238 



♦ KNOW^LKDGE ♦ 



[August 1, 1887. 



straight through by every boy without laying the book 

 down. 



Of school books on our table we have Moffatia English 

 Grammar (London : Moflatt & Paige), suitable enough for 

 ordinary middle-class schools and Civil Service examina- 

 tions ; and CasseU's Combination Test-Cards (London : 

 C'assell & Co.), consisting of packets of cards containing 

 arithmetical questions up to the Seventh Standard. If we 

 admit the necessity of teaching the more recondite branches 

 of arithmetic to children who have to earn their bread by 

 daily labour, these cards seem well adapted to their purpose. 

 For ourselves, we should regard the time as much better 

 employed in instructing the boys how to dovetail pieces of 

 wood, and the gii-ls to scrub out a room or cook potatoes. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR AUGUST. 



By F.E.A.S. 



HE student, will, of course, watch the sun for the 

 spots which have begun to a]ipear on the sun 

 after a protracted period of quiescence. During 

 the early mnining of August 19 there will be a 

 total eclipse of the sun, but only the end of it 

 will be visible when the sun rises (in, and in the 

 neighbourhood of, London) in the E.N.E. at 

 4h. 53in. A.M. At this time the effect presented 

 will be that of a small black semicircular notch 

 cut out of the S.E. part of the sun's disc. The eclipse will end at 

 5h. 6'7m. A.M . so that scarcely anything of the phenomenon will be 

 seen in Great Britain. The aspect of the night skj' is shown in 

 map viii. of " The Stars in their Seasons." Shooting stars should 

 be looked for on the niglit of August 10. Watch may, in fact, be 

 kept on those immediately preceding and following it. Mercury is 

 a morning star throughout the month, and attains his greatest 

 western elongation (18° 36') in the evening of the 16th. He may 

 be caught by the naked eye about the middle of the month before 

 sunrise to the north of east, near the horizon. Venus is an evening 

 star all through August. She attains her greatest brilliancy on the 

 IGth, and about that date may be seen with the naked eye in bright 

 sunshine by anyone who knows exactly where to look for her. In 

 the telescope she looks like the moon when about four days old, 

 and is a lovely object. Jupiter is low down in the west in Virgo, 

 and is only fairly visible at all early in the month. Saturn, Uranus, 

 and Neptune are one and all invisible. The moon is full on the 

 3rd at 8h. 40-lm. in the evening, enters her last quarter at 

 llh. 36-5m. P.M. on the 11th, is new" at 5h. 38-6m, A.M. on the 19th, 

 and enters her first quarter at Sh. 21-2m. in the evening of the 25th. 

 There will be a partial eclipse of the moon during the afternoon 

 and evening of the 3rd, but at no time will more than -419 of the 

 moon's diameter be obscured. When the moon rises in London at 

 7h. 35m. P.M., she will already be immersed in the earth's 

 penumbra, and her tirst contact with our shadow will be 

 just beginning. The middle of the eclipse will happen at 

 8h. 48 9m. P.M. ; the second contact with the shadow at lOh. 2'lm. ; 

 and the last contact with the penumbra at llh. 259m. p.m. 

 Five occultations of fixed stars by the moon will occur during 

 August at hours more or less convenient to the ordinary amateur 

 observer. On August 8, 26 Ceti, a star of the OJth magnitude, will 

 disappear at the moon's bright limb at llh. 57m. p.m., at an angle 

 of 105° from her vertex. Its reappearance will happen at Ih. 2m. 

 the next morning at the dark limb of the moon at an angle from 

 her vertex of 240°. On the 22nd, 65 Virginis, of the 6th magnitude, 

 will disappear at the moon's dark limb at 8h. 34m. P.M., at .an angle 

 of 92° from her vertex. She will have set before it reappears. 

 On the 27th, B.A.C. 6081, of the 6th magnitude, will disappear at 

 the dark limb at Ch. 59m. P.M. at an angle of 51° from the vertex 

 of the moon, reappearing at her bright limb at 7h. 14m. P.M. at a 

 vertical angle of 277°. On the 28th, £' Sagittarii, a star of the 6th 

 magnitude, will disappear at the dark limb at Gh. 64m. p.m. 

 at a vertical angle of 36°, its reappearance at the bright 

 limb of the moon happening at 7h. 56m. at an angle of 304° 

 from her vertex. Lastly, on the 31st, 45 Capricorni will 

 disappear at the moon's dark limb at 15 minutes after mid- 

 night at an angle from her vertex of 108°. Its reappear- 

 ance will not happen until between Ih. and 2h. a.m. on 

 September 1. At noon on August 1 the moon is in Sagittarius 

 (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xri.), which she quits for Capri- 

 cornus at 10 P.M. on the 2nd. She remains in Capricornus until 



midnight on the 4th, and at that hour enters Aquarius. Her passage 

 through this last-named constellation occupies until 2h. a.m. on the 

 7th, and she then passes into Pisces (" The Seasons Pictured," plate 

 xxii.), in which gre.at straggling constellation she is travelling until 

 7h. 30m. A.M. on the 10th. She then arrives at the boundary of the 

 most northerly part of Cetus, and when she has traversed this, at 

 5 o'clock the next morning, she enters Aries (" The Seasons Pic- 

 tured," plate sxiii.). At 2h. 30m. A.M. on the 12th she passes out 

 of Aries into Taurus. Travelling through Taurus, we find her at 

 llh. P.M. on the 14th on the confines of the northern prolongation 

 of Orion. She passes through this in llj hours, and emerges in 

 Gemini. Her journey through Gemini is completed by 4h. A.M. on 

 the 17th, when she crosses into Cancer (" The Seasons Pictured," 

 plate xxiv.). Here she remains until 2h. 30m. in the afternoon of 

 the 18th, at which hour she enters Leo. She leaves Leo for Virgo 

 at midnight on the 20th (" The Seasons Pictured," plate sxv.) : .and 

 Virgo, in turn, for Libra at 9h. P.M. on the 23rd (" The Seasons 

 Pictured," plate xxvi.). The course of her journey over Libra brings 

 her, at 4h. 30m. P.M. on the 25th, to the western edge of the narrow 

 northern strip of Scorpio, through which she has passed by Ih. 30m. 

 next morning, and come out in Ophiuchus. At 6 P.M. on the 27th 

 she quits Ophiuchus for Sagittarius. She is travelling through 

 Sagittarius until 4h. A.M. on the 30th, and then leaves it and enters 

 Capricornus ("The Seasons Pictured," plate xxi.). She is still in 

 Capricornus at midnight on the 31st. 



An extraordinary mistake, or misprint, appears in "The Face of 

 the Sky for July," where the occultation of Aldebaran by the 

 moon, which really occurred at 3h. 16m. in the early morning of the 

 17th, is announced to happen in the afternoon I of that day; and 

 " bright sunshine " is printed for " bright twilight." 



<Bnv W^Wt Columiu 



By "Five of Clubs." 



MATHEWS ON WHIST. 



(Rearranged, partly rewritten, and occasionally corrected in 

 accordance with modern views.) 

 Play Second Hand — continued. 

 F you are strong in trumps, and have the Ace, King, 

 and two more of your right-hand adversary's lead, 

 there are two ways to play :^Either pass it the first 

 time, or else put on the Ace, and play the suit on to 

 force your partner. If weak in trumps put on the 

 Ace, but do not continue the suit. [In modern play 

 the King would be the right card to put on. More- 

 over, in some cases, you would not, when strong in 

 trumps, follow either of the courses here suggested, but play the 

 King and lead trumps. Even if weak in trumps, it would some- 

 times be well, with such command in one adversary's suit, to lead 

 trumps, after playing the King. Especially if your partner had 

 declared strength in another plain suit, while you had protection in 

 the third.] 



Holding Ace, Knave, ten, and a small card of the suit led by 

 your right-hand adversary, it is best in trumps to play the ten, the 

 small card in plain suits. For in trumps a good player with King, 

 Queen le.ads the lowest ; in other suits the King. Thus in the latter 

 case an honour is certainlj- .behind you [that is, either on your left or 

 witli your partner], and in whichever hand it may be, you can do no 

 good by putting on the ten. Py keeping the three together, you 

 make it impossible for your adversary to get one trick in the suit 

 [if your partner holds the honour, while the adversaries can make 

 but that trick if the one on your left holds it and returns trumps]. 

 [If, however, you have an established long suit, and no re-entering 

 card in plain suits, it is better to play the small card even in 

 trumps ; for this reason, that you thus have a better chance of making 

 the last trick in trumps and bringing in your long suit. It is to be 

 remembered that though the lead of a small trump is made by good 

 players from King, Queen, and others, it does not necessarily imply 

 that the trump leader holds both King and Queen, even though you 

 hold Ace, Knave, ten, and another. On the contrarj', it is rather 

 more probable that he does not than that he does.] 



There are situations where even good players differ. If a Queen 

 is laid on your right hand, and you have Ace or King, and two small 

 ones, you should certainly cover the Queen. But if you have Ace or 

 King, ten, and a small one, it is better to pass the trick, for after 

 p)assing you remain with the major tenace if your partner take the 

 trick with King or Ace, and the original leader cannot make a trick 

 in the suit. If you had covered, he must have made a trick (apart, 

 of course, from ruffing), as he would lie with minor tenace against 



