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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the right side of the body having yielded 

 to treatment, and the wound in the skull 

 having commenced to heal, the man began 

 to resume his usual occupation of a singer 

 in cafes. Soon, however, he was seized 

 with nervous symptoms of an extraordinary 

 nature, lasting from twenty-four to forty- 

 eight hours, and he returned to the hospital. 

 When in his fit, he is totally insensible to 

 pain, but his will may be influenced by con- 

 tact with exterior objects. When set upon 

 his feet he marches on quite steadily, with 

 fixed eyes, but utters no word, nor knows 

 what is going on about him. If he meets 

 with an obstacle in his way, he tries to make 

 out what it is by feeling, and then attempts 

 to get out of its way. If a pen be put in 

 his hand he will fumble about for ink and 

 paper, and, if he gets these, will write a very 

 sensible business letter. Give him cigarette- 

 paper, and he will take out his tobacco-pouch 

 and make a cigarette, and light it with a 

 match from his own box. If a by-stander 

 extinguish the match, he will strike another ; 

 and so on till his supply is exhausted. But, 

 if a lighted match be put into his hand, he 

 will not use it, and will let it burn between 

 his fingers. No matter what his tobacco- 

 pouch is filled with, he will roll his cigarette 

 all the same, and smoke it. When the fit 

 is past, he has no recollection of what has 

 been said or done. 



Cremation among North American In- 

 dians. Dr. John L. Le Conte read a paper 

 at the Hartford meeting of the American 

 Association, giving an account of a ceremo- 

 nial of cremation among the Cocopa Indians 

 of California, of which he was an eye-wit- 

 ness. A shallow ditch was dug, in which 

 logs of the mesquite, a hard, dense wood 

 which makes a very hot fire, with but little 

 flame or smoke, were laid. The body was 

 placed on the logs, with some smaller fagots 

 piled upon it, and a few of the personal ef- 

 fects of the deceased were also added. Fire 

 was then applied to the pile. At this point 

 the doctor was about to retire, when one of 

 the Indians told him to remain, as there was 

 yet something to be seen. An old man then 

 advanced from the assemblage with a long, 

 pointed stick in his hand. With this he 

 removed the eyes, holding them successively 

 on the point of the stick in the direction of 



the sun, repeating at the same time words 

 which were represented as being a prayer 

 for the soul of the deceased. After this 

 more fagots were heaped on the fire, which 

 was kept up for three or four hours longer. 

 When the fire has gone out, it is the custom 

 to gather the fragments of bone and put 

 them in a terra-cotta vase, which is kept 

 under the care of the family. Dr. Le Conte 

 was unable to say whether the custom of 

 burning the dead was a general one or not, 

 among this or other California tribes of In- 

 dians, but thought it desirable to gather up 

 and put on record whatever evidence there 

 might be on so interesting a subject, before 

 the total disappearance of these people put 

 the settlement of the question beyond our 

 reach. 



Honse-heating in Sweden. A traveler 

 in Sweden contributes to one of the news- 

 papers an account of the very economical 

 mode of house-warming adopted in that 

 country. The kakelung, or Swedish stove, 

 is a great oven of masonry covered with 

 porcelain plates, having usually five flues, 

 through which the gases of combustion must 

 pass up and down, a distance of thirty to 

 fifty, or even sixty feet, before escaping into 

 the air. The general principle of their opera- 

 tion is to provide enough material to absorb 

 all the heat from the fire ; to conduct the 

 gases through these long flues till their tem- 

 perature has fallen to a point that no longer 

 gives off heat. The quantity of the mate- 

 rial in the kakelung is so great that the tem- 

 perature from one firing will not raise the 

 temperature of any part so much that the 

 hand s cannot be h eld upon the outside. Two 

 hours after a fire is made, and after the wood- 

 fuel has burned up, and the flue been closed, 

 the kakelung begins to get warm on the 

 outside, the light porcelain plates give off 

 their moderate warmth to the atmosphere 

 in the room, and ten hours later there will 

 not be much difference in the temperature 

 of the stove or of the room. A kakelung, 

 instead of being an unsightly obstruction, is 

 an ornamental piece of furniture. A door 

 opens into it in front, where, in a kind of 

 closet with iron shelves, food can be kept 

 warm, or warmed. Baking can be done in 

 the furnace for hours after the fire has been 

 burned out. 



