208 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Auo. 25, 1882. 



The National Galleut. — Tlio Bill whifh Earl Gran- 

 ville haa introdui-t-d with rt'gard to the National Gallfry 

 proposes to empower any two or inoro of the Trustees, 

 tosrether with the Director, present at any meeting specially 

 as^^mbled for tlie purpose, to order tliat any pictures or 

 other works of art under their control, which can, in their 

 opinion, be sparetl from the national collection, bo lent to 

 any public gallery. Such a loan would bo made for such 

 time, and subjivt to such conditions, as the meeting might 

 determine. A condition of a loan would be that all prolits 

 derived from any exhibition at the gallery to which the 

 loan is made shaJI be devoted altoiiether to the promotion 

 of science and art Pictures which have been accjuircd 

 under any gift or bequest would not be lent until the ex- 

 piration of Hfteen years from the Gallery's possessing them. 

 -Vad this period is extended to twenty-fivo years where 

 tliere is a condition of the gift that the pictures given Kimll 

 l>e kept together, or one that is inconsi.st<-nt with their 

 being lent. The expression '"public gallery" includes 

 those in the United Kingdom which are under the control 

 of the Government, or of any municipal authority, or of 

 any society or Ix'dy approved by any two or more of the 

 Trustees of the National Gallery and the Director. 



Malabia in New England. — A short time ago the key 

 to the niysterious extensien of malarial diseases in Now 

 England was supposed to have been found in the damming 

 of the streams for manufacturing purposes. Now the 

 BfKton Adc^rtls'-r says that intelligent people living in the 

 liistricts invatled say that the appearance of malaria in New 

 England dates from the introduction of the cultivation of 

 tobacco on a large scale upon the intervales of the Connec- 

 ticut, and tliat its spread has kept even pace with the 

 extended growing of this crop. The most plausible theory 

 of the introduction and propagation of the aerial poison is 

 U»is : To keep up the productiveness of the soil, fi^rtilisers 

 are freely used. The manure is brought from New York 

 city, mostly in scows, which are unloaded on the banks of 

 the river where the cargo is to be u.sed. All the autumn 

 and winter the.se heaps of putrid matter are fermenting and 

 brf?eding disease. The air that comes in contact with these 

 piles of filth is contaminated, and rendered as unlit for 

 human lungs to inhale, as it is offensive to the senses. 



A Vexomocs Lizard. — Stories about venomous lizards 

 of different species are abundant in Indiaand other tropical 

 countries, but on investigation have always been found to 

 l»e destitute of foundation. There i.s, however, one lizard 

 of which the bite is certainly highly dangerou.s, though pro- 

 baVjly not fatal, to man. This is the Heloderm {IwJoJiirma 

 horrida) of Mexico and Lower California, commonly 

 known to the natives of those countries as the "scorpione" 

 or "scorpion." An example of this lizard has lati'ly been 

 presented to the Zoological Society's collection by Sir John 

 LuMjock, and may now Vie seen in the reptile-house. The 

 deofJIy effect of the Viite of this lizard upon small mammals 

 ha.s l<ccn proved by actual experiment, and Mr. J. Stein, a 

 traveller in Mexico, who was bitt/m in the finger by one, 

 Huffered from Bymptoms simil.ar to thosQ produced by a 

 make bite, Tlie specimen in the Zoological Society's col- 

 lection is al)Out l.'i in. long, and was forwarde<l to Sir John 

 IxibVx)ck by Mr Tn-adwell, of the Central Arizona Mining 

 Company. It in Vwlievefl to be the first that has reached 

 Europe alive. An arti«rle by Dr. Andrew Wilson on this 

 interesting animal will appear in an early number. 



The National lygislatnro of the Unit<'d States pursues 

 ■ iatelligcnt and intollectnal course with respect to 



foreign literature. " Perhaps," says tlie A mcrican Naturalist, 

 " the secretary of the treasury desires to aid the friends of 

 repeal by a r'ductio ad abfiirdum of some of the piovisions 

 of our tariff law. By a ruling of this department made 

 some time last month, all books coming through tho foreign, 

 mail for private persons are charged a duty of 25 p.c. it of 

 the value of 1 dol. and over. To collect this amount the 

 book must be sent from the Postoflice to the Custom-house, 

 then from tho Custom-house to tho appraiser's store, whore 

 a valuation is put on it. It is then returned to the Custom- 

 house, from wliich a notice is issued to tho addressee. All 

 this requires the filling of blanks and tho obtaining of the 

 signatures of eleven or twelve officials, by which the 

 government is richer frequently by 2h or 50 cents. A 

 more disreputable law it would bo diUlcult to imagine. 

 Only tho poor student is taxed in his efforts to elevate 

 himself above the general dead level. The aspirations of 

 the seeker for knowledge have, it seems, to be paid for, 

 although by following them tho student usually resigns tho 

 opportunity of financial success in life. We know very 

 well that it is not the producers of books in this country 

 that desire protection. The sale of their wares abroad 

 depends on their merits, and the production is not to be 

 stimulated by a protective duty. It is tho publisher who, 

 like another noted character, sits 



" Ilnnl by tlio tree of knowlodgo," 

 to whom we are indebted for this beautiful piece of legisla- 

 tion. We are not opposed to a protective tariff under 

 certain circumstances ; but we are opposed to one on the 

 intellectual development of our people. It is worse than 

 blood-money, it is soul-money. It is a discrimination 

 against the cultivators of thought and mind, and intelligent 

 nieiniiers of our Natloiuil Lcgibliituii; must .surely, ere long, 

 see it in this light." 



CLOUD IN THE AIR. 



By the Editor. 



{Conlinved from page 170.) 



ONE of the most interesting consequences of tho real 

 form of the cloud layers above the horizon of a 

 place is the greater cloudiness of tho sky near the horizon, 

 even when clouds are no denser in the air above those spots 

 which lie towards the horizon than thi^y arc overhead. I 

 have often been amused to hear th(! passengers on an ocean 

 steamship speak of the cloudy region towards which the 

 ship is travelling, as if they would presently lose the 

 pleasant sunlight, when, in reality, a glance back along the 

 ship's course, or on either side, showing just tho same 

 cloud-wrapt sky all round, should have shown that the 

 clear sky overhead was an effect of the observer's position, 

 not due to any real difference in tho state of tho air over- 

 head. 



It may be well first to notice that even when there are 

 no clouds at all, and when the air overhead seems per- 

 fectly clear, the sky near the horizon may seem involved 

 in thick mist, though the air t/iere bo in n^ality as clear aa 

 the air overhead. The deception is akin to that which 

 Sir Edmund Beckett has noticed in that most interesting 

 work of his, "A IJook on Building "—aAiw, though not 

 precisely the same. A "curious and common delusion," 

 he says, "on the part of the dwellers in houses in low and 

 obviously damp situation is, that by some peculiar 

 idiosyncracy of the air, or providential interference, the 

 fog never reaches them, but always stops at some con- 

 venient lioundary which they point out to you. But if 



