Decembee 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



281 



'.Mi 



^mSTRAJED MAGAZINE 



iTERAT! 



LONDON : DECEMBER 1, 1897. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial 2Sl 



The Heart of a Continent. By trREXvrtLE A. J. Coie, 



M.E.I. A., F.G.S. (Illustrated) ^S2 



Modern Alchemy. By W. E. Oud, B.A 2S5 



The Total Solar Eclipse of 1898. (Illustrated) ... 28G 



Artificial Sunspcts. By the Eer. A. East. (Plate) ... 28S 



British Ornithological Notes. Conducted by IIaert F. 



WiTnERDT, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U £90 



Letters : — A. T. Masterjiav; M. L. Lemox ; A. G. MoN- 



IREIFI" GEAHA.yE; G. HaRCOURT IIiLL ... ... ... £01 



Science Notes (Illvslrated) 293 



Obituary ... 195 



The Beaver in Norway. By R. Ltdekker, B.A.Cantab, 



F.R.S. (Illustrated) 295 



Notices of Books 2G7 



SuoRT Notices ... ... ... ... ... ... 299 



Books Eeceited ... ... .. ... ... ... 299 



The British Trapdoor Spider. — II. By Fred. E.nock, 



F.L.S., F.L'.S. (Illustrated) 200 



The Face of the Sky for December. By Hfrbert 



.Sadler, F.R.A.S 303 



Chess Column. By C. D. LococK, B.A.Oion 303 



EDITORIAL, 



IT again becomes our pleasing dut}-, in complet- 

 ing the twentieth volume of KNOWLEDGE, to 

 express our gratification at the continued 

 su])port accorded to us by our readers, and our 

 acknowledgments to the 'many friends who have 

 contributed to our columns during the year. 



The appreciation of our programme for 1897 gives 

 us more confidence in bringing before the notice of 

 our readers the following particulars of some of the 

 more important features of our volume for i8g8. 



The Rev. Thomas R. R. Stebbing, .M.A., F.K.S., 

 will contribute a series of illustrated papers on " The 

 Karkinokosm, or World of Crustacea." 



The crustaceans have been much neglected in 

 popular magazines of science, and we feel sure that this 

 series of articles, from the novelty of the subject and 

 from the practical and popular way in which the papers 

 are written, will be of great interest to our readers. 



.Arrangements have been completed for a series of 

 illustrated Botanical Studies, which will be contributed 

 by Mr. A. Vaughan Jennings, K.L.S., F.c;..S. These 

 papers are intended to show that from simple micro- 

 scopic preparations it is possible (i) to illustrate the 

 modes of reproduction in each of the great groups 

 of plants ; (2) to bring out the relationship between 

 the higher cryptogams and the flowering plants ; and 

 (3) to demonstrate that it is only by detailed 

 microscopic work that we are able to discover this 

 relationship. 



Mr, F"rederick Knock, F.E.S., F,L,s., will continue, in 

 the new year, the narrative of his researches into the 

 life histories of minute insects, which, in conjunction 

 w ith his excellent photographs, have already given 

 such livel\- satisfaction to our readers. 



Prof, Grenv-ille .A. J. Cole, M.R.I A., F.G.S. , will 

 commence, in the February Number of KNOWLEDGE, 

 a series of article?, illustrated by the camera, on the 

 Geological Features of Ireland. 



Contributions ha\e been promised also by .Sir 

 William Gowers,F.R.S. ; Mr. W. Dotting Hemsley,F.R.S. ; 

 Mr. R. Lydekker, B.A., F.R.S. ; Dr. J. G. McPherson, 

 F.R.S. E. ; Mr. C. F. Townsend, F.c.S. ; Mr. H. Snowden 

 Ward ; Mr. C. A. Witchell, and many others. 



Mr. E. Walter Maunder, f.r..\.S., is going out to 

 India for the purpose of obser\ing the solar eclipse in 

 Januai')-, and will describe his experiences in our 

 columns. Dr. Isaac Roberts, F.R.S., to whom we are 

 so much indebted for his delightful photographs, has 

 very kindly promised to furnish some further plates. 

 Mr. W. F. Denning, F.RA.S., the well-known meteor 

 observer and discoverer of comets, has arranged to 

 supply a short article each month, giving matters of 

 contemporary interest. Mr, Herbert Sadler, F.R..\.S., 

 will continue his useful column on the Face of the 

 Sky. Contributions to the Astronomical Pages have 

 also been promis.ed bj' Mr. C. Easton, F.r.a.s., Mr. 

 A. Fowler, F.R.A.S., Mr. J. E. Gore, f.r.a.s., Mr. William 

 Shackleton, F,R,.\,S., and others. 



The British Ornithological Notes, which now ha\'e 

 the support of a largenumber of eminent ornithologists, 

 will be continued on the same lines as hitherto. 



