398 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 2S, 1883. 



(Buv £f)fsie; (Column. 



By Mephisto. 



OUR CHRISTMAS BIT. 



((h'eat Tragic Pantomime, in which the White King commits 

 suicide after having all his men slaughtered.) 



White to play and self-mate in nine moves. 

 By G. Law.s. 



1. Kt to B5 (ch) 



2. P to B8 (Kt) (ch) 



3. B to Kt sq (disc ch) 



4. Kt to Kt7 (ch) 



5. R to Ko (ch) 



6. P to B5 (ch) 



7. B to R2 (ch) 



8. P to Q5 (ch) 



9. Q to K7 (ch) 



1. B takes Kt 



2. B takes Kt 



3. B takes R 



4. B takes Kt 



5. B tak5s R 



6. B takes P 



7. Q takes B 



8. Q takes P 



9. K takes Q, mate 



The following two positions occurred in games played at 

 Stockton-on-Tees by Mr. Blackburnc (presumably at a simul- 

 taneous performance) : — 



Mk. Appletox 



Mr. .\ppr.ETnx. 



34. Q 



Whitb. 

 Mr. Blackeuene. 

 White. 

 Blackbume. 

 to Kt8 

 (ch) 

 R to K8 

 P takes P 



(ch) 

 K to K7 



(ch) 



Q to K8 (6) R takes K 

 Q takes Q P to Q7 

 Q to Q6 R to K8 (ch) 



K to Kt2 P Queens 

 White draws by check on B7 

 B8. 



Black. 

 Mr. Appleton, 

 K to R2 



P to Kt3 («) 

 P takes P 



(best) 

 R to Q2 



Whitb. 

 Mr. Blackburne. 



White. Black. 



Mr. Blackbume. Mr. Appleton. 



40. B takes Kt R takes R 

 tl. B takes R Q takes B 



42. Q takes P(ch)Q to B2 



43. Q takes Q K takes Q 



44. K to Q3 K to Q3 



45. K to K4 P to KKU 



46. K to B5 P to QKt4 



47. P takes P (c)P takes P 



48. P to R4 P takes P 



49. K takes P K to Q4 



50. K to Kt4 K to B5 



51. K takes P K takes P 

 And Black won. 



NOTES. 



(a) White threatens R to R8, mate. If Black played the 

 likely-looking tiiove of Q takes R, White would draw by 36. Q takes 

 Q, followed, if P to Q7, by 37. Q to K3, and draws by perpetual 

 check. But if instead of P to Q7, P takes P, then 38. Q to K3 (ch), 

 P to Kt3 (the only hope of escaping a perpetual check). 39. P 

 takes P, K to Kt2. 40. K to Kt2 (best), R to QB3. 41. Q to 

 B sq, P takes P, and White has the better chance. He will pro- 

 ceed by first playing P to B4, and then bringing the K round to 

 Q2 or Q3, and playing P to Kt3, in which ca.se the Black K cannot 

 move into check, as White would play K to B sq. White might 

 then advance his P on the K side. Black would require the utmost 

 care to effect a draw (if that be possible). 



(b) A very fine move to which there is no good reply. 



(c) If 47.'P to B5 (ch), K to B3. 48. K to Kt6, Black will win by 

 P to QR4. 



The Great Sea-Wave — In the life history of a planet, 

 says Mr. Proctor, there are three stages — a fii^ry youth, a 

 cool, sedate, and orderly maturity, a sapless and withered 

 old age. Jupiter is just now in the first of these stages, 

 the earth enjoys the second, the moon has degenerated into 

 the third. AVithout disputing the general theory I take 

 leave to doubt whether !Mr. P. has correctly classed the 

 earth. The habits of our planet are still distressingly 

 irregular. In the Strait of Suuda during the last week 

 chaos has literally come again. Subterranean fires have 

 belched forth, sea and sky have been mingled, and of the 

 dwellers in those parts a tidal wave has overwhelmed, it is 

 reported, no le.ss a number than 7.3,000. This wreckage of 

 human life will perhaps be little accounted of in a region 

 where, as De Quincey remarks, man is a weed. An even 

 greater catastrophe befell in India about 60 years ago, when 

 the Rutin of Cutch, 2,000 square miles in area, sank 

 suddenly below the sea with its whole population. 

 The multitudinous East hardly recognised the loss, 

 and in the present case will be barely conscious of 

 the calamity of the 75,000. To my mind this whole- 

 sale destruction suggests a doubt whether the planet 

 has yet fairly reached the habitable stage. It is 

 quite clear that the fires of its choleric youth have not 

 burnt themselves out. The sympathetic earthquakes in 

 Queensland, South Australia, and Tasmania which have fol- 

 lowed the Java disturbance hint the possibility of further 

 irregularities — perhaps in Cook's Strait, which, like the 

 Strait of Sunda, is an old geologic fracture, and conse- 

 quently the natural breeding-ground of earthquakes. I 

 apologise for making so uncomfortable a s-uggestion, espe- 

 cially whilst the Houses are still in session and all the 

 wisdom of the country is collected at Wellington. I 

 apologise for the suggestion, yet I do not exactly take it 

 back. In a planet so young as ours is, and consequently so 

 capable of playing its inhabitants a scurvy trick, it is not 

 altogether wise to plant your seat of Government in the 

 crack of an old geologic fracture. — Otago Times. 



Contents of No. 112. 



FAOB 



The Universe of Sans. By Richard 



A. Proctor 3(!9 



Ladybirds. By E. A. Butler, B.A. 370 

 Caverns in Earth and Moon. By 



Eichard A. Pro.'tor 3/1 



Evidences of the Glat'ial Period ... 373 

 Cheap and Good Food. Bv T. E. 



Allinson, L.E.C.P '. 37.1 



Recreation Through Uncertainty. 



By Sir James Paget 375 



pAei 



The Amateur Electrician {Illua.) ... 375 

 Sun Views of the Earth. By R. A. 



Proctor 377 



Science and Safety at Sea. By E. 



A. Proctor 378 



Editorial Gossip 379 



The Face of the Sky. By F.R.A.8. 379 

 Correspondence : A Blue Moon — 



Strange Sunsets— Coincidences ... 380 

 Our Chess Cottimn 382 



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