521 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Dec. 26, 1884. 



condemned by agriculturists; but we think that most of 

 such observations are founded upon an iraperfeot knowledge 

 of the process*, and its slovenly application in experiment. 

 Thus, the ashes must be deprived of their associated par- 

 ticles of cinders, for the latter favour deoompositiou and 

 are injurious to plants in a manure. The analyses of 

 various samples of coal-ash, on tlie c ntrary, show that they 

 are (^f great value in the enrichment of the soil. Dr. 

 Stockhardt, in his address on the " Chemistry of Agricul- 

 ture," says : — " Notwithstanding that this ash is frequently 

 so little valued as to be thrown away, it deserves to be 

 made use of in agriculture, in the first place because it 

 contains, besides small quantities of alkalies, lime and 

 sulphuric acid (gypsum), consequently direct sustenance 

 for plants ; in the second place, because from the same 

 circumstance, as also from the clay it contains, it has the 

 power to deprive putrefying substances of their odour, and 

 to fix their ammonia, so that it cannot evaporate." This is 

 practically substantiated by the evidence given some time 

 ago in the Quarterly Review, as follows : — 



A correspondent of the Paria Journal of Agriculture, seeing the 

 amount of ashes thrown away annually, and considering that Sir 

 Humphrey Davy and other chemists have found by analysis that 

 ashes contain many substances which contribute to vegetable life 

 — such as sulphate of potash and lime, alumina, and silica — has 

 made some interesting experiments. In the autumn, he filled three 

 flower-pots with coal-ashes, without any admixture vrith any other 

 substaiace ; in the one pot he sowed wheat, in the other oats, and 

 iz the third strawberry-seeds. The pots were then placed in a 

 garden, and left to themselves. In the month of March the plants 

 were in a very thriving condition ; and in April were luxuriant. 

 The wheat and oats ripened perfectly, the grains being large and 

 heavy, and the straw, in the case of the wheat, fifty-five inches, and 

 that of the oats forty-three inches high. The strawberry-plants 

 continued to flourish until October, when it was necessary to trans- 

 plant them, and, after being planted ont on the open ground, they 

 succeeded so well that the writer saya they surpassed all other 

 seedlings. 



, Thus we find that there are methods open to us whereby, 

 with a decreased aggregate expenditure, we are enabled to 

 free our houses from their greatest source of evil, the 

 sewers, and, in doing so prevent the pollution of rivers 

 and other water-supplies, upon which the hi-alth of the 

 community so largely depends ; and the best of all this is, 

 that it can be accomplished \ty the utilisation of refuse 

 products In the instance of new houses, not already 

 provided with the water-closet system, we would strongly 

 recommend the builder to adopt the provisions we have 

 described, and thus to save himself a heavy outlay, and at 

 the same timn help to commute the sufferings of the people 

 from an already too-polluted conditiou of things. 



"The Pern Portfolio" Volume.— The Society for Promoting 

 Christian Knowledije will publish, as a Christmas-book, the com- 

 pleted volume of Mr. Francis (Jeorge Heath's " Fern Portfolio," 

 which will ificlude upwards of sixty figures, life size, coloured from 

 nature, and comprising all the species of ferns found in the British 

 Islands. 



The Anti-Tivisectionists.— It is hardly necessary for us to say 

 that the anti-vivisectionists and auti-vaccinationisis do not stop 

 at equivocation, or even at deliberate lying, in their desire to in- 

 fluence public opinion. Two of them have, wo are glad to see 

 been brought to book. One Ernst Weber has recently been sen- 

 tenced to eight weeks' imprisonment for having, in the journal of 

 which he is ediior, published, under the heading " Vivisection of a 

 Man," a statement that about eight years ago a Jewish physician 

 had made a po»t-mortem examination of a man while only ap- 

 parently dead, and therefore had performed vivisection on him. 

 Dr. I'elz, who had performed tlio poat-mcirtem in question, sum- 

 moned bim before a court of justice with the above result. A 

 clergym.an of Miinater also, who was the author of the article, was 

 sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment.— ifedtca! Press and Circular. 



FIRST STAR LESSONS. 



By Richard A. Peoctor. 



THE constellations included in the set of maps are 

 numbered throughout as follows : — 



22. Carreer, the Crab (the 

 cluster is the Beehive). 



23. Leo, the Lion (a, Regulus). 



24. T'iri;o, the Virgin (o, Spica) . 



25. Libra, the Scales. 



26. Ophiuchus, the Serpent 

 Holder. 



27. Aquila,theEagle(a,Altair). 



28. Delphinus, the Dolphin. 



29. ./iiji<an'ii«, the Water Carrier. 



30. Pisces, the Fishes. 

 ! 31. Cetu.<!, the Sea Monster (o, 



Mira, remarkable va- 

 riable). 



32. Erida/ius, the River. 



33. Orion, the Giant Hunter 

 (a, Betelgeux ; /3, Rigel). 



34. Canis Minor, the Lesser Doj 

 (a, Procyon). 



35. Hydra, the Sea Serpent (a, 

 Alphard). 



36. Crater, the Cup (a, Alices). 



37. Corvus, the Crow. 



38. Scorpio, the Scorpion (a, 

 .4 n tares). 



39. Sagittarius, the Archer. 



40. Capricornus, the Sea Goat. 



41. Piscis Australis, the Sou- 

 thern Fish (a, Fomal- 

 haut). 



42. Lepus, the Hare. 



43. Columba, the Dove. 



44. Canis Major, the Oreaier 

 Dog (o, Sirius). 



45. Argo, the Ship. 



1. Ursa Miner, the Little Bear 



(a, the Pole Star). 



2. Draco, the Dragon (a, 



Thuban) 



3. Cepheus, King Cepheus. 



4. Cassiopeia, the Lady in the 



Chair. 



5. Perseus, the Champion (/3, 



Algol, famous variable). 

 G. Auriga, the Charioteer (a, 

 Capella) 



7. Ursa Major, the Greater 



Bear (a, ft, the Pointers). 



8. Canes Yenatici, the Hunting 



Dogs (o. Cor Caroli). 



9. Coma Berenices, Queen 



Berenice's Hair. 



10. Bootes, the Herdsman (a, 



Arcturus). 



11. Corona Borealis, the Nor- 



thern Croun, 



12. Serpens, the Serpent. 



13. Hercules, the Kneeler. 



14. Lyra, the Lyre (a, Vega). 



15. Cygnus, the Swan (a, 



Arided ; ft, Albires). 



16. Peganus, the Winged Horse. 



17. Andromeda, the Chained 



Lady. 



18. Triangula, the Triangles. 



19. Aries, the Ram. 



20. Tatirus, the Bull (a, Alde- 



baran ; rj, Alcyone, chief 

 Pleiad). 



21. Gemini, the Twins (a. 



Castor ; ft, Pollux). 



THE RACERS OF THE SEA. 



WHETHER or not there shall be such rapid strides io 

 the improvement of navigation on the ocean in the 

 next three hundred years as there has been since 1543, 

 when Captain Blasco de Garry, of the Spanish navy, tried 

 a vessel of 209 tons at Barcelona, Spain, the motive-power 

 of which consisted of a cauldron of boiling water and a 

 movable wheel suspended on each side of the vessel, remains 

 to be answered by future generations. It does, however, 

 seem that it can hardly be possible that as great improve- 

 ments can be made in the next sixty-five years as there 

 have been since the rudely-constructed American steamship 

 Savannah made the passage from Savannah to Liverpool, 

 in 1819, in twenty-six days with the aid of sails and 8team> 

 Since the Guion Steamship Line put under its flag the pala- 

 tial aud fleet steamship Arizona, which was the first of the 

 sevend-iys ships to be run in the New York and Liverpool 

 trade, those interested in the transatlantic steamship traflie 

 have put forth their energies to exceed the fii-st eflTorts bj 

 building a little larger and faster vessels than their neigh- 

 bours. This interest is not alone confined to builders and 

 owners, but extends to the difference in models and ton^ 

 nage of these fast vessels. Many inquiries are made as to 

 the quickest trips across the Atlantic ; the fastest average 

 trips ; the greatest distance in twenty-four hours, and so 

 forth. 



Since the Arizona made a revolution in ocean speech, 

 there have been the following large and fast vessels built 

 for the transatlantic trade : — The Alaska and Oregon for 

 the Guion Line, the latter since transferred to the Cunard ■. 

 the America for the National Line ; the Austral and City 



