NOTES AND QUERIES.

Evening Star, Issue 11894, 23 May 1903, Page 8

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Ova readers are invited to ask and answer questions in this column. They are at , liberty to write over their own names or to adopt a nom de plume. In the latter case, however, the communication must be accompanied by the writer's name and address as guarantees of good faith. Correspondents must remember that, in order to ensure early publication, their communications must reach the editor not late* than Wednesday in each week, and that no letter (if possible) must exceed fifty lines. NOTES. TRUTH. 1 think the best definition is that of Home Tooke—"Truth is to each man merely what he troweth" ; that is, what he is convinced of, and there can be no objective reality within our reach. This is particularly exemplified in courts of justice, when witnesses contradict each other both on questions of fact and hypothesis. Where we get muddled is in mixing up truth with fact. Now, both are as distinct as crime and sin from each other. An excellent little work by Hobbes on 'The Common Law of England' tells us, inter alia: "AH crimes are, indeed, sins, but not all sins are crimes. A sin may be in thought or secret purpose of a man (or woman), of which neither a judge nor a. witness can take notice ; but a crime is such a sin as consists in an action against the law, of which action he can be accused and tried by a judge and be convicted or cleared by witnesses." Now. many think when the evidence of witnesses does not coincide in every particular they are not speaking the truth. Never was there a greater fallacy. It is here where the efficiency of the trained mind is of value in sifting truth—assumed truth—from fact. Take Mrs Maybrick's case as an instance. There has always existed a certain misconception concerning her speech from the dock. It was a necessity for the defence, in order to attempt to explain a certain incident in the evidence for the prosecution. It will be remembered that it was proved by the prosecution that Mrs Maybrick was seen to remove a small bottle of Valentine's extract of meat from a table near the bed, take it out of the room, and shortly after return with it concealed under her apron, and replace it. As a matter of fact, the deceased took none of the fluid, but the analysis found a considerable quantity of arsenic in solution. This was the strongest evidence in the case. Now, before taking the bottle out of the room the dying man whispered something to his wife. Mrs Maybrick from the dock—accused could not in those days give evidence on their own behalf—by the grace of the Judge, told why she placed the poison there, but in a flnid form. It was because her husband had requested her to do so ; and further, because he was a habitual con:itm"r of the poison she placed it in the meat juire as a tonic. There is no doubt the ypeech operated against her, but the surrounding facts demonstrated she was tenins the truth. The assumption of her i-Tiilt (aDd I have always thought there was ■ufficient dqjibt for an acquittal) was contrary to fact, because the only known occasion of her placing the poison in the meat was the one mentioned, and this was never partaken of by Mr Maybrick. Truth, like facts must be subject to severe analysis in the battery of cross-examination, because each of us may differently understand truths meaning.—F.M. FATA MORGANA. Professor Boccara, of the Technical College of Reggio, has contributed Tecentlv to the Memone' of the Italian Spectroscopists bociety an interesting description of the appearance during the past three years of the famous Fata Morgana of the Straits of which in its way ia as remarkable as the Spectre of tha Brocken. During the past three years displays of Fata Morgana have been witnessed by Professor Boccara himself as well as by independent observers in the Straits of Messina,' and these have been types of each of the three recognised phases—the aerial, the marine, and the multiple Morgana. In the summer of 1900 the houses on the Italian coast at Galhco and the point of Catona were seen as though projected in an elongated vertical direction on the Sicilian coast beyond, giving the Straits the appearance of a gulf. In the summer of 1901 an appearance was presented of arches standing below the sea line in an upright position, their bases having no visible foundation. These arches corresponded to some railway arches above the cemetery at Messina, though they were seen at Reggio. In the multiple form seen last year the houses of Messina were first apparent, but were subsequently blotted out by the walls of the citadel of Messina. The meteorological conditions necessary for the formation of Fata Morgana are calm, hot weather, so that (lie vapors exhaled under the heat of the sun from the heterogeneous substances—antimonious, vitreous, oleaginous, saline, and others— contained in quantity in the shores and earths of Calabria and Sicily, shall not be carried away by the wind. The Fata Morgana is usually preceded by a white streak of mist, which fades away like a transparent veil, revealing arches, towers, colonnades, houses, and woods, floating in the air or on the sea, giving perfect images of buildings and places far remote. Reggio and its neighborhood is peculiarly adapted to the display of Fata Morgana by reason alike of its topograpiiical peculiarities and the meteorological conditions not infrequently prevailing there. These are a m6rning hour, hot weather, extreme clearness of the air combined with a thin veil of mist over the Sicilian coast, and a calm air or slight wind from the north.—Bookwobm. MINING CONDITIONS FIFTY TEARS AGO. If one will only for a few minutes consider the position of the intelligent young miner of to-day, compared with the young miner of fifty years ago, he cannot fail to see the advantages offered to aspiring present-dav workmen, which half a century ago would", in fact, be undreamt of. At that period' says Thomas White, of Larkhall, in the ' Science and Art of Mining,' it must be remembered that collieries were small in extent compared with the present-day mines, neither had they the same substantial and up-to-date machinery. The coal seams worked at that period were lying comparatively near the surface, consequently the expense of shaft sinking was not great. That being so, the mines were not laid out so systematically as now, consequently ventilation, as a rule, was deficient, as methods of ventilation such as splitting the air at that time were unheard of. It seems as though the colliery managers 'of that period, as a rule, never cared under what condition workmen earned their living, so lorig as sufficient coal was being sent from the mine. Generally the coal was taken out first that was most easily gotten, with the result that pillars on main roadways were sometimes robbed, large falls would take place, or creep travel over the whole length of the workings until ultimately the mine had to be abandoned, and another shaft put down some distance from it, to recover, if possible, a portion of the lost coal. At that period it was quite common for boys of seven years of age to be working underground for twelve or fourteen hours each day, education at that period not being compulsory. Working under such conditions without education, the miner had generally to rely on large muscles for a living. Positions such as that of a manager might be said to have been almost hereditary, descending from father to sou, who had been fortunate enough to get some education.—C.R. ANSWERS. No. 21.—The payment would be directly proportional to the work done, and the amount of work done in this case equals the height that the centre of gravity of the mass is lifted, multiplied by the weight of the mass—viz.: Let the whole mass or contents of well equal 2; then 4-masg equals 1 multiplied Dy 25ft, equal the work done. The work remaining to be done equals 1 multiplied by 75; therefore i of the work is done, and the payment eauals £SO divided by 3. G.H.