POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



573 



and shad are practically kept from extermi- 

 nation by the efforts of fish commissions. 

 One reason for this growing depletion of ani- 

 mals is found in the fallacy that, because 

 some animals exist in large numbers, the 

 supply is unlimited and the species needs 

 no protection, which is indulged in till the 

 species is on the verge of extermination. 

 Usually, too, those most directly interested 

 in the preservation of game are the bitter- 

 est opponents of protective measures, espe- 

 cially if the change will produce even tem- 

 porary inconvenience. Although regret at 

 the impending or actual extermination of a 

 species is often purely a matter of sentiment, 

 there is no lack of instances where the strict- 

 est utilitarian is quite as much interested as 

 the naturalist in preserving a species from 

 destruction. The pity of it is that in so many 

 cases a small amount of protection would not 

 only preserve for the naturalist the animals 

 he wishes to study, but furnish the practical 

 man with an additional source of wealth. 



Concerning Overwork. In treating the 

 question whether laborious occupations in 

 themselves may lead to premature strain of 

 the body or mind, and so to degeneration 

 or disease, Dr. P. H. Pye-Smith thinks we 

 " must distinguish." Aneurism, emphysema, 

 and some forms of cardiac hypertrophy may 

 be the result of overstrained and too violent 

 and prolonged exertion, from mechanical 

 stretching of the great arteries by move- 

 ments of the arms, from high blood-pressure, 

 excessive calls on the heart, and over-long 

 suspension of respiration, as in muscular 

 efforts with a closed glottis. " We see simi- 

 lar results in horses which are put to too 

 hard work at too early an age, and there is 

 no reason to doubt the operation of such 

 causes of disease in man. But their opera- 

 tion is limited to the production of certain 

 definite lesions, and there is no evidence that 

 harm is done, disease brought on, or life 

 shortened by what is commonly known as 

 work, whether mental, physical, or a combi- 

 nation of the two. The vanity of human na- 

 ture is tickled by ascribing its disorders to 

 such respectable antecedents as industry, 

 energy, and intellectual activity. We must 

 all have felt this when the results of habitual 

 idleness or gluttony are ascribed by a patient 

 or his wife to an overtaxed brain or too 



strenuous devotion to business especially in 

 the public service. There is no fear of any 

 one of us" (members of the Royal College of 

 Physicians) " using our brains too much for 

 our health, nor do I believe that mental 

 labor or honest work of any kind interferes 

 with health or shortens life a day. Even if 

 it did, who would not rather be worn in use 

 than rust in idleness ? Who would not 

 choose a short-spanned life, filled full of ac- 

 tion and of thought, of sorrow and of joy, of 

 effort and of endurance, of enjoyment of liv- 

 ing one's self and helpful service to others, 

 rather than to wear out a tedious existence 

 of monotonous ease ? " 



Agricnltnre in Egypt. The land of Egypt 

 was irrigated in ancient times by turning the 

 red water from the Nile at high flood into 

 the basins into which the country was divided 

 by the construction of earth-banks at con- 

 venient distances. The water was allowed to 

 stand at a depth of three feet or more for 

 forty or sixty days, till the earth had become 

 saturated and the weeds had been killed, and 

 the fertilizing layer of finely divided red mud 

 had been deposited on the soil. The water 

 being drawn off into the receding river, the 

 seed was sown upon the soft mud. Some- 

 times the ground was left till it was dry 

 enough to be plowed, and was then planted. 

 In either case sufficient moisture for the sup- 

 ply of the crop was retained. This system 

 of irrigation has been supplanted for the 

 most part in Lower Egypt by the canal sys- 

 tem introduced by Mehemet Ali, but is still 

 in use in Upper Egypt. The difference in 

 the power of the two systems to maintain 

 the fertility of the soil may be estimated 

 from the fact that a good crop of wheat 

 grown under the basin system of Upper 

 Egypt yields about twenty-seven bushels per 

 acre; while, unless specially manured, the 

 yield runs down under canal irrigation to 

 about eighteen bushels and a half. In the 

 latter instance, the greater number of crops 

 taken, and the reduced amount of Nile mud 

 deposited, make artificial manures necessary. 

 A combination of the two systems gives the 

 best results. A wonderful store of natural 

 manure, called sabakh has for a number 

 of years been drawn upon by cultivators in 

 the shape of refuse earth from the mounds 

 of ancient villages, and from the floors and 



