CONTAGIOUS DIStAStLS.
ftBTC They Are Conveyed From the Slrk tt
l'rron nt Itlstnnee.
Jt is sometimes quite difficult to de
termine the extent to which the com
jnunicntinjr pnrticlo can In? carried. I;
is probable that the nir from a small
pox hospital has given the disease to
persons a mile distant. On the contra-
- fy, twin iwfc ivtvi ti.is ivvu uivuf;ui 1UIU
) the ward of a full but well-aired hos
pital and continued mere a day with
out a sintrie person cuairaeiinp ine
disease. If we could besure as to the
secretions and all the skin separations
from scarlet fever it would not bo a
very communicable disease; yet we
have known a dress folded up nt the
bed of a dying: patient and placed in a
trunk, to convey the poison to a farai-
jv oi cmiureu lour uiiicj uisvnnt, wnea
the dress was unfolded in their pres
ence three months afterward. Whooping-cough
and diphtneria are proba
bly never conveyed by the first case
occurring, except by the breath or
sputa of the patient. Measles, on the
other hand, are communicated at much
greater distances. In general, any one
of this clas of diseases having become
-epidemic, the communication to others
lis frra houses and clothing far more
than from persons. Difficult as it is to
determine accurately all the facts as to
the conveyance of those diseases, their
transmissibihty. their times of Incep
tion and the time of greatest risk of
contagion, or when the patient ceases
to be a risk to others, no subject is of
more vital importance to communities.
Dr. Vacher, the medical officer of
Birkenhead, and Dr. Dukes, of Rugby,
have given much attention to the sub
ject and have classified a large number
of cases as to the time from the first
symptom to the beginning of eruption,
the time from beginning of eruption to
cessation of fever, and the time from
beginning of eruption to when the pa
tient ceases to be infective. They
state the latter as follows: For small
pox, ltd days; measles, 27 days; scarlet
fever, 49 days; diphtheria, 28 days;
mumps, 21 days; typhoid fever, 23
;f days.
e will serve as general eruides.
Tn nil
cases where schools are con
cerned the time of return should be
guarded. It is to be remembered that
more depends upon the cleanliness of
the house and family and upon the
garments worn than upon the person.
It is often a question how far boards
of health shall require reports of con
tagious diseases. In any good system
of sanitary government such report is
required as to small-pox, scarlet fever,
diphtheria, typhus fever, cholera, and
as to measles when extensively epi
demic. We think strict rules should
be enforced upon physicians as to such
report, but that they should be paid
therefor, inasmuch as such report is
of special service, quite different from
.the certification of a death. The hab
its of different countries and States
differ much, but all agree that the re
port should be made by some one.
This Is rendered more essential by re
cent facts, which show that by early
and strict isolation the common com
municable diseases are often prevented
from becoming epidemic.
It is often a question how far attend
ance nt funerals should be prevented
in cases of den' li from communicable
diseases. We know of a recent case in
which the attendance of children at a
church funeral, the death having been
caused by malignant diphtheria, prob
ably led to a dozen deaths and many
cases in a sparse country village. The
exposure is far greater for children
than for adults. If all details as to tha
washing of the dead body, the dealing
with clothing, the time of transfer to
the coffin, the use of disinfectants,
could be carefully regulated, it is
probable that tho risk would be very
little; but as wo can not rely upon the
carrying out of all these details, it is
hotter to prohibit public funerals, and
to announce cause of death in all cases
of the more dangerous communicable
diseases.
Similar caution is needed as to the
visit j of frionds upon those who are
thus sick. While there is no noed oi
such fear as will preclude assistance
from cider persons where thore is
need of help, there is no excuso for ex
posing tho young. With duo precau
tion as to airing garments, it is vory
rare that communicable diseases are
carried to others by tho casual visitor.
We thus desire to caution all against
unnecessary exposure, and to securo
public opinion as an aid in preventing
the spread of a class of diseases which
counts so many victims. A'. Y. Inde
pendent. Auto-Inoculation of BoHs,
Those who are over troubled with
boils know as Job did, that it is com
mon to have a crop of boils. This is
doubtless duo to Impurities circulating
in the blood; it is also supposed that
it is possible to get a crop of boils
from ono by what is called auto-inoculation.
Which means that tho dis
charge from ono boil if carried by
lingers or dressings tt a healthy por
tion of tho skin, may plant tho seeds
of another one. To avoid this auto
inoculation it is well to uso tho precau
tion of antisopsis, or in short to disin
fect the emanations from tho boll by
frequent applications, both before and
after it opens, of a solution of boric
acid and absoluto alcohol. This affords
a protty short means of preventing a
repetition or increase of bolls by auto
Inoculation, and where thoro is ten
dency to recurrenco in spite of such
precaution, thorough constitutional
treatment for tho blood Is certainly
advisable. Dr. Foote's Health Monthly.
Tha Inn of Damo Isaturo Is
Damo
probably loontod
in tho Pyrenees-
SCIENCE AM) m;UE$$.
REMARKABLE SALT BED IN SOUTH
WESTERN LOUISIANA.
A Snow Melting Machine That Dlpne
of the Snow In the lloatli Where
It rll Dimension of Animalcules
Fonntl In Stagnant Water.
A method is described in Th Scientific
American which has proven useful in giving
students of the microscope ome adequate
idsa of the dimensions of animalcules found
In stagnant water.
HO. 1 DRAWISO THE TVT3E.
A drop of npparvntly clear water placed
on a glass slide and put under the objee
tive, will cause wonder and astonishment
when tlw multitude of anitnalcular life an.1
brought to view. There they are, swimming,
twisting, standing, but how large are tbeyl
Don't know, because there is nothing to com
pare them with. Take a piece of soft glass
tubing and soften it in the flame of a gas or
alcohol lamp, and then draw it out into a
very fine thread, which will be a capillary
tube (see Fig. 1). That it is a tube may l
proved by inserting one end in water and
blowing into the other end, when minuta
bubbles will rise.
B
rtfu 2 FILUXO THE 7CBE EXUAUOED ANI
MALCULES. Now insert this tuba in a cup of stagnant
water, and the water will readily enter it,
rising, perhaps, several inches above the sur
face of the water in the cup (A in Kig. S.
Hold the tuls (B) liefore you. No larger
than a hair of your bead and the bore much
smaller. Is it possible there arc livitig creat
nrvs in that small space?
Place the tulw under the microscope, and
lo' many a curious creature disporting itself
in as much space as a man would have in a
wide street of a city (C in Fig. 2i. These have
been seen where it would take at least a score
of them placed end to end to make a chain
long enough to reach across tho space in the
tule.
How large are they! Hold up the glass
thread before j'our eyes and consider. It is
small, the bore is smaller and they are
twenty, perliaps fifty, times smaller still.
Yet each is a perfect creature, with organ
ized structure, and organs adapted for vari
ous functions. How large is one's mouth,
foot, heel Where is the limit!
TU said that all the larger fleas have lesser fleas
to bite 'em.
And these in turn have smaller fleas, and so ad
Infinitum :
Snow Meltlnc Apparatus.
A system of snow melting has been devised
by llr. F. Lvon, London. When it is con
sidered that a fall of snow 0 inches dwp, over
one mile of road CO feet wide, amounts to
5,800 cubic yards, the impossibility tf remov
ing it prompt by horses and carts is at once
apparent the more so when it is remembered
that some metropolitan vestries have from 50
to 100 miles of road, and thus would have to
deal with from 500,000 to f.00,000 cubic yards
of snow, assuming a i inch fall to occur. The
principle of Mr. Lyon's invention, according
to Scientific American, is that the snow can
bo dealt with in the roads on which it falls,
when it is in a light and fleecy condition, and
therefore easily melted.
The apjKiratus consists of a wrought iron
tube about 35 feet long, having a furnace nt
one end and a short length of vertical pipe
for a chimney at the other. The tube is
made in lengths of G feet, and each length is
tapered so that they all fit into each other
and are closely packed for transport on
wheels. When n fall of snow occurs tho ap
paratus is to be laid along the gutters of the
roads to 1k cleared, tho width occupied boing
about 4 feet. A fire is then to bo lighted in
tho furnace, the heat from which will pats
along tho horizontal tube, which has a flatly
arched top. The snow i then to le shoveled
on to the heated tube, which will melt it, the
resulting water flowing away to the nearest
gully. A trial of this apparatus took place
m tho St. Marleylxmo district in February,
1SS.), on some snow which had fnlleu long
previously and had been twice cartod. Not
withstanding the solidified condition of the
snow and the imperfect condition of the ex
jxjrime'ital apparatus, it is stated that 21
yards of the consolidated snow, weighing 10
tons S cwt. :i qrs., and equal to 1S yards of
freshly fallen snow, were meltod in ten hours
with a consumption of coke of the value of
Is. Td., or under l-4d. per ton.
A ltemnrknble Salt Hed.
One of the mot remarkable saltleds in tho
world, says American Naturalist, is located
on the isle of Petit Anse, southwestern Lou
isiana, 125 miles due west from New Orleans.
Tho deposit is pure crystal salt. So far as it
has been traced there nre 150 acros of un
known depth explored HO feet down. Tho
surface of the U-d undulates from ono foot
above to six feet Iwlow tide level. Hy
analyses the salt is 90.8$ per cent pure. The
position of the satt shows it to be older than
the coal and sandstono which lie abovu It.
Scale in n Steam ISollcr.
The very Ixt way to prevent scales in n
steam lioiler, says one who lias tried it, is to
us a feed water heater that will deposit tho
scale by raising tho temperature of tho water
in tba heater high enough to liberate the
soluble matter iwfore the water gets into the
boiler. Nobody over heard of "bagged
sheets" on a heator. Wo see one every day
on boilers. Don't let the srnlo in and it won't
trouble you.
Drilling Hale In C.lii Plate.
An experimenter tells of his successful ex
perience in -.'rilling holes three-sixteenths of
an inch indiamoter through glass plates about
one-eighth of an inch thick, by tho uso of an
ordinary bow drill, with spirits of turpentine
as lubricant. Tho holes wero drilled from
one side until tho point of tho drill just punc
tured the opposite sido of tho glass; then tha
glass was turned over and the holes finished
by drilling from tho opposite, side.
Duplex 1'rlnclple In Telegraphy,
Tho duplex principle has been successfully
adapted to tho Phelps system of Inductive
telegraphy, so that messages may bo wilt to
and from moving trains In tho ordinary
manner without interfering with tho trans
mission of message by Indunctlon. With
this improvement, a single lino Is all that tt
required for both train and ordinary teleg-rophy.
M
U3
TIMES HAD CHANGED.
4. Orlef Readme by the Sa-SJore Seree
Year Aitrr MarrUc.
ilr. and Mrs. Jenkins went down to
the sen-shore the other day for on of
the quiet, happy time? they usei to
hare six or seven years ago. before they
wen? wed.
They took with them this time a vel
um of Tennyson and three litth Jenk
ins's. "The children can play on the sand
while we lie on the soft, preen grass
and you read Tennyson to me." said
Mrs, Jenkins in dreamy anticipation.
Qoeen Galnerere had fled the coast"
bepan Jenkins, when they had reached
the "soft, preen grass."
"Tommy, pet out of that water!
What do you mean wadinp in so far?
There In the holy home at Almeibnry
"lTiWw7 If I speak to you apain.
younp man, you'll stop pourinp sand
down your little sister s back!
For hither had she fled, her cause of Ulcht
"Bessie, you and Tommy stop splashing-
water on each other stop at this
instant:
For toss It rhaaced oaf mora, ha all the
court
"hlllic, what on earth are youdoln?
with your hands full of that nasty sea
weed? "There, Tommy. 1 told you
you'd let that stone fall on your toes If
you'd tried to lift such a bip one. Now
you mind me next time!
But -srl-en Sir Lancelot sold this matter to tao
Queen, at Hrt ne
"Where nre those children? You
ho'.d the book, and I'll po see. There's
Willie wadinp in the water up to his
waist apain. and Hes-deV sitting flat in
the wet Mind in her white dre-..
Tommy's drowned like eaonph. I
puess we won't read any more poetry
to-day. You, Tommy 7'ewu. where
cr- you?" Zenas Dane, in Time.
V i
DISTILLING LIQUORS. ' '
A Trncon Which l' It Primitive Form Is
Known to All s.ra;f.
Primitive methods of distillation
may be found existinp in nearly all
savape nations. It is probable that
some method of distillitip liquors ex
isted in the time of Homer; but the
stronp alcoholic liquors of the present
day are a comparatively modern in
vention. The discovery of alcohol is
penerally credited to an Arabian phy
sician. Albus Kasem. who lived in the
eleventh century. A monk named
Marcus, however, a. early as the time
of Clevi-. collected tho steura from the
heated spirit of white wine on wool
and squeezed out of the wool a
balsam, which is described by
writers of the day to have been
capnblo of brinpinp the dying
back to life. Savonarola wrote a treat
ise on the water-of-life in the fifteenth
century which pave a start to the art
of brandy-making in France, In 1494
distilled liquors had become 'such a
curse to England that laws were made
prohibitir.p their use. In 1761 spirit
ous liquors were used to s.uch an alarm
ing extent in Sweden that Emanuel
Swedenborg presented several meas
ures to the Diet to diminish tho num
ber of drunkards. The Diet finally
adopted his proposition to limit tho
distillation of whisky by farming out
the right to distill it to the highest bid
der, "that is," he adds after making
this suggestion, "if tho consumption of
whisky can not bo done away with
altogether, which would be much more
desirable for the country's welfare and
morality than all the income that could
bo realized by so pernicious a drink."
.V. 3'. Tribune.
HIGHT OF WAVES.
How
IIIk'i Thry Uato Hern Actually
Known to KUc hi Storm.
The story of waves that run mount
ain high is a very great exaggeration.
Many important measurements have
been made, all of which show thnt tho
common estimate of the height of
waves is due to imagination and fear.
The measurements of Scoresby, which
are regarded as very accurate, proved
that during storms waves in the At
lantic rarely exceed forty-three feet
from hollow to crest, the distance be
tween the crests being AGO feet, and
their speed thirty-two and one-half
miles an hour. Moivj recent observa
tions taken in tho Atlantic (fives from
forty-four to forty-eight as the high
est measured waves; but such heights
are nuely reached, and, indeed,
waves exceeding thirty foot are very
seldom encountered. The monsoon
waves at Kurrachee breakwater works
wero found to dash over the wall to thu
depth of thirteen feet, or nbout forty
feet rtbovo tho mean sea level. Tho
greatest hoight of waves on the Hritish
coast wero those observed in Wick
bay so famous for the exceptionally
heavy seas which roll Into It being
thirty-soven and one-half to forty fect.
Green seas to tho depth of twenty-five
fect poured over tho parupot of tho
breakwater at intervals of from soven
to ton minutes, oach wave, it is esti
mated, bolng a mass of forty thousand
tons of water, and this continually for
three days aud nights. During severo
storms the waves used to rido high
nbovo tho top of Smenton Eddystono
towor, while at tho lloll Hock tho seas,
with easterly storms, envelop the towor
from base to balcony a hoight of four
hundred feet, Chicago Inter-Ocean.
A peculiar incident of history la
tho fact that two Jews of Bagdad huvo
bought tho entire site of the ancient
city of Babel, the great capital of No
buchadnezzar. Tho purchusora aro two
brothers EfTondl, ono of whom was
elected member of tho Turkish Parlia
ment which convened in 1878. It is
remarkable that two Jews huvo be
come the hoirs of the gardens of Soml
rarals and tho palucos of Nebuchad
uozzar, or what if loft of thorn,
VIS'IING CARDS.
' "Their Introduction Not o Much a "Hitter
nf Invention x of ITvnlntlon.
It is no", easy to determine? with pre
clski where nod when visitlajr and in
vitation curds oPrinftted in Gnropa. In
renJity they were not so ranch a matter
of invotioT ii of evolution. Thoiirst
peroa who utilized the white bck of
the pl&yln; cmrd to write his name on
when tat failed o find his friend at
homo, or to lenve a message or invita
tion for hint, wrwid. wen h knows,
be entitled to the title of "invomor."
Vo know that in Enpland these cards
had their oripin ia the way indicated.
Dr. Carlton, in English .Vote aid Quer
ies, says that In examining a lot of old
papors he oasie across a number of such
cards Jaed 1752-1761. many of whieh
were printed from English copper-plates
on the backs tat old playing cards. The
visiting cards were small, tho cards
paring teen cut, and those of tho Earl
and Countess of Northumberland wore
printed on the back of tho trey
of chtb and of the queon of
diamonds respectively. The invitations
to card-parties, printed from coppar
plaUvA, w-re large enough to cover the
whole back of a plnving card. The
e-5s of (? ration's card is printed on
the back of the ace of hearts, tuid lidy
Northumberland's on the back of the
ton of spale and tn of hearts. At
the bottom of the latter are added the
wards: "Without hoops if npreo.iblo."
It is presumed the huge hoops of those
day-, impeded atvess to the card-table.
It would appe r that the use of such
invltation-Cirds. especially in connec
tion with card-parties, had become
ostablishei in London in the first half
of theeiphtoenth century. Previously.
invitations to such parties were wont
to be sent verbally through servants.
The writing on tho back of playing
cards was to prevent mistakes as well as
from an appreciation of the symbolical
appropriateness of the form. Card
board proper, as we know it, had not
yet been invented. Tho custom was
found convenient, and so was extended
to calling-cards, and became fashion
able, Sume thirty-five years ago a
house in Deau street, Soho. tho resi
dence of oithor Hogarth (169S-1764) or
his father-in-law, wa? in courso of re
pair. On removing a marble chimney
piece in the front drawing-room four or
rive playing cards wero found, on tho
back of which names wore written
one that of Sir Isaao Newton
(.born 16 12). It has been conjec
tured those were visiting card; but
it is really doubtfnl whether tho
philosopher would hare employed such.
Might they not have been produced by
the artist as studies for his art? In
plate IV of his Marriage-a-la-Mode,
several such cards are represented ly
ing ou tho floor in tho right hand cor
ner of the picture. On one, the painter,
with his wonted caustic humor, has
satirized the ignorance of the upper
classes by inscribing on it tho follow
ing ingeniously misspelled polite in
quiry: "Count Ilassel begs to no how
Iado Squander sleapt last nlte." In a
novel called tho "Spiritual Quixote,"
published in Hath in 1760 the scenes
being laid in that city in the time of
Beau Nash, who died 1760 n preacher
is called to account because, while ho
is continually inveighing against gam
ing, he has in his pocket a pack of
soiled cards ready for his engagements
or pleasures. A noto says: "A set of
blank ?.rds has sinco been invented
by which the above absurdities may bo
avoided." This noto seems to date tho
substitution of visiting cards proper
for inscribed playing cards. Nor must
we overlook the passage in chapter 12
of St, Honan's Well, in which "tho
Captain presented to Lucky Dodds tho
fifth part of an ordinnry playing-card
much grimed with snuff, which bore
on the blank sido his name and qual
ity." Whether Ben Johnson's ex
pression: "You shall cartel hiiii" points
to an earlior uso of thoso cards in af
fairs of honor, we do not take it on us
to decide. American Xotes and Queries.
THE AQUATIC SPIDER.
llnw It Propiirev Itnrir for nil Attuck On
It i;nHuprctlic Prey.
While their noarly constant abode is
tho water, they aro, like most other
spiders, air-breathors; consequently
thoy need some special provision for
providing thomselvos with air while
living under tho water, and for this
purpose thoy possess the art of con
structing a kind of diving-bell. It is
an interesting sight to witness one of
them making his air-coll. Clinging to
the lower side of a few loaves, and se
curing them in position by spinning a
few threads, the spider rises to tho
level of tho water, with its belly upper
most, and, doubling up its hind-legs,
retains a stratum of air among tho hairs
with which its body is covered. Then
it plunges into tho, water and appears
as in tho first stage of the making of its
silvery robe, doing immediately to
tho spot it had chosen, it brushes its
body with iU paws, when tho air de
taches itself and forms a bubblo under
tho leaf. Tho spider surrounds this
bubblo with the impermeable silky
matter furnished by Its spinneret. Uo
turuing to tho surface, it takes in tin
othor Inyor of air, which It carries
down anil adds to tho first one, nlso ex
tending tho envelopo over It, Tho
process Is kept up till tho ''dlvlng-bell"
has reached tho proper slzo and is fin
ished. Tho Ideal form of the construc
tion Is that of a thimble, but It often as
sumos an Irregular shape, liko an in
verted snck. When tho spldor has
takon possession of its redoubt it re
mains quiot in It, head down, watching
for tho appoaranco of an Insect. Per
ceiving ono, It seizes it and returns to
its lodge, which it has scciirod against
Intruders by spinning threads across it,
to dovour its proy at its leisure. -M,
Emile Illanchard, in Itytulur Science
Monthly.
i
V rr; Huron. Mich., undcrta.-?
ha .4 lart- tent for funeral purposes.
Whenever he has a funeral on a rainy
day he places the tent over the cravo
so that serrkes way bo hekt with but
litUe inconvenience,
A jmnnc man who presented a
forged order to a Detroit theater mnna-F-rcr
swallowed the paper when tho
fraud was detected. No bad results
followed, as he was a regular eater at
the depot lunch counter.
A HtUe pamphlet called "Humor
in Yo' Sixteenth Century" shows thnt
ye Joker of that period borrowed a
great deal of his wit from ye humorist
of the Nineteenth century, without
givlntra particle of credit. Xerristetcn
HtrttUi.
"Now." said tho choir director,
"sine the third stanza very softly. It
is necessary to do so to bring out thi
spirit of the composition." "Hymn
No. 96." broke in the clergyman,
"omitting the third verse." And the
sinpers enjoyed it more than the di
rector. KjrAanQt.
Shakespeare, who left his wife his
second best bedstead, has been sur
passed in indifference by a modern En
glish testator, who bequeathed hi
wife one farthitp. which he directed
the executrix to forward to her by post,
unpaid, as an indication of his disgust
at the treatment which he had received
at her hands, and especially in respect
of tho abusive epithets, such as "Old
Pig," that he considered unjustified.
Bees and hominp pigeons recently
raced between Hamm and llhynem,
Bolpium. The towns are an hour apart,
and tho bet was that twelve Ives would
boat twelve pigeons in makinp the dis
tance. Four drones and eight working
Ives well powdered with flour and re
leased at the same instant with tho
pigeons at Rhynern. A drono reached
home four seconds in advanco of tha
first pigeon; the three other drones and
one pigeon came in neck and neck, and
tho eight working bees came in just a
trifle, about a length ahead of tho ten
pigeons
In sinking larffe pits and wells in
Nevada stratas of rock salt wore cut
through, in which were fouud imbedded
perfectly preserved fish, which are
probably thousands of years old. as the
salt field occupies what was once tho bot
tom of a large lake, and no such fish are
now to bo found In Nevada. The speci
mens wore not petrified, but flesh, and
all wero preserved in perfect form, and
after being soaked in water for two or
three days could be cooked and eaten,
but were not very palatable. After
being exposed to tho air and sun for a
day or two, they became as hard at
wood.
A novel and very pretty spectacle
was introduced at a Brooklyn swim
ming ehool exhibition. It was called
tho chariot race. Two little papier
mache chariot wore constructed and
in each one was a four-year-old child.
Harnessed to tho chariots wow two lit
tle boys, who swam over tho course
drawing their fair freight after them.
The lnds wero about six years old, yet
they mado very good time aud tho win
ner was presented with a fine fishing
polo. Tho children in tho chariot en
joyed the raco quite as much as tho
boys.
WAR CYCLORAMAS.
An Artlt Kxplalnn How Tliey Are Painted
nil Put Together.
Tho popular idea of how tho war
cyeloramns, llko tho Battlo of l-ottys-
burg, Battlo of Shlloh, Battlo ol
Chickamauga, etc., are painted, ap
pears very laughablo to a person who
knows how the work Is accomplished
The Battlo of Gettysburg nnd tho Siege
of Paris have been shown for sovoral
years, on opposito sides of Hubbard
court, in Chicago, and tho stock paid
largo dividends. Each was advertised
as tho work of celebrated French
artists, father and son, and Hie popular
idea is that these gantlotnon painted
them. Tho fact is that, beyond a
general outlining of tho work, which
was probably faithfully mado after
maps procured from nuthontic sources,
and a general direction of the plan ol
the work, tho nrtist-ln-chlef had vorv
littlo to do with it. No man engaged
in a battlo scos it, and an accurate
painting of two nrniios In combat
Is impossible Tho general features
only aro known. For Instauco. In tho
Gettysburg painting thoro aro accur
ately doftned tho roads, Crown lull,
Littlo Crown Hill, tho wheat field
in which a memorablo chnrgo was
made, ono or two buildings which
wero hendqunrtcrs of tho loading Cion-
orals, and, with reasonable accuracy,
the topography of tho country is de
picted with excollent perspective. But
the details of tho battle, tho actual
clash of arms botweon this and that
division or brlgndo, is loft a good deal
to tho imagination. Thu artlst-ln-
ehlof hires some mon to put In tho sky,
other men to put in tho trees nnd
foliage, other men to put In tho men in
action. Attention is paid to develop
Ing this or that memorablo incident,
us, lu tho Gettysburg painting, tho
death of tho cannoneer, tho amputation
of tho soldier's limb beside tho hay
stack. Tako It all together It makes
up a picture that is thrilling enough to
arouhu tho most Intense interest on
tho part of tho old soldier. 1 remem
ber standing by tho sido of a veteran
at tho Chicago ptcturo of Gettysburg.
Ho was explaining to a completion tho
details of thu light, in which ho had
bornu un honorablo part. "Say, Bill,"
said he, "at that stono wall there I lost
my hat and, by gosh, if thoro ain't tho
old hat lying thoro yet!" In painting
pictures of battles shruwd artists never
fail to bestrew tho Hold with lost hats,
muskuts nnd cuntcous. St. Louis
Qlobc-DcmooriU,
MISCELLANEOUS.
CURE FOR BL1NDNSS.
An Operation Whleh Itellere the Rrala
ami Ketore- SlRht.
English surgeons have devised a new
and beaeScent operation by which tho
sheath of the optic nerve behind tho
eye is opened and not only is the pres-
ure upon the nerve removed, and to
tal, or almost total, blindness cured,
but the brain itself is relieved. Tha
membranes which invest the brain,
and are continued down to the oyo ia
the form of a sheath which surround
the optic nerve, secrete a certain
amount of fluid, and whenever there is
an excess of this secretion, or by other
moans, as by the growth of a brain.
tumor, the pressure within the cavity
of the brain is increased, a super
abundance ol fluid is apt to find It
wav down the nerve sheath to the lerol
of the eye, subjecting the optic nerve,
to Injurious pressure and frequently
destroying the sighL This blindness
tnav bo permanent, even though tho
pressure in the brain cavity which,
causes it be ony temporary and bo
cured. Dr. Dowccker, of Paris. sLv-
toen or seventeen years ago. suppested
that it was possible to open tho
optlc-nervo sheath, and thus not only
to relieve the nerve from pressure,
but also to drain the brain cav
ity and relieve the brain presuro
there. Ho made two experiments in
this lino upon two nearly hopeless
cases, but he tried to feel his way to
the nerve without the aid of sight, and
to cut the sheath by means of an in
strument carrying a concealed knife
which was projected by 'means of a
spring. Only ono other attempt of thU
sort was made, and tho results not
bolng satis factory, the experiment
were dropped until last year. Dr.
Brudenell Carter, of London, devised a
method of operating by which tho
sheath was exposed to view, and every
step of the operation was guided by
the surgeon's eye. In a paper read,
before the British Medical Association,
at its recent meeting at Glasgow, Dr.
Carter told of four cases In which ho
had performed the operation. In one
the result was negative, so far as tho
sight was concerned; In tho other three
tho patients were not only quickly re
stored to sight, but wero relieved or
cured of headache and sickness arising!
from pressure on tho brain. Dr. Car
ter claims that the now operation could
Im performed with certainty and with
out risk either to life or to any im
portant structure.
Dr. Bickerton, of Liverpool, at tha
snrao meeting said that after hearinj
of Dr. Carter's first case, he has per
formed the operation himself in two
cases, in ono of which temporary res
toration of sight was followed by a re
lapse, but in the other ono the result
was favorable. .V. i. Cor. Chicago
Journal.
WONDERFUL BLIND MAN.
He Know How to Work it. Type-Writer
nnil Can Ply mi Dr-ratt.
Tho Hev. E. B. Donehoo, secretary of
the Pittsburgh association which r c
poses to erect an institution for tho in
struction of tho blind, has received a
remarkable letter from Alden F. Hays,
a prominent blind citizen of Sowickloy.
Tho letter Is In tho clear and pretty
characters of tho type-wrltor, and to
written upon the machine by that gen
tlemnn himself. Iu It Mr. Hays brlofly
tolls Mr. Dotiohoo his own history, ta
show what wonders may bo workod.
amongtho blind people by education.
Ho was for eight years a pupil In tha
Philadelphia Institution for the Blind,
whore so many blind boys and girto
from Allegheny wore trained. Ho la
now a man of about thirty-eight year
of ago. Ills career since leaving school
and his present mode of life proeont
fiomo marvolous facts. A few of thosa
ho relates to Mr. Donehoo as an evi
dence of tho bright future that Is pos
sible for ovory blind person, If school
ing advantages wero only moro com
mon. Mr. Hays is a son of tho brilliant
General Alexander Hays, whoso horola
services In the Into war ondod with
death in tho Wilderness. Ho Is now,
nnd has been for sovoral years past, a
coal merchant, supplying most ot
Sowickloy with fuel. Ho conducts tho
ontlro business himsolf without cler
ical assistance.
Ho Is totally blind, yet ho writes all
his own orders by typo-wrltor for coal
from tho mine operators, takes tho oar
numbers whon thocVil arrives; weighs
tho coal by tho wagon-lond for custo
mers; gives tho drlvois properly filled
out tickets, or makes out tho receipts;
receives money, counts it, and mnkos
change; keeps a set of books; walks to
and from his homo without company,
and in fact goes any whoro in Sowickloy
hy himself aud without a cane.
Mo is an accomplished musician. For
eighteen years past ho has boon organ
Is in tho Presbyterian church, and ho
still takes ovory Friday afternoon from
his business to rohoarso tho musio for
this church on Sabbaths. ISttsburgk
Cor. lioston Olobt.
Swoct Uso of Adversity.
Tho touch of adversity is just an
necessary to bring out tho bosi thore.
Is In some mon as Is tho touoh ot thu
(rout to rovoul tho glories of tha
autumn. What Is more beautiful than
a troo or forost (lashing with all tho
colors of tho rainbow! How delightful
Is a drlvo with thoso bouquets of
nature lining tho roadside! It Is aakl
these splendors of tho autumn follago
dro tho sunshine which tho trees havo
boon tillontly storing up during tho
luminor whon tho sun has boon shining
upon thorn. Happy is tho man wlio,
lu tho sunshliio of prosperity, has en
riched h life with Uioso grace or
ihavactor which Will shlno outmost
beautifully when tho touch of adversity
or sorrow comes! Chriitian Inquinr-z
Itttsburyh Chronicle.