ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICEOSCOPY, ETC. 495 



excuses, so that vacant space had to be filled with nothings if the some- 

 things were wanting. 



It is evidently under this influence that Captain William Noble 

 (F.E.A.S. and one of the Fellows of this Society), who writes paragraphs 

 fortnightly for the 'English Mechanic' imder the nom de plume of "A 

 Fellow of the Eoyal Astronomical Society," has published a series of notes 

 on this Journal. 



Last year Captain Noble apparently wanted to know wliy the index was 

 not published in December. The obvious way of obtaining the informa- 

 tion he wanted, being a Fellow of the Society, was to apply to one of the 

 officials, who would, of course, at once have given it. This would not, 

 however, have supplied any paragi-aph to fill a vacant space, and accordingly 

 Captain Noble put his inquiry into print, and published it as one of his 

 paragraphs.* 



The officials of the Society very properly paid no attention to such 

 an extraordinary proceeding, and " One Who Knows " somewhat unmerci- 

 fully criticized | Captain Noble for the absurdity of which he had been 

 guilty, and invited him next time to inquire before rushing into print, a 

 suggestion which (perhaps not unnaturally) considerably irritated Captain 

 Noble, who complained | of the "elephantine chaff" to which he had been 

 subjected. 



This criticism, nevertheless, made, as it was intended to do, an impres- 

 sion on the worthy Captain, and when this year the index did not make its 

 appearance, he wisely decided that he would inquire before committing 

 himself as he had done in the previous year, and so avoid again falling 

 under the sarcasm of "One Who Knows." When Captain Noble pre- 

 sented himself at the Library to make his inquiry, as his ill luck would 

 have it, the Librarian was absent. What ought any one to do under such 

 circumstances who was really desirous of obtaining an answer to his 

 inquiry ? Obviously, if he could not wait until the Librarian returned, he 

 would leave his inquiry as a message or a note, and request a reply to bo 

 sent, as it would have been. He would not take the first answer he could 

 get — from no matter whom — the more absurd the better— and rush off with 

 it to the printer. Yet this is just what was done by Captain Noble, who, 

 amongst other statements, said § that the result of his inquiry was that 

 he " was informed by the attendant that ' he didn't know, but perhaps 

 " Mr. Crisp had been too busy to attend to it ! ' " 



The italics in the above quotation are ours, but it hardly requires sucli 

 marks of accentuation to call attention to the character of the "explanation" 

 which Captain Noble was content to carry away with him for publication ! 



No notice being taken of this, Captain Noble indited another paragraph, 

 in which he said |1 : " Verily, if there be any foundation for the quasi- 

 explanation vouchsafed to me at King's College, Mr. Crisp must have been 

 oppressed with an amount of business almost appalling to contemplate." 



These paragraphs were again criticized by " One Who Knows," who 

 again pointed out ^ the childishness of Captain Noble's proceeding, and also 

 stated that he had made personal inquiry at the Library of the Society, and 

 that both officials certified that not only did they not give such an answer as 

 alleged, but that no such inquiry, verbal or written, was addressed to them. 

 This letter irritated Captain Noble still more than before, and induced 

 him to write in terms ** which it would be unfair to print here, as we are 

 sure he regretted his paragraph as soon as he saw it in print. It is never 



* Eng. Mech., Xlii. (1886) p. 44G. t Ibid., p. 474. I Ibid., p. 489. 



§ Ibid., xliv. (1887) p. 5G0. || Ibid., xlv. (1887) p. 178. 



t Ibid., p. 201. ** Ibid., p, 219. 



