OCTOBKK. 1912. 



KNOWLF.DGH 



385 



ounces would supplx- the starch, but twenty-two 

 pounds eight ounces would be needed for the protein, 

 and this would be a very badly-balanced ration. 



The money value of a food does not always agree 

 with its true value in the ration : herrings are cheap 

 and contain a high percentage of protein : properly 

 cooked the cheaper joints of meat are as useful as 

 the more expensive. The cheaper forms of arrow- 

 root serve the same purpose as the most expensive. 

 The bod\' gets accustomed to certain foods. In 

 .\merica. for instance, it is said that immigrants from 

 Southern Europe find it difficult to give up their 

 maccaroni. oli\e oil, and their nati\e kind of cheese, 

 and take to the foods of their new home. Travellers 



in Switzt-rhind will buy liraiid and Bovril and 

 complain of the price, while tin; Swiss-made Maggi 

 answers the same purpose. 



Professor Snyder, in " Human Foods and their 

 Nutritive Value," calls attention to what he calls 

 food notions — the false ideas that arise. .Mushrooms 

 are regarded as eipial in value to beef, which 

 chemical analysis mtireK- fails to confirm. Many 

 valuable and wholesome foods are banished from 

 the table, and incorrect views spread abroad. The 

 value of a food must in the first instance be based 

 on its chemical composition; after this the question 

 passes into the hands of physicians and physiologists, 

 and they alone can give the final \erdict. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



OBSERVATION'S OF SOME RECENT METEORS. 

 To the Editors of " Knowledge." 



Sirs, — The following notes which I have made from 

 observations of recent bright or otherwise unusual meteors 

 may be of interest to some of your readers. 



1912, May 5th.— .^t about 9*' 22" C. S. T., a very brilliant 

 and fine meteor was observed to pass just a small distance s. 

 of 5 Leonis, remaining visible for about two or three seconds, 

 and moving in an E. to \V. direction over about 8° of arc. 

 During its flight it seemed to throw off matter from its head, 

 thus leaving a train that was particularly bright immediately 

 back of the head but that went out soon after the meteor was 

 extinguished. The meteor was rich yellow in colour. 

 Directly following this, a faint and rapid meteor was seen in 

 practically the same part of the sky, while earlier in the even- 

 ing one or two similar ones had been witnessed in the northern 

 heavens. 



1912, May 8th.— About S'' 57" a fairly bright, rapidly 

 moving meteor was observed to pass from a point in the s. 

 part of Ursa Major to a point approximately 7'/. a Leonis, or 

 over a distance of roughly 35°. This object lasted during the 

 time of about three seconds, and left no perceptible trail to 

 speak of, but " went out " practically all at once, breaking 

 very little in the action ; just before its extinction the meteor 

 apparently seemed to very slightly " swivel " in its course a 

 bit toward the E., but whether this effect was merely an 

 illusion, I do not know. 



1912, May 17th.— At about 8" 29™, approximately 10° s. 

 /3 Herculis, I saw what was obviously a bright spark of light 

 flash into view and instantaneously become extinguished, 

 travelling, to my certain knowledge, an absolutely imperceptible 

 distance, and leaving no visible train. The phenomenon 

 could not have lasted more than 0-5'. This was one of the 

 most peculiar meteors it has ever been my fortune to observe. 

 1912. May 22nd. — ,\bout 8" 30" I observed an apparently 

 faint, slowly moving meteor which became visible near 

 Capella and travelled over about 5° of the sky s. of that star, 

 before going out. It was partly obscured by deep haze or 

 clouds, did not leave inuch train, if any, and, probably on 

 account of the clouds, appeared to have a kind of bounding 

 movement in the course of its flight, which caused it to be 

 very noticeable. 



1912. June 19th.— At approximately 13" 45"' (C.S.T. astro.). 

 I incidentally caught a fine meteor that moved from a point 

 somewhere p. a .Acjuilae to a point possibly /. o Ophiuchi, 

 (these uncertainties arise from that fact that I was unable to 

 note accurately the positions of its start and finish), parallel 

 to the plane of the horizon, "and remaining visible probably as 

 long as two seconds. It left no noticeable trail, was compara- 

 tively bright, and white in colour. After it di.sappeared, how- 

 ever, it left a beautiful and evident streak which remained 

 apparent for some three seconds or more. 



1912, July -3rd. While observing with my three-inch 



equatorial, at about S"" 44", I happened to glance up at the 

 sky and saw a fine meteor move ;/. a few degrees, and, at its 

 very best, become suddenly extinguished at a place approxi- 

 mately li°or 2° s. and slightly/), f* Aquilae. Just before the 

 meteor went out it displayed in rapid succession several hues, 

 but especially a light or pale blue. As it went out, it reminded 

 me more of a great diamond sunburst in shape than any other 

 thing I could think of, the rays of light from its nucleus 

 apparently diverging shortly in all directions from the centre. 

 This meteor was of comparatively small duration (being visible 

 about 2-5'' or 3"), and was another one of the most peculiar 

 examples of its class that I have ever witnessed, it seeming to 

 suddenly go out while at its very brightest. Its colour changes 

 were also interesting ; bat not as much so as its behaviour. 

 FREDERICK C. LEONARD, 

 Illinois, U.S.A. President S.P.A., M.H.A.A. 



THUNDERSTORMS. 

 To tJie Editors of " Knowledge." 



Sirs. — With reference to the statement of your corres- 

 pondent, Mr. Tankerville Chamberlayne, that in reports of 

 thunderstorms they are always described as coming up from 

 a distance, and never as starting iunnediately overhead, it 

 might interest him to know that out of the numerous thunder- 

 storms we have had this year at Stafford, in two cases at least 

 the first flash was overhead (provided a radius of one mile is 

 reckoned as overhead). 



In the first case, it was the bright afternoon of a showery 

 day. when, without any warning (the sun was actually shining, 

 or had been shortly before), there was a vivid flash of lightning, 

 immediately followed by a loud peal of thunder ; afterwards 

 there was rain and some more thunder, but at a greater 

 distance. This flash killed a boy, who was playing in a field 

 with two other boys, about half a mile from where I was. 



In the second case it was about 1.20 p.m., the sky was very 

 overcast and there was heavy rain. I had just gone out of 

 doors and had not taken many steps before there was a 

 particularly vivid flash of lightning, followed by one of the 

 most startling cracking peals of thunder I think I have ever 

 heard, .-\fterwards there was more thunder and lightning, but 

 at a much greater distance. This flash killed a cow in a shed 

 situated about three-cjuarters of a mile from where I was 

 walking- 



In both these cases the first observed flash was practically 

 overhead, and of course in the first case it was, as far as the 

 boy that was killed was concerned, overhead in the strictest 

 sense of the word. 



In two other storms here this year two houses were struck 

 within less than a mile from where I was, but in neither of 

 these two cases have I any record as to whether they were 

 struck by the first flash or not. 



H. AUBREY P. HOWARD. 



Stafford. 



