PHOTOGRAPHING THE HEAVENS. 7 i 



gether with tea, i. e., a food accessory which is one of the greatest of 

 all retarders of the digestion of starchy food. 



The effect of coffee as a retarder of stomach digestion would prob- 

 ably be more felt than it is were it not so constantly the practice to 

 take it only in small quantity after a very large meal ; it is then 

 mixed with an immense bulk of food, and its relative percentage pro- 

 portion rendered insignificant ; and to the strong and vigorous the 

 slightly retarding effect on digestion it would then have may be, as 

 Sir W. Roberts suggests, not altogether a disadvantage ; but after a 

 spare meal and in persons of feeble digestive power the cup of black 

 coffee would probably exercise a retarding effect on digestion which 

 might prove harmful. It is also worthy of remark that in the great 

 coffee-drinking countries this beverage is made not nearly so strong as 

 with us. In this country good coffee always means strong, often very 

 strong coffee ; but on the Continent they possess the faculty of mak- 

 ing good coffee which is not necessarily very strong coffee, and which 

 is, therefore, as a beverage, less likely to do harm. 



The general conclusion to be drawn from these highly interesting 

 and instructive researches is that most of the " food accessories " which 

 in the course of civilization man has added to his diet are, when taken 

 in moderation, beneficial to him, and conduce to his physical welfare 

 and material happiness ; but if taken in excess they may interfere to a 

 serious and harmful degree with the processes of digestion and assimi- 

 lation. It is also made clear that dietetic habits which may prove 

 agreeable and useful to those who enjoy vigorous health and a strong 

 digestion need to be greatly modified in the case of those who are 

 feeble and dyspeptic. Nineteenth Century. 







PHOTOGRAPHING THE HEAVENS. 



By Dr. HERMANN Y. KLEIN. 



~TT"NDOUBTEDLY one of the greatest achievements of modern 

 vJ days is the introduction of the exceedingly sensitive dry-plate in 

 photography. By it one is enabled to picture the lightning's flash, the 

 trotting horse, the surging wave, and the foliage swayed by the breeze. 

 It is not to be foreseen what manifold applications this new method 

 will eventually find in the natural sciences. Here we will consider 

 only one of its numerous applications, namely, its use in photograph- 

 ing the starlit heavens. 



Whoever has tried to form an idea of the number of stars, visible 

 to the naked eye on a clear winter's night, almost invariably overesti- 

 mates them. The layman declares he sees a hundred thousand, ay, a 

 million stars. Such estimates, however, far exceed the truth, and, if 

 anything is certain, it is the fact that the number of stars to be seen 



