May 29, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



467 



Now, a people nsinc: bnt a few sounds to cxpi-css evcrvthiii^ po\ilcl 

 hardly help believing that a cow, saying moo moo, was talking just 

 as well almost as themselves. 



In Chancer wo have. "I tlo not understanil thy loilcn" i.e., 

 Latin, aildit>ssed to a bird. The priest " pattering" (which comes 

 from Pater), an unknown tongue, at the altar was not supposed 

 raor^ intelligent ((jtnl speaker) than the rook or owl. 



Man. being a Simian, was, from his beginning, both observant 

 and imitative. lie would not be long in remarking that every 

 race has a shibboleth, or password, of its own ; and his imitative 

 genius (if no other motive) would soon lead him, too. to frame a 

 code of communication with his congeners. H.MLYABns. 



GEORGE ELIOT. 



fl731] — Tovtr valued paper of May S contained a short account 

 of a conversation of George Eliot with Mr. Lewes. 1 have never 

 in my life read a line of this great thinker, although I have often 

 heard the name mentioned. I greatly regret not to have done so, 

 since the few lines you qnot« so entirely correspond with the lino 

 of thought such men as Ilaeckol, Buchner, \ogt, and other 

 continental scientists now take up, that it proves to me afresh 

 how great truths are brought to light almost at the same time, 

 apparently spontaneously, in different countries, by people who 

 hardly heard of one another's name. They seem, as it were, to 

 come out of the "air" or the environments. The axiom of 

 Descartes, " Cogito, ergo sum," always seemed to me to put the 

 cart before the horse, since the development of every human being 

 proves to a certainty that " existence " must precede conscious- 

 ness or thought. "Sum, ergo cogito" appears to me the correct 

 version, without going to the idea that we are "matter" only, 

 unless, indeed, "thought" and consciousness are "one," perhaps 

 the highest development of force, inherent, appertaining to certain 

 combinations of matter. F. W. H. 



GEORGE ELIOT ON OLD AGE, 



[1732] — My mother is seventy-eight years of age ; she has lost 

 one bodily function after another till almost physically helpless ; 

 but her mind has shown no corresponding signs of decay, and the 

 other morning she described her experiences from childhood to 

 womanhood quite clearly and distinctly, and said that latterly 

 things came back to her that she had forgotten for years ; and 

 added, " who could doubt the immortality of the soul on this 

 account alone." 



Is it not also a thing frequently noticed that when disease or 

 decay has impaired the brain that at the last hour the mind has 

 been' able to assert its original power, and even force, in some great 

 saying ? 



George Eliot's public utterances and teaching were ever of the 

 highest, but no true friend would unearth either her private ideas 

 or acts. The key to her character has yet to be found, and her 

 remarks on old age. wliich you publish (apparently with approval) 

 simply oppose a small number of unusual cases, which she says 

 she met with, to the general experiences of mankind. 



R. S. St.\xi.ev. 



[Whatever pyschological interest the facts related by Mr. 

 Stanley may possess, I fail to see that his inferences from them 

 have any warrant whatever. I am not quite seventy-eight yet 

 myself, but, as a piece of personal experience, I may mention a 

 vivid recollection of my grandmother's house, of a verandah in 

 front of the drawing-room and dining-room, of a moming-room 

 with stained-glass in one of its doors, and of a certain haunch of 

 venison hung np by her cook, of which the black hoof and the 

 flonr dredged on it greatly attracted my infant attention. These 

 reminiscences date from my third year; while matters which 

 occurred when I was twenty-five are an utter and absolute blank to 

 me ! — El'.j 



LETTERS RECEIVED AXD SHORT ANSWERS. 

 F. W. H. — Admitting to the full the truth of what you say con- 

 cerning priestcraft, the insertion of your letter must infallibly lead 

 to an acrimonious and unprofitable discussion. Were I to admit it, 

 rejoinders would come in dozens from priests of various denomina- 

 tions, which I could not in common fairness exclude. But we should 

 aa.':nredly find ourselves straightway plunged, head over ears, in a 

 bitter theological controversy. — E. W. J. (1) I really cannot say, 

 at this lapse of time, to what article or essay by Mr. Dallinger the 

 remarks referred. (2) None of Mr. Proctor's lectures have been 

 published, nor, in fact, well could be, inasmuch as they are extem- 

 poraneous. (3) I do not know how far Jlr. Clodd h.-is pro- 

 gressed with his " Essay on Evolution, Popularly Explained," 

 (4) All I can say here is, that to give up the doctrine of 



K volution wo\ild bo akin to denying that it was daylight 

 at a time when tho sun was sliiniug brilliantly in sky. No 

 theological cousidorations whatever must over bo snIVored to 

 hamper tho humblo student of science, who is bound, in loyalty 

 and devotion to Truth, to carry out his iuvestigalitms (load him 

 whithersoever they may) with the sole end of arriving at it. Fiat 

 justitia, ntut calum. Believe me that I appreciate your praise. — 

 "Thom.\s Avehs. Received.— Dk. Lkwins. Julin Bull is no doubt 

 amenable to but too many of tho charges tliat you formulate 

 against him. Whether though he could or would gain any accession 

 of sweetness and light iu the way you suggest nuiy legitimately bo 

 a question for difference of <n>inion.— Cii.ua,KS Inman. That tho 

 sun is " revolvim;" through space presupposes that ho is travelhug 

 round some centre. Of this wo have no proof whatever ; but it 

 is practically certain that he, and of course our entire system, 

 are travelling towards a point in Hercules, forming a ^triangle 

 with ;i- and \ in that constellation, at a rate of some 4,-75 miles 

 per second, or at a littlo more than one-quarter the rate of 

 tho earth's motion in her own orbit. In a universe in which 

 every visible body is iu motion it is iu tho last degree improbable 

 that oiu-own sun should bo fixed iu s]:ac!e.— Dk. Lkwixs. See p. 108 

 of Vol. VI. of Knowt.kdoi:.— .T. O. asks if Borneo offers any induce- 

 ment for emigrants. Perhaps some reader familiar with Malaysia 

 can furnish the information or refer our correspondent to a book on 

 the subject.— M. B. Thanks for your kind attempt to minister to 

 my amusement, but I had already received a copy, presumably 

 from the editor. Ho favours me with them as they are published, 

 but as, like the old woman iu the jiarablo, " I keep on never 

 minding," I am driving him nearly crazy with rage. It 

 seems impossible to conceive how any human being, not 

 actually under restraint, can hiiy such irredeemable trasli. 

 If I might baz.ard a guess, 1 should say that tho " Insti- 

 tute " must consist of its " Secretary " himself. — Vox. I 

 know nothing of any special books from which students iu the 

 Science and Art Department are examined. A vicious system 

 exists there of examining from certain cram-books, compiled 

 especially by persons attached to tho Department. Any one, how- 

 ever, who will master Dr. Carpenter's " Principles of Human 

 Physiology " should be able to pass in an Honours examination any- 

 where. The best book on the composition of foods, &o., is Vol. III. 

 of the "International Scientific Series" on "Foods," by the late 

 Dr. Edward Smith.— Mis.s M. C. V. Macleod. Your communication 

 was acknowledged at the time of its receipt. If you wish your MS. 

 and pamphlets returned, kindly forward envelopes addressed and 

 sufficiently stamped to tho office. (I had written this reply when 

 your second instalment of MS. arrived.) Do you— can you — 

 expect that I can give up three pages and a half to the 

 insertion of your exposition of your hypothesis ? You quote 

 from Lardner, in the most sublime disregard of the fact 

 that he is about as much an authority on heat as Mrs. 

 Trimmer ! Try the Balloon Society again. — X. Y. Z. A 

 very little algebra will enable the student to begin with the 

 Differential Calculus. Try the book so often recently recom- 

 mended here, Knox's " Differential Calculus for Beginners," pub- 

 lished by Macmillan, and the book so strongly recommended by 

 Colonel Canjpbell on p. 445, Homei-sham Cox's " Rudimentary 

 Treatise on the Integral Calculus," which is No. 102 of " Webb's 

 Series." — H. F. Young points out that the Raphidcs iu the com- 

 mon Lily of the Valley are interesting objects in the miorosoope 

 and polarise well. Jlv adds that the under cuticle of tho 

 leaves of this plant exhibits, when prejiared and mo\mted_ in 

 Canada Balsam, not only Raphides but stomata and spiral 

 vessels.— Genl. Henry P. Babbage. Charles Babbage re- 

 ceived money from the Government for the purpose of 

 developing certain inventions of his, and it matters less 

 than nothing (as it seems to me) as far as our reviewer's 

 argument is concerned, whether the money went into his pocket — 

 which, of course, as a m,atter of fact, it did liot — or into those of 

 the artificers actually engaged in the construction of his engines. 

 A huge sum was spent upon a machine of which no practical use 

 has ever been made, and the Government, which unjustifiably 

 expended public money upon what qua Government, they had no 

 concern whatever were left with an unfinished piece of mechanism 

 on their hands. This is not tho place to reiterate the unfortunate 

 story of the uncompleted Difference Engines and Analytical Engines. 

 If the expenditure of £17,000 of the national funds had had no 

 other result than the publication of "Chapters on Intrigues of 

 Science "in the work quoted by General Babbage, it would have 

 been deplorable.- — W.m. H. Dovt.e. Are you in earnest in your 

 implied hope that I shall insert the hopeless rubbish so righteously 

 refused by the Shanghai Eveninr/ Mercury f — H. D. Beeridge. 

 They may be obtained of tho Electrical Power Storage Company, 

 4, Great Winchester-street, B.C., or of Messrs. Elwell, Parker, & 

 Co., Wolverhamjiton. 



