7H 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



birds, twenty-four hours after being hatched, 

 are ready to descend from their nests, 

 whether low or high, the old bird comes to 

 the mouth of the hole and takes for about 

 a half-hour a careful survey of the sur- 

 roundings, to ascertain, as it were, that no 

 intruder is near, and then utters a low call. 

 The ducklings seem to understand the sig- 

 nificance of the call and quickly make their 

 appearance in front of the hole, which often 

 extends to a depth of from six to ten feet. 

 By means of their toe-nails, which are 

 hooked nearly as much as those of birds of 

 prey, and sharp as the point of a needle, 

 they easily manage to climb up on the in- 

 side of the deep holes, at the entrance of 

 which they remain a few minutes huddled 

 together about the old bird. After this, the 

 mother again descends to the ground near 

 the tree, and calls upon her young brood, 

 which now drop, one by one, from their airy 

 perch, without any apparent hesitation ; for 

 their bodies are already so thickly covered 

 with down that they seem to fall like leaves 

 to the ground. When the last duckling has 

 accomplished its fall, the brood gather again 

 about the old bird and are led by her to the 

 nearest water, which is seldom far away, 

 ard is generally convenient to shelters and 

 hiding-places. 



The Foot, and how it should be treated. 



The human foot is an instrument admi- 

 rably adapted to all the various uses it has 

 to serve, which fashion has done its best to 

 spoil by improper treatment. The bones of 

 the instep are so adjusted as to form an ar- 

 rangement which combines in exquisite per- 

 fection the resistance of the arch with as 

 much elasticity as enables it to bear safely 

 the prodigious strain to which it is sub- 

 jected. The whole frame of the foot is 

 kept in position and made capable of its 

 proper range of movement by means of 

 muscles and tendons, constituting a living 

 and sensitive bandage, increasing or relax- 

 ing its pull or pressure in the most exact 

 obedience to our will. In a sound, free 

 foot, each part of the machinery is in con- 

 stant readiness to bring it into the required 

 position, whether to lift the body, to bound, 

 or to sustain the shock of the whole weight 

 in coming down again, or to perform any 

 other of a number of complications of 



movement. How perfectly the foot is 

 adapted for these purposes, and is protected 

 against too great pressure and sudden shock, 

 is shown by the fact that such violent ac- 

 tions as leaping, or the being burdened 

 with a weight twice or thrice ,that of the 

 whole body, cause no uneasiness to a sound 

 foot; the injury, if any, resulting from 

 such exertions being usually felt elsewhere. 

 The skin, very thin and delicate on the up- 

 per part of the foot, is thick and tough, 

 though soft and pliable, on the sole. Be- 

 neath it is a layer of fat, strengthened by 

 strong fibers crossing it and binding it to 

 the muscles and ligaments. The sole can 

 endure great pressure and even violent 

 shocks, but is at the same time curiously 

 sensitive, especially to the touch. It is very 

 easily tickled. This property serves a very 

 important purpose in walking, for the press- 

 ure upon the ground stimulates the mus- 

 cles of the foot to their required activity, 

 without any effort of the will, and indeed 

 without our being conscious of the opera- 

 tion. This spontaneous alertness of the 

 muscles, on which the energy and grace of 

 movement depend, can be secured only by 

 their being kept uncramped, free, and well 

 exercised. How much the shoemaker's 

 shoes, cramping the foot, jamming the toes 

 upon each other, distorting the shape of the 

 organ, and lifting the heel up so that the 

 weight of the body is thrown upon the toes, 

 prevent this, needs no elaboration. The les- 

 son of these observations is that the shoe 

 should give plenty of room all around to the 

 foot, that the sole should be thinnest and 

 narrowest at the " waist," where elasticity 

 is wanted, broad and thick at the tread, 

 where protection is most required, and that 

 no one should be ashamed of the size of 

 his foot. U A well-formed large one is a 

 far pleasanter sight than the smallest one 

 distorted." 



A Lion-Tamer's Method. A curious his- 

 tory, and one that sheds many gleams of 

 light upon the character of beasts in the 

 menagerie, is that of Henri Martin, the lion- 

 tamer, who died, ninety years old, quietly at 

 his home, " among his collections of butter- 

 flies and his books of botany." Martin, ac- 

 cording to his own letters, began to cultivate 

 his gift of control over animals in the days 



