292 



KNOWLEDGE 



[April 3, 1885. 



of star names. Very few indeed of those given are now used. — 

 KoBT. G. Whkeler. Received. — J. Murray. Of course, if iiiou are 

 "not satisfied with the modern sy.stom of astronomy, it is better to 

 get another." This was the opinion of " Zadkiel," " Par<allax," Mr. 

 Gillespie, and hosts of others, and each has had his own " system." 

 Why not ? Britons never, never, never, &c., will bo slaves, and 

 why should we all be tied down to a theory upon which (for example) 

 all the calculations for the Nautical Almauac are based ? Your 

 glorious independence of the fundamental principles of arithmetic is 

 equally creditable to you as a free-born Scotchman. What, how- 

 ever, amazes me is, that with the extraordinary changes which you 

 allege to be in progress in the earth's orbit, Dr. Hind should, }'ear 

 after year, continue to furnish such marvellously accurate predic- 

 tions of eclipses and the like. — Man'freu J. Crosbie. Delayed 

 through having been addressed to the editor instead of the pub- 

 lishers. — E. C. II. As I have seen the Zodiacal light extending 

 very nearly as far as the Pleiades, it may be traced by any one 

 who knows what to look for until Aries is pretty near the horizon. 

 It becomes visible in twilight, and when best seen looks like a blunt 

 cone of white light with its axis redely in the ecliptic. It is, just 

 to say, brighter than the Milky Way. I have no doubt whatever 

 that you have seen it. — Bicycle. If you mean mechanically 

 possible, of course it is. It is not " essential to its keeping up 

 that it should describe one or more lateral curves." Want of rigid 

 uniformity in pedalling may make it " wobble," but it would remain 

 upright if properly balanced and propelled along a perfectly straight 

 line. — N. Yon will scarcely do much with a rain-band spectroscope 

 on a 3-inch telescope ; and, notably, if the latter be not equatorially 

 mounted; but by narrowing the slit and making it a tangent to the 

 sun's limb, you may pick up the C and F bright hydrogen lines, and 

 the D^ *' helium " one in the solar prominences. Y'ou may also see 

 the Spectra of Sirius, a Ononis, a Ilercnlis, Ac, but very little more. 

 Nelson's " Moon," published by Longmans, contains the most de- 

 tailed lunar map, in anything like a portable form, with which I 

 am acquainted. Yon will find a very convenient one in Vol. III. of 

 Knowleuge. Our advertisement columns are alw.ays open to pub- 

 lishers who wish to make the prices of their books known. The 

 solitary " place in London in which an amateur can pick up any- 

 thing relating to astronomy " is at the Gresham Lectures, which 

 are free to the public. They are announced from time to time as 

 they are about to be delivered. As you, Faciebat, H. Du Ckoz, 

 and others all express a wish for a popular description of precession 

 and nutation, I will request " F.R.A.S.," at his leisure, to prepare 

 an article dealing familiarly with that subject. — Faciebat. In the 

 absence of further details, it would be idle to speculate why Miss 

 Martineau failed to see a comet which was visible to other peopl*. — 

 X. X. X. I know of no absolutely trustworthy one. Brewer's 

 "Guide to Science" is the best. Yon coald, by the way, answer 

 your own three (jueries admirably ont of Tomlinscn's " Mechanics" in 

 " Weale's Series." — C. Icrabod Wright. The first gentleman named 

 has had a hint. The second is 4,000 miles oft. — Aug. J. Harvey. 

 When the "phonetic language" is commonly taught in schools, 

 and when the National Exchequer is so overflowing as to justify the 

 Postmaster-General in giving us " penny telegraphs," yon will, of 

 course, lose no time in bringing yoursuggestion before the public. Y'ou 

 should communicate with the Postmaster-General. — John Goriiam. 

 The paper has been up in type for some weeks now, and the first 

 instalment will appear the instant I can find space for it. We are 

 often very considerably in advance with' our matter. It would be 

 impossible to carry on a paper like Knowledge from hand to mouth. 

 I repeatedly get letters on Mondays or Tuesdays asking for replies 

 "in your next issue," when very probably the whole column of 

 " Letters Received" has been made up for a day or two. I know 

 that letters sometimes appear in the Correspondence Columns 

 when I am afraid that their writers must have forgotten all about 

 them. — A Brewer. The politico-economical relations between 

 brewers and the Chancellor of the Exchequer rather outside the 

 scope of a journal devoted to science. — An Old Draughtsman. 

 Received with thanks. Glad to welcome you here again. — 

 Commentator. All that is definitely known about the spots 

 seems to point to the conclusion that they are depressions 

 in the photosphere and are cooler than the surrounding regions. 

 You must excuse mo, but I must and will, as far as in me 

 lies, confine the contents of these columns to Science, and it is a 

 prostitution of that word to apply it to such a subject. I no more 

 feel called upon to " explain" the pseudo-miracles you enumerate 

 than [1 do to give the jnudus cqjerandi of the man who strokes 

 two rabbits into one in the very midst of his audience. I have 

 never expressed any o))inion that Mr. Labouchere's incredulity 

 is of a vulgar type. What I did say was that, having made a 

 definite offer to pay a certain sum if (no matter how) a certain 

 feat was performed, I failed to see how he could justify his 

 conduct in not paying the money when that feat was accom- 

 plished. Y'ou can best answer your own question — or part of it — 



by first reading pp. 102 to 112, inclusive of Mr. Crookce'e 

 "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," and then turning 

 to the Times newspaper of Jan. 11 (or 12), 1880, and studying the 

 account, signed by Sir George Sitwell and Herr von Buch, of 

 the way in which they detected Mrs. Florrie Corner (nde Cook), 

 alias Katie King, &c., flagrante delicto, in her paltry imposture. If, 

 8f ter this, you do not reply Y'es ! to your query, your ideas of evidence 

 must be odd, to put it as euphemistically as possible. De Morgan, 

 whom I knew, was a most brilliant mathematician, but very 

 crazy and crotchety on other subjects. Y'onr evolution letter 

 marked for insertion. — G. T. Carruthers. Should rather be sub- 

 mitted to the criticism of the Chemical Society.- — W. Thornton 

 SiiAur. He is not in England.— Cha.s. E. Mac.Bride. As stated 

 on more than one occasion here, the conductor of this Journal has 

 been compelled to make an inexorable rule never to give his auto- 

 graph. — Duncan Forbes. See reply above to Mr. Thornton 

 Sharp. — B. Mitchell. Delayed through being addressed to the 

 Editor instead of the publishers. — Two Incjuirers into Know- 

 ledge. Premising that the change in the eccentricity of the earth's 

 orbit is very slow (000041 in 100 years), we cannot continue 

 beyond 24,000 years, when it must attain its minimum of '0033, 

 and is, in fact, caused by the attractive influence of the other 

 planets, and is confined within very narrow limits. I may proceed 

 to say, my dear young ladies, that I fear that your cometic hypo- 

 thesis will not, in vulgar parlance, " hold water." No reasonable 

 doubt can exist that the whole of our solar system has had a 

 common origin, and has in all probability been formed from a 

 primal nebula. Moreover, as far as observation extends, it seems 

 likely that all the solid matter in the biggest comet that has ever 

 been seen by mortal eyes might well be packed in one of your 

 own bonnet-boxes. Who told you that one part of space was hotter 

 than another ? The little book you quote is very charming, but it 

 is no authority on the subject. 



iBisrdlanra. 



William C. Kingsley, the originator and builder of the Brooklyn 

 Bridge, died on February 21. 



The number of men employed on the Forth Bridge works is 

 about 2,000, including the Italians engaged in the compressed air 

 sinking arrangements. 



It has been definitely decided, says the Athenccum, to purchase 

 two adjoining houses in Kensington-square for the accommodation 

 of the ladies' department of King's College. A considerable sum 

 will still have to be raised, and it is hoped the public may contri- 

 bute warmly to support this effort to provide for the higher educa- 

 tion of women. The entries this term are very good. The tota) 

 number is 500. 



It is also proposed to establish a hall at Cardiff for the lady 

 students attending the University College of South Wales. By this 

 means a university training will be offered, it is hoped, to women at 

 a cost of only £50 per annum ; £10 being the sessional tuition fee, 

 and £40 the boarding fee. 



The Alexandra Palace. — The International Exhibition at the 

 Alexandra Palace, which has been in preparation for some time, 

 was opened on Tuesday, the inaugural ceremony being performed 

 by Lord George Hamilton, M.P. Since the building was closed a 

 couple of years since there has been an entire renovation, and the 

 whole place looks fresh and bright. As in the case of most shows 

 of a similar kind, a great number of the exhibitors have delayed 

 bringing up their wares until the last moment, with the result that 

 everything is at present in an unfinished state. Mr. Levey, the 

 executive commissioner, s.aid that there were some two millions of 

 persons to whom this Palace was more easy of access than either 

 South Kensington or the Crystal Palace. In these days, when such 

 efforts were being m.ade to secure as many open spaces as possible 

 around the Metropolis, the reserve of some two hundred acres of beau- 

 tiful jiark in one of the most healthy parts of London was no mean 

 desideratum. He asked to be allowed to allude to the undertaking 

 ly the administration to pay over one-tenth of the receipts for 

 admission to a hospital committee for distribution among the 

 leading hospitals of the metropolis. The Great Northern Railway 

 Company announce that a frequent service of special and ordinary 

 trains will be run between Moorgate-sti'eet, Broad-street, and 

 King's-cross and Wood-green (Alexandra Park) Station and the 

 Alexandra Palace Station. The last train will return from the 

 Palace fifteen minutes after the advertised time of closing the 

 Palace. 



