510 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 19, 1884, 



Vermes, and tbe Arthropoda are described and illustrated 

 with a mass of beautiful and artistic woodcuts, of which no 

 less than 491 adorn the present instalment of tbe woik. 

 This volume is alike creditable to its author, translator, 

 and publisher, who seem to have vied with each other in 

 rendering it not only valuable but attractive. 



A BiblioQrapliy, Guide,, and Index to Climate. By 

 Alexander Ramsay, F.G.S. (London: W. Swan Sonnen- 

 schein k Co. 1884.) — To the meteorologist who may wish 

 to learn what has been written on the subject of climate, 

 Mr. Ramsey's thick volume will be found to possess value, 

 containing, as it does, a good deal of information. With 

 reference to what has been denominated " Sunspottery," 

 however, its author seems to have confined his search for 

 authorities to a great extent to our contemporary Nature, 

 and to have avoided or ignored any and every scientific 

 periodical which has shown the fallacy of a hypothesis that 

 has been vigorously advocated form merely interested and 

 pecuniary motives. Any one confined to the list of the 

 literature of this subject in the volume before us, might 

 well conceive that the connection between sunspots and the 

 weather has been irrefragably established, instead of being 

 repudiated by the very Meteorological Department itself ! 



Scientific Romances. No. 1 .• What is the Fourth 

 Dimension ? By C. H. Hinton, B.A. (London : W. 

 Swan Sonnenschein it Co. 1884.) — It was only on p. 449 

 that we reviewed the romance of " Flatland," and here, by 

 a " coincidence " as odd as the majority of those which 

 have recently appeared in our Corre.spondence columns, we 

 have Mr. Hinton essaying a reply to the question. What is 

 the Fourth Dimension 1 Prior to the perusal of his excel- 

 lent little tract we should hardly have fancied it possible 

 for the discussion of so purely an abstract geometrical 

 question as this to have been made so i-eally interesting as 

 our author has contrived to make it. So far from being (as 

 might, a priori, have been anticipated) dry or dull reading, 

 Mr. Hinton's small pamphlet will arrest the reader's atten- 

 tion at once, and we venture to predict that any one who, 

 being impressed with the idea that space can only possibly 

 possess the attributes of length, breadth, and height or 

 thickness, will take that pamphlet up, will scarcely lay it 

 down until ho has read it to the last page. 



First Lessons in EngUsh Grammar. By S. E. GuERlKi. 

 (London : Wyman & Sons. 1884.) — If it be possible to 

 make grammar pleasing and attractive to children, Mr. 

 Guerini has certainly succeeded in doing so. The elemen- 

 tary rules are stated in a plain and simple manner, and the 

 examples are precisely of the kind to arrest the learner's 

 attention. Our author shows his wisdom in asking his 

 pupils to parse such sentences as " this pig went to market," 

 or " he put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum, and said 

 what a good boy am I," rather than the long-winded 

 phrases by which small incipient grammarians are usually 

 scared from their subject. 



We have, too, on our table, from Messis. Cassell it Co., 

 the Book of JJealth, to Part VIII. of which we would 

 invite especial attention, containing, as it does, the begin- 

 ning of a series of papers by Dr. Crichton Browne on 

 " Education and the Nervous System." Some recent reve- 

 lations iu the matter of over-pressure in Board Schools 

 confer notable interest upon Dr. Browne's essay just now. 

 CasseU's Foptdar Gardening, CasseU's Household Guide, 

 the Countries of the World, the Franco-German War, the 

 Library of English Literature, and European Butterflies 

 and Moths. Also the American Naturalist, Ciel et Terre, 

 Bradstreet's, the .Journal of F.otany (with a life-like photo- 

 graph and biography of the late George Bentham, F.R.S ), 

 Society, the Tricyclist, and Night and Morning. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY. 



Fbom December 19th, 1884, to Jaxcaey 2nd, 1885. 

 By F.E.A.S. 



LOVt down as the Snn now is, and struggling throngh the haze 

 of the winter horizon, he may jet be examined whenever it 

 is sufficiently clear for spots and facala;. The night sky will be 

 found delineated in Map XII. of the " Stars in their Seasons." 

 Mercury is an evening star, but is much too low down, even when 

 on the meridian, to be fairly v.'siblo. Venus, slowly diminishing in 

 lustre and getting into a worse and worse position for the observer, 

 continues to be a morning star. Mars is invisible. Jupiter rises 

 a little before 9h. 40m. to-night, and about 8h. 43m. p.m. on the 

 2nd of next January. Hence he is becoming visible daring all the 

 later part of tbe working hours of the night. He is almost due 

 east of p Leonis. To-night, 12m. after midnight, his 1st Satellite 

 will reappear from occnltation, as will Satellite II., at 12h. 29m. 

 p.m. On the 22nd the shadow of Satellite IV. will enter on to 

 his disc at lib. -Wm. p.m. It will not pas.s off until haU-past 

 four o'clock the next morning. The next phenomenon happening 

 at a convenient hour for the amateur is the eclipse of Satellite II. 

 at 9h. 50m. 27s. p.m. on the 26th; but Jupiter will be very 

 near the horizon. Later on the same night Satellite I. will b«> 

 eclipsed at lOh. 39m. 83. On the 27th the shadow of Satellite I. 

 will leave Jupiter's disc at lOh. 10m. ; the satellite casting 

 it following it at lib. 14m. p.m. On the 28th the egress 

 of Satellite II. will happen at 9h. Zira. p.m. ; but again 

 Jupiter will be very low down. Afterwards Satellite III. 

 will emerge from behind the body of the planet at llh. 26m. p.m. 

 Satellite IV. will reappear from occultation 29 minutes after mid- 

 night on the 31st. Finally, on the night of Jan. 2, 1885, Satel- 

 lite II. will be eclipsed at 12h. 26m. 34s., and Satellite I. a little 

 later, at 12h. 32m. 10s. Saturn is now visible all night long, and 

 afEords an all-repaying spectacle, alike to the observer with the 

 moderate telescope and to the possessor of the largest and most 

 powerful instrument. Ho continues to travel in a westerly direc- 

 tion away from J Tauri. Uranus is invisible. Neptune may be 

 fished for in the blank region to the south-east of c and ? Arietig. 

 The Moon enters her first quarter at Ih. 21m. 2b. in the afternoon 

 of the 25th, and will be full at 263 minutes past 5 o'clock in the 

 early morning of Jan. 1, 1685. Five occnltations of stars will 

 occur at convenient hours during the next fortnight. On the 23rd, 

 B.A.C. 798G, a star of the Gth magnitude, will disappear at the 

 Moon's dark limb at 71i. 52m. p.m., at a vertical angle of 131°; 

 reappearing at her bright limb at 8h. 58m. p.m., at an angle from 

 her vertex of 339°. On the 29th, 63 Tauri, a 6th mag. star, will 

 disappear at the dark limb of the Moon at 8h. Ziva. p m., at an 

 angle of 77° from her vertex. It will reappear from behind 

 her bright limb at 9h. 45m. p.m., at a vertical angle of 287°. A 

 little later the Gtth mag. star B.A.C. 1351 will disappear at 

 the dark limb at 8h. 40m., at an angle of 46° from the vertex of the 

 Moon, reappearing at her bright limb at 9h. 36m. p.m., at a vertical 

 angle of 317°. On the 30th, 115 Tauri, of the 6th mag., will dis- 

 appear at 8h. 27m. p.m., at the Moon's dark limb, at a vertical angle 

 of 77°. It will reappear at her bright limb at 9h. 34m. p.m. at an 

 angle of 245° from her vertex. Lastly, on January 2, 1885, B.A.C. 

 2872, a 6tli mag. star, will disappear at the bright limb at 7h. 10m. 

 p.m., at an angle from her vertex of 344' ; reappearing at 7h. 36m. 

 p.m. at her dark limb at a vertical angle of 283°. The Moon, 

 which is in Sagittarius when our notes begin, passes into Capri- 

 corntis at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. This she quits at 4h. a.m. 

 on the 21st for Aquarius, across which she is travelling until 

 6h. am. on the 2-lth, when she enters Pisces. It is 8h. a.m. on the 

 27th, when, having traversed this great constellation, she crosses 

 into Aries, which she quits at 10 o'clock the next night for 

 Taurus. 'Travelling through Tatirus,'she arrives at 6h. 30m. a.m. 

 on the 31st, on the confines of the northern strip of Orion. She 

 traverses this in between 10 and 11 hours, and emerges in Gemini. 

 At 6h. a.m., on January 6, she leaves Gemini for Cancer, through 

 which constellation she is still passing when our notes terminate. 



We have received a copy of Messrs. King, Mendham, k Co.'s 

 new and reduced ]>rice-list of electric apparattis, which is the 

 largest, and probably the best, list ever published, treating exclusively 

 of electric apparatus. In it will be found descriptions of batteries 

 used, {ill kinds of experimental apparatus, including an improved 

 pattern of the Wimshurst Influence Machine, and the firm's new 

 and useful Standard Ohm Coil. Parts of apparatus for amateurs' 

 use, and a revised wire table, giving the resistance and weight of 

 copper and German silver wires, form special features of the Cata- 

 logue, as well as a section at the end giving information as to 

 electrical terms, proper arrangement of batteries, and formula; for 

 winding bobbins, A'c. 



