POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



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worrying cares which beset modern commer- 

 cial and professional life, are as things that 

 have never been." Another important ad- 

 vantage lies in tbe pure atmosphere and the 

 long hours of uninterrupted sunshine and 

 air that may be obtained, particularly in the 

 warm latitudes, where the passengers may 

 almost live on the deck. Other advantages 

 lie in the equability of the climate, which va- 

 ries but little from day to day, with freedom 

 from chill, the saline particles in the air, 

 the abundance of ozone, and the high aver- 

 age range of the barometer at sea. Draw- 

 backs are not wanting, and they consist 

 principally in the monotony of life on ship- 

 board, the paucity of amusement and dis- 

 traction, and the occasional discomforts of 

 severe weather. The longer the voyage, 

 provided it fall short of producing intoler- 

 able ennui, the greater the gain to health. 

 Hence a sailing-vessel may be preferable to 

 a steamer. A sailing-vessel has the further 

 advantage that its progress being less 

 rapid, the changes of climate in north and 

 south voyages are more gradual than on the 

 steamer. Sea-voyages are recommended to 

 those who are suffering from affections of 

 the respiratory organs, and to those who 

 are simply overworked and in need of rest 

 and change. But " those far advanced in 

 disease, from whatever cause, and those 

 threatened with melancholia or other form 

 of insanity, should avoid a long sea-jour- 

 ney." 



Fauna of Deep-lake Bottoms. Although 

 vegetation appears to be absent, the fauna 

 of the depths of the Swiss lakes, considering 

 as at great depths all points over seventy- 

 five or eighty feet below the surface, is rich 

 and abundant. All the deep-water classes 

 except echinoderms are more or less per- 

 fectly represented, and, while the number of 

 species is not very great, the types are re- 

 markably varied. The individuals compos- 

 ing this fauna are generally of smaller size 

 than those of corresponding littoral species ; 

 they are more opaque than in the pelagic 

 fauna, and are seldom colored, for they live 

 in a darker medium than the sea ; and they 

 are poor swimmers, and have no organs of 

 attachment. Some of these animals exhibit 

 curious features of adaptation, among the 

 most remarkable of which is the smallness 



or entire absence of the eyes in some spe- 

 cies. But this defect is far from being uni- 

 form. Thus, while some animals may be 

 found with good eyes at the depth of one 

 thousand feet, others will be found totally 

 blind at one hundred feet, where there is 

 still some light. This curious fact is ex- 

 plained by Dr. Plessis by supposing that an 

 emigration has been going on from an ex- 

 tremely remote period and is still continu- 

 ing, from the littoral and pelagic regions to 

 the deep zone. The species which have 

 most recently performed this emigration 

 have not yet lost their eyes, while the spe- 

 cies that went down in earlier times have 

 had them atrophied, and have transmitted 

 the defect to their offspring, even in regions 

 where there is still light. This view is con- 

 firmed by the fact that we can find in the 

 same species individuals wholly blind, others 

 with their eyes in the way of atrophy, and 

 I others with sound eyes, but small, according 

 j as they may have descended from stocks 

 that have emigrated at different epochs. 

 j Another feature in which adaptation is 

 I shown is in the organs of respiration. 

 ' There are larvae of Diptera in the lake-bot- 

 I toms having a tracheal system, like those 

 I of surface insects, opening without by stig- 

 i mata ; but instead of air these tracheae are 

 I filled with water. The Lymneae of the bot- 

 tom exhibit the same peculiarity. Forel al- 

 ways found their pulmonary sac filled with 

 water. But they resume their normal meth- 

 od of respiration with a surprising facility 

 as soon as they are placed in contact with 

 the air, and this without appearing to suffer 

 in the least. 



School-Life and Chorea. Dr. Octavius 

 Sturgis, of the Westminster Hospital, Lon- 

 don, has called attention to certain events 

 and circumstances of school-life which dur- 

 ing the year have within his own experience 

 given origin to St. Vitus's dance. A patient 

 whom he has had under treatment, a girl 

 eleven years old, had been observed, before 

 her chorea began, to be " restless at night, 

 crying out in her sleep, or sitting up and 

 rambling about her lessons. She was al- 

 ways eager to be at her books, and would 

 bring home school-work to be prepared over- 

 night. Owing, however, to the pressure of 

 domestic matters, the lessons were often left 



