moon.

That is very strong against me; but I do not see how there could be water without rivers.

There is nothing to show that planets die, so long as they have their sun. Our latent heat is evidently of no use to us, since our poles are, in spite of it, inacessible. (We might have immense projections there, for all we know,-were it not that we have seen their shadow on our satellite.)

Mr. Mackie urges that the Great Pyramid has lost 1/22 of its height in forty centuries. That is not much, and it has been by human destruction; which now will probably cease if we keep hold of the country.

I cannot agree with Mr. Mackie (1831) that there is any proof of lunar tides in the past history of the earth; because the heaving of her surface has subjected all parts in turn to the action of the solar tides, which I take it would be considerable-i.e., the difference between a spring and a neap tide.

It is (pace Mr. M.) a positive fact that in this country no landscape ever looks blue like a Scotch, Irish, or even English one. How it can be that "the warmer the climate the more water will its atmosphere hold in suspension," is beyond me. I live south of England because the perpetual damp of my native land prevents me from living in the open air half the day, as I do here even in winter. The people here just now are crying out against "the intense heat." In point of fact, the heat is not great at all; at this moment 77° in the shade; but the dryness is something rare, even for France, and especially for the seaside; and they confound it with heat. Rolls delivered in the morning are, even in a cellar, like ship-biscuit in the afternoon. This I never knew here before : it is therefore the dryest season for the last ten years. Where in G. B. would bread harden like this? If there is more water here, it must be a very long way aloft; so long as to become " un quantité négligeable," especially as regards the blueness of the landscape, which may be supposed to be nearer.

Mr. M. says " from a chemical standpoint, oxygen and nitrogen cannot be frozen'"-yet in this very no. of K., at p. 80, it is stated that "Nitrogen is solidified at-214°." Perhaps Mr. M. in his next letter will demonstrate that "solidified" and "frozen" are two different things; as also that the parched Soudan has really more water (somewhere) than " the storm-swept Orcades."

"It was the fine blue of eastern skies which gave birth to the waters above the earth' theory." If Mr. M. states this of his own knowledge, he must have been present, one would say as "our correspondent," on that great occasion "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." I had supposed that rain was a mere obvious origin of the belief.

METEORS.

HALLYARDS.

[1849]-While observing the moon at 9h. 45m. on the 22nd ult. with a 4-inch, by Cooke, power 65, I saw a dark object glide across the face of the moon from west to east, which appeared two inches long and one and a half inch wide. It occupied only five seconds in transit. It was evidently not a bird, there being no movement of wings. It occurred to me that it was possibly a meteor passing beyond the limits of the earth's atmosphere. Perhaps "F.R.A.S." may be able to state whether meteors have been seen in this way. On the following evening, at 10h. 35m., I saw a great fire-ball, or meteor, gliding across the sky in the same direction and near the same spot. The apparition did not occupy more than three seconds, and it was rather of a startling nature. The ball itself was apparently about half the size of the moon; the front part of it was of a white colour, and the tail itself was composed of red flame about two degrees long. It disappeared instantly, without any explosion. As regards its distance from the earth, it really appeared to be about three hundred yards from me. J. WEBB.

[The first apparition spoken of by Mr. Webb was almost certainly that of a distant bird, or of an insect (a cockchafer, or the like) much nearer. Many slowly-flying birds flap their wings less frequently than once in five seconds. There is no recorded instance of a meteorite having been seen dark on the brighter background of the moon or sky. -ED.]

EVOLUTION AND NATURAL SELECTION. [1850]" Commentator" reminds us, in his original and effective manner, that "it took five hundred years for Christianity to establish itself." Will it be unfair or ungenerous if I add that Darwinism has only taken five-and-twenty, and has yet to win its credentials from Time, as well as from enthusiastic professors, before it can, without question, be accepted as an explanation of everything? It has, as victor, too, recently come away from conflict with "special creation;" it has to dwell too emphatically upon certain truths to be perfectly reliable. There is more than a

suspicion of exaggeration clinging to many of its doctrines; it suggests the swing of a pendulum, or the recoil of a spring, rather than the balance of a true science; and a day may yet come when, over some of it most popular axioms, we shall have to say :- :"Our little systems have their day;

They have their day, and cease to be," &c. "Commentator," so far as I can gather, does not object to "natural selection" being accepted as a part of nature's scheme. He objects to it as a universal law. And that is exactly my position. He and I are in perfect sympathy upon that subject, I fancy. Unfortunately, too, many evolutionists are very arbitrary upon this point. They will have nothing but "natural selection"; and they will evolve you a race or an individual from their cut-and-dried formulas, as though the thing possessed no more difficulty than developing a photographic picture.

This is a great mistake: "natural selection" does account for a great deal, and is worthy of profound study; but alone it does not account for the existence of any one single thing. It is a guiding influence, not a creative one. It is present wherever there is a conflict, and gives victory to the strongest; but it does not impart life and energy to such. The motive power, the creative impulse, lies far deeper-aye, infinitely deeper-and of that we as yet know nothing. "Natural selection," however, is not everywhere a directing and guiding influence. There are peaceable realms in life (such need not be the lotus-eater's paradise) where nature, far away from the border-lines of strife, can freely make the world the gift of a Plato's mind or a beautiful orchid, a race of musical Bachs or an Ancon sheep.

But, after all, for what is the evolutionist-I mean the recent conventional evolutionist-contending? Is he anxious to prove that nature abhors a leap-that species and races slide imperceptibly into one another? If so, he totally fails. Variation supposes leaps, and Darwin himself recognised the fact. If a bird is born with one feather more than his fellows, it comes into possession of that feather suddenly, and not by imperceptible gradations. So, too, with the six-fingered men, Niata cattle, &c. It thus becomes a question as to the size of the leaps we imagine nature is capable of taking; and it seems to me, in our total ignorance of the prime moving energy underlying phenomena, that it is presumption on the part of Darwinians to assume that those leaps, those steps, can only be of the minutest character. Are we to be told that nature abhors a leap beyond a certain point, as certain philosophers said once concerning a vacuum? If, as Mivart says, there is "an internal force or tendency" in life to produce all we see independently of natural selection, then there is no reason why such a "tendency" should be tied down to infinitesimal gradations. It is a necessity which has grown out of a theory, and that theory is Darwinism.

"Commentator" has often imparted vitality to his views with illustrations drawn from music. It is an art to which, I think, we may more frequently appeal in our speculations with considerable profit. The world is born again in music. It comes to us in new raiment; unfolds its meaning, as it were, in a new set of terms, say as 1, 2, 3, 4, instead of a, b, c, d. The same relations are there, and the same laws. You are strangely conscious of familiar simple ideas, such as softness, hardness, sweetness, richness; and once more you recognise the centripetal and centrifugal forces at work in tonic and dominant.

But can it teach us anything concerning Darwinism? Certainly. In the Tartini tones there is correlation. In the old Greek genera and modern chromatic scale you can observe the small steps upon which the evolutionist now lays such emphasis; nay, in the portamento, if you like, you can point to one thing gliding into another. But there are breaks also. There is no bridge to carry you from the common chord to the chord of the 7th; nor in the arithmetical ratios of our diatonic scale is there any link between 6 and 8. The same thing holds good with musical instruments. You may trace the violin back to the crwth by any number of intermediate variations; but from the harpsichord to the piano you must make a leap. I can only throw these things out as suggestions now; but I daresay most of your musical readers will understand their application. GAMMA.

PHILOSOPHY OF CLOTHING.

[1851]-Garters are not necessary where drawers or pantaloons are worn, or with knickerbockers, provided they are ribbed the whole way up. I always wear stockings during the winter, but never garters.

Suffering from the heat, I had a special thin coat made for me, lined with the ordinary silk lining stuff. Although very thin, it is warm, being black and tight-fitting. So I had another made, a thicker coat, and lined with a special flannel. It is also black; though heavier, it is far cooler. I always wear flannel when walking or tricycling for coolness, and find that a winter-coat so lined

The following might be called the "claim" of the method, if this were a patent :

"Whenever a man reaches the last file of squares, he remains quiescent. For his next move, or for any subsequent move, the owner of the man may remove any one of his adversary's men from the board, and place the man that has reached the last file on the square thus vacated."

This is a much more terrible privilege than mere coronation. The game becomes a very intense affair in consequence. It will be observed that here the men are always moving forwards, except when "removing" one of the adversary's men this way. Hence the same position can never occur twice in one game, and thus no game can be drawn. Hence white has a slight advantage.

I now give an example. Suppose White's men are at 2, 23, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, and Black's at 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14 (Black's men orginally having been on squares from 1 to 12, White's on squares from 21 to 32). Suppose White to play. In the ordinary course of the game the White man at 2 would be a King. But not so here. White removes any one of Black's men from the board that he pleases, and stations his own man from 2 on the vacated square. Thus, in the example, White might remove Black's man at 13 or 14, and his move would be written 2-13 or 2-14. I would not allow White to take off Black's back men-that is, to play 2-3 or 2-4, for that would allow White to exercise the same operation several times till he had cleared off all Black's back men, and this would be too great an advantage. Let the rule be, any man but the back. I need hardly remark that White's man, having thus leapt back, can then resume its march forwards, and is just like any other of White's men. I trust the above explanation will be intelligible, and that all your draught-playing readers will consider the matter. I think if two of them were to play a game over in this manner they would be pleased. I hope some result will follow this article.

There is another matter I would like to suggest, and that is concerning the draught-board. Why should we be bound to the chessboard with its paltry thirty-two squares. The Polish draught-board is better; but I wonder that no one has thought of the medium between these-a board with eighty-one squares, the men moving on forty-one of these. In symmetry and elegance it is far beyond either. This will be seen by constructing a diagram of it, and numbering the squares, when it will be found that all the diagonals in one direction are in arithmetical progressions, with five as common difference, and all in the other in progressions of four. This is much better than the common board, where the differences are three, four, or five in either direction. For the ordinary way of playing draughts, this would offer an advantage in that there would be fewer drawn games, because there are no double corners, and, for my new way, it would give more variety of position. After all, any one can make himself a draught-board with some millboard and white paper. As, however, there can be no drawn games in my way, it would not be of so much consequence to have a board without double corners. However, this is quite a secondary point.

I trust that this way of playing draughts will attract the attention of some leading draught-players; perhaps some of their friends may see this paper, and draw their attention to this article. EDIPUS REX.

"MUSCE VOLITANTES."

[1857] Referring to letter No. 1815, I find in Dr. Smee's book, "Vision in Health and Disease," mention made of "false spots (and chains), which move as the eye moves, and which remain stationary when the eye is fixed steadfastly on an object." It is there suggested that the spots, &c., always exist on the same place of the retina, but this is a mistake. In my own case, although the general form of the chain is preserved, it occasionally shifts its position in the field of view.

My object in writing is to point out to Mr. Thomas that the size of this image floating in the humour of the eye varies in the same way as ocular spectra. If my eye is focussed for parallel rays the appearance is at its largest, while the more divergent the rays become the smaller and sharper is the image.

Does Mr. Thomas's explanation in regard to ocular spectra here apply? INTERESTED.

[The effect spoken of by our correspondent is that too-familiar one to the tired observer with the telescope known as "Musca volitantes." They do, of course, shift in the field of vision. They are the shadows of motes in the vitreous humour of the eye thrown on the retina. Obviously, as their angular diameter

remains constant they must seem monstrously larger when compared with a very distant object, than they do when contrasted with anything only a foot or two from the eye.-ED.]

TO MAKE IN HIMSELF OF TWAIN.

[1858]-As many of your readers will, I feel sure, consider it impossible that Mr. Clemens or Mark Twain could have fallen into the mistake about "the full moon all the voyage," mentioned in Gossip in KNOWLEDGE of July 17, I send you a copy of some notes I took, intended for the facetiæ columns in the paper we tried to start on board a vessel in which I returned from Australia last year.

Astronomy. A gentleman who has gone into the calculations (thoroughly, he says,) assures me we ought to have a full moon nearly all the way home, if we maintain the rate we are going at. There was a lunar rainbow visible on the 12th inst. I did not see it myself, but two or three of the passengers have kindly given me the result of their observations. According to one, the bow was complete; according to another, but a very small portion was visible. What struck one observer was the peculiar whiteness of the bow, while another distinctly saw seven colours. There was some doubt as to the position of the moon at the time; some say it had set, others that it was behind a thick bank of clouds, others again that it was shining brightly.

I remember once being flatly contradicted by a so-called welleducated man because I stated that an eclipse of the moon was visible wherever the moon was above the horizon at the time of the eclipse, allowing for clouds of course. J. W. ALEXANDER.

OBSCURE MEMORY.

[1859] I wrote stupidly about "Arthur's bosom "; corrected in K. I at once remembered the passage in Henry V., not read since forty years. Why did I not remember it before? Reading (in O. Feuillet's Histoire de Sibylle) of a child who cried for a star, and at last only slept when given a bright object to hold in her hand, (mendaciously warranted a star new-caught) I was seized with a desire to read a packet of letters a century old I believed I had not read. There seemed no conceivable reason for the thought of them coming into my mind. But it was so strong that I hunted them up. What was my surprise to find one sealed with arms whereof the crest was a demi-woman holding up a star in one hand! I know not to whom the coat belonged; to some Austrian brother-officer of a connexion of mine, writing for him (wounded). But I found I had read the letters, a year before. Hence it was obscure memory which drove me to them.

"COCK-SURE."

HALLYARDS,

[1860]-The word "cock-sure" appears to be a favourite with KNOWLEDGE at present. Its occurrence in Shakespeare has been pointed out by Mr. Proctor.

Another example of its use by an English classical author may be worth noting.

In Act iv. of Dryden's "Sir Martin Mar-All" (founded upon Molière's "L'Étourdi") the following passage is to be found :"Nothing vexes me, but that I had made my game cock-sure, and then to be backgammoned." C. F. CLARKE.

LETTERS RECEIVED AND SHORT ANSWERS.

"

T. C. CLARKE. No, not for celestial purposes. The opinion of which you speak was merely of the instrument as adapted for terrestrial use. Write to W. Watson & Sons, 313, High Holborn, London, W.C., or to J. Lancaster & Son, opticians, Birmingham, saying exactly what you want. Please note, too, the paragraph in capital letters which concludes those heading the correspondence columns.-N. J. O. H. Walker gives "incidental need" as a meaning of "occasion," and Bailey before him, cause, reason, necessity, or want," and so with other Standard Lexicographers. Hence the phrase "I had occasion to go" is no mere vulgar provincialism, but pure grammatical English.-KNOWLEDGE. The nearest approach to a classical symbolic representation of knowledge was Minerva, who was regarded as the goddess of wisdom and learning.-F. W. H. You still sail a little too near the wind. The revolting cant of such productions as that of "Chas. Peace turned Believer," is positively enough to encourage systematic violation of the whole of the Ten Commandments, though.-P. C. B. Will be handed to "Five of Clubs" on his return.-G. G. G. The lines you quote are entirely new to me. Did you find them as a heading to a

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chapter in a book? Because pseudo-quotations, the productions of the authors themselves, are not wholly unknown in such a position. -JOHN T. RAE. Your object is a most praiseworthy one; but were I to open these columns to one single appeal for aid, I could not refuse to admit the hundreds which would inevitably reach me in consequence. HALLYARDS. Forwarded as you request. You are quite right. I am as jealous of my incognito as you are of yours. I would not be intentionally unfair; and most assuredly not to you. Disease or deformity may justify a score of operations which would be-to put it as mildly as possible-useless in the normal condition, and the one you name is very far indeed from being common. If my memory serves me, the notice to which you refer was a verbatim reprint, and not an original contribution. That "other correspondent spoke of the acquisition" to which you refer in words which I altered into that form. As for the M.D., I gravely question if any one would notice bis ingenious periphrasis. Were I equally clever in the use of it, I could give you my ideas of your contention as to the indication of Divine prescience afforded by-well, by what you refer to. I have no more "animosity" to the curious congeries of works to which you refer than I have to "Gulliver's Travels" or "Phillip Quarll."-A. O. D. Thanks. They break comparatively new ground, and shall both appear.-H. A. B. First part of King Henry IV., act ii., scene 1. I scarcely know what you mean by "the nutritive properties" of water. Boiling it prior to filtering it, renders the destruction of organic germs more certain. It makes the water less palatable, but that is all. Boiled and filtered water subsequently impregnated with carbonic dioxide would be the most wholesome of all as a beverage. Bétal-jews is as near to the pronunciation of the adaptation of the Arabic name of a Orionis as can be expressed in print.-COMMENTATOR. Very eloquent, and full of fine thoughts, but too theological, and certain to provoke an inadmissible discussion on that ground.

NOTES.

(a) We have often explained that the only point in White's favour in this opening is that Black has no convenient square for his KB. But by playing 5. Kt to QB3, White offers a good place for the B on Kt5. Either 5. B to K2, or perhaps better still, 5. B to K2 would make Black's development more difficult; for if Black replied with B to Kt5, then 6. P to QB3 would gain time for White to play 6. Q to Kt3.

(b) This move deprives White of the initiative in the attack. Unless White plays Q to Kt3 he can never hope to maintain an advantage. If, instead of this move, 6. Q to Kt3, then we think Black could play B x Kt, followed by R to Kt sq.

(c) This is a very important move. White is compelled to protect his P, which gives Black an opportunity of playing P to Q4, always a powerful move, when, as also occurs in the Scotch Gambit, the Q is on K3.

(d) There is nothing else. If 8. B to Q3, White's position is worse still, for then P to Q4 would be doubly strong, on account of P to Q5.

(e) Played with the intention of still keeping the Rook on the isolated P. But on the whole it might have been simpler to take with the R.

(f) This move is played to protect the Black Kt with the QR, and to threaten the KP. Thus Black has entirely deprived, White of his advantage of the opening, and created a weakness in isolating his P.

(9) At first sight the move looked good, as White cannot play PxP; but in reality it created a weakness in Black's game, depriving him of his slight advantage in position.

(h) A fine move. If now Px P, then 16. R to Ksq, B to B4. 17. QR to K2 winning the P back, and having got rid of the isolated P, B x Kt would be no better, for the black Kt is inconveniently placed on Qsq, and R to Q7 would also become embarrassing to Black's game at a future period.

(i) A disagreeable alternative to taking the P; for although this still leaves White's isolated P, yet it may become very difficult to defend the P on B5.

(5) As will be seen, the KR on Rsq comes into good play presently.

(k) It is of importance that this B should be driven back first; the move betrays very good judgment on White's part.

(1) Now, the importance of first driving back the Black B can be seen, as White threatens R to R5. If Black plays Rx P, then White would win by 22. Bx Kt (ch), Kx B. 23. R to R7 (ch), K to Ksq. 24. R to R8 (ch), &c. But this move looked stronger than it really was, and is on a par with Black's fourteenth move. (m) Prevents R to R5; also removes the B from his dangerous position.

(n) 22. Bx Kt (ch), Kx B. 23. R to R7 (ch), K to B3. 24. RxP, Rx P, and White would have no advantage.

(0) Of course, Rx P was inadmissible. This move forms the turning-point in the game. If 23. Bx B, Rx B Black's position is better than White's.

(p) An important counter-demonstration; it prevents Kt to Q4, besides threatening P to B5.

(9) With the intention of advancing P to B5, if White took the P, thereby breaking up the Queen's wing.

(r) Still hoping to maintain the original attack on the K side, for which, however, Black gave White no more chance.

(s) This threatens R to Q3 as well as R to R3; it is therefore a far better attempt at doubling the Rooks than R to Q2 or Q3 or R to B2. A matter of judgment, which greatly aids in bringing about winning positions.

(t) Black might have played R to R3, to which White would have replied with 31 P x P also R (B3) to Q3, 31 B to K2, &c. But the move in the text is the strongest; as it forces the R away from the B file, he cannot go to B2, as Black would reply R to R3, threatening to win a piece by Rx P (ch). Nor can the White R play to Q sq. on account of B to Kt5.

(u) 32 B to B sq. was necessary to prevent immediate loss.

Score:-A-B, 0; Y-Z, 4.

E

of

♡♡

13 3 3

NOTES ON THE (ABSENCE OF) PLAY.

Card underlined takes the trick and card next below leads next.

A-B having four Aces, two Kings, two Queens, two Knaves, four Tens, and seven trumps to six held by Y-Z, play out all their winning cards before they lead trumps, and thus disarmed lose the odd trick to Y-Z's smaller cards. 1, 2, 3. First disarming.

4. A leads a small Club as the most effective way of disarming in Clubs. Luckily he finds his partner with the Ace, so that yet another card of re-entry is removed.

5. B has no winning cards to play. Being in doubt he leads a trump-an old fashioned rule which has two meanings, and is here necessarily taken with the wrong one.

8. Y extracts A-B's last trump, and as A-B have no longer a single King card left, Y-Z make all the remaining tricks.

Y-Z win the odd trick and the game.

The game should have been played by A-B as follows:

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8

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safer than the new rule of passing. In the present case had B passed, Z would have finessed the Knave, and retained command of the suit.

6. A leads from his head sequence in Clubs, hoping to be led to in Diamonds and make his Knave.

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM.-In Drayson's "Art of Practical Whist" an illustrative case from actual play is thus introduced, p. 102:King is turned on your left, and your partner has shown by previous play that he holds Ace, Knave; three cards, trumps, are in each hand." The problem is to determine how, when one trump only has been played, it can possibly be known from previous play that partner holds Ace, Knave! For my own part, I give it up.

MESSRS. HARPER & BROTHERS, of New York, have, we see, published an American edition of Miss Ada Ballin's admirable translation of Professor Darmesteter's work on The Mahdi, Past and Present," which we reviewed on p. 528.

LORD JOHN MANNERS stated in the House of Commons on Monday, that the new telegraph tariff will, as we anticipated, come into operation on Oct. 1.

THE Swan Electric Company has commenced an action against Messrs. Woodhouse & Rawson for infringement of their patents. The action is down for hearing, and will probably be tried in November.

THE second annual report of the directors of the Edison and Swan United Electric Light Company, Limited, for the year ending June 30, 1885, states that the accounts show a profit of £12,354. The directors hope to transfer the lamp manufactory from Newcastle to London in the coming autumn. The lamp factory at Newcastle has been working to its utmost capacity. The returns from the Admiralty and other customers as to the duration of life of the lamps supplied by the company are very satisfactory.

Mr. R. A. Proctor's Lecture Tour. Subjects:

Each Lecture is profusely illustrated. Arrangements are now being made for the delivery of Lectures by Mr. Proctor from August onwards. Communications respecting terms and vacant dates should be addressed to the Manager of the Tour, Mr. JOHN STUART, Royal Concert Hall, St. Leonards-onSea.

Aug. 11, 12, Worthing; Aug. 13, 14, 18, Brighton; Aug. 20, 21, Eastbourne; Aug. 17, 19, 22, Tunbridge Wells; Aug. 25, 26, Folkestone; Aug. 27, 28, Matlock-Bath; Aug. 29, 31, Burton-on

Nov. 4, Burnley; Nov. 9, Stafford; Nov. 12, Middlesbrough; Nov. 17, Darwen.

Dec. 7, 8, 9, Croydon; Dec. 16, 17, 18, 19, Leamington.
Jan. 12, Hull.

Feb. 3, Alexandria; Feb. 10, Walsall; Feb. 18, 25, London Institution.

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1. A shows his strongest suit, leading correctly. But then

2. A leads trumps, having strength in all the plain suits.

3. B returns the highest of two left, so that

4. After this round A knows the Queen to be with Y. Z discards from his worthless Clubs.

5. Y leads a strengthening Heart. B properly covers, for whatever the new school may say to the contrary the rule until recently followed, to cover an honour with an honour second hand, is much

Notes on Mapping.