The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-27

~ NAAC SrABHCA uHDSEh-IllaY,
perhaps, make him sufficiently ac-
qualnteu with a dozen of the attach
Hhehts which, under more or less quaint
names, are most commonly used on
board ship. But, even If he has ex-
TENDED his inquiries much further: and
mas made himself master of a full score
Oh the bends. bitches" and other
Knots which the sailor has, literally,
at his finger ends he must not imag-
Inc that he has at all finished his edu-
catlon in such matters. For, although
knots most needs to be understood.
there are other departments both of
business and sport in which it must be
studied; and in some of these there are
mysteries into which the seafaring man
never troubles himself to inquire Thus
the fisherman. both amateur and pro-
tessional, in the use of nets, lines. and
casts, employs devices which would
puzzle the mere yachtsman. and ''fal-
coners' knots belong to an art which
is now so little practiced that not one
In thousand Europeans would be able
TO tie one. The popularity of the lat
ter is that they are used in the manipu-
latlon of leather thongs, and are most
ly so devised that they can be tied and
united with one hand, whereas, in the
anglers case. the material to be ham
died is sometimes gut and sometimes
t1ne cord. which lend themselves to a
different sort of ENHANCEMENT from
hempen cords.
Some Definitions.
photographers have been almost as
much puzzled to find an apt definition
Tor the knot as DR.. Johnson was to
give one for the met" Some of them,
in their erdeavors to display techni-
cal knowledge, have gone very wide
of the mark. as the writer who, in u
popular encyclopedia. tells his inno-
cent readers that a knot is a knob
formed on the extremity of a rope"
one dictionary gives no fewer than
twenty-five separate meanings for the
word, although the whole category of
nautical knots is included under one of
these definitions. Most of the authori-
ties consider as one of the essential
qualities of the knot that it should be
difficult to unite or undo" But none
of them appear to have ranged knots
in a graduated scale, in accordance
with the obstinacy with which they
defy solution, varying from the Cor
dian" to that well-known "bow" in
which neckties are arranged. Regarded
from the scientific point of view
those complications of strings or
cords" which are usually said to con-
stitute a knot have been studied and
ulSCuSSCu III d Il1ll16T WHICH WOulu
considerably astonish some of the old
fashioned sea captains who supposed
that they had nothing to learn on the
subject. Such a worthy master of his
craft would probably be rather at a
loss even to tell the difference between
"paradromic" and an 'irreducible'
knot, and would be at a loss to say
whether it could or could not exist in
q space of four dimensions" Yet these
appear to be among the elementary
principles admitted in all mathemati-
cal theories in this department of
science. What would the ablest-bodied
seamen say to such aphorisms as
those which are propounded by q
learned authority? ANY kont, how
ever, complex, can be fully represent
ed by three closed plane curves none
of which has double points. and no
two of which intersect one another"
Knots which are amphicheivical can
be deformed into their own perVer-
sions." If man will play football for
a few minutes with an ordinary ball
of string, and then pull the ends tight.
he will find it difficult to believe that
the knots which have formed them
selves between those ends can be de-
scribed by any formula, however in
genious.
Many Hard Names.
Leaving out of question these learn
ed expostions, which it requires some
patience to even understand. and much
more faith to accept, one may feel
reasonably content if one can give an
ineligible account of the various
I knots which are still in general use.
OF these it is not always the most
simple and handy which are the best
known, at least by name. What, for
instance he than the
reef knott And yet how many peo-
pie in the inland rural district can ex-
plain, or even show, how to tie it
correctly, and avoid the ridiculous
granny" which resembles it in the
same way as a parody resembles the
original which it is intended to bur-
lesque? AS for the harness hitch"
the ''hawser bend,' the round turn
and the double Flemish loop it gen
orally requires an expert to expound
them accurately. Still less familiar are
such picturesque creations as the
"catspaw" and the Turks head"
Draw knots, slip knots and running
knots present less difficulty: but the
vale knot the meshing knot, and the
BARRIERS knot are specialties. Among
other nations some of the names given
to knots are even more quaint and
characteristic than shose invented by
English sailors. Such are the knots
called in French dogs leg, VOLTS snout
and lark's head.
The "Capucine knot" is now used by
French birdcatchers, and the builders
in the same country have a Partially
for an attachment of their own called
the 'noeud d'artiticier." In Italy an
order of merit was started in the four
teenth century under the name of the
Order of the Knot, and manx distin-
! guished families still claim as their
own a special intertwinement of cords
and ribbons. The true lovers knot is
apparently known almost all over the
world. and chiefly used in pictorial rep
reservations of a not too artistic kind.
Of knots which have little or no con-
nection with ropes or cords. the most
notable is that which is a synonym
for a nautical mile. Many people trav-
ell many miles by sea without finding
out the origin of this term, which is,
of course. that the speed of a shin
was formerly gagged by observing how
great a length was paid out in thirty
seconds of a line on which knots had