374 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is necessary that the first food taken at dinner should be quickly 

 absorbed, so as to stimulate the nervous system and give tone 

 to the stomach. In this way the appetite is stimulated and the 

 sense of taste made more keen. Nothing acts so beneficially for 

 this purpose as a small quantity of good soup. The more im- 

 portant adjuncts are, of course, pleasant surroundings and cheer- 

 ful companionship. 



Contrast the exhilarating effect, say, of a dinner at the 

 " Grand," at Brighton, under the superintendence of its accom- 

 plished and obliging manager with the open sea, and ever-vary- 

 ing kaleidoscope of life to gaze at with the same dinner in a 

 dull country hotel. Addison says, " Health and cheerfulness 

 mutually beget each other." They undoubtedly do. 



To maintain life at its highest standard and for the longest 

 period should be the aim of every individual, and this can only 

 be done by adapting our food to the requirements of the system 

 and the time of the year. If the body is properly nourished, 

 disease will not attack it; and if it does, will get no foothold. It 

 is like an impregnable fortress it may be assaulted, but it can 

 not be taken. 



But to get the economy into this state of perfection, it must 

 be remembered that no more food should be taken than will be 

 consumed in the operations of life, and no more stimulant than 

 the amount previously indicated, so that no surplus of either 

 shall remain in the body in the shape of excess of fat, or as 

 waste, in the form of gout poison or acidity. 



" Gluttony," says an old writer, " kills more than the sword." 

 On the other hand, there is no reason why food should not be 

 made as palatable as possible in fact, the more palatable it is 

 the better. It is not excess in variety of food that is injurious, 

 but excess in quantity. The Gentleman's Magazine. 



In Lis account, in the Australasian Association, of the natives of New Guinea, 

 Mr. J. P. Thomson spoke of their numerous tribal divisions and of the various 

 languages and dialects spoken by them. Even in localities separated by only a 

 few miles, the dialects spoken differ the one from the other in some cases consid- 

 erably. The Motu, which is the language spoken and taught by the missionaries 

 at Port Moresby, is understood over a considerable area, but outside of that neigh- 

 borhood changes and variations occur, so that at the bead of the Great Papuan 

 Gulf and in the Fly basin, the Motu language is a foreign tongue. In other parts 

 of the island, also, the philological variations are numerous and conflicting ; and 

 in the western division neighboring tribes are unable to hold intercourse with each 

 other, even if friendly, by reason of the incompatibility of language. No doubt 

 this may in some measure be accounted for by local environment ; constant civil 

 intertribal war is the means of isolating communities, so that no friendly inter- 

 course is held ; an incongruity of language may have been unknowingly estab- 

 lished by reason of this and other causes. 



