446 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 



that «.;ermaa alcohol, distilled from pot^xtoes, is imported, 

 dootonxl, and sold for brandy, and that the French artisans 

 Mid p^-asants, who formerly used light wines, have of late 

 years used much of this so called brandy. He says, "Its 

 characteristic efloct is to protluce an intoxication in which 

 the patient is especially inclined to rage and physical 

 \ iolence, while hopeless insiiuity is the inevitable conse- 

 Huence of persisting in its use, even for a relatively short 

 period of time.' It is at least worth the physician's 

 while to know that there is no such thing as pure Cognac 

 now. 



Fkkscii rNDER'.ROiND TBLECR.vPin .— A Subterranean 

 telegraph cable is now being laid between Paris and the 

 South of France, so as to place the French capital in direct 

 subterranean coninmnication witli !Marseille& Two h\in- 

 dred and tifty workmen are now engaged in laying the 

 cable, which follows as closely as possible the national roads 

 on the right bank of the Rhone. The cable is laid in iron 

 pipes at a depth of •"> ft G in. The joints of the pipes are 

 coveretl with caoutchouc, and every l,GGGft subterranean 

 chanibers are establishetl so as to facilitate repairs.- ■ 

 £nffiiueriii'j. 



Ax International Electrical Exhibition is to be held at 

 Vienna in August, September, and October, 1883. No 

 charge is made for space, nor for motive-power for the 

 general illumination, and no prizes are to bo awarded. 

 Exhibits not patentetl will be protected until the end of 

 the year. 



OsK or two who cannot understand that wrong may 

 offend in wrong, have assumed that our just indignation at 

 the Kew Gardens wrong-doings must have been aroused by 

 some personal grievance ; and one " weekly " assumes that 

 Ijecause the Editor of Kxowlkdgk chances to reside at 

 Kew, his wrath has been aroused for that ho cannot over- 

 look the grounds from his parlour windows. To all 

 tliis we rejly that we have never had any personal 

 relations, good, l>ad, or indifferent, with the present 

 Director (if he should not rather be described as the 

 wrongful proprietor) of the Botanic Gardens; that we 

 neither know him personally, nor any one who (so far as 

 we know) does so ; and that half-a-dozen houses would have 

 to be pulled down liefore even the great wall of the Gardens 

 would be visible from our parlour windows. A manifest 

 wrong is done to the public. Sir J. Hooker's paymasters ; 

 that is kufEcicnt reason for the indignation which is felt by 

 every honest man who knows the facts. 



To see crowds along our streets, at night, with no 

 brighter spectacle attracting them than the half-seen pre- 

 parations for a street procession, staring intently at im- 

 pr<-jisivc in.Hcriptions announcing welcome to royalty at 

 "tivf ^liillingH jKT head, t^-.n nhillingg for front .seats," and 

 iitnig^'ling to git a vi.;w of the draggled ends of cheap 

 flag*, guggcgts somewhat sad thoughts as to the worth of 

 life to many. If there had Ixien gladness of soul among 

 the crowd one might have rejoiced to mo how easily the 

 many were pU-oMii. But with the rush to see nothing, 

 there wa.s an air of gloom and disguHt ; and the favourite 

 comm»ntii were oaths and foul language. A significant 

 and d<pre«»ing hight '. To what proportion of our peopli-, 

 or of ai,y [-f,j.I»-, even in these dayij of advanced civiliza- 

 tion, ha^ lif.- aught of Uaxuty and brightnejjH? One feels 

 half a.l,:irn.r| to enjoy the charm given by art and litera- 

 ture ^ind «cienc<-, too) to life, after seeing how many, even 

 in a single city «tref;t, there are who know naught of what 

 makes liff M valuable to the few. 



It is asserted that in the three years ended 1880 there 

 were no fewer than 2^2 theatres destroyed by lire, or 

 partly so, resulting in 4,370 deaths, and about 3,400 

 injuries. 



We give again this week the path of the eouut during 

 December. Fortunately during the past week the comet 

 has not been favourably visible, so that an error of 20 in. 

 in right ascension throniihoit! \n our last map can have 

 done very little harm. The Editor was obliged to entrust 

 the drawing of the path to another, being absent on a 

 lecturing tour ; and misunderstood instructions led to what 

 might have been a rather troublesome mistake. (There 

 was not time for a proof of the picture to reach the 

 Editor, even had he been in town sooner.) The oppor- 

 tunity is favourable for noting what, we think, many 

 readers seem not to understand. The Editor has other 

 avocations, which, so far as he is personally concerned, an- 

 of many times greater importance than his work with 

 Knowledge. It is a pleasure to him to give his time 

 freely (practically a free gift) to converse with the readers 

 of tins magazine ; but those other avocations cannot be 

 always neglected. Occasionally it is only by a very hard 

 struggle indeed that time can be tnitde (there is no other word 

 for it) for Knowledge ; and for each of our many valued 

 correspondents there are at least ten who simply waste tin- 

 time thus with ditliculty made available for editorial work. 

 If some errors ha\e to be corrected, it is not wonderful. 



A POINT to be observed is that they am corrected and 

 noted Itere, as carefully as if they were errors in some rival 

 publication (if such there be). Yet often they have been 

 occasioned solely by waste of time in searching through 

 immense chafl'-hoaps for scattered grains. 



The work involved in correspondence may be inferred 

 from the five-and-a-half columns of Answers last week. 

 This must be cut down, as, even if there were time for the 

 work, there is not space, without exceeding the limits 

 which, at our present price, can be afforded. We aie 

 thinking of closing the " Answers to Correspondents' " 

 section, as the only efl'ective way of meeting a difficulty 

 which threatens the very existence of Knowledge (though 

 really giving evidence of its success). Probably that will 

 be the better way ; but for the present wc content our- 

 selves with the appointment of a rigid censor of letters 

 (who will not allow the editor even to see most of them), 

 and the limitation of the " Answers " to a single column. 



We give this week the opening paper of a series by 

 ]\Ir. Grant Allen, to be called the " Naturalist's Year." 

 It will be continued weekly till the end of the year, after- 

 wards fortnightly. The Christmas number of the series 

 will deal with "The Mistletoe Hough." 



The first paper of Prof. Wilson's series will be given 

 next week, subject " Our Bones," illustrated. The series 

 will alternate with Mr. Grant Allen's. 



The Editor is having rather a busy time lecturing, at 

 jiref.ent On Tuesday, Dec. •>, at Manchester in the aiU-r- 

 noon, Bowdon in the evening; on Wednesday, Edinburgh ; 

 on Thursday, Falkirk; Friday, Galashiels; Saturday, Bonny 

 brook ; Sunday, (ilasgow ; Monday (Dec. 11), Manchester : 

 Tuesday, Hull, itc. This i.s more like his American and 

 Auslralasian style of doing lecture work. 



