i9 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that on Mount Vesuvius. It is a pity that no observatory has ever 

 replaced the ancient one of Empedocles, near the summit of Etna, or 

 even at Mcolosi, where the valuable services of Dr. Gemellaro might 

 have been obtained. This would have been the more interesting, as 

 Palmieri can detect shocks caused by that volcano, though the distance 

 is enormous. With a third observatory, say in the Philippine Islands, 

 we could not fail to increase our knowledge enormously. 



From long practice Palmieri is able to predict eruptions. We re- 

 member well, when we were enjoying his hospitality at the beginning 

 of last year, how he said, " This is a small eruption, but there is going 

 to be a great one ; I do not say it will be soon, it may be a year, but 

 it will come." In almost exactly a year the great eruption did come. 

 Abstract from Nature. 



-+*+- 



SCHOOL DIETARIES. 



By M. D. 



IN the neighborhood of one of our midland cities is a school for some 

 fifty boys, varying in age from nine or ten to fourteen or fifteen 

 years. During some recent visits to this school, the singular healthi- 

 ness and heartiness of the boys made me curious to learn exactly how 

 they were fed. The following I ascertained to be the dietary : 



Breakfast (in summer at 8, in winter at 8.30) consists of tea or 

 good strong coffee, with abundance of milk, bread-and-butter, and cold 

 meat. By way of change, now and then, eggs for a few days together 

 take the place of meat. Before the foregoing, boys who like it have a 

 small basin of bread-and-milk, or of Scotch porridge made with milk. 

 The milk is new, and comes straight from a farm adjoining the school- 

 grounds. 



Lunch at 11. Each boy has a small fresh roll of biead, or a bun, 

 or a captain's biscuit, and, if weakly, a tumbler of milk or small glass 

 of wine or ale ; but, as a rule, nothing is drunk at lunch, dinner, or 

 supper, but pure water. 



Dinner^ at 1.30, always consists of two courses : 1. Two kinds of 

 meat, viz., beef and mutton, with not less than two kinds of vege- 

 tables, and of these a liberal supply. 2. Pudding, usually of fruit, 

 fresh or preserved according to the season, and always well sweetened. 

 On four days of the week the meat is hot roast ; on one day it is hot 

 boiled ; on one day steaks, cutlets, or made dishes, are substituted for 

 joints ; while the Sunday dinner always consists of cold beef, mashed 

 potatoes or salad, and plum-pudding. After dinner some ripe fruit, as 

 an orange or some kind of garden-fruit, according to the season. 



Tea at 6 p. m. Tea, bread-and-butter, varied almost daily either 



