April 13, 1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



215 



_V^ an' ILtUiil'^ATED 



MAGAZINE of'SCJENCE 



PLAINLYlfOK DED -.EXACTLY -DESCRIBED, 



LONDON: FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1883. 



Contents op No. 76. 



pieB 



Boirac« ftnd Art Gossip 215 



L^cturM and tho London Papers. 



Bv Richard A. Proctor 2;- 



Th«'Chemistrv of Cookery. VII. 



Bt W. Malticu Wiltiums 218 



FUisant Hours with the Micro- 

 scope. Bt H. J. SUck, F.G.S., 



F.R.M.8.' 219 



The New Skirt. By A Lady 220 



The Central Telegraph OlEce. By 

 W. Slingo 220 I 



71SB 



The Moon in a Three-inch Tele- 

 scope. (/««».) By F.R.A.S. ... 222 

 Reviewfl : Popular Astronomy — To 



YouuK Men— Salt 225 



The Face of the Sky. By F.R.A.S. 226 

 Correspondence : Mr. Mattieu Wil- 

 liams on " Slavs and Fat "— New 

 Skin-Children's Dress— Single 



Ereclas.ses 227 



Our Whist Column 227 



Our Chesa Column 2i8 



^rifiur anil art (gossfip. 



I LIKE America, and the tlieory of the American 

 Government is far and away hotter, to my mind, than that 

 o£ our own. But it must be admitted that in practice 

 there is nearly as much to sicken the soul in America as 

 nearer home. How an American not absolutely a stone 

 must burn with mingled wrath and shame when he thinks 

 of the way in which bought Congressmen and Senators 

 insult America under pretence of protecting American 

 manufacture ! What a noble bird the American Eagle 

 seems when crafty Customs collectors are feeling its 

 plumage for smuggled goods ! How long, by the way, 

 before thieves and rogues turn America into a nation of 

 smugglers 1 



But just now even the long-sutTering American is a little 

 moved at one of the wrongs which he pays his Members 

 of Congress and Senators to inflict upon the nation. 

 American art is now insulted by proll'ered protection. An 

 idiotic Philadelphian, some boorish booby, by wliom bought 

 is not clear (for American artists fear no European com- 

 petition), managed to persuade the Tariff Commissioners 

 (who must be grossly ignorant) that native artists need 

 protection, and so caused a duty of 30 per cent, to be 

 imposed on pictures by foreign artists. I can conceive the 

 gnashing of teeth with which my artistic friends of the 

 Century Club received the news tliat they had been thus 

 insulted. ^Manufacturers seem not to have been greatly 

 troubled when protective duties taught them that their 

 country considers they are so utterly inferior to their 

 European fellows that, to help them along, the whole 

 nation must suffer los.s. But that the painters and 

 sculptors of America should be told they are 30 per cent. 

 worse than those of Europe, is an insult such as only the 

 American Congress could inflict on American art 



Will it be believed that the mischievous humbug 

 Wiggins, whose only escape from being recognised as an 

 unmitigated knave lies in the widespread belief that he is 

 an utter dolt, actually claimed credit on March 12th, at his 

 home in Ottawa, for having truly foretold the weather of 



Marcli 11th. He had threatened the most terrible disasters 

 from storms by sea and by land, had frightened many 

 foolish folk nearly to death (one at Buffalo actually died 

 from terror), had caused serious loss of property, and — his 

 prediction had turned out to be what weeks before we had 

 called it in those pages— mere rubbish. March 11th this 

 year was rather loss disturbed than usual. High tides 

 occurred as indicated four years before by astronomers, 

 but these did no more harm than such tides usually do. 

 Not a ship at sea was to survive the great storm, but the 

 wreckage for March lltli was below rather than above the 

 average. 



Yet this mischievous idiot calmly welcomed people who 

 called on the 12th (presumably to chaff him), with the air 

 of an acknowledged prophet ProViably a little further 

 south the call would have been made with ideas not 

 wholly remote from the plumy covering of birds, and a 

 resinous substance of a dark-brown colour. And tliough 

 such ways of correcting charlatans are to be reprehended, 

 few would have felt very much pity for Wiggins, windy 

 humbug that he is. 



After the manner of prophets, however, we point 

 proudly to our own prediction — though it required no 

 conjuror to make it — that whatever weather there might 

 be on March 11th, the prophet would say that was just 

 what he meant to be expected. 



The Simoom and Dust Storms. — In a paper recently 

 read before the Meteorological Society, Dr. H. Cook, 

 F.R.G.S., described the dust storms which take place in 

 Beloochistan, North- West India, and stated that he con- 

 siders them to be due to an excess of atmospheric electri- 

 city. With regard to the simoom, which occurs usually 

 during the hot months of June and July, it is sudden in its 

 attack, and is sometimes preceded by a cold current of air. 

 It takes place at night as well as by day, its course being 

 straight and defined, and it burns up or destroys the 

 vitality of animals and vegetable existence. It is at- 

 tended by a well-marked sulphurous odour, and is described 

 as being like the blast of a furnace ; and the current of air 

 in which it passes is evidently greatly heated. Dr. Cook 

 believes it to be a very concentrated form of ozone, gene- 

 rated in the atmosphere by some intensely-marked electrical 

 condition. 



M. DE Lessees arrived on the 27th ult at Tozeur, on 

 the proposed Sahara Sea scheme. Soundings 73 metres 

 deep have shown the exiistence of nothing but sand. The 

 African inland sea might easily be made, with the aid of 

 100 excavators, representing the work of 100,000 men. 

 M. de Lesseps has met with the best reception from the 

 Arab soldiery and population. On the 3rd inst he 

 arrived at Biskra, having completed a survey of the 

 countrj' between Oabes and the Marsh Lakes. He de- 

 clared that the soil will allow of the excavations necessary 

 to connect the lakes with the Mediterranean, that the 

 works will present no extraordinary difficulty, and that 

 the concessions asked for with regard to the forest and 

 adjoining lands will make the scheme remunerative and 

 wholly independent of State aid, subvention, or guarantee. 

 M. de Lesseps telegraphed a report favourable to the 

 projected inland sea to the French Government on the 3rd 

 inst. 



The library and dining-room of the House of Commons 

 is now lighted by the Edison Electric Light Company, 

 with 265 incandescent lamps ; three more being used in 



