather unpleasant spider upon a very large wheel. 



He honours Knowledge with the first place, though we 

 disclaimed all wish to criticise what is, indeed, altogether 

 beneath criticism. " Criticism," we said (very^ truly), " is 

 powerless here, because one who found Mr. Whistler's 

 recent pictures and drawings anything but insults to his 

 artistic sense could never be reached by reasoning." So we 

 passed on — with a mcliora ccnianms. However, Mr. Whistler 

 takes our " Criticism is powerless here" as a sort of text. 

 We can afTord him the laugh he would raise by taking these 

 words from the context. Even as they stand they suit very 

 well. Criticism is powerless with him in many difi'erent 

 ways. It is powerless to correct his taste for wilfully 

 drawing ill. If a school-girl of ten showed such a picture o£ 



fromXo. 1, pleasingly called by Mr. Whistler a Glass Furnace, but whicb 

 might be anything, from an inside room in 2so;th's Ark to a warm comer in 

 Hades. 



a human being as this, for instance, we might criticise use- 

 fully enough. We might point out that no human being 

 (we suppose the thing is intended for a human being, but it 

 may be meant for a rag-bag) ever had such features or 

 such a shape. But of what use would it be to tell Mr. 

 Whistler as much 1 He knows it already, only he despises 

 the public so much that he thinks it will do well enough 

 for them. 



from No. 33— Aldemey-street ; but the animal (we suppose) repr»- 

 senteo is not an Alderney cow, though certainly not a horse, notwithstanding the 

 shaft (?) and bUnkers. 



Again, criticism is powerless to explain what was meant 

 by some such figure as this, in No. 33. We draw from 



