378 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[June 22, 1883. 



incorrect. I can recall only one instance before the present 

 one, in which a wager proffered by an unseientific man was 

 accepted by a student of science — as Mr. Irving Bishop 

 claims to be, and may continue to be regarded, if he dili- 

 gently eschews all future use of the wager-test. 



It is amusing to note the singular mixture of scepticism 

 and simplicity in the newspaper comments on the general 

 question of thought-reading. Those who utterly deny that 

 the strange psychical power exists, or can e.xist, which 

 purely scientific men like Dr. Carpenter have recognised as 

 a proper subject for e.xperimental research, proclaim loudly, 

 in the same breath, the absurd doctrine that if the power 

 exists it is miraculous. The real fact is, that while Pro- 

 fessors Barrett, Balfour Stewart, and others have gone far 

 to prove that the power exists, not only is there nothing 

 miraculous (though much that is marvellous) in it, but it 

 actually affords a natural explanation of several phenomena 

 which have been regarded by inexperienced persons as 

 miraculous. 



Whether Mr. Labouchere's money was lost or not is a 

 question beneath notice here. Sporting papers may settle 

 that point if they like. 



Our Whist Column has been discontinued during the 

 Chess Tournament. It wiU be resumed next week, or the 

 week after at latest. 



The number of miles of streets which contains mains 

 constantly charged, and upon which hydrants for fire pur- 

 poses could at once be fixed, in each district of the metro- 

 polis, is now as follows : — Kent, 85 miles ; New River, 

 214; East London, 120; Southwark and Vauxhall, 119; 

 West Middlesex, 88 J ; Grand Junction, 48 J ; Lambeth, 

 136| ; Chelsea, 68 ; making a total length of 880 miles. 



The Bill to permit the construction of the proposed 

 " Arcade Railway " under Broadway, in New York, has 

 passed the State Assembly. The plan is to excavate the 

 entire width of Broadway to the depth of 20 ft, and make 

 a new Broadway under the present one, with ample side- 

 walks, with four tracks for passenger and freight trains, 

 and with an accessible conduit for all the iron pipes, water, 

 gas, &c., now under the street. The upper road is to rest 

 on iron girders, sustained by brick arches covered with con- 

 crete, asphalte, and sand, on which the pavement is to be 

 laid. 



Colonel Colton, commanding the Quebec Citadel, suc- 

 cessfully broke the ice gorge on the St. Lawrence River 

 the week before last, by means of gunpowder explosions. 

 The gorge extended for several miles along the river, being 

 jammed at the narrows until it was some 35 ft. thick. 

 Here several shafts were bored and filled with charges of 

 300 lb. each, which were exploded by electricity. This 

 treatment loosened the ice, and the tide is now cleaning 

 the harbour. The possibility of opening the Montreal 

 port earlier hereafter has thus been demonstrated. 



A Colossal Brosze St.\tue. — A great national statue 

 of Germania, which is to be erected at Niederwald, near 

 the Rhine, to commemorate the victory of Germany in the 

 late Franco-German War, is now in process of being cast in 

 separate pieces at Munich, and the head and several other 

 parts have already been collected. Some idea of the mag- 

 nitude of this work may be gathered from the fact that 

 the total weight of the metal used will amount to 45 tons. 

 — Jiiujineering. 



LANTERN READINGS.* 

 The Voyage of the Challenger. 



We are glad to see that the series of biological lantern 

 slides, planned by Mr. W. Lant Carpenter and Dr. Andrew 

 Wilson, has now been prepared by Mr. York. The series 

 of lectures to be illustrated by the slides includes Fora- 

 minifera, Radiolarians, Siliceous Sponges, Crinoids, Echi- 

 noderms, kc. We have before us one of the biology series, 

 " The ^'oyage of the C}iaiUvii;/fr." It is intended to be 

 read by amateur lecturers, and Mr. Carpenter gives excel- 

 lent instructions for such reading. At the right places in 

 the reading the letter B is marked for the bell-signal to the 

 operator to change the slide. Mr. Carpenter thinks the best 

 signal of all to be the " Invalid Electric Bell," the metallic 

 gong of which has been replaced Vjy a silent wooden one, the 

 bell being placed by the lantern and operated by the reader. 

 Our own experience is in favour of a small hand-bell 

 (struck by pushing a hammer, not by shaking) ; but then 

 that is because we prefer to have no taljle, but to be free 

 to occupy at will any part of the platform. We should 

 not care to walk up to a table bell, or to the " push " of 

 the Invalid Bell. Those who read lectures have to be near 

 the table all the time, and would probably prefer the 

 arrangement suggested by Mr. Carpenter. 



The lecture here printed for amateur reading is full of 

 interest. We are half inclined to think that many would 

 prefer buying this little pamphlet, and afterwards getting 

 the " Depths of the Sea " and " The Atlantic," whence 

 the lantern pictures have been selected, to attending a 

 reading of it, even though illustrated by the lantern 

 and the slides — no doubt excellent — which Mr. York 

 has prepared. But the slides may be used to illus- 

 trate lectures other than those merely read by class 

 teachers and the like. Those who have themselves taken 

 part in the work of biological research, can wish for no 

 better subjects than those which Mr. Carpenter has here 

 selected. Lecturers who speak out of the fulness of their 

 interest in these inquiries, must be glad to find such 

 illustrations as they want collected here for them at a 

 moderate price. Without that living interest, lecture- 

 audiences must of necessity dwindle into mere " classes." 

 But it is essential that those workers and thinkers in 

 special branches of science who may wish to impart 

 to thousands the lessons which have impressed and 

 moved themselves, should have the means of properly 

 appealing to the eyes as well as to the ears of their 

 audiences. (Segnitis irritant, (tc, d'c.) The oxyhydrogen 

 lantern and photography give them this power, and we 

 rejoice to see that measures are being taken to provide our 

 public teachers with the illustrations their subjects require. 



THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.f 



The fact that this work has reached its second edition in 

 the space of two years, demonstrates that it has met with 

 some measure of success. It must not be forgotten, how- 

 ever, that the volume appeared under the most favourable 

 circumstances. There was, in consequence of the stir made 

 by the practical introduction of the electric light, a great 

 demand for electrical information of all kinds, to supply 



* " Lantern Readings. The Voyage of the Challenger." By W. 

 Lant Carpenter, B.A., B.Sc, &c. (Alabaster, Passmore, & Co., 

 London). 



+ " Kloctric Light ; its Production and Use." By J. W. Uniuhart, 

 Kloctrician, Author of " Electro-plating," ic. Edited by F. C. 

 Webb, M.I.C.E., II.S.T.E. (Second edition. London: Crosby, Lock- 

 wood, & Co.) 



