Nov. 17, 1882.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



407 



very rudely much earlier. It is impossible for the best 

 actress in the world to correct the bad effect of this 

 ill-advised change. We notice some other departures 

 from the text -which seem ill-considered. The parts 

 of Dogberry and Verges are so cut down that the 

 actors have no fair chance in them. The quaint ejacula- 

 tion of Benedick's, "How now! Interjections'? Why, 

 then, some be of laughing, as, ha ! ha ! he ! " is cut down 

 to simply, "How now! Interjections'?" which is quite 

 out of character, the quotation from the old grammar rules 

 being just as markedly in character. To have left out the 

 whole sentence would have done well enough ; leaving out 

 all that marks the words as Benedick's, reminds one of 

 the change made by an illiterate manager, who, having to 

 abridge an acting version of " Rob Roy," altered Frank 

 Osbaldistone's "My cousin Rashleigh, but for what reason 

 I cannot conceive, my bitterest foe," into simply, " My 

 cousin Rashleigh, but for what reason I cannot 

 conceive ! " * 



Dr. Jule has been experimenting, with a view to 

 counteracting the bad effects produced by the sulphuric 

 acid, which the combustion of ordinary illuminating gas 

 causes in sufficient quantities to destroy the binding of 

 books and to tarnish the lettering on their backs, besides, 

 of course, vitiating the atmosphere so much that the health 

 of the person breathing it is injured. He suspended two 

 plates of linely perforated zinc, one three and the other 

 twelve inches above the burner. At the end of three 

 months the lower plate showed an accumulation of the 

 ordinary brownish-black deposit and a furring of sulphate 

 of zinc, but the upper plate was only slightly affected. The 

 inference from this examination is that a single plate of 

 perforated zinc, about a foot square, placed over a gas jet 

 is sufficient to retain most of the noxious emanations. 



Electric Lighting of Canterbury Cathedral. — A 

 contract has been entered into by the South -Eastern Brush 

 Electric Light Company with the Dean and Chapter of 

 Canterbury to illuminate the Cathedral by the electric 

 light for a period of three months. 



A Curious Tree. — Lieutenant Houghton, who has 

 recently Wsited New Guinea and several other groups of 

 islands in the Pacific, reports the existence of a prehensile 

 tree. It appears to be a species of ficus, allied to the well- 

 known banyan tree, which throws out from its branches 

 air-roots, that eventually reach the ground, and take root 

 there, and in their turn become new stems, which perform 

 the same function ; so that a single tree will eventually 

 extend so far as to form a complete forest, in which the 

 stems are united by the branches to each other. The 

 prehensile tree in question similarly throws out from its 

 branches long, flexible tendrils, which, touching the ground, 

 do not take root there, but twine around any article that 

 may lie within their reach. After a time these quasi 

 liranches contract, so that they fail to reach the ground ; 

 but the finger-like processes continue to closely gripe the 

 article round which they liave twined themselves, and 

 which are consequently suspended in mid-air. In this 

 way articles of considerable weight may be literally picked 

 up from the ground and held in suspension. 



* We may note here a carious blunder in tho account given in 

 the Illus'rated London Kens of the play as acted by Charles and 

 Mrs. Kean at the Princess's. Keferring to a picture obviously 

 describing the masked scone, the writer of the critique, who mani- 

 festlT had neither seen nor read the play, refers to it as picturing 

 the part of the tinal scene where Beatrice and Benedick read their 

 '■ own hands against their hearts." In the folio edition, by the way, 

 Benedick's " Peace, I will stop your mouth," is given to Leouato ! 



itttcrs to ti)t astiitov. 



[The Editor does not hold himfelfrefjpovsihU for the opinions of hit correspondent*. 

 Me cannot undertake to return manuscripts or to correspond Kith their vritert. All 

 communications should be as short as possible, consistently vith full and clear state- 

 ments of the writer's meaninq.'] 



itions should he addressed to the Xditor of SsowLrDGl : 



ons to the Publishers, at the Office, 74, Great Queen. 



is, and Posf-OJxce Orders should be made payable to 



to the Editor Kill be Ji'umlered. For eoncenienei tf reference, 

 correspondents, when referrinij to any letter, vill oblige by mentioning its number 

 and the page on which it appears. 



1 knowledge, that i 



It is to be contemned and despised who is not in ft 

 !Nor is there anything more adverse to accnracy 

 than fixity of opinion."— Jaratfoy. 



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

 done nothing." — Liebig. 



ADVANCE OF SCIENCE. 



[622] — In yonr " Answers to Correspondents " in a recent 

 issue of KxowLEDGE, I see that some one reqoires a book treating 

 on the advance of science. 



Let them try " A Short History of Natural Science." This is a 

 capital book by Miss Buckley, and treats on the subject from the 

 time of the Greeks to the present day. A. CiRCs Wilson. 



COLD BATH AT NIGHT.— LUMINOUS SEA. 



[623] — I am not in the medical profes.=:ion, but can inform 

 A. E. Oram (G03, p. 364) that a doctor, who many years ago 

 advised me to take a cold bath every morning, recommended me 

 under no circumstances to do so at night, the body not being then 

 tit to resist the shock. He would himself omit his morning's cold 

 bath if he had been attendiug a patient during the night. To the 

 cold bath I feel that the preservation of my health and even Ufe is 

 owing. 



When in Dankerque harbour last year, my son amused himself 

 on board while the steamer was waiting to leave by throwing 

 pebbles, &c., overboard, to watch the luminosity, not observable 

 unless the water was disturbed. This corroborates " Plorian's " 

 last paragraph (609, p. 36-1). A. Gacbert. 



LUMINOUS SEAS. 



[624]— I have seen, when conger-fishing at night off the coast of 

 Finisterre, France, the water phosphorescent to the depth of over a 

 fathom. The arrival of " fish " was announced at that depth by 

 bright flashes of light, caused by the sirug-sliug eel disturbing the 

 water. At the depth of three or four feet the fish was coated with 

 the organisms, enabling us to distinguish size and species. 



I believe that the amount of light displayed by the phosphorescent 

 organisms depends a good deal on the state of the weather. In 

 foggy weather, it is almost nil and superficial ; if the day has been 

 hot and calm, the phosphorescence is very vivid, sometimes cover- 

 ing the " cord " with a coating of fire to the depth of six or eight 

 feet. G. D. Home. 



[625] — It is not the case that they became phosphorescent on 

 the surface alone. I was told by the sailors of the ship that they 

 were believed to extend to a depth of 50 ft. or so, and also to 

 spread over certain parts of the sea in large shoals, covering several 

 miles of sea. They always became phosphorescent on being dis- 

 turbed, as in the case of a ship passing through, or the instance 

 of the Inminous shark, where the sensibility of these organisms 

 must have been great. E. R. Nevill. 



THE MILKY SEA AND .lOSHUA. 



[62G] — Mention was made in a back number of the white waters 

 sometimes seen in the Indian ocean. 



Any one wishing to read an interesting account of this singular 

 phenomenon should read a book entitled " The Green Land ; " and, 

 beyond that account, he will find some most wonderfully graphic 

 descriptions of tropical storms and African coast scenery, which, it 



