P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY 



7i5 



first seen by Captain Ray, an American 

 sailor, at Concepcion, South America, at 

 about noon of February 27th, only a short 

 distance in the sky from the sun. On the 

 28th of February, the head of the comet, 

 with a tail several degrees in length, was 

 observed at noon in various parts of Italy, 

 off the Cape of Good Hope, and at different 

 points in the United States and Mexico. 

 The tail was remarked on the 1st of March 

 in southern latitudes, on the 8th at Lisbon, 

 Portugal, and on the 11th at Montpellier, 

 France, but was not observed in England 

 till the 17th, on the evening of which day 

 it attracted general attention in most parts 

 of Europe. 



Hygiene of New-born Children. The 



subject of the hygiene of new-born chil- 

 dren is engaging the attention of French 

 sanitarians. The present minimum rate 

 of mortality of children under one year old 

 is estimated to be one hundred per thou- 

 sand. The rate in France is double this, or 

 two hundred per thousand ; and the excess 

 is really greater than it seems, for the mini- 

 mum itself is larger than it should be, and 

 ought, by proper management, to be re- 

 duced to eighty and even seventy in a thou- 

 sand. The chief among the several causes 

 to which the large proportion of deaths is 

 ascribed is artificial alimentation. That the 

 whole physiological development of the new- 

 born child is determined by the character of 

 the food that is given to it, is enforced by 

 all the facts that have been gathered in 

 France. The subject was fully discussed at 

 the International Hygienic Congress, held 

 at Paris during the Exposition of 1878, 

 and some significant facts were presented 

 in illustration of the enormous difference 

 which exists between the mortality of chil- 

 dren brought up at home and that of chil- 

 dren intrusted to hired nurses and the not 

 less marked difference in the rate of mor- 

 tality of children nursed at the breast and 

 of children fed artificially. Among chil- 

 dren of the easier classes, brought up at 

 home, the rate of mortality often falls as 

 low as 70 or 80 per 1,000 ; among children 

 intrusted to hired nurses, it was stated to 

 vary from 240 to 750, and even to 900 per 

 1,000. Among children nursed by their 

 mothers, a rate of mortality was found of 



only 8'2S per 100 ; among children brought 

 up by nurses, of 18 per 100 at home, 22 per 

 100 when they were taken away; among 

 those fed from the bottle, the average was 

 51 per 100. Dr. Monot stated that, in the 

 department of the Nievre, in the case of 

 children who had been sent down from -Paris 

 without supervision, and had been consigned 

 to hired nurses, the mortality was 710 per 

 1,000. In the case of assisted children sent 

 out by responsible organizations, under the 

 care of agents and inspectors, it was 240 

 per 1,000 ; in the case of those intrusted to 

 nurses who were watched over by the so- 

 cieties for the protection of infants, it fell 

 to 120 and even 90 per 1,000; and, in cases 

 where the young mothers were helped to the 

 means of living, and were able to take care 

 of their children and nurse them, to 70 per 

 1,000. These facts, though many of them 

 are only approximative, seem to be decisive 

 as to the superiority of maternal nursing. 

 Inasmuch, however, as the number of 

 mothers who can not themselves nurse their 

 babies is very great, and a large proportion 

 of them are not able to hire wet-nurses, the 

 question as to what is the best substitute 

 for mother's milk is an important one. The 

 Municipal Council of Paris has just author- 

 ized an experiment which will help answer 

 it. It has decided to establish a nursery in 

 connection with its hospital for assisted 

 children, with stables to be occupied by the 

 various animals usually depended upon for 

 their milk, the milk of which will be given 

 to the children fresh and absolutely pure, in 

 such a systematic manner that the advan- 

 tages attributed to the milk of each animal 

 may be rigorously and scientifically tested. 

 The whole will be under the direction of Pro- 

 fessor Parrot. 



Equatorial Temperatures. Why is the 



equator not warmer in January, when the 

 earth is nearest to the sun, than in July ? 

 Mr. Croll assigns as the reason that the 

 northern hemisphere, which he calls the 

 dominant hemisphere, having its winter in 

 January, the whole earth is colder at that 

 time ; also that the northern trade-winds 

 pass farther south in January, and cool the 

 equatorial regions more than at the other 

 seasons. His views are disputed by Mr. A. 

 Woiekoff, of St. Petersburg, who denies 



