Feb. 20, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



system of tlraiuage-pij>es would cmbrac.> special illustialious 1 

 of closet furniture, the form and disposition of soil jiip' s, 

 •with provision for their suitable anangemcnt and ventila- 

 tion ; the varieties of drainage-tubes, yard gullies, rain- 

 water gutters and heads, the means of conveyance for siuk 

 and surface water : and last, but not least, the principal 

 types of faulty structures, with full explanations of their 

 defec's. (Ill) The water-supply. We have hitherto left 

 this portion of the household economy untouched, because 

 the principles of a pure supply of water were fully treated of 

 in a former series of articles,* and also because the illustra- 

 tions we shall adduce hereafter will quite till up any gaps 

 that may have been left. Here, as elsewhere, many evils 

 exist ; but they are more or less associated with the general 

 system (>f drainage or the injudicious location of cisterns. 

 (lY.) The system of chimney (lues, fireplaces, and pro- 

 visions for snitike-abatcment and smoke-cure. Here the 

 whole question of deriving warmth without vitiation or 

 removal of the essential elements of the atmopshero is in- 

 volved, and, although the value of cowls has already been de- 

 tailedt, the correlation of the separate portions of the entire 

 system remains unexplained. (V. ) Ventilation. Just as the 

 water-supply is inseparably linked to the general drainage 

 systems of the house, so here, efficient ventilation presupposes 

 the proper construction of chimney-flues; but, in addition, it 

 concerns the size and general configuration of the apart- 

 ments, their door.^, windows, floors, ik.\ (VI.) Miscellanea. 

 Here the actual shell of the building and convenience of 

 access thertto demand attention ; for upon those items 

 does the health of the tenant and the general stability of 

 the structure depend. Sound stejis, well-ventilated base- 

 ments and floors, firm foundations, prevention from damp, 

 and many other things, although seemingly insignificant in 

 themselves, amount to a total quite sufllcient to stamp out 

 the favourable or unfavourable ch;iracter of the abode. 



editorial (Boaip. 



The number of the Mofdhly Xolices of the Eoyal Astro- 

 nomical Society just issued contains a paper by that eminent 

 American astronomer, Professor Simon Newcomb, to which 

 attention may not unprofitably be directed. Writing with 

 reference to the suggestion that the civil (or nautical) and 

 astronomical days should be arranged, as soon as prac- 

 ticable, to begin at mean midnight, Professor Newcomb 

 suggests that the confusion and trouble incident on tliis 

 change would not be confined to the present time, but "that 

 ■whenever the astronomer of twenty or one hundred years 

 hence has occasion to refer to the eplicmfris, he nmst know 

 and bear in mind which reckoning of time is adopted, else 

 his place of the moon will be taken out twelve hour.s iu 

 error." On this and cognate grounds, he concludes that 

 "the change is one which ought not ti be made at all, 

 unless some stronger reason for it than is now presented 

 shall be pointed out." I have some idea that very similar 

 objections were raised in this country in the year 1752 to 

 the so-called "chinge of style" which was then made. Such 

 change, however, did take place, and we do not, I imagine, 

 find that chronologists of the present day are ever very 

 seriously embarrassed by it ; albeit, the days from Sept. 3 

 to Sept. 13 inclusive, in the year refeired to, had no 

 existence whatever. 



I HEAR that the Presidential address at the annual 

 meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, this day week, 

 was one of the dullest arid dreariest ever listened to. Our 



* See thia Journal, Vol. vi., p. 7, et scq. 

 t See tliis Journal, Xov. 21, 1884, p. 422, ef oeq. 



informant fays, pritty severely, "I ur.derstonil Dr. 

 Iluggius's claims to the medal iicrf>.et'y — until Mr. Dankin 

 explained them ! " 



1 i.EARN, too, that the question of voting by jiroxy a*; the 

 annual electio.a of the governing body of th(! Society has 

 created quite a scare among certain of the present c >uncil, 

 who are determined {pif fan ant vr/as) to liung on to seats 

 from which the sense of the entire Society would speedily 

 di-^place them. Their craven fear of inviting the opiniim of 

 the whole body of the Fellows was, I am assured, scarcely 

 attempted to be concealed. 



A cmiiors illustration at once of the tcndrrness of the 

 law for the liV>prty and security of tlio subject, and of the 

 existence of a kind of iinjxyriuni in iinpcrio in tliia country, 

 is afforded by the shocking death of private Brindley, of 

 the Sliropshiro regiment, at ^^'oolwich last week. It is 

 needless to reiterate here how a sentry on duty at the 

 Magazine was approached on a dark rainy night by a man 

 who refused to answer his thrice repeated challenge, and 

 who rushing upon his bayonet was transfixed ; the victim 

 of an insane practical joke. The remarkable tlung, how- 

 ever, is that this unfortunate sentry should have been sub- 

 jected to the indignity of being dragged before a Criminal 

 Court for simply carrying out an absolutely legal and 

 explicit order, which he dared not disobey. All right- 

 thinking men will grieve that jirivate Botham's bayonet 

 did not go through the chest of Rossa or Patrick Ford 

 (or that of their imagined employe), instead of through 

 that of his own comrade ; althougli the fruitlessncss of 

 such grief must be evident when we reflect that such 

 arrant curs take extremely good care never to put their 

 worthless bodies within thousands of miles of the very 

 slightest danger. It is much safer to live on the earnings 

 of ignorant Irish cooks iu Now York. 



From indications which have recently been apparent in 

 the public prints of renewed active opposition to the sug- 

 gested opening of picture-galleries and mus( urns on Sunday, 

 it would seem as though legislation on that subject were 

 imminent. This opposition is obviously based upon the 

 transparent fallacy that, if we only deprive the mass of the 

 population of any means of intellectual recreation on the 

 first day of the week, we shall, perforce, drive them into 

 churches or chapels. We shall do nothing whatever of the 

 sort : we shall drive a very large proportion of them indeed 

 into the publiehouse, and nowhere else. The present 

 choice afforded to the working man, between Church and 

 the beershop, has l>rought forth fruits of which we have 

 assuredly no particular reason to be proud, or to congratu- 

 late ourselves upon. To refine and elevate the tastes of 

 the populace above mere sensual enjoyments, is to prepare 

 a soil fitted for the reception of higher truths. To tell a 

 man that if he will not go to church be shall sit indoora 

 all Sunday boozing over tobacco and spirits, is to drive 

 him into a life as needlessly degraded as it is posdble to 

 imagine. 



In a lecture delivered on Feb. 3, at the Eoyal Victoria Hall, 

 Professor Henalow explained the three methods by which flowers 

 ai-e fertilised, viz., by insects, by the wind, by self-fertilisation; 

 and described some of the floral contrivances whieh facilitate the 

 operations of insects. He further pointed out that while wind and 

 self-fertilised plants are the most widely dispersed, those fertilised 

 by insects are the most beautiful ; at the same time calling aften 

 tion to the fact that it ia a mere popular delusion that self-fertilisa- 

 tion exerta an injurious influence in the cases in whieh it occurs. 

 In an eloquent peroration, ho descanted on the inestimable advan- 

 tages derived by mankind from the process of evolution by natural 

 and artificial selection. 



