184 



♦ KNOWLEDGE *. 



[Aug. 11, 1882. 



the Middlesex Hospital wns referred to " asphyxia when under the 

 inflnencc of chloruform and etUer." The 23 deaths from fractures 

 and coutusions were thus causeil : — Two males, eacli aged six years, 

 run over by cab; males 35, 65, and female 57 run over by 

 Tan; female 2, run over by cart ; male 30 (intoxicated), fell from 

 cart; female 5, run over bytramcar; male 18, crushed between 

 railway carriais-s at Rotlierhitbe; male 20, run over on Midliiid 

 Kailway; male, 10 fell in street; male 55, fell from scnffold ; 

 male 68, fell from ladder; male 1, fell from window; male 2, fell 

 down steps ; male 34, fell do>vn ship's hold ; male 14, blow by 

 handle of truck ; male 30, by fall of bricks ; female 17 hours, by 

 fracturc ; male 10, by blow ; male 03, by injury ; female 2, by fall ; 

 and female lJ3, by injury. An inquest was held in each of these 

 23 cases, except the last two, which were certified by registered 

 medical practitioners. In Greater London 3,254 births and 1,G74 

 dottbs were registered, equal to annual rates of 347 and 179 per 

 1,000 of the population. In the Outer King 19 deaths were referred 

 to diarrhoea, 14 to measles, 11 to scarlet fever, and 11 to whooping- 

 cough. Ko fatal case of sniall-iwx was registered. 



The St. Gotrard TrxxEL.— .\ftcr many contradictory reports as 

 to whether locomotives propelled liy electric energy were to bo 

 used in the St. Gothard Tunnel or not, we (Klectrician) hear again 

 that the attempt is to be made, and that experiments, for which 

 the sum of 1S0,0C0 fr. is set ajiart, are now being made at Berno 

 with this object. 



To the student of heraldry and genealogy book-plates aro as 

 interesting and valuable as the e.«:entcheons on old church brasses 

 and monuments, llow many cases there ore in which wo should 

 not have known to whom a boi)k had once belonged, if it had not 

 been that it contained an old plate with the arms of the ownier 

 inside its cover, although unaccompanied by any name or any other 

 clue. I have in my possession several plates that besr on them 

 only the arms of their owners, without cither motto or name. Then, 

 again, book-plates aro valuable as in some instances they have 

 become the only reliable examples of the arms of a family or an 

 individual. Then theic comes into .icconnt the pleasure of hunting 

 and collecting them. How many happy half-hours has one spent 

 among the second-hand book-shops and stalls of London and the 

 country. looking over old volumes in search of them '. — Mr. Walfoid's 

 Antiqarian Magazine. 



" Flint Jack." — Dr. Brewer, in that marvellous compilation of 

 his '• The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," writes : — " Edward 

 Simpson, an occasional servant of Dr. Young, of Whitby, so-called 

 liecaase he used to tramp the kingdom vending spurious fossils, 

 flint arrow-heads, ttone celts, and other imitation antiquities. 

 Professor Tcnnant charged him with forging these wares, and in 

 1867 bo was sent to prison for theft." Let mo take this oppor- 

 tunity of advising those of your corresjiondents who may not 

 happen to have this work from which I have just quoted, to at onco 

 procurt the same. Just two reasons for giving this advice, and I 

 have done — (1) It will tend to lighten the labours of the learned 

 and patient editor of K.nowledge, which, in my opinion, is a very 

 important — ray, vital — consideration; and (2) The information 

 which one may be seeking after is, in fifteen cases out of twenty, 

 to be found in this work. — J. Vf. Howell. [Albeit, not fully in this 

 rase ; for our correspondent wanted to know when and where Flint 

 Jack died.— Ed.] 



Dis<ovEBT OF Anciext Buixs IX NEW Mexico.— The Boston 

 Journal reports that important discoveries of the largest ancient 

 mini yet found on this continent, which extend for a distance of 

 fifteen miles up and down the banks of the Las Animas Uivcr, 

 about forty miles from Dnran^o, in Rio Grande county, X. M., 

 have recently been made. Post Office Inspector Cameron, who 

 visited these ruins lately, Ixilicvcs the ancient villages were occupied 

 by the Moqui Indians, and not by the Aztecs, as is generally sup- 

 posed. Ho speaks of discovering a stone ruin 'WO feet by 450 feet, 

 which at one time evidently was throe stories high. The walls aro 

 five feet thick. There were about LW rooms in the building, of ten 

 feet cinare each. An enterprising Yankee who has pre-empted as 

 government land the ground on which the ruins stand, has Ixjen 

 doing a fine business selling relics to visitors. A discovery thought 

 important by the gentlemen of the Bureau of Ethnology was lately 

 made there of thirteen human rkclctons in a subterranean chamber 

 of the building menlionid. This bod evidently been used as a 

 bnrial vault. They were wrapped up carefully in a kind of coarse 

 cloth, and bore a close rcsemblanco to Egyptian mummies. This 

 cloth was of cotton, and woven with as much skill as if done at the 

 present day, which is considered not the least interesting jiart of 

 the discovery. The skeletons were perfectly Ilre8cr^■cd and clean. 

 They were unmistakably those of Indians. A quantity of pottery 

 of the best make was also found in this tomb. 





Itttfifl; to tin (Kbitor, 



[Tkt Editor JoM not \ohl himtr!fre>pnn>iUr/or Ikt apim«nt qfhii 



utcripfa or to corrftpoiitl tpith their tcrttert. All 

 I thort at pottible^ coiitislenlty with full and clear state- 



He cannot undertake to retn 

 communieatione ehould be 

 ' the KTiter-t mean 



llreel. W.C. 



Ml Remittance; Cheoaee, and Fott-OJKce Orders should be made ravaliU to 

 3le,n-s }r,nian J^ Sons. ' 



•,• Alt letters to the Editor will be Xumbered. For convenienc qf reference^ 

 correspondents^ tehen r^erring to any letter, Kill oblige bj/ mentioning its number 

 and the page on vhick it appears. 



'* In knowledge, that man only is to be contemned and de^piHed who in not in a 

 male of traosilior. .... Nor is there anjthiag more advoreo to accuracy 

 than lliity of opinion." — Faradag. 



" Show mo a man who maliea no mistakes, and I will t,liow you a niiin who has 

 done nothing. "—iifty. 



FAIRY RINGS v. RINGWORJIS. 



[507] — Tho largo fairy rings on the South Downs, described by 

 Mr. W. G. Smith (506), have been explaincil over and over again as 

 tho result of special manuring in the boundary track of tethered 

 animals. I do not disiiuto this explanation, e.i|)Gcially as I know 

 they are most abundant near tho edges of tho chalk cliffs, whcro 

 animals aro tethered to prevent them fi-om straving over tho pre- 

 cipice. The difliculty I endeavour to remove is that of tho small 

 rings. Mr. Smith misquotes mo, in describing tho rings I observed 

 as merely " circles of rank grass." I distinctly state that these 

 lings had "at times a crop of small fungi dotted over them." 

 Jlr. Smith asks whether anybody has ever seen haycocks only 

 3 ft. in diameter. I have seen many thousands, and havo 

 mado a hundred or two of such size myself. Uavo just mea- 

 sured ono mado a month ago, and left to tost my theory. 

 It measures 3 ft. 2 in., and was intended as a typical sample 

 of tho small heaps usually made in tho first gathering of tho wind- 

 rows by a single outreach of tho h,-iy-ruko. If rain follows each 

 gaUiering, they aro not disturbed until it ceases. Tho theoiy of 

 spontaneous outspreading of fungi is old and well worn, ono of tho 

 "many attempts at explanation" to which I alluded. It is very 

 superficially based on the analogies named by Mr. Smith — tho small 

 cii'cular specks or rings which are formed when tho mycclia or fila- 

 mentous stems of a fungus radiate from a centre and fructify at 

 their radial terminations. These circles arc, however, limited to 

 dimensions fairly comparable to those of tho ringworm fungus 

 quoted by Mr. Smith. 



Toadstools have no geometrical instinct causing them to describo 

 circles of fifty feet in diameter, or oven of three feet. They simply 

 flourish where their omnipresent spores alight upon ground con- 

 taining the special manure that serves them as food. Every culti- 

 vator of edible fungi, from Dr. Badham downwards, knows that tho 

 droppings of animals at certain times, i.e., just when tethering is 

 most needed, supply such manure. If I am right, tho drip from a 

 heap of rotting grass does tho like, but, as I stated at tho con- 

 clusion of my note, further observation is demanded for the confirma- 

 tion of this hypothesis. W. Mattieu Williams. 



FAIRY RINGS. 



[508]— I have for many years taken a great interest in tho 

 formation of tho fairy rings, but cannot accept Mr. Matticu Wil- 

 liams' theory of tho same. I resided for a considerable jjeriod near 

 a largo dairy farm ; a field on the same was quite thickly studded 

 with these rings, of all sizes. Tho grass forming tho rings was of 

 a dark green, in some very coarse, in others very soft and 

 silky ; tho centre of tho rings was largo tufts of grass. Tho field 

 has never to my knowledge b"cn mown, nor yet havo heaps of 

 manure, cocks of hay, Ac, over lain on it. 



Meadows adjoining, which aro mown occasionally, and in which 

 I havo often seen the hay-cocks lying for a length of time saturated 

 with wot, aro quite free from the rings. I think some other theory 

 must bo advanced to convince mo, and others, that such is the 

 cause of fairy rings. J. Dexter. 



[Several other letters received on this subject, to tho same 

 general effect, from J. Symea, Unbelieving Thomas, K. Dorling, M. 

 Uathaivcy, Ac— Ed.] 



