POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



hundred to sixteen hundred feet at the Mis- 

 souri Valley to from eighteen hundred to 

 three thousand feet at the brines, " is the 

 sunland of Dakota. It is drier than the 

 east divide country." Contrary to what 

 might be expected in a latitude so far north, 

 the winters are short. The season usually 

 begins about the holidays ; with the excep- 

 tion of a few disagreeable days that come 

 with the late fall rains, the weather is usu- 

 ally delightful. At times in midwinter the 

 thermometer registers much below zero. 

 These days of low temperature invariably 

 follow a fall of snow, and before the bright 

 sunshine that is sure to come has tempered 

 the dry, cutting atmosphere. A very nota- 

 ble feature of this climate to those who 

 have never before spent the winter in Da- 

 kota is their ability to pursue their outdoor 

 employments on the coldest days without 

 unusual discomfort. A temperature that 

 would render outdoor pursuits impossible in 

 an air laden with moisture will in this dry, 

 sunny air be almost unnoticeable. Storms 

 are frequent, but not as a rule destructive 

 or dangerous. Probably the most disagree- 

 able feature of this season as well as of all 

 seasons in the Missouri basin are the sudden 

 and ofttimes extreme changes of tempera- 

 ture. But in the coldest weather the United 

 States Signal reports show that the tempera- 

 ture is not so low by several degrees at 

 Pierre or Bismarck on the Missouri River as 

 in the same latitudes east of the Missouri 

 divide. Spring begins early. The warmth 

 and sunshine bring this season fully a month 

 in advance of the damper localities in the 

 same latitude and many miles south in the 

 Mississippi. In summer the days are often 

 warm, but rarely oppressive. The autumn 

 is the most delightful season of the year, 

 and the year usually passes away with it. 

 The favorable features of Dakota for health- 

 seekers are that it possesses the proper 

 altitude ; that it has a water supply of 

 the very purest ; that by far the largest 

 number of days of all seasons are days of 

 sunshine ; that it has a dry, porous soil ; 

 that it can not for yeai's be overcrowded ; 

 that severe and fatal diseases do not exten- 

 sively prevail ; and that it has plenty of ad- 

 vantages for industrial pursuits, thousands 

 of acres of cheap productive land, and a 

 place where the poor and the prospective in- 



valid can found a permanent home. The 

 disadvantages are, that there are present to 

 a certain degree sudden and depressing 

 atmospheric changes ; and that it lacks a 

 great variety of means for diversion, al- 

 though hunting, fishing, horseback riding, 

 and other sports can be followed almost 

 daily. 



Miud Cures. Why, asks Dr. A. T. Scho- 

 field, of Friedenheim Hospital, are not the 

 great therapeutic powers of the mind given 

 their due place and prominence in medical 

 treatment ? " Does any practical medical 

 man doubt these powers ? Is he not aware 

 of the ingredient ' faith ' which, if added to 

 his prescriptions, makes them often all- 

 powerful for good ? Does he not know the 

 value of strongly asserting that the medi- 

 cines will produce such and such effects as a 

 powerful means of securing them ? Has he 

 never witnessed the therapeutic value through 

 the mind of the dentist's waiting room in 

 curing toothache, or of the consultant's 

 spacious dining room and back numbers of 

 Punch, combined with the physician's august 

 presence in the consulting room ? And has 

 he not seen how much more efficacious the 

 very same drugs have proved when pre- 

 scribed in such solemn surroundings than 

 in his own humbler environment and less 

 august presence '? " Among the most valu- 

 able instruments of mental therapeutics is 

 the mantelpiece striking clock. Sir Dyce 

 Duckworth insists upon the great efficacy, in 

 cases of persistent vomiting, of giving the 

 liquid food in teaspoonfuls every five minutes 

 by the dock. Food thus given is more read- 

 ily i-etained, and all the more so if the clock 

 can be clearly observed by the patient him- 

 self from the bed. At the exact time the 

 mind, acting through the brain, enables the 

 stomach (perhaps by some inhibitory power 

 over the vomiting center in the medulla) to 

 retain the food. The clock has also proved 

 to be valuable in labor in promoting regular- 

 ity in the intervals between the pains, as well 

 as in the appointment of the hours for nurs- 

 ing the child. Its real value in these, as in all 

 cases, is truly scientific, and lies in its potent 

 aid toward rapidly forming accurate psycho- 

 physical habits or artificial reflexes in the 

 brain. The clock is a strong aid to sleep by 

 enabling a person to go to bed at exactly 



