A PRIMER OF ART

A Primer of Art. By John Collier. (London: millan and Co., 1882.)

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N this admirable little work Mr. Collier has succeeded in bringing clearly into view the helpful relation in which science may stand to the Arts of Design-sculpture, drawing, and pre-eminently painting. The aim of the primer is to give the outlines of such knowledge of the artistic field of vision, of the visual powers, and of the means of delineation, as may best aid the student to acquire that power of strict imitation of natural objects which is the artist's first qualification.

The notion hitherto prevailing and perhaps somewhat superciliously held to on the part of art-that because the primary functions of science and of art respectively are widely different, therefore no legitimate help can be rendered by one to the other-is practically discredited in every page of Mr. Collier's little work. Throughout, his object is to pioneer the student to an artistic goal; throughout, the means employed have all the security of clear scientific principle. The theory of the Primer is that by knowing with scientific accuracy how some things are, the task of exhibiting artistically how other things appear may be greatly simplified.

After devoting a few charming pages to the latest suppositions concerning the origin of sculpture and drawing -pages illustrated by specimens of prehistoric and even palæolithic art-Mr. Collier quits "debateable ground" for that on which surer scientific light can be shed for the guidance of the student in the practice of art.

And here nothing is overlooked. Boundaries, Light and Shade, Texture, Perspective, Colour, and Contrast are the beadings of so many terse and luminous little chapters, through each of which comes some word to the learner from the invisible world where science works, warning him how, unless he gives heed to certain hidden actualities within and without him, he may and probably will go many times wrong before he lights on the best way of rendering the natural objects before him.

Accurate seeing is necessary to ensure accurate delineation. The facts of simple appearance are what the art student needs to lay hold of. Science, whose constant business is with facts of every order, aids him here with suggestions how to discriminate between sight and inference-between that actual aspect of an object which is due to its present relation to the sight of the observer, and that compound mental view of it which is due to the mixed memory of many previous aspects. A perusal of Mr. Collier's pages on the nature of perspective, on the undulatory theory of light, on the action of a lens, on the structure and nervous mechanism of the eye, and on the physiological rationale of the phenomena of colour show how much scientific information can be given without the use of a single technical phrase.

. Having learnt to see, the art student must further learn to delineate. Here again, in discussing the painter's media, it is still with the authority of science the teacher speaks. The chapter on "Turbid Media" clears up the difficulty respecting the varying behaviour of pigments as used on different "grounds." Here, too, as elsewhere, each practical suggestion is accompanied by a scientific reason why the means advocated should be adopted, such

With the subject of landscape painting comes up the question of aërial perspective; and thereupon follow some admirable pages on the constitution of the atmosphere and the refraction of light. In dealing later with certain necessary discrepancies between natural appearances and their painted imitations, Mr. Collier clears out of the way, by a simple scientific consideration, an insidious problem with which the artistic beginner is apt needlessly to perplex himself—namely, how correctly to represent effects of light and shade within the very limited range of luminosity afforded by his materials. The solution lies within the sphere of optics. The eye takes next to no

heed of the degree of total illumination; the absolute luminosity of the picture therefore does not signify. All that is needful is to render the relative proportions of light and shade in the object or scene depicted; the effect will then be accurate, since sight adapts itself readily and unconsciously to any scale of illumination that may be visible at one time.

For the rest, this little work of Mr. Collier possesses all the attributes of a first-rate primer. As we have observed, it is terse, clear, simple, instructive, and alluring. While the student receives aid from various departments of knowledge, calculated at once to forward his progress in painting, and to enrich his ideas of the world in which he works, there is nothing attempted to which the finished artist-aware as he is of the part played by imagination and by an incommunicable sense of harmony in the production of the finest art-work—can yet take any exception. Mr. Collier frankly admits the limitations of science with regard to these points, and leaves untouched all vexed questions concerning harmony of line and colour, on the ground that, important though they are, too little is known about them to make discussion profitable.

Yet that there is no real antagonism between accurate knowledge wherever it can be had, and the loftiest artistic imagination, and further, that science may help to free that imagination by giving it mastery over its means of expression, are truths borne witness to throughout the eighty-eight pages of the primer. The scientific reader will recognise in Mr. Collier's successful endeavour to link the rival sisters (Art and Science) in friendly partnership for the better portrayal of that Nature of which both are students, a welcome sign of the times, and an indication of the direction in which we may look for firmer ground than has hitherto been found for fruitful artistic discussion. L. S. BEVINGTON

OUR BOOK SHELF

A Treatise on Rivers and Canals. By L. F. VernonHarcourt, M.A. Vol. I. Text, 352 pp.; Vol. II. Plates, 21 Pl. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.) THIS work was intended (see Preface) to present "in a simple and concise form descriptions of the principal and most recent works on rivers and canals, and the principles on which they are based." It appears to have had its origin in a course of lectures delivered at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham, in 1880, but has been so carefully revised as to be free from the defects of a mere

reprint of a lecture course, and may be fairly said to fulfil well the object proposed in the preface. Great pains has evidently been taken to obtain data of actual examples of important works within the above scope; the series of twenty-one well-executed large plates of these is a most valuable feature of the work. The get-up of the work, being issued from the Clarendon Press, is of course excellent; the number of folds in the plates is an inconvenience (few have less than six, and one has ten folds), which might have been obviated by placing fewer diagrams on each plate. A very useful feature is the addition at the end of each chapter of a short summary of its matter, with many good practical remarks.

The work opens with a chapter on the physics of the subject, followed by one on discharge-measurement, then by one on general principles. Then come seven chapters on various appliances and details, viz., dredgers, piling, foundations, locks, inclines, lifts, fixed and movable weirs, dams, and movable bridges. Then follow one chapter on inland canals, one on great ship canals, one on protection from floods, four on improvement of tidal rivers, and lastly, one on the improvement of the mouths of tideless rivers.

From the great variety of subjects treated of in a compass of 322 pages, the treatment is sometimes unequal. The descriptions of the newest forms of the various appliances are, together with their illustrative plates, very interesting and instructive. But perhaps the most valuable part of the whole work is the last five chapters on the difficult and important subject of the improvement of river mouths; the few guiding principles that can be said to be known about so obscure a question are well brought out from the study of grand examples. The subject of discharge-measurement is not adequately treated: a reference to the recently-published (1881) "Roorkee Hydraulic Experiments" would probably have materially influenced this chapter in giving less importance to current-meters, and more to floats (especially tube-rods), and in the entire rejection of the old Chézy formula, V=CX √RS, with a constant value of C. The chapter on inland canals is also (perhaps unavoidably) sketchy: thus the description of Indian canals covers only two pages, many of them being simply named.

ALLAN CUNNINGHAM

Galeni Pergamensis de Temperamentis et de Inæquali Intemperie Libri tres, Thoma Linacro Anglo Interprete, 1521. Reproduced in exact Facsimile. With an Introduction by Joseph Frank Payne, M.D. (Cambridge: Macmillan and Bowes.)

THE book before us is one of a series of facsimile reprints of eight books, published in the years 1521-22, by John Siberch, at the first press established at Cambridge; and it would appear, that after the issue of this series, no other works were published there until the year 1585, when a law was passed, limiting the printing of books to London and the Universities.

The revival of classical literature which swept over Europe towards the close of the fifteenth century, effected a complete revolution in the theory of medicine, as well as in philosophy. English scholars of that period were, as a rule, unacquainted with Greek, the few exceptions being men who had studied at the Italian Universities; among these was Thomas Linacre, a Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, who, about the year 1495, visited Italy in the suite of Selling, when the latter was appointed envoy to the Pope, and, after being a fellow student with the sons of Lorenzo de Medici, under Politiano and Chalcondylas, proceeded to his degree of Doctor of Medicine at Padua. On his return to England, he brought with him the reputation of being one of the most elegant and accurate scholars of the day. Shortly afterwards he was appointed tutor to Prince Arthur, and became Court physician on the accession of Henry VIII. to the throne. The physicians of

the day were mostly ecclesiastics, but no restriction was placed on the practice of medicine by persons, however ignorant of its principles; and Linacre, with the view of remedying the abuses that prevailed, devoted his fortune, amassed by the sale of the clerical livings to which he had been presented, to the foundation, in the year 1518, of the Royal College of Physicians, which, under its charter, had power to regulate the practice of medicine in the neighbourhood of London. It is interesting to know, that according to Linacre, a physician should be “a grave and learned person, well read in Galen, respecting but not bowing down to the prestige of the Universities; claiming for his own science a dignity apart from, but not conflicting with that of theology; looking upon surgeons and apothecaries with charity, and not without a sense of his own superiority."

The Galenical theories of humours and temperaments formed the groundwork on which the Greeks based their practice of medicine, and Linacre to bring these theories within the reach of all students of medicine translated into Latin six of Galen's works, among which were the "De Temperamentis" and "De Inæquali Intemperie," now before us, thus helping to replace the mysticism and empiricism of the Arabians by the accumulated observations recorded by Hippocrates and Galen. In these works it is assumed that to the four humours, blood, pituite, yellow bile, and black bile, there are the corresponding properties, moist-heat, moist-cold, dry-heat, and dry-cold; and that between health and disease there are four temperaments, characterised by an excess of either one or two of the cardinal qualities, heat, cold, moisture, and dryness. These were the only external influences acting on the body the ancients could recognise, as they were ignorant of the chemical processes of respiration, of the constitution of the atmosphere, and of electricity, of which we now take account. These theories are elaborated, and further, it is indicated that medicines may be classified according to their heating, drying, cooling, or moistening qualities, and should be administered so as to temper the errors of the humours in disease; and though the work has ceased to have a practical value for physicians, it yet remains of interest to the student of humoral pathology, and of the philosophy of the middle ages.

Students are indebted to the enterprise of Messrs. Macmillan and Bowes for the reprint of this scarce work, which was the first book containing Greek characters printed in England, and we are glad to learn that the same publishers propose shortly to issue the remainder of the series. The book is edited by Dr. J. F. Payne, and is prefaced by a portrait and an admirable life of Linacre.

Rhopalocera Malayana: a Description of the Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. By W. L. Distant. (London: W. L. Distant, care of West, Newman and Co., 54, Hatton Garden, E.C.)

WE have received the first part of this handsome work, in which it is proposed to describe and figure all the species of butterflies which inhabit the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Penang and Singapore. Forty-four coloured figures of butterflies are given in this part, occupying four plates of large quarto size: and they are most admirably executed in chromo-lithography. Some of the figures, indeed, are hardly to be distinguished from good handcolouring. The descriptions are full and careful, and much judgment is shown in using, as far as possible, old and well-established names, and in rejecting needless sub-divisions of the genera. It is expected that the work will be completed in six or seven parts, forming a handsome quarto volume; and we trust that the author may obtain numerous subscribers in our wealthy colonies of Singapore and Penang, as well as at home, to encourage him to complete the work in the same full and careful manner as he has commenced it.

As most of the butterflies of the larger Malay Islands

must be studied in comparison with those of the Malay Peninsula for the purposes of his work, we would suggest to Mr. Distant that he would add greatly to its value to all European collectors if he would give, in a supplementary part, a complete synopsis of the known species of butterflies inhabiting the Indo-Malayan region. Having figured all the continental Malayan species, the descriptions of those of the islands might be, in most cases, by comparative characters, aided occasionally, perhaps, by outline woodcuts. We believe that such an extension of the scope of the work would double its value, and add largely to the list of subscribers; while the increased expenditure would be comparatively unimportant.

A. R. W.

Conic Sections Treated Geometrically. By S. H. Haslam, M.A., and J. Edwards, M.A. (London: Longmans, 1881.)

THIS is a neat little treatise on the conic sections, containing-what appears to be a novelty-a method of plane projection, to which the authors give the name of Focal Projection. The remarkable feature of the book is, that the authors, who are evidently well up in these curves, should not be acquainted with the writings of the present master of St. John's College, on the same subject. No one who has looked into Dr. Taylor's recent works, could be unacquainted with what he has said upon the contributions of Boscovich and G. Walker, and would hardly use the “generating circle" of a conic in the same fashion as Boscovich does, and write, after the definition, "which we have called the auxiliary circle of a point." Schwatka's Search: Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records. By W. H. Gilder. Maps and Illustrations. (London: Sampson Low and Co.) THIS is the complete record of the expedition sent out by private subscription, in 1878, under Lieut. Schwatka, to endeavour to find the records of the Franklin expedition, which were reported to be in possession of the Nechelli Eskimo. With the general results of the expedition, our readers have already been made acquainted. The reported records, as might have been expected, were never found. But in and around the Fish River, and in King William Land and neighbourhood, several relics were obtained, and several graves and cairns found. The expedition, indeed, completed the story of the sad disaster of the Erebus and Terror. During the search, sledge-journeys of upwards of 3000 miles were made, and thus much welcome additional information was obtained concerning the country between Hudson's Bay and King William Sound. The expedition came a good deal into contact with the Eskimo, concerning whom Mr. Gilder has much to tell us. The narrative is interesting, and is welcome as throwing additional light on an Arctic expedition in which Englishmen have always continued to be interested. There are a number of good illustrations.

Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. A new and thoroughly revised edition. Edited by Andrew Findlater, M.A., LL.D. (Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers, 1882.)

THIS little work, since the publication of the first edition, edited by the late Mr. James Donald, has had deservedly a very extensive circulation. It is just the book to have at one's elbow for constant reference, handy, clearly printed, fairly full, and thoroughly trustworthy. This new edition has evidently been so thoroughly revised by Dr. Findlater, as to be virtually a new work. The selection of words has been made with great discrimination, the definitions are clear and comprehensive, and the etymologies up to the latest results of linguistic research. The dictionary contains a large number of scientific terms, though there are one or two others that we think ought to have found a place. The dictionary is the best

of its class; the appendix contains much useful information, including a table of the Metric System. Tunis; The Land and the People. By the Chevalier de Hesse-Wartegg. (London: Chatto and Windus, 1882.) HERR VON HESSE-WARTEGG spent some months in Tunis last year, and has made a readable book out of his notes. He has also drawn largely on other sources of information, so that those who know little about a country which has been so much before the public recently, will find some useful information in this volume. The author spent a good deal of time about Tunis and its environs, but seems also to have visited several other places in the Regency, including, apparently, Kairwan. He tells us a good deal about the people and their customs, about the government, the Bishas, antiquities, &c. There are several good illustrations, but no map.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] Silurian Fossils in the North-west Highlands

ON my return to-day from a geological tour in the North-west Highlands, I read with much interest the letters of Mr. Hudleston and Prof. Bonney on the above subject. The question as to the geological position of the limestone series in West Rossshire, correlated by Murchison with the Durness limestone, is one to which I devoted special attention during my late visit to the neighbourhoods of Lochs Carron, Doule, Kishorn, and Maree. The general appearance of the lin estone in these areas is uffi ciently like that of Durness to lead to the supposition that it is of the same age, but this of course can only be proved by fossil evidence. The conclusion at which I have arrived, however, in regard to the geological position of the limestone, and as to its relation to the so called Upper Gneiss rocks of the central parts of Ross-shire, is in direct opposition to the views of Murchison, and accords in the main with that of Prof. Nicol. The great triangular patch at the head of Loch Kishorn consists of a series of thick beds of grey limestone, with a few bands of sandstone in an unaltered condition, and is undoubtedly dropped by faults amongst much older strata, as maintained by Prof. Nicol. Between Lochs Carron and Doule the same series is seen to rest unconformably upon much higher beds than those which it is supposed by Murchison and others to underlie at Loch Kishorn. As I purpose shortly to give a full account of these researches, I will not venture now to trespass further on your space. HENRY HICKS

Hendon, N. W., April 29

Earthquakes and Mountain Ranges

IN NATURE of the 27th ult., in a note on a recent meeting of the Seismological Society of Japan, it is mentioned that the observations of Prof. Milne "as far as they have at present gone, show in a remarkable manner how a large mountain range absorbs earthquake energy." It may be worth while to mention, as an exception to this, that the Swiss earthquake at I p.m. on July 25, 1855, which apparently had its origin among the mountains on the south side of the Valais, between Visp and S. Nicholas, both of which places were seriously damaged, travelled through the Bernese Oberland, across the great valley of Switzerland, and then through the Jura. I was at the time in a small inn, at a place called Belle Rive in the Munster Thal, on the north side of the Jura. The house was severely shaken, so that some plaster fell from the ceiling. This was about seventyfive miles from the place of origin, and the wave in that interval had passed through two mountain ranges. It is probable that this earthquake was caused by a disturbance of a quite different kind from the volcanic disturbances of Japan, and that may account for a difference in the result. O. FISHER

Vivisection

THE editor of NATURE has no room for proofs; I must, therefore, confine myself to stateme its of facts which "A Student of Medicine can verify by consulting the 'ooks I shall name.

Prof. Schiff is the author of several works detailing an enormous number of vivisections. Some six years ago the "Gazetta d'Italia" calculated that, of dogs alone, he had used in his laboratory 14,000-supplied to him gratuitously by the municipality of Florence-besides great numbers of other animals otherwise procured. Afterwards he received only about eight dogs a week from the police, and, in consequence, posted up an advertisement offering a frane for every dog brought to him, and a bonus upon ten dogs brought by one person. In the

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Physiologie de la Digestion" he says: "I am forced to cut the vocal cords of the greater number of my dogs, lest their nightly howlings should compromise my physiological pursuits." In Prof. Schiff's "Lezioni di Fisiologia Sperimentale" will be found ample justification of my statements with regard to the character of the vivisections performed by him. I regret much that there is no room to quote examples here. It will be observed by the reader of these "Lessons of experimental physiology," that the nature and duration of the majority of the experiments render the administration of chloroform either impossible, or at the best, utterly inadequate to hinder suffering. The animal is either distinctly sensible throughout the experiment, or has been already operated on some days previou-ly, being preserved in a mangled and paralysed condition for further experi

ment.

As regards the "anesthesia," I have to-day questioned a medical graduate, who resided seven years in Florence while Prof. Schiff lived there, and was constantly in his laboratory. He says that, although chloroform was commonly administered on tying down the animals (he believes. for the convenience of the operator), no pretence was made of keeping them under the influence of the anaesthetic after the preliminary incision, and that as in fact is conclusively proved in Prof. Schiff's own works-mutilated animals were reserved from day to day, and from week to week, for further investigation.

If since leaving Florence and publishing his "Les-ons" Prof. Schiff has mended his ways, I am sincerely glad to hear it. Should such, indeed, prove to be the case, public opinion at Florencewhich ran high against him and his doings-must be credited with some share in the reformation.

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In conclusion, let me say in regard to the di-courteous charges of "error, "ignorance," and disregard of "facts so freely brought against me by your correspondent, that if in this case any person is amenable to them, it is certainly not one who, being perfectly acquainted with the works both of Prof. Mantegazza and of Prof. Schiff, bases her estimate of their performances on their own explicit statements. ANNA KINGSFORD

11, Chapel Street, Park Lane, W., April 14

[MRS. KINGSFORD's letter was forwarded to our correspondent in Geneva, who sends the following reply :-]

In reply to Mrs. Kingsford's letter, I have the following remarks to offer ::

1. If Mrs. Kingsford is "perfectly acquainted " with the works of Prof. Schiff, she must know that there exists a small book in which he has explained in detail his methods of vivisection, &c. The title is: "Sofra il metodo seguito negli esperimenti sugli animali viventi nel laoratorio di fisiologia di Firenze." It first appeared in 1864; the second enlarged edition bears the date 1874. The book is written in a popular style, so as to render it easy even for the uninitiated to understand what vivisection is, and how it is practised by Prof. Schiff; it should be read by every per on desirous of forming an unbiased judgment on the subject.

2. My letter was a reply to the accusation brought against Prof. Schiff of perpetrating "horrible tortures," "atrocities," &c. The number of dogs used for experiments (which number is erroneously stated), and the price supposed to have been paid for them are evidently irrelevant to the question. Moreover, you will find stated on p. 53 of the above pamphlet, that Prof. Schiff never accepted a dog unless its owner assured him that he would otherwise kill it himself; and I can corroborate from personal recent experience here in Geneva the further statement in the same passage, that if a person likely to be a kind master offers to take one of his dogs, he is always ready to give it away.

3. I regret to find that Mrs. Kingsford allows herself to

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misquote. The passage in the "Physiologie de la Digestion" referred to is on p. 291 of vol. i.: Je suis obligé de faire subir la section des nerfs laryngés à beaucoup de nos chiens." The section of the vocal cords is a dreadful operation, that of the nerves in question so slight, that if performed on dogs whilst at their meals, they do not leave off eating! To this I can testify. Moreover, you will notice that Schiff says, “Je suis oblige,” and the fact is he was forced by the police in Florence to cut the nerves in question; not indeed on most of his dogs, but on those which were not used for vivisection properly so called, but were kept during long periods for other (and perfectly painless) observations, such as those detailed regarding the very dog mentioned in that lecture (see the 13th lesson, p. 325).

4. People not versed in physiology are not competent to draw conclusions from a work such as the "Lezioni di Fisiologia sperimentale." Mrs. Kingsford her elf offers an example of how gross the errors are into which they may fall when she declares that in the majority of experiments the administration of anæsthetics is either "impossible or inadequate." On p. 70 of the "Nello stato pamphlet "Sofra il metodo," &c., Schiff :ays: attuale delle nostre conoscenza ron existo un solo esperimento praticato nell' animale viventi, al qualo non si possa, e quindi non si debba, togliere il carattere di crudeltà mediante l'uso degli anestetici ;" and lower down: "Da 25 anni non mi sono neppure una volta veduto nella necessità di escludere l'uso degli anestetici." On p. 52 he writes: “Brediamo dover aspettare finchè ogni traccia di sensibilità, e l'effetto meccanico delle sensazioni sia scomparso."

5. To the medical gradunte's statement and insinuations I oppose Prof. Schiff's affirmation and my own knowledge of his character and scientific habits. It is curious that this gentleman, after having spent seven years in Prof Schiff's laboratory, should be ignorant that chloroform is never used by him (see p. 49).

6. That many animals which have been operated upon are kept alive for ulterior observations is expressly stated in my first letter, and any person, however ignorant of science, can understand that whole branches of physiology can only be studied under the condition of this being so. They are kept not only as Mrs. Kingsford so pathetically exclaims, "from day to day, and 27 The from week to week," but sometimes from year to year.' question at issue is whether they suffer or not, a question easy to decide by their appearance, appetite, and demeanour. And the fact is they do not suffer, a statement any one can corroborate who chooses to come and look at the dogs in the School of Medicine here. Why they do not suffer is explained in detail in the pamphlet referred to above.

7. Prof. Schiff has not, alas, "mended his ways in deference to public opinion;" he tells me that never since the year 1847 has he departed from the methods detailed in the book quoted at the beginning of this letter. Geneva, April 23

B.Sc., STUDENT OF MEDICINE Red Variable Stars-"Variab. Cygni (Birmingham), 1881," &c.

THE above star, so called by Schmidt in the Astr. Nach., No. 2421, is now a striking object of 8 magnitude. On December 21, last year, it was certainly not over 12, and, probably, it was less. This appeared about its minimum, and its maximum seemed to have been attained on June 6, when it was 8 mag., as at present. On May 22, when I first found it, it was about 9. If it is now at maximum, there must be a striking inequality in its periods of decrease and increase, but perhaps it will go on to a greater magnitude this time than before.

U Cygni (No. 553 in my Red Star Catalogue) seemed last night (April 28) to be smaller than I ever saw it previously, and under II mag. Its colour was, however, very marked. The blue star near it (Arg. +47° 3078), which I have long considered to be slightly variable (see Catalogue), seems now at a maximum of 8 magnitude, though contrast with its diminished neighbour, may have some effect on its apparent size.

No. 448, in which I have also detected variability, is now about 8.5, and as deeply coloured as when I first found it in April, 1876. J. BIRMINGHAM

Millbrook, Tuam, April 29

Matter and Magneto-electric Action THE very interesting lecture by Mr. Spottiswoode on the above subject incidentally throws light upon a phenomenon which probably has puzzled some other of your readers besides myself.