Sept. 20, 1882.J 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



295 



Prince, F.R.A.S., on the subject of Saturn's ring, I have 

 been induced to examine into the evidence which exists as 

 to the personality of the observer wlio first saw it divided 

 into two concentric ones. On p. 49 of the first edition of 

 ?rp^^ w.'\."^1^™'". ^''■> I ^=°'l you saying that "in 

 u,\ '^f'" ^^'^ discovered a black stripe of consider- 

 able breadth, running quite round the northern surface of 

 the ring, and having its outer and inner edges concentric 

 with the ring." Going back, I find Mr. Hind, in his 

 'Soiar System" (published in 1852), p. 105, attributing 

 this discovery to William Ball and his brother Dr Ball 

 and prior to this again the late Admiral Smyth statin- the 

 same thing as to the two brothers seeing it, in vol i 

 p. 51, of his "Celestial Cycle " (the " Prolegomena "). Now' 

 1 fancy that I have succeeded in tracing the (at all events, 

 modern) authority for this, in that wonderful farra-o 

 Kitchiner on Telescope.s. On p. 354 of that work the 

 Cooks Oracle thus delivers himself : " The earliest account 

 which I have met with of an observation of the Division in 

 Saturn s Ring is in the Phil Trans, for 1666, by Mr Wm 

 and Dr. Ball, on October the 13th, 1665, at 6 o'clock, with 

 a very good telescope, near 38 feet long, and a double eye- 

 glass. This observation has induced the supposition that 

 baturn is surrounded not l^y one circular body or rin" only 

 but by two." I would ask the reader to note carefully 

 the verbal correspondence between this concluding sentence 

 and that alleged by Breen to liave been used by Wallis in 

 his letter to Huyghens of the same year. Well, naturally, 

 ^,*'-, '* ,*^""» ^^''- ^""°^ ^"'^ I ''id ^-as to refer to the 

 FhilosopJncaJ Transactions for 1666, and, on doing so, I 

 found to my great astonishment that everything that 

 appeared there on the subject was a communication from 

 Mr ^^llllam Ball, of Mainhead, which I here reproduce 

 verbatim el literatim. " LXXVII Oct. 13, 1665^ at six 

 of the clock, with a very good telescope near 38 foot Ion- 

 and a double eye-glass, ,y«<K;-„ appeared to me somewhat 

 otherwise than I expected, thinking ifc would have 1,een 

 decreasing, but I found it as full as ever, and a little 

 hollow above and below (Plate 3, Vol. I., Fig. 132)." 



I append a facsimile of the engraving which illustrates 

 urf T^ and meagre statement. Not one word about the 

 Dr. Ball who appears in the later narratives, nor of the 

 two bodies of circular figure that embrace the planet's 

 d..sc. Nay, in the illustrative drawing not a vestige of an 

 indication of division in the ring ! It is, of course, possible 

 that Walhs (who, as is well known, was the Savilian Pro- 

 fessor of Geometry at Oxford, and was one of the founders 

 of the Royal Society) may have })een in communication 

 with the brothers Ball on the subject of their observation 

 and may so have learned orally what induced him to write 

 and question Huyghens ; but certainly nothing in William 

 Balls printed observation could have justified Wallis's 

 ?,"r''n-°"-, '^'^'' '" ^''y ^ '^"^ '=""»"« to I«arn whether 

 Walhs s letter to Huygens is still extant, and, if so, where 

 It IS to be found. At present the evidence connecting Ball 

 with the original discovery of the division in Saturn's rin- 

 seems to me to be of the most slender kind possible. 

 Forest Lodge, Maresfield, Wim.i.\m Noni i- 



Uckfield. 



ANIMALS IN NORWAY. 



A ^2,RI^f PONDENT of the n,nes (A.G.B.K.), makes 

 fi^w following remarks on a very pleasant feature of 



the Norwegian character, viz , kindne.ss to domestic an"mals 

 In that country, he says, "these animals are treated as 

 the friends rather than the slaves of man. As a result 



ToTf ,rt%T ""l^"ow"' ^""^'^ ^''"°^ th""- dams at 

 work in the fields or on the road as soon as they have sutli- 



harness f^,: '".^ *^" f "^'^ '"'"'''^^' themselves Z 

 nto? ,1 '"■'^ -"^ •'* ^"""^ ^'■^•^"S t° ^orce its head 

 into a collar in imitation of its mother. Horses are 

 trained to obey the voice rather than the hand bearin' 

 reins are not usecl^ and the whip, if carried at all, is hardfy 

 ever made use of. Great care is taken not t<^ overload 

 carts, especially in the case of young horses, and con 



continue fat, in good condition, and capable of work till 

 the advanced age of 25 or 30. So tame are the Norwe-ian 

 horses and cows that they will allow casual passers-bv- to 

 caress them whi e they are lying down. Even domestic 

 cats will approach a boy with confidence, knowing that no 

 chasing or worrying awaits them. One very hot summer's 

 day 1 met a woman holding up an umbrella to carefully 

 screen what I supposed was a little child at her side from 

 the scorching rays of a mid-day sun, while her o^vn head 

 was covered only by a handkerchief. In driving by I tried 

 to gam a glimpse of her charge, and found, to my great 

 surprise, that the object of her care was a fat, black pi- 

 The question of humane methods of slaughtering aniniafs 

 has ately been prominently brought forward in England. 

 In this the Norwegians show us a good example, they 

 never use the knife without first stunning the animal In 

 the above remarks I am alluding to the country districts 

 of Norway; in the towns the national characteristics 

 become modified, although even under these conditions 

 kindness to animals is still remarkable. 



To those whose hearts are sickened by the sights of 

 cruelty daily witnessed in our streets it must be a conso- 

 lation to learn that a country exists where these thin-s are 

 unknown where men are instinctively considerate to the 

 animals dependent on them, and where no legislation is 

 required to enforce the claims of the dumb creation 



THE ENDOWMENT OF EESEARCH. 



A DISCUSSION took place on this subject on the 

 i-\. second day of the Social Science Congress in the 

 Department for Education. The general feeling seemed to 

 be against those special forms of endowment which liave 

 been advocated by cerUiin no,n tolerably active workers. 

 Ihe discussion is thus reported in the Times.— 



INIr. Rowland Hamilton, lion, secretary of the Depart- 

 ment introducing the question from the general educational 

 standpoint which it had always been the object of the 

 department to maintain, inquire.! (1) into the relation whicli 

 the prosecution of research bears to our national systom • 

 (-) how It may allect and be afVectod by the ellbrts now 

 made to extend general culture ; and (.i) into its claims on 

 our national resources. In the early stages of training the 

 methods which conduce most to insure sound teaching 

 are the same as those which will best qualify pupils 

 in after life to take their part in such work as that 

 of original investigation, and the endowment of 

 research should not trench upon the means devoted to 

 thorough liberal education in any of its branches. The 



