Nov. 10, 1882.] 



• KNOW^LEDGE • 



393 



letttr^ to tl)f etiitor. 



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" In Iniowledge, that man only is to be contemned and despised ^ho is not in a 



state of transition Kor is there anything more adrerse to accuracy 



than iiiity of opinion." — Faraday. 



" Show'me a man who makes no mistakes, and I will show you a man who has 

 done nothing." — Liebig. 



THE FIXLAY COMET. 



[618] — Justice to a painstaking and alert, astronomer — Mr. Henry 

 C. Maine, A.M., of Rochester, X.Y., U.S.A. — leads me to ask you to 

 ^ve insertien, if yon so please, in yonr valuable paper, to the fol- 

 lowing concerning his discovery, on Sept. 30, of the disruption of 

 the Cruls comet [the Finlay comet] into three parts : — 



Sept. 2-1. Seven days after predicted perihelion the nucleus was 

 intact. 



Sept. 25. Nucleus seen as bright disc ; dark channel behind the 

 nnclens. 



Sept. 30. Disruption of nucleus into three parts discovered. 



Oct. 1. Discover^' announced in Rochester, N.Y., Democrat and 

 Clironiele. 



Oct. 5. E. E. Barnard, Nashville, Tenn., veriiied the separation 

 of nucleus into three parts, and made micrometric measurements. 



Oct. 5. Cincinnati observers made similar observations. 



Oct. 7. Washington naval observers saw three di.stinct con- 

 densations of light in nucleus, but no separation. 



Oct. 8. Professor Schmidt, Athens, announced discovery of small 

 comet, 4° S.W. of Cruls', and moving in same direction. Professor 

 Lewis Swift, Ph.D., F.E.A.S., Director of Warner Observatory, 

 Rochester, said this was probably part of the great comet; and, if 

 so, would confirm the disruption. 



Oct. 8. Mr. Maine predicted that on Oct. 9 an elongation and 

 separation would occur. 



Oct. 9. The prediction of the 8th verified by Mr. Maine. 



Will you be kind enough to give me your opinion of the disruptive 

 theory? [Wliat disruptive theory? — Ed.] If you have already 

 done 80, please refer me to the issue wherein it can be found, and 

 oblige, Spec. 



CREMATION. 

 [619]— The Standard of Oct. 12 gave an account of what the 

 writer calls " the first two cremations which have taken place in our 

 country in modern times— viz., the cremation of the body of Mrs. 

 Ilanham, wife of Captain Hanham, and that of the remains of Lady 

 Hanham, wife of the late Sir James Hanham, Bart., of Dean's-court, 

 Dorset, both of which took place in Dorsetshire on the 8th inst." 

 After describing the manner in which the process was carried out, 

 the writer states that " the ashes of each body were collected with 

 great care, and placed in a large china bowl, in which [he says] 

 they will remain until urns of an approved form are ready, when 

 they will be moved to a mausolenm." Now, will you allow me, 

 through the medium of your valuable magazine, to suggest to the 

 advocates of cremation a far neater and more appropriate mode of 

 disposing of the ashes of a corpse cremated ? Those ashes, I think, 

 consist wholly, or principally, of phosphate of lime, and therefore 

 have only to bo treated witli sulphuric acid to convert them into 

 sulphate of lime — i.e., gypsum, or plaster of Paris. With this 

 .substance a model can be cast in a mould previously prepared, and 

 representing either the full figure of tho deceased, or simply the 

 liust, or tho likeness can take the form of a medallion. Whichever 

 form of memorial is adopted, a glass case wonld bo sufficient 

 protection for it, and the costly urn can bo dispensed with as 

 unnecessarj-, whilst the remains of our loved ones will themselves 

 bo gathered into tho form of a compact and lifelike memorial, which 

 itself will be composed of tho veritable " ashes of tho dead."— In 

 expectancy, A Brother Cinder. 



CORSET WEARING. 



[620] — Various reasons have been brought forward in favour of 

 the wearing of stays by two recent correspondents, which, if true, 

 are much in favour of using that support. 



Corset wearing undoubtedly developes the upper part of the 

 lungs, but at the expense of the lower, and to the great diminution 

 of the total breatliing space ; while Dr. Chadwick admits that the 

 compression of tho lower part of the chest may directly lead to 

 consumption. The greater relative frequency of this disease among 

 men is from their e.vposure to greater vicissitudes of temperature, 

 and is not connected with the present question. 



Y'our other correspondent, E. H., remarks that there is about 

 three times as much breathing space as is needed in ordinary 

 respiration. But the full amount may be required at any moment 

 of increased exertion, and, if unattainable, may result in serious 

 injury to the individual. I have known a lady remain in a fainting, 

 semi-unconscious state for an hour from this cause after the exertion 

 of dancing. 



Dr. Chadwick avers that a woman is better in health while 

 wearing a corset than without one, a statement with which I cer- 

 tainly disagree, at the risk of adding to the differences of doctors. 

 If a woman long used to the support of stays leave off wearing 

 them, she will doubtless feel their loss ; but if unused to such 

 artificial support, the wearing them will add to their ills, and pro- 

 bably produce ailments she never experienced before; though, if 

 begun in youth, their development may be very slow and gradual. 

 All analogy would lead to the conclusion that the compression of 

 any part of the body, whether the waist, the foot, or any other 

 part, is harmful, even as it is unnatural. It is only disease, in- 

 cluding debility, that needs support. The figure is rendered in- 

 elegant, rather than elegant, as would be plainly apparent were an 

 undraped statue of a modem corset-wearing lady compared with 

 the Venus of the art galleries. In the mass of coverings enveloping 

 the body in the present day the true natural and artistic form has 

 been lost, and an artificial one, varying with fashion, introduced. 



The ancient Greeks, who knew not the corset, had a true know- 

 ledge of the beauty of figure, and their lighter and simpler vest- 

 ments covered, without distorting, the human form. 



Fashion's most notable result, if not object, is the crippling of 

 the human body, as the proverb boldly says, " il faut sonffrir pour 

 etre belle," and seeks to displace natural beauty and grace for a 

 constant desire for change and exaggeration. 'The remedy is to 

 clothe the figure so as not to destroy or contradict the outlines of 

 the body, but rather to show them clearly ; and at the same time to 

 allow freedom of movement and growth. 



To help individual action in this matter, tho Rational Dress 

 Association has been formed, which deserves the support of every 

 intelligent lady in its endeavours to combat the stupid vagaries of 

 fashion, to show how to dress rationally, and to restore the pristine 

 beauty of the human figure. This will be a gradual work ; nor is 

 sudden change desirable, but reason and science, which is applied 

 truth, must eventually succeed. Richmond Leigh, M.R.C.S. 



Park-road, Liverpool. 



LIFE HISTORY OF A PLANI 



[621]— In the article so entitled in No. 52 of Knoi\-i,edge 

 I read that the quantity of water exhaled by the leaves during 

 transpiration " depends on tho state of the atmosphere, which when 

 moist almost wholly prevents exhalation ; on the other hand, in very 

 dry weather exhalation takes place too rapid'y, and the plant 

 withers." In McNab's " Outlines of Physiology," p. 100, I read 

 the result of his experiment on a cherry-laurel, which in sunlight 

 and in a saturated atmosphere lost 25'90 per cent, of water in an 

 hour, and in sunlight and in a dry atmosphere lost only 20'52 per 

 cent, of water in an horn-. He goes on to state that a "saturated. 

 atmosphere and sunshine can only occur very exceptionally, as in 

 tropical 'climates and in greenhouses ; but still, if when thoy do 

 occur together tho above is the result, are tho two statements 

 not contradictory ? or should tho words " in the absence of sun- 

 light" be added to tho first quotation? As this is a matter about 

 which I have long been perplexed — for in most botany books I find 

 the same statoniont as that made by Dr. Prevost — I shall be very 

 glad if any botanical render can help mo to reconcile the two 

 quotations. Another point on which I would ask for explanation is 

 the following: — In tho last sentence of the same article it is 

 implied that no waste goes on in a plant— indeed, this is made a 

 point of distinction between animals and plants; but what, then, is 

 the CO; which is evolved in the jirocess of respiration ? Is not tho 

 respiration of plants similar to that of animals ? and of tho carbonic 

 dioxide exhaled, docs not tho carbon result from jthe decomposi- 

 tion of organic compounds ? These questions are asked purely with 

 a view to gain information, if possible, and not in any spirit of 

 criticism. Alisma. 



