May 1, 1893.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



89 



telescope, in the last number, as a Newtonian reflector. 

 It is of course well known that Herschel did not make use 

 of a flat to throw the image to one side of the tube — this 

 would liave saved him a little light — but his speculum 

 metal reflector must have behaved remarkably well, as 

 compared with silver on glass reflectors, if it enabled him 

 to see parts of a nebula which are barely traceable on a 

 photograph, such as Dr. Gill's, taken with twelve hours' 

 exposure. 



Some may say : If there are variable stars, why should 

 there not be variable uebulfe ? But I hesitate to assume 

 too lightly that there is reliable evidence of simultaneous 

 changes of brightness taking place over such vast regions 

 as must be occupied by a structure as large as that shown 

 in Sir John Herschel's drawing. — A. C. Ranyam).] 



ASTRONOMY AND SHAKSPEARE. 

 To the Editor (if Knowledge. 



Deak Snt, — I enclose you a rough outline sketch of a 

 very old roadside inn in Warwickshire, called the " Seven 

 Stars of Gurnal." As this is only a few miles from the 

 poet's birthplace, I have no doubt he may have often 

 quaffed his ale beneath this very sign. Yours faithfully, 



Hartlepool, March, 1898. H. Beck. 



J^ - - 



[Messrs. Jacob Larwood and John Camden Hotten, in 

 their " History of Signboards," speak of the Seven Stars 

 as a very common old sign, but does not the iron work of 

 the sign drawn by Mr. Beck point to a later date than 

 Shakspeare's '? Messrs. Larwood and Hotten speak of the 

 "Half Moon and Seven Stars" at Aston Clinton, near 

 Tring, and the " Sun, Moon, and Seven Stars " at 

 Blisworth, in Northampton. They say : " These seven 

 stars have always been great favourites ; they seem to be 

 the same pleiad which is used as a masonic emblem — a 

 circle of six stars with one in the centre — but to tell to 

 ears profane what this emblem means, would be disclosing 

 the sacred arcana." There was a printing-house with the 

 sign of the seven stars in St. Paul's Churchyard, near to 

 the great north door ; but whether they were arranged 

 masonically or Great Bear-wise, I do not know. Here in 

 1653, J. C. and Richard Moon printed " The first addresses 

 to His Excellency the Lord General, &c., by John 

 Spittlehouse, a late member of the army, and a servant of 

 the Saints of the Most High God." — A. C. Ranyard.I 



THE POLECAT IN CARDIGANSHIRE. 

 To the Editor of Knowledge, 



Deau Sir, — In the "Science Notes" in the April 

 number of Knowledge, you quote Mr. J. W. Salter as 

 stating " that there is reason to believe that the polecat is 

 by no means extinct in Cardiganshire." Having passed a 

 good deal of time every year in that county during the 

 last thirty-two years, I can corroborate Mr. Salter's asser- 

 tion ; the animal is very frequently met with. I have seen 

 dozens of skins for sale in the shop of a tradesman in a 

 small town in Cardiganshire — he makes a speciality of 

 collecting them — and I believe the price paid for them is 

 from Is. to Is. Gd. per skin, according to quality. 



Yours faithfully, 

 New University Club, Thos. Herbert Maddy. 



St. James's Street, S.W., 

 April 17th, 1898. 



— I * I 



To the Editor of Knowledge. 



Sib, — The numbers referred to in the "figure 

 squares " problem on page 75 of your April number are 

 the sums of the squares of the co-efiicients in the expan- 

 sion of (x 4- n)", the formula for which is -^ 

 Y'ours faithfully, *~ 



Technical Schools, Plymouth, J. J. Alexander. 



April 15th. 



[I have received more than one note pointing out that 

 the general term of Mr. Staniforth's series is factorial (2m), 

 divided by the square of factorial n. This will be evident 

 to Mr. Staniforth if he throws his series into the form — 



First term ... f 



Second term ... f x f 



Third term ... ^ x J x V 



nth term. 



t X 5 X V" X 



X ^-J* ... ^2J2"-ll 



Mr. T. B. Sprague has, in a recent paper published in the 

 "Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh," shown 

 that such figure squares may be used for " A New Algebra," 

 by means of which permutations can be transformed in a 

 variety of ways and their properties investigated. — A. C. R.] 



THE IGNIS FATUUS. 

 To the Editor of Knowledge. 



Dear Sir, — Mr. Marshall Fisher, of Ely, has been so 

 good as to forward me some extracts of a work on New 

 Zealand, published in 1855, by the Rev. Richard Taylor, 

 M.A., F.G.S., formerly curate of Coveney-cum-Manea, in 

 the Isle of Ely. 



Mr. Taylor encamped on a rainy night in a forest near 

 the Bay of Islands, when the natives who accompanied 

 him erected a hut, and covered it in with palm leaves, so as 

 to make it water-tight. Fires were kindled and every- 

 thing made comfortable. No sooner, however, had the 

 men fallen asleep, and the fires began to die away, than a 

 light was observed, like the moon shining through a chink. 

 There was no moon, and the night was very dark. On a 

 closer examination the object appeared as a globe of pale 

 light attached to the point of a palm leaf which hung from 

 the roof. Another ball of light was now seen, attached to 

 the wet sleeve of a shirt hung up to dry. " The air 

 appeared to be charged with these luminous vapours, for 

 while regarding the two in the shed a series of them 

 floated past at an elevation of about a yard fi-om the 

 ground." These and similar phenomena, which are 

 evidently electrical, the author endeavours to trace to the 

 remains of the highly resinous Kauri pines which abound 

 in the place. 



