118 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[March 1, 1887 



books or diaries, and read out Tupper-and-water by the 

 yard ! Why does not the writer of such stuff study 

 Thackeray and Trollope, and learn how people in the posi- 

 tion of his own puppets do act, and speak, and think 1 



National Lessons from the Life and WorJcs of Carh/Ie. 

 By Alfred Fraxcison. (London : London Literary 

 Society.) — Mr. Francisou's " Lessons " consist in upwards of 

 one hundred pages of sermonising ; of, sooth to say, rather a 

 dreary character. If we understand him (of which we are 

 not overweeningly confident), he admires what Carlyle did, 

 but not the motives which prompted him in doing it. More- 

 over, he is an admirer of that extremely self-assertive, not 

 to say " bumptious," person, Mr. Euskin. It is to be 

 deplored that the acquaintance either of our author or of his 

 compositor with the spelling of words not strictly English 

 appears to be limited. Thus we find it asserted that 

 " L'amour et la fumee ne peuve se chacher," the verb 

 which we have italicised being as " the French of Stratford- 

 atte-Bowe." Again, on p. 14, and again on p. 20, " SartJts 

 resartus " appears, as do " magna charge?-.? " on pp. 25 

 and 28. Might we further venture to hint that the famous 

 jjoet spelt his name Shelley, and not " Shelly," as rendered 

 by Mr. Francison on p. 39 ] 



Lndia Revisited. By Samuel Smith, M.P. Reprinted from 

 the Contemporary lievieu: (London : Wm. Isbister. 

 188G.) — The man who is to discuss Indian affairs with any 

 claim to attention should belong to no English political 

 party. In the pamphlet before us Mr. Smith tries very hard 

 to treat his theme in an impartial and judicial spirit, but it is 

 abundantly evident that he has been sedulously crammed bj' 

 the " Baboos," and sees the problems which await solution 

 in our mighty Eastern empire almost wholly through the 

 spectacles which those artless beings have provided for him. 

 His remarks on the Drink traffic may, however, be read with 

 advantage. 



Euclid Revised. Books 1. and II. By R. C. J. Nixos, 

 M.A. Clarendon Press Series. (Oxford : Clarendon Press. 

 1880.) — Of all the attempts to improve the imperishable work 

 of the mighty Alexandritm geometer, Mr. Nixon's appears 

 to us to be the most successful. By the simplification of 

 some of the methods of proof he is enabled to omit certain 

 propositions altogether ; although, in view of the omni- 

 potent examiner, these are subsequently given at the end of 

 each book. His addenda, exercises, and appendices are very 

 notably good. 



The Public School Chemistr}/. By J. H. Anderson, M.A. 

 (London: Cassell & Co. 1886.) — Mr. Anderson well de- 

 scribes his book as "a .syllabus for the master and an 

 abstract for the hoy." It is essentially one to teach from, 

 and differs in this respect from the mass of elementary 

 works in chemistry which are so abundant. The familiar 

 pictures of the retort, the pneumatic trough, the spirit- 

 lamp — et id genus ortme — are wholly absent from its pages; 

 in fact, it is intended to supplement and not replace the 

 instruction given in class or at lecture. Its value for this 

 purpose is undeniable. 



We have also received from ^Messrs. Griffith, Farran, 

 Okeden & ^'fAsh Pettitt's Shilling Folio ScrihhUnij Diary, The 

 Week, and Petlitt's Desk Remembrancer, each in its way useful 

 for noting current events, reminding their possessor of his 

 appointments, ifec. They are cheap, and well got up. From 

 Messrs. Moffat k Paige we have Digestinij Riturns into 

 Sti.inmaries, by E. J. Henchie and J. Hall, a Civil Service 

 cram book ; and six parts of the Ilome Lesson Book to the New 

 Explanatory Reader, which seems well calculated to enable 

 children attending Board and National schools to get up 

 their lessons intelligentlv. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR MARCH. 



By F.R.A.S. 



HE persistent observer of the sun may be rewarded 

 by the ocoasinnal view of spots, but they aie be- 

 coming more infrequent, and a really fine one is a 

 rare object. The zodiacal light may now be well 

 seen after sunset in the west, as a blunt ill-defined 

 cone of light, as bright as, or brighter than, the 

 Milky Way. The night sky will be found depicted 

 on map iii. of " The Stars in their Seasons.'' 

 Minima of Algol (" The Stars in their Seasons," 

 map i.), will occur at llh. 4.Sm. P.M. on the 2nd ; 8h. 32m. P.M. on 

 the 5th; Ih. 25m. A.M. on the 23rd; lOh. 14m. P.M. on the 25th; 

 and 7h. 3m. P.M. on the 28th ; and at other times where either the 

 light of the sky or the inconvenience of the hour renders their 

 observation difficult or impossible. Mercury is an evening star 

 during the first half of March, and during the first week or so may 

 be picked up with the naked eye just above the western horizon 

 after sunset. He attains his greatest eastern elongation from the 

 sun (18° H') on the 5th. Venus is an evening star, too, and may in 

 like manner be seen in the west directly after .-unset. Ste is just 

 now a singularly uninteresting object fur the observer with the 

 telescope. Mars is invisible. Jupiter souths during the early 

 morning hours, but he rises soon after half-past 10 o'clock at night 

 at the beginning of March, and rather more than two hours 

 sooner at the end of it. It will be found just above the star 

 A. Virginis ("The Stars in their Seasons," map v.) by those who care 

 t'l sit up, or get up, to observe him. The visible phenomena of his 

 satelliti-s occurring before 1 a.m. are necessarilj' few. Such of them, 

 as (presupposing clear weather) may be certainly seen, are as 

 follow : On the 5th, the ingress of the shadow of satellite I. on to 

 the planet's disc will happen at 12h. 9m. P.M. On the 6th, the same 

 satellite will reappear from occultation at 12h. 38m. P.M. On the 

 11th, the shadow of satellite II. will pass off at llh. 3im. P.M. On 

 the 13th, s.itcllite I. will disappear in eclipse at llh. 25m. Is. p.m. 

 On the 14th, the egress of the shadow of satellite I. will occur at 

 lOh 44m. P.M., followed at llh. 32m. P.M. by that of the satellite 

 casting it. Satellite III., which is also on Jupiter's face, will leave 

 his limb at llh. 38m. This phenomenon, for the reason so often 

 given in this column, should be carefully watched. On the 18th, 

 the ingress of the shadow of satellite II. will happen at 

 llh. 2Sm. P.M. On the 21st, the shadow of satellite I. will enter 

 on to Jupiter's limb at lOh. 25m. P.M. At lOh. 38m. P.M. the 

 shadow of satellite III. will follow it. At llh. "m. P.M. 

 satellite I. itself wdl commence its transit across the planet. At 

 12h. 3Tni. the shadow of satellite I. will leave his opposite limb, 

 as will the shadow of satellite III. six minutes later. On the 

 22nd, satellite I. will reappear from occultation at lOh. 36m. 

 P.M. On the 27th, satellite II. will reappear from occultation at 

 llh 58m. P.M. On the 28th, the ingress of the shadow of satellite 

 I. begins at 12h. 18m., as does that of the satellite casting it at 

 12h 52m. P.M. On the 29th, .satellite I. will disappear in eclipse at 

 9h. 40m. 12s. P.M., to reappear from occultation 21 minutes after 

 midnight. Lastly, satellite I. will pass off Jupiter's disc at Oh. 29m. 

 P.M. on the 30th. Saturn is visible during the whole of the 

 amateur's ordinary night, but is best seen about 8 P.M. or so. He 

 will be found somewhat to the west and a little to the north of 

 8 Geminorum ("The Stars in their Seasons," map ii.). He is, as 

 always, a superb object in any telescope from 2^ inches in aperture 

 upwards. Uranus is now coming into a better position for the 

 observer, and (notably towards the end of the month) may now be 

 very fairly seen by midnight or even sooner. He may be iiicked up 

 to the SSE. of 7 'Virginis, and identified by his pale-blue disc. 

 Neptune is rapidly getting lost in the twilight. The Moon enters 

 her first quarter at lb. TSm. on the 3rd, is full at 8h. 33-9m. P M. 

 on the 9th, enters her last quarter at Ih. 42'lm. P.M. on the 16th, 

 and is new at 4h. 9-7m. in the afternoon of the 24th. Nine 

 ocoultations of fixed stars occur during the present month 

 at convenient hours. The first happens on March 2, when 

 Aldebaran will disappear at the Moon's dark limb at 5h. 47m. 

 P.M., at an angle of 182° from her vertex, reapjiearing at 6h. 4m. 

 P.M. at her bright limb at a vertical angle of 210°. On the 

 .5th, a 6th magnitude star, / Geminorum, will disappear at the 

 dark limb 41 minutes after midnight, at a vertical angle of 43°. It 

 will emerge from behind the Moon after she has set. On the Sth, 

 45 Leonis, a 6th magnitude star, will disappear at the dark limb at 

 6h. 24m. P.M. at an angle from the Moon's vertex of 68°. It will 

 reappear at her bright limb at 7h. 14m. P.M. at an angle of ISS'^ 

 from her vertex. Later on in the same night, p Leonis, of the 4th 

 magnitude, will disappear at the dark limb at a vertical angle of 

 61' at 8h. 50m. P.M., toreappear at the bright limb at 9h. o4m. P.M. 

 at an angle of 211° from the vertex. On the 27th, ij. Ceti, also a 



