POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



713 



so good in all respects as Portland cement. 

 Another kind of slag — the Thomas, or 

 " basic slag," produced in making steel — is 

 remarkable for its richness in phosphoric 

 acid, and is coming into use as a fertilizing 

 material. The demand for it in Germany 

 already exceeds the whole available produc- 

 tion of the country, and it is imported from 

 Great Britain and Austria. 



The Formation of a New Island. — An 



interesting account of the newly emerged 

 volcanic island of the Tonga group is given 

 by Mr. J. J. Lister in the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Geographical Society for March. It 

 has received the name of Falcon Island, and 

 was formed by an eruption in 1885. It 

 was visited during its formation by some na- 



moth and small sand-piper constituted the 

 animal population. The island will probably 

 have disappeared in a few years, unless 

 another eruption occurs, as the waves are 

 rapidly wearing the shore line away. 



The Unselfishness of Doctors.— Dr. Robert 

 G. Eccles, in a lecture on the Evolution of 

 Medical Science, delivered before the Brook- 

 lyn Ethical Association, pays a just tribute 

 to the unselfishness of the medical profes- 

 sion. Medicine, he says, "in all ages has 

 attracted into its ranks the most self-sacri- 

 ficing members of society. As a science, it 

 was born in altruism. To this day it offers 

 the greatest opportunities of any depart- 

 ment of life for the practice of the most 

 ennobling graces of character. These con- 



Falcon Island. 



tives of the group, who say that the center of 

 action was wholly on one side of the present 

 island ; showing that in all probability the 

 wind played an important part in determin- 

 ing its position. The uncovered portion lies 

 approximately northwest of the supposed 

 center. It consists of two parts : a conical 

 mound at its southern end, about one hun- 

 dred and fifty-three feet high, and a flat 

 extending to the northward, which is from 

 ten to twelve feet above high water. There 

 is a considerable shoal area north of the flat, 

 but at the base of the higher portion the 

 water deepens rapidly. The soil of the 

 island consists of a fine-grained, dark-gray 

 material arranged in strata. The strata are 

 marked by difference in color and the vary- 

 ing thickness of the salts which have crys- 

 tallized on them. The soil below the sur- 

 face was found still hot ; the temperature at 

 a depth of seven feet being 100° Fahr., while 

 at the surface it was only 74°. With the 

 exception of two young cocoanut-trees, which 

 seemed not very hardy, there was no vege- 

 tation but a few bunches of grass ; and a 



stitute a primary cause of its evolution. . . . 

 Medical men stand alone in the earth among 

 all others, striving with their whole might 

 to extinguish their own business. They 

 preach temperance, virtue, and cleanliness, 

 knowing well that, when the people come to 

 follow their advice, their occupation, like 

 Othello's, will be gone. They establish 

 Boards of Health, to arrest the spread of 

 disease, while well aware that such sanitary 

 measures steal money from their purses. 

 How well they succeed is shown by official 

 statistics. . . . Nobody ever fails to send 

 for a physician in typhus fever. Only six 

 persons in a million die of this disease. 

 Many more used to die when no effort toward 

 its suppression was made. "Whooping-cough 

 seldom frightens patients, and neighborly old 

 ladies of both sexes give advice. As a con- 

 sequence, 428 in a million die of this disease. 

 Measles, being a little more serious, needs the 

 doctor oftener, and only 341 in a million die. 

 Scarlet fever is still more alarming, so that 

 medical advice is more in demand, and 222 

 in a million die of it. Diphtheria frightens 



