Oct. 13, 1882.] 



. KNOWLEDGE • 



319 



AN IM^iiSXRATED ' V^j^ 



P" MAG|.ZlNE0FSqENCE'^ 



IPi/UNrgfORDED -EXACTI^DESCRIBED 



LOXDON: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13. 1882. 



Contents op No. 50. 



Science and Art Goesip 319 | The Menacine Comet. By K. A. 



Sun and the Brook. By Richard 1 Proctor. {IlluslTaied.) 



Jefferies 321 I When will the Comet Return? 



How to Get Strong 321 > {lUiistraltd.} 



Secondary Batteries 322 Who Discovered the Dirision in 



Science of the Horse's Motion. [ Saturn's Ring ? {Illmtraltd.) ... 



(Ittuitrated.) 323 I OrTKCn and Disease Germs 



Was Rameses II. the Pharaoh of ' Review: 



the Oppression ? By Jd 



B. Edwards 



Clouds in the Air. (JUustrated.) 



By the Editor 



324 



326 I Our Chess Column . 



^titmt anil art <gci5£!ip. 



The comet which came to perihelion on Sept. 17 last 

 seems to be a return of the comet of 1668, which is pro- 

 bably the same as the comet of 1843 and the comet of 

 1880. If so, there seems every reason to believe that a 

 few months will see the comet back yet again, and that the 

 end then will not be far off, — the end of the comet, we 

 mean, not that of the earth, as some seem to imagine. 



The orbit of the comet of 1843 is shown elsewhere. 

 Dr. Hind's elements of the new comet differ considerably 

 from this orbit, but they do not agree well with the observa- 

 tions. He infers that the elements were much affected 

 during perihelion passage on Sept. 1 7. His elements are 

 as follows : — 



Perihelion passage, Sept 17-1047, M.T. at Greenwich. 

 (This means about half-past two in the afternoon of 

 Sept. 17):— 



Longitude of Perihelion 271 395 



„ „ Ascending node 347 446 



Inclination 37 96 



Logarithm of Perihelion Distance 809201 



Motion — retrograde. 



The comet was first seen by Mr. Finlay, First Assistant 

 at the Government Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, at 

 5 a.m., on Sept 8. He gives its place thus at 5 h. 14 m. 

 a m. on the 9th : — 



Cape M.T. ^ H. A. ^ Dec. 



Sept. 8, at 17 h. 13 ra. 58 8. 144 59 514-0 45 .TOO 



The following observations have been made on the dates 

 named : — 



R. A. Doc. 



Sept. 1801062 



„ . , r 11 30 58 + 1 22 24 



GreenwKh S „ .j 5,, ^ 2-1 3S 



19-99437 ; "- ^- C 11 15 24 - 25 32 



22, noon, Palermo 11 5 39 - I 51 — 



28, I7h. 15m. Vienna M.T. 10 45 62 - 5 51 — 



A NOTE from Mr. Proctor, explaining his mistake as to 

 the possible identity of the new comet and the comet of 

 1843 (a mistake which appeared in a portion of our last 

 issue) was published in the DaiJi/ Nrus, Stdndard, Morniiu/ 

 Post, Dad J Chronich, and DciUi/ Telajraph of Saturday 

 last The correction was sent to the Times also, but did 

 not appear there. It was not to be expected that it would : 

 the Timti does not correct its own mistakes, whether in 

 science or politics. Why should it help to correct other 

 folks'? 



The Daihj yews, in an article on "whistling," which it 

 argues is done only, as the poet says, " for want of thought,'' 

 remarks that Athene tlirew away the flute (probably the 

 Indian nosepipe), because it distorted /i is features. Athene 

 is generally supposed to have been a lady. Alcibiades said 

 no man of sense would play the flute, because his best 

 friend would not know him when he was performing on 

 that instrument, with which, therefore, he would have 

 nothing to do. 



But " Cosmopolitan," in the Globe, points cut that the 

 fishermen of Ceylon whistle for their bait. The fishermai^ 

 runs down some yards to meet an advancing wave, 

 agitates the water, and probably some sand also, with the 

 fingers of one hand, and then runs backwards, whistling all 

 the time. When the wave retires he follows its retreat, 

 and almost invariably finds a long worm on the sand at the 

 point where he had agitated the water. The opinion of 

 the natives is that the whistling acts as a charm to the 

 worm, and causes it to rise to the surface. 



Mr. Percy Russell has discussed in these columns the 

 meat supplies of the world, and has shown that in Austra- 

 lasia there is abundant provision for our present wants. 

 But Dr. Drysdale, as reported by the Squire, gives much 

 fuller promise ; for he says there is a never-failing supply 

 in Australia and " several other hemispheres" — possibly in 

 Venus, Mars, or Mercury. 



Considering the high tides which we have recently had. 

 it is not much to be wondered at that the inhabitants of 

 South Belgravia should have been considerably alarmed 

 about the risk of inundation, for there are p.arts of the 

 river wall, at the end of the wharves in the Grosvenor-road 

 and at the bottom of St George's-square, wliere, should the 

 river rise a few inches higher than it did last SeptemWr, 

 a very serious inundation would take place. A public 

 meeting of the inhabitants of South Belgravia will before 

 long, we understand, be convened to urge on the Govern- 

 ment the necessity for tlie immediate raising of the river 

 wall in these places. 



An electric launch named the Electric!/;/ has made a 

 trial trip on the Thames, propelled by forty-five accumu- 

 lators. Tlic trial is considered to have been a successful 

 one, and we shall doubtless soon hear more of this applica 

 tion of electrical power. 



The first Golden Eagle which has been seen in Argyle- 

 shire for many years appeared last week. It was seen by 

 a keeper on the Strachur estates near Loch Fyne. Is it 

 necessary to ask what that keeper did ! The bird was a 

 rare and interesting specimen ; so, of course, he shot it 



And yet they doubt whether modern so-called civilised 

 nations are descended from savage races. 



