Jan-. 9, 1885.1 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



35 



but the dweller on Salisbury Plain or Caunock Cliase may 

 have many miles to travel ere he reaches a postctlice to 

 which Greenwich time is flashetl. Moreover, merely as an 

 introduction to practic.il astronomy, the use of the transit 

 instrument possesse.s both value and interest 



Our Camp. The Christmas number of the Ci/cUsl. 

 (London : Ililfe it Sons.) — If it be objected that our notice 

 of this Christmas number apjears full late, we may perhaps 

 urge that this is of the less importance, since by this time 

 every cyclist in the kingdom has probably bought and had his 

 shilling's worth of laughter out of " Our Camp." It con- 

 tains three large cartoons filled with portraits of everybody 

 who is anybody in the wheel world. The supposititious 

 pages froui the different cycling periodicals are clever cari- 

 catures. 



The Trict/clist. (London : Iliffe & Sons.) — We mention 

 this paper here inasmuch as a series of articles on tricycle 

 touring has just been commenced in its columns, which 

 Eupply really valuable information to those about to 

 employ this very agreeable means of familiarising them- 

 eelvfs with the beauties of their own country. 



The Comprehenscia Series. Letters to a Friend in Fleet- 

 street, lied, Bhte, mid Yellotr. (London.) — This is "a 

 familiar description of a lecture delivered before the Balloon 

 Society," which is a])parently a species of refuge for the 

 soientidc destitute. \Ve hope that the society was edified. 

 For ourselves the author pa.ssc3 our " comprehenscion " 

 altogether. 



Ward and Lock's Tecimieal Journal. Part II. (London: 

 Ward, Lock, i Co.). — The second part of this serial fully 

 sustains the promise of the first There can be no doubt 

 as to the place the work will ultimately take in technical 

 literature. 



We have also on our table The Procerdimjs of the Academy 

 of Sat lira I Sciences of Phitadelphia. del ei Terre, Brad- 

 street's, TheSeason, Sunday Talk, The Launceston {Australia) 

 Examiner, Who made the Kew Testament 1 The Medical 

 Press and Circular, and from Messr.s. Cassell it Ci>. their 

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

 Popular Gar denin;!, The Book of Health, European Butter- 

 iHes and Moths, and The Librartj of EnrjJish Literature. 



iHiiSrrllanca. 



Railways in Europe. — It ia computed that there were 52,000 

 locomotives upon the railways of Europe in 1882. The number of 

 passengers carried during the year was 3,371,000,000, while the 

 aggregate weight of goods carried was 715,000,000 tons. 



The Qceen has been pleased to present to the funds of the 

 Booksellers' Provident Institution, through Sir Henry Ponsonby, 

 CC.B., a donation of £20. Her Majesty has been the Patron of 

 the Society since the year 18G8. 



Messrs. Wvman & Sons are on the point of issuing a remarkable 

 Wttle brochure under the title of " The Siege of London," by " Pos- 

 teritas." We understand that there is a probability that the work 

 will canse a sensation, as it is in the nature of a warning and a 

 [(Tophecy. 



Foca years ago there was but one telegraph line in China, namely, 

 Shanghai, to the sea. Now the capital of Southern China is joined 

 with the metropolis in the north ; and as Canton has been put in 

 communication by telegraph with the frontier of Tonquin, the tele- 

 graph now stretches in an unbroken line from Pekin in the north to 

 the most southern boundary of the Chinese Empire, and a message 

 either from London or Pekin might reach the headquarters of the 

 Chinese forces on the Tonquin frontier in a few hours. 



We have received from Messrs. Davidson & Co., of Jewin-street, 

 some remarkably effective relief cards, which form pretty and 

 novel toys if inserted in wooden stands, or serve capitally to fill a 

 juvenile scrap-book. They chiefly represent the old nursery 

 legends, which are illustrated in coloured bas-relief. Some larger 

 rmes depict fire-engines, a fire-escape, and an omnibus. They are 



all spirited, artistic, and woiulerfiilly clu'n]i, and are something 

 (piito new for the youngsters. 



Wk have also received from Messrs. Unwin Hrothers, Phillips's 

 Acrostic Loto, a gamo in which instruction is combined with 

 amusement to an extent that might almost j\istify its ingenious 

 inventor in nutting it forth as a very agreeable mode of cramming 

 for a competitive exaniinalinn in history, biogr.Tphy, and general 

 literature. Seriously speaking, though, I lie man who ran win at 

 this game by his quickness in recognising tho inembors of tho 

 Acrostic which is dealt to him must i)03sess an amount of diversilied 

 knowledge such as falls to the lot of but few merely <losuItory 

 readers, and any one who will play steadily at it nnlil he has 

 mastered the whole of tho answers will find that he has added very 

 nuiterially to his stock of information. 



Mkssi:s. Ai.ex. Wilson & Co., Vuu.\hall Ironworks, London, are 

 at tho present moment completing a small steam-launch for tho use 

 of the Thames Police to enable tliem to jiatrol tho rivor more 

 etfectually than with tho rowing boats now in use, nn oxamjilo 

 which will no doubt be the precursor of several others for the same 

 duty. The decision of tho authorities to use steam-launches was 

 arrived at some little time ago, and the recent explosion at London 

 Btidge will no doubt confirm them in the wisdom of adopting 

 steam for river patrol purposes. Tho easy management, small and 

 inexpensive consumption of fuel, and tho speed such craft can 

 attain will greatly assist those in command to reconnoitre the river, 

 gunrcl the briilges, wharves, shipjiing, warehouses, and public 

 buildings, whether by day or night, against dynamiters and thieves. 

 They will increase waterside securit}-, allay tho anxieties of 

 insurance companies, and afford more reliable protection to public 

 and i)rivate property than has been the case previously. 



Thk Mersey Tunnel is now completely arched in under tho river 

 with the exception of tlie inverts. It is interesting to geologists to 

 know that, about 300 yards from the Liverpool side, the Hpi)er jiart 

 of the tunnel intersected tlie pre-glacial bed of tho river for a 

 distance of about 100 yards. This gully in the rock was filled with 

 hard boulder clay, with erratic boulders resting upon the hard 

 denuded surface of the triassic sandstone. This pre-glacial gully 

 was, in opposition to the prevailing opinion, foreseen and predicted 

 as one of the difficulties that would have to be encountered in tho 

 tunnel works in a paper by Mr. Mellard Reade, entitled " The 

 Buried Valley of tho Mersey," published in the "Proceedings" of 

 the Liverpool Geological Society in 1872. 



The Evils of P.vrE.VT Medicines. — The advantages, in the way 

 of Free Trade, of the existing Patent Medicine Law, are forcibly 

 illustrated by the report of an inquest, held last week at Wey- 

 mouth, relative to the death of Charlotte Bennett, aged 33 years. 

 It appeared from the evidence that the deceased was suffering from 

 mental depression respecting religious matters. She was eventually 

 found in a comatose condition. She had an empty glass in her 

 hand, and three empty bottles were found in the room. Medical 

 assistance was obtained, but death ensued a few hours afterwards. 

 From the evidence of several chemists' assistants, it came out that 

 they had, without hesitation or any inquiry whatever, sold several 

 4s. Od. bottles of a well-known patent medicine at short intervals 

 to deceased, and had been in the habit of selling lis. bottles. In 

 fact, the deceased had bought from persons who had no knowledge 

 of her as much as would stock a large shop, and tho persons who 

 had sold it to her considered that tlio sale was " all in tho way of 

 business, because, being a patent medicine, it was not — legally — a 

 poison. — Medical Prc^s and Circular. 



In their trades report, Messrs. Boiling & Lowe, speaking of street 

 and road tramways, say, although only an investment of about 

 fifteen' years growth in this country, they have already h.ad great suc- 

 cess. As consumers of materials in iron and steel, carriages, and 

 locomotives, they are playing an important part, and one capable 

 of infinite development. The gravitation of population is always 

 towards towns, and tramways have the advantage of starting 

 with free land, and are unencumbered by stations, signals, tele- 

 graphs, and other expensive requirements of railways. Traffic 

 is rapidly increasing, and the use of locomotives effects a consider- 

 able saving as compared with tho employment of horses. Tho 

 following official figures illustrate the progress in the United 



Kingdom : — 



Inoreaae 

 30th June, 30lh June, during the 



1-83. 1881. 12 months. 



Per cent. 



Capital expended £0,929,789 ... £11,008,121 ... 12^ 



Miles C71 ... 752 ... 12 



Horses 20,122 ... 21,781 ... 8 



Locomotives 117 ... 207 ... 77 



Cars 2,819 ... 3,038 ... 7J 



Pa.ssengers carried ... 295,721,171 ... 330,794,405 ... lU 



Netrecoipts £459,613... £568,710 ... 2-1 



Average net earnings £4. 149. p. c. ... £5. 33.4d. p. c. ... 93. Id. 



