March, 1879.
THE WEST SHORE.
73
THK NKOK88ITY OK Pl.VVTV tv i
A writer in Scribner, considering "The Hela
tiooi of Insanity to Modern Civilisation,"
speaks of the lou of sleep m a prominent cause
of insanity. He aaye: "During every moment
of eouaciousneu the brain ia in aotivity. The
peculiar process of cerebration, whatever that
may consist of, is taking plaoe; thought after
thought comes forth, nor can we help it It is
only when the peouliar connection or chain of
conneotion of one brain-cell with another is
broken and consciousness fades away into the
dreamless land of perfect sleep, that the brain is
at rest. In this state it recuperates its ex
hausted energy and power, and stores them
up for future need. The period of wakefulness
is one of constant wear. Every thought is
generated at the expense of brain-oells, which
can be fully replaced only by periods of prop
erly regulated repose. If, therefore, these sru
not secured by sleep; if the brain, through over
stimulation, is not left to recuperate, its energy
becomes exhausted, debility, disease, and,
finally, disintegration supervene. Hence, the
SatU'IiU usm or liUNruwDlli. A corre
spondent writes us from the Mandwioh Islands
saying that during a long life spent in tropical
fever districts he has been able to escape infec
tion and miasma by the use of gunpowder, sup
plemented by a few simple precautious against
sudden chauges of temperature, sunstroke, bad
water and the like. He uses uo water that has
not been boiled aud afterwards kept from air
coutaot; but his main relianoe ia upon the prac
tice of burning a thimbleful of gunpowder in his
bedroom aud very small uautitiea in his trunk,
wardrobe, etc. , so as to keep his olothisi in an
atmosphere feebly charged with gunpowder gas.
In Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius, the east
coast of tropic Africa, and other fever-smitten
lands he has fouud audi simple means a sure
preventive of epidemic and upideimc diseases,
and has thereby been often brought to the
philosophic rellootiou that gunpowder ia de
stined to invert the aim intended by its fabri
cation. ScitlllHt A Hi' 1 iron.
BtmVUa Cam or I'oiwininii. The .Viiifer
funnel-says that three children of .lames C,
RIWKD OHOU.SK.
The bird of Inch we girt an engraving on
this page will be recognised by our Oregon
and Northern California readers as a deniseu of
their thickets. Many others will also remember
it the object of their gunning la the Eastern
.States. The grouse, although one of the moat
widely distributed birds in the Hatted Stat.-.,
seldom, if ever, so far as we know, appears iu
lower California. It is known as the
"iartridge" in tbo Middle States and the
"pheasant" in the Southern .States.
What Miunt Havi In. i n In a report just
forwarded to the .Secretary of the Interior, tlen.
Fremont eayst It is Interesting to speculate on
what might hare lieen, had this eeulhern Hue
been already built Wore the war, True to the
instincts of commerce the northern road has
swept round through California and is entering
Alisons from the west, while other great roads
story is almost always the same; for weeks and I
months liefore the indications of active insanity
appear, the patient has been anxious, worried
and wakeful, not sleeping more than four or
rive hours oat of the 24. The poor brain,
unable to do its constant work, begins to waver,
to show signs of weakness or aberration; hallu
cinations or delusions hover around like floating
shadows in the air, until finally disease comes,
and
" 'plants his slsts
Against iho ml id, iht which ho pricks and eonde
With Many legions of strange Isalsslss.
Which In their Ihn.ig and pros to that lad bounds
Oenfoend theessstrae.'
Bin trm or Lat'oliwo. "He who laughs can
commit no deadly sin," says the mother of
Ooethe. "I am persuaded" aaid Hterne, "that
every time a man smiles butmuchinore sowhen
hs laughs it adds something to his fragment of
lift." Douglas Jerrold, the prince of modern
wits, exclaims: "Lot materialists blaspheme as
gingerly aud acutely as they will, they must
find confusion in lauiihter." And yet laughter
is akin to weeping, (or true humor is closely
allied to pity, paradoxical as it may seem.
THK MOTH) QSOUU
Gray, residing uear Yuba City, came near poi
soning themselves 'luring ins wees oy cnswing
the inside bark of the common black locust
tree, severs! of which their father was trim
ming. The children, aged respectively three,
six and nine years, had picked up the twigs,
and stripping the insula Dun Wunl mm, one wen
it, swallowing some of the juice. Soon after
they were attacked with vomiting, and aftar
thus relieving their stomachs, sat around in a
kind of daxed condition, conscious, liut with an
evident wish to be undisturbed, I'r Hamlin
was called in, and tinder his ministrations they
have about recovered. The fact that poison
exists iu this tree will doubtless ue news K
many of our readers, and we publish this that
others may exercise oars ia its handling.
T "Agricultural Report," M "".
the average price of the cotton crop for the
whole eouulry at Hi coots per pound. Value of
the crop for ItjTH, IliM.TOO.OUU. Average jsw
of tobacco, 5, 0 and 10 cents per pound. Total
crop for IftTH. estimated at J.0U0,U0 pounds,
worth nuOO.UOU
sre cunvergiog into it from the east and north.
Ansuoa la the oelural gateway of eosnsseree
aud travel between the states east of the Missis
sippi, and California and the I'asinc Ocean.
J (routing on Mexico It is in praMtien to Mont by
any developments winch may result frees th.
I awakened intsrssU of our mchsls and Sanaa,
lecturers in the travW of that country. Van
will rsin.aiUr that before ear civil war, Can
grass hail directed alaaaiscll' a for an sosrlseil
route to the I'aeilic to be made 00 four duTeroul
lines between the :i ." I end tilth parallels, and
. upon oompanaon of results by the War I leper t-
I went, the Ud panlUI eass ittlartl Ukf ess).
A bill was accordingly Ira mail adopting this
line; ami with a large grant of kaade and ssoaey
had already passed the Hoase and was about
passing the other, when event, .x. urviaf in
Texas were snaounoad la .ingress, end Mas
line of the road thrown to the north I'aesutg
together through this gateway of Arisiiaa the
united road will enter Memo by a trnak Han,
which will be nourished li ten mdltoas of peo
ple awl the sea of Ouaysaaa, while the I
penetrate the states.