426 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



just and fallacious. " The standing of pu- 

 pils should be established by the degree of 

 thoroughness attained in their respective 

 acquirements; that is the test of men in 

 practical life, and it should be the same in 

 school-life." The higher mathematics and 

 the dead languages have received too much 

 attention, because the fruits are of meager 

 value and limited utility ; but " more time 

 should be spent in our schools in giving in- 

 struction in English words and expressions." 

 The standard of English study should be 

 raised everywhere. 



Principles of Sea-Bathing. Sea-bath- 

 ing, when properly and carefully indulged 

 in, is a most health-giving and enjoyable 

 diversion. But a few broad principles 

 should be remembered. Never bathe within 

 two hours of a meal, never when overtired 

 and exhausted, and never when overheated. 

 At the same time the body should be warm, 

 and not cold, when you plunge in. Do not 

 remain in the water long enough to become 

 tired or chilly, and when you come out dress 

 quickly. It should also be remembered 

 that bathing does not agree with everybody. 

 Those who feel faint or giddy in the water, 

 or whose hearts begin to beat overmuch, 

 should consult a doctor who is thoroughly 

 acquainted with their constitutions, before 

 they enter the water again. Medical papers 

 say that many of the bathing fatalities 

 which have been generally attributed to 

 " cramp " are really due to failure of the 

 heart's action, induced by the plunge into 

 cold water, and aggravated by swimming. 

 A good result of the bath ought to make 

 the bather feel warm and fresh. If, instead, 

 shivering and cold ensue, harm is being 

 done. Children should not be forced into 

 sea-baths, for their reluctance may be oc- 

 casioned by some constitutional drawback, 

 testifying that the process is harmful to 

 them. 



Tfee American Economic Association. 



The American Economic Association has 

 been founded by the co-operation of a num- 

 ber of students of that subject, for the en- 

 couragement of economic research, with the 

 publication of monographs and the promo- 

 tion of perfect freedom of discussion. It 

 starts with the belief that political economy 



as a science is still in an early stage of its 

 development ; that its advance is to be 

 sought through the historical and statistical 

 study of actual conditions of economic life 

 rather than through speculation. It recog- 

 nizes that the conflict of labor and capital 

 has brought into prominence a vast number 

 of social problems, whose solution requires 

 the united efforts, each in its own sphere, 

 of church and the state. "Without taking 

 any partisan attitude in the study of the in- 

 dustrial and commercial policy of govern- 

 ments, it believes in a progressive develop- 

 ment of economic conditions, which must 

 be met by a corresponding development of 

 legislative policy. Among the topics which 

 are suggested as proper subjects for reports 

 by the standing committees, are the employ- 

 ment of women in factories ; municipal 

 finance ; rent in the United States ; the 

 National Railroad Commission ; limitation 

 of suffrage as a remedy for abuses in local 

 administration ; the effect of transportation 

 on the laborer; and the silver question. 

 The President of the Association is Dr. 

 Francis A. Walker, of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology; the Secretary is 

 Richard T. Ely, Ph. D., of Johns Hopkins 

 University. 



Parsce Funerals. As soon as the case 

 of a Parsee about to die is seen to be hope- 

 less, he is washed all over in gomez (ox's 

 urine), and dressed in clean clothes, while 

 the priests repeat prayers and Avesta texts. 

 When life is extinct, the feet are tied to- 

 gether, the hands are joined, and the body 

 is laid on the ground-floor. A priest re- 

 mains by it, saying prayers and burning 

 sandal-wood, till the bearers come to take 

 it to the dakkma, or "tower of silence." 

 As soon as the bearers arrive, the seven 

 parts of the Ahurian hymn are chanted, to 

 combat the power of death, which has come 

 from hell to seize the corpse and threaten 

 the living. When this is over, the body is 

 taken off by the bearers on an iron bier to 

 the dakfana, where it is exposed, " clothed 

 only with the light of heaven," to the vult- 

 ures, which will strip it to the skeleton in 

 about an hour. The skeletons soon become 

 perfectly desiccated, and are then thrown 

 into the deep central pit of the tower, where 

 they crumble and are washed away by the 



