37(i 



KNOWLEDGE • 



[Nov. :\ 1882. 



■ rioj. ftg of Publick Mooting 



i r.iiis.ictions niny possibly for a 



.... 1, ............. . , .ore shall bo used to roiitiiiiio 



The next nuuil>or was issued on Nov. 6, lG6r>, and was 

 printed aX Oxfonl, as also were tlie December and January 

 numbers. Na '.', jniblislied Monday, Feb. 12, ICC,';, the 

 one containing the ixtract and engraving which I sent you, 

 WAS publisho«l in London. Anotlier interesting feature 

 about tills volume is that tlio printer was changed owing 

 to the original printer having his place burne<l down in the 

 great fire of lOOG. In January, IGCJ, we find the follow- 

 ing note : — "The puV>lishingof these Tracts is now return'd 

 to the first Printer thereof, as being somewhat re-setled 

 after the late s.id Fire of London.'' The volume terminates 

 with tlie numl>er for February, 1G6G — or, as we should now 

 say, 16C7. 



The fact of tliese Transactions being issued in monthly 

 parts, and the publishing interrupted by the Great Plague, 

 may have \>een the cause why so few copii-s seem to be in 

 existence. The engraving that I forwarded yon, I traced 

 on tracing paper, so you may rest satisfied that it was a 

 /'ac-simifi- of the original Tlios. Waud. 



Brookfield House, Nortliwich. 



[Mr. H W. Maunder, of the Greenwich Observatory, 

 writes to us that the credit of restoring to Cassini the 

 credit due to him (or to Auzout, who made his telescope), 

 for seeing the division in Saturn's ring-system, is due to 

 Mr. Lynn, formerly of the (iovcrnment Observatory, (!reen- 

 wich. "Two years ago," he says, "Mr. Lynn pointed out 

 that the sketch said to have accompanied Ball's paper in 

 the 'PhiL Trans.' was omitted from several copies." On 

 Sept 1 •'i of the present year, 5Ir. Lynn examined a copy of 

 Ijowthorpe's abridgment to Mr. Prince, and the first sight 

 of the diagram tliere given (a fae»imil" is shown at p. 2!).") 

 of KxowLEi>GE for Sept. 29) convinced both Mr. Prince and 

 Mr. Lynn that Ball had never recognised the division, or 

 anything like it Captain Noble and Mr. Prince, the day 

 following, examined ;the same picture, and arrived at the 

 same opinion. Mr. Lynn wrote U> a monthly astronomical 

 magazine, of rather limited circulation, setting forth his 

 opinion that Ca.ssini alone deserved the credit of the dis- 

 cover}- ; Captain Noble wrote to us to a similar effect, 

 sending a cutting of the picture which he and Mr. Lynn 

 and Mr. Prince had examined. It rcfpiired a rather shrewd 

 guess (though I say it who perhaps should not) to infer 

 from this picture what Ball had really suspect<,d. But 

 Captain Noble's communication coming at once before 

 many thousands of readers, the natural result followed. An 

 obliging correspondent, Mr. T. Ward, was able to resolve 

 all doubt*, by wilding a/'irHimUr of Ball's original observa- 

 tion, wanting in most coj.ics of the " Transactions." This 

 nhowwj, iK-yond all <juestion, that what I had guessed was 

 in fr I'ti wh.%t bad happened. Tlie ring had, by an optical 

 1 i tio iM'nt towards the planet's north and 



•A\ta to convey the ideo that there were 

 • ■ ''fUching Saturn on one side, and reaching 



far <p.rn tie j lunet'ii surface on the other. All this was 

 known to as when we thanked Coptnin Noble for eominii- 

 n\-^*ir.z w)«b .11 on the subjr-ct We did not ascribe to 

 '' » • ,.^ jjr hjnn Ktati-s in the Mlientnim) the 



•'.e motter; wo simply thanked him for 

 to it in our columns, ond bo liwllng 

 u .jiion of the difficulty. The moral seenm 

 .'. any one who wishes fj solve a difficulty of this 

 I a/JdrcM a wwkly pap<:r of wide circulation, 



. Uian a magazine which ap|>eani less often, and 



I a smaller constituency.] 



MR. STANLEY'S DISCOVERIES. 



A CORRl'.SrONDENT of the ai..U who has interviewed 

 i V Mr. II. M.Stanloy, says that geiitlemiin h.as had practi- 

 cally unlimited means at his coninijuul, through the gene- 

 rosity of the King of the Belgians, who, moreover, has been 

 the main supporter of several of the so-cnlled Iiitornational 

 African l^.xpeditions ; as Mr. Stanley puts it, ho has been 

 in a position to pay for every cubic inch of air ho and his 

 men breathed, and every sipmre foot of ground they trod 

 upon. The object of the King of tlu! B(>igians appears to 

 have been entirely disinterested — simply to do what he 

 could to render accessible to commerce and civilisation, 

 and thereby devclope the resources of the groat in- 

 terior of Africa. For this purpose the Congo formed a 

 splendid channel of communication, only unfortunately, 

 its lower course for many miles is obstructed by 

 impassable cataracts. To surmount this obstruction has 

 been the object of Mr. Stanley's work. Ho states that 

 already he has carried a well made road, \T^ ft wide on an 

 average, from l)elow tho cataracts, 2.'?0 miles along the 

 north bank of tlio river, far boyoiul Stanley Pool, and there- 

 fore well into the navigable upper waters. To assist him 

 in this undertaking ho has not only had native workers, 

 but relays of young Kuropeans as superintendents ; and for 

 this work ho finds Englishmen better than any others, and 

 would be glad to have a fresh supply to send out So sub- 

 stantially has this road been constructed, that it has stood 

 tho deluges of rain that break down upon it from tho moun- 

 tain-sides, and has borne the heavy trallic which the transport 

 of engineering plant to the upper reaches has rendered 

 necessary. Causeways have been laid whore necessary and 

 bridges built, and tho road has, by moans of excavations, 

 embankments of stone, and layers of earth, been carried 

 right round the face of a mountain which comes shoor down 

 to the river at one place. On rounding the mountain Mr. 

 Stanley states that tho road enters an avenue of exquisite 

 beauty and coolness wiiich has been cleared through the 

 forest So thickly timbered is the country in some parts 

 that thou.sands of trees have had to bo fc^llcd, and their 

 roots either grubVied up or levelled. At intervals along tho 

 road stations have been planted, and already there is a 

 regular service of courier.'* between tho stations, and by 

 thi'm a growing trade is being established. As to what are 

 the possibilities of commerce along this route, ho states that 

 during the progress of his work a million yards of Man- 

 chester goods have been distributed through tho country in 

 I)ayment for labour and other services ])(!rformed by the 

 natives. One of th(! articles of tran.sport along tho new 

 road was a fine steam launch, with which Mr. Stanley 

 has done some good exploring work some 400 miles 

 above Stanley Pool, quite 700 miles above tho mouth of 

 the river. When he feels at lilx'rty to publish an account 

 of his work (at present his first duty is to his employer, 

 the King of tho Belgians), it will bo shown, tho corre- 

 spondent believes, that some first-rato exploring work has 

 been done. Tho launch, for example, was taken up a now 

 river, opening from tho south bank of the Congo, some 

 distance above Stanley Pool, and which, it was found, led 

 into a fine lake. Tho lake was covered with fishermen's 

 canoes, whose occupants looked aghast at the snorting 

 monster puffing out smoke, and fied in dism.ay. One, how- 

 ever, was caught, and after being soothed down and kindly 

 treated, was sent o(r loaded with presents to his wonder- 

 ing fellows peering from among tho bushes on tho shore. 

 In Mr. Stanlriy's opinion the soil is capable of unlimited 

 development for crops of all kinds, and, liy judicious use, 

 the supply of caoutchouc in tho forests is iiiexliaiistiblo. 

 The greatest difficulty to the utilisation of the river 



