Aug. 18, 1882.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



191 



■ > MAGAZINE ofSSIENCE"^ 



I: FlAIKIliyORI)£I]-£XACTl|j)£SCRIB£D^ 



LOXDOX : FRIDAY, AUGUST IS. 1882. 



Contents of No. 42. 



FA6B. 



Science and Art Gossip 191 



Wu Ramcsc3 II. the Pharaoh of 

 the Oppression ? Part TI. By 



Miss A.B.Edwards ^ 193 



Matthew Arnold on Knowledge 193 



Future Sources of oar Food Snpplr. 



Part III. By Percy Bossell .. ' . 191 

 ■\Miat will be the Form of the Tri- 

 cycle? By John Browning 195 



XII. 



fienews : Guide to Sonthamptc 



FAOI. 



The British Association 197 



A Luminous Sharif {illuttrated) ... 19" 

 The Charms of Swordfishing (il/i»- 



traltd) 198 



■Weather Charts for the Week 200 



The Public Health 200 



CoBBBSPoyDEXCB : Stimulants and 

 Work.— The Libralion of Sensa- 

 tion.— Hernia and Tricycling, 3x. 201 



Answers to Correspondents 202 



1% Our Mathematical Column 203 



19/ , Our Chess Column 205 



At the request of several of our readers, who consider 

 that these notes on Science and Art should be made a more 

 prominent feature, we propose in future to give " Science 

 and Art Gossip " the foremost place in our pages. We 

 shall be glad to receive from contributors, correspondents, 

 and subscribers generally, notes on matters of interest, 

 suitable for these columns, briefly (as well as plainly) 

 worded, and as exactly as possible described. We appre- 

 hend from past experience that a selection will have to be 

 made ; but trust none who may send notes will be annoyed 

 if want of space should prevent insertion. 



The Trustees of the Gilchrist Educational Trust have 

 arranged for courses of " Science Lectures for the People," 

 during the ensuing winter, in five towns of central Lanca- 

 shire, in five Scotch towns, and in Leicester, Lincoln, 

 Chesterfield, Doncaster, York, Reading, and Banbury. The 

 lecturers who will take part in them are Dr. Carpenter, 

 F.R.S. (the Secretary to the Trust), Professor Balfour 

 Stewart, F.R.S., Professor W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., Dr. 

 Martin Duncan, F.R.S., Rev. W. H. Dallinger, F.R..^., 

 Mr. W. Lant Carpenter, B.Sc, F.C.S., Dr. Andrew Wilson, 

 F.R.S.E., and Mr. R. A. Proctor. 



The report on the proposed grant to the French Minister 

 of Posts and Telegraphs of a sum of £3,600, in view of 

 the meeting of electricians, has been sent to the French 

 Senate, after having been adopted by the Chamber of 

 Deputies. This meeting will take place in October. One 

 of the reasons alleged for the delay is the necessity of 

 installing the magnetic instruments now in course of con- 

 struction for the observatory of Paris. Tlie assent of the 

 French Senate is stated to be beyond a doubt 



Carrier Pigeoxs for Naval Service. — The Secretary 

 of the German Navy has resolved to employ carrier pigeons 

 in the coasting service, all the experiments with them 

 made by the Prussian Government on the coast of the 

 North Sea, since 1876, to establish communication with 

 the lightships lying off the coast having been successful. 



The Syllable "- ing " in Place- Names. — Two of the 

 most important military roads are known as " Emming " 

 Street and " Watling " Street, names which they no doubt 

 bore not only during the Roman occupation, but probably 

 before. The word " street " appears to be surplu.sage, and 

 " Watling " a corruption of Keltic gaoidikacJi-tnnr/ {i.e., 

 ea')Mch), signifying the Gaelic or Irish road, running from 

 south-east to north-west, as illustrated by applying the 

 name Watlingstreet to the Milky Way, which has a 

 course nearly parallel to it [This is a rather startling 

 statement The course of the Milky Way changes from 

 hour to hour, with reference to the compass-points. — Ed.] 

 " Erming " may be from the Keltic eirim-eanrj, a riding 

 road, one for the use of horses; and, possibly, it is the 

 most ancient of our commercial roads, opening a communi- 

 cation between the Phenician traders and the inland parts. 

 The forms " Watlinga " and " Erminga " are, probably, 

 survivals from the Roman names " Watlinga via " and 

 "Erminga via." — Mr. Walford's Aiiliquarian Marjazine. 



. The Royal Aquarium Winter Electric Exhibition. 

 — We hear with great pleasure that the managers of 

 the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, taking advantage 

 of the conveniently central and accessible position of 

 the Aquarium, have made arrangements to hold an 

 exhibition, illustrating the latest applications of elec- 

 tricity to public and domestic requirements. It is in- 

 tended that the exhibits shall, as far as possible, be 

 subjected to practical and useful tests, with the view of 

 ascertaining the actual and relative valuer of the various 

 systems and apparatus shown. Thus a preliminary pro- 

 gramme has been arranged for testing the diflerent kinds 

 of incandescence lamps, for the best system of which a 

 prize of one hundred guineas will be otlered. It is pro- 

 posed that each exhibitor entering this competition should 

 be allotted a chandelier of 100 lights, the details of 

 arrangement being left to the respective exliibitors, while 

 the directors of the exhibition will retain the entire con- 

 trol of the various chandeliers. A record of all renewals 

 rendered necessary will be made, the diflerent causes of 

 such renewals being noted ; from time to time, photometric 

 measurements will be taken, and the power absorbed in 

 producing the light will be accurately ascertained. The 

 duration of lighting during the proposed term of the e.xhi- 

 bition will be about 800 hours, and, as it is intended to 

 make the necessary tests frequently, a very accurate 

 estimate of the relative values of different systems will be 

 obtained. In a similar way, information will be gained in 

 reference to storage batteries, and a prize of one hundred 

 guineas will be offered for the best system, including 

 batteries, adapted for a central dep6t, and small portable 

 wires to feed six incandescence lamps. In all, £1,000 will 

 be distributed in prizes, under the direction of a carefully- 

 selected scientific jury. We wish the enterprise the success 

 which it well deserves. 



Fasting in Acute Rheum.^tism. — Dr. Wood, Professor 

 of Chemistry in tlie Medical Department of Bisliop's Col- 

 lege, Montreal, reports in the Canada Medical Record a 

 number of cases in which acute articular rheumatism was 

 cured by fasting, usually fi-oiii four to eight days. In no 

 case was it necessary to fast more than ten days. Less 

 positive results were obtained in castas of chronic rheu- 

 matism. Tlie patients were allowed to drink fnn^ly of cold 

 water, or lemonade in moderate quantities if tliey preferred. 

 No medicines were given. Dr. Wood says tliat from the 

 quick and almost invariably good results obtained by simple 



