152 



* KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Feb. 20, 1885. 



perfect bagnio in coraparisou «f that planet, and that they 

 would expire with heat in our c.ildest c untries." 



" You give me," says she, " su>;h an idea of Saturn, that 

 makes me sliake with cold, and that of Mercury puts me 

 into a fever." 



'_' It cannot he otherwise," I reply 'd ; '■ for the two worlds, 

 which are the extremities of this great vortex, must be 

 opposite in all things." 



" They must, then," says she, " be very wise iu Saturn ; 

 for you told me they were all fool.s in Mercury." 



" If they are not wise," said I, "yet they have all the 

 appearances of being very phlegmatick. They are people 

 that know not what it is to laugh ; they take a day's time 

 to anav.-er the least question you can ask them ; and are so 

 very grave, that were Cato living among them, they would 

 think him a Merry- Andrew." 



" It is odd to consider," says she, " that the inhabitants 

 of Mercury are all life, and the inhabitants of Saturn quite 

 contrary ; but among ug, some are brisk and some are dull. 

 It is, I suppose, because our earth is plac'd in the middle of 

 the other worlds, and so we participate of both extremes ; 

 there is no fix'd or determin'd character ; some are made 

 like the inhabitants of Mercury, some like those of Saturn; 

 we are a mixture of the several kinds that are found in the 

 rest of the planets." 



_" Why," Slid I, " do you not approve of the idea ? Me- 

 thinks it is pleasant to be composed of such a fantastical 

 assembly, that one would think we were collected out of 

 differeut worlds. We need not travel abroad, when we see 

 the other worlds in ejiitome at home." 



"I am sure," says the Marchioness, " we have one great 

 convenience in the situation of our world; it is not so hot 

 as Mercury or Venus, nor so cold as Jupiter or Saturn ; 

 and our country is so temperately plac'd, that we have no 

 excess either of heat or cold. I have heard of a philo.<fopher, 

 who gave thanks to Nature, that he was born a man, and 

 not a beast; a Greek, and not a barbarian: and for my 

 part, I render thanks, that l' am seated in the mildest 

 planet of the universe, and in one of the most temperate 

 regions of that jJanet." 



" You have more reason," said I, " to give thanks that 

 you are young, and not old ; that you are young and hand- 

 some, find not young and ugly ; that you are young, hand- 

 some, and a Frenchwoman, and not young, handsome, 

 and an Italian ; these are more proper subjects for your 

 thanks than the situation of your vortex, or the temperature 

 of your country." 



"Pray, sir," says she, " let me give thanks for all thing?, 

 to the veiy vortex in which I am planted. Our proportion 

 of hapi.iness is so very small, that we should not lose any, 

 but imjiruve continually what we have, at.d bs grateful for 

 every thing, tho' ever so ciimmon or inconsiderable. If 

 nothing but exquisite pleasure will serve us, we must wait 

 a long time, and be sure to pay too dear for it at last." 



" I wish," said I, " that philosophy was the pleasure you 

 propose, that when you think of vortexes, you would not 

 forget an humble servant of your ladyships." 

 _ "I esteem it a pleasure," says .she, "while it diverts 

 innocently, but no longer." 



"I will engage for it till to-morrow," I replied ; "for the 

 fixed stars are beyond what } ou have yet seen." 

 {To be continued.) 



AccoRijixG to the GiiernsL-ij Star the Customs Department has 

 given notice that the ].rovisions of the Customs Consolidation 

 Act, lf>76, with regard to the prohibition of foreign editions of 

 J'.ngliah books, will be strictly enforced in the Channel Islands. It 

 appears that in Guernsey the importation and sale of the American 

 and Tauchnitz reprints of works by English authors has until now 

 been practically unrestricted. 



THE YOUNG ELECTRICIAN. 



By W. Slingo. 



( Coyitinued from y. 103.) 



IN very many instances a means of some kind for hold- 

 ing our material while it is being worked is necessary; 

 This is usually furnished by a vice, of which three or four 

 types may be mentioned. It is eminently important that 

 the work should be held firmly, but at the same time a 

 caution against overstraining the vice may not be out of 

 place. 



E.x. XXV. — The ordinary table-vice, such an one as may 

 be senn in the hands of a watchmaker, will in most cases 

 answer the young worker's purposes, but it has a number 

 of objectionable features about it, the most important of 

 which is that when the jaws are opened to their fullest 

 extent they cease to be parallel, and as a consequence have 

 only a ])artial and very insecure grip upon the material 

 placed between them. Moreover, the screw is subjected to 

 a severe bending strain in consequence of the tendency on 

 the pirt of the collar of the screw to set itself parallel to 

 the inclined jaw. 



Fx. XXVI. — A form of table-vice which is much more 

 to be recommended for gtneral use is that known as the 



parallel vice (Fig. 7), in which the movable jaw remains 

 throughout the whole range of the screw parallel to the 

 fixed jaw. This is accomplished by attaching the movable 

 jaw to a square bar of iron, which travels horizontally and 

 passes through a corresponding square hole at the bottom 

 of tho fixed jaw. This form of vice is of somewhat recent 

 introduction. It has the advantage that the screw is 

 entirely enveloped by the horizontal bar of iron, whence 



Fig. 8. 



filings, itc, are prevented from getting into the thread. 

 It may be obtained of Messrs. Chas. Churchill &. Co., 21, 

 Cross-street, Fiusbury, E.C. 



Ex. XXVII. — Another, and perhaps cheaper, form of 

 parallel vice is the "Grip" vice (Fig. 8), which may also 



