370 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Oct. 31, 1884. 



coantinj? his money, is the sun ; while the gold pieces that slip 

 through his fingers as he counts them are the golden sunshine. The 

 queen who sits in the dark kitchen, is the moon, and the honey 

 with which she regales herself is the moonlight. The industrious 

 maid, who is in the garden at work before the king — the sun — has 

 risen, is day dawn, and the clothes she hangs out are the clouds, 

 while the bird, who so tragically ends the song by ' nipping off her 

 nose,' is the hour of sunset. So we have the whole day, if not in a 

 nutshell, in a pie." 



Attituhes after Death.— On Sept. 12, 1G42, Cinq-Mars (Henri 

 d'Effiat, JIarquis of Cinq-Mars, Grand ficuyer of Franco) was 

 beheaded for high treason at Lyons. The official e.t:ecutioner 

 having broken his leg, the job was done by a day-labourer of the 

 town with a butcher's cleaver. He made Cinq-Mars kneel and 

 clasp the block, which was a substantial stump of a post, firmly in 

 his arms, and, bending his body down, placed him so that his neck 

 was well situated on the summit of the stump. The executioner 

 then went to his left side, drew his cleaver from a bag, and delivered 

 a blow which all but severed the head, leaving only some of the 

 skin of the throat, which was divided by a second blow, the execu- 

 tioner, for that purpose, laying hold of the head by the hair. Then 

 he threw the head on the scaffold, but it rolled off and fell to the 

 ground. It was remarked that between the two blows of the 

 chopper, the body, still remaining on its knees, rose stark up 

 against the block or post, and continued in that position until the 

 headsman with great difficulty removed the arms from the block, 

 to which they held the body as firmly attached as if they had been 

 coils of rope. — " Memoirea de FontraiUes." 



The Action ok Moonbeams. — The cases in which moonlight has 

 been imagined to cause blindness to persons sleeping in its beams, 

 so far as I have seen, always relates to exposure in the open air. 

 On bright moonb'ght nights there is great radiation, and conse- 

 quent chill of exposed parts. Possibly the light may stimulate 

 the eye, and make it more susceptible of injury from this cause. 

 It cannot be affirmed that moonlight is always found injurious to 

 open-air sleepers. For example, Mr. Washington Teesdale in- 

 forms me that, during many years of surveying in India, he was 

 in the habit of sleeping outside his tent or bungalow, often in full 

 moonlight, and never experienced injury from it. With regard to 

 the moon's action in promoting the decomposition of fish or meat, 

 the fact seems established that the exposed articles do spoil, but 

 the why must be a subject of hypothesis until accurate experiments 

 are made. Probably the cause of the mischief is the deposition of 

 dew containing spores of microferments. Clear skies occur when 

 the moon is out of the way, and the light of the moon might be 

 admitted to a bit of meat or fish and the dewfall excluded. A few 

 careful experiments suggested by these coincidences would eluci- 

 date the matter. 



An Ancient Tunnel. — The Governor of Samos, Abyssides 

 Pasha, has at last succeeded, after years of work, in uncovering 

 the entrances to a tnnnel of which Herodotus speaks with admira- 

 tion as the work of Eupalinos and Megaira, and which, according 

 to the same authority, was built during the tenth century b.c. The 

 tunnel, about 5,000 feet long, was intended to secure a supply of 

 fresh water to the old seaport town of Samos, and consists of three 

 parts. They are the tunnel proper, 5| feet high and 6 feet wide ; a 

 canal about 5 feet deep and nearly 3 feet wide, which runs in the 

 middle or on the side of the base of the tnnnel ; and the aqueduct 

 running in this canal. The aqueduct consists of earthen pipes, 

 each 2i feet long, 32 to 33 inches in circumference, the sides 

 averaging about Ih inch in thickness. Every other joint has a 

 hole, for what purpose has not yet been fully explained. 

 Mr. Stamatiades, a Greek arcbajologist, believes that they were 

 intended to facilitate the cleaning of the pipes, and to make 

 the flow of water easier. The canal is arched over, but twenty- 

 eight manholes were provided to admit the workmen who 

 were charged with cleaning and repairing the aqueduct. The tnnnel 

 is not quite straight, forming an elbow about 1,300 ft. from one of 

 the entrances. This elbow, according to Mr. Stamatiades, was 

 caused by a mistake in the calculations of tlie engineers, who had 

 none of the instruments used in tunnel-building nowadays. The 

 tunnel starts near a small water-course, which may have been quite 

 a stream in olden times, pierces the mountain Kastri, which was 

 formerly crowned by the fort Samos, and ends a few hundred yards 

 troni the old town of Samos, about 10 ft. below the surface. From 

 the mountain slope to the city, this subterranean aqueduct is pro- 

 fected by a massive stone structure, ending within the walls of the 

 present convent of St. John. The pi-eservation of this work — which 

 is truly wonderful, considering the imperfect mechanical resources 

 at the disposal of the builders — for nearly three thousand years is 

 probably due to the care taken by Eupalinos, who, in all cases 

 where the rock did not seem of sufficient firmness, lined the tunnel 

 with several layers of brick, running on the top into a peaked 

 arch. — Iron. 



a^uv Jnbrntors' Column. 



So great is the number of inventions now patented that many go' d 

 things are comparatively lo^t in the crowd. A siiccinct account, 

 therefore, iy an Expert, of all inventions of really popular interest 

 and utility must ie advantageous ioth to the puilic and the 

 Inventor, enabling persons to hear of inventions already desiderated 

 by them, and thus acting reciprocally as a stimulant om supply 

 and demand. 



A PORTABLE SANITAET BUNGALOW. 



At the late Medical Exhibition there was exhibited an interesting 

 and seemingly a good invention, known as the Portable Sanitary 

 Bungalow, for which some very important advantages are claimed. 

 In the construction, rows of dwarf pillars, standing on separate 

 stones, support a gridiron of creosoted balk girders, sustaining a 

 platform of elate slabs, or other material. Shallow grooves in this 

 receive the bottoms of the walls, formed likewise of slabs placed 

 edgewise, and strengthened by inside and outside skirting, screwed 

 together and into the floor. Similar mouldings above receive the 

 tops of the walls, form the cornices of the rooms, and act as hori- 

 zontal tie-rods. Others placed vertically divide the walls into 

 panels, and bind them down to the foundation; the ceilings are 

 wooden, the supporting joists form panels ; these can be adjusted 

 to the exigencies of the climate. Iron is need wherever practicable ; 

 the joints are secured by fish-plates, and by screwing home on a 

 stay wool-packing are made air-tight. The drainage goes into a 

 tank on wheels. It is claimed that this building is fixe-proof, as 

 there is nothing to burn, and it is damp-proof, being off the ground. 

 In like manner it is free from vermin, and if erected on leasehold 

 land does not revert to the freeholder ; it is also virtually ever- 

 lasting. The cost is stated to be very low. By increasing the 

 height of the supporting foundation pillars good storage room 

 can be obtained below. Further information may be had of the 

 inventor, Mr. W. V. Brock, 82, Warwick-gardens, Kensington, W. 



VENTILATED CAEKIAGES. 



We need no doctors to tell ns how much illness, and sometimes 

 with fatal result, is due to carriage draughts — a sort of penalty 

 generally exacted on those who keep iheir own vehicles. The fact 

 is, close carriages have no ventilation, and when shut up with tight 

 windows are nnwholesome to a degree, especially if full. Happily, 

 a remedy for this evil has at length been found in the shape of an 

 invention of Messrs. Hill & Sons, the well-known carriage-makers 

 of London, Dover, and Folkestone. The invention consists mainly 

 of a ventilating tube or shaft of a taper form, fixed immediately 

 under the roof, from front to back, the narrowest end being in front. 

 Along each side are arranged, obliquely, a series of apertures or air 

 passages, which are covered at each end with sheets of fine gauze 

 about an inch apart, so that each sheet being separated by a vacant 

 space, intercepts any sudden rush of air that might enter the shaft, 

 and, if not so interrupted, cause a down-draught ; at the same time 

 they allow the vitiated air to be drawn through the openings 

 without hindrance. A small protected opening is made in front of 

 the body of the carriage, and a larger one at the back, protected 

 by a specially constructed metal plate, so made as to prevent 

 wind or rain finding its way through the opening. By this arrange- 

 ment and the peculiar form of the shaft, on a forward movement 

 of the carriage, a current of fresh air passes through the shaft 

 from end to end, and by its velocity and action tends to form a 

 vacuum at each side aperture, causing the impure air to be sucked 

 or drawn through the aperture into the shaft, whence it is expelled by 

 the current of fresh air, through the widest or hind end of the shaft. 

 For admitting fresh air to take the place of that carried off, small 

 openings are made under the glass frames, concealed by curved 

 shields of ornamental design to protect the occupants from draught, 

 as well as to direct the fresh air against the surface of the windows 

 to prevent the vapour which generally accumulates on them when 

 the windows of a carriage are quite closed. Another great advan- 

 tage is that when closing the door with all the windows up, the air, 

 which would otherwise be compressed, escapes through the venti- 

 lating shaft, and so diminishes the concussion hitherto resulting 

 from the sudden shutting of the door. This applies more especially 

 to carriages where slam locks are used. The extra cost of this 

 admirable apparatus to a new carriage is very moderate, and it is 

 by no means large if it be required to apply it to existing carriages. 

 At Messrs. Hill & Sons establishment, 17, Baker-street, Fortman- 

 square, London, the system can be inspected. 



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