218 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



thatch covering the houses is made with the prepared mid-rihs of its 

 leaves, and secured with cord twisted from the cocoa-fibre, from which 

 also nets and fishing-lines are made. The plaited strips of the leaf 

 supply material for baskets in which the freshly-gathered nuts are 

 stored. Cocoa-cloth is . an article of manufacture. Torches are made 

 by twisting together a sufficient number of dry leaflets, the end of the 

 mid-rib serving as the handle ; from these leaflets, when split, mats are 

 woven. As to the fibrous husk of the nut known as coir, its utility is 

 without limit. Besides floor-cloths and mats, which are generally 

 employed in this country for offices, and from their strength of texture 

 are unrivalled, the coir is manufactured into rope, and is extensively 

 used on board ship ; and in the " country " trading-ships of India it 

 entirely supersedes manila and hemp, as being equally strong and 

 durable, and infinitely cheaper. 



Pipes, bottles, and drinking-vessels for native use, oftentimes 

 polished and handsomely- mounted, are made of cocoa-nuts, from which 

 the white meat is extracted, without injuring the shell, by pouring out 

 the milk, filling it with salt, and burying it in the hot sand until the 

 kernel is decomposed, when it is removed from one of the three holes 

 in the " monkey's " face. Thus countless are the benefits conferred on 

 man by the palm, forming, as it does, one of the most useful of all the 

 gifts of Providence. The South-Sea Islanders, we are informed by 

 those who have been among them, make books out of the leaf-strips 

 similar to the papyrus of the ancient Egyptians. Canoes are built of 

 the pliable planks, which, when grooved and bored, are stitched to- 

 gether with coir-twine, are propelled by cocoa-wood paddles, masted 

 with a slender young palm, and rigged with coir-cordage, which car- 

 ries a mat-sail ; thus, ready for sea, freighted with a cargo of nuts, oil, 

 lamp-black, vinegar, sugar, and arrack (all the produce of the palm), 

 and finally stored with nut-food for the voyage, the sole remaining 

 requisite to make a successful commercial venture, but one that man 

 cannot command, is a propitious breeze. Food Journal. 







HUMANITY AND INSANITY. 



FROM THE FRENCH OF MAXIME DU CAMP. 



IN studying the history of insanity, we are surprised to find that 

 the same mild treatment now universally adopted was very clearly 

 prescribed by the chief professors of medical science in the beginning 

 of our era. Thus, Aretaeus the Cappadocian recommends the use only 

 of the supplest cords, to restrain violent maniacs, " for," says he, " to 

 resort to any cruel measures of restraint will increase rather than 

 allay the over-excitement." Galen was the first to maintain that all 



