Aug. 2i, 1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



12.: 



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LIGHT FROM FLOWERS. 

 [900] — Under the head of " Singular Phenomenon " [882] in 

 Knowledge of July 27, which I happened not to see till two days 

 ago, your correspondent S. Ingliani has revived, in a very pleasant 

 way, the recollections of my early years ; for I have been for raore than 

 half a century acquainted with the occasional notices of this strange 

 appearance which are given in the books of the day, or in older 

 works, and have frequently watched for it, though always unsuc- 

 cessfully ; while in modern times it seems to have passed into unde- 

 served oblivion. As far as I recollect, it was always mentioned as 

 connected with red, and perhaps yellow, flowers — for the marigold 

 was, I think, associated with the geranium ; and it was said to be 

 visible in the dusk, and in warm weather. The only book referring 

 to it on which I can now lay my hand is Forster's " Perennial 

 Calendar" (1824), where, under the heading of May 21, is the 

 following not very satisfactory description : — " Among atmo- 

 spheric phenomena to be noticed at this time of year, 

 we may mention pale lambent light of an electric sort, 

 which plays of an evening in fine weather about the leaves 

 of plants, and of which an account will be found in Forster's 

 'Atmospheric Phenomena,' third edition, and in the journal 

 subjoined to that work, under May 21, 1808." To the book 

 thus referred to, I have no access at present, but probably some of 

 the readers of Knowledge may be more fortunate, and may be 

 induced to give us the benefit of a search ; in fact the subject is so 

 curious and inexplicable, that it well deserves a closer and more 

 extended investigation, the results of which, with the Editor's kind 

 permission, might appear in these pages. It may be feared that the 

 most favourable seasonfor observation is past, but from Mr. Ingham's 

 letter it is evidently not confined to the spring. In the meantime, 

 as we have so little account of details, I would suggest the follow- 

 ing points as deserving of attention : — the character of the light — 

 whether a general haze, or a defined brush or spark ; its persistency, 

 or the frequency of its emission ; its brightness ; length ; direction 

 (horizontal or otherwise) ; colour ; and how far it is affected by 

 the presence of the finger or any other body introduced into the 

 region which it occupies. It may be observed that this strange 

 phenomenon lias no connection with the sudden and rapid combus- 

 tion of volatile oil, which may be produced by the application of 

 flame to the stems of the fraxinella while in blossom — a curious 

 experiment which I have repeatedly tried, and which is of a far 

 more intelligible nature. T. W. Webb. 



WART-CHARMING. 



[901] — My father, the Rev. John Webb, who died in tho year 

 1869, aged nearly 03 years, possessed this curious power in a 

 remarkable degree. I have heard him describe the way in which, 

 when a young man, he became conscious of it, from touching, for 

 mere amusement, a wart on a child's eyelid with a finger moistened 

 from his tongue, and saying that it would go away. Great was his 

 surprise, as well as that of others, to find that liis prediction was 

 soon verified. After that time he exercised tliis power whenever 

 opportunities presented themselves, and with great success. On one 

 occasion, as ho was passing on horseback through a tunipiko-gate, 

 he noticed that the arm of a woman who was washing tliere was 

 covered with warts, wliich were bleeding from tho nature of her 

 work. lie touched them and passed on. Tho next time he saw 



her, he found they were all gone, though such an inflammation had 

 attended their departure that she thought she should have lost her 

 arm. I have, from time to time, exercised the same power with 

 success. On one occasion I gave the little daughter of a friend, 

 whose hand was much troubled with these excrescences, a small 

 bottle of water tinted with some colour, desiring that each wart 

 should be touched with the wetted cork ; this, however, having 

 failed to produce any effect, I made her give me her hand through 

 a nearly-closed door, her back being turned at the same time, and 

 slightly pricked each wart with the point of a penknife. This was 

 followed by their entire disappearance. My impression is that, 

 provided the patient has confidence in the process, anything that 

 affects the imagination sufficiently will produce the result — so sur- 

 prising and so little understood is the connection between the body 

 and the mind. Truly, we arc " fearfully and wonderfully made !" 



T. W. Webb. 



GNAT POISON.— WART-CHARMING. 



[902] — As a subscriber to your valuable periodical from the start, 

 permit me to offer this communication. Speaking of Aphides in your 

 last issue, Mr. Henry J. Slack thus writes : — " It is supposed that to 

 facilitate a flow of the plant's juices, they pour in a poisonous fluid 

 aa gnats do into our bodies." Now, it so happens that very many 

 years ago, and long before I ever hear of the theory that the poison 

 of mosquitoes facilitated their deglutition of blood, I made the 

 following experiments in the West Indies. 1. 1 permitted one to 

 settle on the back of my hand and insert her proboscis (of which 

 process I should have been unaware had I not been observing it), 

 and then put a stop to her greediness by a slap from the other 

 hand. No poisoning ensued, nor any other perceptible effect. 2. I 

 permitted others to draw blood to various extent short of repletion, 

 killed them in like manner, and the result was the same. 3. I then 

 suffered others to gorge themselves and fly away, and was invariabl 

 poisoned. I wondered at the time at this kindly provision of nature, 

 and though a generation has since passed away, I wonder no less 

 still. 



Many years ago a son of mine had a number of warta on his 

 hands, and was told by a countryman that he could get rid of them 

 by cutting a sod in a certain way, rubbing the warts with the under 

 side of it, and then hiding it while no one was looking on. The 

 result being entirely satisfactory, a sister of his then tried the 

 recipe, but it failed completely. My own experience is this — as 

 long as I was at a boarding-school I was troubled ^vith many, and 

 used various applications to get rid of them, but after I had been at 

 home for about three months they all went away of themselves ; 

 change of diet, in this case, evidently effecting the cure. 



Accept my congratulations on the success of Knowledge ; also 

 on the able way in which you have dealt with certain parties whose 

 mental faculties are evidently polarised, and believe me, yours 

 faithfully, An M.D. of Forty Tears' Standing. 



May 21, 1883. 



MAGIC SQUARES. 



[903]— G. S. has sent you (888, Vol. IV., p. 61) " a very complete 

 magic square," which combines most of the properties claimed 

 (233, Vol. I., p. 274) for Snart's "climax to odd squares," -with 

 others to be found in Corn. Agrippa's talismanic square (depicted 

 in the 3rd figure, Vol. 1., p. 100). Now, first as to Mr. Miles' 

 climax with Snart's square. Bachet never published a square of 49 

 colls ; but his principle applies to the formation of Agrippa's 

 square (2nd figure. Vol. I., p. 100). This has not tho 24 ways of 

 reading 175 about the centre which Snart's square has, nor the 

 other two noticed. But Agrippii's square is so perfectly magical 

 that we get 175 on summing up the parallel lines made through 

 22, 48, 18, 37, 14, 33, 4 ; 5, 24, 43, 20, 39, 9, 35 ; 30, 7, 26, &c., in 

 all 7 ; so through 22, 27, 12, 7, 44, 39, 34 ; 5, 49, 37, 32, 27, 10 ; 30, 

 25, 20, 8, 3, 47, 42, &c., in all 7 ; so through 22, 42, 6, &c. ; 5, 18, 31, 

 &c.; 30, 43, 14, &c., in all 7 ; so through 22, 11, 49, &c. ; 5, 36, 25, 

 &c., in all 7 ; 22, 29, 36, &.C.; 5, 12, 19, Ac, another 7. Thus there 

 are 35 ways ; or, going upwards, there are 7 of the series, 22, 40, 2, 

 20, &c., and of 22, 9, 45, &c., of 22, 34, 39, &c., 22, 3, 33, ic— or 28 

 more, for 22, 28, 27, itc, are already reckoned. 



Next, as to G. S.'s "very complete square." Agrippa's square 

 of 81 cells has not tho 24 ways of making 369 about the centre as 

 in G. S.'s square. But there are 9 series parallel to 37, 30, 23, 16, 

 9, 74, 67, 60. 53; 9 parallel to 37, 71, 15, 40, Ac; 9 parallel to 37, 

 63, 80, 16, &c. ; 9 parallel with 37, 43, 72, &c. These yield 36 

 ways, and there are many other ways of getting the same result ; 

 besides the centre square of nine cells totals 365, and is also 

 magical. 



The adjoining square of 81 cells has not the 24 variations exhi- 

 bited in G. S.'s square, but it has all its other properties, with the 

 addition of 360 other wavs of obtaining a summation equivalent to 



