354 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[April 24, 1885. 



Government with " bogus " aword-blades would not, neces- 

 sarily, entail national mourning. 



To anyone who may wish to see the question of legisla- 

 tion for the suppression of intemperance calmly, logically, 

 and lucidly discussed, I would commend the perusal of a 

 little penny tract entitled "Drink," written by Lord 

 Bramwell. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY. 



From Apeii, 24 to May 8. 

 By F.R.A.S. 



THE sun, now getting pretty high np in the sky, should be 

 examined for spots and facniaj whenever he is visible. 

 Maps IV. and V. of ''The Stars in their Seasons" show the 

 aspect of the night sky. llercury comes into inferior conjunction 

 with the aun at 3 a.m. on the 28th, and is, for all practical pur- 

 puses, invisible during the next fourteen days — a remark equally 

 applicable to Venus, who arrives at her superior conjunction with 

 the sun at 5 p.m. on May -tth. Mars is invisible, too. Jupiter 

 Qiust be looked at as soon as ever it is dark enough, to be seen to 

 any advantage, as he is rapidly approaching the west; he is still 

 the brightest object in the night sky. He is travelling towards 

 Kegulus. The phenomena of his satellites continue to present a 

 series of interesting spectacles to the observer. To-night (24th) 

 the transit of Satellite II. begins at 8h. 34m., and that of its shadow 

 at lOh. 57m. Satellite II. itself leaves Jupiter's opposite limb at 

 llh. 30m., the shadow not until to-morrow morning. On the 25th 

 Satellite III. may perhaps be seen in the twilight to leave the 

 planet's face at 7h. 55m. p.m. Its shadow will not even enter 

 on to Jupiter's disc until an hour and eleven minutes after- 

 wards, or at 9h. 6m. It will pass off forty-one minutes after 

 midnight. On the 2Cth Satellite II. will reappear from eclipse 

 at 8h. 59m. 32s. p.m., as will Satellite IV. the next evening 

 (the 27th) at Sh. 35m. 43s. Later, Satellite I. will be occulted 

 eleven minutes after midnight. On the 28th the transit 

 of Satellite I. begins at 9h. 31m., and that of its shadow at 

 lOh. 44m. At llh. 51m. the satellite leaves Jupiter's opposite 

 limb, as does its shadow next morning. On the 29th, Satellite I. 

 reappears from eclipse at lOh. 8m. 58s. p.m. ; and on the 30th 

 perhaps the egress of the shadow of this satellite may be perceived 

 at 7h. 32m. in the evening. On May 1st, Satellite II. begins its 

 transit at llh. 5m. at night. On the 2nd, Satellite III. enters on to 

 .fupiter's disc at 8h. 3m., and quits it at llh. 43m. The student 

 should carefully watch this transit for the reason so repeatedly 

 given here. On the 3rd, Satellite II. reappears from eclipse at 

 llh. 35m. 178. On the 5th, the transit of Satellite I. begins 

 at llh. 24m. ; and tliat of the shadow of Satellite IV. at 

 llh. 37ni. Satellite I. leaves the planet's face thirty -nine 

 minutes after midnight. On the Cth, Satellite I. will be 

 occulted at Sh. 32m. p.m., to reappear from eclipse at 12h. 4m. 

 Lastly, on the 7th, the egress of Satellite I. from the disc of Jupiter 

 occurs in twilight at 8h. 12m., and that of its shadow at 9h. 27m. 

 Saturn may be caught over the western horizon after dark, but is 

 now leaving us for the season. Uranus, still situated to the west 

 of t) Virginis, should be looked for as soon as convenient after dark. 

 He is still perceptible to the naked eye of the observer who knows 

 where to look for him. Neptune is wholly invisible. The Moon is 

 full at Gh. 14'3m. a.m. on the 29th, and enters her last quarter at 

 8h. 43m. in the morning of May 7. Two stars only will be occulted 

 at convenient hours during the next fortnight. To-night (24th) 

 d Leonis, a star of the 5th magnitude, will disappear at the Moon's 

 dark limb at llh. 7m. at an angle of 135' from her vertex, to 

 reappear at her bright limb at llh. 5Sm. at a vertical angle of 238°. 

 On the 2Gth, B.A.C. 4255 a CJt.h magnitude star will disappear at 

 the dark limb at 8h. 28m. p.m. at an angle from the vertex of the 

 Moon of GiT. It will reappear at her bright limb at 9h. 39m. at an 

 angle of 219° from her vertex. At noon to-day the Moon is in 

 Sextans, but emerges into Leo at 5 p.m. She quits Leo for Virgo 

 at 6 p.m. on the 25th, across which she is travelling until 11 p.m. 

 on the 28th, when she enters Libra. In her passage across Libra 

 she arrives at 11 p.m. on the 30th at the western boundary of the 

 narrow northern strip of Scorpio ; but this she crosses in 10 hours, 

 and emerges in Ophiuchus at 9 o'clock in the morning of May 1. 

 ■She completes her jouruey through this by 7 a.m. on May 3, when 

 ■she enters Sagittarius. She leaves Sagittarius for Capricornus at 

 10 p.m. on the 5th of May. At 5 p.m. on the 6th she crosses into 

 Aquarius, and is still in that constellation when these notes 

 terminate. 



" Let Knowledge grow from more to more." — Alfeed Tennyson . 



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THE DE.\TH-WATCH. 



[1679] — I see, in the account of the death-watch, in the last 

 number of Knowledge, some doubt appears to be expressed as to 

 the possibility of a ticking sound being produced by the little light- 

 coloured paper-louse therein mentioned. 



I captured a number of these insects upon several occasions, and 

 kept them in a little paper box I constructed, and there can be no 

 manner of doubt that they did tick, and tick very loudly, too. I 

 captured the last set which I thus kept upon an old piano, on which 

 they swarmed, and which they seemed to consider quite a happy 

 hunting-ground. At all events, I made it a happy hunting-ground 

 for myself. 



I could not make out what they fed upon in the paper box — 

 maybe on the paper itself ; but if so, they did not succeed in eating 

 their way out, though I kept them for several weeks. They nsed 

 to keep up long conversations with me, answering readily, when- 

 ever the room was still, when I tapped lightly, in imitation of their 

 own sound, on or near their , box. They used frequently to tick 

 when at liberty in the old piano-case, too, in answer to my calls. 

 Their ticking was more hurried, I think, than the deliberate " tick, 

 tick, tick " of the beetle death-watch. I never succeeded in ex- 

 tracting from them, however, whether they really considered it 

 quite in accordance with strict honesty to go all their lives upon 

 tick in this fashion. 



But, at any rate, T, at all events, have no manner of doubt what- 

 ever that those little whitish, soft-bodied lice are perfectly capable 

 of making a ticking noise of a quite astounding loudness — that 

 they do, in fact, make it very frequently, and make it as an 

 answer or call of some sort. William Fitzgerald, Clk. 



[I can corroborate Mr. Fitzgerald's assertion as to the ticking of 

 the Atropos pulsatorius from my own personal experience, having 

 caught the insect on two occasions in what I may term articulo 

 ictds. How so soft-bodied and fragile a creature contrives to simu- 

 late the metallic ring of a watch so accurately, though, is nothing 

 s'nort of marvellous. — Ed.] 



EVILS OF THE AGE ; BAD LANGUAGE. 



[1G80] — Would it not be a good idea if some steps were taken to 

 improve the style of conversation at present in vogue amongst the 

 lower classes ? 



As a rule, their English is bad, and there is a marked absence of 

 the letter H ; but although this jars upon the oar, and should be 

 corrected when possible, what we more particularly refer to are the 

 objectionable expressions that we meet with at almost every step. 



Ladies occasionally walk across the fields and stop to look at a 

 juvenile game of cricket, or join in a crowd witnessing sports, races, 

 &c., but there is every chance of their being compelled to listen to 

 some very choice language, generally representing all surroundings 

 as of a sanguinary composition, with other expressions of a still 

 less agreeable nature. 



It is impossible that the guardians of our youth can be ignorant 

 of these facts, as they are patent in our very streets. 



Wo have Blue Ribbon Armies, and Salvation Armies, why not 

 organise a society for the suppression of bad language ? 



There are too many iihilanthropists ever ready to take up a good 



