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quickly and positively does he form an opinion, and the more actively does he proceed to attack the trouble which he believes to exist. During the last hundred years physicians have been particularly interested in studying what is termed the natural history of diseases, that is, the course which diseases take when left to themselves without medical treatment. The result of this study has been to demonstrate that in most cases the powers of nature are quite sufficient to effect a cure, if only nature is left alone; modern observation thus giving added force to the maxim of Hippocrates, uttered over two thousand three hundred years ago, that the first care of a physician should be to "Do no harm." We see now how it is that often the wisest physician may be he who does the least, and so exemplifies that it is true that in some cases there is very little difference between a good physician and none at all; beyond the power which the physician may have to save his patient from the officiousness of friends, ever ready to advise and suggest in matters of which they know the least. The necessity which is imposed upon the doctors to give an opinion at sight often develops in them an ability in the line of evasive oracularity which would have made their fortunes in the days of the soothsayers and priests of the oracles among the ancients. To seem to know everything while one is certain of nothing, and to seem to be doing something while in reality convinced of the propriety of doing nothing, are some of the absurdities which are yet required of their physicians by a credulous and exacting public.

In the golden age of the future it may be that pretense to supernatural knowledge of disease will be esteemed a proof of an impostor, that an acknowledgment of uncertainty and a desire to wait for more distinct symptoms to develop before hazarding an opinion will be esteemed as a proof of wisdom, and that resort to medicine of some kind for every derangement of bodily function will be esteemed a proof of dementia.

WANTED-GOOD DOCTORS.

Too many Doctors have we, some oft say. These words are true-but in another way. Of poor ones, truly, is the number great, But for better ones we often vainly wait.

Mullein stalks we do not want, but timber.
Men without bones, or bones so very limber
That ev'ry wind may move them to and fro :
Such limber men we do not want to know,
But earnest, active men, all very true;
We want such men, like David strong and true.
For earnest men there is much work to do.

Men with backbones are we trying now to find,
Such men as never can be left behind;
That always in the battle foremost stand,
Ever ready to extend a helping hand,
We want such men-we want them even now.
To quickly find them will you tell us how?
For sleepy men we never have a call,
We need live men, if men we need at all.

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M. P. GREENSWORD, M.D.

SICKNESS A DISGRACE.—That inveterate friend of hygienic reform, Dr. F. L. Oswald, uses strong language in a late discussion on popular medicine. He

says:

"All bodily ailments are more or less urgent appeals for help; nor can we doubt in what that help should consist. The more fully we understand the nature of any disease, the more clearly we see that the discovery of the cause means the discovery of the cure. Many sicknesses are caused by poisons, foisted upon the system under the name of tonic beverages or remedial drugs; the only cure is to eschew the poison. Others, by habits more or less at variance with the health laws of Nature; to cure such we have to reform their habits. There is nothing accidental, and rarely anything inevitable, about a disease; we can safely assume that nine out of ten complaints have been caused and can be cured by the sufferers (or their nurses) themselves. God made man upright'; every prostrating malady is a deviation from the state of Nature. The infant, 'mewling and puking in its nurse's arms,' is an abnormal phenomenon. Infancy should be a period of exceptional health; the young of other creatures are healthier, as well as prettier,

1881.]

HOW THE SWEDES WARM THEIR HOUSES.

purer, and merrier, than the adults, yet the childhood years of the human animal are the years of sorest sickliness; statistics show that among the Caucasian races men of thirty have more hope to reach a good old age than a new-born child has to reach the end of its second year. The reason is this: the health theories of the average Christian man and woman are so egregiously wrong, that only the opposition of their better instincts helps them -against their conscience, as it were-to

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HOW THE SWEDES WARM THEIR HOUSES.

VISITORS to the Centennial Expo- The quantity of fuel consumed I will

sition at Philadelphia must remember the great porcelain-covered stoves which formed part of the Norway and Sweden exhibits. They attracted not a little attention, and should have taught our enterprising stove-manufacturers a practical lesson. It would appear, however, that they were regarded mainly as curiosities, and quite incompatible with our American spirit of enterprise. These stoves are called kakelungs, and their economy is so much above our methods of heating that we feel constrained to say a word about them now, or rather to print what a traveler in Northern Europe has to say concerning them, as follows:

"To begin with facts, I will mention that we are now living in two rooms of a hotel, one 20 by 20 feet, the other 20 by 15 feet, the ceiling 12 feet high. Opening into these rooms is one common entrance door and a pair of huge folding doors.

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place at one-twentieth part of what would, under similar circumstances, have been required to warm the same rooms in America, and yet we pride ourselves on 'what we know about house-warming.'

"I may mention that my son has been here during eight months past, occupying two rooms even larger than those of which the dimensions are given. He purchased last fall one ' Fam,' about 200 cubic feet of wood, of which on the 1st of March one-fourth was left, after firing all winter. The warming is done with a kind of stove called a ‘kakelung,' and so far as your correspondent can judge, on principles that are more scientific than those of our many patent contrivances, whose double function seems to be to consume fuel and stifle the inmates of our dwellings. This last is, I know, a strong proposition; but it is based upon personal experience, at the end of three months spent in a first-class dwelling (with modern improvements) in Philadelphia, last fall. A sense of relief was felt when we escaped again to old foggy England, where patent heaters are unknown.

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return to the last-named system, a 'kakelung' is simply a great stove of masonry, covered with porcelain plates, having usually five flues, through which the gases of combustion must pass up and down, a distance of 30 to 50, or even 60 feet, before escaping into the air. The general principle of their operation is to provide enough material to absorb all the heat from the fire-to conduct the gases through these long flues until their temperature has fallen to a point that no longer gives off heat. The quantity of the material in the 'kakelung' is so great that the temperature from one firing (which is always enough) will not raise the temperature of any part so much that the hands can not be held upon the outside.

"Two hours after a fire is made, and after the wood has burned up and the flue been closed, the 'kakelung' begins to get warm on the outside, the light porcelain plates give off their moderate warmth to the atmosphere in the room, and ten hours later there will not be much difference in the temperature of the stove or of the room.

They are good on paper; the practice is what I refer to, and it is without fear of making a mistake that I assert that any house can be warmed with one-fourth the amount of fuel, and with twice the comfort, by means of kakelungs, as with furnaces-if other conditions peculiar to heating here are at the same time observed."

THE COST OF DRINK.-The New York Sun mentions that the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections of New York have the care and control of "a population of 11,000 lunatics, drunkards, criminals, infants, blind, aged and sick," and that "they have charge this year of the disbursement of $1,348,383.34 for the maintenance of these unfortunate creatures." It is safe to conclude, in the face of the past reports of the Commissioners themselves, that at least three-fourths of the 11,000 are dependent upon the public charity, either directly or indirectly, through the agency of strong drink, and that fully three-quarters of a million dollars for their support, which will be exacted of the tax-payers of this city, will be

long, the Sanitarian asks, will the taxpayers and the good citizens of this metropolis allow this waste of their substance and this dreadful work of ruin among men, women, and children to exist and be perpetuated under the forms of law? In plainer words, how long will the tax-payers allow the rum-seller to make criminals, and lunatics, and paupers by the thousand, openly and defiantly, and under our very noses?

“A ‘kakelung' instead of being an un-paid because of the drink-traffic. How sightly obstruction, is so constructed as to constitute an ornamental piece of furniturę. Doors open into them in front, where, in a kind of closet, with iron shelves, food can be kept warm or warmed. Baking can be done in the furnace for hours after the fire has been burned out. "Now this result in heating which has been described, is in a great measure due to double windows. The conducting power of a thin pane of glass interposed between the external air and that of a warm room, is never imagined until an experiment is tried. Such cooling does. no good; it simply costs money, and answers no purpose of ventilation; and, speaking from actual experience, I would | rather live in a room hermetically sealed and warmed by a 'kakelung' than in any room into which burned air is conducted from one of our American furnaces. I am well aware of the scientific arguments and explanations that have been put forth in reference to American house-heating.

FATAL TOBACCO.-Recently in Paris a porter cut his finger with a knife with which he had been clearing out his pipe. The next day the finger swelled, and the arm became inflamed, while tumors appeared under the arm-pits. The medical man called in recognized poisoning by nicotine, and seeing that amputation was necessary, sent him off at once to the hospital, where at last accounts, he was lying in a very precarious condition.

1881.]

NOTES IN SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.

NOTES IN SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.

Why Bees Work in Darkness.— Every one knows what honey fresh from the comb is like. It is a clear yellow syrup, without a trace of solid sugar in it. Upon straining, however, it gradually assumes a crystalline appearance-it candies, as the saying is, and ultimately becomes a solid lump of sugar. It has not been suspected that this change was due to a photographic action; that the agent which alters the molecular arrangement of the iodine of silver on the excited collodion plate, and determines the formation of camphor and iodine crystals in a bottle, causes the syrup honey to assume a crystalline form. This, however, is the case. Mr. Scheibler has inclosed honey in stoppered flasks, some of which he has kept in perfect darkness; while others have been exposed to the light. The invariable results have been that the sunned portion rapidly crystallized, while that kept in the dark has remained perfectly liquid. We now see why bees work in perfect darkness, and why they are so careful to obscure the glass windows which are sometimes placed in their hives. The existence of their young depends on the liquidity of saccharine food presented to them; and if the light were allowed access to the syrup it would gradually acquire a more or less solid consistency; it would seal up the cells, and in all probability prove fatal to the inmates of the hive.

Mortality of Brakemen.—The brakemen on our railroads find it quite difficult to get their lives insured. It is estimated that there are ten brakemen killed throughout the country every day while coupling cars and making up trains, or are knocked from the top of the cars by bridges, or slip, or fall, or are injured or killed in collisions. Then there must be at least three times as many injured as are killed, of whom the public get no account. If to brakemen are killed every day, that would be equivalent to 3,650 during the year, which, added to the number injured in various ways while on duty, would give the sum total of deaths and injuries about 14,600 a year. These are frightful figures of a | fatality, a loss of life, or injury to the body. The public has no idea of the number of accidents that occur on the various railroads throughout the country every day. There is no vocation so fraught with danger to life and limb as that of the brakemen on our railroads, particularly on freight trains. Indeed the life of a brakeman is a precarious one. Some insurance agents in some parts of the country do not take risks on employés on freight trains; but conductors and brakemen on passenger trains, where there is less danger, are insured by their paying an extra per cent. Railroad men say that only about 25 per cent. of the brakemen of freight trains die a natural death; also, that the average life of the brakeman, after he goes on the road, is about 10 years.

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The

Composite Portraits.-At the last meeting of the Photographic Society of Great Britain, Mr. Francis Galton, F.R.S., read a paper on "Composite Portraiture," in which he stated that his attention was first directed to the subject some years ago, when he found that by taking two or more portraits of different individuals under exactly the same conditions, and superimposing them, the features, if not absolutely dissimilar, blended together and formed an idealized portrait which could be well seen when the image was thrown upon a magic-lantern screen. register he adopted, so that the features should be identically superimposed, was by drawing a horizontal line through the eyes, another parallel to this through the mouth, and a third perpendicular to and bisecting these horizontal lines through the nose. The point of bisection between the eyes was that which he was especially careful to maintain in the same position in each portrait. Mr. Galton's first method of producing composite portraits was by means of a copying camera, paper positives being used. He now. however, used transparencies, and he exhibited and described the apparatus which he had adopted for the purpose. One purpose for which he believed composite portraits would be valuable was that of producing a standard physiognomy of disease. With this object he had taken the portraits of a number of consumptive persons, male and female, and had combined them; and it was remarkable how a certain average of faces was found to be almost identical. Mr. Galton also exhibited a number of what he called typical portraits. One was the face of an idealized criminal, formed from a combination of seven portraits of criminals, others were the faces of consumptive patients, and a third series was that of the portraits of officers and men of the Royal Engineers. In one case he had combined the portraits of twelve officers, in another the portraits of eleven privates, and in a third he had combined the portraits of officers and privates. In each instance Mr. Galton said the individuality marking each class was strongly brought out and idealized. He also pointed out how, in every case, the idealized portrait was betterlooking than the faces from which it was made.

In conclusion, Mr. Galton referred to the use which photographers might make of composite portraits. He thought the process could be turned to a most interesting account in the production of family likenesses. Artistic excellence was of no consequence in the negatives, and all that was necessary was that the portraits should be taken under the same aspect, either as a perfect profile or a perfect full face, and under the same conditions of light and shade, The result of the combination of a number of faces of the same family was often very curicus, not the least singular point being the circumstance that there was often a difference of opinion as to

whom the idealized portrait was most like. Mr. Warnerke said, that when Mr. Galton first described his method, some years ago, he had tried the production of composite portraits, and found the result exceedingly interesting. Captain Abney expressed surprise at the result of an experiment which Mr. Galton had made to show that repeated exposures on the same plate made no difference in the result. Had not Mr. Galton proved that he was right, he should have expected some difference. After a remark from Col. Wortley, Mr. Galton observed that one curious result he had noticed was in the case of a combination portrait of two criminal boys. This portrait was given to an artist to copy, and, singularly enough, although the artist had never seen either of the boys, the picture he drew was a portrait of one of them rather than a copy of the composite.

How to Boil Rice.- Few cooks seem to know how to prepare this article of food properly, so a hint or two will not be out of place here. The rice must be carefully picked over, and then washed in cold water until it is free from all the loose starch which may adhere to it, or until the water looks clear. Then dry it. It can be put in a flour sieve for this purpose. In placing it over the fire, use three pints of water to a cup of rice and a teaspoonful of salt. The water must be boiling before the rice is added. Boil precisely 12 minutes, and then pour off the water. Then place the sauce-pan with the rice, on the back part of the stove, where it will be kept warm without burning, for ten minutes longer with the cover partly removed. In this way it is not soggy, or too soft, and every grain is cooked separately by itself. After being cooked, if left covered, it will soften and the grains will burst open, in their delicate tenderness.

Education and Brain DevelopMENT. According to the Gazette des Hospitaux, MM. Lacassagne and Cliquet have examined, by the aid of the conformateur, the heads of 190 doctors of medicine, 133 rudimentarily educated, 90 illiterate, and 91 prisoner soldiers, with the following results expressed in centi

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There is thus a considerable difference in favor of the doctors, a class chosen to represent those whose professional work is entirely mental, and this is especially marked in the frontal measurements. Moreover, the two sides of the head are not symmetricalin the educated the frontal region is more developed to the left, in the uneducated the occipital region is more developed to the right. The head is larger (more developed) in the case of the educated than in those of inactive intelligence. Among the educated the frontal region is more developed in proportion

than the occipital; and if the difference is greater in the occipital it is very trifling, while among the illiterate it is considerable.

Training Tomatoes.-VIRGINIA E. B. writes to the Country Gentleman :-" The season for planting tomatoes is nearly at hand, and I fear that all lovers of this delicious fruit do not know how to grow them successfully. When the plants are ready for the garden, make a considerable hill of good compost. Chip manure is excellent, and a quantity of chicken manure is good. After the hill is made, drive a long stake through it. This may be six feet high. Set the plant near it. The training will require attention. The plant will immediately begin to sucker, or throw out side shoots, just above each leaf. These must be cut off, and then the plant will run up vigorously. Tie it to the stake, and do not be afraid to use the knife. Keep on cutting each stem that appears in the axil of a leaf, and keep on tying. The first bearing branches come directly from the body of the plant. Remember that this trimming must be continued as long as the plant bears. Thus trained, the fruit is superior in size, quantity, and flavor, besides being less liable to rot or drop off.

The Cross Tau.-In the Antiquary for March last is an article by Llewellyn JewThis cross, ett, F.S.A., on the cross tau. called Crux Ansata and St. Anthony's Cross, is a three-limbed cross in the form of the letter T. It is identical with the Egyptian emblem of life or key of the Nile, and is sometimes used as a phallic symbol. It is found on the sculptures of Khorsabad, the ivories from Nimroud, and on Assyrian cylinders. It is stated by Lucan to have been a symbol of the gods among the Druids. It is found among the Gnostic and Hebrew charms. It is also found with other forms of the cross on sculptures at Copan and at Palenque, in Central America. It occurs in Norman and Saxon sculptures, in Canterbury Cathedral and

on London Tower. The cross of the heathen world was derived from primeval religion. Thus the tau or the crutch, the emblem of life, becomes an emblem of the cross upon which we are taught to lean, and which reconciles God with man.

Pellagra is the name given to a disease which of late has become unusually prevalent in some parts of Italy, especially in the provinces of Brescia, Padua, Piacenza, and Ferrara, the ratio of those afflicted in Brescia being about eight per cent. of the population. Sardinia and Sicily are exempt from it, and it seems to have been unknown before the middle of last century. Even now its ravages are confined to those of the rural laboring population, who are ill-fed and over-tasked

people morally reduced to the level of brutes and physically ruined by the inhuman severity of their labor, the infamous quality of their food, and the utter wretchedness of their lodgings. The earliest symptoms of the dis

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