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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bcr of the new journal will contain a 

 memoir by Professor Sasaki on the de- 

 velopment of the maggot parasite in the 

 silk-worm. The government awarded Pro- 

 fessor Sasaki a gift last year in recogni- 

 tion of bis admirable discoveries concern- 

 ing the diseases of silk-worms. The Tokio 

 Anthropological Society, although recently 

 organized, is doing excellent work. It has 

 already issued five numbers of its journal, 

 each one illustrated by lithographic plates. 

 We wish, for the benefit of foreign readers, 

 it would give a brief synopsis in English of 

 the contents of each number. Mr. Iijima, 

 w r ho studied with Leuckart in Leipsic, and 

 took the gold medal over all the German 

 students for the best thesis, is again in his 

 native land and working in the laboratory 

 of the college. E. S. M. 



The Lengthening of Unman Life. The 

 " Lancet," apparently accepting the general 

 opinion that the maximum age attainable 

 by man has risen somewhat during the 

 present century, observes that the line of 

 seventy years is now very frequently passed, 

 that many reach fourscore u without exces- 

 sive labor and sorrow," and that " we have 

 among us nonagenarians who carry on with 

 still respectable proficiency the activities of 

 their prime. Such effective longevity is a 

 bright spot in the history of our advancing 

 civilization. Its comparative frequency and 

 its association with different physical types 

 suggest a certain generality in its origin, and 

 encourage the hope that it may be, in some 

 measure at least, dependent on personal con- 

 duct." After middle age, however, not per- 

 sonal conduct, but inherited vital force, is 

 a potential factor, although it is not an ex- 

 clusive one. Disposition may have great 

 influence upon vitality ; " and there can be 

 no doubt," says the " Lancet," " in our opin- 

 ion, that there is much room for exercise 

 of private judgment and energy in seeking 

 the prolongation of one's own life." It is 

 not to be believed " that man is unable so 

 to adjust his circumstances to his needs 

 as to continue to live after a certain mean 

 period. The weaker will sometimes prove 

 himself the more tenacious of life by ob- 

 serving rational methods of living of which 

 the more robust is careless. Moderation 

 has probably more to do with success in 



this respect than anything else. To eat 

 sufficiently, and drink stimulants sparingly, 

 to alternate work with adequate rest, and to 

 meet worries heartily, will afford every one 

 the best chance of arriving at a ripe old 



age. 



1) 



Premonitions of Inebriety. Dr. T. D. 



Crothers, of Walnut Lodge, Hartford, Con- 

 necticut, having studied " the incipient 

 stages in inebriety," endeavors to show that 

 the oncoming of the disease, as he regards 

 it, may be foreseen, and that preventives 

 and curative measures applied at that time 

 give more promise of certain results than 

 at any other period. Sometimes premoni- 

 tions of inebriety reveal themselves in the 

 dispositions of the subject before any spir- 

 its have been used by him ; when they may 

 be marked by dietetic delusions and other 

 symptoms of nerve and brain irritability, 

 which seem to depend on heredity or some 

 obscure injury to the nerve and brain cen- 

 ters. He believes that the recognition and 

 study of this stage opens up a field of pre- 

 vention and cure that will attract great at- 

 tention at an early day. 



Signal Stations at Sea. Mr. F. A. Cloud- 

 man, of Rondout, New York, has projected a 

 plan for the establishment of ocean-signals, 

 light-ships, and life-saving stations at sea. 

 His system embraces a strongly constructed 

 cylindrical vessel, with a convex upper deck, 

 moored at such a depth of submergence as 

 will give it the greatest attainable stability, 

 by means of cables and anchors fixed in the 

 bottom of the ocean. From the top of this 

 structure arises a skeleton framework, to 

 sustain a brilliant electric arc-light, with 

 Fresnel lenses, a powerful steam-siren, and 

 ventilating, smoke, and steam pipes. The 

 interior of the vessel is to be divided into 

 several decks or holds, to be used as cabins, 

 offices, operating and apparatus rooms, etc. 

 An ocean-cable is to be run from shore to 

 shore, looping in at each of the stations. 

 For deep-sea service, the stations should be 

 placed at maximum distances of five hun- 

 dred miles from one another. For coast 

 service, they should be placed at or near 

 dangerous shoals, reefs, etc., and connected 

 by telegraph cable with the mainland. 



