INTERESTING EXTRACTS FROM CURRENT MAGAZINES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 36, 11 February 1905, Page 9

INTERESTING EXTRACTS FROM CURRENT MAGAZINES.

WHERE DEBTORS ARE SAFE. The pririleges of sanctuary were limited by the Pope in 1503. at the request of Henry VH., and, being much abused, were almost extinguished by Henry VTIL, says a, writer in the "Windsor Magazine." In 1541, the law was practically abolished, and am order was given that all persons taking refnge within the. walls of the legal sanctuaries should wear a badge of distinction, and should not leave their refuge before sunrise or after sunset. Finally, in 1623, the law was utterly abolished by an Act of James 1., running thns:—"Be it enacted by the authority of this Parliament that no sanctuary or privilege of sanctuary shall hereafter be a4mitted or allowed in any case." In Scotland religions sanctuaries were abolished at the Reformation; but within the '"grith" or asylnni once belonging to the Abbey nt Holyrood, and now attached to the Palace, debtors are safe from their creditors, and as within its limits Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags are included, this refnge is both roomy and agreeable enough. 'It cannoti however, protect criminals. [The "'Windsoc" for once makes a slip. > Sanctuary at Holyrood has no longer any i legal validity.] is Tax: moon ishabitso* XBT DISCOVERIES. Summarising our knowledge of the moon so far, and which we have only obtained through recent observations, we find, writes Professor W. H. Eickering, that there seem to be four canal systems, two large and tw« small. In each there is a prominent lake, from which three or more canals diverge in various directions. The largest of these lakes is sitnated to the east of the central peaks. It has also three canals. The third, at the extremity of a ridge, has frmr or five canals radiating from it, and a nearly concentric ring similar to Solis Lacns or Mars. Stella fourth is a small and very faint lake at the extreme northern end of the floor, from which at least five minute canals radiate. It also is furnished with a somewhat ill-dp-fined dark ring, composed in part of the lakes and canals of Systems I. and n. These canal systems seem to be almost entirely independent of the surface conngn- | rations. Sometimes the central lake is oa. j a mountain crest, and sometimes in the I bottom of a valley. The canals sometimes i descend one slope, cross a valley and ascend I another. They generally appear all at once j throughout their whole length, but in ai least two instances astronomers have reCognised a progressive motion. Iv botto eases the motion was downhill. TKKES AND GRASS IS THE MOON. On the niglu of July 31. 1904. a bright* j hazy object, two seconds in diameter, was j noticed upon the floer of the lunar crater Plato. Observations made July 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, and 2S, had shown nothing ltnnsnal lat this point. On August 2. in place of the bright object, a black elliptical shadow was seen. It resembled a crater, and measured about two miFfes in diameter. Over the j north-east and north extended a large white I area. This was confirmed upon August X Several other objects, not previously maj>ped. have been observed while <>TaTntni ng Piato. They consist of two small craters and a dark spot between two rifts on. the soathern border of this crater floor, a larger I crater on the north eastern, border, and another one two seconds north-east of craterlet No. t>6. The white arc:i formerly s« ■ conspicuous surroaading crateriet No. 54 has now nearly disappeared. A few words .may now be said on the chief objection that has been raised to the theory that these changes are due to vegetation, namely, a lack of water on the moon. While it is true that water cannot exist fn the free state under a certain minimum pressure, and while it is also true that no such pressure apparently exists upon the moon's surface, still there is nothing to prevent water occurring beneath the sarface of the ground, retained by the ' capillary action of the soil. , j It has been shown by Professor Cameron J that water can be extracted by -dry soil j Crom a membrane agaiust a calculated fluidmixing pressure of :jtf atmospheres, op ! about 500 pounds per square inch. Since , on the earth plants au live ou moisture . which they have In turn extracted from • such, a soil, tiere seems no difficulty Iα ua- • demanding" ho-w th«y could live, on the ■ moon, in a soil which canld thus retain . ] considerable moisture in spite of the low . atmospheric pressure. Indeed, if it wer<=> poesifale to eooceire of an ergjuilsm wWcll i conld absorb its oxygen directly from vege- , tattoo, and store it daring the hmar night, s tlwae >c m> reason why aaimcl life shoal«i