April 13, 1883.] 



KNO\VLEDGE 



227 



the soiitliorn part of Ophiuohns. Her path on the 25th is performed 

 wbollv through the latter consteUation, which sho does not ipiit 

 until the 2Gth for Sagittarius, where sho remains during the 27th. 



Err.vtum.— In lino 19 of Letter 777 (p. 210) 

 sin PQ tan P 



sin QM 

 as mast, however, be obvious from the i 



, should 



" Let Knowledge grow from more to more." — AtFEED Tennyson. 



ifttn-£f to t\)t (Ctiitor. 



Only a small proportion of Letters received can possibly he in- 

 $erted. Correspondents must not be offended, there/ore, should their 

 Ittters not appear. 



All Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editoe of 

 KicoWLEDGK; all Business communications to the Pcblishers, at the 

 Ofice, 74; Great Queen-street, ^V.C. Ir this is not attended to, 



DKLAYS ABISK FOR WHICH THE EDITOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE. 



All Remittances, Cheques, and Post Office Orders should be made 

 payable to Messes. Wyma-n & Sons. 



The Editor is not responsible for the opinions of correspondents. 



No COmiUNICATIONS ABE ANSWEREB BY POST, EVEN THOUGH STAMPED 

 tND DIRECTED ENVELOPE BE ENCLO.SED. 



MR. MATTIEU WILLIAMS ON "STAYS AXD FAT." 



[786] — May I be permitted to make a remark regarding Mr. 

 Williams's interesting letter to you on the above topic ? An intel- 

 ligent lady friend remarked to me today : — " Mr. Williams says, in 

 Knowledge, that fat ia ' unbumt body fuel.' Is this correct ? And 

 if 80, then is fat an abnormal feature of our bodies ?" On referring 

 to Mr. Williams's letter, I find he has apparently omitted one word, 

 the insertion of which would remove, I think, misapprehension 

 from the non-physiological mind. It is only eicessire fat which is 

 " unbumt body fuel." Everybody possesses a normal quantity of 

 fat, and Mr. Williams, I daresay, knows the uses of this normal fat, 

 as a " bedding," so to speak, for important organs (e.;;., the eye) ; 

 as a non-conducting layer in the skin for the conservation of 

 bodily heat ; as a store of combustible matter, or normal fuel, 

 capable of being reabsorbed into the blood, and, finally, as an 

 occasional source of development of other (connective) tissues. 

 Although in the succeeding sentence of his letter to that in which 

 he speaks of fat as " unbnrnt body-fuel," Mr. Williams is careful to 

 mention excessive accumulation of fat, yet his first statement in 

 answer to the plain question, "What is fat?" is, I think, liable to 

 mislead. I myself have been indebted on a former occasion to 

 Mr. Williams for kindly criticising some of my attempts to instruct 

 the public, through the medium of Knowledge, and I am glad to be 

 able, in the present instance, to bo of some little service to my 

 accomplished colleague in return. Andrew Wilson. 



NEW SKIRT— CHILDREN'S DRESS. 



[787] — The lady correspondent in your issue of Friday last, in 

 writing on the new skirt, has forestalled me in the account of her 

 experience. I began a letter to you on this subject two months ago. 

 I will now, however, only ask you to give my corroboration to all 

 the healthful advantages and comforts in the lady's statement. 



I feel that the desired reform in women's dress meets with a 

 better reception through your Knowledge than it does from mere 

 personal persuasion of friend to friend, and is considered more 

 worthy of notice. 



If grown women do not feel disposed to alter their own dear 

 customs, surely every natural mother will be only too glad to bring 

 up her daughters from infancy in our approved and hygienic 

 costume. 



I have a little girl just thirteen. She was, according to fashion, 

 clothed in three petticoats and a frock, until two years since, when 

 she went into — not " short frocks," nor " long dresses," but a 



" combination garment," which takes tho place of the three petti- 

 coats, and answers the description of a lady's skirt, except that 

 instead of tho calico band it is suspended from the shoulders, 

 covering the humerus. Tho temperature of the body is, I think by 

 this means more easily rendered equable. It amounts almost to a 

 punishment to ask this child now to wear a petticoat, even for extra 

 warmth. 



With ignorance and prejudice at bay, may we not hope for better 

 things in the mothers of the future ? 



A JIkmher of the L.S.A. 



SINGLE EYE-GLASSES. 



[788] — I observe that in Knowledge of March 30, the author of 

 " How to Use the Eyes " deprecates the use of single eye-glasses. 

 He docs not mention, however, what should be done in cases where 

 one eye is weaker than the other. 



I heard once of an optician who mado spectacles in which the 

 lenses were of different power, which led to a good deal of discus- 

 sion among medical men as to whether such spectacles were bene- 

 ficial or not, in the case referred to above. 



As this may be a point of interest to many of the readers of your 

 journal, I hope the author of these ai-ticlos on the use of the eyes 

 will refer to it in one of the next papers. 



A. Kling. 



LETTERS RECEIVED. 

 E. D. G. That I do not think your views absurd is best shown 

 by the fact that in the first edition of my "Other Worlds" I 

 advanced just such views. But so many get so angry and unreason- 

 able when the subject is discussed, that I must beg you not to be 

 angry with me if I do not find room for your letter.^E. M. — 

 F. C. S.— W. F. Bridges.— S. J.— E. G. Allen.— William Wilson, 

 LL.D.— Zetesis. The theory of a fiat earth is too absurd for 

 further discussion here. Your " rea.oons " are absolutely invalid. — 

 J. Murray.— Constant Reader of Knowledge.— A. N. Somerscale. 

 J. Grundy.— C. Nicholls.— J. McGrigor Allan.- H. D. C- Major.— 

 R. I. R.— A. O. Hume.— A. S. Johnson.— Herbert Rix.— F. G. S. — 

 R. G. Ouseley.— H. Skey Mnir, M.D.— H. Stock.— W. M. N.— Bad 

 Memory.- W. Baird.— C. J.Curtis.— Novice.— T. Knox Fortescue. 

 Mr. H. Phillips. — A. Poison. — J. Munro. — An Admirer of a Slender 

 Waist.- A. Blakes.— T. F.— C. Ashley.— J. McE. Unable to speak 

 from anv knowledge of my own. — A. Kling.— H. E. Bullock. — 

 P. Carm'icbael.- A. T. Brett. — W. Walton. — F. G. Heath — 

 T. Common.— J. Crowthcr.— W. E. Phillpotts.- W. G. Mortimer. 



©ur Wil)i^t Column. 



By " Five op Oldbs." 



PLAYING TRVHTS— {continued from p. 185). 



THE signal for trumps is now so constantly in use that we 

 must set aside all discussion as to whether Whist has been 

 improved or impaired by its invention. All that has to be con- 

 sidered is when and how to signal. 



Signalling from five trumps, no honour, and an otherwise weak 

 hand, or from five trumps, one honour, or four trumps, two 

 honours, the rest of the hand being weak, must be regarded as 

 unsonnd play. From such hands you may properly lead trumps, 

 but not signal. 



Many players hold that j'ou may signal when, having tho lead, 

 you would not lead trumps — as by winning third hand with King 

 when yon hold Queen, or with Ace when yon hold King. On the 

 same principle, one might lead Are before King from Ace, King, 

 and others, to indicate the wish for a trump lead from partner. 

 But it is a good rule to follow — more nearly a constant rule than 

 almost any that can be named — to regard no hand from which one 

 would not lead trumps, no matter what the trump card, as one with 

 which it is right to signal. A trick may occasionally be made by 

 waiting, in such cases, for a lead from partner, but in tho long run 

 more is lost. 



In signalling second in hand, one must be especially careful to 

 play an unnecessarily high card, and not a card which may be mis- 

 taken for an attempt to take the trick ; at least this may be done 

 where it is possible. Playing ten or Knave second hand, and in 

 the second round a small one, is not a signal, unless the Knave or 

 Queen (respectively) should fall, so as to show you were not playing 

 the customary lowest from Queen, Knave, or Knave, ten, and a 

 small one. To signal effectively from Queen, Knave, and a small 

 one, the Queen must be played, and then the Knave, not the Knave 



