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About Willamette farmer. (Salem, Or.) 1869-1887 | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1874)
2 "WILLAMETTE FARMER. My Well Spent Summer. Tills story Is for the "common people," o II you aro one of the uncommon people, or think vou arc wlilcli is just the same turn the leaf and pass on. This is not for you, "Kitty, IM Rive the world if I only knew how to keep house like you. I feel to discouraged and disheartened that It seems as if I'd just like to give it all up and die. With the children, and the housework, and my ignorance, life is a great burden to me I" FoorcousinJIcllc 1 a dim suggestion of a plan hy which I might help her out of her trouble had heen floating through my brain for several days, and this pathetic appeal brought my Ideas to a focus. For I know how to keep house. Why ? lie cause I had a New England mother; and if there arc any 1x.-ttcr housekeepers in the world than New England housekeepers, there ought to le a separate department in llarnum's for exhibiting them to an admiring world. My mother had a "faculty." She was a gen tle woman, but when she walked through a room, the chairs, tables, rtc, used to marshal them selves into place, as if a general was giving the wonl of command to his soldiers. All her daughter) were instructed In house wifely duties, I not only .served an apprentice ship as "second girl," but was "chief cook" as well, ami when my father said: "Kilty, this bread is just as good as yptir mother'," I thought I had graduated with the highest honors. Mils was my good fortune, 1'iHir Itcllc had never Ikicii taught anything but piano, and a she sagely remarked, "they louldn'i eat music." This was her ill-fortunc, and so il came aixiul that poor lie Mr, n thousand limes prettier ami liilghler than I ever thought ol liciug, gotten the threads of her web of life all in n tan gle, ttlicii I lould have woven without let or hindrance. Now this was my plan. Ilclle was naturally very quick ami hiighl, and 1 could stay His months, and train tier in housekeeping. All that she needed was to 1 taught. Hut alas for the "buls" in ibis wmld we had planned for n lovely summer at home. We had talked almiit it all vv inter. Wo were going up the St. Lawrence In see the Thousand Isles; to visit Montreal ud '.lueliec; then In Mount Dcscit, and on Inlhc While Mountains, then to finish up the summer at Newport, Could I give il up and stay at this lillle "pokey," unfinished Western village, teaching cousin llclie what was ns easy to me as Mother (iuose's melodies ami the nlphaliel ? Thai night when 1 went up to my iskiiii, I put on my "thinking cap," mid ial down to make my decision. All at once the (rue ipiestioii at stake flashed across my consciousness. My pleasures against another's need. And so this is )imr Christianity, slid I In mysell; llns is the "ciilhusiatni lor Hu manity" which on talk about so loftily I Whole upon I gave myself ns sound a flagellation, mor ally, as ever monk gave himself p)i)sically with a knolleil ionl,.aiul, thu iuesiiou iteing Kcllleil, miii iiieams, at htcakfast, "I ictiml In sweet similiter and pleasant dicams. "Ilclle," .ud I, nest inoining at think iheie isa way out of our tumble," ...... .. . i . .. s.iiil she lailiantly, "II you only help "Oh I" "Hut, Ilclle, if we find a way mil you will have to alaliralr and let me Iv a kind of absolute I'mpicss of I'hiua for a fewinoiilhs. How would sou like Ihal?" 1 said, a little doubtfully, for Helle was seter.il tears my senior, and a ilia lion's dignity must lie veiy tendeily approached. "Kilty, ou haw! no Idea how heavenly il would Ik: to me to have some one lo tell me each day just w hat fo do, again. 'I hat is is one of my woi.l tumbles. To think every iiiiuuiiig when I gel up that 1 must tell myself mid evervWsly rise wlul In do, when I ilon'l know what I want done myself." "Well, then, we will commence now," said I. "Listen, Hairy and childirn," said she, clap ping her hands gleefully, "you must all mind cousin Kilty, and so mint I. We will all bit young togethei. 1 begin lo feel restmed al ready." "Very well," said I, judicially, "today Is IlimsiUy. VU will ilcvotc tlio teuiaiiiiler ol the week to getting llic house in pcilcct older. We must have a clean casket lo put our jewel of a home in." Talk about gymnastics I '1 here may lc great pleasure in throwing out a pair o( womlen dumb U'lls and then drawing llieui Kick again, but how can il po.siMy compaie with Hying lomnl n tiMin and pulling it in esipiisiie older, that those you love may Ik' coiufoi table III II. Co enjoy your woik ihoioiighly, you must i.lcalue II, and who could idcaliica pair of dumb Mis? Salunlay night came, and the house was like a bandbox. 1 licit I I hi I my linger on a "tcudei .pot" in Ihe household economy. About oue.foutlh of llic necilleis woik was caused b) the l.uk of order. The I .Old of Mlsiulr was soveicign, and il sometimes looked nsiflutts and coats, dresses -and playthings laiued down, "Now" said I, quoting my mother's wonls, the house cannot lie untidy if cvciy pel von puts his oi her things in place " 'Heat I heat !" shouted cousin Harry, Hcllc's huslund, mischievously. "You may laugh, Hairy," said I, shaking my head at him, "but it is Hue." "Dial's so," he icphed, thcic'a considerable sense in dial only head of yours, after all." "Vcty well," said I, "what's the use of sense if it won't help us out of our trouble? Now 1 am going to diaw a what do you call it ? -an agircuicnt, by which each incinlscrof the family binds himself lo keep his or her things in pel fret onlri." All enteied mcnily into the arrangement. Harry diew up a fonnidable looking document. He and ilclle signed tint, underneath thcehll iliru wiote in tegular onler, and one ol them gleefully put the pen Isriwern the baby's chubby iingeis and guided llieui to nuke "his inaik." 'Then we icduccsl the icgular louliue of the woik to a pet feci system, and everyday cousin Ilclle was lo devote her spate lime to learning some one thing. Monday nun nine; came. This house was in perfect older. Ilclle says, cheerily. "Well. Kitty, what is the juvenile pupil to learn to-day?" "What would you like?" "If I could only make such bread as you used to have at your house I It was the very pswlry of food I Mine It sour, or It won't live, or some thing Is the mailer with it, so that half the lime it it not fit to eat," "Ilclle," said I, profoundly, "haven't you learned from Tynd.11 and Huxley and Maria Mitchell and the Popular Science Monthly that making bread is a chemical process, and that ev ery chemical process Is governed by certain fixed, unchangeable laws ?" ISellc looked a little bewildered; then smiled archly, and said: "I haven't devoted much time to chemistry for the past ten years," "Yes, that's the trouble," said I, "It hasn't been chemistry but something else beginning with C, vit: chance. Now, given your ingredi ents combined in a certain manner, and as an absolute icsultyour bread Is as sure to rise as the sun is to rise in the cast. You can't keep it down unless you put a mill stone on It. I sup pose you have wasted some food In your experi ments ?" "Some 1 II you could see the pies and cakes and bread I have thrown away you would be horrified. I sometimes think we shall come to want as a punishment." "Well, we won't waste any more. In six les sons you can learn to make as good bread as any body, or you arc not the bright woman I think you are. So this week we will make bread ev ery day. Of course we cannot eat it all, but what we don't want we will give to the poor," And so evi ry day I sat by the table and gave Ilclle instructions, while the pretty hands, wlilch even hard labor could not deface, moulded the bread which came out of the oven snowy within and a delicate brown without, the sweet and odorous stall of life. Saturday I left her to her own devices, and I don't believe she blushed more when Harry proposed lo her than she did when he gave her that highest praise a man can off, r "'lids is j mt ns good as my mother's." Poor Harry I what a digestion he must have had to liegin with, nd what ztetenoir "my mother's ureail ' Is lo many a young housekeeper I ho here was one great trouble imposed ol. I.ikc many other troubles in life, it needed only to be grappled with, and it disappeared. Hut how, in the mean time, did it fare with the order of the house? Disorder is a chronic trouble, and, like many olhcr chronic troubles, sometimes needs a sharp alterative to break it up. Thursday afternoon I saw something in the parlor which made me sit down and think a little. The result was a note, thus: "Dcaii llAinir, sslll jnii nuno down to tlio limine ouii yuu eu cnuvt'iiiriillyT In unit liiHe, Kirnr." Down came Harry at a pace like the lope of a California horse, lircathlcss he rushed in, "Is Ilclle sick!" "No." 1 replied; "but come Into the parlor a moment," Now dial he was here, I confess I was n little afraid ol llic result. Men have so much amour roper, and do so hate to lie made ridiculous, that I felt ns if I had drawn the elephant in a raf- lle ami ilitln t know what to ilo with it, "Harry," said I severely, "you rcniemlier our compact, and the duly ot parents to set a good example?" I could see a glimmer of suspicion in his face. Then I made n desperate plunge. "l,ook on the sofa, I only sent for you to hang up your trverco.it. " Cause, awful lo me, while Harry vibrated lie Ivvceu nnger and merriment, finally, good fel low that he was, he sat back in his chair and laughed heartily, "Kitty, I'll pay you for this, if 1 live. The idea of getting a man home from his ollice lo hang up his ovcicoall What will you bet that you don't catch me again ?" "Hell you are demoralizing! I have lived in New York, and seen Icronic 1'ark, I have been in Saratoga, and heard nlmul the races, but I never made a bet. However, just to make up willi you, I'll liel thu price of that new China set which Hetle looked at so longingly the other day." "scry well. Mill Harry, "Mil you see II she K"'"1 .. . alter mis u was n loutce oi much nmiisemenm lo Ilclle and myself to see Harry every morning saunleinig caielessly around the room as II he had no object whatever in view, but, slyly look ing out of the cornels of his eyes lo see If any. thing of liu was astray, and then xiuiicing upon die olfenibiig article, lik'e the eagle upon his prey, I lost my bet. Now, a New I'nglaud house keeper is a lalxir saving institution; so, one day, 1 took a basket and disappeaied, When 1 returned with it full, Ilclle looked up aghast, "My goodncssl aie we going to have a regi ment lor dinner?" said she. "No," I replied. is for die week. One journey for louiteen." Ilclle s eyes spaikleil wiin a new thought. ( luce plant the gem of forethought m a woman's mind, mid it will blossom out in a thousand un expected ways, llul tlieic is one thing in housekeeping before which the most New I'.iigland-lile faculty must stand abashed: there is no "laving that specter," who is continually asking for "clean dishes." The god i of Olympus, it is said, toss aside their goblets and take liesh ones every time, but we isvor mortals cannot do that, so comes the inevit able soap and water Hut one can Iv helped through the pincess, and so one day I walked In the shop of a kind of half-way llooMcr caiK'iner and gave him ditcctimis for making a dish drainer, a tiling he had never heaul of, lie brought It o u the new day, and we found it asomec of solid com fort; but alas! I lost my standing with the lions ier That evening when he went home to "bacon andgiechs" for the third time that day, he told Ids wife, who, vvtih kind consideration, managed lo .end it along to me, that "Them Yankee cult was power fill cute, but he didn't lliiuk he should want one for a wife He'd rullier have one of 'oinary ' kind, For a woman In lo telling a man how to make things, somehow seemed to him agm natur " And yet this nun had never heard of Hushell's Iscfoim Against N.uuie, and didn't even know Iheie wn such a question as women's lights. One nioic espeiimcnt, and that is all. , The test wcie like unto them, Hood couVe is a dunk hi for the gods, I believe it is the original nectar; but poor colfee, alas' if the deities, in that other place, have anything to assuage their thirst, it must lx thai, il is such a punishment to drink it' "Now, Helle," said 1 one morning, "codec " Ilclle hmked sulslued at once, as if she expected a lillle mors.- chemistry, but I .pared her. "(liven, gi od collee, prverly roasted and ground, plus boiling water, and a subtile something which Sambo called Me know how,' and Ihe icsult mint Ik", nectar." S this week we will have colTc for our "text," and the icsult was, at it must be, nectar. So it went on, and before the espiraliouof six months, 1 formally aUlicalcd, and Itcllc took the icins again, because she knew just how to manage ihcm. And did things goon in this smooth way, and lucad, and codec and all die necessaries of family cpmfoits come without any slips or mishaps ? My dear fiicnd, I will lc lontidciitut. lliere are "sjHits on the miii," there aie erratic wander lugs among the stars, then. aie clouds as well as sunshine, and this little household was human, There were davs when things were very wrung indeed. When die children w ere crvvss, and Helle was lired, and 1 well 1 had "nerves," 1 believe that is a nice way of saying it. There were days when letters came from my patty of fuendi, enjoying the summer trip, which tills si me with hateful discontent. Hot days when the waters of the St. Ijwicncc sparkled before my eyes; Thousand llct arose out of the mist of my vision like the Isles of the Hlest; days when the velvet lawm, the exquisite (lowers, the spreading beach, and the festive throngs of New port, mockca mc in the distance, and above an the sunny summits of the White Mountains lifted themselves like a dazzling mirage. Hut those days were few. There is nothing like a sense ol duty to curb the wandering fancy, Ilclle, like many another troubled housekeeper needed only a little instruction and writes me that she has now a happy, well ordered home. As for me, it is certainly a very deplorable and mournful thing for a woman to be called "cute" but then if one has managed to help another by it, the odium is more supportable. I have had my gay summer since, but this I still call. My Well Spent Summer. Kale Pay ton, N, . Statesman, A Remarkable Operation. Ilonj, Franklin made his namo famous wlion bo flow Lis kito and brought down lightning from tbo clouds, which had beon flying around without paying their way. Now wo not only flash through on wires, but soionco has crippled electricity and used it to perform miracles. The Timet' roadcrs will remember when Gen eral Kilpatrick returned from Chili, three years sinco, of his having a rcmarkablo oporation performed on him by a physic ian In Now York, who romoved n largo fleshy formation from tho Ooncral's neck by filling it full of nccdios and thon at taching a galvanio battery to it. Ton minutes after tho ourrout of electricity was let on tho bunch had entirely disap peared. A romarkablo oporation was per formed by a Whitehall physician a fow days ago. A gentleman who had beon suffering from a superabundance of adi poso tissue) consulted a physician, asking for relief from its burden. Tho doctor told him ho could reliovo him if ho would consent to a painful oporation. Tho gen tleman consented, and when tho medical practitionor cntcrod tho tolograph ofllco at this placo, t'uo fat man was requested to rcmovo his cout and vest, aftor which tho physician stirrotided him with wires, at taching tho ends to n powerful battory. At a signal from tho doctor, mnnager W. II. lCildy lot on tho current. Tho pntiont writncii mm twistcu wnon no loll tlio cur rent passing around him, still ho stood it liko a martyr. J'resently ho bogau to shrink; ho grow smaller and smaller, his clothing hung in bugs about 1i!h diminish ing form; tho doctor felt muoli plousednt tho result of his experiment, wiiilo tho form- orly fat man's joy was very great, although ho scorned to bo miHoritm auutn nuin. All of a suddon thoro wns aloud clicking at an instrument, as if Pandotuoniiim's great hall hud boon lot loose. Tho operator spring iiuickly to nuswor tho call, Ilo iiKcortuini'd it was from tho Now York ofllco. Ilo (iniekly asked, "What's up ?" An nnswor camo back ns if somo infuratcd demon was at tho othor end of tho wifo, "What in thunder aro you about? Cut nil' your wires nuick you nro tilling tho Nusv York ofllco with soup gronso. H'iltt fmll 7Y;jf.. Inexpensive Happiness. Tho most perfect homo I over saw, was n littlu hotiHo into tho sweet license of of whoso llros wont no cosily things, A tliousiinii iiniiiirs served lor a year s living of father, mother mid tlireo akildroii. Hut. tho mother was tho creator of a homo;' her relations with her children vtaiotho most beautiful I have over seen; ovou the and enabled to do good work for souls dull and commonplace mini was lifted up by tho atniosphoro which this woman created; every inmuto of her houso in voluntarily lookod into lior faco for tho key note of tlio day; and it always rang clear. From tlio rose-bud or clovor-lenf. which, in spite of her hard house-work, sho always found time to put by our plates irl breakfast, down to tho story she had on h.iud to bo read in tlio evening, there was no intermission of her inlliioueo. She has always been and always will bo my ideal of a mother, wifo, home-maker. If to her quick brain, loving heart and ex quisite faco had been added tho applian ces of wealth mid the enlargements of w id- er culture, hers would liuvo been absolute ly the ideal homo. As it svus, it was the best I have ever seen. Helen Hunt. V.lrJ Pnura' CaLllUfJ. vwp-H w.w w ,-,- Strange and Curious Reptiles and Fishes. Nothing Is more wonderfnl than the end less variety of forms observed in fishes and reptiles, and of these two classes of animated nature, wo here present the Torpedo and the Iguana, which are amongst tho most strange and curlons. In Qood HbAltH' hv .isssssWMV, OC-ilkssssssssssssssWRksl sga-W: TIIK T0BPID0 Wo find a living electrical apparatus which might havo led men to tho discovery of that wonderful agent and to the method of produc ing it, even had the celebrated savans who have investigated its properties, never had an existence. And indeed, it may with some be a matter of doubt whether the discovery was not thug made. Our illustration represents tho Naraclon California!, which has a flat, car tilaginous body, which is very smooth, and which presents nearly a circular disc The anterior border is formed by two prolongations of tbo snout which go on each side to join the pectoral fins, leaving between these organs and tho head and gills, an oval spaco in which is placed tho t-lectricul apparatus. This is com posed of a number ot membranous vertical tubes pressed acutust ono another like the cells of bees, and subdivided by horizontal partitions into small rolls, tilled with mucous matter. Tho nppurntus is supplied with veins by several very largo brunches from tho pneu-mo-caslrio center. The powerful nature of the electricty generated in tho apparatus may bo better understood when it is kuown that n singlo medium discharged from tho rtninofits is equal to thu maximum onu from n buttery of y.COO srpmro inches. Tho ytmnntus, cr electric tel, is a dim-rent species which is found in the rivtrs ot South America, and is the most powerful of tho genus. It is from flvo to six feet long aud can kill a horso by repotted discharges. In South America, when the Indians -want to catch theso fish, they drivu n number of hursts and cnttlo into the water. This rouses tho eels, which, gliding in among .Ihu animals give Mich shocks as spiedily to expend their forco aud render them capable of being easily captured. Tho torpedo proper is found in tho largest numbers in the seas of Europe. Tin: Comi'Iiaint or thi: 1'rori.n. "When the people complain," said iv wise mull, "tho iieoplo aro iilwaysright." Tho long-sutlering of tho poor under tho in oiiuallties of fortune is it phenomenon which, us long us it lasts, shows that the spring of all tho virtues which havo at any time done honor to humanity is still flowing among us. Cold, hunger, linked ness, they boar them all with Preternatu ral patience. Kven injustice tlioy endure till it becomes insolent. Ho long as mas ters condescend to bo courteous, the drudges of society accept thoir inferiority, and honor and respeot those whom Pros'i iletto seen' a to h ivo sot over them. Only when tliejhuniiiti relations aro at an end. when they find theuisevles treated as if they were lniulo of other clav, as if they were machines to extract wealth from the soil, aud were row u nled sufficiently in be ing permitted to exist, only they begin to ask the meaning of the word gentleman, and for what purpose tho lord and lady aro robed In silks, aud housed in palaces, while tho peasant doe tho work, shivers in soiled fustian, aud is worno lodged then his employer's cattle, .1inni ofan Kmj' lish Abbei, ' in Ssri!nifr.. V'amr, Much do mon love fame. Much do they seek after it. Hut is this an object truly worthy to man? No. Ho w ho lives forjamo alone is as likely so be it demon as a man. Ho is a, boggarf ask ing that which others may givo without asking, if they givo at all. He lives for the shittlow, mnl not the reality. Fame that is lived for is a bubble, hollow aud thin, which bursts in attempting to secure. To live tor fume, is to miss it. To make this the object of life is to fail. Heal famo is that which follows, not that which is run after; that which comes, not that which is f light. He who lives nobly be cause he loves what is true and good, se cures fame as tho freo gift of those who know him. Honest speech , brave dtvds, heroic sacrifices, saintly lis-es, bring true fame. Nothing else can. Th JS'uion. At a mkan of avoldiui rxplosious in tho use of livdrogv-n apparatus, Fresemu says the gat may bo passed through a tubo contaiuiug a uutnber of small disc ot Ano wire placed be tween cotton. Jr " "fVSHIktiu ' !i TUB IONUANA, One of tho most formidablo looking, though in reality, onu of tho most harmless of reptiles. Their distiiiguishiiig peculiarities are thu long flap or fold ot skin under the throat, similar to the dewlap ot oxen; two series of small palatal teeth, tho long compressed tail, and the serriitid rest that runs along the back. lis very fonnidable nmx'iirnnco seems to protect it from animals Hint would otherwise prey upon it. It is very nimble, being nblo to run ulong tho ground or climb trees with surpris ing dexterity. It lives in warm climates, being chletly found in South America, the West Indies, and Australia. Somo iguanas live on iinitiuil, some on vegetable food. They are arboreal in their habits, generally living ill trees. Their flesh is very delicate, said to ie senible chhkeii, and is much sought uterus mi article of food by Ihu natives vt the coun tries in which they are found. Thev nro princi pally huiiKd In spring. The upeeles found in Australia differs from tho American in hnviug neither dewlap nor scales, iu being much longer tiimio being twelve feet long), and ii. said to lie poisonous. Specimens of the nbovo may bo found at Woodward's gardens, to the courtesy ot whose malinger, Air. Henry Andrews, we nro indebted for the illustrations. An uneasy boy, whoso mothor tried to to (iiiiot him on tlio Dos Moinos Valley train tho other day, by telling him that tho conductor sometimes swallowed naughty boys, astonished lior a fow mo ments after, as the portly form of the conductor nppeared at tho door, by creep ing behind her aud exclaiuiiug in a whis per: "Ma, I guess that conductor has swallowed ono nl ready 1" Ihe nKTKCTioN or I)kath. The late Mar ipiis d'Ourche, one of whose friends was buried alive, left a sum of 20,000 francs to tho French Academy of Medicine, to be given to tho in ventor of a simple processor nseertiiiniugwheu death bus really occured, aud a further sum of n.tKXI francs to be awarded to tho discoverer of u scientific method of verifying death. Alto gether IW essays were sent in for adjudication, Most of the papers contained such absurd sue Ktstions that the list was practically limited fo UJ comivetitors. The Urge prize was not awarded, lint the 5,000 fraucs were divided be tween four competitors. No new facts, likely to eularge the domain of forensic medicine, havo been elucidated by these investigations. -&.. -Im. ANkw Matkiuai. oa Ink, Moigno states that the juice of the eorliri Mymlolti, or iuk plant o( New Granada, re-ists most chemical sgeuts better than ordiuarv ink. When used fresh, the writiug is rvddi'.h. but it become black in a few hours. It does not corrode stcel-pcus, and cannot be removed from paper by sea-water, on which account it sens moil for all imblio documents when New (irauada was under Spanish dooiiuioti, under the name of chauctii. Kmiusji I.iun AND Silvsiu The keeper ol mining records reports, in the year 1S72, tsJ.Oiy tous of lead ore, of the value of jC1.Hi3.1G5, were raises! and sold in the United Kingdom; aud that there was produced from these ores C0,45o tons, 15 owts. ot lead, of the value ot l,i09,U5, ndC28,9iO oru. ot silver, of the value- of 157,230. Therefore, iu 100 tons of ore- theps wer 72 Ions of lead, and iu a ton of load 10,-t ou. ot silver. Law of Transmission. The lltrald of Health, In answer to a corres pondent, republishes Dr. Hongh's observations, with comments, as follows: 1. In general, children of both sexes resem ble their mother more than their father in physiognomy, habits, constitntion and tem perament. 2. Usually boys resemble their mother more than their father, in physiognomy, habits, con stitution and temperamont. In the same rela tionship girls resemble their father moro than their mother. 3. As to whether there is any constant rela tionship between tho physiognomical resem blance and a predisposition to the diseases of. the person resembled, it ia very difficult to de cide from the data at hand ; but it would appear from the few facts in which any observations weto made in this direction, that there was a largo percentage of cases in which inherited diseases were exhibited where there was such physiognomical similitude. In other words, children havo resembled ono parent in general physiognomy, while they bavo inherited tho constitutional peculiarities and diseases of the other moro frequently than where they have derived both these conditions from (one) the same parent. In general, then, hereditary, and acquired diseases and defects aro more likely to be trans mitted to offspring of tho sex in which they originated, and thereafter to be snbject to the principle of sexual limitation, either directly (rem tho parent to child, or by interrupted or atavic descent, from grandparent to graudcbild. Though sons aro usually best ablo to follow tho advocation of their fathers, it is undoubt edly true thnt men iuherit tbo cenins. talent and intellectual excellence and morality of their mother or mother's father, whilo daughters inherit the satno quality from their fattier or paternal grandmother. Females moro frequently transmit hereditary diseases nnd dofects than males, though thev less frequently exhibit them. Males less fre quently transmit, ami moro irequentiy oxmuu, iuberited diseases nnd defects. Tho reason that females do not exhibit hered itary dlsenBo ns frequently as malts is because ol a higher degree of vitality iu them which gives them greater power to restrain the ap pearance of tlio predisposition, and nil inferior degree of development evolution, retaining in their constitution as germs what in men, be come fully developed diseases and defects. Topical Application of Heat. A correspondent of tho Boston .oiirrml of CUtmhtry recommends tho topical application of dry heat instead of cloths moistened with hot water, fuslous of hops or other plants, in cases whero these remedies aro usually em ployed. He considers this application much better than moist applications, an the Utter,, when they becomo cold, often chill tho parts, nnd require to bo frequently renewed nnd re applied. In making tho application of dry heat ho has sought for the best medlnm, and instead of sand and other substances, of which tho weight is objectionable, ho proposes to substi tute ordinary Indian nioal, which is of very light weight and not unpleasant in odor, and holds heat for a very long tlmo. In regard to the bent-holding qualities of the meal ho speaks as follows: " This latter fact I noticed when a mere boy,, finding that corn meal would, after grinding, bear several miles' transportation, aud, after delivery and deposition in tho bins of tho granary, would for hours still bo warm from the frlctiou of grinding. When, therefore, it Is desired to apply dry heat to any person, it is only required to placo a quantity of the In dian meal in a baking nan on a heated stove, and stir constantly till thoroughly warmed. It should not bo burnt. It can now bo put into woolen sacks nud tied up and applied ns a hot bottle usually is, or into largo flannel bags, if for the abdomen. In n ease of Riirwuafnl rni. citation of n now-born child, Ihe heated meal was poured into an oblong chopping tray, a (laurel cloth laid o' er it, and the infant iu it. Tho cloth yielded, and tho child was partly buried in tho warm meal. It is fonud thnt tho meal retains its hent long, and when it cools it does not chill, which is a very important con sideration. Two sets of bags or wrappers may be provided, so that whilo on its being applied tho other may bo heated. Tho meal Is not weighty. The aroma of It when heated is rather agreeable than otherwise." Diseases of Artisans and Mechanics. A careful invesligatlon has been mado of the special diseases incideut to tho occupation of artisans and mechnules. nud thx fnllnsrliu. . somo of tho most iuterestiugamoug the mass of mem iiiiii uniii orougui 10 llgut: It appears that Rilder are Btibject to mercu rial nflectlons. lhey suDer from giddiness, asthma, and very freonentU- from n,.nl,,i .,.. ulysis, which, of leu induces a peculiar kind of on.iuiueiiiiu.-, luey mso irequentiy sutler from unpleasant ulcers in tho mouth. Miners iu tho quicksilver mines suffer from vertigo, palsy nud convulsions, nn.l il, oc cupation cannot be pursard a long lituo. Pottery glazers, who nso lead largely, get into a conditiou very.similar to that described above, wilh tho rd lition of dropsy, loss ot teeth, aud enlarged spleen. Palsy of the limbs, es pecially of the arms, Is n common disease amonc ll... t, ma .iljn I. ,1 "M' "a ii-u IS SUUSIllUpilOIl, Glius-blowers are the victims of those, affec tions produced by Midden vicissitudes of tein peraturo rheumatism and various inflamma tions. They are apt to become thin and doli cute, sod their eyos get weak. Stone-cutters inhalo the sharp particles, which tend to produco disease of the lungs, while plateierssufftr from thogaufsdUeuguged and from excessive moisture they are also troubled with labored breathing, aud they di gest badly. riusioLoov. Prof. Garrou has set up a hy pothesis that nerve force is geiwrated by ther mo electricity, generated by the difl'erencti in temperature of tho Insido und outside of tho body. The experiments ot men exposed for a long time to a temperature equuliug tho blood heat appear not to favor this hypothesis, be causo notwithstanding it must be acknowledged that such a temperature is not promotive of health or comfort, the simple fact that man can live in an atmosphere of which the temiieratnre equals that of the interior of the body, is a proof that nerve forco does not depend oil this. It depeuds ot course on the consumption of food, absorption of oxvgen by the act ot respi ratiou, aud tbo continual repairs of all the tis. sues, nervous and muscular, by the materials contained iu the blood. Vomoxino dt Plants and Insects. A stand ing autidote for poison by oak, ivy, etc., is to take a handful of quick-lime, dissolve it in water, let it stand halt an hour, then paint the poisoned parts with it. Three or four applica tions will never fail to euro tho most aggravated case. Poison from bees, hornets, spider-biles, eto., is instantly arrested by the application of equal parts of common salt and bicarbonate of oda, well robbed in on the place bitten or sluug. Boston Journal of CAontstry. dL