136 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Oct. 



by our colder air. Red corpuscles are more numerous in the 

 blood in a colder environment, and people who live in the 

 country have more red corpuscles than those living in towns. 

 The number of these minute red particles in our blood is sur- 

 prising. There are between three and a half to five millions of 

 them in a man 20 or 30 years of age. Fishes, such as trout and 

 cod, have not half that number, and the "cold-blooded" sharks 

 are said to have not more than 140,000 to 230,000 in their vascular 

 system. In these days of "suffragette" assertions and claims, 

 man can boast, on scientific grounds, the superior richness of his 

 blood! Man's blood has 12 to 20 per cent, more solid matter 

 than woman's; but woman's blood is always found to be brighter 

 in colour, hence the more attractive complexion when unim- 

 proved by alleged artificial aids! Of course the white corpuscles 

 of the blood cannot be ignored, though they are not one-seventh 

 in number, there being 2,284 white to 11,306 red corpuscles in 

 human blood. But Professor Knight has no space for curious 

 details such as these; his object is more direct and practical, 

 and his wise words on "How to breathe, "on foul air in the house 

 (p. 44), care of the hands (p. 60), care of the teeth (p. 76), ears 

 and earache (p. 84), eyesight (p. 92), round shoulders (p. 100), 

 and clothing (p. 105) are perfectly admirable. Food and milk 

 form a special chapter, XVI, but one cannot look at a single 

 page of this bright readable work without having the attention 

 at once enchained. Exercise, clothing, and sleeping ("sleep on 

 the right side," says the author), and other vitally interesting 

 and valuable matters are explained in the clearest, simplest and 

 most accurate language. Nothing could be more instructive 

 than the strange experiment by Dr. Hodge of Clark University, 

 U.S.A., with- four puppies, and Bum's conversion from habits 

 of intoxication, and Nig's devotion to the whiskey flask, are 

 interesting and pathetic in the extreme. Consumption is amply 

 dealt with in chapter XXV, and indeed all phases of a healthy 

 life and avoidance of common ills are clearly and concisely 

 treated in this splendid little work, in which we have not found 

 a single misprint or typographical error. The only suggestion 

 which a critic might make would be the addition of an explana- 

 tion that whereas arteries carry arterial blood and veins carry 

 venous blood, as stated on page 97, the reverse is the case in the 

 lungs, in which the pulmonary arteries carry venous blood and 

 the veins carry from the lungs bright, arterial blood. 



Thirty years ago a clever English lady, Mrs. Catherine M. 

 Buckton, the first lady ever elected to a School Board, wrote a 

 small handbook entitled "Health in the House," and it was 

 such a success that edition after edition was exhausted in a few 

 years. May Professor Knight's valuable book as rapidly secure 

 a wide circulation and succe5k'e/.^ ^editions be called for by 

 the Canadian public ! /\0^1r^^ "X E.E. Prince. 



