322 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



five dollars to pay us for the time . spent in taking care of the worms 

 during six weeks of intensely hot weather. Our expenses, not counting 

 the cost of the fuel burned, amounted to over one dollar and fifty cents. 



That others have had somewhat similar experiences is shown by the 

 following extracts from recent newspapers. From Springfield, Massa- 

 chusetts, a lady writes that, although she had but about eight hundred 

 silk-worms, they kept her very busy during the last molt picking 

 leaves, and she should not advise any one to engage in the business 

 unless one is willing to work, for it is not an employment for lazy 

 people. In return for her cocoons, which she sent to the New York 

 Silk Exchange, she received a silk handkerchief and some embroidery 

 floss made from her own cocoons, valued at about one dollar and twen- 

 ty-five cents, which she thought " poor pay for six weeks' work." Her 

 expenses, not counting time and labor, amounted to one dollar and six- 

 ty-three cents. 



A widow in Ohio thought that the culture of silk might prove a 

 pleasant and profitable way of supporting herself and two children ; 

 but after some expense and " six weeks of hard work, Sundays and all, 

 found that she had not made a dollar by the operation." 



From the " Massachusetts Plowman " the following extract is 

 quoted : " Silk-culture requires a very close, unremitting attention on 

 the part of those engaged in it, and if the work is not laborious it is 

 so constant as to prevent the following of any other occupation at the 

 same time. Those who desire to engage in sericulture will do well to 

 consider thoroughly the matter." 



One thing I can say in regard to the experiment, it is interesting 

 work, though, whether it would be so to a person not interested at the 

 outset in such matters I can not say ; and, besides, it keeps one so 

 busy that the interesting points are often overlooked. Yet I am sure 

 that numerous friends who saw the worms in their different stages 

 thoroughly enjoyed them, and it was of some account certainly to 

 have interested so many people in a subject of so much importance. 

 How many children, and I may say older people as well, never knew 

 before that a moth came from a caterpillar, or that a worm formed the 

 cocoon from which all our silk is made ! 



+++- 



THE INFLUENCE OF EXEECISE UPON HEALTH. 



Br Peofescok EUGENE L. EICHAEDS, 



OF YALE COLLEGE. 



MANY old theories of education are being mercilessly discussed. 

 Many new theories claim the places of the old. The classical 

 scholar still claims for the ancient languages the greatest educational 

 power. The advocate of modern languages says life is too short to 



