300 



KNOV/LEDGE ♦ 



[May 18, 1883. 



do and ho might go. The youth wont away lialf-laughiiif,' ami half- 

 disgasted at the ap|>areiitly ridiculuus way in wliioh ho thought ho 

 had beou humbuggol, uiiil dismissed the incident from his raind. 

 Ho had, as near as ho can now recollect, twenty-three warts. Ho 

 happened to recall the incident a fortnight afterwards, glanced at 

 hia hands to Bee that they were still there, and found, very much to 

 his surprise, that ail liad disappeared but one upon the jiad of the 

 thumb, and that wa.s the only one upon the under side of the lingers, 

 and it remained for years afterwards. My friend has, in the course 

 of his life, found many other cases of successful wart-charming. I 

 have often heard, but never noticed, such talcs until now, but it is 

 impossible for me to doubt either my friend's recollection of the 

 event or his veracity and good faith. 



Wliat am I to make of this ? Pczzled Sceptic. 



[Bacon (Francis) gives similar experience of his own, which I 

 have ([noted in an article on the Influence of the Mind on the Body. 

 What kills the warts in such cases is undoubtedly the attention 

 directed to them. That is tlie Hoiv, but as to the Why — Quieii sahe ? 

 E. P.] 



POISON IN THE CUP. 



[823] — Referring to the custom of serving ale and stout in 

 pe^vter pots which are never washed, I ask yon, in the name of 

 cleanliness, decency, and conimon sense, to help in putting down 

 this dangerous custom, which I am sure is the cause of much 

 disease, more particularly in the City of London and the neigh- 

 bourhood, where the great unwashed pewter is so much more used 

 than the cleaner glass, which must be washed, or show its 

 uncleanlincss. 



It is notorious that in all the great luncheon and dining rooms 

 in the City, the City clerk and others who have not much spare 

 cash, order their half-pint in preference to asking for a glass, 

 which contains about a halfpenny worth less than the half-pint ; 

 or, in other words, for less than one halfpenny he will run the risk 

 of getting all manner of complaints, which he in turn may com- 

 municate to others, and all for one halfpennyworth of beer. 



Our railway companies are obliged to clean out and whitewash 

 their railway trucks for fear of spreading cattle diseases. Is not a 

 human being as good as an ox, and should not our publicans be 

 obliged to do as much for their fellow creatures as the law compels 

 a railway to do for cattle ? 



It anyone doubts that pewter pots go from day to day — yes, and from 

 week to week — without washing, until they are so sticky they can- 

 not be handled, lot him watch, or ask any bar girl, and he will find, 

 as I have done, that they will not reply— from which you can draw 

 your o^vn conclusions. I have,'at some little trouble, made some 

 inquiries, and find that the working man's public-house is vastly 

 cleaner than our palatial restaurant. Now, the question is, how to 

 mitigate the evil ? To name the places in question and caution the 

 public against going there might bring improvement for the time, 

 but for the time only. Therefore, I hope some discussion may bo 

 brought on, and that Parliament may be induced in future legisla- 

 tion to give the same protection to man as it does to a beast, or else 

 that some society will make it their business to oppose all licences 

 where common cleanliness is not observed. 



Health before Beee. 



THE OLDEST TREE IN THE WORLD. 



[82-t] — In the number of Knowiedge for January 19, 1883, is 

 an article headed thus ; and also in a immber of the same paper for 

 March 2nd this year, is one headed the " Bo-tree and the tree of 

 Knowledge." In both of them statements are made which may 

 lead people into error. 



" A. M. L. J.," the writer of the latter article, seems to confound 

 Bnddhism with Brahminism, and to imagine them to be one and 

 the same religion, because he found the pipal (Ficus religiosa). 

 Bodhi or Bo-tree sculptured on Buddhist remains, and saw its 

 leaves offered to one of the Hindu gods. 



With regard to the former article, wo would refer your readers 

 for what we believe to bo a true account of the Bo-tree to a work 

 which has just appeared, entitled " Our Tour in Southern India," 

 by Mrs. J. C. Murray-Aynsley, in which, at page 305, is given the 

 account of the introiluction of one of its offshoots to Ceylon; and 

 at page 35t we arc told where the original Bo-tree came from. 

 According to this work, an offshoot of the tree under which Buddha 

 attained Nirvana was brought to Anaradhapura, in Ceylon (not 

 Amarapoora, in Burmah), u.c. 289, from a place called Buddh Gaya, 

 no great distance from Patna, in Bengal, where was the original 

 lio-troe, pipal, or Jicu.i r)'li[iiosa, under which Buddha is said to 

 have remained five years until he attained Buddhahood or Nu-vana. 

 The pipal is stated to live only about three centuries. It i.'i a soft- 

 wooded tree, which we believe renders this highly probable ; and 



when Mrs. Murray-Aynsley visited Buddh Cava in 18S1 she was 

 told that a year or two previously the old pipal tree had fallen 

 down (owing to the giving way of the masonry which surrounded 

 it), after it had been dead some years. And she states that the 

 present sacred tree is i\ seedling from the last, and quite a small 

 tree, only about fifteen-feet high, and that its trunk is covered 

 with gold-leaf. 



Perhaps some of your readers in India may be able to confirm 

 or di8|)rove the statement here made respecting the ordinary age 

 attained by the jjipal tree. I have spent several years in India, 

 and do not recall ever seeing a tree of this species which appeared 

 to be of a very great age. Cosmopolitan. 



LETTERS RECEIVED AND SHORT iVNSWERS. 



W. B. That 3G5d., or a penny a day for a year = £l. lOs. 5d. 

 is too obvious to need a special letter ; but, as you say, it gives a 

 convenient way of quickly calculating how much a daily number of 

 pence will give per annum, coimting Sundays. As to the cat's-tail 

 paradox, we must beg to be excused. Surely you did not fail to see 

 that Mr. Foster was only jesting in his paradox about Jlercnry. As 

 for "An Observer," I am not sure whether he was jesting or not abont 

 tiglit-laciiig. I fancy he was, or was testing his skdl in advocacy. 

 Anyhow, he is one of the ablest men of the day. — W. B. To quote 

 the pleasing words of your own letter (there can be no "acrimony" 

 in that), " you would not, pardon me, have made an ass of yourself, 

 by writing as you have" (really that sounds rough, but it must be 

 right, as you put it that way), if you had known more of the facts. 

 I imow — you evidently do not — that not he alone, but several enter- 

 tain precisely that mistake ; I had a reason, that you cotdd not 

 appreciate, for entering on the discussion (which took precisely the 

 course I had anticipated) ; and, lastly, I know that the originator 

 of the theory is no more mad, and no more believes in the theory, 

 than you — to judge froni the sentence partly quoted above — know 

 anything (pardon me) of manners (you will excuse me). I trust 

 this also will prove "vastly entertaining to you and your friends." 

 — P. M. Teaesley. Not easy to say without fuller particidars. — 

 Plorian. I think it was only a long beam of light passing through 

 two low-lying banks of cloud. — Barpeta. It is impossible to say 

 what would suffice to make the matter clear to Dr. Simon and his 

 followers. Have no space to attempt the Herculean labour. — 

 C. J. Caswell. Quite agree with you. As to place of Venus, I 

 owe you many apologies ; will attend to the matter at once. — 

 E. C. H. Your reply does not cover the question, which refers to 

 one and the same chord. — A Constant Subscriber. — The writer 

 you quote seems quite right. When he speaks of the face of the 

 sun, he means, apparently, the visible disc ; but, as I have not seen 

 the article, I cannot be certain. Science knows of no dark face of 

 the sun, seen through the spots. — G. M. Much to be said about 

 interplanetary ether, but such talk is pretty barren. Too crowded 

 just now for the suggested article, the title of which suggests rather 

 ethical than physical matters. — H. R. B. Simple, yet useful. I 

 think no one wants it explained. Thanks. — W. H. J. Just the sort 

 of information we do not undertake to give. — T. M. Purday. Many 

 thanks. Pamphlet most interesting. — G. W. Valentine. Noted. 

 — F. MouNSDON. Partial halo. — JEoif. Consigned, as per 

 request, to locality indicated (oblivion). — A. M. MiTcmsoN. 

 Thanks. Will use. — LL.B. Leibnitz's definition implies only 

 evenness, not constancy of direction. — J. Redosmax. Query 

 column closed. — Joseph Hibbert kindly points out that the 

 translation of Richter's " Dream of the Universe" is in Vol. XIII., 

 p. 13-i, of De Quincey's works, published 1SC3, by A. & C. Black.— W. 

 Thanks. — Hi'OH Clements. No connection whatever has been 

 made out. — E. C. H. On the contrary, for one letter maintaining 

 that the man does not go round the squirrel we have received a 

 score holding the correct view ; but the real point at issue is the 

 interpretation to be given to the words rotation and revolution. 

 The paradox that the moon does not rotate because she turns always 

 the same face to the earth is maintained by not a few, and is pre- 

 cisely akin to the one involved in your argument. — John Herbert. 

 Possibly weather unfavoiu'ablo. Cannot answer so many small 

 qtieries here, and query column long since closed. — A. Lath-^m. ! 

 Regret that am unable ; but it would involve a heavy annual expense i 

 to do so in every ease, and cannot make selection. — E. A. Brown, ' 

 J. Haroreave, L. Mathews, and many others. The gossip notes 

 (non-])eraonal) continue. — Scbscriber. Thnnks. — J. Parry. Many I 

 like you have disregarded that request ; and, of course, I am not . 

 sorry they have done so. — J. K. Dealv. Will try to find room, but ' 

 am doubtful. — H. W. M. Thanks ; but subject unsuitable. — Jas. , 

 HoRXELL. Query column closed long since. — Peccavi. Pretty seal, 

 yours ! Are not microscopical papers in progress ? Marvels of pond 

 life will come in naturally. — C. E. Bell. See Mr. Goschen's letter, i 

 — C. N. That (with regard to the Pyramid) "is what I intended 

 to convey officially." 



