346 



• KNOWLEDGE 



[Oct. 24, 1884. 



EfbittDS* 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE 



The A Ipiiic Winter Cure. With notes on Davos Platz, 

 Wiesen, St. Moritz, and the Maloja. By A. T. Tucker 

 Wise, M.D,, L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S., l-o. (London : Bailliere, 

 Tindall, it Cox. 1884.)— Within the memory of a very 

 large proportion of the readers of these lines, consumptive 

 patients were invariably dispatched to a warm climate for 

 the relief or cure of the fell disease with which they were 

 attacked. Now the pendulum has swung to the opposite 

 extremity of the arc, and intense dry cold appears to be 

 the latest remedy for phthisis. Dr. Wise's book is a guide 

 to a few winter resorts in the Engadine, and he decides in 

 favour of the Maloja as the most salubrious spot, and that 

 furnished with the greatest number of conveniences and 

 appliances for the patient afflicted with incipient con- 

 sumption. He gives exhaustive meteorological details in 

 connection with this locality, and explicit directions for 

 getting there. The sufferer from incipient phthisis who is 

 prepared to face an occasional minimum temperature of 

 7-5 Fah. may consult his little book with advantage. 



In the Watches of the Night. By Mrs. Horace Dobell. 

 Vol. III. (London : Remington & Co., 1884.)— Since the 

 publication of the second volume of verses, which we 

 reviewed on p. 75, Mrs. Dobell (like the woman in Mark) 

 seems to have "nothing bettered, but rather grown worse." 

 Opening her third volume, as we did it-i predecessor, abso- 

 lutely at random, the first words our eyes light upon are 

 these : — 



The Blue Moon. 



Oh, yellow moon, of whom our poets sang, 

 Hast thou, then, altered thy fair face of old ? 



Now as a cheese in a pink sky to hang ; 



A Stilton cheese — all covered with bine mould. 



This may be poetry, but, for the life of us, we cannot 

 discern it. 



The Art of Solving Problems in Higher Arithmetic. 

 By Rev. J. Hunter, M.A. (London : Longmans, Green, 

 &Co., 1884.)— In this very well-executed work Mr. Hunter 

 explains and illustrates various devices applicable to the 

 solution of the more intricate types of arithmetical problems : 

 artifices, of course, akin to those by which algebraical 

 equations are solved. His book may be commended to all 

 who wish to work questions in Higlier Arithmetic at once 

 with intelligence and facility. 



Leaves from my Note Book. By Thomas Allen Reed. 

 (London : R Pitman. 1884.) — This is a history of Mr. 

 Reed's own life as a reporter, printed in reporting phono- 

 graphy, beneath which apjiears a verbatim transcrijit in 

 " language nnderstanded of the people." One catches 

 something of the author's enthusiasm for his art from its 

 perusal. 



We have also on our table Society, The Medical Press 

 and Circular, The American Naturalist, The Journal of 

 Botany, Bradstreefs, The Raihvay Review, The American 

 Drugyist, The Gardening World (a new and, apparently, 

 excellent paper), The Tricyclist ; from Messrs. Cassell i Co , 

 An Old Testament Commentary, by the Bishop of Gloucester 

 and Bristol, European Butterflies and Moths, History of the 

 Franco-German War, The Library of English Literature, 

 The Countries of the World, Cassell's Household Guide, 

 Cassell's Popular Gardening, and The Book of Health. Also 

 The Hindu Excelsior Magazine, The Church of England 

 Temperance Chronicle, and a Catalogue of the Exhibits from 

 the Department of Education of Japan. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY. 



Feom Octoeee 24th to November 7th. 



By F.R.A.S. 



THE student will not neglect his daily watch on the Sun for 

 spots, faculae, &e. Maps X. and XI. of "The .Stars in their 

 Seasons " may be consulted for the configuration of the night sky. 

 Mercury is a morning star during the succeeding fortnight, but is 

 approaching the Sun and getting into a bad position for the 

 observer. In fact, he comes into superior conjunction at 8 o'clock 

 at night on November 4. Venns is a morning star, too, and a 

 brilliant object before sunrise. Mars is invisible, but Jnpiter is 

 coming into view now in the east in the early morning, rising about 

 56 minutes after midnight to-night, and about a quarter past twelve 

 o'clock on the night of November 7. No phenomena of his satellites 

 occur at anything like convenient hours for the ordinary amateur 

 during the next fourteen days. Saturn is visible during all the 

 later working hours of the night, and is in every respect a splendid 

 object now. He is, as stated a fortnight ago, still a little above 

 J Tauri, which he is approaching. Uranus has left ns for the 

 season. Neptune has scarcely moved perceptibly from the position 

 in which we left him. The Moon enters her first quarter at 

 •th. 54'4m. a.m. on the 27th, and will be full on November 3 

 at 8h. 37.8m. a.m. No less than eight occnltations of stars 

 will happen at convenient hours during the period covered 

 by these notes, so that the juvenile or incipient astronomer 

 who possesses a telescope has a treat in store for him. On 

 October 27th the 6th mag. star 8 Aquarii will disappear at the 

 moon's dark limb at 8h. ^Im. p.m. at an angle of 109° from her 

 vertex, to reappear at her bright limb at 9h. oOm. p.m. at a vertical 

 angle of 343°. On the 30th, 11 Piscium, a 6^ mag. star, will 

 disappear at the dark limb of the moon at 7h. 26m. p.m., at a 

 vertical angle of 120", reappearing at her bright limb at 8h. 37m., 

 at an angle of 274'' from her vertex. Later on on the same night, 

 at lOh. 27m., 14 Piscium, a 6th mag. star, will disappear at 

 the moon's dark limb, at an angle from her vertex of 152°, and 

 reappear at her bright limb at lib. 35m. p.m. at a vertical angle of 

 302°. On November 4 63 Tauri, of the 6th mag., will disappear 

 at the moon's bright limb at 9h. 40m. p.m., at a vertical angle 

 of 66^ reappearing at her dark limb at lOh. 44m. p.m., at an 

 angle from her vertex of 2-16', two minutes after the occultatiou 

 of 63 Tauri (i.e., at 9h. 42m. on the same night; the 6i mag. 

 star B.A.C. 1351 will disappear at the bright limb at an angle 

 of 3G° from the vertex of the moon, reappearing at her dark 

 limb at lOh. 3Sm. p.m., at an angle from her vertex of 278° 

 On November o, 115 Tauri, a 6th mag. star, will disappear at the 

 Moon's bright limb at lOh. 2m. p.m., at an angle of 101' from her 

 vertex, and will reappear at her dark limb, at a vertical angle of 

 194°, at lOh. -lem. p.m. Lastly, on November 7, 68 Geminorum, a 

 star of the SJth mag., will disappear at the bright limb of the 

 Moon at llh. 14m. p.m. at an angle of 35° from her vertex, to re- 

 appear at her dark limb at 12h. 14m. p.m., at a vertical angle of 

 237°. The Moon in Sagittarius all day to-day, to-morrow, and until 

 6h. 30m. p.m. on October 20, when she enters Capricomus. This 

 she crosses by noon on the 27th, and passes into Aquarius. She 

 continues in Aquarius until 10 a.m. on the 30th, when she enters 

 Pisces, her passage across which great constellation is not com- 

 pleted until 11 a.m. on November 2. She then passes into Aries, 

 which it takes her until midnight of the 3rd to cross. Entering 

 Taurus at this hour, she travels through it until 9 a.m. on the 6th, 

 entering at that hour the narrow northern strip of Orion. Leaving 

 this at 8 o'clock the same night, she passes into Gemini, in which 

 constellation she still remains when these notes terminate. 



THE ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. 



DR. WILSON writes from Chester: — "In Chester, eclipse on 

 Oct. 4 was different from any I ever witnessed. The 

 moon's brightness and light, which were specially clear, were not 

 sensibly diminished during the time she was in penumbra, but in 

 umbra she was as effectually obscured the whole time, as if blotted 

 out of existence, although the sky was quite clear, and on emergence 

 into penumbra she shone out again with full brilliance. But 

 at Broxton, only about twelve miles S.S.E. from Chester, she was 

 distinctly seen of the usual copper colour all through the umbra. 

 A brilliant meteor, of greenish colour, was seen here last night 

 (Oct. 12) in N.W. at 10.30 p.m." 



Dating from Worthinff, Mr. Ernest Overington says : — " I com- 

 menced observations about half an hour before the first contact 

 with the shadow, and continued them up to half-past eleven. Dur- 

 ing the first part of the partial phase, the part of the moon in the 

 shadow was faintly visible in my instrument (a three-inch achro- 



