March 6, 1885.] 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



201 



reward ; " a legend which the only two members of that 

 class who (imagined thev) could read it at all transcribed, 

 " Washinff with water is absurd ! " 



It is not very easy to know what to do to please every- 

 body. Some correspondents get into a furious rage because 

 I refuse to insert communications tilling half a quire (more 

 or less) of paper. Oa p. I'M, I did put in ii letter which 

 had reached me from a gentleman named Murray ; and 

 now /it.' is dissatistied, apparently because I do not hail 

 him as a second Newton : and, in short, regard his " P. D." 

 theory as a Particularly Defective one. However, at the 

 risk of further incurring his ire, I will once more let him 

 speak for himself : — 



Editob — Dear Sir, — Th.inks is not dne to the Master for placing 

 my letter of Feb 2iid, in such a conspicuous place, it was not mcnt 

 for publication ; no matter now, such like will happen, and show 

 Tariety, especially if they come under his circumstances of very 

 strong provocation (act.). If infinite variety cons/idif.'.- infinitcness, 

 — the master has a good chance of hccn infinitely (wise.) and he 

 has a right to please himself. If " P. D." stands for Pure Delusion 

 it also stands for Ptolemy and Decrescendo. If tho ptolomaic's 

 received such a check that brought them to a stand still, it was 

 only because they did not introduce the decrescendo motion, simply, 

 because they netc nothing about the earth's contraction ; according 

 to the law of universal gravitation, our earth must be moving 

 towards the snn, at the rate of 16i miles per annum. Her con- 

 traction causes her rotating motion to gain ICJ miles per day, as 

 she revolves round her new orbit, — leaving all her large orbits 

 behind her in one direction ; I suppose this sort of bosh, will not 

 account for the, ecliptic circle among the fixed stars, to recede 

 towards the west, at the rate of 50i" per annum, or 1° in 72 

 years, — nor account for, solar time, — nor account for the Julian 

 Calendar, giving our earth one day's more work, every four 

 years to hold the 21st of march in check ; or accounts the 

 stars moving a round the pole star ; — it accounts for tho position 

 onr earth holds in the planetary system, — also it accounts for 

 onr Master Mr. R. A. Proctor and other astronomers, having 

 to make mean time, which is not worth having (simply) because 

 it deceive'e ns, — as he tells ns that solar time is all bosh as 

 we cannot understand it, — why has the master stated more then 

 once, the earth is supposed to have once been gaseous, and pro- 

 bably as large as the sun in diameter; It has contracted, and is 

 still becoming denser, and consequently of less bulk, — the de- 

 crescendo motion tell's us our earth is contracting, at the rate of Si 

 miles in diameter per annum, or why was those eleven days dropped 

 in September 1752 which our calendar had gained on true solar 

 time "simply" because they never considered the consumption of 

 onr earth, neither one way or the other, — some people forgets that 

 time is only composed by the motion of matter. — Yours 



Feb 23. 1885. J. Mcbkay. 



"Whekce my correspondent obtained what (with a fine 

 sense of Carlyle's " eternal fitness of things ") he calls 

 " this sort of bish," he unfortunately omits to inform us. 

 I do hope that noue of the readers of Knowledge will be 

 rendered uneasy by Mr. ^Murray's announcement that "our 

 earth is contracting, at the rate of 51 miles in diameter 

 per annum " (!). Inasmuch as her present diameter is 

 7,912 miles, it cannot at this rate shrink into a mathe- 

 matical ])oint until the year .3324, or thereabouts ; by 

 which time editor and readers alike will be indifferent to 

 so remarkable a result of "the decrescendo motion." 



jRrbittDSf* 



SOME BOOKS ON OTJPv TABLE. 

 Watch and Clockmaking. By David Glasgow. (London : 

 Cassell it Co. 188.5.)— This is one of the series of Manuals 

 of Technology which the Messrs. Cassell are bringing out 

 under theeditor.'-hip of Professor Ayrton and Dr. Wormell; 

 and, as an attempt to explain the scientific princi[jle3 under- 

 lying the routine work of the practical horologist, is cer- 



tainly entitled to very considerable jiraise. Commencing 

 with an account of the Kolar and sidereal days, and a 

 description of the transit instrument, Mr. Glasgow goes on 

 to describe the primitive methods of measuring time by tho 

 aid of sun-dials and clepsydra^, sand-glasses, and candle- 

 clocks, and so down through the rude timekeepers of the 

 13th century to the famous Westminster Clock. Jn his 

 succeeding chapter he gives a similar historical sketch of 

 the rise and progress of the watch and chronometer. So 

 far the work is interesting enough to every wearer of a 

 watch or possessor of a clock. The subsequent chapters, 

 though, address the watch and clockmaker more parti- 

 cularly, and amply fulfil the promise held out of explaining 

 tho theory alike with the practical mechanical operations 

 of the working clock and watchmaker. To the incipient 

 worker our author certainly imparts a kind and amount of 

 information which would have been wholly unattainable 

 under the old apprenticeship system, and which, if properly 

 assimilated, should bring forth good fruit in raising the 

 British horologieal workman at least to the level of the 

 very best of his foreign competitors. 



Elementarii Ilelp-Notfis on Latin Parts of Speech and 

 Sentences. By W. Tiiornton Bullock, M.A. (London : 

 Relfe Brothers). — Mr. Bullock's little book is very well 

 written, but we see nothing in it to distinguish it from 

 divers other primers and elementary Latin grammars that 

 we have from time to time come across. 



TAe Z((cZy.- a Journal for Gentlewomen. No. 1. (London: 

 Feb. 19, 188.5).— Judging from No. 1, The Lad;/ onght to 

 address a very considerable public ; everything within its 

 covers being in the best taste. From this, however, we 

 must except the engravings of gowns, in which the artificial 

 reproduction of a repulsive and disgusting deformity now 

 worn by certain foolish women appears in an exaggerated 

 form. A coloured plate of " A New Bonnet," lull size, 

 accompanies the magazine, which is otherwise profusely 

 and effectively illustrated. 



Elementary Text-Book of Zooloijij. Special Pari. Mol- 

 lusca to Mart, by Dr. C. Claus. Translated and edited 

 by Adam Sedgwick, M.A., and F. G. Heatiicote, B.A. 

 (London : W. Swan Sonnenschein i Co. 1885). — The 

 praise which we accorded (on p. 509 of our last volume) to 

 the first part of this really admirable book may be most 

 ungrudgingly extended to the second volume now lying 

 before us, which completes the work. The same clearness 

 and simplicity of description, combined with rigid scientific 

 accuracy, which characterised Vol. I., is equally apparent ia 

 Vol. II., in which the student is led through the mollusca, 

 molluscoidea, and tunicata up to the vertebrata, culminating 

 in the primate man himself. It may suffice to indicate the 

 wealth of illustration in this notable work if we mention 

 that no less than TOG beautifully-executed woodcuts adorn 

 the text of the part now on our table. We thall be greatly 

 surprised if Dr. Claus's elementary zoology, in its English 

 dress, does not speedily become t/ic elementary zoological 

 text-book in all schools and colleges where natural science 

 is taught. 



We have besides on our table, from the Messrs. Cassel} 

 &, Co., Part 2 of Oxr Own Conntry (well sustaining its 

 interest). The Book of Health (in which we may direct 

 attention to the article on education as just now peculiarly 

 apropos), Thf. Library of English Literature, The Countrios 

 of the World, Cassell's Household Guide, Cassell's Popular 

 Gardeni7i;/, and European Butterflies and Moths. Also, 

 Society, The Kansas City Review, The Tricyclist, Wheelinrj, 

 The Medical Press and Circular, Our Monthly (Rangoon), 

 American Druggist, TJie Dyer, Bradstreet's, Parallax, and 

 the Book Cataloyues of Messrs. W. Wesley and Charles 

 Hutt. 



