848* POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in the house by the women themselves, and by processes which they keep 

 to themselves. The lady is then ready for her bath, prior to which she uses 

 manjani, a dentifrice often prepared from betelnut and finely aromatic. 

 This also must be prepared at home; and the ingredients and scents used 

 are never taken at haphazard, but are such as have a well-earned reputa- 

 tion for fitness for the uses to which they are applied. The bath having 

 been taken, the ladies dress themselves, according to the season, in silken 

 or woolen cloth ; sprinkle Ganges water, or ^ater made holy by an admix- 

 ture of Ganges water, on their heads, and also on their beds. This part of 

 the morning's duty is concluded by an obeisance to the sun. The serious 

 part of the day's work begins after this. The cook room and household 

 room are visited and the appointed prayers recited in them ; the children 

 and sick members of the family, if there are any, are attended to ; the store 

 room is ojjened and the kitchen utensils and other articles needed are 

 issued to the servants ; the special dishes to be made for the family, the 

 sick, and the children are looked after ; articles required from the bazaar 

 are sent for; the stock of provisions on hand is examined; and a close 

 watch is kept on all the operations of the household. A good housewife 

 will often prepare some special favorite dish for her husband with her own 

 hands ; and, although she does not eat with him, will attend to his meals to 

 see that he is well served. If they find any leisure after attending to their 

 religious exercises and their duties, they are at liberty to occupy themselves 

 according to their liking. Many of the elder women read in the Hindu 

 classics, and the younger ones engage in fancy work. There are now, as 

 there were in the olden times, women poets and writers whose work is of 

 high merit, but not recognized by us because it is in the native languages. 

 A fashion is setting in of spending some time at the piano or harmonium. 

 Much attention is paid to the toilet and to the changes of dress for the 

 various occasions of the day ; and the day closes with evening worship and 

 readings. 



In the course of his experiments on the psychic development of a litter 

 of puppies. Prof. Wesley Mills remarked that these animals, as well as those 

 of several other kinds, even on their first day would not creep off from a 

 surface on which they were resting if it was elevated a little distance above 

 the ground. " When they approach the edge, they manifest hesitation, 

 grasp with their claws or otherwise attempt to prevent themselves falling, 

 and it may be cry out, giving evidence of some pi'ofound disturbance of 

 their nervous system.'' But a water tortoise he had had for some years 

 would at any time walk off from a surface on which it was placed. Prof. 

 Mills accounts for the difference by supposing that land animals, depending 

 on a firm substratum beneath them, have inherited " a sense of support " ; 

 while the amphibious tortoise is accustomed frequently to drop off from 

 logs into water, and has not, or but little, " sense of support." Then, again, 

 he finds the sense of support " well marked in birds that drop themselves 

 into 'thin air,'" Birds, however, need the "sense of support" when de- 

 pending on their feet quite as much as land animals. 



The instruments used in the observations of the British Association's 

 committee on earth tremors are so delicate that an angle can be detected 

 corresponding with that subtended by a chord an inch long of a circle one 

 thousand miles in radius. 



