282 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[October 1, 1887. 



the line of intersection of the latitude-parallel c c' with the 

 plane aEa'E' ; and the points 7, /', thus determined are 

 clearly those we require. For only that part of the lati- 

 tude-parallel CC which lies on the nearer half-globe can be 

 visible, and the circle aEa'E' separates the visible from the 

 invisible hemisphere. 



Fig. 4 is added to show the appearance of a transparent 

 globe traced with latitude-parallels and longitude-circles, 

 and presented in the same way as fig. 2, which is also the 

 presentation dealt with in the constructions illustrated by 

 fig- 3. =_=^= 



Readers of Knowledge are requested to alter the words " It 

 is " at the beginning of the foot-note on p. 227 of the August 

 number into " Is it," altering the full stop after " folio " into 

 a note of interrogation. "Beuvolio" suggests in that note 

 the possibility that, after all, the passage regarded as un- 

 mistakably corrupt may be as Shakespeare wrote it, and 

 that Mrs. Quickly actually said, " his nose was as sharp as a 

 pen and a table of green fields." Put it the other way, says 

 " Benvolio," and it has as much sen.se in it as most of the 

 things said by Dame Quickly have : "his nose was a tablet 

 of green fields and as sharp as a pen." The reading, 

 " a babbled of green fields," would be better for a Desdemona 

 than a Dame Quickly. 



Another mistake, for which my writing was, I fear, 

 respon.sible, occurs near the end of the fourth section of the 

 August "Gossip," where "the fvmiliar Peter Williams" 

 replaces " the familiar Peter Wilkins." I know of no Peter 

 Williams, and therefore to me, at any rate, the name is not 

 familiar. Peter Robinson and Jack Robinson are as 

 familiar as Peter Wilkins, though not quite in the same 

 way, while Robinson Crusoe is as familiar in a very similar 

 fashion. But Peter Williams is as much out of the way as 

 Robertson Crusoe would be. 



I HAVE received from Mr. J. Fraser a copy of his pam- 

 phlet noticed at page 236, with a letter indicating the 

 author's belief that the notice is unfair. That the notice 

 is intentionally unfair, I can most emphatically deny, for 

 though I did not myself write it, I know the author, and 

 that he is incapable of the deliberate injustice imputed 

 to him. I had myself only glanced over Mr. Fraser's 

 pamphlet, and had come to the same conclusion as the 

 notice indicates, viz., that Mr. Fraser .suggests "beat" as 

 the true explanation of gravity, an idea which led me to 

 close the pamphlet with the remark, " That won't do." For 

 we know the rate at which heat travels, and this velocity is 

 quite insufiicient to account for the instantaneous trans- 

 mission of the action we call gravity, while also, though Mr. 

 Fraser may have conditioned that heat shall not act in the 

 proportion of sectional area, heat could not fulfil Mr. 

 Fraser's condition, but must act as the notice of his pam- 

 phlet said. If I can find time to peruse Mr. Fraser's 

 pamphlet (I use the word " peruse " here instead of " read " 

 of set purpose), and can find that he really does guai-d his 

 theory against the objections mentioned in the notice, I will 

 .state as much very willingly iu these columns. But, in the 

 meantime, I would beg Mr. Fraser to dismiss the notion 

 that he has been treated with wilful unfairness. 



I DO not know what particular form the explanation of 

 gravity took in Mr. Kedzie's book mentioned in the notice 

 of Mr. Fraser's, but, from the account, it is the old old 



explanation, according to which, particles travelling with 

 infinite velocity in all directions fall on bodies except where 

 shielded oflF by other bodies, and this again emphatically 

 will not do. If gravity is to be explained at all, it must be 

 by some form of energy transmitted from every particle of 

 evei'ybody's mass, with a rapidity incomparably exceeding 

 the velocity of light. 



* * * 

 Space compels me to keep " Gossip " within very narrow 

 limits this month. I shall invite the attention of readers of 

 Knowledge, however, to the announcement which appears 

 in slip form among the advertisements. It will be observed 

 that the book on astronomy there announced will be very 

 much larger and more fully illustrated, in proportion to its 

 price, than any book of the same class yet published. But 

 I can pi'omise that it will be larger still and more fully illus- 

 trate if an adequate number of subscribers should justify 

 the additional expense. I have long regar'ded it as a mere 

 farce, and an unfair one at that, to offer for 31s. 6d. a book 

 of only some 600 ordinary octavo pages, even though the name 

 of an observatory astronomer is on the title-page, who, if 

 earning his salary, cannot possibly have had time either for 

 the reading or for the independent researches necessary for the 

 production of an oi'iginal treatise on general astronomy. 



<Rebi>tos. 



Anything that reaches us from the pen of Dr. Geikie 

 must be good, and his last little work only emphasises this 

 fact. The Teaching of Geography (Macmillan, 2s.) is an 

 introductory essay prefacing a series of manuals in that 

 subject promised by that enterprising firm. The book is 

 intended directly for teachers, and only indirectly for the 

 pupil. It systematises in Professor Geikie's masterly way 

 the methods by which the subject may become a valuable 

 educational instrument. It is a work much needed ; whether 

 it will succeed is another question, which we should hesitate 

 to answer in the affirmative quite so readily. The great 

 majority of schoolmasters outside the class of elementary 

 teachers hardly know how to teach at all. As Dr. Abbott 

 observed recently, a brass plate, and a preliminary failure in 

 some other occu]3ation, with, perhaps, the easily obtained 

 but imposing letters M.C.P. or F.R.G.S., form to them a 

 suflicient stock-in-trade. Still, there are some teachers 

 really in earnest in their work, to whom geography is not 

 topography only, and we cordially invite them to peruse this 

 book. In skilful hands the subject may be made a capital 

 training for the young. The large class of young elementary 

 teachers studying at college and elsewhere how to do their 

 work will doubtless use the book in their course. It will 

 unquestionably improve their knowledge of method. 



Greek Verbs in a Fortnight, by John C^rey, B.A. 

 (Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Is. 6d.), is a fairly succe.ssful 

 attempt, by tabulation and generalisation, to shorten the 

 time usually wasted in learning the Greek verb. We think 

 it likely to be of use to older boys rather th.an to young 

 pupils. 



The Exercises in Word Formation and Derivation, by 

 Frank Ritchie, M.A. (Sonnenschein), if time would allow 

 of its use in schools, would infuse a little useful variety in 

 the English grammar lesson. Word-building is one of the 

 best mind-expanding processes, especially with young pupils. 

 They enter into it with immense interest, and retain much. 

 The exercises upon derivation from the Latin and Greek 

 would suit older boy.s who have begim the study of those 

 languages ; but for those who have not, we think time might 



