406 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Nov. 17, 1882. 



However, it is convenient to know how many degrees, 

 «tc., are contained in eacli of the arcs ?i W and hi m'. This 

 is readily calculated, since we know tlie radius of the circle 

 and tlie chortl of each arc. We tind, then, that each arc 

 contains 3' 27' 21 •4". Thus if Venus, wlien in conjunc- 

 tion, is within V 43' 407'' of eitlier node (always, be it 

 remembered, on our assumption of mean distances) there 

 will be a transit : otherwise not 



Again, adding together the two arcs u n' and )" m\ we 

 g«t 6"' r^' 42 ?< " as the total amount of arc of Venus's orbit, 

 along which she must be for a transit to occur when she is 

 in conjunction. Now the complete orbit contains 360", 

 and 6^ 54' 42-S'' is contained in 360°, r>2 08417 times. So 

 that on the average of many conjunctions one transit 

 occurs for '12-08417 conjunctions. As each synodical 

 period contains 5830204 days, it follows that on the 

 averajje of long periods of time, one conjunction occurs in 

 83-26482 years. But this would only correspond to the 

 case where a very largo number of conjunctions was con- 

 sidered* 



(To be continutd.) 



LEAF-COPYING. 

 By Tar.\xaki, No. I. 



I USED Mr. Roberts' process (p. 342) years ago, but 

 never with good results. The following plan is 

 much better : — Take a piece of thin muslin and wrap it 

 tightly round a ball of cotton-wool as big as an orange. 

 This forms a iMJur, and should have something to hold 

 it by. Then squeeze on to the corner of a half-sheet 

 of fo-slscap a little colour from a tube of oil paint. 

 Take up a very little colour on the dabber and work 

 it about on the centre of the paper for some time, till the 

 dabber is evenly covered with a thin coating. A little oil 

 can Ije used to dilute or moisten the colour if nocessary. 

 Then put your leaf down on the paper and dab some colour 

 evenly uv^r lj.,tl, «iV/,.«. Place it then between the pages of 

 a folded sheet of paper (unglazed is best), and rub the 

 paper above it well all over with the finger. Open the 

 sheet, remove the leaf, and you will have an impression of 

 -rich sUU of the leaL Any colour may be used. Burnt or 

 raw sienna works the most satisfactorily. 



Electkic Lii;iit Accident. — Much disappointment, says 

 the Standarrr$ Vienna correspondent, was created by an 

 accident at Brunn on Sunday night last, where a new 

 theatre was to have been opened, illuminated with the 

 electric incandescent light It was found that the lead 

 connected with the conducting wires had mostly been 

 melted by the current A large and fashionable crowd 

 had aasembled at the doors of the new building, whom the 

 Burgomaster had to inform that the performance could 

 not Uke place in consequence of the failure of the electric 

 ligbta. 



• Let u compare the avcra^ obovo deduced with that rooulting 

 mm the ordinarr atntement that trntmitu occnr at intcrvalH of 

 0.'it. H, 1211, ". I""'*. H yoar«, Ac. Addin? to;fothor I05|, 8, 12H, 

 nd K XfMTo we obtiin zn yoam, tho fourth part of which in GOJ 

 •-ani A' ,rl,fi-:. ,■ wr,,<,| f„l|ovrthal thi« in thf trao avcniK'- 

 "" ' 'T^n»\\» whon a very lonjf period of 



''^' '!'t the tnio aveni;fe in rather rnon- 



!"'' " • : '• arisen from tho miHtaken aHHiimp- 



•''^ ' — • " •...,:. I,, i-ion-lino i« pauini; a node thoro will 



ilwm/s U> two trai..in, M-|i«nite<l by s period of cijfht years. This 

 n not the cane, u will U- elucidatcfl later 



AA 



MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING." 



{ConchuUdfrmt j)a;7c 380.) 



T'E have but a few words to add to that which \\ ant of 

 space compelled us last week to leave iinfhiished. 

 It will be noticed that in these pages, which do not aim at 

 dramatic criticism generally, only those performances can 

 be noticed which are important not solely because of the 

 subject illustrated, but because their reception by tho 

 public tells us something aViout the culture of our theatre- 

 going public — a matter of some sociological significance. 

 As Herbert Spencer has recently well remarked in America, 

 we hear a good deal of the Gospel of Lal)0ur, but the 

 (Jospel of Rela.xation should also at times bo hoard of. 



And speaking of America, it will lie iTiteresting in the 

 light of what we hear respecting the reception given to 

 !Mrs. Laiigtry, to note how an actor and actress like Mr. 

 Irving and ^liss Terry are received by trans- Atlantic 

 audiences. If it should appear that crowds rush to see 

 and applaud a lady socially interesting, to minds of a 

 certain order, but unquestionably not a great actress now, 

 nor likely ever to be one (though in scenes where her 

 natural self suffices she retains more of her natural self 

 than most amateurs, being more self-possessed), while they 

 are not interested in anything like the same degree in real 

 dramatic power, then we shall have to admit that our 

 cousins over the water, whatever excellent qualitit^s they 

 may possess, have n.s a peopk little taste or judgment in 

 matters theatrical ; though indeed their dramatic critics 

 have thus far expressed views sufficiently correct. 



We referred in our last to the scene between Benedick 

 and Beatrice in the church, because we believe this scene 

 to afibrd a crucial test of the actors' reading of their several 

 parts. One who considers this scene superficially might 

 consider (as we find many do) that Mr. Irving is right in 

 regarding it as intended to excite laughter. If Benedick 

 and Beatrice are in truth so shallow they should little 

 interest us. Rightly read, there can, we take it, be no 

 doubt whatever that the quaint love-making of Benedick 

 in this scene, the half -.sobbing confession of love by 

 Beatrice, should be in no sense suggestive of laughter. 

 He rightly takes her affliction as a motive to speak his 

 love and to profler his .sympathy. She as rightly under- 

 stands his kindly words. Neither falls entirely out of the 

 old tones. It would have been scarce natural that either 

 should. But there is only so much of that tone left as 

 shows how truthful they both are. Anyone who fails to 

 feel how the thoughts of each are occupied — his with 

 sympathy and hers with sorrow — can never bi; made to 

 feel as much by explanation or by reasoning. 



One other fault (as it seems to us) in the rendering of 

 these parts, and we have done — noting always that the 

 good points far outweigh the errors. We cannot quite 

 approve of tlie way in which both Benedick and Beatrice 

 applaud their own wit. Beatrice laughs aloud at her own 

 jests. Approved wits do not thus ; only those whose jests 

 must be illuminat<!d with laughter or they would pass 

 unnoticed. Even if Beatrice had had this excuse, her 

 laughter would have seemed a little unladylike. 



In passing, we would invite attention to the significance 

 of the names Benedick and Beatrice. 



A seeming pertness, which is neither Beatrice's nor 

 Ellen Terry's, arises from a change in the acting version. 

 Shakespeare wisely int<!rposed a good deal of conversation 

 in the first scene, between the first words of the Messenger, 

 and Beatrice's " I pray you, is Signior Montanto r(!turned 

 from the wars or no 1 " she waits to ask her question till 

 all in whom her uncle is specially interested have been 

 spoken of. In Mr. Irving's acting version she breaks in 



