POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



137 



father, at bobbin-winding. A pattern-de- 

 signer taught him reading and writing, and 

 an excise-officer gave him lessons in arith- 

 metic. He became interested in colors and 

 dyeing, when sixteen years old, from observ- 

 ing the orange color of the dress of his little 

 step-brother. Without books or means of 

 obtaining instruction, but having got a full 

 set of colors, and by the aid of trial experi- 

 ments, he acquired considerable knowledge 

 of the properties of dye-stuffs and of the 

 current methods of coloring. Then he got 

 books and learned exact methods. From 

 this time his course was upward till he be- 

 came master of his art, the inventor and 

 teacher of new methods, and the author of 

 some of the most valuable improvements 

 that were made in dyeing previous to the 

 introduction of the coal-tar colors. Mercer's 

 skill and knowledge, says Mr. Thorpe, were 

 ungrudgingly given to his fellow- workers in 

 the art, and his assistance and advice were 

 constantly sought. " lie had, indeed, all the 

 essential qualities and instincts of the sci- 

 entific mind, and there was a certain com- 

 prehensiveness about the man, a certain vig- 

 orous grasp of general principles, and a 

 largeness of view which made his influence 

 felt at once among men of science." He was 

 the author of some useful investigation in 

 chemistry, and an early worker in photog- 

 raphy. 



A Chase of Evil Spirits. A very curious 

 custom is that called the women's hunt, 

 which prevails among some of the aboriginal 

 tribes of Chota Nagpore, India. It is ob- 

 served whenever any calamity falls upon the 

 community such as, perhaps, a visitation 

 of cholera. The women put on men's clothes, 

 take up arms, and go a-hunting not in the 

 jungles, but in the nearest village east of 

 them. They chase pigs and fowls, take as 

 their own everything they kill, and levy 

 black-mail from the heads of the villages for 

 the purchase of liquor, or else they allow 

 themselves to be bought off for a small sum 

 of money and a pig. Toward evening the 

 hunting party retire to a stream, cook and 

 eat their meal, drink their liquor, and then 

 return home, having acquitted themselves 

 during the day in a thoroughly masculine 

 and boisterous manner. Then the village 

 that has been visited goes on a similar ex- 



cursion to the next village east of it, and so 

 on to the eastern borders of the district. 

 By this series of excursions it is supposed 

 the evil spirit of the affliction is safely con- 

 ducted out of the district without offending 

 its dignity. A single village is excepted 

 from the operation of the custom, and is 

 called Mahadaiva, being devoted to Mahadev, 

 and under his special protection. If cholera 

 appears there, it is because he is offended, 

 and he must be propitiated before it will 

 disappear. 



A Discussion about Leprosy. A recent 

 discussion about leprosy in the Epidemiologi- 

 cal Society of London has made it very ob- 

 vious that our knowledge on the subject is 

 extremely indefinite. While some persons 

 insisted that the disease was fast increasing 

 in India and is contagious and hereditary 

 and threatening to European countries, others 

 brought evidence of opposite tenor. A case 

 was cited in which a man, born of leprous 

 parents in a leper hospital and brought up 

 there, who married a leprous woman, had 

 not contracted the disease at thirty years 

 of age. Other evidence was to the effect 

 that contagiousness is conditioned by cir- 

 cumstances not well understood, among which 

 are the quantity and character of the food, 

 supply. The influence of inheritance is as 

 doubtful as that of contagion. On the other 

 hand, it is certain that leprosy occurs in 

 cases in which it has not been inherited, 

 and no contagion can be traced. 



Prunes. Prunes are said to have been 

 introduced into France by the Crusaders, 

 and to have been first cultivated by the in- 

 mates of a convent near Clairac. The plum- 

 tree is profitably cultivated in several of the 

 departments, and grows well in any situa- 

 tion that is favorable to grapes. The fruit 

 when ripe is covered with a " flower," which 

 adds much to its value. It is usually gath- 

 ered, after the night-damps have dried away, 

 by shaking lightly from the tree, and only 

 such as falls readily is taken. It is then 

 put in a building, where it matures com- 

 pletely. Prunes are subjected to three or 

 four cookings before they are ready for the 

 market two for the evaporation of the 

 contained water, and the others for drying 

 and giving a peculiar brilliancy to the prod- 



