JcLY H, 1882.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



117 



note of one of the simplest and prettiest demonstration of tlie 

 8till-liidden laws that govern the movements of " liquids in motion," 

 and tell us all about them. 



It is this : Into a two-pint porcelain mortar, break a (really) 

 new-laid egg, and see to the proper levelling of the mortar, then 

 procure a " Double Dover Egg-beater," and add a tea-spoonful of 

 finely levigated wliite sugar. Now di-ive the egg-beater, first slowly 

 and then extremely fast, and after a few minutes you will get 

 your reward ; for you will see a lovely illustration of some of the 

 exquisite figures in moving fiuids which the treatise of Sir. W. F. 

 Stanley has so exquisitely taught to us, although I don't think 

 he has, in any instance, observed the charming demonstration here 

 named. The bowl is of full golden, shining bubbles of softest look 

 and most tender lines. It is not one of my gifts to be able to 

 lucidly describe all that I have seen in this homely experiment. 

 But, after catching your new-laid egg, let one of " your young 

 men" tell your readers all that this humble pen of mine fails to 

 narrate, and, if he can, tell us " how it is done." 



A "double," not a ''single" beater is desirable for producing 

 the varying shapes that dance in this golden tide. In proportion 

 to the rapidity of the revolving arms do the shape, size, and be- 

 haviour of the changing lovely forms and figures follow. At a 

 high velocitv, the outline of a heart shows itself, the regular 

 " Valentine " heart, none of your lumpy and unroraantic anatomical 

 hearts. It is impossible (but, doubtless, only so to myself) to 

 reveal the life and sensitiveness of these figures, and their strange 

 mobility. To me, they seem to set before us a science door through 

 crack of which we may behold a vista of fascinating and important 

 truths, waiting ihe resolute hand that will draw back the reluctant 

 gate, that we may enter in. Alas ! that hand belongs not to your 

 faithful servant, Egbert Ellis, 



Eaven Spring, llitcham. 



PROF. HUXLEY AXD MAECUS AUEELIUS. 



[461] — Amongst the "pithy sayings " which the writer of the 

 Review in Knowledge on Prof. Huxley's " Science and Culture and 

 other Essays " jastly considers as well worth quoting and re- 

 membei-ing, there is one in particular to which I wish to draw 

 attention. Prof. Huxley says, " Do what you can to do what you 

 ought, and leave hoping and fearing alone." 



Probably in all ages the thought of doing that which ought to be 

 done, without hope and without fear, has been common to great 

 minds; but I believe that it is to the Stoics, and to Marcus Aurelius 

 especially, that we owe that noble lesson. I quote in full, and it 

 can scarcely be too often quoted, one of the passages from " The 

 Thoughts ot Marcus Anrelius," which most resembles the modern 

 rendering of Prof. Huxley. 



"If thou workcst at that which is before thee, following right 

 reason seriously, rigorously, calmly, without [allowing anything else 

 to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if then 

 shonldst be bound to give it back immediately ; if thou boldest to 

 this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy 

 present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every 

 word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And 

 there is no man who is able to prevent this." E. C. 



IMITATIONS OF VOIXAXIC FOBM AND ACTION. 

 [■tG5] — In a letter of mine to the editor of the Athenirum, some 

 years since, I described a mode by which, nccidentally, I had pro- 

 duced a surface similar to that presented by the moon. Having 

 nearly filled the basin of a large Arnot stove with sand, I poured 

 the water, for the purpose of moistening the atmosphere of the 

 room, upon it till it became saturated sand mud ; when the stove 

 got hot, an effect similar to that described in the pages of Know- 

 ledge, with regard to the plaster of Paris, was produced. But I 

 found that I could also realise mini.-.tui-e volcanoes, craters, and 

 eruptions, by pouring a moderate quantity of water in at the side 

 of the iron basin when the sand was dry and the stove excessively 

 hot. W. CAVE THOMAS. 



THE POTATO. 



[■IC6]— With regard to "Farmer's" " five experiments," I have 

 to inform him that his results do not now surprise me, for he should 

 80 pluck the blossoms that all rising sap may be checked, throwing 

 it back into the roots — e.g., increasing the weight of tuber. 



" Farmer " still adheres to his opinion about the " frosted 

 potato." If "Farmer" will inform me how to reconvert starch 

 once formed into sugar back a^ain to starch, then, and not till 

 then, can I believe that it is the " frost going out which makes tho 

 change." However, I should like to point out to " Farmer " that 



the alkali of the wood-ash, besides the perfect manner of preparing 

 the food, might, and docs, make an unpalatable potato palatable. 

 Who can eat a potato cooked in the ordinary way after a glorious 

 "spud" (so-called) ? I cannot. Living all my life in the North, 

 and amongst farmers, 1 was well aware of "Farmer's" remarks 

 on the " large quantity of decomposing matter," therefore 1 made 

 that "as an undeniable statement." Tho results obtained on the 

 sandy ground are remarkable, but nevertheless true. 



Farmer (329) asked me to give him my authority re " peat." I 

 gave it, but in letter 4fl5_he again says my statement is nonsense. I 

 prefer to take " Biedermann's Centralblatt fiir Agricultur- 

 Chemie " account of .•). genuine experiment before "Farmer's" 

 opinion to the contrary. It would have been otherwise had 

 " Farmer" been able satisfactorily to show that I had been talking 

 nonsense by bringing forth data to prove my statements incorrect. 

 " Farmer" has reminded me of a saying of Agassiz's through most 

 of this discussion, "that whenever a new and startling fact was 

 brought to light in science, people first say ' it is not true,' then 

 that ' it is contrary to religion,' and, lastly, ' that everybody knew 

 it before.' " Not that my statements are so very new or startling, 

 for I believe that the question, whether blossoms or no blossoms 

 yield the best results, has been before agriculturists for the last 

 forty years at least. It seems a pity that it takes " Farmer's " 

 body so many years to solve such a simple preblem. F. C. S. 



TOBACCO AND CONSUMPTION. 



[IG/j— After a talk on the subject with me, a friend, who had 



one of his young chickens very ill with the "gapes," thought he 



would try as a last resort the influence of tobacco smoke on the 



Placing the chick under a bell glass, he blew tho smoke from his pipe 

 into it until the fumes had made the chick unconscious ; then, re- 

 moving the glass, he allowed the youngster to come round, it exhaled 

 smoke for a second or two and was sick, but no symptom of gapes 

 has been seen since and the bird is as well as ever it was. 



If Koch or any other leader in germ research would try in a similar 

 manner the effect of smoke on animals, now under their treatment, 

 we might soon hear if this cure would hold good with respect to 

 animals suffering from the inoculation ot tuberculous matter; it 

 would, in aU probability, be necessary to make the animal uncon- 

 scious many times before arriving at satisfactory data on the 

 subject. 



Since I first began to inhale— and I have inhaled nearly every 

 kind of tobacco, from New Orleans perique to the finest Turkish 

 from pipe, cigar, and cigarette— I have never been troubled with a 

 single chest complaint. 



Would— as suggested by " W. 0. Prosser" — some of our medical 

 contributors, who have been abroad, please inform us if consump- 

 tion is prevalent amongst the following nations: — Mexicans, and the 

 nations of the South American Continent, tho Southern States of 

 America'; and if the custom of inhaling is carried on further north 

 than New York in the colder parts of North America ? We might 

 in this way gradually find out whether the influence of tobacco 

 inhalation "has the effect of wai-ding off or destroying consumption 

 irrespective of climatic Influence. P. C. S. 



A VERY COMMON MIND TROUBLE. 



[468]— The following, which appeared in tho ilanehcstcr Courier 

 of the 7th of this month, will, I trust, not prove inadmissible to the 

 columns of your magazine : — 



"In a large proportion of instances persons who live sedentary 

 lives, and labour habitually with their brains to the neglect of tho 

 other parts ot their bodies, suffer more or less annoyance from a 

 mind-trouble, which, under favouring conditions, may readily 

 become a disease. It consists of an uncontrollable and all-per- 

 vading feeling of doubt — not suspicion in the technical sense of that 

 term, but doubt as to the commonest facts and acts of ordinary 

 life and experience. At first tho victim ot this strange distress 

 tries to compel his self-consciousness to rest. lie resolves 

 that ho will not think of the act. It shall bo performed 

 instantly, or if it has been done it shall bo forgotten. He 

 goes away ; presently tho thought suggests itself that, after all, 

 perhaps ho has not accomplished what he intended, or that ho has 

 done it badly. He puts away this suggestion, but it returns with 

 fresh force and overwhelms' him. All sorts of evil consequences 

 will, or may, ensue from his omission to lock that donr or drawer, 

 to turn off that gas-burner, or to place some ornament firmly enough 

 on its pedestal ! Tho demand, or impulse, to return and verify 

 the underlying belief that all is well, will brook no denial. The 

 creature of a craze like this miiy go to bed and try to sleep, but he 

 will toss restles.«Iy on his pillow, and at length ho must — or ho 



