262 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[March 27, 1885. 



ment. Then, again, the records of the largest lock in the 

 yorld, that in the St. Mary's Falls Canal ^80 ft. wide, 

 .">15 ft. beween gates, 18 ft. lift), show the average time in 

 locking vessels through to be seventeen minutes, or, with 

 five minutes for clearing the lock approaches, twenty-two 

 minutes. "With improved appliances the time could be still 

 further reduced, but allow a full thirty minutes, and forty- 

 eight vessels could be passed in a day : giving them an 

 average of only 2,000 tons, and counting but 300 transit 

 days, we have a possible aunual passage of 28,800,000 tons. 

 The Suez Canal in 1883 passed 8,000,000 tons, and paid 

 handsomely. As for the other time consideration, that of 

 delay in the voyage, the matter of six or eight hours to be 

 taken up in locking through, would be more than offset by 

 the absence of trade winds off the Atlantic Panama coast. 



As for the profits, it has long been apparent that one 

 canal across the neck between the Americas would pay. If 

 there were to be no rival, the Nicaragua Canal would rival 

 the Suez as an investment. If there are to be two — and 

 if the credulity of Parisian speculators and investors holds 

 out, this contingency will some time or other become a 

 certainty — it is a nice question whether one would kill the 

 other, or there be business enough for both. Starting upon 

 the fair basis that the Nicaragua Canal will have to earn on 

 an investment one-third that of Panama, and that her lockage 

 is offset by the latter'a combined absence of trade-winds 

 and prevalence of contagion as disadvantages, it can be 

 seen that the former has the odds on its side. The pro- 

 moters of the Panama Canal talked about 6,000,000 tons 

 annually at 12s. per ton, and a net annual profit of 

 X2, 200,000. The Menocal estimates have been based on 

 3,000,000 or_ 4,000,000 tons, and a much smaller charga 

 It is very difficult to sifely estimate the tonnage which 

 such a canal would attract, for it would create trade as 

 well as divert it. But, as the bulk of this trade would 

 of necessity be American, in the sense of being either 

 bound to or from an American port, the fact that the 

 Nicaragua route is much nearer the States than the 

 other, would surely weigh, especially when it ran in 

 the line of economy. Captain Eada based his Tehauntepec 

 ship-railway upon this idea of getting as near as possible to 

 the United States, and withdrew the Bill for it from Con- 

 gress as soon as the Nicaragua treaty was broached, because 

 he saw in the latter a rival for the American trade which 

 he did not fear at Panama. This is in itself distinguished 

 testimony to the value of the idea that the strictly American 

 trade would go to Nicaragua as against Panama. The 

 grain product shipped from the Pacific States to Europe is 

 2,000,000 tons alone, and the vessels going for this pro- 

 duct, in ballast or with coal and iron, make another 

 million. It is safe to rate the whole trade at 4,000,000 

 tons, perhaps, and if the canal get this at 8s., there 

 would be a revenue of £1,000,000, or say, after deduct- 

 ing expensas, a round £1,000,000 on an investment of 

 £20,000,000. After this, which gives a fair five per cent, 

 what is there left for the Panama Canal, if the two are in 

 rivalry 1 England will have her great trade with the 

 Pacific side of South America, first of all, and then 

 her route to New Zealand will be shortened by 1,.500 

 miles. From London to Sydney, however, will be 12, .300 

 miles by the isthmus, against 11,.jOO via Suez, so that the 

 canals will not greatly affect, certainly not revolutionise, 

 our Australasian Hues of communication. If all our tonnace 

 to the Peru Chili coast and to New Zealand, Hawaii, ic., 

 .sought out M. de Lesseps' canal, and was followed by 

 every other merchant flag of Europe bound for those 

 waters, the aggregate would not reach 4,000,000 tons. If 

 the Panama Canal passed this tonnage annually at 83. it 

 could not pay expenses and interest If it charged double 



that rate, as would be necessary to get a dividend — why 



then this tonnage too would go to Nicaragua. 



It was the consciousness of this which led to the tumble 

 of Panama stock, and the anxious rush to unload it on the 

 Bourse, when the news of the Nicaraguan treaty reached 

 Paris. For, by all human rules, a Nicaragua Canal means 

 bankruptcy to a Panama Canal — particularly to such a 

 Panama Canal as we are like to have — and if even the 

 French capitalists who have been led by M. de Lesseps into 

 the morass can see this, it ought to be tolerably clear to the 

 rejt of the world. There is no probability either of France 

 lending official aid, financial or otherwise, to the scheme, 

 for M. Ferry has quite enough demands upon his courage 

 and credit, without seeking fresh trouble gratuitously 

 elsewhere. 



FIRST STAR LESSONS. 



: • By Rich.\rd a. Peoctor. 



THE constellations included in the twenty-four maps of 

 this series are numbered throughout as follows (the 

 names being omitted on the maps, to clear these as far as 

 possible from all that might render the star-grouping less 

 distinct) : — 



0. 

 10. 



II. 



12, 

 13. 



14. 

 15. 



16. 



17. 



18. 

 19. 

 20. 



21. 



Ursa ilinor, the Little Bear 



{a, the Pole Star). 

 Draco, the Dragon (a, 



Thuban) 

 Cepheus, King Cepheus. 

 Cassiopeia, the Lady in the 



Chair, 

 Perseus, the Chariipion (/3, 



Ahjol, famous variable). 

 Auriria, the Charioteer (a, 



Capella) 

 Ursa Major, the Greater 



Bear (a, ;3, the Pointers). 

 Canes Venatici, the Hunting 



Dogs (a, Cor Caroli). 

 Coma Berenices, Queen 



Berenice's Hair. 

 Bootes, the Herdsman (a, 



Arcturus). 

 Corona Borealis, the Nor- 

 thern Crou-n. 

 Serpens, the Serpent. 

 Hercules, the Kneeler. 

 Lyra, the Lyre (a, Vega). 

 Cygniis, the Sv:an (a, 



Arided ; (i, Albires). 

 Pegaius, the Winged Horse. 

 Atidromeda, the Chained 



Lady. 

 Triangula, the Triangles. 

 Aries, the Pam. 

 Taurus, the Bull (a, Aide- 



baran ; ri, Alcyone, ciaei 



Pleiad). 

 Gemini, the Tuins (a, 



Castor ; /3, Polhii). 



22 



23 

 24. 

 25. 

 26. 



27. 

 28. 

 29. 

 30. 

 31. 



32. 

 33. 



34. 



35. 



36. 

 37. 

 38. 



39. 

 40. 



41. 



42. 

 43. 

 44. 



45. 



Cancer, the Crab (the 

 cluster is the Beehive). 



Leo, the Lion (o, Regulus). 



Virgo, the Virgin (ct, SpicaJ 



Libra, the Scales. 



Ophiuchxts, the Serpent 

 Holder. 



Aquila, the Eagle (a, Altair), 



Delphinus, the Dolphin. 



Aquarius, the Water Carrier. 



Pisces, the Fiihes. 



Cetus, the Sea Monster (o, 

 iSira, remarkable va- 

 riable) . 



Eridanus, the River. 



Orion, the Giant Hunter 

 {a, Betelgeuz ; iS, Rigel). 



Cams Minor, the Lesser Dog 

 (a, Procyon). 



Hydra, the Sea Serpent (j, 

 Alphafd). 



Crater, the Cup (o, Alkesy. 



Corvus, the Crow. 



Scorpio, the Scorpion (a, 

 Antares). 



Sagittarius, the Archer. 



Capricornus, the Sea Goaf. 



Piscis Australis, the Sou- 

 thern Fish (a, Fomal- 

 haut). 



Lepus, the Hare. 



Columha, the Dove. 



Canis Major, the 

 Dog (o, Sirius). 



Argo, the Ship. 



Greater 



THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE. 



By Ada S. Ballin. 

 YI. 



I HAVE already pointed out as briefly and clearly as 

 possible that the origin of gesture may be found in 

 the outward manifestation of feeling, and have glanced at 

 the origin of emotional expressions. 



Animals of every form of life transmitted to their off- 

 spring their own physical conditions, and with them neces- 

 sarily their sensations. These inherited sensations would 

 naturally produce under similar conditions similar mani- 



