June 19, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



517 



Size he describes by measuring with his hands and arms, or 

 njarkinsj, as it were, on his own body the length, breadth, 

 or thickness of the object in question. Movement and 

 direction are shown by drawing a line with one 

 finger along the left arm. J/ollon; he feels with 

 the index and middle finger of the right hand 

 in the hollow of the left with an inquiring 

 look ; ioTjfat he moves the same fingers over the inner 

 surface of the left hand, which he holds tlat. Smooth, the 

 fingers of the right hand are moved quickly to and fro over 

 the back of the left with a pleased expression. For rontjli 

 they are scratched over it, as if with difliculty. Stiff, the 

 arm and fingers are hold as if still', or au action is made as 

 if breaking a stick iu both hands, with a fear that splinters 

 may fly in the face. Emptij, the hollow of the left hand is 

 made to represent a vessel, which is turned once or twice, 

 the right index is pointed into, and the head shaken. For 

 wind, irindy, the deaf mute blows into his right hand. For 

 straight, a straight line is drawn in the air. For crooked, 

 a crooked one. Dry, the action of powdering a very dry 

 plant between the hands is imitated. Much, the hands are 

 brought together several times in the air, as if holding a 

 quantity of something. Little, the tips of the thumb and 

 index of the right hand are rubbed lightly together. For 

 old, wrinkles are traced on the face ; whereas youn;/ is 

 indicated by the apparently smooth chin being felt with 

 the finger and thumb of the right hand, and a cheerful 

 look. For hard, the right fist is struck on the knuckles 

 of the left hand ; while for soft the ball of the left 

 thumb is touched with the right index. Heavy is 

 mentioned by the apparent attempt to lift something 

 beyond one's strength ; for Uyld, the movements of raising 

 something easily are imitated with a smile. For ///, the 

 pulse of the left hand is felt with the right, and the face 

 expresses trouble. Well, cheerful, pleased, sorry, un- 

 happy, repentant, and all other shades of feeling, are, as I 

 have already said, indicated by the facial expressions 

 which ordinarily accompany and are produced by them. 

 When the adjective strong is required, the fists are clenched 

 and the muscles made tense, with the figure erect ; while 

 weak is shown by a general relaxation of the muscles. 

 Cold is, of course, expressed by a .«hiver ; but a more com- 

 plicated gesture is used for loarm. The deaf-mute breathes 

 into the hollow of his right hand, which is then rubbed 

 gently on the right cheek, while an apjpearance of well- 

 being is simulated. For hot, however, imaginary perspi- 

 ration is wiped from the forehead with the right hand 

 with an appearance of discomfort. 



GREAT WAVES. 



By PvIchaed A. Proctor. 



CAPTAIN PARSELLE, of the White Star steamship 

 Adriatic (if any ocean steamship can be still described 

 as belonging to any company and not chartered by the 

 British Government), has related recently some surprising 

 experiences of his own in regard to great sea waves. He 

 properly explains, by the way, that it is absurd to speak of 

 the great wave which recently struck the Germanic, of the 

 same line, as a tidal wave, though he seems somewhat in 

 the dark as to what a tidal wave really is, describing as a 

 purely tidal wave one which he once saw running up the 

 mouth of the Ganges, which probably was not a tidal wave 

 at all. Moreover, he says " meteorologists (!) describe 

 tidal waves as waves only occurring in bays, firths, and 

 rivers, so situated as to be peculiarly susceptible to the 

 influences of the moon and of gravitation," which is 



incorrect A tidal wave is a wave raised by the gravi- 

 tational action of the sun or moon, or both, and is only 

 noticeable at shore lines, when the varying height of tlie 

 water can be recognised ; but tidal waves traverse the 

 whole ocean. The term is ajiplied incorrixtly to any wave 

 running in on a shore line, though some waves so ob- 

 served have had their origin in subterranean disturbances, 

 as in the case of the great waves which traversed the 

 Pacific and Southern Oceans, after the Peruvian earth- 

 quake in 18G9. Of course, the use of the term tidal wave 

 in regard to waves such as struck the G'erinanic in mid- 

 ocean, is still more improper, because while a sea wave 

 running in on a shore-line dues, in that respect, resemble a 

 true tidal wave, a wave encountered in the open ocean 

 cannot by any possibility be of tidal origin. As Captain 

 Parselle explains, such monstrous waves as are occasionally 

 encountered in great storms result from the casual com- 

 Viination of several great wave disturbances into one. He 

 gives the following account of a tremendous wave which 

 he himself encountered. The time was evening. He 

 was a few hours out from London in the English 

 Channel, in a 900-ton ship, of which he was the chief 

 officer. The sky was murky, but not absolutely cloudy, 

 and the Channel waters were calm, though there was a 

 fresh breeze blowing from the west at such a rate as to 

 compel them to sail vmder a reefed mainsail and double- 

 reefed topsails. On their lee was a brig. " My cai)tain 

 and I," says Captain Parselle, " were standing on deck. 

 I had given orders for the watch to be called, and they 

 were then assembled on the poop deck. The captain said, 

 ' Mr. Parselle, I think the lighthouse ought to be visible 

 by this time,' meaning the Eddystone. ' Suppose I go 

 aloft and look,' I answered. I went up the rigging till I 

 got about 60 feet aloft, and suddenly, when just in that 

 perilous position, I heard a terrible shout from the deck. 

 I looked down to see what was the matter, and just as I 

 did so a mountain of water struck us amidships. It 

 picked me right off my feet, and hurled me clean through 

 the rigging, and flattened me against the mast, whence I 

 fell into the maintop. The rest of what happened I dis- 

 covered after my recovery. The wave took off every strip 

 of rigging and canva?, all the yards, boats, and arms, and 

 left the ship with only her masts standing. We ran back 

 to the Isle of Wight, and anchored in the Solent to ascer- 

 tain the extent of the damage, and then we discovered the 

 most wonderful thing of all. The ship had been sheathed 

 with copper, and that wave had stripped its top sheet off 

 for eighty feet of the ship's length, and just as cleau as a 

 mechanic's shears could have done ! " The brig which had 

 been lying to leeward had been stripped clean to the deck, 

 masts and all — as clean as if an army of carpenters had 

 been at work. The watch had been swept overboard, and 

 every man of them lost. A sea wave such as this is as 

 distinct from the sea waves ordinarily encountered as a 

 cyclone from an ordinary wind storm. — Neiccastle Weekly 

 Chronicle. 



In freshly-fallen hailstones in the department of the Loire, M. 

 Boussingan'lt has observeil a temperature of — lO'S", wliile that of 

 the surrounding air was 26". Other observers have noted temper.a- 

 tures of —9°, —4°, and —2°. 



The Stokea-Watson Spark apparatus for showing the combustion 

 of metals under the microacope, by the passage of the electric spark 

 through them, made by Messrs. Watson & Sons, of High Holborn, 

 from the design suggested by Professor Stokes, was exhibited by 

 Messrs. Watson at the Conversazione of the Royal Society, 

 Burlington House, on May G, and again by them on Friday, June 5, 

 at the Royal Institution. It is a most interesting apparatus, the 

 different metals in combustion showing most beautiful colours, and, 

 as the apparatus can be added to any ordinary microscope, no 

 doubt it will become very popular. 



