July 21, 



32.] 



* KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



133 



cuutent to wait. This is our punishment for our sins against nature 

 .^ud true art. But it surely is vdtb this as with everything else in 

 life. '■ Seek ye first the "kingdom of God (or the good) and His 

 Righteousness (or the right), and all these things (the outward 

 beanty) shall be added unto yon." It must he so, for beauty is 

 inherent in the good and the true. This is but an imperfect sketch 

 of what is but an imperfect idea in my own mind. My ability 

 to work it out is but small, but I wish to make it the work of my life, 

 and if I succeed even in the smallest degree, I shall think it no 

 unworthy work. 



I shall be only too glad of any advice as to the best means of 

 l)ractically carrying out my plan. 



31, Cornwall-road, Uayswater. E. M. Ki.ng. 



METEOR, it. 



477^ — Many thanks to you for inserting my letter on " Meteor" 

 in Knowledge. I am pleased that you considered it sufficiently 

 interesting. 



I saw in Nature, of June 8, page 12 1, a letter on the same object 

 from the Stoneyhurst Observatory, which is about twenty-two and 

 a-half miles from here in a X.X.E. direction. The meteor was seen 

 by several persons about there, bnt in a very different direction to 

 where I saw it. It first appeared to them near Arcturus, and passed 

 between S and £ Ursa Jlajoris, bursting under a Ursa?. This path 

 differs so greatly from mine that, taking into account the compara- 

 tive iieamess of tiie two placss of observation, I think it indicates 

 pretty clearly that the meteor must have been very near the earth. 

 Indeed, it appeared very near to me ; literally speaking, it did not 

 seem to be many yards from me. Unfortunately, I cannot give a 

 more exact description of its path than the one given in my previous 

 letter, as it passed so quickly and was such a startling sight, that I 

 had not time to note its exact position. Excelsiob. 



LAW OF PEOBABILITIES. 



[478] — Playing Loo with two friends many years ago, one card — 

 the Nine of Diamonds — turned up trump such a vast number of 

 times that we were quite excited about it, and subjected the card 

 to a most searching examination, but could detect no difference 

 between it and any of the others. We then resumed play, re- 

 solving to count, and after that the same card turned up trump 

 thirty-nine times.* What does the law of probabilities say to 

 that"? Hallvaeds. 



• In how many trials ? — En. 



BEEAK FOE A TWO-WHEEL VEHICLE. 



[-179] — Hinge a bar at each side at any point under the trap, and 

 6^ore the wheel. Lot these bars bo two or three inches longer 

 than the height of the tra|>, and kept back and off the ground by a 

 spring, and let there bo a foot or more of rod above the hinge that 

 may bo acted upon by the driver pulling it towards him by a cord, 

 screw, or any other sirrangement, and this will bring the lower end 

 more or less firmly upon the ground, and check the vehicle, and lift 

 the weight off the horse's back. This is the principle of the Carter 

 break that is ajiplied to bicycles, and I think is patented ; but 

 information on this point can bo got from Singer it Co., 

 " Challenge " Bicycle Works, Coventry. G. S. 



I 



A MODERN SURGEON'S TOOLS. 



[480]— The astute, sympathetic, and skilful Mr. Smaller will, I 

 hope, pardon Mr. Smallest relating as brietly as possible the melliud 

 adopted in a modern shop when an operation similar to that so 

 touchingly described by him is performed. 



A trochar and canula of a new form, but possessing the same 

 much-despised point, proviouslj' well sharpened and polished to 

 ]ierfection with Tripoli and wash-leather, is placed in a tepid solu- 

 tion of carbolic acid beside the patient's couch. 



The ]laco selected for puncture is painted with a strong solution 

 of the same drug, which renders it completely insensitive. The 

 instrument removed from the bath is coated with a small quantity 

 of a beautiful antiseptic ointment called vaseline. 



The operator with a rapid, skilful stroke, sends it through the 

 inscnsitivo tissues, and the pent-up fluid glides noiselessly from the 

 part through an indiarubber tubo to the vessel intended for its 

 ^^•ception. 



The form of the point as at present made is necessary, the 

 bltintnesa Mr. Smaller desires removed, enabling it to push aside 

 imj>ortant vessels lying in its course, thus preventing their severance 

 and injury. ' A. Cowley Malley, B.A., M.B., B.Cu. 



THE HIGHLAND CELT. 



[481] — It seems to me that the word '• brown," as used by 

 '■ Charles Stewart," really means dark, and does not necessarily 

 imply "light, fair, or sandy," but the contrary; in tlu? word 

 (jaidhill-dhoneur, for instance, is not tho suSix a derivative of 

 " dhn," meaning black ? while tho southern equivalent, called 

 "dun," is certainly dark. Speaking ethnologically, I should call 

 brown hair the result of a mixture between tho aboriginal dark 

 Britons and the fairer Teutons or Gauls ; and tho reference to 

 Tacitus is unfortunate, because that author nses the word " rutila?," 

 meaning unmitigated '* carrots " — not brown. 



Then, again, Breadalbane can liar<lly be called the true highlands 

 of to-day ; that district lies south of the Grampians, and tho real 

 Caledonians — the wild Highlanders — are north of that range. 

 Perthshire was overrun and partly civilised by the Romans long 

 ago ; since which, a variety of Teutonic tribes have poured in, and 

 but little Gaelic is spoken in the country parishes ; perhaps it would 

 prove more germane to the matter to ask Mr. Stewart's friendly 

 schoolmaster as to blue or grey eyes, and as to red hair ; for that 

 gentleman does not appear to sec that, even in tho days of Agricola, 

 the Caledonii are described as a mixed race, which fact leaves us as 

 far as ever from deciding what was the original complexion of the 

 primitive Highland Celt. A. H. 



FIFTEEN SCHOOL-GIRLS, 



Viz., A\&, BBb, CCc, DDd, i'Ee. 



[4«2]— First day the A's, B's, Ac, to walk together thus :— 



AAsi To make the problem more definite, add the following 



BBb conditions, viz., that the A's oa tho other six days are to 

 CCc walk in the first three rows ; BCDE in the first row, or 



Z)Dd first in the fourth and fifth rows; BCDE in the second 

 £Ee row, or second in the fourth and fifth rows ; bcdo in the 



third row, or third in the fourth and fifth rows. The 

 following is obtained : 



ABC 



ABC 



ado 



J'Eb 



/;Dc 



3rd. 

 AVE 

 AED 

 abc 

 JSCd 

 CBe 



tth. 

 AMD 

 aDB 

 ^ec 

 iCb 

 CEd 



sth. 

 Afc'C 

 aCE 

 ^bd 

 BDe 

 DBc 



6th. I Tth. 



a.BE aCD 



ASB ADC 



Acd Abc 



CDb BEo 



i;Ce 1 £Bd 



It will also be observed that the girls in the last two rows on the 

 second day walk with the A's on the third, and those with the A's 

 on the second walk in the hist two rows on the third day, and so on 

 the fourth and fifth, also on sixth and seventh. C. E. 



COLD SNAPS. 



[483] — With reference to cold snaps, do you know what the 

 weather has been daring the spring and early summer at Madeira r 



I spent a winter there a year or two ago, and found February 

 decidedly tho finest month. The beginning of May (I left about 

 the 12th) was absolutely cool, and the hills round Funchal were 

 covered with snow, which was represented to me as a most unusual, 

 if not an unprecedented, occurrence for tho timo of year. 



In Teneriffo also, about the middle of April, the north-east trade 

 wind was blowing, and out of the sun the weather was cool, not to 

 say cold, particularly in the morning and evening. 



I attributed, in my own mind, the freshness of Madeira in May, 

 and the character "of the Teneriffo wind in April, to ice in the 

 Atlantic. It would, therefore, be interesting to learn whether this 

 year, when wo know that there has boon an unusual quantity of ice 

 about, a ;similar retardation of warm weather has tjvken place in 

 these two semi-tropical islands. — Yours truly, G. U. 0. 



HAIR TURNING WHITE. 



[.(at] — Perhaps the following may interest some readers of 

 Knowledge. Less than a year ago I had a sudden and very heavy 

 disappointment. My mind was so disturbed that I could not sleep 

 at all during tho night. Towards morning it wcurred to nio that 

 my hair hail changed colour. But I felt ton sick to c«n< to examine 

 it. Either that morning or the next, I noticed a small white patch 

 of hair just over the centre of my forehead, and some days after the 

 back of my head was noticed to be covered with little groups of 

 rhito hairs. I tried by change of air and scenery to rog!»in my 



spirits, thinking my hair would return to itsonlinary colour, black ; 

 but since then it has become slightly whiter. W. E. F. 



SixPE.NCK each will bo paid for copies of No. 3 of Knowlkpck. 

 Apply, or address, Wymun i Sons, 74 and 5, Great Queon-stroet, 

 London, W.C. The i)ubli8hor8 have on hand, for sale, a few copies 

 of K.NOWLEliGE, Nos. 4, 5, (i, and 7. Price W. each. 



