P OP TJLAR MIS CELL ANY. 



141 



ownership, visitors will be attracted in 

 greater numbers than ever before, as the 

 facilities of access are improved, and what 

 now offends their eyes is removed. The 

 present condition of the falls and the char- 

 acter of their visitors, the imminent danger 

 they are in of being robbed of all that makes 

 them attractive, and the facts that make the 

 question of their immediate rescue a press- 

 ing one, are forcibly presented by Mr. J. B. 

 Harrison, Corresponding Secretary of the 

 Niagara Falls Association, Franklin Falls, 

 New Hampshire, in a pamphlet " On the 

 Condition of Niagara Falls and the Means 

 needed to preserve them." California has 

 reserved the Yosemite Valley and the Big- 

 Tree Grounds, and the United States the 

 Yellowstone Lake and Geysers, as public 

 parks. It should be the duty of the State 

 of New York to add to the list its stupen- 

 dous cataract. 



Dyspepsia. The late Dr. Leared, in his 

 recently published essay on " The Causes 

 and Treatment of Indigestion," lays down 

 as a fundamental principle that the amount 

 of food which each man is capable of di- 

 gesting with ease always has a limit which 

 bears relation to his age, constitution, 

 health, and habits, and that indigestion is a 

 consequence of exceeding this limit. Dif- 

 ferent kinds of food are also differently 

 adapted to different constitutions. Dys- 

 pepsia may be brought on by eating irregu- 

 larly, by allowing too long an interval be- 

 tween meals, and by eating too often. Fre- 

 quently the meals are not gauged as to their 

 relative amount, or distributed with a due 

 regard to health. Thus, when we go out 

 after taking a light breakfast and keep at 

 our work, with a still lighter lunch only 

 during the interval, till evening, we are apt, 

 with the solid meal which tempts us to in- 

 dulgence, to put the stomach to a harder test 

 than it can bear. " When a light breakfast 

 is eaten, a solid meal is requisite in the mid- 

 dle of the day. When the organs are left 

 too long unemployed they secrete an excess 

 of mucus which greatly interferes with di- 

 gestion. One meal has a direct influence on 

 the next ; and a poor breakfast leaves the 

 stomach over-active for dinner. . . . The 

 point to bear in mind is, that not to eat a 

 sufficiency at one meal makes you too hun- 



gry for the next ; and that, when you arc too 

 hungry, you are apt to overload the stom- 

 ach, and give the gastric juices more to do 

 than they have the power to perform." 

 Persons who eat one meal too quickly on 

 another must likewise expect the stomach 

 finally to give notice that it is imposed upon. 

 Other provocatives of dyspepsia are imper- 

 fect mastication, smoking, and snuff-taking, 

 which occasion a waste of saliva although 

 some people find that smoking assists di- 

 gestion, if done in moderation sitting in 

 positions that cramp the stomach, and the 

 pressure that is inflicted on the stomach by 

 the tools of some trades, as of curriers, 

 shoe-makers, and weavers. The general 

 symptoms of dyspepsia are well known. 

 Some that deserve special remark are fan- 

 cies that the limbs or the hands are distort- 

 ed, mental depression, extreme nervousness, 

 hypochondria, and other affections of the 

 mind. The cure is to be sought in avoiding 

 the food and habits by which dyspepsia is 

 promoted, and using and practicing those 

 which arc found to agree best with the sys- 

 tem of the subject. Regularity in the hours 

 of meals can not be too strongly insisted on. 

 " The stomach should not be disappointed 

 when it expects to be replenished. If dis- 

 appointed, even a diminished amount of 

 food will be taken without appetite, which 

 causes the secretions to injure the stomach, 

 or else impairs its muscular action." 



Scotch Funerals in the Olden Time. 



Mr. William McQueen, in " Macmillan's 

 Magazine," gives a somewhat amusing de- 

 scription of the Scotch funeral customs of 

 the olden time. The usages varied in de- 

 tails in different parts of the country, but 

 were marked as a whole by a general sim- 

 ilarity. In some places every man who 

 heard of a death made it a point to attend 

 the funeral ; if a Sunday intervened, the 

 time of the funeral was intimated in the 

 church-yard between the services. In other 

 places messengers were sent around to give 

 information of the death not to invite 

 friends to attend, for that was regarded as 

 a matter of course ; but in Glen Urquhart 

 the next-door neighbor of the deceased 

 would not go to a funeral without receiv- 

 ing a direct invitation. The custom of sup- 

 plying drink at the funeral was once uni- 



