330 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[April 17, 1885. 



First floor 20 ft., second 22-75 ft., time to second floor 

 29 sec, to third floor G6 sec. ; work done : first story, 

 4,400 ft. lb., rate per minute 9,109 lb., horse-power 0-27G ; 

 second to third story : work done 5,005 ft. lb., rate per 

 minute 8,125 lb., horse-power 0-24G2. Whole a.scent 

 42 J ft., work done 9,405 ft. lb., rate per minute 8,5501b., 

 horse-power 259. Another man, about 72 years of age, 

 weighing 1801b., ascended another similar stair 42 J ft. in 

 63 sec. ; work done per minute, ft. lb. 7,328, horse-power 

 0-222. 



For a short time the first experiment shows a man of 

 nearly 09 years putting forth without sufierLng an effort 

 greater than one-third of a horse-power ; but when the 

 effort was continued for about 1\ minutes, the average 

 result was rather less than one-quarter horse-power. The 

 other, older, man developed during 1 min., or C3 sec, a 

 force of 0-222 H. P., or rather less than one quarter horse- 

 power. Looking into the details of these experiments, we 

 find that the man of G9, lightly clad, put forth for one- 

 quarter minute a force of 0-353 H. P., ascending a height 

 of only 14J ft. Rather more heavily clad, he put forth 

 during one-half minute the force of 0-258 H. P., and 

 during the following three-quarter minute of 0-2118 H. P., 

 the average during 74 sec being 0-231 H. P. An older 

 and lighter man exerted for 31 sec, say one-half minute, 

 the force of 0-233S H. P., and for another half-minute 

 immediately following the fir.st half, 02127 H. P. ; average 

 during 1 min., or 03 sec, the force of 0222 H. P. Again, 

 the man of 09 years, with a heavy overcoat, weighed 

 2221 lb. He ascended 20 ft. by stairs in 15 sec; work 

 done, 4,450 ft. pounds, at the rate of 17,800 ft. pounds 

 per minute, which is an exertion of 054 H. P. — over one- 

 half hoi-se-power. A younger man, 151 lb. weight, ascended 

 Glf ft,, in 49 sec. ; work done, 9,324 ft. pound.s, at the 

 rate of 11,417 ft. pounds per minute, equal to 0-34G H. P. 

 — Scientific American. 



ejjitorial <goe!£f(p. 



" ClEL ET Teree " says that presumably M. Palisa has 

 got a godfather for his Planetoid No. 244 {vide p. 170), 

 inasmuch as it has been called " Sita." Our contempo- 

 rary goes on to add that since January 1 three more of 

 these cabinet worlds have been added to the swarm circu- 

 lating between Mars and Jupiter. Some astronomers 

 seem to have a good deal of idle time on their hands. 



I FAN'CIED, in common with a good many other people, 

 that sumptuary laws were as dead as Cwur de Lion. I 

 notice, though, that the Bishop of Rochester is making 

 an endeavour to revive them in connection with the rite 

 of confirmation : at all events to the extent of a sugi^cNtion 

 that over-dressed candidates should be sent back. " JNIock 

 pearls in the humbler, white-satin shoes in the hi-her" 

 rank of girls who present themselves, appear to be the 

 things which more immediately vex the righteous soul of 

 Dr. Thorold. Why, though, in days when the advertising 

 oolumns of the daily papers contain announcements that 

 " a young ladij requires a situation in a baker's shop," any 

 one, be he bishop or bargeman, should strain at "mock 

 pearls " — or any other cognate sham — I cannot understand. 

 The protest which women of birth and position are now 

 making is that of dressing with extreme and studied 

 plainness. If the good Bishop will only wait a little 

 ■while he will find this homely style of attire will be aped, 

 like everything else. Jlean while, is there not something 

 of respect shown towards the ceremony in which they are 



about to engage on the part of those who dress themselves 

 in their very best to take part in it 1 



In reading an account of the experiments in illumination 

 which have been carried on during the past twelve months 

 at the South Foreland, I was at first a little surprised to 

 learn that the intensity of the electric light was so superior 

 in the penetration of fog to the larger superficial area of the 

 gas and other burners. I remember once crossing Charing- 

 cross bridge in a train at night during an exceedingly thick 

 London fog, and being greatly impressed by the manner in 

 which the electric lights on the Thames Embankment were 

 for practical purposes obliterated ; while the wretched 

 yellow gas flames in the lamps made a fair struggle through 

 the fog. Of course, though, the peculiar mixture which 

 enwraps the metropolis in a dense pall is tolerably diapha- 

 nous to the red rays, but nearly opaque to the blue ones, 

 while the whiter mist of the coast would permit the latter 

 — in which the electric light is rich — to traverse it more 

 easily. 



I HAVE received a pamphlet, from Mr. M. Walton Brown, 

 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, " On the Observation of Earth- 

 shakes or Tremors, in Order to Foretell the Issue of Sudden 

 Outbursts of Fire-damp," which is certainly worth reading. 

 His theory, which seems to run on all-fours with that of 

 Herr Rudolph Falb (vide p. 2G5) is, in eflect, that minute 

 earth tremors cause fractures in the strata, and that through 

 these fractures huge volumes of pent-up fire-damp escape. 

 Mr. Brown illustrates and enforces his case by the aid of a 

 statistical table, a map, and a diagram. Anything which 

 enables prevision to be exercised in the case of such appal- 

 ling danger as that attendant on an outburst of carburetted 

 hydrogen in a mine, deserves the most serious consideration, 

 and hence I call attention to it here. 



Someone has sent me a preposterously foolish little 

 print, in which I find this charming morceau : — 



"We know Mr. K. A. Proctor is always open to treat for remu- 

 nerative literary work ; why is lie not handsomely paid for " smash- 

 ing " us, as some one talks of " smashing the Mahdi ? " 



I can assure the author of this paragraph — whoever he 

 may be — that the Conductor of this Journal feels it about 

 as incumbent on him to " smash " such author, as he does 

 to refute any gentleman at Hanwell or Colney Hatch, 

 who is firmly convinced that he is the bool whang, a glass 

 bottle, or the prophet Habakkuk. 



jKrbietos* 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



Dictioiuiry of National Biografhy. Vol. II. Amiesley — 

 Baird. Edited by Leslie Stephen. (London : Smith, 

 Elder, & Go. 1885.) — The commendation which we be- 

 stowed (on p. 34) on the first volume of this admirable work 

 may be unhesitatingly extended to the one now lying before 

 us. It is really difficult to select amid such uniform excel- 

 lence of treatment, but we may specify the biographies of 

 Charles Babbage and of Francis Baily as containing just the 

 kind and amount of information as to the lives of scientific 

 men needed by their covfnres and successors. At, or 

 immediately after, a time, too, at which we have grown 

 accustomed to find Bacon painted either as a venal and 

 unscrupulous holder of high office, or as one of the vei-y 

 greatest and most disinterested Englishmen who ever lived, 

 it is delightful to read the scholarly, judicial, and impartial 



