Oct. 10, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



303 



Jlfbiftofi!* 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



International Health Exhibition Handbooks : — " Athle- 

 tics," " Infectious Disease and its Prevention," " Diet 

 in Relation to Health and Work," "Healthy Nurseries 

 and Bedrooms," " Health in the Workshop," " Alcoholic 

 Drinks," " Healthy Furniture and Decoration," " A'^enti- 

 lation. Warming, and Lighting for Domestic Use," 

 "Accidental Injuries," "Dress, and its Relation to Health 

 and Climate," " Healthy and Unhealthy Houses in Town 

 and Country." (London: Wm. Clowes it Sons. 1884.) — 

 These handbooks form a continuation of that series of 

 remarkable shilling's-worths which we noticed on p. 13. 

 One and all excellently done, we may perhaps single 

 out such of them as INlessrs. Eassie & Field's " Healthy 

 and Unhealthy Houses," Mr. Cantlie's " Accidental 

 Injuries," and Mr. E. W. Godwin's "Dress," as pos- 

 sessing an interest which will survive when the Health 

 Exhibition itself has sunk into oblivion. We do not, how- 

 ever, desire to make invidious di.stinctions where all have 

 performed their work so well ; and the reader who takes an 

 interest in any of the subjects indicated in the list of titles 

 above may invest his shilling w ith the certainty that he 

 will get his money's worth for his money. 



Teclinological Examinations of the City a7id Guilds of 

 London Institute. (London : Gresham College. 188i.) — 

 From the report whose title heads this notice we observe 

 that out of 3,C35 candidates who presented themselves in 

 May last for examination in various branches of technology, 

 only 1,829 — or, as nearly as may be, one-half — succeeded in 

 passing. Moreover, we note that the percentage of failures 

 has risen from 37-5 in 1883 to 497 in 1884. The reasons 

 for this are set down fairly and candidly in the reports by 

 the various examiners. Want of .■■kill in drawing seems 

 to be a very fruitful source of "plucking" among the 

 -competitors. 2Ialgri: this, the institute seems to have done 

 good useful work, and had it only stuck to the loale in 

 which so much of that work has been accomplished and 

 devoted, the money so shamefully wasted (in the interests 

 ■of a jobbing clique) on the costly and inconvenient building 

 at Brompton, and to the endowment of technical education 

 at King's and University Colleges, its sphere of usefulness 

 might have been indefinitely extended. 



TI^. <£• A. K. Johnston's JVatural History Plates. (W. & 

 A. K. Johnston : Edinburgh and London.) — We have seen 

 nothing so far to excel, if, indeed, we have seen anything 

 to equal, these beautiful engravings, which are produced 

 of a large size for wall prints. The three before us, of the 

 elephant, camel, and domestic cat, respectively, are excel- 

 lent reproductions of the animals they pourtray ; the print 

 of the elephant, in particular, being really admirable. No 

 better way could be devised of teaching the rudiments of 

 zoology to children remote from menageries than that 

 afforded by such plates as these. 



ir. (t A. K. .Johnsto7is History Chart. (W. & A. K. 

 Johnston : Edinburgh and London.) — Here is another 

 remarkable essay in the way of boiling down history ! In 

 a table, or set of tables, extending over four sheets, the 

 student may see, almost at a glance, the leading facts in 

 the histories both of England and Scotland. Nay, he may 

 even familiarise himself with the personal aspects and 

 manners of the various sovereigns who reigned over these 

 countries from the time of the Norman Conquest ; both 

 as separate Kingdoms, and, subieqi ently, as an united 

 one ! 



THE FACE OF THE SKY. 



Feom Octobee IOtii to October 24th. 

 By F.R.A.S. 



SIGNS of activity in the shape of spots and faculae continue to 

 appear on the Sun, whicli sliould hence be examined by the 

 student daily. The night sky is portrayed on Map X. of " The Stars 

 in their Seasons." There will be minima of Algol (" The Stars in 

 their Seasons," Map I.) at Ih. 12m. in the early morning of the 

 18th, at 10 p m. on the 20th, and at 6h. 49m. p.m. on October 23. 

 A minimum of Mira Ceti, too (Map XII. of same work), may be 

 looked for on the 2Uh. Mercury is a morning star during the suc- 

 ceeding fortnight, and but indifferently placed for the observer. 

 A'enns is a morning star, too, shining brilliantly over the eastern 

 horizon before 2 a.m., and being still a very conspicuous object. 

 Mars is invisible, and Jupiter, as a morning star, does not rise until 

 an hour at which the ordinarj- amateur would scarcely care to 

 look for him. Saturn, though, rises between four and five minutes 

 past 10 o'clock to-night, and about 9h. 12m. p.m. at the end 

 of the fourteen days. Hence he may be fairly seen by mid- 

 night, and a beautiful spectacle he presents. He is a little above 

 Z Tauri (" The Stars in their Seasons," Map I.). In the eastern 

 confines of Taurus, too, Neptune may be picked up now, but 

 needs an equatoreal for that purpose. Uranua is invisible. The 

 Moon enters her last quarter at 2h. 29"2m. p.m. on the 11th, and 

 is new at 314 minutes after midnight on the 18th; so that 

 very little will be seen of her practically until the end of the fort- 

 night we are considering. Only one oceultation, at anything like a 

 convenient hour, will happen during that period : it is that of the 

 6th Tnag. star, A' Cancri, which will disappear at the moon's bright 

 limb at half-past twelve o'clock on the night of the 12th, at an angle 

 from her vertex of 345', and reappear at her dark limb 28min. 

 afterwards, at an angle of 281° from her vertex. The moon, situated 

 at noon to-day in the confines of Orion and Gemini, passes into the 

 latter constellation very shortly afterwards. She quits Gemini for 

 Cancer at 3 a.m. on the 12th, continuing in the last constellation 

 until 5 p.m. on the 13th. Then she travels into Leo, descending at 

 6 p.m., on the 14th, into Sextans, but re-emerging in Leo at 10 o'clock 

 the next morning. She finally quits Leo for Virgo at 11 a.m. on the 

 16th ; and it is not until 7 p.m., on the 19th, that she has completed 

 her journey across this great constellation and entered Libra. At 

 8 p.m., on the 21st, she leaves Libra for the narrow northern strip 

 of Scorpio, passing out of this into Ophiuchns at 7 o'clock the next 

 morning. At 5 a.m., on the 24th, she crosses into Sagittarius, and 

 there we leave her. 



WOLF'S COMET. 



THE following Ephemeris (if employed in conjunction with 

 either the "New Star Atlas" or the "Larger Star Atlas" 

 of the conductor of this journal) will enable the observer to follow 

 the Comet in its passage through the sky during the next twelve 

 days. It is slowly increasing in brightness : — 



At Berlin midnight : i.e., llh. 6m. 251s. p m. Greenwich 

 Mean Time. 



A REMAKK.iBLE discovery of topazes has been made in New South 

 Wales. A portion of a large bluish-green crystal, weighing several 

 pounds, found at Mudgee, is now in the colonial museum. Some 

 crystals, from two to three inches in length, have been found in 

 Uralia. One found at Gundagai weighs 11 oz. 5dwts., and one 

 from Gulgong weighs 18 oz. avoirdupois. 



