314 



► KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Oct. 17, 1884. 



tell him that one day Edwin might be more to her than a 

 brother, she would not have rejected the thought, though 

 her own heart might say nay to it. Doubtless there was a 

 reference to some such thought when Mr. Grewgioua asked 

 why she had not written to him. " Poor, poor Eddy ! " 

 from her meant that her sudden resolution had no relation 

 to Edwin's love ; and, " Ab, poor fellow, poor fellow ! " 

 from Mr. Grewgious was the natural answer to what her 

 sorrowful words implied, for he, too, had loved one so like 

 Kosa that he had just mistaken Rosa for her (" I thought 

 you were your mother "), and loved without hope, like 

 Edwin. 



And then she goes on, without further question from Mr. 

 Grewgious, to say why she has suddenly come to him. " His 

 uncle" (the uncle of the living Edwin you are sad for) 

 " has made love to me. I cannot bear it. I shudder with 

 horror of him, and I have come to you to protect me and 

 all of us from him, if you will 1 " Not, " if you can." She 

 knows he can, for she knows he can at any moment an- 

 nounce Edwin Drood to be alive. But, " if you toiU." 

 And Mr. Grewgious makes no pretence of want of j>ower to 

 save Rosa and all of them. " I will," he says. " Damn 

 him ! 



" Confonnd hia politics. 



Frustrate his knavish tricks, 



On Thee his hopes to fix — 



Damn him again " 



(The whole of this scene between Rosa and Grewgious is 

 worthy of Dickens's very best days, for quiet humour and 

 pathos, fun and feeling ) 



He is not even in a hurry to learn further particulars 

 about Jasper's threats, so sure is he that he holds him 

 safely. After the extraordinary outburst, in which he 

 shows at once his detestation of Jasper and his contempt 

 for the villain's plots, we have the laughable talk about 

 Bazzard. Most certainly Dickens does not wish us to sup- 

 pose tliat change of employment from clerkly duties to 

 detective work (though no doubt Bazzard is employed in 

 detective work) has suddenly changed the character of 

 Bazzard. Throughout the talk with Rosa (" Let's talk," 

 says Grewgious, quaintly) Bazzard is presented as the selfish, 

 conceited dolt he had shown himself during the conversation 

 with Edwin. 



Then, after three pages of talk, Grewgious says, " And 

 now, my dear, if you are not too tired to tell me more of 

 what passed to day — but only if you feel quite able — able " 

 [observe how Dickens emphasizes Grewgious's coolness 

 about Rosa's news] " I should be glad to hear it. I may 

 digest it the better if I sleep on it to-night." As she gives 

 the account, it is to be noticed that Mr. Grewgious pays 

 special attention to the part relating to Helena and Neville, 

 which parts he " begged to be told a second time." He 

 thanks her, takes her to the open window, showing her 

 where Neville and Helena live " (and showing the attentive 

 reader that, at the beginning of the scene, when Rosa 

 entered, he had been keeping watch on them), and in re- 

 sponse to her very natural request that on the morrow she 

 might go to Helena, answers, doubtfully, " I should like to 

 sleep on that question to-night." This last point is note- 

 worthy, for it shows how largely the thought of the Land- 

 lesses enters into the plans of Mr. Grewgious — which are 

 those of Edwin Drood — for bringing Jasper to a very bitter 

 reckoning. 



(To he continued.) 



The International Prime Meridian Conference re-assembled on 

 Monday, and adopted a resolution in favour of Greenwich as the 

 .standard meridian. The representatives of France and Brazil did 

 not vote, and the San Domingo Delegate voted against the 

 resolution. 



THE EARTH'S SHAPE AND MOTIONS. 



By Richard A Proctor. 



CHAPTER v.— THE EARTH'S ROTATION. 



I HAVE often been asked what is the most striking and 

 convincing proof of the earth's rotation. My answer 

 has always been — the earth's revolution. The fact that the 

 earth revolves round the sun is founded on much stronger 

 evidence than any we have respecting the earth's rotation, 

 considered separately. If there is one fact in the whole 

 range of science which has been more completely demon- 

 strated than any other, it is that of the earth's revolution. 

 Now, accepting that fact, we are forced to accept with it 

 the earth's rotation, because it is obviously absurd to sup- 

 pose that while the earth revolves in an enormous orbit 

 around the sun once in every year, the whole solar system, 

 including the sun himself, revolves round the earth once in 

 every day. 



But the various facts of astronomy are so interwoven, 

 that one is compelled, whatever order one may select for 

 exhibiting them, to present some first, which in reality owe 

 their establishment to others that must be dealt with later. 

 I could not conveniently deal with the earth's revolution 

 before considering her rotation, because before I consider 

 those motions of the sun and planets which establish the 

 fact of the earth's revolution, I must set apart, so to speak, 

 the motions due to the earth's rotation. 



Fortunately, however, there are many direct evidences 

 of the earth's rotation, which, while not so striking as that 

 founded on her revolution, are yet sufiiciently convincing 

 when rightly apprehended. These proofs are : — First, the 

 diurnal motion of the heavens ; secondly, the varying effects 

 of gravity ; thirdly, observed peculiarities in the descent 

 of bodies from great heights ; fourthly, observed pecu- 

 liarities in the motion of a free pendulum ; fifthly, experi- 

 ments with the gyroscope ; sixthly, precession and nutation ; 

 and lastly, the rotation of the planets. I shall take these 

 proofs in their order, dealing with them at greater or less 

 length, according as their importance may seem to warrant 



First, then, as respects the diurnal motion of the 

 heavens : — We have seen what the natvire of this motion 

 is. It is perfectly regular for the fixed stars, slightly 

 variable for the planets, the sun, and the moon ; but un- 

 doubtedly, so far as the question of the earth's rotation is 

 concerned, these slight irregularities may be neglected. 

 We have only to consider that regular and persistent rota- 

 tion which the stellar motions present to us, and to in- 

 quire whether it is more probable that the earth rotates 

 from west to east, within the sphere of the fixed stars, or 

 that the sphere of the fixed stars rotates from east to west 

 around the earth. 



Now, in the first place, we have proved that our earth 

 really is a sphere, whereas, though we speak of the sphere 

 of the fixed stars, we have no knowledge at all what the 

 actual figure of the sidereal system may be. So, in so far 

 as sphericity is suggestive of rotation, we have far better 

 reason for believing that the earth rotates than that the 

 stars do. But, secondly, we have proved that the earth is 

 very small indeed compared with the distances which 

 separate her from the fixed stars. So that as far as that 

 explanation is more probable which accounts for observed 

 appearances by the smallest expenditure of motion, we 

 again have much better reason for believing that the earth 

 moves within the star system, and not the star system 

 around the earth. And, thirdly, we know that the earth 

 is hanging suspended in space, not attached at any part 

 of its surface to any other object, and therefore free to 

 rotate. We may note also in passing that the minutest 



I 



