208 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Sept. 28, 1883. 



THE " HUMBLE SOLDIERS." 



[946] — May I (perhaps in atonement, being one of the " point- 



pepperers") give what seems to me to be a good reason for the 



elimination of the commas in the sentence, " He called for help ; 



and, therefore, I went to him." 



I would submit to the ivriter in the Brighton Herald that the 

 word " therefore " is here used as equivalent in sense to the words 

 " that was why," or " for that reason ; " and surely he would not 

 insert the commas in either of the following sentences : — 

 " He called for help ; and that was why I went to him." 

 " He called for help ; and lor that reason I went to him." 



Compositor. 



LETTERS RECEIVED, AND SHORT ANSWERS. 



F. M. DiPLOCK. I do not see, cither, that the comma is out of 

 place. But it is well to note that the word " Why," in the sentence, 

 is not a question per se, as many imagine. — W. B. All the planets 

 turn the same way round as the sun does, except Uranus, and probably 

 Neptune. This way round is that also in which they all, without 

 any exception at all, travel round the sun.— W. 0. Dawson. Article 

 in type.— W. Lawrenxe. If Mr. John Hampden had dictated your 

 letter you could not more completely have caught his style. Permit 

 me to congratulate you. I thought him unique : now I see I was 

 mistaken. If I have " failed to convince a single individual who 

 was in doubt about it" ("it" being the earth's rotundity) I have 

 failed in what I have never attempted to do. Mr. Browning makes 

 excellent spectacles, but he has failed to make a single individual 

 see who chanced to be born blind. (He has not tried, that I am aware, 

 but that only makes the parable better ; for neither have I tried to 

 make those see with the mental eye who are mentally blind.) — A. 

 M. Those passages are given in a little volume, published by Messrs. 

 Appleton, New York, containing the speeches (made and not made) 

 at the dinner given in honour of Mr. Herbert Spencer's visit to 

 America. By the way, I am inclined to wonder what would be 

 Mr. Spencer's deliberate opinion on the subject of dinner-giving as 

 a way of indicating esteem and admiration. — D. C. S. (1.) Pro- 

 bably a harmless, but still more probably a useless recipe. You 

 would have to buy of the person who seems so generously to offer 

 the recipe. Note his prices, and recognise rascality. (2.) Yes; 

 smoke-abatement an important subject ; ex fumo darelucem — if it 

 could but be managed. — Sexex (1.) Not that '' silent 

 lightning" is never seen ''n daytime, but why it is not 

 so often seen in daytime as at night (your note on this 

 subject slightly shortened, will appear). (2.) One cannot 

 dii-ectly comj)are the intensity of waves of light, sound, and water. 

 (3.) Reflection of rainbow can be seen. — Co-sMos. Neither the 

 longitude of perihelion nor the inclination of major axis is 

 assumed. The initial assumptions are at once less simple and 

 more tentative. The subject is one for an article, not for a Short 

 Answer. — J. W. WiLso.x. If we were certain the mass of the two 

 stars together equalled the mass of the sun and earth, we could 

 infer from the period of revolution the precise distance. But 

 in every case yet dealt with we have either had no such 

 knowledge, or have known that the case is quite other- 

 wise. In my " Other Worlds than Ours " the points involved 

 in the problem are fuUy discussed.— E. T. L. The papers 

 on the Moon began with Vol. III., and the reference map 

 appeared with the first of them.— W. S. Bosc.wex. I do not 

 know where the rising and setting of stars visible in Babylonia 

 as early as 2,000 B.C. can be obtained. In my library star atlas, 

 and in the maps of my gnomoiiic atlas, are the longitude and lati- 

 tude lines, by which correction can he made in the case of any star, 

 for the effects of precession. The star must be carried westwards 

 along its latitude parallel at the rate of 5' for about 359 yenrs of 

 past time. This serves for the vernal equiiiox also. — M. J. 

 Harding. I am sorry more copies of the Index were not printed. 

 But a copy was sent to every subscriber (as distinguished from 

 buyers). I myself much prefer the plan of issuing the index with 

 the paper. But the publishers saw reasons for adopting a dif- 

 ferent plan.— D. E. Samuel. The nasal twang of the true Yankee 

 or New Englander has been derived from Puritan ancestors. The 

 Roundheads so spoke. But chronic catarrh may now have some- 

 thing to do with the matter.— E. S. B. Thanks for kmd letter. 

 Hints noted. With regard to the " sneak " as you justly call him 

 referred to in article on " Social Dynamite," I have never 

 been in doubt who he was, since Mr. Lockyer disclaimed all 

 knowledge of the matter. I have no doubt either, that after 

 reading what I there wrote, Mr. Lockyer himself could form a 

 tolerably shrewd guess on the subject. He has not however 

 thanked me yet for enabling him to see what a treacherous 

 '' friend" that particular person was. — E. F. T. La Xature 

 might suit you. — M. C. I think the flat earth folk would deny 

 the validity of the spu-it-level proof. — W. G. Knowles. Read 



Darwin's book on " Mould and Worms." — George Jordan. Cannot 

 further try to explain matters to one unfamiliar with even the 

 elements of science. Have already given to you much more time 

 and attention than you could expect. — W. W. F. The whole 

 column of water. — H. Askew. (1) Some nonsense about the holy 

 numbers three and seven. I forget what. (2). It is difficult to 

 get in all desirable subjects. — J. G. Fisher. The printers arrange 

 that matter of month, day, year. Your letter sent to printers. 

 — Inqvirer. If you will state in a letter the rules for the four 

 possible cases, will publish : but a single case out of four would only 

 perplex readers. — T. Maude. There are differences of atmospheric 

 pressure in different latitudes, and these differences obviously depend 

 on latitude ; but they are certainly not proportional to the rate of 

 terrestrial rotation. The pressure and density are greatest in the 

 sub-tropical zones. — W. B. No one would think of extracting 

 square root by logarithms, when only two or three digits are 

 wanted. — Uncertain. I fear those metaphysical speculations 

 would have no interest for readers. As to your swearing, / can 

 have no manner of objection. It may be as you suggest, " an unco' 

 reUef to a body." I fancy it is like dram.di-inking though, and that 

 the round oath which relieves your feelings now vrill reqm're to be 

 replaced by a stronger one hereafter. My own personal objection 

 to swearing is that no matter what form of oath one adopts, one 

 becomes conscious of temporary misuse of reason in employing it. 

 Whether you swear by " thunder," or wish you may be *' dad- 

 slapped," or call what offends you a "dodgasted" noun of some 

 sort, or prefer something more genuinely profane, comes to much 

 the same ; there is idiocy in the thing, in every aspect of it. 



&m Cftesis Column. 



By Mephisto. 



PROBLEM No. 100. 

 Bv G. Woodcock. 



Whiib. 

 White to play and self-mate in five moves. 



SOLUTIONS. 



Problem No. 97, by C. Planck, p. 176. 



1. Q to Kt4 



If K to B6, Kt to K2 mate. K to B4, Kt to Q3 mate. K to K4, 



Kt to R5 mate. K to K6, Kt to Kt2 mate. P to B4, Kt takes P 



mate. B moves, Kt to K6 mate. 



No. 98, BY J. C. S., p. 176. 

 1 R to Q, sq. K moves, or B to Kt4 



2. B to QKt4 (ch) K to K4 2. B to Kt4 (ch) Kt takes B 



3. Kt to B4mate. 3. P to B4 mate. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 *^* Please address Chess Editor. 

 W. R. Edwards.— In Problem 97, if 1. Kt to Q3, K to B6, and 

 there is no mate next move. 



Correct solutions received. Problem 97, Borrow, John Watson, B. 

 Gleam, M. T. Hooton. No. 98, John Watson. No. 99, Berrow, W., 

 I H. Sewaid. 



