698 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



eular work may be applied with still greater 

 confidence to nervous or mental work. The 

 actual expenditure of energy in nervous work 

 is relatively small, but the indirect influence 

 on the economy is very great. The closeness 

 and intricacies of the ties which bind all 

 parts of the body together are very clearly 

 shown by the well-known tendency of so- 

 called brain-work to derange the digestive 

 and metabolic activities of the body ; and if 

 there be any diet especially suited for intellect- 

 ual labor, it is one directed not in any way 

 toward the brain, but entirely toward lighten- 

 ing the labors of and smoothing the way for 

 such parts of the body as the stomach and tlie 

 liver.'''' 



It is evident from these statements that 

 our present knowledge of the physiology of 

 nutrition does not warrant any prescriptions 

 of special food constituents for the assumed 

 varying requirements of the system under 

 different climatic conditions or for different 

 kinds of work. 



Individual peculiarities and inherited hab- 

 its of the system are prominent factors in the 

 processes of nutrition, and experience is a 

 safer guide in regulating one's diet than any 

 theories based on the chemical composition 

 of foods. Yours truly, 



Manly Miles. 

 Lansing, Mich. 



THE PROTECTION OF BRAKEMEN. 



Editor Popular Science MontMy : 



Sir : By the omission of a line in print- 

 ing the note I made to my suggestion as to 

 the protection of brakemen against mutilation 

 by accidents in coupling freight-cars (which 



escaped me in the proof), my suggestion it- 

 self loses whatever force it might have, I 

 think, by being too exemplary. My sugges- 

 tion was (page 222 of The Popular Science 

 Monthly for June, 1892) that a statute might 

 be provided requiring the draw-heads of all 

 freight-cars manufactured or admitted into 

 the United States to be of a uniform height 

 and to be within projecting frame corners 

 from the rail surface, everybody can see that 

 not only humanity but perfect justice both to 

 the railway company and to the employe 

 would be subserved. 



The note I added should read as follows : 

 I think such a law as this would be a better 

 one than one directing the use of an auto- 

 matic coupler, for it would not throw any 

 brakemen out of their jobs. As to the loss 

 of life spoken of by the President, the larger 

 number of instances will, I think, be found 

 to have occurred at night, when brakemen, 

 not knowing of course the height of the draw- 

 heads of the cars approaching them, and often 

 while using every precaution, might be caught 

 and crushed by a different build of car with 

 flush corners, or higher or lower timbered 

 corners. Such a law, prescribing uniformity 

 in this detail, and mulcting the company own- 

 ing the car or cars causing the death or mu- 

 tilation, by reason of its willful omission to 

 observe the provisions of that law, with ade- 

 quate damages, would be, I think, a salutary 

 and an exemplary one. 



Since the matter is one which certainly 

 calls for attention, I should be glad if you 

 would insert this letter in your next issue. 

 Yours, etc., 



Appleton Morgan. 

 New York, June 1, 1892. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



POLITICAL PROGRESS. 



' \ \THEN we look back over the his- 

 t V tory of this country since the 

 close of the civil war we find, on the 

 whole, ample cause for satisfaction and 

 encouragement. Those who look for per- 

 fection in the working of political insti- 

 tutions are doomed to disappointment. 

 Happy is the nation that, as the years 

 and decades slip by, can count some solid 

 gains for the cause of good government 

 and national morality, even though many 

 parts of the political machine may work 

 faultily, and many evil tendencies mani- 

 fest themselves from time to time. Aft- 



er the war, we entered upon a period 

 of almost shameless political corruption, 

 not only in national but in State and 

 municipal affairs as well. To say that 

 we have completely thrown off the dis- 

 ease of corruption would be, we fear, to 

 say too much ; but that a very consid- 

 erable purification has been effected, 

 especially in connection with the na- 

 tional Government, no one can doubt. 

 Too many individuals throughout the 

 community are indeed indifferent to this 

 evil, and many are ready to make all 

 kinds of apologies for it, as something 

 that can not be dispensed with in con- 



