144 



• KNOWLEDGE 



[Acq. 15. 1884. 



and read it carefully over ; the words hannted me, and, on receiving 

 the printed paper of questions, the first words I again saw were, 

 "Then are the children free." Stl'den't. 



LUNAR RAINBOW. 



[I3G1] — The moon last night was quite a picture. When I left 

 this room at a few minntes past 10 o'clock, I soon came into a 

 street facing the moon ; which, being near tlie full, its brightness 

 naturally caused me to give it a look, when an exclamation of 

 intense admiration escaped me — "Oh! look at the moon!" This 

 was addressed to my wife, who replied, " I noticed it when I came 

 out." (This was an hour before.) So that it had lasted thus long, 

 then. As I did not know the bearings of the street (by compass) 

 and the thought coming into my mind that Mr. Proctor (despite 

 his churlishness relative to my ideas respecting the apparent size 

 of the moon and sun at setting*) shall know of this splendid lunar 

 rainbow — I turned to look for the polar star, and finding it (which 

 looking informed me that at least 270° of heaven's canopy was 

 clear of mistiness, while the 90° remaining, in the centre of which 

 was the moon, was the contrary), I turned mo round, and ascer- 

 tained that the moon was near southing, was, in fact, as nearly as 

 I could guess, about S.S. East. When wo stood on the bridge 

 crossing the "Foss" we had a long view of this "Picture," in the 

 water and in the sky. Perhaps you have seen in your time, on the 

 pulpits in churches, a representation of the sun, gilt — well, sir, the 

 colour of the circle which immediately surrounded the moon, and 

 which was nearly as broad as the disc of the moon itself, was a 

 rich colour ; while that of the moon was a lighter golden hue — this 

 golden circle gradually finished in an auroral tinge; then was 

 succeeded by another circle, nearly as broad, of a blue kind, such 

 as I cannot describe, too lovely in fact — this ending in a faint 

 orange-red, was succeeded by another circle of a fainter blue, which 

 seemed to have a reddish rim as well ; to use a simile, which is very 

 unsimilar, the whole had an appearance like to a St. Katherine's 

 wheel (fireworks) thns : 



RED 



Not being able to leave it yet awhile, I distinctly noticed that 

 the golden circle next the moon had a motion, of two kinds — 

 slightly bulging out more on the west side than the east side, and 

 the whole in motion from one side to the other, while this rim 

 nearest, being brightest, showed the other motion best, viz. : it 

 seemed to enlarge and contract just like the pupil of the eye acted 

 upon less or more light. AVhen I reached home, a few minutes 

 past 11 o'clock, it was still in its beauty. When I retired to bed, 

 after reading through the Birmingham Demonstration speeches, 1 

 moved the window-blind aside, and that part of the sky where the 

 moon was situated was as clear as the rest had been, and there 

 sailed the moon in her naked majesty, being divested of every 

 particle of the late lovely lunar rainbow. I give it this name in 

 ignorance of a better or more correct one. During the course of 

 many years I have several times witnessed this phenomenon, of a 

 larger but fainter kind; but never with the rainbow colours so 

 distinct and so plain. Walter Frederic Ci'rtis. 



MIND AND BRAIN. 



[1362] — In my brief remarks on the review you gave of Mr. 

 Biichner's "Force and Matter" I had certainly not the slightest 

 intention to prefer a charge of "obtuseness" against the writer, 

 but wished simply to give my own personal opinion, quod valeat, in 

 order to show that the idea, that thought is a mode of motion of 



* This is very courteous, soothing, and pleasing, and is probably 

 designed to put the Editor into a good humour. 



the molecules of the brain, is "conceivable" to certain minds. 

 without in any way setting up any dogmatic assertion that ir 

 " must " be so. The comparison of an organ cannot hold, since the 

 brain, or rather the molecules of the brain, like every other organ 

 of "living" organisms, is self-acting. An electric instrumen! 

 would be a better comparison : apply the current, or produce the 

 necessary surroundings, and it begins to act ; such, I think, is thi- 

 brain, apply the stimulus and the brain begins to act, producing 

 "thought." Huschke puts it in this way: — " There subsists the 

 same relation between the thought and the electrical vibiations of 

 the filaments of the brain as between colour and the vibration of 

 ether." Of course there are other "authorities" who maintain 

 that the mind it an entity domiciled in the brain, playing on it 

 like on an organ. — Yours truly, F". W. H. 



[Uuschke's illustration seems to mo to fail in this respect. 

 There can be no reasonable doubt that colour has its origin in the 

 different wave-lengths and rates of vibration in the ether; but. 

 these do not become colour until they have been transmitted 

 through the eye and optic nerve to the brain. Set up an electrical 

 vibration of the filaments of the brain, and try to express hope, 

 ratiocination, or will, in terms of such vibration. That it may bi> 

 the efficient and indispensable means of their production, is a very 

 very very different thing to the allegation that it is the feelings and 

 affections themselves. — Ed.~1 



WHAT ALES IT ? 

 [13G3] — Bottled ale or beer ^r^ll-vp when poured into a tumbler 

 gives more than enough of froth. A small piece of cheese in the 

 glass checks immediatehj the froth. — Why 'i or How ? — Boeeas. 



LETTERS RECEIVED AND SHORT ANSWERS. 

 .1. T. RouTiEDGE. I have not read Professor Balfovir Stewart'." 

 " Visible Universe," in the Contemporary Revitu-, and am hence 

 ignorant as to the nature of the arguments by which he sustains 

 his allegations. If, as you seem to imply, he simply asserts that 

 the waste — or seeming waste — of Energy .n the Universe affords 

 proof of the spiritual production of that Universe, than — be he 

 "a person of authority in the scientific world" or not — he is 

 talking nonsense. Jf we are going to admit the teleological 

 argument at all into the discussion of any fact of nature, 

 waste is evidence of absence of design and perfunctory 

 workmanship ; certainly not of prevision and adaptation of 

 means to ends. — F. M. Billings. Received. I have nothing 

 to add to my former reply. Mr. Clissold regards Swedenborg as 

 inspired. I am absolutely certain he was insane. We cannot argue 

 on common ground. — Beccabuxga kindly sends the address of the 

 Cremation Society for the benefit of "Kenius" (p. 101). Com- 

 munications should be addressed to W. Eassie, Esq., C.E., 11, 

 Argyle-street, Regent-street, London, W. My correspondent goes 

 on to complain of the non-appearance of articles on Evolution in 

 Knowledge. I fancied myself that Mr. Grant Allen's interesting 

 articles, one and all, illustrated different phases of Evolution, but 

 I suppose that I (in common with many thousands of readers) 

 was mistaken. — J. F. 0. takes exception to a statement on p. 7G 

 with reference to imprisonment for debt, and points out how the 

 most thoroughly dishonest debtors can, and do, under the existing 

 law, snap their fingers at their creditors. In fact, that, so far from 

 the unfortunate debtor being treated as a criminal, the scoundrel 

 almost systematically escapes. — H. Siggers. Everything depends 

 upon the branch of astronomy to which you propose to devote yoar- 

 self. Ball's is, in every respect, an excellent book. — Major Gas- 

 lOYXE. The sole official statement of the results obtained from the 

 last Transit of Venns which has been so far issued, is that of the 

 Belgian ones by M. Houzeau, in Tome V. of the " Annales de 

 I'Obsenatoire Royal de Bruxelles" for 1884. I need scarcely say 

 that no English results have been yet published. May 1 invite yotir 

 attention to the concluding sentence (in capital letters) of those which 

 head the Correspondence column.— H. P. S. Not easy to introduce 

 into a scientific journal. — M. J. C, having apparently heard of Fon- 

 tenelle's treatise for the first time through these columns, took it 

 up at random from among a lot of old books recently found in a 

 cupboard at a friend's house. — J. Pax.max. You will see from 

 p. 103 that Mr. Proctor had started for America at the date for 

 which your invitation was issued. — Wm. Hakrisox. Received with 

 thanks. — Ignoramus. 1. There are three primary colours, red, 

 green, and violet. 2. A com])lementary colour is that which when 

 mixed with the one to which it is complementary gives white light. 

 Blue and yellow are complementai-y colours, so are red and greenish- 

 blue, orange and what is called cyan-blue, and greenish-yellow and 

 violet. The complementary colour to pure green is purple. Note 

 especially that I am speaking of light of different colours, not of 

 pigments. The blue and yellow of our paint-boxes, for example. 



