Sept. 1.3, 1882.1 



KNOWL.EDGE 



2g; 



COXSUMPTIOX FROM STAYS. 



[5Co]— In the reforence to " taper waists " [431], in your issue 

 of June 23, page 59, " F. W. Harberton " [Viscountess Har- 

 berton] seems to ijpiore statistics, and to be ignorant of esta- 

 blished phYsiological facts. Dr. Kidge [432], in the same issue, 

 sliows that more males die from phthisis than females, although, 

 as F. W. H. savs, fnlly 00 j er cent, of women are deformed 

 by stays, and it' is not probable that over 10 per cent, of the 

 opposite sex " lace." It is impossible for stays to produce con- 

 sumption if Koch's theory is correct. If it is not, tubercles 

 do not begin to form at the lower end of the lungs, where they 

 are comiTesscd, but in the upper part, which the corset leaves 

 free. Females breathe higher up than men (thoracic breathing), 

 and the effect of lacing in the waist is to expand the chest and 

 upper end of the lungs, and thus check the growth of tubercles. 

 Pregnancy also interferes with free and fuU respiration quite as 

 much as tight stays do, but, instead of causing consumption, it 

 affords, at least, temporary relief. Carl Both has shown that a 

 person has three times as much lungs as are required in health, and 

 hence neglects to use them all ; if a woman chooses to dispense with 

 the lower portions for a few hours a day, she rarely suffers from it. 

 That injury may result from very tight lacing no one can deny, but 

 the anti-corset men injure their own cause when they make false 

 charges against an article that every woman wears, and knows to 

 be less injurious than they say it is. By pointing out the real 

 dangers of tight-lacing (dyspepsia, sterility, Ac), and not the 

 imaginary ones, much good can be done. "■ Total abstinence " has 

 injured the temperance cause, and he who preaches moderation 

 accomplishes far more good ; so it is with stays. Another error of 

 F. W. H. is in supposing that "taper waists" can only be attained 

 at the expense of tight-lacing, while the fact is that, in many cases, 

 moderate pressure, judiciously apiplicrl, will make what he eaUs a 

 " taper waist " n-ithout any 1 1 . 



I am afraid the editor will : his letter, because it 



does not follow the old rule it all times and in every 



manner; but a scientific join i nt to present all the 



facts, even if they seem to contradict prccouceived ideas. 



E. H. 



[E. H.'s letter is printed in full, even the last paragraph, in 

 which he rather unjustly suspects me of disliking moderate views. 

 It so happens that on quite a number of subjects about which 

 extreme views are held, I have expressed moderate views. I have 

 advocated, or at least defended, the moderate use of stimulants, 

 where many readers have urged me to Blne-Ribbonise Knowledge. 

 I have held a middle course on the Vivisection f|uestion, opposing 

 equally the brutalities of some vivisectionists and the colder form 

 of cruelty which some anti-vivisectionists display. So far as I 

 know, I have no extreme views on any subject. Even in dealing 

 with the Endowment of Research, supposed by many to be a 

 subject on which I am rather earnest, I have advocated reasonable 

 State support in the very papers in which I have most strongly 

 denounced scientific mendicity and Jlicawberism. I have acted 

 on the rule, Medio tulissimiis ibis (which a spiritualist friend trans- 

 lates, "You may very safely visit a medium") — or, rather, my 

 idiosyncrasies tend that way. E. H's fears were ill-founded. — 

 R. P.] 



FLINT JACK. 



[561] — It may be rather late, but as no one has satisfactorily 

 answered A. Britland's question, I think the best he could do would 

 be to write to the Curator of the Wilts and Devon Museum, Salis- 

 bury, where there is a large collection of forgeries, and a portrait 

 of Flint Jack, alias Flint Willie, Shirtless, Bones, Ac. 



J. E. Okiii. 



Letters ik Tvpe. — Brain Troubles, by Dr. Jope; A Luminous 

 Sea, by H. P. Vacher; Size of Rising Moon, by G. E.; Local 

 Weather Lore, by Michael Reardcn ; Singular Mental Illusion, by 

 W. H. Perkins ; A Glass of Wine, by W. H. Johnston, and H. F. ; 

 Tarnished Daguerreotypes, by A. Brothers ; Physiological Experi- 

 ment, by Z. ; Skeleton Leaves, by E. C. X. ; The Use of Dmnken- 

 ness, by J. Ralph ; Talking Canary, &c., by Charles L. Cane ; Turkish 

 Tobacco, by Tnnbcki ; Xew Method of Preserving Organic Bodies, 

 by W. Mattieu Williams; Defects of Bicycles, by John Browning 

 and H. T. Round ; Hot and Cold Drinks, by JI. D. ; Jordan-Glycerine 

 Barometer, by C. J. W. ; A Poisonous Lizard, by Solanum j Botani- 

 cal Repulsion and Attraction, by Beccabunga ; Singular Rainbow, 

 by William Ackroyd ; Mechanical Paradox, by C. T. M. 



aiiEtofrg to CoritsfponUfiitsf. 



*,• All commumcaiioni for Ihe Sdilor requiring earl) aHtnUon ihmilj reach Ihe 

 Office on or before the Saturday preceding the current itsue of ExowLIDGI, ihe 

 increating circulation t^f which compete ue to go to prete early in ihe week. 



Hints to Cobbespondents. — 1. Ko quettionn aekivq for ecientific information 

 can be answered through the poet. 2 Ltttere $ent to t)te Editor for correrpondcnte 

 cannot be forwarded, vor can the namee or addreeiei of corretpondente be gicen in 

 anewer to private inguiriee. 3. Correepondenta fhould write on one tide or.ly of the 

 paper, and put drawingt on a teparate leaf. 4. Each letter thould have a title, and 

 in replying to a letter, r^erence should he made to its number, the page on which it 

 appears, and its title, 



EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY. 



Hahyaeds. — With regard to your note, for which I am much 

 obliged, I can only say that I do not profess to be a chronologist, 

 or to reconcile Bible statements which differ from each other. 

 Believing the clear, straightforward, unvarnished tale of Exodus 

 to be the original version, and the later variations mere departures 

 from the original, I have preferred to accept the statements in 

 Exodns, and to abide by them. I believe Abraham, for instance, 

 to have been laid in the Cave of Macphelah, and not in Sychem, 

 and I believe the sojourn to have been, most likely, 430 years in 

 duration. But, as a fact, I doubt all chronological statements 

 before the time of Shishak and the fall of Jerusalem. Up to that 

 -time I regard all chronology as merely approximate. We know 

 how the most ordinary statements of events happening in our o>vn 

 day, when we have printing-presses and telegraphs, get garbled, 

 magnified, and turned upside down by mere verbal repetition. And 

 how much more must statements regarding lapses of time have 

 become garbled, and magnified, and altered, when repeated from 

 mouth to mouth, and from generation to generation, in ages when 

 there was no press, no sifting of evidence, and no means of com- 

 parison ? It must be observed that I have scrupulously avoided 

 fixing a date for any of the events relating to Joseph, the Exodns, 

 Rameses, Ac. I have again and again insisted on the fact that I 

 use figures and dates onlj- for con reniVnce, and that my dates are 

 merely approximate, and may be shifted " up or down the scale of 

 ages" to almost any extent. A. B. E. 



Jas. Deaxe. Many thanks for Mr. Russell's paper. He cer- 

 tainly presents the meteoric theory of the cold snaps in a much 

 more effective form than any in which it has yet been advanced. 

 I propose to present his theory presently in a paper which I 

 will •n-rite on the subject. In passing, however, let me note 

 that in the extract you send me a mistaken idea is advanced 

 (without being corrected, as it should have been) that the August 

 meteor system lies between the earth and the sun in February. 

 This is certainly not the case.. — F. W. wishes to know hoxr, also 

 (which is harder) why the teeth of cows differ from those of other 

 quadrupeds. — HrxTiXGFORD wishes to know how best to learn Latin 

 withont teacher. — J. P. Simpsox. I am much obliged to yon for sketch 

 of R. W., but fear it will be long before space can be found. British 

 Association pushes aside so much. Electricity in atmosphere in 

 type. It is rather technical. — P. T. Letchforp. Letter about 

 tricycles forwarded to Mr. Browning, who will note it. We are 

 getting weekly more into arrears with letters, or would insert it. — 

 J. Fabry. Probably what you saw was an August meteor, so near 

 the radiant that its path was almost without apparent length, — in 

 other words it was moving almost directly towards you. Saying 

 that it appeared to you " about the size of a hen's egg, relatively," 

 does not convey a clear idea of its apparent size. You should have 

 mentioned how far off an egg would be to appear about ns largo as 

 your meteor. Then again, what sort of hen ? — SI. Tester. We 

 iiave asked " Natator," and he tells us ho thinks those india- 

 rubber collars may be used without harm ; they certainly help 

 some learners ; but you should only use them so as to learn as 

 quickly as possible to do without them. — T. R. Ai.ux.sox. Every 

 one knows what a " caul " is ; but if any one wants to sell n caul, 

 and thinks some one may want to buy one, what is it to us ? — 

 W. G. S. notes that the stono objects referred to by W. M. 

 probably do not exist in " flint," as it is doubtful whether 

 there is true Hint in South Africa. He refers readers to 

 "Journal of Anthropological Institute," vol. xi.. p. 12ft. — Al.o. 

 Bray. You aro quite right. The chance that the letters of the 

 sentence " Up, Guards, and nt them." will be drawn in their right 

 order from an urn containing seventeen alphabets, or 442 letters, is 

 not what I said in the number for Julv 31, but 

 17'»xl6«x"l5 



.441 



I hope G. A. D. will notice the correction, and excise my mistake — 

 which I cannot exjilain. Jly answer implied that becanpe there 

 were 2 u's in tho sentence, there were 34, not 17, ii's in the urn, 

 and so forth; but why I shotdd have imagined this at the moment. 



