wmmi--m'mm-'^' W&B- WM^ mmmmm i a-^ I^ARSWELLCo Lumwdj I BookbjDtSerA, lT^SS'e^, i TORONTO |PrBt.is3ES3,etc 0 o N T SIMPLY WORPHD-HXACTLY PHSrRll^l^:P. IITERATUR Founded by RICHARD A. PROCTOR. h lA/ J- "Let Knowledge grow from more to more. " — TENNVSON. VOLUME XXIII. JANUARY TO DECEMBER, 1900. KNOWLEDGE OFFICE, 326, HIGH HOLBORN, W.C. [A// Rights Reserved.] l.ONI'OV ; PUINTEI' AT KX0WLFIU;K OFFICE, ^2V>, HHiH I|t>I.HOHN. W.T. I k-7 KNOWLEDGE ui. INDEX Academy, The Royal, Exhibition Acids in Soil- Letter on ; by W. A. Smith ., Alps, The Buried — By Grenville A. J. Cole VIH IG 11 Anderson, Wm. — Letters on Is the Stellar Universe Finite? H, 36 Antoniadi, Eugene, F.R.A.S.— The Photography of Clouds 79,107 The Great Telescope of Paris, 1900 '240 Astbury, T. H — Letter on A Cloud of Dried Beech Leaves ... 100 Astrology- Letters on ; by B. CnATLEY ... ... 205,227 Letters on ; by Alan Leo ... ... 228,255 Astrology or Astronomy, Ancient Hindu, and the Nine Planets — Letter on ; by C. G. Stuart-Menteath .. 255 Astronomy and Astrology : A Question of Primogeniture — By E. W.ALTER Maunder 35 Astronomy without a Telescope — By E. Walter Maunder — L Introductory ... ... ... ... 9 II. The Zodiacal Light 61 III. The Northern Stars 81 IV. A Total Solar Eclipse 104 V. Observations of the Sun 132 VI. The Milky Way 158 VII. Meteors— The Perseids 174 Vin. Four Variable Stars 199 IX. Aurorfc 223 X. The Meteors of November 251 Australia, The Natives of, and their Origin — By Pi. Lydekkep. ... .. ... ... (j Bacon, Rev. John M., F.R.A.S.— Mid-air Observations ... ... 1 l'.tGK Bastides, The Land of the— By Grenvili.e A. J. Cole ... ... 187 Bavaria, Contrasts in — By Grenville A. .1. Cole ... ... ... 121 Bayley, R. Child— Lotter on Wireless-Telegraph Keeeiver ... 195 Birds, The Mud-nest Building, of Australia— By D. Le Souef ... 92 Black Rain, The, of August 6th, 1899 — By Major L. A. Eddie ... ... ... 10 Books, Reviews of — Africa, .S])ort in Kast Central. By F. Vaugliari K'irby ... ... ... ... ... ]^j America, Impressions of. B.y T. C. Porter ... .10 Animal Biology. By C. Lloyd Morgan ... ... 5,s Animals, Kxperiments on. By Stephen Paget ... 59 Animals in .Motion. By Eauwcavd Muy bridge ... Ill Arnold, Dr., Life and Correspondence of. By Dean Stanley ... ... ... ... ... 210 Art-Enamelling upon Jletals, On the Theory and Practice of . By Henry Cunynghame ... " ... (io Astronomical and Pliysical Researches made at Mr. Wilson's Observatory, Daramona, Wcstmeatli ... 278 Astronomische Instrumentenkuudo, Handbiicli der. By Dr. L. Ambronn... ... ... ... 17 Babylonians and Assyrians, Life and Customs of. By Rev. A. H. Sayce ... ... ... fiO Bacteria. By George Newman... ... ... 17 Berzelius and Schonbein, The Letters of. Edited by George W. A. Kahlbaum ... 257 Bird-land with Field-glass and Camera, In. By Oliver G. Pike ... ... ... ... 258 Bird-Life, The Story of. My W. P. Pycraft ... 258 Birds of Ireland, The. By Richard J. Ussher and Robert Warren ... ... ... ... 277 Botan.y, Object Lessons in. By E. Snelgrove ... 21u Brain, The Structure of tlie. By Albert Wilson ... 157 British People, The Origin and Cliaracter of. By Nottidge C. Mucnamara ... ... .'.. 258 Chemistry, The Scientific Foundations of Analytical. ByW. Ostwald ... ... ... ... 278 Colour : A Uautibook on the Theory of Colour. By George H. 11 urst ... ... ... ... 18 Constellations, An Easy Guide to the, witli a Star Atlas. By Rev. James Gall ... ... ... 58 Constellations of the Greeks, Phienicians, and Babylonians, Reaearches into tlic Origin of the Primitive. By Robert Brown, Junior ... ... i':{l Crystallography, A Treatise on. By W. J. Lewis 1 57 Darwinism and Lamarckism. By P. W. Hutton ... lU Dictionary of the English Language, The Standard Intermediate School... ... ... ... 13(i IV. KNOWLEDGE Books, Reviews of- By Dimorpliisin, Sexual, in the Animal Kingdom. J. T. Cunuinghani ... Dragon-Flies, JJritish. By W. J. Liiciis ... EchinodcTiiis, The Niitural Hiatory of. By F. A. Bather Eclipses, Keeent ami Coming. By Sir Noriiian Lookjer Egyptian Magic. By E. A. Wallis Budge Electricity and Magnetism, Elementary Lessons in. By S. P. Thomjison ... Electric Lighting. By A. C. Swinton ... Empire, The Struggle for. By Robt. W. Cole ... Ethics, A System of. By Fricdrich Paulsen Evolution by Atrophy. By Dcraoor, Massart, and Vandervelde Evolution, Inorganic, as Studied by Spectrum Analysis. By Sir Normau Lockyer Evolution, Organic, A First Book of. By D. K. Shute Faraday and Schtinbein, The Letters of. Edited by Gcorg W. A. Kahlbaum and Francis V. Darbi- shire Fermentation and Mici'o-orgauisms. By Alfred Jorgensen ... Ferric and Heliographic Processes. By George E. Brown Flowerland, Sylvia in. By Linda Gardiner Flowers, The Romance of Wild. By Edward Step Free Will and Criminal Responsibility, The Universal Illusion of. By A. Hamon ... Gases, The Rise and Development of the Lique- faction of. By Dr. WiUett L. Hardin Geography, The Teaching of, in Switzerland and North Italy. By Joan Berenice Reynolds Hampshire Highlands, Wild Life in. By George A. D. Dewar Health Reform, Connmon Sense. By T. Thatcher Horns of Honour, and other Studies in the Bye- ways of Archceology, By Frederick Thomas Elwonhy ... Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas Henry. By his Son, Leonard Huxley Interpolation, The Theory and Practice of. By Herbert L. Rice Italy, Modern, 1748—1898. By Pietro Orsi Joiu'nal of Researches. By Charles Darwin Knowledge, The Advance of. By Lieut. -Col. W. Sedgwick ... Light and Sight, Curiosities of. By Shelford Bidwell ... ... ... ... _ ... Living Pictures. By Henry V. Hopwood Local Colour, A Romancer's. By S. R. Crockett ... Malay Magic. By W. W. Skeat Man and his Ancestors. By Charles Morris Man, The Races of. By J. Deniker Materials, The Strength of. By J, A. Ewing Matter, Ether and Motion. By Prof. A. E. Dolbear Mechanical and Physical Subjects, Papers on. By Osborne Reynolds ... Mechanics, The Principles of. By Heiurich Hertz Mechanism, The Wonders of Modern. By Charles H. Cochrane Mental Culture, An Essay on. By G. A. Hight ... Meteorology, Practical Exercises in Elementary. By Robert de Courcy Ward ... Microscope, Chats about the. By Henry C, Shelley Microscope, Common Objects of the. By Rev. J. G. Wood PAGE 157 112 136 112 59 258 257 210 39 157 231 135 87 181 210 59 40 40 59 137 18 19 156 279 210 156 137 59 18 40 278 112 182 80 157 40 257 182 59 210 135 19 59 Nation, The Mind of the. By Marcus R. P. Dorman ... ... ... ... ... 87 Naturalist, Tlie Boyhood of a. By Fred Smith ... 135 Nature Knowledge, Chatty Object Lessons in. By F. W. Hackwood ... " ... ... ... 210 Nature, Views on Sonic of the Phenomena of. By James Walker ... ... ... ... 18 Negritos, Tlie Distribution of the, in the Philippine Islands and Elsewhere. Ey A. B. Meyer ... 181 Newton's Laws of Motion. By Prof. P. G. Tait ... 59 North Polar Expedition, The Norwegian. Scientific Results, Vol. I. Edited by Fridtjof Nansen ... 208 Oldest Books in the World. By Isaac Myer ... 279 Optics. A Manual for Students. By A. S. Percival 58 Optics, Handbook of, for Students of Ophthal- mology. By W. N. Suter ... ... ... 58 Palaeontology, Text-book of. By K. A. von Zittel 135 Photography in Colours, A Handbook of. By Thomas Bolas, Alex. A. K. Tallent and Edgar Senior ... ... ... ... ... 278 Physics, Experimental. By Eugene Lommel ... 88 Physiology, Practical. By M. Foster and J. N Langley ... ... ... ... ... 182 Plant, The Flowering. By J. R. Ainsworth Da\is 210 Prehistoric Times. By Lord Avebury ... ... 181 Prose, The Makers of Modern. By W. G. Dawson 136 Railways of England, The. By W. M. Ackworth 112 Reliquary and Illustrated Arehseologist, The. Volume v., 1899 ... ... ... ... 40 Science and Faith. By Paul Topinard ... ... 58 Science, The Grammar of. By Karl Pearson ... 88 Scotland, The Social Life of, in the Eighteenth Century. By Rev. Henry Grey Graham ... 18 Selborne, The Natural History of. By GUbert T. White. Edited by Grant Allen ... ... 17 Signalling through Space without Wires. By Prof. Lodge ... ... ... ... 210 Slime-Moulds, The North American. By Thomas H. Maebride ... ... ... ... 87 Smithsonian Institution: Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the ... ... ... 136 Star-land. By Sir Robert Stawell Ball ... ... 18 Stars, Star-Clusters, and Nebuhe, Photographs of. By Isaac Roberts ... ... ... ... 110 Stellar Spectra, An Atlas of Representative. By Sir AVilliam Huggins ... ... ... 256 Telephotography. An Elementary Treatise on the Construction and Application of the Telephoto- graphic Lens. By Thomas R. Dallmeyer ... 60 Whales, A Book of. By F. E. Beddard ... ... Ill Wireless Telegraphy and Hertzian Waves. By S. K. Bottone ... ... ... ... 210 Zoology, A Manual of. By T. Jeffery Parker and William A. Haswell ... ... ... 59 Zoology, An Introduction to the Study of. By B. Lindsay ... ... ... ... ... 40 Zoology, A Text-book of. By Dr. 0. Schmeil ... 257 Zoology, A Treatise on. Edited by E. Ray Lankester. Part II.— The Porifera and Cadentera ... 277 Zoology, Introduction to. By C. B. and G. C. Davenport ... ... ... ... 257 Zoology, Practical. By the late T. J. Parker and W.N.Parker ... ... ... ... 136 Bottone, S.— Letter on Wireless Telegraphy and Hertzian Waves 254 KNOWLEDGE Bristowe. Lindsay W., and H. P. Fitz-Gerald Marriott — Stone Implements on the Gold Coast ... 241 Brook, Charles L. — Letter on Lunar Rainbow ... ... .. 27G Brown. S. R. Stawell Letter on Kaiubow Phenomena .. ... 270 Buss. Albert Alfred— Letter on Artificial Facuhp, Spots and Photo- spheric Reticulation ... 252 Cattle, The Smallest of the Wild— By H. LvDKKKF.n ... ... ... 217 Chatley, B.~ Letters on Astrology ... ... ... '205, 227 Chemical Evolution - A Chapter of History — By G. Cecil Fry im Chess Column — Bv C. D. LococK ... 23, 47, "1, 95, 119, 143, 167, 191, 215, 239, 203, 287 Clay-Stones — Letter on ; by S. H. Wright ... Clouds, The Photography of— By Eugene Antoxiadi ... Cole, Grenville A. J , M.R.LA., F.G.S The Buried Alps Across the Downs Contrasts in Bavaria ... The Land of the Bastides The Borders of the Karst The Ueart of Dauphinc Colour Effects, Production of ... 255 79, 107 41 89 121 187 218 271 Comets and Meteors. Notes on — By W. F. Dexm.m; ... 22, 40, 70,94, 118, 142, 160, 190, 214, 238, 262, 285 Connell, R. J.— Letter on Is the Stellar Universe Finite '.' .. Cook, J. Alexandre— Letter on Liclien growing on Quartz Cooke. John H., F.L.S.. F.G.S. Microscopy 15 183 ... 21, 45, 69, 94, 117, 141, 105, 189, 214, 238, 202, 284 Corona, Solar, Dark Markings in the- By W. II. Wesley Letter on; by H. W Coues, Dr. Elliott — Obituary Notice of Cygni, S. S. & S. U.— Letter on; by D.wid Flaxery Letter on ; by David Flaxery Cygnus, The Milky Way in— By Mrs. Walter Mai-ndek ... Dauphine, The Heart of— By Grexville a. J. Cole Davison, Charles, Sc.D., F.G S.— Eartb( I uake- Sounds The Great Indian Earthquake of 1897 Dawson, Sir J. William — Obituary Notice of Day Changes, Where the By Dr. A. M. \V. Downing 89 39 184 273 271 ... 83 147, 169 10 100 Denning, W. F., F.R.A.S.— Letter on Search ibr an Intra-Mercurial Planet 131 •Jupiter and hi^ Markings ... 200 Notes on Comets and Meteors 22, 40, 70, 94, 118, 1 !2, 100, 190, 214, 238, 262, 285 de Tunzelmann. G. W , B.Sc— Wireless Telegraphy ... 25, 113, 184, 232, 2bl Downing, Dr. A. M. W.— Where the Day Changes Downs, Across the — By Geexvili.e A. -J. Colk Dragon-Fly Nymphs, On the Respiration of Certain — By Rev. Ap.thir East... 207 Drops and their Splashes... Earp, W.— Letter on A Large Meteor Earthquake-Sounds— By Charles Davison ... Earthquake, The Great Indian, of 1897- By Chari.iis Davison ... Earwig, The, as a Benefactor- Letter on ; by Walter Wesciie 100 89 .. 220 .. 115 155 ... 83 147, 109 64 225 275 East, Rev. Arthur- Artificial " Rt'seau Photospherique " ... 129 On the Respiration of certain Dragon-fly Nymphs 220 VI. KNOWLEDGE. Eclipse, Crescent Images of the Sun during the- Letter on ; by E. Pierce 204 Eclipse of the Sun, The Comiog— By E. Walter Mavndek 4'.> Eclipse, The Total Solar, of May 28th, 1900- ]5y E. Walter Maunder ... ... 145, J 75 Eddie. Major L. A., F.R.A.S.— The Black Kain of August (i, 18!)!) ... I'J Editorial 265 Electric Auto-Portraits— By Ale.\. Thurburn ... ... 51 Elvins, A. — Letter on Lunar Seas 38 Eros and the Astrographic Conference— ... 207 Explosions in Coal Mines — By John Mills ... ... 4 Faculse, Spots and Photospheric Reticulation. Artificial — Letter on ; by A. A. Buss 252 Fermentation, Some Early Theories on— 1 5y W. St.^nley SmIth ... Flanery, David — Letter on S. S. Cygni Letter on Observations of Variable Stars Letter on S. U. Cygni... Letter on Mira Ceti 154, 17!) 39 65 134 20(i Fowler, A., F.R.A.S.— The Constituents of the Sun ,. 11 The Face of the Sky 23, 47, 71, 95, 118, 143, 1C7, 191, 215, 289, 263, 286 Fry, G. Cecil- Chemical Evolution Garland, Chas. H.— High-speed Telegraphy 18!) 193 Geographical Society, The Annual Awards of the Royal . . ... 181 Godden, William — Letter on The Phase of Venus seen with the Naked Eye 275 Gore, J E , F.R.A.S.— The Hundred Brightest Stars 202 Green, Jos. F., F.Z.S.— Letter on Seal in Suttolk ... ... ''7 Haddon, Prof. Alfred C, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S.— The Evolution of Simple Societies ; L The Hunters 29 IL The Pastors of the Steppes 76 in. The Pastoral Societies 100 IV. The Beginning of Agriculture 171 V. The Metamorphosis of Herders into Tillers 221 VI. The Eevolution effected by Corn ... 269 Hill, George H.— Letter on Is the Stellar Universe Finite? ... 15 Holmes, Edwin — Letter on The Collins' Monoplane Telescope 275 Indian Tribes, Some Wild — By K. Lydekker ... ... . . 67 Indians, American — By R. Lydekker . ... ... ... 150 Inglis, Charles E., B.A — Letter on Is the Stellar Universe Finite ? . . . 65 Jupiter and His Markings — By W. F. Denninc, 200 Letter on ; by W. F. Denning ... ... 229 Karkinokosm, The, or World of Crustacea— By Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing. Little Wonders and Queer Blunders 73 Fish Bears and their Kindred 162 The Many-Twinkling Feet 211 Crustacean Nurseries . . ... . 266 Karst, The Borders of the— By Grenville A.J.Cole ... ... ... 218 Kaulbars, Baron N. (Lt. Gen.) — Letter on The Nature of Sun-Spots ... .. 2.)4 Letter on High-Speed Telegraphy .. ... 254 KNOWLEDGE. vu. Lawes. Sir John Bennet, Bart. — Obituary Notice of 280 Le Souef. D.. C.M.Z.S.— The Mud-Nest Building Birds of Australia 92 Leaves, A Cloud of Dried Beech- Letter on : by T. H. Astbuuy 109 Leo. Alan — Letters on Astrology ... ... ... 22s, 255 Lichen growing on Quartz — Letter on ; by J. A. Cook Lightning, Trees Struck by— By HowARii B. Little Little. E, D.— Polarity in ^lagic Squares Little, Howard B. — Trees Struck by Lightning 183 13 31, 53 13 Locock, C. D.. B.A.— Chess Column 23, 17, 71, 95, 119, 143, 167, 191, 215, 239, 263,287 Lunar Phenomena, Some Curious — Letter on ; by Walter Willums ... ... 6-1 Lunar Rainbow- Letter on ; by J. Macintosh ... ... ... 255 Letter on ; by Charles L. Bkook ... 276 Lydekker, R., F.R.S.— The Natives of Australia and their Origin . 6 Some Wild Indian Tribes ... 67 Oceanic Negroes ... ... ... 97 The First Musk Oxen in England since the Glacial Epoch ... ... 137 American Indians ... ... ... ... 150 The Pygmies of Asia 196 The Smallest of the WUd Cattle 217 The Pygmies of the Great Forest ... ... 259 MacDowall, Alex. B., M.A.— Long Waves of Winter Weather ... ... 44 Letter on London Summers ... ... . 110 Letter on Hot and Dry Summers 201 Macgeorge, James — Letter on " The ' Seas ■ of the Moon '■ ... 15 Macintosh, John Letter on Lunar Rainbow 255 Markwick, Colonel E. E., F.R.A.S.— Letter on The Constituents of the Snn 61, 8(; Marriott, H. P. Fitz-Gerald, F.R.G S., and L. W. Bristowe — Stone Implements ou the Gold Coast .. 241 Maunder, E. Walter, F.R.A.S.— Astronomy and Astrology ; A Question of Primogeniture ... ... ... ... 35 'I'he (.'oming Eclipse of the Sun 49 The Total Solar Eclipse of May 28, 1900 145, 175 Astronomy Without a Telescope. 1. Introductory ... ... ... ... 9 IL The Zodiacal Light 61 III. The Northern Stars ... 81 IV. A Total Solar Eclipse 104 V. Observations of the Sun ... ... 132 VI. The Milky Way 158 VII. Meteors— The Perseids 174 VIII. Four Variable Stars 199 L\. Aurorse 223 X. The Meteors of November 251 Maunder, Mrs. Walter— Thi' !Milky Way in Cygnus Meteor, A Large- Letter ou ; by W. E.\kp Meteoric Dust, Collecting- Note on ... Microscopy — . 273 155 16 By .loiiN H. CooKE ... 21, 45, 69, 94, 117, 141, 1G5, 189, 214, 238, 262, 284 Mid-Air Observations— By -John M. B.\con ... ... ... ... 1 Mills, John, F.R.A.S.— Explosions in Coal Mines ... 4 Mira Ceti— Letter on ; by David Flaneky ... 20(! Mitchell, Arthur Ed.— Letter on Is the Stellar Universe Finite ? ... 155 Mivart, Prof. St. George, F.R.S., etc.— Obituary Notice of 110 "vau. KNOWLEDGE. Monck. W. H. S.- Letters on " Is the Inivci-se Finite ■ Moon, The " Seas " of the— Letter on ; by -Ia.mes Macgeoroe Letter on : bj* A. Ei.\ ix^ Musl<-Oxen in England, The First, since the Glacial Epoch — By R. Lyuekker 38, S5, 108 15 38 137 Orioles, G-olden, in Devon — Arnold D. Taylor Owl, Long-eared, in Barra — W. L. Macgillivrav . . Owl, Scops, in Shetland— W. Eagle Clarke Pastor, Rose-coloured, in Co. Mayo — Robert Warren Pheasants, Late Brood of Wild — W. B. Tegetmeier Pipit, Water, in Sussex— N. P. Tioehurst ... Plover, An Observational Diarj of the Habits of the Great— Edmund Selous Eed-crested in Yorlcliire — T. --1. A. Harvie-Browu U. NightinKalc— Cliarh's .V. Musson, W. B — Letter on A New Form of Achromatic Telescope 252 Nebula, Trifid, I;I lY. ii Saglttarii, and of the Region Surrounding, Photograph of— By IsKkc RoREKTs ... ... ... ... 35 Nebulae M. 8 Sagittarii and l;l YI. Ceti. Photo graphs of— By Isaac Roberts ... 132 Negroes, Oceanic — By R. Lydekker . ... .. ... 97 Ornithological Notes, British— Bee-Eater iu Shetland — Arthur -Adie ... ... 4] Bittern ill Devoushii-e-W. S. M. D'Urban ,. 88 BvHtard, Re-introduetion of tlie Great ... ... 23U Buzzard, Rough-legged, near Londonderry — T). C. Campbell ... " ... ..." ... 61 Chiff-ehaff in Barm— W. L. MacgiUivray ... \r,0 Cuckoo, The: a Study — Rev. E. A. Woodruffe- Peacock ... ...' ... ... ... 15S Cuckoo, Yellow-billed, in Wales —George Dickinson 61 Devonshire, Winter Visitors to-W. S. IW. D'l.h-bau 89 Ducks assuming Drake's Plumage— Jos. F.. Green ... 156 Egg enclosed iu another — F. W. Ileadley - ... 89 ' . Fowl and Babbit — ,Tos. F. Green ... ... 156 Garganey, Breeding of the, in Kent — N. F. Ticelinrst 156 Goose, Snow, ill Ii'clund ... ... ... 41 Grebes, Great Crested, in Ri<'liniond Park— AV. R. Read ... ... ... ,. ... 231 Greylags, The, of lUair Druiuiuoiid— Lieut. -Colonel Duthie ... ... ... ... ... 2.56 Harrier, Montagu's, in Wicklow — Edward Williams 41 Hawfinch, The, as a Durham Bird — J. W. Fawcctt .. 156 Kite in Kent — Jos. F. Green ... ... ... 61 Lincolnshire, Xorth-Kast, IJird Notes from, during the Autumn Migration of 1899— G. H. Catoii Haigli ... ... ... ... ... l-;6 Migrants, Summer— E. Silleiice... ... ... 156 Nesting-boxes for Wild Birds-E. G. B. Me.ade- Waldo ... ... ... ... ... 276 Nightjars, .\n Observaf'onal Diary of the Habits of— Edmund Selous .. ... ... ... 21 Norfolk, Ornithological Notes from, dui-ing 1899- J. H. Gurney ... ... ... ... 156 Nvitcraeker in Lincolnshire — H. F. W. ... . 256 Pochard, The Nelson Pratincole near Montrose- Protectiou, Bird Robin, The, and tlie Witchell ... ... ' ...' Robins, Wild, as Pets— Frances T. Battersby Ruff, The Natural History of the— Ch.arles J. Patten Scotland, Report on the Movements and Occurrence of Birds in, during 1899— T. O. Laidl.aw Sea-fowl of tlie Dublin Coast, Recent Observations on the — Charles J . Patten Shearwater, The Great, in Scottish Waters — Alfred Newton Shearwater, The Levantine, at .Scarborough — R. Fortune Shoveler, Breeding of the, in Kent — N. F. Ticchurst Swans, Bewick, in Suffolk — Jos. F. Green Tern, Sandwich, A. Visit to Lough Erne in search of the — Robert Warren Thrush's Nest made of Moss — .Tos. F. Green Titmouse, Bearded, A Short History of — J. H. Gurney Warbler, Grasshopper, in Morayshire — J. A. Harvie-Brown Warbler, The Melodious, in Sussex — AV. Ruskin Butterfield Yorkshire, Natural History Notes from, for 1899 — Oxley Grabham Parr, W. Alfred— A Temple of Science ... Letter on Mental Perspective PAGE 206 1.56 181 41 27T 156 277 256 41 180 21 89 206 156 21 181 £77 156 61 1:31 60 231 41 206 156 103 182 Pearson, H. H. W., B.A.(Cantab.)— Plants and their Food 2, 55, 101, 159, 235, 2U Pepper, Prof. John Henry- Obituary Notice of Perspectiye, Mental- Letter on ; by W. Alfred P.ark 110 ... 18-2 Phelps, Geo. — Letter on Is the Stellar Universe Finite? ... 109 Pickering, Edward C— Mme. Ceraski's Second Algol Variable . . 81 A Photographic Search for an Intermercurial Planet Pierce, E, — luti Letter on Crescent Images of the Sun during the Eclipse 201 KNOWLEDGE IX. Pisciculture. Modern — By T. A. Gerald Strickland Planet, Intermercurial, A Photographic Search for an — By Edward C. Pickering Planet, Intra-Mercurial, Search for an— Letter on ; by W. F. Denning Planet, The Hypothetical- Letter on; by G. MoKenzie Knight PAGE 123 106 131 20G Seal in Suffolk- Letter on ; by Jos. F. Gueen li7 Plants and their Food — By H. H. W. Pearson 2, 55, 101, 159, 235, 2ii Polarity in Magic Squares— By E. D. Little 31,53 Pygmies of Asia, The — By R. Lydekker ... ... ... ... 196 Pygmies of the Great Forest, The— By R. Lydekker ... ... ... ... 259 Rainbow Phenomena — Letter on ; by S. R. Stawell Brown ... 276 "Roseau Photospherique," Artificial — By Rev. Arthur East... ... ... ... 129 Roberts, Isaac, D.Sc, F.R.S.— Photograph of the Trifid Nebula Ijl IV. 41 Sagittarii, and of the Region Surrounding 35 Photographs of the Nebuhc M. 8 Sagittarii and y VL Ceti 132 Robinson, Norman — Letter on Wireless-Telegraph Receiver Royal Society's Medals, The— Note on Ruskin, John — Obituary Notice of Saturn, Occultation of, on September 3rd— Letter on ; by W. F. Denning Science, A Temple of — By W. Alfred Parr 109 276 39 229 108 Sky, The Face of the- By A. Fowler , . . 23, 17,71,05, 118,113, 167, 191, 215, 239, 263, 28(i Smith, W. A.— Letter on Acids in Soil 16 Smith, W. Stanley, Ph.D.— Some Early Theories on Fermentation 151, 179 Smyth, Charles Piazzi— Obituary Notice of Societies, The Evolution of Simple— By Prof. Alfred C. Haddon — I. The Hunters IL The Pastors of the Steppes III. The Pastoral Societies IV. The Beginning of Agriculture V. The Metamorphosis of Herders into Tillers VI. The Revolution eftected by Corn (Star), Mme. Ceraski's Second Algol Variable— By Edward C. Pickering ... Stars, Observations of Variable- Letter on ; by David Flanehy Stars, The Hundred Brightest— By J. E. Gore Letter on ; by L. Cuthbertson Stebbing, Rev. Thomas R. R., M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S.— The Karkinokosm, or World of Crustacea — Little Wonders and Queer Blunders Fish- Bears and their Kindred The Many-Twinkling Feet Crustacean Nurseries 89 29 76 126 171 221 269 81 65 202 229 73 162 211 266 Stellar Universe, Is the. Finite ?— Letters on ; by Wm. Anderson Letter on ; by R. J. Connell Letter on ; by George II. Hill^ Letters on; by W. H. S. Monck ... Letter on ; by Cn.u$LE3 E. Inolis Letter on ; by Geo. Phelps Letter on ; by Arthur Ed. Mitchell 14, 86 15 ... 15 88, 85, 108 ... 65 ... 108 ... 165 KNOWLEDGE stone Implements on the Gold Coast — By L. W. Bristowe and H. P. PitzGbrald Marriott 241 Strickland, T. A. Gerald- Modern Pisciculture ... . ... ... 128 Stuart Menteath, Charles G. — Letter on Ancient Hindu Astrology or Astro- nomy and the Nine Planets ... ... 255 Summers, Hot and Dry- Letter on ; by Alex. B. MacDow all... ... 204 Summers, London — Letter on ; by Alex. B. MacDowall... ... 110 Sun, The Constituents of the — By A. Fowler ... ... ... ... ... 11 Letters on ; by E. E. Markwick 64,86 Sun-Spots, The Nature of— Letter on ; by Baron N. Kaulbars ... ... 254 " Syritta pipiens," The Fly- By Walter Wesohe ... ... ... ... 33 Tate, Sir Henry- Obituary Notice of ... 16 Telegraphy, High-Speed— By Charles H. Garland ... ... 198 Letter on ; by Baron N. Kaulbars . .. 254 Telescope, A New Form of Achromatic — Letter on ; by W. B. MussoN 252 Telescope, The Collins' Monoplane- Letter on ; by Edwin Holmes 275 Telescope, The Great, of Paris, 1900— By Eugene Antoniadi.. ... ... 246 Thurbum, Alex. — Electric Auto-Portraits Weather, Long Waves of Winter- By Alex. B. MacDowall Wesche, Walter— The Fly " Syritta pipiens " ... Letter on The Earwig as a Benefactor Wesley, W. H.— Dark Markin"3 in the Solar Corona . . . Wireless-Telegraph Receiver — Letter on ; by Norman Kobinson Letter on ; by E. Child Bayley 51 Venus, The Phase of, seen with the Naked Eye- Letter on ; by William Godden ... . . 275 44 33 64 225 Williams, Walter, M.B.— Letter on Some Curious Lunar Phenomena 04 109 135 Wireless Telegraphy— By G. W. DE TuNZELMANN 2.J, 113, 184, 232, 281 Wireless Telegraphy and Hertzian Waves - Letter on ; by S. Bottone ... 254 Wright, S. H.— Letter on Clay-Stones 255 Zodiacal Light, The, in Relation to the Corona- Letter on ; by " A Country Lad " 228 KNOWLEDGE. XI. INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL ILLUSTRATIONS. FAOE Akka Woman. An ... 260 Alps, The Buried - Ploiisliius; in the Plain of Western Hungary ... 12 In the Oak-Fore «t of Viikoviiia ... 43 Andamanese, Group of l''~ Anoa, Male and Female, at Woburn Abbey -'^ Australia, Natives of Western Full-face Portrait of a Woman, and Profile \'iew of a Man (full- page Plate) ^> Australian Aborigines, Group of West 8 Birds, "The Mnd-nest Building, of Australia — Xest of Corcorax melanorkamphus 92 Nests of Struthiden cinerea and Grallina picafa .. ... ... 93 Black Rain, Elliptical Sporules in 20 Chimpanzee, Palate of Skull of ... 7 Clouds, Photographs of, by Mons. Eugene Antoniadi — Fibred Cirrus, Cirrus witli Wisps, and Cloud Ripples ... ... SO CiiTO-Cumuli passing before the Sun, and Thunder-.Storm Cumuli (full-page Photographic Plate) . . . 80 Cumuli forecasting Fine Weather 107 Primary and Secondary Rainbows 107 Sunset Effect 108 Cirro - Cumulus and Rain - Cloud (Full-page Photographic Plate) 108 Corona, Solar, Dark Markings in the Diagram of Markings on the Corona of 1871 22.5 Diagrams of Markings on the Coronas of 1896 and 1898 ... 226 The Corona of 1900 (full-page Plate, from a drawing by Mr. W. n. Wesley) 227 Cygnus, The Milky Way in (full-page Photogmpliic Plate by ilrs. Walter Maunder) ... ... ... ■■• 271 Drops and their Splashes — Instantaneous Shadow Photographs of the Splash of a Drop of Mereurj- ... ... ... ... 116 Various Stages of the Splash, pro- duced by a ball falling into a basin of milk and water ... 117 Earthquake, The Indian, Map of the Disturbed Area ... 11-8 Eclipse, Photograph of Crescent- shaped Images of the Sun during ... 205 Eclipse, The Total Solar, of May 28, 1900 - Majjs showing the Patli of the Moon's Shadow during the Eclipse (full-page Plate) ... 50 The Corona of 1900, May 28 (full- page Plate, from a drawing by Miss Catlierinc 1). Stevens) ... 1 16 The Corona of 1900, May 2S(S.W. (Juadraiit) (fidl-page Plate, from a drawing by Miss Lilian Martin- , Leake) ..". 178 Mr. Evershed's Observing Hut at Mazafram, showing the Ci-elostat l-Wi Rev. C. D. P. Davica and' Tele- ]>hotographie Camera at Algiers MO Miss Leake at Iut TeUwi-opc. Algiers It'' Mrs. Walter Maunder and her two Cameras, Algiers 147 The Meteorological Instruments and Shadow-l'anil Sheet, Algiers 176 The Hai-bOur, .'Vlgiers, five minutes before Totality 177 Electric Auto-Portraits— Normal Positive and Normal Negative on Glass Normal Negative on Paper ; Negative on Nikko Paper ... 52 Glass Negative with two Leydeu .Lars, showing oscillations ■,l 53 Fishery, Solway, Hatchery at the... 121 Galileo, The Tribuna di, in the Museum of Physical Science at Florence 1"* Heavens at 6.30 p.m. on March 6, 1900, from the Latitude of London •'•' Indian Tribes, Some Wild— Toda Man ; Toda Beauty ; Vedda Man and Woman (full-page Photographic Plate) 67 Indians, American — A Typical North American Indian 151 Male and Female Indians of tlie Turi-nara Tribe, from the Rio Ncara, Para, BrazU ... 152, 153 Jupiter and His Markings (fidlpago Plat,) 200 Karkinokosm, The, or World of Crustacea — Sannastacu.s .luhmi, Sars. Philip- pine Islands ... ... ... 73 P.setidocuma cftmpfilaapoide.'i^ Sars. Caspian Sea ... ... ... 74 Cmnella limicola, Sars. ICyes and front of Carapace ... ... 74 Ci/daspoides fero.f (Fischer). Hay of Biscay and Mediterranean ... 75 Dia.it//U.i acidpla, Sars. Maxilhe and Maxillipeds 75 Leptochelia forresti, &tchh'mg ... 162 Cirolana horealis, Lilljeborg ... T'.H Serolis hromlni/ana, v.. WiUcnioes Suhm ...' 163 Anfhelura elongata, Norman ... 16t A.ilacilla damnunienns, Stcbbing 164 Eurt/cojje iiovfc-ze/anilite, Beddard 165 Seiiia ratlrar/i, Stebbing. Hyperid from Atlantic ... ... ... 211 Pardalisca rihi/x.ii, Bocck. Gam- niarid, with eyes imperfectly developed ... .■ 211 Parvipalpus linea, Mayer; Tetra- thijrus morivceuri, Stcbbing ; Dithi/riisfalia, Vnna,; and Cala- mnrhynvhii.H rii/idas, Stcbbing ... 212 Talorcheslia felluris, Bate ... 213 Uimthia maxillaris (Montagu). Male, Female and Larva ... 266 Zoea longhpina, Dana. PorccUaniil larva ... ... ... ... 267 Estheria packardi, lirady. Nau])- lius and Female 268 Tiranahipod opsin hodysoni, Sars. Female and Nauplius ... ... 268 Phyllosoma laticorne, Leach. Giant Scyllarid larva from New Guinea ... ... ... ... 26H Musk Ox, Young Bull 138 Nebula W VI. Ceti. Nebula M. 8 Sagittarii (full-page Photogi-aphic- Plato In- Dr. I.saac Roberts) ... 132 Nebula u IV. 41 Sagittarii (full-page Photographic Plate by Dr. Isaac Roberts) 35 Plants and their Food- Surface View of a portion of an Iri.s Leaf showing Stomata ... 57 Transverse Section through a Leaf of the Cherry Laurel 57 A Vertical Section through Soil, showing the external cells of a root giving off root-hairs ... 160 Lupine Plant, from a drawing by Miss E. E. Pratt 237 xu. KNOWLEDGE, S]icct.va 11, li " Reseau Photospherique," Artificial — Pliotof^-apli? of the Sun's Siirfare, showing Granule Pattirn 130, 131 Photographs of Artifieial Solar Granule Pattern 130,131 Santis, Switzerland, Summit of the 91 Stars, The Chief Circumpolar, mid- j night, April 1, 1900 S'^ Stone Implements from West Africa 243 Sun, The Constituents of the— ' Syritta pipiens," The Fly- Female, Male, auil Mouth organs 33 Himl leg, end of til)ia, antenna, and h^fopygiiuu... ... ... 34 Claaper and holding organ of Male 35 Telegraphy, High-Speed- Diagrams of the sending and re- eeiving apparatus of the Pollak- Tirag Telegraph... ... ... 195 Photographie reproduction of an actual message ... 196 Telescope, The Great, of Paris, 1900 The Great Siderostat (full-page Photograpliie Plate) 248 Prineijile of the Siderostat ... 246 The Great Siderostat of Paris, 19O0 (drawing) 247 Right Ascension and Declination Axes and Circles of Siderostat'.., 248 The Great Mirror and the Object Glass 248 General Tiew from the eye-end of the Great Telescope 249 The Planet Venus, and various Nebula' viewed with the Great Telescope 250,251 PAOE Wireless Telegraphy- Morse's, Preece's, and Willoughby Smith's methods of transmission 27,28 Diagram of Lodge's Hydraulic Model of Leyden Jar .. ... 185 Lodge's Hydraidic Model of Leyden Jar ... ... .. 186 Lodge's Experiments with Syntonic Leyden Jars 232 Hertz's Oscillator and Resonator... 233 Oscillations (various) ... ... 233 Popoff's Hertzian Wave Receiver 281 Long Distance Marconi Transmitter 281 Righi Oscillator for use with Renector 282 Marconi Transmitter with Parabolic . Redector 282 Marconi Coherer ... ... ... 282 Marconi Receiver with Vertical Wire and Earth Connection ... 282 Marconi Receiver witli Parabolic Reflector 283 Marconi Mast at the South Fore- land 284 •I.^NCABT 1, 19(X).] KNOWLEDGE .t^ovrLEOqv, ^ ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE > g 5 c , 2: > H I— I < C/) o (/) H m 2: > (/) H > r January 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. reckon, and then abstract two, he would not iin-< them. If one were removed, he would miss it, because his manner of counting by ones and twos amounts to the same as if he reckoned by odds and evens." It is difficult to imagine anything much lower than this. Perhaps their one redeeming quality is their honesty and truthfulness ; the " Old Bushman " stating that though they will ask for any article that may take their fancy, as if they had a right to it, yet that he never knew them to steal. All who have had much intercourse with them agree that they are naturally a merry and humorous people, with a great capacity for mimicry, taking off with facility any peculiar personal mannerism of those with whom they may be brought in contact, or imitating the movements of the kangaroo and the emu. To work of all kinds they have a rooted objection, and the writer last mentioned gives it as his opinion that it would be impossible to make a slave of an Aus- tralian Black. Nevertheless, if I may judge from certain photographs lent rae by Mr. B. Woodward, of the Perth Museum (to whom I am indebted for those illustrating this article), the aborigines remaining in the settled districts do now perform a certain amount of labour. They have also taken (as shown in the annexed illustration) to European clothing — of sorts. But, to quote once more from the " Old Bushman, ' the Australian ladies, who are by no means remarkable for personal beauty, at least from a European stand- point, " seem to care nothing for finery or ornaments. a. dirty blanket, or opossum-rug wrapped loosely round them, and a short black pipe stuck in their hair com- pletes their toilet." Not improbably my lady readers will consider this a more convincing proof of the low grade of the Australian aborigines than any other instance that could be mentioned ! Since writing the above. I have had an opportunity of carefully reading Dr. Semen's book " In the Aus- tralian Bush," and am pleased to find that he agrees with the views here expressed as to the racial distinct- ness of the Australian aborigines from their neighbours. But he goes a step further than I have ventured to advance, and suggests that the Australians are really near relations of the Veddas of Ceylon, and are there- fore in reality a low branch of the primitive Cauca- sian stock, and have nothing to do with Negroes, to whom thev are commonlv affiliated. ASTRONOMY WITHOUT A TELESCOPE. I.— INTRODUCTORY. By E. Walter Maunder, f.r.a.s. Some years ago, when the Sioux Indiana were be- ginning to get restless and to threaten trouble, it was thought expedient by the authorities at Washington to invite some of the discontented chiefs to an interview with their " Great White Father." the President, and, ■incidentally, to give them a demonstration of the vast resources which they would have to encounter if ever they took up arms against the Federal Government So they came, and were shown some of the mighty machines which modern engineering has produced and in particular some hundred-ton guns. The monster weapons were duly manoeuvred for the red men's benefit They were loaded and fired, and the Indians were con- ducted to the ruin which had been the target that they might mark the terrible destruction which the missile had wrought. The Indians looked, but instead of being overwhelmed with astonishment and fear, as their guides had expected, betrayed only a slightly bored in- difference. The United States official in charge of tho demonstration repeated and emphasized his explana- tions when one of the chiefs, with just the faintest, ghost of a satirical smile, which was the utmost mani- festation of feeling his stoical sense of dignity allowed him, said, pointing to the unwieldy weapon, '' You won't come after Indian with that. " It was true ! The officials felt its force at once, and the Indians were treated to no more exhibitions of heavy artillery practice. It had been forgotten that the most powerful weapon is not necessarily the most effective for every purpose, and that for some classes of work tho great size of an instrument may be a fatal disqualification. A very similar mistake is sometimes made in regard to astronomy, and has no doubt interfered with the popularity of the science as a pursuit. It is too often assumed that nothing of real interest or utility can be achieved without the possession of telescopes of enor- mous power and of corresponding cost. The great obser- vatories maintained in various European countries by the State, or founded in America by millionaires, like Lick or Yerkes, have been thought to command a monopoly of the astronomical advances of the future, since they only possess the telescopes of greatest light- gathering power and most perfect definition. This view is far fi'om correct. In the first place such an assumption entirely overlooks a consideration ex- pressed as follows by Mr. W. H. Maw. f.k.a.s., in his recent most admirable Presidential Address to the British Astronomical Association, an address to which I would refer all who are likely to take up practical work in astronomy. Mr. Maw points out that " By the time a refractor of this kinil lias bocn erected and equipped, the outlay upon it will have become so large that it would be utter folly to use the instrument for work other than that for which its great power renders it spec'ally fitted. The result of this is that our modern giant telescopes are, with few exceptions, employed, not in doing work which was formerly done by smaller instruments, but in doing work which formerly could not be done at all. Such, for instance, is the bulk of stellar spectroscopic work, including determinations of velocity in the line of sight, the measurement of close double stars, the spectro- scopic examination of nebulte, the discovery of new planetary satellites, and similar matters. We see, therefore, that the establishment of these powerful telescopes has been accompanied by the development of new fields of research, and that the work which was formerly done — and can still be well done — by instru- ments of moderate size has not been reduced." • Nor is this all. Not only are the new giant tele- scopes necessarily devoted almost entirely to work which smaller instruments cannot touch, thus leaving to the latter the observations within their compass, but there are departments of work for which a gi'eat refractor is as wholly unsuited as a hundred-ton gun would be for fighting a Red Indian or shooting snipe. Great light- gathering power is not always the most important quality ; for some researches broad grasp of field is far more essential, and here the giant telescopes are prac- tically useless. Prof. E. E. Barnard, in one of his lectures on Astronomical Photography, illustrated this point by showing a photograph of tho great nebula in Andro- meda, with all the marvellous detail of ring within ring which the photographs of Dr. Roberts and his followers in this field have made familiar to us. Then over this * Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Vol. X., No. 1, p. 8. " 10 KNOWLEDGE. [January 1, 1900. he would place a mask, cutting down the field of view to the area which was the largest which the great 36-inch refractor of the Lick Observatory could com- mand. It was seen at once that, however powerful the light-g'-asp of that telescope, it was quite beyond it to give any idea of the structure of so large a body as the Andromeda nebula, when considered as a whole. But there are other objects in the heavens of far vaster area than the Andiomeda nebula, and to deal with these in their full extent requires a wider field than any telescope can cover,; they must be observed directly with the unassisted eye. There are, then, definite branches of astronomy in which the telescope is not only unnecesary but, more than that, it is a hindrance. Apart, however, from this, it is well to remember that the science was pursued with great success for some thousands of years before ever the telescope was even conceived. The length of the year, the obliquity of the ecliptic, the fact and amount of precession, the chief lunar inequali- ties, the inclinations of the planetary orbits, and their relative dimensions were all determined by direct eye observation, and with a really remarkable approxima- tion to the truth. Indeed, in our own day the same feat has been repeated, for. as readers of Knowledge will remember,* there is still living in Orissa the Hindu astronomer, Chandrasekhara, who, with home-made in- struments and without optical assistance, has redeter- mined the elements of the chief members of the solai- svstem with a most astonishing accuracy. Work of this kind may not indeed " increase the sum of human knowledge," for it is to repeat with very small and im perfect means what is being done with the most perfect appliances in the great public ob.servatories of the world. But it is far from being waste time and effort on that account. As a training in keenness of perception and in habits of order and accuracy in obsei-vation it will be of the utmost service. It is not every man who climbs the ropes of the gymnasium who expects or wishes to become a sailor, and so to turn the skill he acquires to direct service in exactly the same line ; but the strengthening of his muscles and the increase in agility are solid gains to him none the less. Mr. Maw's wordsf on this subject also are well worth quoting, and I make no apologj' for introducing them : — "What was done in the olden times can be done in the present dav. and I wish to prominently direct the attention of beginners to the fact that by the employ in ent of quite simple apparatus they may make observations which will hi ing home to them in a way which mere reading can never do. a knowledge of many astronomical phenomena which they will find to be, not only of immediate interest, but of great value to them in their further studies " What I wish to urge, therefore, is, that those commencing the stuf'y of astronomy should not be content with reading only, hut should work in the open air, faithfully and systematically recording their observations, however elementary these may be. I lay great stress on this latter point, because unrecorded observations have, as a rule, little educational value. The mere fact of describing m writing any observation, however simple, which has been made is of immense assistance in securing completeness and accuracy. Of cours", the country offers greater facilities than towns do for this out-of-door work, but there are few towns where access cannot be had to some convenient site giving a fairly clear horizon and Bi'.fficiently free from traffic to allow of star maps being referred to without serious inconvenience. Naturally tl e beginner's fust en- deavour will be to identify the brightest stars and trace out approxi- mately the .onfines of the various constellations. Continuing this study he will gradually acquire a knowledge of the paths followed by • See Knowledge for November, 1899, p. 257. t Journal of ihf British Astronomical Association, Vol. X., No. 1, p. 12. the stars in their courses from rising to setting, and obtain a clear idea of the position of tlie apparent axis of this motion. As time goes on, he will further notice that the constellations he has identified set earlier and earlier each evening, and that other constellations previously unseen will come into view on the eastern horizon. Further, he will notice that the path followed by the moon in her course through the sky not only differs at different parts of a lunation, but varies for any given part of a lunation at different seasons of the year. As his knowledge of the sky progresses, he will be able to identify any bright planets which may be visible, and to observe their changes of position with regard to the adjacent stars, changes which he will do well to note in his sketch-book for future reference and consideration. Now, the beginner who has learned these elementary facts by actual observation of the sky, and has subsequently by the aid of his text-books mastered the reasons for what he has observed, ^"ill have made a very fair start in tlie study of astronomy, and he will, I venture to think, have acquired a far keener interest in the motions of the heavenly bodies than he would have possessed if he had confined his attention solely to hooks, or if his open-air observations liad not been of a systematic character. He will also find that by the aid of some very simple home-made instruments, such as a cross-staff, a rude form of transit instrument, and other similar appliances, he will be able to make observations which serve to still more impress upon his mind the facts he has been learning. Of course, such observations must be crude and wanting in accuracy, but they will, nevertheless, bo found to serve a very useful educational purpose." It is therefore possible to become a real astronomical observer without a telescope and without any outlay except that necessary to procure a good star atlas. And although it may appear a useless labour thus to traverse for oneself the steps by which the early astronomers attained a knowledge of the universe, yet the value of the training involved will be immense, and the delight to be derived from personally watching in progress the majestic movement of the heavens, the sublimest machine in creation, will soon be felt to be en- thralling. But however great the interest that may be taken in work of the kind just described, the observer will be sure, ere long, to desire to do something which shall be of value for its own sake, as well as for its secondary effect as training. And, as has been already intimated, there are certain fields, by no means too fully culti- vated, which are full of interest, and for which no giant telescopes are required ; indeed, in these domains, the unaided eye is the ideal instrument. First of all, there is the observation of Meteors. The past November has afforded a great deal of popular interest, of a sort, in the subject of meteors. Articles and letters in all the newspapers of the land excited general expectation to the utmost. Everyone was anxious to see a display of natural fireworks, exhibited without charge, and which would utterly outdo any efforts of human pyrotechny. It is perhaps no loss to science that the expectation was doomed to disappoint- ment. But though everyone was eager to be a spectator at a magnificent display, there are very few indeed who have cared to become serious observers of meteors. Yet the work is of great interest and value, if systematically carried out ; and the work of a single observer, Mr. W. F. Denning, has supplied us to-day with the most perplexing problem that still remains without solution of all astronomy ; the problem of " stationary," or " long enduring radiants." Next, comes the study of the Milky Way. Here again no telescope is required. A clear sky, keen sight, and great patience are the requisites. And this field is also one which scarcely any observer has taken up. When we have mentioned Heis, Boeddicker, Easton, and Wesley, we have almost exhausted the roll of ex- plorers of the Galaxy. Yet night after night its mysterious convolutions are drawn out athwart the sky, Jajid.uiy 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE 11 the ring which encloses our universe ; the true Mitgai-d snake that encircles the entire world. Only to the most constant and patient scrutiny will it give up its secrets ; yet how large a proportion of the mystery of our Cosmos is involved in an understanding of its structure who can tell ? Thirdly, there is the Zodiacal Light. Wc in these high northern latitudes are not well placed for watch- ing it ; but it can be seen from time to time, and a thorough use of the opportunities that do come will go far to compensate for our less favourable position. And it is worth mentioning, in this connexion, that the Gegen- schein. the faint counterglow to the sun, more difficult and elusive than the Zodiacal Light proper, was inde- pendently discovered by an Englishman, and not a dweller in Southern England at that, by Mr. Backhouse of Sunderland. In the Zodiacal Light, and the Gegenschein, we have again objects of the greatest interest and mystery, which are quite unfitted for telescopic examination, are truly naked-eye objects, and which to this day have never been sufficiently observed. Fourthly, there are Aurora;. At the present period of the sunspot cycle there is no reason to expect any immediate recurrence of these beautiful phenomena. But careful training in the knowledge of the constel- lations and in the throe branches of work just men- tioned will be the best possible preparation for properly observing Aurorae when they set in again. And this is most important. After a great display it is very easy to collect a number of most vivid and jiicturesque de- scriptions, but really useful and scientific accounts are apt to be sadly wanting. All these four branches of astronomy are essentially for the naked eye ; in a fifth, that of variable stars, a great deal may be done without a telescope in the strict sense of the word, that is to say, a good opera- glass will suffice for a considerable number of objects. An opera-glass also greatly adds to the number of objects which are brought within the observer's range of vision. In the series of papers to which the present is intended to serve as introduction, it is my intention therefore not to limit myself entirely to work which can be done without any optical aid at all, but to in elude in " Astronomy without a Telescope ' observa- tions for which a good field-glass will suffice. My programme, therefore, may be divided into four parts. First, lessons in the configuration of the con- stellations, so that the principal stars may be easily recognised. Second, simple observations with the naked eye for training in the habits of astronomical work. Third, observations with the naked eye of Meteors, the Galaxy, the Zodiacal Light and Aurora. Lastly, obser- vations with the help of an opera^glass ; mostly of Variable Stars. THE CONSTITUENTS OF THE SUN. By A. Fowler, f.r.a.s. Of all the heavenly bodies open to our enquiries, the Sun is the one which can be best submitted to the processes of spectrum analysis ; in the first place because its light is so brilliant that instruments of great power can be utilised, and in the second place because it is near enough to admit of its component parts being separately observed. Through the use of spectroscopes of high dispersion, and the increased attention given to spectroscopic work during recent total eclipses, the data at our disposal for deductions as to the chemical con- stituents of the sun have of late been enormously ex- tended, and it may serve a useful purpose to briefly summarise the present state of. our knowledge on this subject. Information relating to the solar elements is arrived at by three different routes. First of all, there is the Fraunhofer spectrum of dark lines, by which we may investigate the constituents of that part of the sun's atmosphere which produces discontinuous absorption; then there is the bright line spectrum of the chromo- sphere and prominences ; and, finally, that of tho corona. (Fig. 1.) g' = te»5 o- a **- 2 o O o Cj o =.2 o g ^ 3 O -5 i a 2 i~ a c< „ ■"■t H -^ U-, tt-i ~ O O -= 5 3 oi ^ ^ g S3 Ml. " a ° .B f^ As to the Fraunhofer spectrum, the most recent re- search bearing upon the elements entering into the sun'i composition is that of Professor Rowland, who has catalogued close upon twenty thousand lines between wave-lengths 2975.5 and 7331.2 by the use of his splen- did concave gratings. Some hundreds of these dark lines owe their origin to the absorbing powers of their own atmosphere, through which the sun is of necessity viewed ; but, as a rule, these are readily distinguished from true solar lines by their increased thickness when the sun is near the horizon, by their freedom from the displacement which is common to all true solar lines when the advancing or receding limb of the sun is observed, or by their increased thickness when the air contains a great deal of water vapour. (Fig. 2.) The chemical significance of tho true solar lines is most satisfactorily determined by pliotographing side by side the spectrum of the sun and that of the sub- stance under investigation. Such a comparison at once shows whether there are any coincidences of the solar and terrestrial lines, and if there is an exact agreement, we are entitled to conclude, in accordance with Kirchoff's law, that the substance in question is present 12 KNOWLEDGE, [Jantjakt 1, 1900. among the vapours which surround the bright shell from which most of the sun's light proceeds. This method was adopted by Sir Norman Lockyer about twenty-five f K j^- k 1 ^ " p f f. , ,' 1 . I 'i.- ' !■ 1 i Or 1 1, I -*' ! r -'' . i ; 1 1 ji a ■ - -A} r . ;•< >. X ■■ '■ ' t ii a Fig. 2. — A portion of the Solar Spectrum sliowiug intensification of lines due to aqueous vapour in our atmosphere wlien the air is moist. (Crewe.)* years ago, and more recently Prof. Rowland has, in this way, compared the spectrum of the sun with that of every known element except gallium. The majority of the atronger lines have now been identified with respect t a o o ,' 3 - -O Sel J; ^1 to the elements which produce tlieni. To the substan- p.es jrecognised by Rowland, Messrs. Runge and Paschenf * Astrophysioal Journal, Vol. IV., 1896, page 324. ■ + Astrophysioal Journal, Vol. IV., 1896, p. 318; Vol. VIII., 1898, p. 73. I ines, however, still lines. Here, then. have added oxygen, the presence of which may now be considered as demonstrated (fig. 4), and Hartley and Ramage have added gallium. | Some thousands of the Fraunhofer belong to the category of " unknown is a great field for further enquiry, for it is. perhaps, too early to conclude that these " unknown " lines have no terrestrial equivalents, or even that they represent the dissociated products of our terrestrial elements The latter view in fact appears to some extent nega- tived by the recent researches of Sir Norman Lockyer, which show that the first stage in the dissociation of a metal is indicated by the appearance of enhanced lines (lines which are brighter in the spark than in the arc spectrum), and in the case of iron and other well-known metals these enhanced lines probably do not appear as 774- 1 77S 776 77 1,1,1 7 778 779 1 , 1 , 780 Fig. 4. — The Hues of oxygen in the Solar Spectrum. (Runge and Paschen.) (1) Solar Spectrum. (2) Oxygen vacuum tube. such among the dark lines of the solar spectrum. The sub- stances which we can best compare with the Fraunhofer lines agree in indicating that the absorbing vapours which produce them exist under conditions very similar to those which exist in the electric arc. It may be, therefore, that some of the unidentified lines, which are mostly feeble, represent lines in the arc spectra of known substances which are so faint as to escape de- tection unless photographs are taken with very long ex- posures. In fact, the tables of lines recently published by Hasselberg, and by Prof. Rowland himself, for vana- dium, chromium, and other elements, leave little doubt that many of the unidentified lines in Rowland's solar tables are to be accounted for in this way. Another important point also appears to have received insufficient attentiou. It is by no means impossible that among the constituents of the earth's crust are many still unrecognised elements which exist in such small quantities as to evade the ordinary processes of chemical analysis, but which may yet be revealed to the delicate eye of the spectroscope. As the usual practice in the matching of solar lines is to deal with elements in as pure a state as possible, it would appear important to make a spectroscopic comparison with the sun of sub- stances as they occur naturally in the form of minerals and rocks. Prof. Hartley has, in fact, already found that some of the rarer metals, especially lithium and gallium, are very widely diffused in mineral substances, and this furnishes an excellent illustration of the deli- cacy of the spectroscopic method. Until such mineral comparisons have been made, it would be unwise to suppose that all unidentified lines of the solar spectrum owe their origin to non-terrestrial matter. In the investigation of the constituents of the sun, as already remarked, we are not limited to the dark line spectrum. The bright line spectra of the chromosphere and prominences may be examined any time the sun is visible, and by taking advantage of total eclipses, the outlying parts which constitute the corona are opened X Asfnyphi/sical Journal, Vol. IX , 1899, p. Li4. Jaxiaby 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE 13 to iuvestigatiou. The photographs takcu during reoent eclipses, some of which are fiuuiliar to the readers of Knowledge, give very complete data as to chromo- sphere, promiueuces, aud corona, and for our present purposes we may take these as including practically all that is certainly known of these appendages. These photographs indicate that the chromosphere in its upper parts — live or sis thousand miles above the photosphere — consists chiefly of livdrogcu, helium, and calcium, while at lower levels we get indications ot metallic substances in tlie numerous lines which consti- tute the so-called " flash " spectrum. As is now well- known, the flash spectrum is not a simple reversal of Fraunhofcr lines : while the majority of the 25i"inripit>irij of Sflborne. By Gilbert T. White. Edited with Notes by Grant Allen. (John Lane.) Illustrated. XII. Parts, l.s. tid. each. It is pleasant to think that among the last literary work undertaken by the late Grant Allen was the editing of an edition of White's classic letters. That this was a most congenial task to Grant Allen we are certain, for he knew the neighbourhood of >Selborne well, and was a great admirer of the immortal Uilbert White. Although — as the editor says in his delightful introduction to the volume — these " letters have probably been reprinted in a greater number of editions than those of any other English worthy,'' nevertheless their present edition is very welcome. The aim has been to preserve the original text ; and the editor's notes, which are useful and not unnecessarUy frequent, are always signed, and can, therefore, be immediately identified. No attempt has been made to bring all White's statements up to the modern standard of scientific knowledge — and rightly, for such a gigantic task would utterly spoil the book. Everything in this edition — from the editor's scholarly introduction to the excellent pen- and-ink drawings by Mr. Edmund H. New — is in keeping with the character of the letters. An appendix contains a novel feature in some interesting marginalia from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's copy, as well as a complete bibliography of the work. Bacteria. By George Newman, m.d., f.r.s. (Murray.) Illus- trated. 6s. Dr. Newman, according to the preface in this book, had no other inspiration than an editor's request " to set forth a popular scientific statement of our present knowledge of bacteria," when he undertook to add one volume more to the large number aheady in existence. With this sort of halter round one's neck it is a hazardous ta.sk to traverse the uneven ground covered by that now all-embr.acing, yet innocent looking, word — bacteria. As the author says, '• it is difficult to escape the Scylla and Charybdis in such a voyage." Too technical for the many and too popular for the few, one or other of these results is often arrived at in efforts of this kind. A medical student, in his third or fourth year, would follow Dr. Newmun with profit, but the average man, depending upon common sonaa 18 KNOWLEDGE. [January 1, 1900. and minun the buoyant auxiliaries of science, could hardly sustain tlie voyage from cover to cover. The word "popular" can hardly be applied to a book in order to understand which the reader must know the nomenclature of the chemist, the phraseology of the dissecting room, and the out-of-the-way language of many other specialists iu different domains of science. Curiosities of Light initl Sif/lit. By Shelford Bidwell, F.R.s. (Sonnenschein.) Illustrated. '2s. (id. Consists mainly of matter presented in the form of lectures at various places, but here re- modelled for a larger public. Of a popular and informal cha- I'acter, as might be expected in such a case, the essays, as we may now call them, bring into relief such phenomena as defects of the eye, optical illusions, curiosities of vision, and so on, subjects which appeal more particularly to the spectacled section of the community. Heavily leaded type is used, and a fair-sized volume is thus eked out of an almost stai'vation supply of intellectual food. Vieirs tin some of the Phenomena of Nature. Part II. By James Walker. (Sonnenschein.) 2s. (id. Our author has selected for his theme all the inexplicables — force, motion, space, ether, hght, heat, electricity— and courageously attempts to fly in this attenuated atmosphere, so to speak. One needs to be very wide awake in order to glean a little mental food here and there in this arid desert ; but now and then it is possible to drop across an oasis— fertile, refreshing, new. For example, " light and the sun's photosphere are one,'' " light is the sublimed product from matter in an incandescent state," and light is " projected into space by some disruptive force developed on the sun's surface." Sport in East Central Africa. By F. Vaughan Kirby (Maqa- qamba). (Rowland Ward.) Illustrated. 8s. 6d. This book, deaUng with several hunting trips in the wilds of Portuguese Zambesia and the Mozambique Province, is full of the most stirring incidents connected with big game shooting that can well be wished for, told in the most matter-of-fact way imagin- able. It is not to be inferred from this that the author has been guilty of giving us " travellers' tales," or even of stretching a point ; indeed, we believe every story he tells. And as to his matter-of-fact style, we admire it, and thiuk that it adds very greatly to the interest of the book. It is, in fact, the style — a rare one — in which all books of big game shooting should be written. That Mr. Kirby is a true sportsman — and not a wanton destroyer of animal life — and a brave and resourceful man to boot, is testified by many a page of his engrossing and exciting narrative. A very useful appendix to the book contains interest- ing and informing field notes on all the larger animals — and there are many — obtained by the author in the region of which the work treats. We heartily recommend the book not only to sportsmen, but to those who are in any way interested in East Central Africa, for the author knows the country and its people well, although, perhaps, his knowledge of them is not so intimate as that of the wild animals for the hunting of which he has lived. Tlie Soeiai Life (f f^culland in the Eii/hternlh Century. By the Kev. Henry Crey Graham. Two vols. (A. & C. Black.) 24s. To draw an indictment against a nation has always proved at once an easy and a popular task, no matter how jioor the grounds of the charge, or how remote from the facts. There are few [leople in the world who have suffered more odium in this way at the hands of the im])ecunious scribbler than the race across the border. But Scotland has incvirred a lasting debt of gratitude to the author of these fascinating volumes for the comprehensive acumeu with which he has exploited the records of the past, placing in our hands a delightfully vivid picture of Scottish life and Scottish manners in the last century. Mr. Graham has essayed to give us history in its most instruc- tive form — to bring before his readers the life of the whole people, rich and poor, lairds and labourers, as they lived it. The goal which he has set himself is the worthiest in the historian, and our author has justly followed his course to the end. " It is in the inner life of a community that its real history is to be found — in the homes and habits and labours of the peasanti7 ; in the modes and manners and thoughts of society ; what the people believed, and wliat they practised ; how tliey farmed, and how they traded ; how the [loor were relieved ; how their children were taught, how their bodies were nourished, and how their souls were tended." Thus the task. But at what infinite pains of research, of sifting and sorting, of weighing and counting, has that task been accom- plished. Apart altogether from the great reach and number of the authorities consulted, what countless documents, letters, bills, pamphlets, and kirk session records have been laid under contri- bution, as these entrancing glimpses of that far away time are unfolded before us. Not the least among the virtues of the work is the thoughtful orderliness and compactness of the picture as a whole — the artistic limning of that ])eaceful revo- lution which brought the impoverished country and people onward and upward in every channel of national activity. If it be not invidious to single luit any portion of a book in which we have not found a dull page, we may be permitted to direct attention to the cha])ters on The Land and the People, on Education in Scotland, and to the happy and entertaining account of Town Life in Edinburgh. In this latter chapter the author realises most vividly the later period of the greatness of the old town, in wliose dark recesses. Lord Rosebery has told us, are embodied three-parts of the history of Scotland — when the High Street was the daily meeting place of judges, ministers, and advocates, when lords of Session resided in the Canongate, and resorted at night to the Crochallan Club, so famous for its association with Burns, or might be found at John Dowie's tavern. We do not know a better account of this intensely interesting chajiter in the life of Auld Reekie. In taking a regretful leave of Mr. Graham's book, which is sure to become a standard work in Scottish history, we can but hope that the unique success which has crowned his labour in the preparation of these two volumes, may induce him to write the necessary third volume on the Literature and Fine Arts of the Century, for which he must have amassed a quantity of material. Without such a volume the work is scarcely com- plete. Star-land. By Sir Robert Stawell Ball, F.R.S. (Cassell.) 7s. 6d. It almost makes one long to be a child again, and to have the right to form one of Sir Robert Ball's audience at his Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution, to read the new edition of " Star-land." Sir Robert has a charm of style and a gift of words that go far to make the hard things of astronomy easy, and the abstruse problems plain ; and where there is a bit of the way of knowledge that seems dull or uninteresting, he has an anecdote or an illustration that carries one over the dreary part with a rush. The very largest part of the book tells of that portion of the stellar universe which is comprised within the limits of the solar system ; and, perhaps, it is a slight indi- cation of Sir Robert's Hibernian origin that has led him to adorn the cover of " Star-land ' with a very beautiful golden repre- sentation of the corona and comet of 1882. Speaking of corona;, it is just a little bit of a pity — after Sir Robert Ball has explained to the children that the size of an object depends very largely on its proximity, and that very serious consequences would result to the temperatui'e of the earth if it was brought closer to the sun — that, on p. 40, in Trouvelot's drawing of the eclipsed sun of 1883, he should have brought it so alarmingly near. The original representation in " L'Astronomie '' was considerably exaggerated, l)ut Sir Robert's copy is like Creusa's ghost in Virgil's description, mda major imai/o. There is one point on which Sir Robert Ball speaks with assurance, but on which we have not been able to gather any direct or fijst-hand evidence. On p. 57 he has a representation of a man standing inside and at the base of a very tall chimney, and below is the description, " How the stars are to be seen in broad daylight." Is it really so, and how many stars, and of what magnitude, can be seen thus '? Colour : A Ilandhoolc of the Tlteory of Colour. By George H. Hurst, F.c.s. (Scott, (ireenwood & Co.) Illustrated. 7s. 6d. Artists, dyers, calico printers, and decorative painters, who are accustomed to use pigments iu their everyday work, will find iu this book a valuable compilation on matters concerning every phase of colour— its production by the decomposition of hght, theories of colour phenomena, physiology of light, contrast of tone, decoration and design, and measurement of colour, or the exi)ression of ditferent tints by numbers so that any given shade of colour can be re])roduced from data preserved in note- books or received from other sources. Some excellent plates largely augment the value of the work. Wild Life in Hampshire Hit/hlands. By George A. D. Dewar. ( Dent & Co.) Illustrated. 7s. Gd. This is one of the handsomely bound and luxuriously printed volumes of the Haddon Hall Library now beiug issued under the editorship of the Mari(ucss January 1, lOW.] KNOWLEDGE. 19 of Granby and Mr. Dewar. The Haiuiishire Highlands lio in the northwest corner of tlie county, a part little known to the tourist. The author's pleas;intly written description of the spot he loves so well, and his enjjrossiug account of the many country pleasures to be enjoyed there, makes one wish to visit the district. Although there is perhaps nothing new in the author's observations, we have derived much peaceful pleasure in the perusal of the well-told experieuces, anecdotes, and observations of this keen field naturalist and sportsman. The illustrations are like the letterpress — restful and most soothing. Chat-i about the }ficrosiope. By Henry C. Shelley. (Scien- tific Press, Ltd.) Illustrated. 2s. A little book intended to enlist the interest of aimless pedestrians in country ])laces who sacri- fice the pleasure and instruction contained in every mossy bank, every darkling pool — the happy hunting-ground freely accessible to all who will but avail themselves of the key to Nature's precious casket. The book is but a slender introduction to pond life, diatoms, foraminifera, and a few other kindred subjects ; lacking the sequence necessaiy as a basis of pure scientific study, it is better adapted as a guide in using the microscope incident- ally as a source of innocent amusement. The illustrations are anything but attractive — the " porous cells of mosse.s," for example, figured on p. 00, look as stiff and mechanical as if intended as a working drawing for the making of book-shelves. Daririnhm and LatnarckUiu. By F. W. Hutton, f.k.?. (Duckworth & Co.) ;!s. tjd. net. Apparently this book consists of a verbatim report of four lectures delivered, in part, as far back as 1887. A great part of the old ground is traversed once again, and little, if any, additional light is shed upon the all- absorbing subject. AVhat is new may be termed the bearer of the candlestick, Mr. Hutton himself, who contrives to project the luminous rays into the holes, corners, and crooked by-ways of the fabric raised by Darwin, Lamarck, and the thousand-and- one workers who have followed in the footsteps of these illus trious pioneers. The best we can say of the book is that it is a handy bird's-eye view of evolution in the wider sense of that terra. C'^miii'in Sense Health Reform. By T. Thatcher. With supplementary article on " The Gospel of the Open AViudow,'' by the Hon. Auberon Herbert. (Simpkin, Marshall & Co.) 2d. Mr. Thatcher is a hero, we know, and not alone because Mr. Auberon Herbert has told us so ; but we are not quite sure that a calm consideration of the long vista of trapeze bars, horizontal bars, stirrups and rings, punching balls, and divers developers which Mr. Thatcher opens up before us, will not be held to constitute him a martyr as well. But his efforts are made in the best of good causes— that of robust health ; and we heartily commend this description of his experiences to all in search of health guidance. On the Ctilit;/ of Kw ndedge- mak! luj «s a Means of Liberal Traininij. By Professor J. G. JLicgregor, of Dalhousie College, Halifax. (Nova Scotia Printing Co., Halifax, X.S.) We are obliged to Professor Macgregor for sending us a copy of his informing inaugural address on a subject of so much interest to KNiPWLKlKiK. We have received JEessrs. T. Cooke and Sons' illustrated catalogue of telescopes, transit instruments, spectroscopes, chronographs, micrometers, driving clocks, observatories, and other astronomical and scientific instruments. As is well known among practical workers, there is now a tendency among some makers of these instruments to lower prices at the expense of quality in workmanship, but this firm proceeds on the principle that '■ it is impos-sible to do good work at the cost of bad," and many, as we can testify, know this truism only too well. We are glad to receive the new edition of Mr. Mee's " Heavens at a Glance.'" This handy little almanac^printed on one side of a card for obseiTatory use — has been prepared for 19U0 on the same lines as for 1899, and will be found a valuable and convenient guide to observers. The data for meteoric showers have been taken from Mr. Donning's list in -'Observational Astronomy," for variable stars from information supplied by Sir Cuthbert Peek, Mr. J. E. Gore, and Mr. J. Grover, and the rest from the " Nautical Almanac." Early in the new year 5Ir. John C. Nimmo will publish the first volume by Prof. Sayce, of Oxford, of "The Semitic Series," a new series of handbooks, intended to present coinpactly and in popular form a knowledge of the more iroiK>rtant facts in tlie hist. By John IF. Cookk, r.i,.s., F.ri.s. Boll covers, for protecting preparations from dust, may bo made by cementing a small handle or cork to tho centre of the convex side of watch glasses. Mr. II. F. Moore, of tho United States Fish Commission, has recently published tho ri>Hnlts of his investigations on tho food of herring.s. Tlio .staple diet of these tish consist of niiniito organi.sms, often of microsco|)ic dimensions. Examinations of tho stomachs of the fisli sliowed the food to consist largely of copepods, schizo])od.s (shrimp-like forms), ampliipods (sand tieus and their allies), tlie embryos of g,asteropo<72, and 1««5. The next really rich display of these meteors will probably occur on November 18th, 1905. In the spring of 1901, Jupiter will be in the region of this meteor group, and disturb it in a manner to bring its apparition six days earlier than at the present time according to the com- putations of Schulhof and Abelmann. The Qcadrantidj. — This annual shower is sometimes rather striking, and quite as rich as the Perseids, though it has been comparatively seldom observed. It should be looked for on the early evening of January 2nd, and morning of January ,3rd. The radiant is at 230" + ii'd^ ; the meteors are pretty bright, of moderate velocity, and traverse long paths. most conveniently observable occultations during the month : — THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR JANUARY. By A. Fowler, f.r.a.s. The Sun. — On the 1st the sun ri.ses at 8.8 and sets at 4.0 ; on the 31st he rises at 7.42 and .sets at 4.46. The sun is at its least distance from the earth at 6 a.m. on the 2nd, the apparent diameter then being at its maximum, .32' 3.5 ".08 ; the horizontal parallax is then 9". 00. Few sunspots arc to be expected. The Moon. — The moon will be new on the 1st at 1.52 P.M., will enter first quarter on the 8th at 5.40 A.M., will be full on the 15th at 7.8 p.m., will enter last quarter on the 23rd at 11.53 p.m., and will be again new on the 31st at 1,27 a.m. The following are the ^ Disappearance. Reappearftuce ^ V 3 ' '^ a I ii?; £> 1> «>r, £> a 1 .1 »a 5fa a a a 5fa f ■«'!'. t a distant receiving station jether waves of a certain character, the existence of wliich Iiad been deduced thcorelically by Professor Clerk Maxwell, but first experimentally demons'^ratcd by the late Dr. Hertz, of Carlsruhe, who ])ublished the results in a series of papers in " Wiedemann's Annalen '' be- ginning in July, 1887. It has long been an admitted fact that the observed phenomena of light can only be explained by the exis- tence of a highly elasic medium, to which the name of huniniferous a'thcr has been given, and which must fill at any rate the whole of the space into which our vision can penetrate, that is to say the space intervening between the earth and the most distant visible stars. The phenomena of light show, that for extremely rapid motions such as light waves, which traverse some 186,000 miles in a second, this medium is far more rigid than steel, while for comparatively slow motions such as those of the planets (the earth's speed in its journey round the sun is considerably under 20 miles a second), it oflFers so little resistance that in most cases it is im- perceptible to us. In the case of Encke's comet astro- nomers believe they can just detect evidence of the existence of a resisting medium in space, but that is all. If any reader is disposed to object to the assumption of a medium behaving in such very different ways with regard to motions of different speeds, it may assist in convincing him that the objection is not a valid one, to direct his attention to the similar behaviour of such a familiar substance as pitch. In moderately cold weather this material has all the appearance of a solid, and will resist a blow or momentary heavy pressure. If, how- ever, a denser body than the pitch, such as a bullet for example, be laid upon its surface, it will gradually sink until it rests upon whatever is supporting the pitch. If on the other hand the pitch is placed upon a less dense body, such as cork, the latter will float up through it in the course of time. The pitch, therefore, exposes great resistance to rapid motion, but the smallest pressure causes it to give way if sufficient time is given, or, in other words, when the motion slows down sufficiently the resistance becomes negligeable, thus offering very close analogy to the behaviour of the luminiferous sether. When a disturbance is set up in a medium, waves are in general emitted in all directions from the point of disturbance. Sound we know is transmitted by air, and, unlike light, it will not traverse what we call empty sjJace, viz.: — space occupied only by sether. Now, air and other gases are composed of molecules in an irregular condition of agitation, which can be shown to explain the observed fact that sound is trans- mitted through air entirely by longitudinal vibrations, that is to say, by waves in which the portions of the vibrating medium move backwards and forwards in a direction parallel to that in which the wave is travel- ling. Vibrations in other directions are necessarily started bv the disturbance which gives rise to 26 KNOWLEDGE. [Februaby 1, 1900. the sound, but it is found that the transverse vibrations die away almost immediately. Clerk Maxwell points out that, within a single wave length, the amplitude of the transverse vibrations will be reduced to less than one-five-hundredth of its initial value owing to this state of irregular agitation. In the case of light, on the other hand, it is found that transverse vibrations are the only ones which are transmitted, that is to say, that all vibrations along the line in which the wave is travelling die away almost immediately, so that the vibrations are entirely per- pendicular to the line of transmission. The reason of this had never been explained until Maxwell showed, from electromagnetic theory, that electric waves must have this characteristic. This suggested to him the hypothesis, that light waves were simply electric waves, of such wave lengths as to be capable of affecting the receiving instrument commonly known as the eye. Many phenomena when investigated were found to confirm this hypothesis ; the close correspondence, for example, between the calculated speed of transmission of an electromagnetic wave and the observed velocity of light; and, again, the fact that transparent sub- stances are invariably bad conductors of electricity. Hertz, however, made a step further, for, as we shall see, he succeeded in producing waves known to be of electro-magnetic origin, and in showing that they could be made to produce interference phenomena and undergo reflection and refraction exactly like light waves. When oscillations are set up in an electric circuit it can be shown that the time, T, of a complete oscillation is de'^ermined by the equation T = 2 TT y L, S, where L and S are two of the electric constants of the circuit known as its self induction and its capacity respectively, while of course * stands as usual for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which is approximately equal to 22/7. The speed with which the waves travel, depends only on the medium being equal to the square root of the ratio of its elasticity to its density. In the case of the sether this speed is about 186,000 miles a second, the observed speed of light. We will now consider the question as to what kind of jether waves are most suitable for the transmission of signals to a distance. The conditions to be fulfilled are clearly two in number. Firstly, in order that the waves may not be stopped by intervening obstacles, such as portions of land and water, we require oscillations for which the opacity of different kinds of matter is least, or, in other words, those oscillations for which ordinary terrestrial bodies are most transparent. Secondly, in order that the signals may be dis- tinguishable at as groat distances as possible with a moderate expenditure of energy, we require those os- cillations for which the largest possible proportion of the energy supplied from the source, the transmitting instrument may be taken up by the medium. We know that ordinary light waves, the wave lengths of which are measured in hundred-thousandths of an inch, fulfil the second condition in the most satisfactory manner, but unfortunately they do not fulfil the first, for the thinnest films of most substances are sufficient to stop them. Still, they were employed for the earliest attempts at wireless telegraphy, which is far more ancient than the system of telegraphing by means of wires. In the earliest examples of which we have any record, the requisite setliereal oscillations were excited by means of large bonfires, and the difficulty of fulfilling the second condition was evaded by placing both the transmitting instrument consisting of the bonfire, and the receiving instrument, which was simply the eye of the watchman, on the highest hills available, so that the waves excited had only to encounter the com- paratively transparent atmosphere. The semaphore of a hundred years ago and the heliograph of to-day offer further examples of wireless telegraphy by means of electric oscillations of extremely short wave length. All bodies become less opaque to electric bodies as the wave length inci-eases. The reason of this, according to theory, is that the quenching of the waves does not take place immediately on entering any opaque medium, as would be the case if it were a perfect conductor of electricity, but the waves die out after a certain number of vibrations depending on the opacity of the medium. It is clear, therefore, that in the case of a medium which will permit of half-a-dozen vibrations before the wave is quenched, a very thin film will suffice to stop light waves which are of the order of a hundred-thou- sandth of an inch in length, while a much thicker stratum would be required to stop the Hertzian waves which may be from a foot to some few yards in length, while no practicable thickness would stop the waves from an alternating dynamo, say with a periodicity of 100 vibrations a second, as in this case the wave length would be something like a couple of thousand miles. Unfortunately, as the wave length increases, the second condition is less and less perfectly fulfilled. The reason for this is extremely interesting. Sir George Gabriel Stokes, so long ago as 1849, showed by mathematical reasoning from observed optical phe- nomena, that when a wave of light is excited from a given source, the radiation is emitted, not from the source itself, but from a point a quarter wave length in advance of it. This very curious phenomenon is com- pletely explained when light waves are admitted to be of electromagnetic origin. When an electric disturbance is set up at a certain point, it is always accompanied by a magnetic disturb- ance in a plaae at right angles to it. The electric disturbance occurs a quarter of a period later than the magnetic, but it starts a quarter of a wave length in advance, so that, except within the first quarter wave length, the two travel together, their zero and maximum values always occurring at the same points. Within the first quarter wave length, however, the two disturbai.^es sometimes reinforce and sometimes oppose each other, and the result of this, as Professor Poynting has shown, is that, within the first quarter wave length, the energy originally proceeding from the source of the disturbance is sometimes travelling forward and sometimes backward towards the source, so that, although more goes forward than comes back- ward, a large proportion is wasted. Beyond the first quarter wave length, however, the two disturbances tend always to cause an outward flow of energy. It is, therefore, easily seen that in the case of a wave a hurdred- thousandth of an inch in length, the point from which the radiation begins being only the four- hundred-thousandth of an inch from the source, there will be very little energy returning to the source. On the other hand, in the case of a dynamo such as referred to above, with a wave length of some 2,000 miles, the emission point would be sorne 500 miles Fkbru.\by 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. 27 from the souive, so that very little of the energy of the source would reach this point, by far the larger proportion being returned *o the soui'ce. We see. then, that the two conditions to be fulfilled are diametrically opposed to each other, and it becomes a matter for experimental investigation to determine wh.at kind of wave lengths arc mo.st advantageous for telegraph work under varying conditions as to distance and other circumst^inces. The preceding brief outline of the principles under- Iviug the Hertz wave method of wireless tclegraphv, will enable the reader to follow the descriptions of ex- periment^al work and practical details with greater facility, and, I trust, also with greater interest, by reason of his having obtained a general view of the fascinating country through which I am to have the privilege of acting as his guide. Before proceeding to this exploration, however, I will ask him to linger with me for a moment to take a passing glance at two other methods, which ai'o as yet in the infantile stage, but one or both of- which may not impossiblv in time outgrow their elder brother. These are, the system of conduction through the sea or moist earth, and the system of electromagnetic in- duction. In the earliest attempts at electric telegraphy, a complete metallic circuit was employed, requiring a pair of wires to connect any two stations. In the year 1838, Steinheil tried unsuccessfully to utilise the two lines of rails of a railway in place of overhead telegraph wires, but, as lias so often happened, his investigations into the cause of his failure led him to a most important discovery. He found the reason to be '^hat the earth was so good a conductor, that the electric current from the transmitting station, instead of flowing along one of the rails to the distant station and returning by the other, as he had anticipated, simply flowed across to the other rail through the earth on which they rested, and this at once suggested to him that it should only be necessary to have one wire between the two stations, provided this wire was earth-connected at each station, and this he found to be the case. He also suggested that, the earth being so good a conductor, it might be possible to do away with con- necting wires altigether, but I am not aware of his having devised any means by which this could be done. Four years later the American, Professor Morse, who took so large a share in the development of electric telegraphy, succeeded in transmitting messages across a canal, 80 feet in width, and afterwards across the Susquehanna River, a distance of nearly a mile, by the ^ \ . o -^^:^ Fig. 1. — Morse's method of transmitting messages across the Susquehanna Eiver. method shown in Fig. 1, where B is a battery, N N a pair of needle instrumeuts for transmitting and receiv- ing signals, and P Q R S ai'o metallic plates immersed being connected with insulated wire. He obtained very good results when the distances from P to Q and R to S were three times as great as those from P to R and from Q to S. In this connection I cannot refrain from pausing for a moment to refer to J. B. Lindsay, of Dundee, a Scotch schoolmaster of the very slenderest means, who made several importan'^ electrical discoveries, though unfortu- nately very little w.is hoard of them except by his im- mediate neighbours, until they were unearthed some few years ago, when they were only of historical interest. He carried out a long series of experiments similar to those of Morse, quite independently but a year later. After this, the subject appears to have excited very little attention, until in the year 1880, Professor John Trowbridge, of Harvard College, discovered that all the neighbouring telephone circuits were affected by the time signals sent from Harvai-d to Boston, some four miles away. He investigated the cause of these dis- turbances, and found that they were not due to in- duction, but to earth currents produced by leakage from the clock circuit. Trowbridge saw at once that this might be utilised for the purpose of sending telegraphic messages without connecting wires, and he proposed attempting to tele- graph across the Atlantic by sending alternating currents from a large dynar.io through an insulated cable extending from Nova Scotia to Florida and earthed at each end, and placing another long wire with a telephone in its circuit down the coast of France. He proposed signalling to ships at sea by means of similar means, and also by means of magnetic induction between coils carrying interrupted currents and using a telephone as detector, but he found that it would be necessary to employ either coils, far too large for use on board ship, or extremely heavy currents. During the following year Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, began some interesting experiments of which I will only describe one, which he carried out on the Potomac River. A battery and an interrupter were placed in a boat and connected by a wire about 100 feet long, one end of which was soldered to a metallic plate immersed in the water near the bow, while the other end was at- tached to a similar plate, which was buoyed by a float and allowed to trail astern. Bell himself was in another boat similarly equipped, except that the battery and interruptor wero replaced by a telephone, and he found that he could clearly distinguish the signals at a dis- tance of a mile and a quarter from the first boat. He strongly urged that a similar method should be cm- ployed for communicating between steamships, the steamer's electric lighting dynamo being used to replace the battery. In 1882, Mr. A/. H. Preece, now Sir William Preece, began to turn his attention to the subject with a view to effecting communication with lighthouses and light- ships, where continual interruptions occur owing to the cables being broken or damaged by the heavy seas. One of his earlier experiments was to establish a telegraphic circuit between Southampton and Newport in the Isle of Wight. As shown in Fig. 2, one wire was carried from Portsmouth through Southampton to Hurst Castle, the two ends being connected to large metallic plates im- mersed in the sea at Southsea Pier and Hurst Castle respectively. Another overhead wire was carried from 28 KNOWLEDGE. [February 1, 1900. Ryde through Newport to Sconce Point, and the ends connected as before to metallic jjlatcs immersed in the sea. tsmout/i Fio. 2.— Preece's mpthod of transmission between Soutliamptou and Newport. With 30 Leclanche cells and a buzzer and Morse key at Southampton, ■l^he signals were found to be perfectly audible at Newport in a telephone on the circuit. Three years later Mr. Preece arranged some interest- ing experiments on wireless telegraphy by electromag- netic induction in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, which were carried out by Mr. A. W. Heaviside. Two squares of wire, each side a quarter of a mile in length, were placed a*^ dis*ances a quarter of a mile to 1,000 yards apart. In the former case the signals could be easily read by a telephone in the receiving circuit, and audible sounds were produced even at the greater dis- tance. Further experiments were made with parallel lines of telegraph, ten and a quar'^er miles apart, between Durham and Darlington, and it was found that the ordinary working currents in one line produced dis- tinctly audible sounds in a telephone in the other. Equally successful experiments were made between parallel lines Jt telcgrapii on the East and Weso Coasts about forty miles apart, but in these experiments there aiose the question whether the effects might not be due in part to leakage from the network of telegraph wires covering the intervening country. The fii-st practical application of the results of these experiments was to establish communication between Lavernock Point near Cardiff and two islands, Flat Holm at a distance of about tliree and a third miles, and >Steep Holm at a distance of rather more than five and a third miles. (See Fig. 3.) Fio. 3. — Preece's method of transmission between Lavernock Point and the Islands Steep Holme and Fhit Holme. On the shore a copjier wire 1,267 yards in length was suspended on poles and earthed at each end. In this circuit was an alternating dynamo capable of giving a current up to 15 amperes, and a Morse key for breaking up the alternations into signals. At a distance of 600 yards from this circuit, on the sand at low water mark, a secondary circuit, composed of two gutta percha covered and one bare copper wires, were laid down and their ends buried in the ground. On the two islands, gutta percha covered wires, each 600 yards long, and parallel to those on shore, were laid down. Jhe signals in the telephone on Steep Holm were audible, but not sufficiently distinct to be read, but messages were easily read off in the telephone on Flat Holm. I will conclude this article by a brief reference to a method devised and patented by Mr. Willoughby Smith, and a modification patented by him in eon- junction with Mr. W. P. Granville. Fio. 4. — Willoughby Smith's method of communication between a lighthouse and the shore. In Fig. 4 a lighthouse is shown at A, and insulated wires lead from the terminals of a telephone in the lighthouse to metallic plates, M N, submerged on oppo- site) sides of the rock. Two other plates, P and Q, submer- ged to a sufficient depth to be unaffected by waves, are connected by an insulated cable, having in circuit with it a battery, B, and an interruptor, C. The course of the current is shown by the arrows. The modification of Mr. Willoughby Smith's method is shown in Fig. 5, which illustrates its application to communication be- tween the Fastnet Rock, off the S.W. coast of Ireland, Fsstnef Rocti Fig. 5. — Method of Willoughby Smith and Granville employed in communicating between Crookhaven and the Fastnet Eock. and the town of Crookhaven, eight miles away. An insulated cable from the shore is earthed at the shore end, and also by means of a heavy copper anchor, C, Fkbbuaby 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. 29 near the rock. A conductor, a b, coutaiuina; a receiving lustriuneut, which in this case is a d'Arsonval galvano- meter, is eai-thed at a and b on opposite sides of the rock by connection with submerged masses of copper, and whenever a current flows through one circuit there * will be a diflFerence of potential produced at the ends of the other circuit, resulting in a llow of current which is shown bv the galvanometer. THE EVOLUTION OF SIMPLE SOCIETIES. By Professor Alfked C. Haddox, m.a., d.sc, f.r.s. Is the following series of ai-ticles I propose dealing with various human social groups in different stages of cul- ture. History is not concerned — or should not be — merely with the rise, progress, and downfall of dynasties and with the doings of great men; but it takes into cognisance the evolution of the people in general. The population of any country is not an incoherent mass, but is composed of groups, and it is the business of Sociolog}' to study the origin and histoiy of these groups, which are subsequently welded into nations. Sociology is partly the study of the raw material of History as it endeavours to account for the idiosyn- crasies of societies and groups of men whose ultimate fate is described by Histoiy. It may perhaps not inappi opriately be termed the Natural History of History. I claim no originality in the method of treatment. Several years ago I had the good fortune to assist Prof. Patrick Geddes in his stimulating Summer Courses in Edinburgh, and it was there that this method of study was brought under my notice. My friend M. E. Demolins, editor of " La Science Sociale.' has given me permission to utilise the series of sociological studies that have appeared in that highly original journal. As the system initiated by Le Play and so ably elaborated by MM. E. Demolins, R. Pinot, P. de Rousiers, Henri de Tourville, and others is but little known in '^his country — I have ventiu-ed to intro- duce it to the pages of Knowledge. There is not space here to expound the system, which after all may be best illustrated by the treatment of the several articles. The first article is mainly an abbreviated translation of papers by M. Demolins in the first volume of " La Science Sociale," but I have not hesitated to give fresh examples and to add qualifications to many of his pro- positions. I.— THE HUNTERS. Environment. — As Europe is so lai'gely deforested and cultured one must go elsewhere to study the hunter type in i*s purity. Indeed at the present day it is not easy to find people who are pure hunters. The Austra- lians do not cultivate the soil, but their conditions of life are somewhat peculiar, and it will be better to consider the hunting folk who dwell in tropical forests where the environment is fairly uniform. The greatest forest region is that of the valleys of the Amazon, Orinoco, and of the rivers of the Guiana-s, an area about equal to that of Europe. The physical features, climatic, meteorological and geographical, which desers'e a more extended considera- tion than can here be given to them, determine the nature of the vegetable products, which in this case constitute an immense forest. The prolonged humidity permits the growth of trees, and these by cutting off light and air stifle the growth of grass. Vegetation is rampant, savage man is powerless against it. As Bates says, " In the equatorial forests the aspect is the same, or ncai-ly so, every day in the year; budding, flowering, fruiting, and leaf-shedding, are always going on in one species or other. It is never ei'hor spring, summer, or autumn, but each day is a combination of all three." Occupation. — The climatic conditions and the luxuriance of the forest render agriculture very labor- ious, especially in the low-lying lands; the line of least resistance is found in living by hunting. There is something to be said in favour of this mode of life. The attractions of hunting are very great. In all grades of even +ho most artificial or civilised societies there are people who have an almost irresistible im- pulse to hunt; the instinct of the poacher is similar to that of the aristocratic sportsman who slaughters half-tame pheasants or who stalks deer, or to that of the hunter who travels afar in search of big game. This fascination is evidently felt by those who are practically compelled by circumstances to become and remain hunters. Hunting requires no foresight. An intimate know- ledge of the habits of animals is necessary for existence, but no forethought is required to maintain the supply. The breeding of animals for food or industrial require- ments belongs to a later stage of culture, the sole ex- ception being the domestication of the dog, which has been more or less thoroughly accomplished by most hunting peoples. The capture of each day provides the food of each day, and this must be consumed immediately for it cannot be preserved. Various methods have been de- vised for drying or smoking meat, but even so it cannot be kept for long periods like tubers or cereals. Hunting is suited to the generality of men, for it is interesting, and it calls forth intelligence and the satis- faction of outwitting animals ; it gratifies the lust of killing, and supplies an exciting element of chance, which keeps hope alive through disappointments. The food is stimulating and enjoyable. No preparatory work or thought is required to provide the supply of food. These conditions appeal to the majority of man- kind. Although there are no great possibilities in this mode of life, the chase provides for the diverse wants of man. The meat serves for food. The Eskimo prove that it is possible to live exclusively upon a meat diet; in wai'mcr climates there are numerous edible roots, shoots, leaves and fruits which can be had in the vaiious seasons for the picking. The sKi'is provide clothing, materials, for habitations, vessels and the like. It is only in tem- perate and cold climates that clothes are necessary for warmth, and decency requires but a minimum of clothing which in tropical countries is provided by bark or leaves. The same practically applies to habitations. It is mainly the hunters of the prairies, or the inhabi- tants of other treeless districts like the frozen lands, who make use of skin tents. Under the same conditions various portions of the animals are employed for different purposes which the vegetable world supplies in the tropics with the expenditure of less labour to men — such, for example, as fibres and receptacles like gourds. The feathers of birds furnish finery all over the world, but perhaps nowhere have they been employed to the extent that they are, and were, in tropical South America. The hunters there can live isolated from more complicated societies as they are self-contained, and thus they retain a simpler, and probably more primitive, social condition. 30 KNOWLEDGE. [Febeuaby 1, 1900. The pursuit and capture of prey require special quali- ties : agility, dexterity, and strength, in addition to woodcraft. These aptitudes are most particularly found among the young men, hence there arises a tendency for superiority of youth over age, unless social institu- tions are evolved to counteract it, as, for example, occurs in Australia. In any case the youths are eai-ly able to provide for themselves, and in consequence they set up an establishment as soon as possible. In extreme cases they retain to themselves the fruit of their labours, and repudiate the duty of assisting their aged paren'^s. As will be stated shortly, the means for sub- sistence are strictly limited, and the first biologic law — that of self-jDreservation — is imperative, come what may. It is one of the first duties of social organization to modify this crude state of affairs, and to prevent the children from arrogating to themselves an undue amount of authority. The arrogance of youth is a natural outcome of the feebleness of parental control. The development of primary individualism is the result of this mode of life. This form of individualism is of the lowest, that is, of the least social, character. It is usually to the hunter's interest to isolate himself and to hunt his prey on his own account. Some people temporarily combine to drive their quaiTy into nets or trajjs, but hunting is chiefly done single handed. The tendency to individualism is still further de- veloped by the facilities which hunting offers to the establishment of new and distinct households ; a verv different state of affairs to the value of aggregated families in sedentary communities. The dwellings of hunters are simple huts, made of branches and covered with leaves or made of skins. They are easily erected, and in the latter case are easily portable ; but in warm climates a rain-proof hut can be made in a very short space of time with the materials that are ready to hand. It costs no money to make and but veiy little time, and no regret is felt at leaving it. The household furniture is of the most rudimentary chai-acter, on account of the migrations necessitated by the chase. It is provided by the wood of the forest, by gourds, shells of nuts, carapaces of turtles, shells of molluscs, in fact of anything ready to hand that will serve. The imislements for the chase are quite as elementary, wooden spears, bows and arrows for terrestrial animals ; a canoe and fish-spear, or a line and hook, for fishing. A few hours' work would suffice to make them all. In the district of the Orinoco there are two kinds of canoes. (1) A sufficiently large tree is chosen from which a jiiece of bark several yards in length is detached. This is folded and its ends strongly secured by lianas. Later the canoe is covered with leaves and placed over a great fire. This operation not only hardens it but makes it start and it only remains to caulk the ci'acks with a kind of gum supplied by neighbouring trees. (2) The other canoes are tree-trunks hollowed out by hatchets; although this operation is longer it is accomplished pretty quickly. Crevaux states that it takes four men only four hours to make a bark canoe. On several occasions, when stopped by a rapid, they did not hesi- tate to abandon one and to make another in order to continue their voyage on the other side of the fall. There is, however, a vei-y marked limitation of the means of existence. Game and fresh-water fish are more easily exterminated than the grass of the prairie and the fish of the sea. In our complicated societies it is necessary to frame special laws to regulate fresh-water fishing, and even the inshore marine fishing grounds are liable to depletion, and certain methods of marine fishing have to be prohibited or limited by law. The existence of hunters is not so assured as that of pastoral or fishing communities. The game may be over-hunted or become scarce through disease or un- favourable seasons, hence hunting populations are sub- ject to cruel famines. They cannot reserve food for these periods of famine in tropical countries, as the temperature necessitates the immediate consumption of the product of the chase. At most they can preserve meat for four or five days by submitting it to the action of a strong fire. The question of food is the principal occupation of savages. " Our voyage," said Crevaux, " resolved itself into a regular stniggle for existence. All the time we could spare from our survey and our observations was devoted to fishing and hunting.'' The uncertainty of the means of existence gives to the savages a particularly accommodating stomach. They can remain several days without eating, and when food is abundant they can gorge a prodigious quantity. The chase obliges the savage to periodically migrate. He must follow the game, or the migration of fish, or visit the banks at the turtle-egg season. Following the annual migration of the bisons across the prairies was not difficult to the North American Indians, but it is a different matter in tropical forests, owing to the tangled luxuriance of the vegetation and the general absence of paths. Hence they walk in " Indian file." So in- veterate is this habit that they walk in single file when there is no occasion to do so. The difficulty of communication is so great that there are scarcely any relations between different tribes, and from this arise a multiplicity of dialects. The whole family has to follow the periodical mi- grations, and there is consequently a high mortality for the aged, sick, and even children ; that is, those who cannot easily transport themselves are frequently abandoned. It will be a.5ked. Why do not the hunters seek in cultivation of the soil a more abundant and assured means of existence? It is probable that this has often taken place, but there are hunting communities that do not till the soil. In the district which we have more particularly under view, when game is abundant for several years, certain tribes multiply to the extreme limits of the local resources. They then manifest a tendency to agriculture ; but this mode of life necessi- tates more effort and offers less attractions than the chase, and is especially repudiated by the young. The paternal authority which should exercise a sufficient constraint upon the latter is very feeble. The attempts at cultivation are not persisted in and are soon abandoned ; as Le Play has pointed out, " The frequent atmospheric calamities in this region of the equatorial zone happen to justify the repugnance of the population to works of agriculture. Epidemics have not only the result of reducing the tribes of the aged and the more feeble, they destroy entire tribes, and thus re-establish the equilibrium between the mouths and the means of sustenance." Such are some of the causes which oppose the transformation of hunters into tillers of the soil. There are in the forests of the New World some very rudimentary plantations of rice, yams, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, manioc, etc. The manioc produces tapioca and a fermented drink ; four days' work per month in their plantations provide sufficient food for a family of Fbbbuary 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. 31 nine persons. Yet the huntci-s only do this to satisfy their most urgent rcquiromonts. Despite uncortiiiuties and rrucl disappointments, the chase holds and retains the savages, and if occasion- ally necessity compels them to take one st^^p towards tillage they do not persist in this effort, and return with eagerness to the more attractive work of hunting. Property. — The forest theoretically belongs to every- body because its products arc not the result of any work bv man. The extent of commonage accessible to each family is much more restricted than the steppes or the sea. This limitation arises partly from the difhcultics of locomotion, which confine the hunters to a relatively limited district; partly from the nature of the spon- taneous productions. As these are easily exhausted the several families are obliged to energetically defend their hunting grounds ag;uust the inroads of noigh- boui's. If the hunting grounds are under the I'ule of the com- munity this is not the case with the home and imple- ments of work. These are pei-sonal property on account of the division into isolated households. But we have seen how restricted they are and how easy to make. This property, therefore, contributes in only a very feeble manner to devclojj habits of forethought and economy. Thus the hunting savage is naturally improvident. His true property consists in his skill and agility, which he can neither sell nor bequeath. The grave question of *he transmission of property does not exist for him. No tie binds, even materially, the generations with one another to induce solidanty. Individualism triumphs. The Family. — The family cannot retain its members at home, all the children successively separate as soon as they can provide for themselves. The family periodically dissolves, scattering to found new homes as instable as the preceding. Such are the characteristic traits of the instable family, which develop the spirit of change. The spirit of change is manifested by the preponder- ance acquired by the young, unless, as previously stated, special precautions are taken to prevent it. The youths, by reason of their premature emancipation and comparative isolation are not permeated by the tra- ditions of their ancestors or the sentiments, ideas, and habits of their parents, except so far as they maintain that conservative spirit which is so characteristic of children and backward peoples. The chief of these small families forget the memory of *^heir elders, and take no pains to transmit the re- membrance of the great actions of the race to their descendants. Verbal history, so prolix in sedentary communities, is almost non-existent among nomadic hunters. Magical practices may be developed, but true religion — that is, the worship of a spirit or spirits — is in a very primitive stage. Among the South American hunters not only is there no respect for their progenitors, but they may abandon and even eat their parents. The instable family often leaves orphans, the sick, the aged — in other words, the feeble and incapable — without refuge and sustenance; there is no fixed home to act as a place of refuge. Government. — It is necessary to be young, vigorous, enterprising, if the home, children, and hunting grounds are to be protected from the incessant attacks of neigh- bouring tiibes. Power belongs to the strongest, auJ is thus not only despotic but cruel. Each tribe must be organised for defence, and for attack — it n;ust always be on the alert. It is to the interest of the families to group themselves under a valiant chief capable of protecting them and their possessions. Thus, this state of permanent war develops a kind of personal authority ; the habits of the chase render it arbitrary and cruel; the feebleness and in- stability of the family permit to encroach , but the authority is itself instable. Force makes chiefs, force unmakes them. Primitive Gaul, as Le Play points out, w;is in a ■similar condition; " obliged to struggle without cciising in order to procure their living, and to defend the game agaist the inroads of contiguous peoples, the early Gauls approached in their habits the Indian hunters whom one may still observe in the forests of America." On their arrival the Romans found the Gauls divided into a multitude of small tribes constantly at war. The policy of Caisar consisted in setting one against another. It was the internal weakness of the Gauls that made them powerless against the Romans. Incapacity of the Hunters to Expand. — First, there is an absence of the means of transport, being without the horse or a seaworthy boat, for bark canoes and simple dug-outs are quite unsuitcd for maritime navi- gation. Secondly, owing to the isolation of the families there is very little communication between them, and there is a mai-ked lack of co-ordina*ion. Relatively small bodies of men may temporarily combine, but large enterprises are practically impossible, not only from the lack of social education, but from the difficulty of ob- taining sufficient food. Finally, the population is limited. The population is diminished by epidemics, the abandonment and death of those whom they cannot '^ransport, intertribal wars, and cannibalism. Hunting peoples always multiply very slowly, and they even tend to disappear. The Indians of the Amazon diminish rapidly in contact with the white man, and so also do the North American Indians and the Australians. The Tasmanians have entirely disappeared. POLARITY IN MAGIC SQUARES.-I. By E. D. Little. Pythagoras found the secret of the Universe in Number and Duality or Polarity, for Number is Law, and Law divides all things into complementary pairs. The universal reign of law, the essential unity of law, and yet the diversity of its operation, the Duality or Polarity of its subject matter, all these receive abun- dant illustration from the number-problem known as the Magic Square, which has always had a singular fascination for the Mystic and the Mathematician alike. The object of this paper is to show how well the least snd simplest of these figures will serve for the purpose of this illustration, for although De minimis Lex non curat may be Lawyer's Law, it is not the Law of Nature. In Nature Law reigns as supreme in Jhe^least as in the greatest, and it is in the least that it is often best observed. In treating of a subject at all scientific in character it is always well to begin with definition, and our first care must be to define the nature or the note of the Magic Square. A Magic Square then is a square of 32 KNOWLEDGE. [Febeuaey 1. 1900. numbers so aiTauged that the numbers in each of its rows, columns, and diagonals, amount to the same sum, as in Fig. 1, where the numbers 123456789 are Fig I. Fig. 2. so arranged in the form of a square that the rows 6—1—8, 7—5—3, 2—9—4, the columns 6—7—2, 1—5—9, 8—3—4, and the diagonals 6—5 — 4, 8—5—2, all amount to 15. This definition calls for some comment. In the first place it presupposes a square, apart from the numbers, in which a certain construction has been made, a geo- metrical square which has been divided by lines parallel to its sides into a number of equal rows, and the same number of equal columns, of small squares, or positions, as they will be called. Furthermore the definition involves a classification of the parts into which the whole figure is divided, as (1) rows of positions, (2) columns of positions, (3) diagonal lines of positions. A moment's consideration shows that this classification is incomplete. The word diagonal is not of the same extension as the words row and column. The rows comprise all the positions of the Square, taken three at a time ; so do the columns ; but not so the diagonals, which in one direction comprise three positions, and in another direction three also, one of which is common to both diagonals. The classification is therefore not exhaustive. It may be made so how- ever by extending the meaning of the word diagonal so as to include parallel to a diagonal. For with this extension the diagonals will comprise all the positions of the square, taken three at a time, in +wo oblique directions, related to one another in precisely the same way as the rows and columns are related. Let the positions of the square Fig. 2, be numbered in the usual or natural order. We may then arrange the positions in four classes, according to their direction. (1) 3 rows of 3 iiositions eiich, 1—2—3, 4—5—6, 7—8—9 (2) 3 columns of 3 positions eaot, 1—4—7,2—5-8,3—6—9 (3J 3 diagonals of 3 positions each, descending to the right, 1—5-9, 2—6—7, 3— 1—8 (4) 3 diagonals of 3 positions each, descending to the left, 1-6-8,2-4—9,3—5—7 If we wish to distinguish (3) and (4) we may call (3) positive diagonals or -)- diagonals, and (4) negative diagonals or — diagonals. We may also distinguish the diagonals in the usual sense from the diagonals in the extended sense by call- ing the former the middle diagonals. And we may class together the rows and columns on the one hand, and the two kinds of diagonals on the other, as laterals (for they are measured by the sides of the square), and diagonals. We shall now be prepared for an analysis of the magic square of 3, and for a comparison of the magic square with the complement which by the universal law of things must somewhere exist. The square which stands in this relation of polatity to the magic square is shown in Fig. 3, and is called the Natural Square, and the object now in view is to establish and illustrate the completeness of the polarity existing between these two squares. The law might be called in general terms the law of polarity in direction, but, as might be expected, it shows itself under various aspects, ■Which will have to be considered separately. I. Summation. — Equal summation of all rows and columns is the special note of the magic square ; for in the equal summation of its mean diagonals and mean laterals it is undistinguishable from the natural square. Now if the square in Fig. 1 be compared with tha'. in Fig. 2 it will be seen that the -I- diagonals of the first are the columns of the second, and its — diagonals the rows. The diagonals therefore of the Natural Square, and the laterals of the Magic Square have equal summation, and polarity of direction as regards summation exists between the two. II. Difference. — Let the series 123456789 be regarded as a recurring series, that is to say a series in which we may begin at any point, read in either direction to either end, revert to the other end, and read in the same direction to the starting point as 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 or 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6. In all these readings of the series the difference is said to be 1, for successive terms are taken at intervals of one position. Now let the series be varied by taking successive terms at intervals of 2, 3 and 4 positions respectively ; it will be unnecessary to go further since by so doing we shall only obtain the same variations inverted. The possible variations for these differences will be found to be — for or 123|456|789 1 I 357 I 924 |681 147|258|869 159|483|726 When the difference is 3 or 6, it is impossible to com- plete the series without beginning at three different starting points since the third position after 4 is 7, the third after 7 is again 1. Now if these valuations of the series be divided each into three triads, beginning with 1 in all cases except where the difference is 2 or 7, when a triad must begin with a multiple of 3, the triads will be found to be identical with the lines of the Natural and Magic squares, and the distinction between the squares to lio in the direction of the differences. The subjoined table shows the directions of the differ- ences in each square : — 1, 8. 2, 7. 3, 6. 4, 5. Natural. Ditferences. Magic. Eows Columns + Diagonals — Diagonals 1 or 8 3 or 6 4 or 5 2 or 3 — Diagonals + Diagonals Columns Kowe Thus polarity of direction as regards differences exists between the two squares. III. Odd and Even Cross. — If the Natural and magic squares be compared as regards the position of odd and even numbers, it will be observed : That odd and even numbers are alternate in the out- side rows and columns and either in the middle laterals or middle diagonals of each. FEBRUARY 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. 33 That ia the Natural Square the odd numbers all lie in a diagonal cross, the even in a lateral cross. 6 ■/, ■/// 8 7 5 4 2 ft^ 4 f/g 4. That in the !Magic Square the even numbers all He in a diagonal cross, the odd in a lateral cross. In this respect therefore there is complete polarity of direction between the two squares. {To he continued.) THE FLY, "SYRITTA PIPIENS." By Walter Wesche. A CAREFUL study of the anatomy of insects, aided by the higher powers of the microscope, though a pursuit of great interest, taxes the observer's ingenuity to account for the changed aspect of organs when ren- dered transparent, flattened, and mounted under pressure. The appearances presented are often likely to lead to erroneous conclusions, unless one is ac- quainted with the position and shape of the object in its natural condition. A knowledge of the life-history and habits of an insect is also essential if a correct idea as to the uses and purposes of the several parts are to be arrived at. For instance, thi-ie is a beautiful con- trivance on the tibia of the forelegs of most of the Hymenoptera, and some of the Coleoptera, for cleaning the antennae, which, had not Mr. Frank Cheshire ob- served its iise, would probably be still regarded as an auditory organ. The great elaboration and speciali- zation of different mechanisms for various purposes displayed in the anatomy of insects are only equalled by the economy of means ; every part is, or has been, in some way, of use to its possessor, though what that use is is often a difficult matter to divine. Syritta pipiens, with its complicated lancets (fig. 3) ; the process of knife-like setse on the tibia of the fore leg (fig. 6), which is usually found in predaceous flies Fio. 1. — Siiritla pipiens. Female. Femur of hind leg flattened. and beetles, and used in holding prey ; the many chitinous setse on the tarsi of the middle leg, disposed in fairly regular patterns (fig. 5) ; and the remarkable hind leg (fig. 4), which at first view seems adapted to the curbing of the struggling wing of a powerful opponent, might incline to the opinion that the fly was raptorial, and used these parts in pursuit and capture of its prey. The insect is very well known and common from April to October. It belongs to the family Syrphidiv, or ' Hover flics," and feeds on the pollen of flowers, of which its abdomen may often be found full. Via. 2. — S. pipinis. Male. It is figured and described under the name of Musca pipiens in the work of the old French entomologist, Dc Geer, and so exhaustively that most later writers quote his observations (Westwood and othcr.s). It was named from iU habit of uttering an exceedingly acute cry when held, the sound being produced through the two large pear-shaped spiracles on the thorax. De Geer found the larvre in the dung of horses and cows; it is thicker in front than behind, and has a small point on the head. The male (fig. 2) is a little smaller than the female, Fig. 3. — Mouth organs uf .S'. pipiens, proliosfis, lancets, and maxillary palpi ; smaller circle lias tip of lancet more magnified and shoiving liairs. x 46 diameters. as is usually the case in insects, and the mouth organs and legs do not differ, with the exception that the male carries a series of very short chitinous spines on the coxse of the hind leg — " a secondary sexual " character- istic, enabling him to hold the female in a firm grip (fig. 4). The same process is to bo found on the males of Erystalis (bee or drone fly). The coxa; of the female are quite plain, and both sexes have a pretty and delicate fringe of hair on the abdomen to protect the femur of the bind leg from the effects of chafing. The male, in its markings, also differs from the female, these ex;temal characteristics being larger and lighter on the dorsal region of the abdomen, and there is a smaller space between the eyes (facies). Si KNOWLEDGE. [Februaky 1, 1900. This flowers, having plant." fly may be seen on a sunny day hovering over or busy with the pollen, and is described as a " characteristic quiet manner of moving on a Fig. 4. — Hind leg of S. pipiens ; the smaller circle shows the processes on the edge of the femur and tibia more magnified. X 22 diameters. It will be seen on examination of the mouth organs (fig. 3) that there are no pseudo trachse on the labella of the proboscis, and no teeth ; also on looking at the smaller lancets with a power of three hundred and fifty diameters, that they are not piercing organs, but bear a very delicate series of fine hairs on the tip (small circle on fig. 3). The hind leg (fig. 4) is truly remarkable ; the process of blunt knobs or teeth on the femur, and of bent Fig. 5. — End of tibia, and part of tarsi of middle leg, of S. pipiens. ■ X 94 diameters. Fig. 6.— End of tibia of fore leg of 5. pipiens. x 125 diameters. spines on the tibia, are contrived to lock on to each other and so constitute a sort of pincer. From its ex- traordinary elaboration and powerful construction it must play an important part in the insect's life-history ; it is probably used in crushing some kind of capsule or part of a flower to admit of the pollen being extracted. By careful focussing with a power of three hundred and fifty diametei's, some minute trachse may be de- tected above the knobj on the femur (small circle, fig. 4.) It is possible that the spines on the tibia may be capable of erection, as there appears to be some trace of a muscle underneath them. Of the uses of the setae on the middle and fore legs it is difiicult to form an idea ; they may be the remnant of former useful appendages, the insect having changed its manner of obtaining food, but from their very marked character and the modification which in that case has taken place in the lancets, leaving them unmodified, this is very im- probable ; besides, the spines at the end of the tibia of the fore leg are found in most, if not all, of the Syrphidje.* An antenna is shown in fig. 7. It resembles Syrphus balteatus and others of the family; the small circular markings are probably olfactory organs, and would be of service to a flower-feeding insect; at a deeper focus there is a curious organ of a rather vermifoiTU appear- ance, which seems to be for the same purpose. The male organs are very interesting, and can seldom be so well seen as in this fly — though even here it is far from easy to make a satisfactory diagram (fig. 8); two large feeling organs, two " claspers " (fig. 9), and two inner " holding organs " (fig. 10), as well as a seminal duct, are all clearly seen, but other parts are very nebulous, Fio. 7. — Antenna of S. pipiens. x .50 diameters. Fig. 8. — Diagram of the hypopygiimi of S. pipiens. overlap, and difficult to differentiate. The apparatus shown in fig. 10 is a very pretty microscopic object, and with the " claspers " (fig. 9) (note how the setse are turned back so as to form hooks) and the process on the coxse of the hind leg, are claviously all modified with the object i f accentuating the male's firm hold of the female. The remarkable elaboration and com- plexity of detail ou this minute fly (the female is § of an inch long, the ni le a little less), cannot fail to strike an observer. It is interesting to compare this insect with another nearly related to it. Ascia podgrica is rather smaller, and the abdomen very different in shape, being a pointed oval tapering with a curve to the base, but the wings, the fore legs, and the moutn organs are identical ; the femur of the hind legs is thickened in precisely the same manner, but it is toothed with sharp setse, and there are no spines on the tibia, the edge being hardened and chitinous in- stead ; the middle legs lack the elaborate spines, and the autennse are slightly different in shape. Erystalis pertiuax and Heliophilus trivittatus carry a * I have had an opportunitv of watching, at all events, one of the uses of the hind leg; a female extended her long membranous ovipositor and drew it very carefully through the teeth of the femur and tibia, which were compressed for the purpose ; this was repeated many times. T am inclined to think that the nimierous hairs and spines on the legs are primarily intended for cleaning purposes. NEBULA M IV. 41 SAGITTARII. By ISAAC ROBERTS, D.Sc, F.RS Fkbbcary 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. 35 similar apparatus on the hind leg, but the femur is not nearly so thii-keued ; it is armed with shai-pcr spines than S. pipiens, and the tibia is furnished with a similar Fio. 9.— "Claspcr" of mule Fio. 10. — "Holding organ" of male S. pipiens. x KXl diametors. .S. jjipiens. x 27.") diamoters. process, though not quite so continuous. The explana- tion of these variations forms an interesting problem, which with opportunity for observation, I do not think is incapable of elucidation. In conclusion it is my duty and my plea-sure to ex- press my obligations to Mr. E. Austen, of the British Museum, for information on the life-history, literature, and the kind gift of specimens of S. pipiens. ¥ PHOTOGRAPH OF THE TRIFID NEBULA IV. 41 SAGITTARII, AND OF THE REGION SURROUNDING. By Isaac Roberts, d.sc, f.r.s. The photograph annexed is of the region in the sky comprised between R.A. 17h. 54m. 12'8s. and R.A. 17h. .58m. 421s., and in declination between south 23° 37'-6 and 22' 16'-6. The area, therefore, is 4m, 29:3s. in extent from following to preceding, and 1° 21' from north to south. Scale— one millimetre to twenty seconds of arc. Co-ordinates of the fiducial stars marked with dots for the epoch 19 «'•!. Miic. fiO. Star (.,) D.M. No. 4533 Zone - 22° E.A. 17h. 57m, 53-6s. Dec. S. 22° oO 7. Maj. 7-4. The Trijid nebula ^ IV. 41 is in R.A. 17h. 56m. ; declination, south 23° 2'. Refeeences. N.G.C. No. 6514. G.C. 4355. h 1991 = 3718. Phil. Trans., 1833, PI. XVI., Fig. 80. Cape Ohs., PI II., Fig. 2. The photograph was taken with the 20-inch reflector, and exposure of the plate during 90 minutes, on the 13th July, 1899 ; and it will be observed that the nebula is characterized by tortuous dark rifts without stars in them. Those which intersect the denser part of the nebulosity have margins sharply defined, whilst those in the fainter parts are broader, with the margins less defined and some nebulosity in the rifts. There have been published in Knowledge, during the past two years, three photographs showing the densely dark rifts, and besides those, others showing the broader rifts ; amongst the latter the nebulae in Orion and in Andromeda are conspicuous examples, as well as those of the cloud-like class. The inferences we may reasonably draw from these aijpearances are that those nebul;v> are developing into the more stable form of stars by the influence of gravi- tation. They appear to bo the earlier stages in the development of spiral nebula', examples of which have been shown on many photographs already published, where it wa.s obvious that tlio nebulosity is aggregatin;^; into stars in the convolutions. The most useful work that can now be done for the advancement of astronomical science is the careful measurement of tho position angles and distances of the sufficiently well defined star-like condensations of tho nebulosity in these vai'ious nebula} from selected normal stars, six or eight in number, which surrolind the respective objects within tho radius distance of one degree or less. In this way astronomers would, within an interval of a few years, bo able to demonstrate tho changes that have taken place in these bodies with reference to those stars as fiducial points; and thus positive knowledge would bo gained in place of the speculative with its never ending controversy. It is welcome intelligence that Dr. Drcycr, of the Armagh Observatory, is about to commence the attack upon this work. ♦ ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY; A QUESTION OF PRIMOGENITURE. . ; By E. Walter Maunder, f.r.a.s. ', No record exists to tell us under what circumstances, and exact form, the science of Astronomy had its first beginning. We can, therefore, but make a guess as to its origin, and most of our leading writers are a,t one as to the agent which gave it birth. Astronomy, say they, is the daughter of Astrology. It may seem presumptuous to call in question an idea which writers, of such sound judgment and keen perception as the late R. A. Proctor, have regarded as axiomatic, but, in my own view, Astrology, so far from being the parent of Astronomy, must be looked upon as a late and most degenerate descendant from the sub' lime science. Astronomy, like everything else, had a beginning-. There must have been a time when men had not yet; discovered that the stars seen on one evening held the same lelativ© positions as those obsei-ved the next; « time viflien no planets at all had been recognised, and when the sun and moon were not thought to be of the same order as the other heavenly bodies. An unintelligent townsman of to-day, who may perr chance find himself out in the country on some dark; clear, night, looks up and remarks casually, that " It is a lovely night," and " What a lot of stars there are out," and there his knowledge and recognition of the spectacle end. He knows ho constellations, he recog- nises no particular stars ; he has never watched the heavens long enough to discern that they are continually turning round the pole ; a planet and a fixed star are both alike to him ; the heavens present no problems, give no information to him. Now this state of things, which we find only too widely prevalent to-day, much to ^ho discredit of our modern civilization, must once have been universal. There was a time when no one could recognise a constellation, because none had yet been mapped out j when none could tell tho difference between a pla'nefc and a fixed star, because no observations had at that early' date been devised for following the rtoveftieilt of the one, or proving the iinmobility of the other. 36 KNOWLEDGE. [FlBEtJABY 1, ICOO. Let us turn, on the other hand, to a consideration of the kno'wledge which is involved in the exercise of astrological art. Supposing that a modern astrologer were asked to calculate the nativity of some client, he would proceed substantially in the way in which Sir Walter Scott describes Guy Mannering as doing at the birth of Henry Bertram of EUangowan. "He erected his Eclieme or figure of heaven, divided into its twelve houses, placed the planets therein according to the ephemeris, and rectified their position to the hour and moment of the nativity. Without troubling our readers with the general prognostications which judicial astrology would have inferred from these circum- stances, in this diagram there was one significator which pressed remarkably upon our astrologer's attention. Mars having dignity in the cusp of the twelfth house, threatened captivity, or sudden or violent death, to the native ; and Mannering, having recourse to those further rules by which diviners pretend to ascertain the vehemency of this evil direction, observed from the result that three periods would be particularly hazardous — his fifth, his tenth, his twenty-first year," The foregoing sketch of an astroioger at his work will be a sufficiently accurate one for our purpose, no matter what the time or the nation in which he is supposed to have lived. Now what is involved in the operations which Guv Mannering performed? First of all, they imply that the constellations had been devised and mapped out , next, that the planets were recognised as such, and these are inferences with very significant consequences. Thei recognition of " the seven planets," though it came so early in the history of the world that there is a numerous school which believes the week is a con- sequence of such recognition, was no simple matter. It was a triumph of careful observation and clear in- duction which led the early astronomers to see that Hesper and Phosphor, the evening and morning stars, were not two bodies, but one. Much more difficult was it to track the elusive Mercury, and recognise in it again a single wanderer. Mars and Jupiter would be followed with much greater ease, but '^he dull and slow moving Saturn could only have revealed itself as a planet when observations of the relative positions of the stars had become systematic and it was known from definite measurement of some sort or another that of all the stars, these five and these alone, moved with respect to the others. The recognition of the remaining two of " the seven planets " must have been no easy matter, and implies a power of looking behind the mere superficial appear- ance of things in the highest degree creditable to the early workers in our science. For the effect produced by the sun and moon on the mind of the casual spectator is cert.ainly that of an altogether different order and kind from the stars and other planets. Of course, it was easy to perceive that the moon moved amongst the stars, although its motions differ in several impor- tant characteristics from those of any of the planets, but he must have been both a clear and a bold thinker who first told his fellow men that the stars were shining down upon them all day as well as all night, and that the explanations of the changes in the constellations visible at different seasons of the year was that the sun was moving round amongst them in the course of a year, as the moon did within the limits of a month. All this pioneer work must have been done, and done thoroughly — become familiar and commonplace long before the very first step in astrology can have been taken. Men cannot possibly have conceived that Jupiter brought good fortune, or Saturn sinister, before they had recognised the existence of those planets, and that they moved differently from the common herd of stars. If we assume that at some early date men had come to look upon certain of the planets as favourable, and others as unfavourable, we can readily see that an As- trologer who could take an actual observation of the heavens at the moment of the birth of some Prince, or of the starting of some expedition, or the laying of the foundation of some building, could come to the con- clusion that the person or enterprise would be pro- sperous or the reverse. But that was not the chief object of Astrology. The principal point was to find out beforehand at what time in the life of the new-born Prince he would be most exposed to danger or most likely to meet with good fortune. This was the actual case with Guy Mannering's prediction of Harry Bertram. So in the event of an expedition, or enter- prise of any kind, the duty of the Astrologer was to choose in advance a favourable moment for its com- mencement. And in both cases this demanded on his ' part a very precise knowledge of the future position of the planets. A complete horoscope, indeed, involves the knowledge, not merely of the places of the planets that are above the horizon at a given time, but also those that are below. This meant a mastery of the apparent movements of the planets, which can only have been obtained after centuries of the closest ob- sei-vation. In other words, the existence of Astrology pre-supposes a state of Astronomy not less advanced than it was in Alexandria under Claudius Ptolemy, or in Samarkand under XJliigh Beigh. More than this. Astrology bears witness to a previous Astronomy, then half forgotten. The signs of the Zodiac of the astrological scheme are not in the least the actual Zodiacal constellations, though they derive their names from them. They are simply a method of recording celestial longitude, and bear no relation to the configiu'ations of the actual stars. Yet whenever ;.iid however Astronomy first arose, the initial step towards progress must have been the map- ping out of the stars into constellations ; until that had been done it was impossible for men to be sure that the stars they could see maintained the same relative positions towards each other. Not until that fact had been assimilated was it possible to appreciate the next, namely, that certain stars were planets, wan- dering amongst the others. Then when the constella- tions had been formed, there must have come quickly the recognition that different constellations were visible at varying times of the year, and this led on no doubt at once to the idea of adapting the science to utili- tarian purposes. Both tradition and, it seems to me, the inherent probability of the thing, support the belief that the first use of Astronomy was the determination of the leng*h of the year and the announcement of the return of the seasons in their due course ; and this must have been a service of the very first magnitude For although the early agriculturist could learn from flowers, or plants, or trees when Spring was approach- ing, yet these phenological indications are somewhat vague and indefinite, and will vary considerably even in neighbouring districts. No doubt the chief duty of the early priests and as- tronomers, to whom the task of watching the heavens was intrusted, consisted in noting the heliacal rising of certain special stars to be able to announce the return of the different seasons of the calendar, and in all pro- bability it is in these observations that we can see the Fbbbcaby 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. 37 first germ of the notion of Astrology. For the seasons in their course naturally bring with them their own characteristics — seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, drought and flood, fevers and agues, and the like; and it would bo easy to associate these vai'ions phenomena with special stars, and to ascribe them to the stellar influence. Such astrology, however, would be a purely stellar as- trologv, not susceptible of very much development. Astrology, as we know it, on the other hand, is almost exclusively planetai-y, and very nearly independent of anv such simple considerations as the return of the stars to their heliacal rising at the end of the year. Another application of Astronomy which must have been considerably later than that of its use for the determination of the calendar, and yet which was cer- tainlv an early one, is its use in navigation, taking the word in a wide sense to mean not merely the steering of a ship across the sea but also a caravan across the desert. Here it must have been early appreciated that the stars afford absolutely the best finger-posts by which to cross the pathless and monotonous ocean, and no doubt it was soon luiderstood that not only did thcv give the means for determining the cardinal points but also for ascertaining the latitude of the traveller. The sailor who was thoroughly acquainted with the stars would have no difficulty in navigating from one port of which he knew the latitude to any other whose latitude was also known. He had but to sail north or south until the elevation of the Fole Star assured him that he was on the proper circle, and then he would sail east or west, as the case might be. There must have been a very wide demarcation in early times between the Astronomy of the Calendar, without doubt in the hands of a small and mysterious cult, and the Astronomy of Navigation necessarily in the keeping of practical sailors. The latter would cer- tainly have not Ien<- itself to astrological ideas, and though we mav owe several of our constellations to these early sailors they are not likely to have done much to give the science a fortune-telling character. Very different indeed would have been the position of the priestly astronomers if by dint of careful obser- vation and research they were able to go beyond their original work of arranging the calendar, and were able not only to divine the causes of eclipses but to foretell them. If they attained to this mastery of the laws of Nature then they had a power in their hands which could be readily used for political or religious effect to an almost unlimited extent, and which would at the same time serve as a foundation upon which an infinitude of further claims might be safely based. To this very day no astronomical feat whatsoever obtains such wide and complete popular recognition as the com- putation of the time of an eclipse, and in those early ages the occurrence of an eclipse in accordance with prediction must not only have seemed to invest the astronomer himself with superhuman powers, but must have convinced the people beyond all chance of con- futation that the movements of the heavenly bodies were intimately connected with the affairs of men. The successful prediction of an eclipse was probably regai'ded at once as a certificate of the skill of the Astrologer and a demonstration of the reality of Astrology. Nevertheless, when once the imposture had been fairly set afoot of predicting the fortunes and fates of men from the movements of the heavenly bodies, the predictors must have speedily found themselves short of material upon which to go. The return of stars to their heliacal risings in the course of the year would be far too regular a phenomenon for anything but general prophecies to have been based upon it, and eclipses are too rare for anything but occasional use. The sheer necessity which a fortune-teller would have for a wide range of combinations, applicable at any and every moment, must have driven the old soo' hsayers and seers to the use of the planets as their stock in trade, directly the science of actual observation had been so far advanced, that they could both predict a planet's place in the future, or calculate back its position in the past. The infinite diversity of grouping which the planets offei-cd, lent itself so precisely to the needs of the imposture that once started the pseudo- science developed with amazing rapidity. The rise of Astrology would seem to have meant a complete arrest of the development of the parent science — Astronomy. The Astrologer needed his tables of the sun, moon, and planets. He required some instrument for observing the altitude and azimuth of a celestial object. Ability to make at least an approximate deter- mination of time was a desideratum, but given a science which would supply him with this infonnation, and he stood in need of nothing more. He boldly translated the celestial movements into terms of human history, and predicted wars and revolutions, plenty or famines, as the result of the planetary positions. It did not occur to him to follow these positions for themselves or to speculate as to how they were brought about. Had a doubt as to the Ptolemaic system been suggested to him it would, likely enough, have seemed idle and abstract controversy. The astrological significance of a given position of Mars was just the same, whether its real centre of motion was the earth or the sun. As- tronomy, therefore, which had made so great a progress before Astrology could have made a start, remained perfectly dormant during the long ages when men studied the heavens not to get a better knowledge of the laws of Nature but simply, if possible, to lift the veil which hid their own future. And when once again men began to inquire as to the real physical meaning of the movements of the planets. Astrology decayed as rapidly as it had grown. The arguments of Coper- nicus, the telescopic discoveries of Galileo, the laws of Kepler, though they have no direct bearing on the truth or falsity of Astrology, yet by directing men's minds to the true problems which the heavens offer, speedily put an end to the absurd inventions which had enchained men's minds for so many generations. "We are able to indicate roughly how far back both Astronomy and Astrology arc traceable. Assume the mapping of the constellations amongst the first of As- tronomical operations. Now the old constellations which have been handed down to us through the medium of the Greeks, from the old inhabitants of Mesopotamia, received their completion not quite 3000 years B.C. This we know, since, as has been frequently pointed out, the region in the Southern heavens which the Astronomers of old left unmapped, is one the centre of which coincided with the Southern Pole a little less than 5000 years ago. This then gives us the date of the completion of "the constellations. How long they had taken to map out we cannot tell, whether it was a few months, a few years, or several centuries. Yet; we can be sure that it was not an indefinitely long time, for whilst many tradition.^ in different forms remind us that Taurus was once the equinoctial constellation, there is no tradition that Gemini ever held that place. When we come to Astrology, however, we find the 38 KNOWLEDGE. [Febbuaey 1, 1900. indabitable marks of a much more recent origin. First of all, as already pointed out, the astrological signs of the Zodiac have nothing to do with the actual stars ; the constellations to which they owe their names are left quite out of sight and ai"e almost foi-gotten. Next, and most significantly, we find that Ai-ies is the primitive sign of the Astrological scheme. There is no hint that it ever had been Taurus. This fact would of itself sufiice to show that Asti-ology, at any rate in any such systematised form as we now know it, is far younger than Astronomy, younger by the time which precession takes to cross an entire sign of the Zodiac, younger, that is to say, by a period which wo may roughly put as 2000 years. No doubt sun-worship and moon-worship reach back almost to the birth of the human race ; no doubt eclipses, comets and meteor-showers struck terror into men from the earliest ages, and many superstitions and fancies of an astrological tendency took fomi and shape in primitive times and prepared men's minds to accept the im- posture when at length it had attained an organised development ; but we can say positively that Astrology in anything like a complete system cannot date back earlier than 1800 B.C., when the sun first entered Aries at the Spring Equinox, and that it must almost cer- tainlj' have arisen many centuries later. [The Editors do not hold themselveB responsible for the opinioDs or statements of correspondents.] IS THE UNIVERSE FINITE ? TO THE EDITORS OF KNOWLEDGE. Sirs, — Of course the academical question, whether the Universe is finite or infinite, is not likely to be solved in our time, and I do not think that the difii- culties raised by some correspondents of your journal, and elsewhere, about our idea or conception of the infinite will afford us the least assistance in arriving at the solution. The structure of the Universe is a verv different thing from our ideas or concejjtions of it. But the question which occnrred to Mr. Burns, and had previoush' occurred to others, is in reality a differ- ent one. It is this : Is the Universe confined within limits which we mav reasonably expect to ascertain and define — for instance, within a sphere with the sun (or earth) as centre, and a radius equal to 100,000,000 times the sun's distance from the earth ? In fact a sphere with a considerablv smaller radius than this would account for everything that we at present know. But although this explanation is admissible, there ar3 grounds for doubting whether it is the true one. Mr. Anderson, I think, falls into a vei-y common error on this subject, by supposing that nothing can affect the eye unless it can be separately seen. The current theory at present is that Saturn's rings consist of meteors. 'What would be thought of an astronomer who contended that the ring must be invisible because the meteors cannot be separately seen ? Again : look at the Milky Way on a clear, moonless night. It is perfectly visible to the naked eye ; but can it be said that our most poverful telescopes, whether used by the eve or on the photographic plate, have as yet re- solved all this luminosity into separately visible stars? The zodiacal light and the Gegenschien may be cited in further illustration of this. Stai-s or other objects, which no one has as yet succeeded in rendering separately visible, do unquestionably affect the naked eye ; and if we find that the general illumination of the sky falls much short of what it ought to be on any given theory, we cannot explain this fact by supposing that stars of less than a given magnitude produce no effect at all. Take a single meteor at the distance of Saturn and of the average size of those which compose the rings ; regard this meteor as a star, and of what magnitude will it be? Bright stars lose as much by absorption, atmospheric or telescopic, as fainter ones. Hence, we may neglect the element of absoi-ption when dealing with the total light of stars of different magnitudes. It is, of course true that " if the illuminating area were to decrease, owing to increase of distance, more rapidly than it in- creased owing to greater numbers. . . it would never give us a blazing sky," as Mr. Hill says. But this could not occur without a constant thinning out of the stars as we pass to greater distances from the solar system. On the hypothesis of unifoi-m distribution, when the light of the stars decreased in the proportion of 2.512 to 1 (one magnitude) the number would increase in the pro- portion of 3.984 to 1, and the total " illuminating area" would be more than li times as great as before. Mr. Burns, I apprehend, did not seek to prove that the stars could not extend to infinity. What he sought to prove was that they could not do so unless there was a constant thinning-out on the way. The question is almost equivalent to this : Is the sun a member of a star-cluster ? Admitting, however, that the sun is a member of a cluster, the chances are that it is not in the centre of the cluster ; and, if so, this thinning out of the stars ought not to take place at once. But if we take in the entire sky, as far as I can judge, the apparent thinning- out begins almost at once. Hence the existence of an absorptive medium of some kind in space is naturally suggested. W, H, S. MoNCK. LUNAR SEAS. TO THE EDITORS OF KNOWLEDGE. Sirs, — I hope Mr. Tepper's very thoughtful paper and Mr, Tappenden's letter in your last issue will revive an interest amongst your readers in the study of lunar cosmogony. The theoi-y suggested by Mr. Tepper has so many things in its favour that I cannot think it unimportant ; the fall of meteors on its surface, where no atmosphere exists, certainly suggests a plausible origin for the rays from Tycho and other ring craters as we call them. I am not sure but some of the craters themselves may have originated by the fall of large meteors coming down vertically into a deep coating of such dust as Mr, Tepper speaks of, and might explain the radiating rays, whilst meteors moving obliquely would explain the rays which run parallel to each other, and there are many such. The large plates of the French photographs by Loewy and Puiseux will be of very great value in the study of lunar questions; the part of one of these published in December Knowledge shows many impoi-tant points, which answers some of the suggestions. The ray below Bullialdus (E) does not ran into the crater Tycho but passes close to its eastern wall, and can be traced run- ning in the same direction on the other side, and we can easdy trace another ray running parallel to it farther east, as if a meteor had ploughed through some loose matter, forming a furrow and throwing the material on Fkbruaky 1, 1900.] KNOWLEDGE. 39 each side of its track. There is also another runniug parallel with those on the west side of Tycho. It appeai-s to me as if a ruinber of nieteoi-s swept over this part of the moou iu the same direction at the same time. Mr. Maunder speaks of Kies and Lubiniesky as havirg sunk in the invasive fluid. May it not be that these rings were perfect belore the rays refeiTed to were formed, and that the matter thrown from the meteor's track has buried these rings? Another group of parallel rays sweeps north westerly from Kircher and Bailly, over Tycho and on to Lexcll. I think Jlr. Tappendeu's suggestion that the rays arc the results of meteor flights and falls may be the true explanation. December 17, 1899. A. Elvins. S. S. CYGNI. TO THE EDITORS OF KNOWLEDGE. Sirs, — We have had a remarkable appearance of S. S. Cygni dxxring the last two weeks, quite unknown to our experience. For myself I will say I did not believe my eyes, and sought for light, but my obser- vations which are as follows have been fully con- firmed : — 1899. Mags. 1S99. Mug.s. XOT. 21. Cloudy Dee. 1. 9 p.m . 9 20 „ 22. 7.30,8 &9 p.m. 105 „ 2. 8 p.m . 9-20 „ 23. 8 p.m orth American Birds." Among his other works may be noted, " Birds of the North-West," " Field Ornithology," " Birds of the Colorado Valley," and iu conjunction with Mr. J. A. Allen, " Fur-Bearing Animals." Dr. Coues was best known as an ardent and accomplished ornithologist, not only in America but also all over Europe. As a man he was most genial and affable, and his loss will be a great one, as well to his friends as to the scientific world at large. j^otictg of Boofeg. A System •;/■ Ethics. By Friedrich Paulsen. Edited and translated from the fouith German edition by Frank Thilly. (Kegan Paul.) 18s. net. Since, as Matthew Arnold wrote, " Conduct makes up three-quarters of life," the science con- cerned with studying and formulating the laws which govern right conduct is of the very highest importance. AVe welcome Professor Thilly's translations of Professor Paulsen's valuable contribution to this study, because being written primarily for those who are personally interested in the problems of practical philosophy and not for the philosophical expert, it can be easily understood by the ordinary intelligent person who reads carefully. The translator has used a wise discretion in omitting certain sections of the original treatise which only possess a more or less local interest for the German public. The first portion is devoted to the historical development of the con- ceptions of life and moral philosophy from the times of the Greeks down to the present ; the ne.xt examines the funda- mental questions of ethics ; while the third division of the book is concerned with the application to daily conduct of the prin- ciples previously discovered. It will serve to indicate roughly the author's philosophical position if some of his views on crucial questions are] briefly stated. He is an advocate of the € -^^ # ORNlTttOLOoVtAP ^ ,., _ '■' ^ •f* %-^ _NOTES.'. _._ Conducted by Hasby F. Withebby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. Snow Goose in Ireland. — At the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, held on November 22, 1899, Dr. Bowdler Sharpc exhibited, on behalf of Mr. R. J. Ussher, a Snow Goose (Chen nivalis), shot near Belmullet, County Mayo. The specimen belonged to the larger form. Although the snow goose has been identified by competent observers we believe that it has never yet been obtained in England or Scotland. Several specimens have been shot before in Ireland, but according to Mr. Howard Saunders they all be- longed to the smaller form. Both forms of the Snow Goose are inhabitants of North America. Grasshopper Warhlerin ilorai/shire. (Annals of Sco/fish Xa/ural ffistory. January, 1900, p 48.) Mr. R. H. MacKessiich has Dbtaiued ncst8 and eggs, which have been identified by Mr. Harvie-Brown, of this species from near Elgin. This record seems to extend the northern breedin;; range of this bird in Great Britain. Bee-eater in Shetland. (Annuls of Scottish Natural Ilislori/, January, 1900, p. 48.) A Bee-eater, which had been seen flving about at Symbister, was found dead by Jfr. Arthur Adieou June 5th, 1899. Tlie Bee-eater very rarely occurs in Scotlant'. Pratincole near Montrose. (Annals of Scottish Natural Histori/, January, 190(5, p. 51.) Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown records that Mr. Stormond shot a Pratincole at Kocksands, Montrose, on November 4th, 1899. The Pratincole has only once before been noticed in Scotland, viz., at rnst, Shetland, as far back as 1812. Jlontayu's Harrier in TTirkloic. (Irish Naturalist, January, 1903, p. 21.) Mr. Edwird Williams records that an immature male of this species was shot near Kylebeg, Blessington, Co. Wicklow, on September 7th, 1899. Rose-coloured Pastor in Co. Mayo. (Irish Naturalist, January, 1900, p. 22.) Mr. Robert Warren records that a female specimen of this erratic wanderer was shot near Foxford, on Xovember 5th, 1899. THE BURIED ALPS. By Grenville A. J. Cole, m.r.i.a., f.g.s., Professor of Geology in the Royal College of Science for Ireland. It is now well recognised that the granitic core of a great mountain-chain is not in itself the cause of the elevated highland. It h