POPULAR MISCELLANY, 



427 



sucli a connection between tlie changes of 

 temperature and hygrometric conditions and 

 the prevalence of the disease as would be 

 required under the theory that high tempera- 

 ture and drought are primary causes of its 

 production. Out of eleven towns in which 

 the meteorological conditions were recorded, 

 mean temperatures of 60 and upward oc- 

 curred in June in seven, but in no case 

 was the heat at that time accompanied or 

 immediately followed by numerous deaths 

 from diarrhoea. In nine out of the eleven 

 towns, the highest mean temperature was 

 registered in the first week in September. 

 The epidemic had reached its highest point 

 before that week in four of them. The hot 

 weather continued much longer in London 

 than in Xottingham, yet Nottingham suf- 

 fered sixty per cent, more severely from 

 diarrhoea than London. The death-rate in 

 Brighton during the last week in July was 

 double that of any other great town for the 

 same week; and "it is a remarkable fact 

 that, although August was hotter and more 

 free from rain than July in London and 

 Brighton, in both towns deaths from diar- 

 rhoea diminished in frequency as the month 

 approached its end," Thus, neither the in- 

 cidence of the disease from week to week 

 nor its distribution in different parts of the 

 country can be explained by meteorological 

 conditions alone; and it is evident that 

 other factors must be taken into account. 

 The events of 1880 as reviewed by him are 

 regarded by Mr. Longstaff as confirmatory, 

 so far as they go, of the theory that the ex- 

 citing cause of diarrhoea is an organism or 

 some other concomitant of the decomposi- 

 tion of organic matter, which can only exist, 

 or become virulent in its properties, after 

 prolonged high temperature. The fact that 

 lassitude and exhaustion are produced as 

 predisposing conditions to the disease by 

 high temperatures in the early part of the 

 summer does not contradict this theory, but 

 agrees with it fully. 



Papuan Women and Feasts. The ta- 

 boo is in full force in New Guinea, particu- 

 larly in the restrictions which it imposes 

 on the action of women. They are forbid- 

 den to enter the huamhramra, are exclud- 

 ed from all the feasts, and every dainty 

 which they prepare for the feasts, especially 



the Tceu^ or principal drink, is forbidden to 

 them and to the children. They must not 

 go near the meeting-place of the men, and 

 must instantly flee whenever they hear the 

 sound of music. The only answer given for 

 this exclusion is that, if it were not enforced, 

 the women and children would fall ill and 

 die. The musical instruments of the Papu- 

 ans are pipes or horns of bamboo, cocoa- 

 nut-shell, or a peculiar root, which are used 

 to reenforce the voice, a kind of a rattle, 

 and a rude drum. Their feasts are pre- 

 pared with considerable ceremony, but with- 

 out noise or confusion, and in a way that 

 shows a remarkable appreciation of the di- 

 vision of labor. Important constituents of 

 the feast are the two favorite drinks, the 

 munki-la, which is prepared from the cocoa- 

 nut, and the keu^ an extract from the 

 chewed leaves of a plant of the genus Piper. 

 The musical instruments are played during 

 the whole feast, as an infallible means of 

 keeping the women and children from dis- 

 turbing the guests. After all is over, the 

 lower jaw of the pig or dog which has con- 

 stituted the principal dish is hung up in 

 the hxuunhramra as a memento. The kcu 

 has soporific qualities, and the friends of a 

 Papuan who has taken too much of it are 

 accustomed, in order to keep him awake, to 

 tickle with a stalk of grass the cornea and 

 conjunctiva of his eyes till they become 

 full of tears, and he declares that he no 

 longer feels sleepy. This operation is con- 

 sidered a very pleasant one. 



Woman as a Sanitary Reformer. Dr. 



B. W. Hichardson declares that woman can 

 pursue no nobler occupation than that of 

 attending to the care of health and the 

 prevention of disease within the domestic 

 sphere. This is peculiarly a calling of wom- 

 an, not only because it agrees with her 

 character and tastes, but also because she 

 is at home and in a position to give it con- 

 stant attention, while the man is abroad and 

 engaged with other business. The training 

 required for the proper performance of this 

 function is really very simple. A woman 

 can master physiology so far as to under- 

 stand the general construction of the human 

 body ; she can make herself acquainted with 

 its nine great systems, can be taught to 

 comprehend the leading facts bearing on 



