412 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Nov. 2i, 1882. 



general direction appears to have been south-west to north- 

 east At one time the current measured 59 milliamperes, 

 and as most of the telegraphic apparatus now employed 

 responds to a cumnt of So milliainpens, the effect can be 

 readily imagined. •' Ixwping " w!\s resorted to in almost 

 every possible instance (by looping is meant dispensing 

 with earth-connections and using a return wire instead.) 

 This method, while it prevents earth-currents reaching the 

 wires, necessarily reduces the number of lines by half, 

 besides doubling the resistance of the circuit in euch case. 



Tub value of the American signal service to the com- 

 merce of the country was strikingly illustrated during the 

 violent equinoctial storm in September. As soon as its 

 approach was heralded from the South Atlantic coast, 

 cautionary signals were displayed at all the ports, and 

 hundreds of vessels, whose commanders had learned by ex- 

 perience the value of such warnings, waited in harbour 

 until the storm was over. The observers at a number of 

 ports report that the value of the vessels and their cargoes 

 which wore prevented from sailing by these signals was 

 $G,400,.">'<G, and as no trustworthy statistics could be ob- 

 tained from New York, Philadelphia, or Boston, the esti- 

 mate that 813,000,000 of property in all was thus kept 

 safely in harljour does not appear unreasonable. As the 

 storm was very severe, there is no doubt that a considerable 

 percentage of this great sum, to say nothing of many lives, 

 would have bfoii lost if the vessels had put to sea, and the 

 saving thus efl'ected is of itself a sutiicient vindication of 

 the value and efficiency of the' signal service. 



Over-head Wires again. — The daily papers report 

 a tire in a Manchester warehouse last Friday, with a loss 

 of £100,000. It is asserted that fully 300 telegraph 

 and telephone wires converged on or passed over the 

 building. They were in the midst of the flames. " A few 

 of the wires broke soon after the lire had heated them, and 

 fell into the street, but the main portion held out until 

 the roof of the warehouse gave way, and they were then 

 broken by hundreds, and the ends of most of them fell 

 in a state of white heat into the street or on the roofs of 

 adjoining buildings." \Ve leave our readers to imagine 

 the amount and duration of the inconvenience likely to 

 result from such a catastrophe. 



Is the Evening Times some capital star maps have been 

 commenced, which promise to be of great use in spreading 

 a knowhdge of the heavens. It is worthy of notice that 

 these maps are printed with the ordinary machinery of tlie 

 Evening Tinier, which prints 2.5,000 impressions in an 

 hour. 



The following statistics may interest those readers (very 

 few) who seem to think Sir J. Hooker may after all be 

 using the public fairly in the matter of Kew Gardens : — 



Tho«<< f;nr<l<n« cost tl.c public upwards of £20,000 per annum, 

 and »re open from one o'clock to sunset, at this time of the year 

 arcnufinir aUnt three hoars daily. Edinburgh Botanic Oardtn, 

 co.tir,^' (in 1S77) i;i,400a y..-ar, opon.td from 6 a.m. to p.m. in 

 samm.r. dnvlipht toduile in winUr, and from C a.m. to 8 p.m. in Jnnc, 

 Joljr, and Aa^^l«^ ly^rturex and classes arc held diiily. (Extr,arts 

 from rei«rt, 187C.— "For the bare snpport of the Garden £200 

 mnn^ 'f nmr,! inromc is ref|uired." The funds at present granted 



'"" ■' ' 'P^ndilure of the Garden arc only £1,-100, 



* ' ■''<". an'I it is only by the utmost economy 



'*■• ■ ' mfn can be paid." "The class last scsRion 



'■''" ' pupils, and the room ran only accommodate 



thir:;.. •.. , iciWin Botanic Garden is open from 10a.m. to 6 p.m. 

 Madrid J ajdin liotinico U open from morning until dusk. Chrig- 

 •.xania Botanical Gardens are open all day long. Hamburg Botanical 



Gardens are open from sunrise to sunset. Geneva .Tardin Botaniquo 

 and Jardiu Anglais, open from sunrise to 10 p.m. Amsterdam 

 " Ilortus Botanicus " of the University, open from sunrise to sunset. 



A RATUEU amusing mistake was made in our Gossip 

 columns last week ; a mistake for which our readers have 

 not, we think, to thank ourselves, but the printers. We 

 meant, at any rate, to say that Elihu was spoken of as 

 approved of Yahveh (or Jehovah) ; but ho is described as 

 " approving of Y'ahveli," which would rather have suited 

 the three friends Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar, and some 

 teachers even in our own times. I recall here a case 

 showing rather amusingly that many of the more ranting 

 religionists are very ignorant of the book they intend to 

 revere. At the close of a lecture in Sydney we had quoted as 

 a sentiment, of which every student of science still sees tte 

 truth, the saying of Elihu that as touching the Almighty 

 we cannot find Him out. On this it was announced the 

 next Sunday by a popular preacher that he would show the 

 foolishness in God's eyes of "Job's three friends and Mr. 

 Proctor,' who failed to find out God. It was a new light 

 to him that Elihu was not one of the three friends of Job, 

 but condemned them as fully and as justly as he reproved 

 Job. 



As a proof of the advantage of using the type-writer, I 

 note that, owing doubtless to our bad writing, the Rosse 

 telescope has been magnified from a real diameter of six 

 feet to one of eight feet. We usually answer correspon- 

 dents on the type-writer, but this time were away on a 

 lecturing tour. 



A MEETING was held in the Royal Exchange, Middles- 

 brough, on Friday, the 10th inst., to consider the proposal 

 of Mr. B. Samuelson, M.P., to establish a school of science 

 at Middlesbrough. A letter from Mr. Samuelson was 

 read, giving his views on the matter. He suggests, first, 

 that the school should give theoretical and practical in- 

 struction in inorganic chemistry and in certain departments 

 of physics, more especially heat. Secondly, that there 

 should al.so be taught elementary mathematics, including 

 mechanics and drawing. Thirdly, that the earlier courses 

 should be followed by others in metallurgy, more par- 

 ticularly in the technology of iron and steel. Fourthly, 

 that organic chemistry should be taught, and pupils should 

 be instructed in the technology of the chemical manufac- 

 tures in the district. Mr. Samuelson thinks the school 

 could be built for £.5,000, exclusive of land, and recom- 

 mends that not less than ,£10,000 should be raised. He 

 says he is willing to subscribe .£2,000 and £120 per 

 A committee was appointed to take the matter up. 



The star maps for November and December are to be 

 published, price 2d. each, for the benefit of those who wish 

 to complete sets. 



The editor requests that in future letters intended for 

 the authors of articles in Knowledge, should be addressed 

 to them, care of the publishers, as it has become quite 

 impossible for him to deal with half the letters which 

 reach him. In any ca.se, there can be no quick replies to 

 most letters, for already there are dozens in arrcar. If 

 any reader can suggest a way out of the difficulty, short 

 of random shots at the waste paper-basket, he will oblige ; 

 but not if he has no practical suggestion to make, for that 

 would only add to the difficulty. 



