JiN. 9, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



39 



Moanting of Microscopic Objects." I hope that our esteemed con- 

 tributor, Mr. Slaok, will include some dirootiona for preparing and 

 mounting object.** in his interest iiig series of p:\pers. 1 am not 

 sure that an article on Bookbiudiug would bo easy to obtain. It is 

 an art, the technical knowledge of which is coiilined to a very 

 limited circle. I reciprocate your good wishes. — Excki.siou (who 

 appears to have been more fortunate in the north of Kngland than 

 we have been in the south) writes that a splendid sun-spot was 

 visible to the naked eye (defended of course by coloured glass) on 

 Christmas-day; other spots also being perceptible on the sun's disc. 

 The sun-spot maximum has undoubtedly passed now. It probably 

 occurred in 1SS3-4. — Rowl.\np Warp, F.ti.S , and W. Westcautii. 

 rteceived. — K. How.^kd ISiiuiull. All saline matter nnust bo 

 carefully soaked out of sponges, or they will never dry at 

 ;<11. — J. W. Alex.\nder. Il»ckel's ;vther must bo the inter- 

 stellar tether and nothing else. Your notion that the latter is 

 " an attenuated gas" seems peculiarly wild, inasmuch as it 

 mast possess properties such as no gas does or ever could 

 possess. Can you not see that the ejection of a stream of 

 meteors from a sun (or planet) may have been a continuous 

 operation — Parva componerc ma*]ui:<, Vesuvius and Ktua don't go off 

 like 81-ton guns, and become instantly quiescent. — Facieii.\t. The 

 assertion was, perhaps, a little too sweeping; but, assuredly, as a 

 rule, silicified wood is more recent than that mineralised in other 

 ways — e.g., the Craigleith fossil-trees, the ordinary ciirboniferoua 

 fossil vegetables, Ac. Tour suggestion that a man on a hill appears 

 taller, from a spectator beneath him unconsciously setting him on 

 the top of an imaginary column, is one the feasiliility of which can 

 oidy bo determined by experiment. — Scorpio. 1 do not fancy that 

 the lecture to which you refer (excerpts from which appear in 

 Bishop Colenso's work on the Pentateuch) was ever republished. 

 The Association would hardly do it; and all its author's works 

 with which I am familiar are monographs. I regret heartily that 

 my inexorable rule about poetry compels me to exclude your very 

 witty verses, but, if I let them in, just for the sake of giving 

 readers a hearty laugh, I should have an avalanche of maun- 

 dering rhymed nonsense in the course of three or four posts, 

 accompanied by urgent requests for its insertion. — St. Leonard's 

 Club and Geokge D. Bhowx ask "Five of Clubs" — who 

 is not at present in town — why, in the sinjular game 

 of Whist recently played in America (p. 534, Vol. VI.), Z 

 should take his partner's Queen in the first hand ? — Architect. 

 By all means use £. s. d. for yards, feet, and inches if yon like. 

 I am not concerned to tirge that they had a long prior definite 

 connotation. — J. Mercer sends an account of a surpassingly 

 beautiful chromatic sunrise witnessed in Liverpool and its neigh- 

 bourhood on the 12th ultimo. Has there been another Krakatoa 

 emption? — G. G. Hurlixgham. Eeferred to the Messrs. Wyman & 

 Sons. — S. Hope. Your query is very much too vague. If you wish 

 to study the face of the sky, furnish yourself with a really good 

 3-inch achromatic, and go systematically through the series of 

 papers, " Nights with a Three-inch Telescope," which appear in our 

 first four volumes. If you want to obtain a general view of astro- 

 nomical science, buy Ball's " Elements of Astronomy," published 

 in Longmans' "Text-books of Science." — R. F. H. is of opinion 

 that the adipose tail of the Diimba (a sheep peculiar to Afghanistan 

 and the Cape) presents "a nut for philosophers," who are evolu- 

 tionists, to crack. He also propounds the theory that whirlwinds 

 have their origin in electrical discharges from the earth into the 

 atmosphere, and that their subsequent course is largely influenced 

 by terrestrial magnetism. — C'o.mmextatoe. Mr. Liddle (letter 1524, 

 p. 471) will doubtless appreciate the recognition of the value of 

 his evidence in favour of tea and coffee. I cannot insert poetry 

 here, be it in the form of translation or othern'ii=e. This rule is 

 inexorable, and compelled me reluctantly to omit some very clever 

 verses recently (vide reply to "Scorpio"). Your penultimate 

 communication was left unacknowledged from its offensively 

 patronising tone. I do not require your advice as to the method 

 of conducting Knowledge — I do not really; and fail to recog- 

 nise your right to speak ex cathedrd. as to what should 

 be admitted into, and what should bo excluded from, 

 these columns. — W. L. Caepe.nter. Received with thanks. — 

 M.K.C.S. The odds that the gaesser will be right in any 



single instance are obviously - Now, by the familiar rule, if 

 there be any number of independent events, and the probabilities of 



their happening be — - - and so on respectively, the probability 

 7jj» Tit r» 



that they will all happen is <tc. In your ease, our hypothetical 



mnrt 



m, n, and r are all 2, so that the odds against a man being right 



/ , ,. 11 



(or wrong) every time are — or 



^ ""^ ^ 2" 16384. 



CPur mWn^t Column. 



Bv Five of Cldds. 



rilllH following game is the one referred to In our last ; I 

 JL one sense artificial that the conditions describtMl by Mr 

 are led up to by play not described by him, but doviacd to 

 about those conditions : — 



The Hanos. 



t IS Ml 



Clay 

 bring 



, ( D. A, 



■IS. 7, 



Kn, 



8, 0, 



Kn, 

 A, 



4, 2. 

 ), 2. 



4, 5, 7, 0. 



!, 4, K, A. 



4, 7, K. 



A. 





♦ ♦ 



♦ ♦ 







♦ ♦ 



10 



11 



♦ * 4- 4- O.O O 



♦ ♦ 4. ^0^ 



♦ '♦ 4- 4- O O 



tit * * ® 



— ft — 



C. K, Q, 10, 8, 7. 



II. Q, 3. 



THE PLAY. 



Card underlined leads first. 



1. B begins a signal, but he gets 

 no chance to complete it. 



2. Z leads his penultimate trump. 

 .1 clearly has no more. 



3. B should not have led bark 

 trumps, as Z's lead and A'h weak- 

 ness discounts B'b trump strength 

 considerably. After trick 3 all 

 the trumps are seen to lie between 

 11 and Z, Z having best, third, and 

 fifth best; B having second, fourth, 

 and sixth best. As A-B are two 

 by honours, Y-/j must make three 

 by tricks to save game. But this 

 they cannot possibly do if B plays 

 properly. For after the next 

 trick, 



5. Y-Z must make all the re- 

 maining tricks. Yet by sheer 

 ]iluck on Z's part, and bad play on 

 7j"s, i'-Z save and win the game, 



0. B having but one trick to 

 make, should hero have led from 

 his short suit. One ruff and all is 

 over. 



7. Z would bo sure to loso if he 

 led as usual from his Spade suit. 

 The only chance is that B's trumps 

 may be led through twice, which, 

 as neither A nor Y has a trump is 

 impossible, if B steadily declines 

 to be forced. He therefore leads 

 his smallest Spade. 



8. B yields to the force and one 

 of his trumps goes. But even now 

 A-B's game is perfectly safe. 



9. Z repeats his tactics. B 

 ought now to know that A has the 

 winning Club and the Spade Ten, 

 so that as Spade Ace and King 

 are with Z, Y can only have Clubs 

 to lead after leading tho winning 

 Heart at trick 10. But 



10. B again allows himself to be 

 forced. And 



11. 12, 13. Tho rest of the game 

 plays itself. K-Z make throe by 

 tricks and win, tricks counting 

 before honours. 



