POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



7*7 



orders ; in the ill-nourished and drunken 

 condition of the masses ; in the state of 

 superstition and brutality which made any 

 measure of public health impracticable ; in 

 the bad management in epidemics, and in 

 the incompetence of the medical faculty. 

 There had been a great and manifest im- 

 provement in London. This could be cred- 

 ited to the increase of knowledge among the 

 doctors and among the people generally ; to 

 vaccination and the modern plan of treating 

 infectious diseases by the prompt separation 

 of the patients ; to the cheapness of food, 

 clothing, and fuel, and the facility of obtain- 

 ing fresh fruit and vegetables ; to improved 

 water-supply; and, although the system of 

 sewage disposal was an undoubted evil, it 

 had removed a great deal of filth from 

 dwellings, and the balance was probably so 

 far in its favor. The outlook in the future 

 was obscured by increased overcrowding ; 

 the discharge of sewage into the Thames ; 

 and the increasing danger of the pollution 

 of the water-supply by the accumulation of 

 population along the valley of that river. 



Clark University. Clark University, 

 Worcester, Mass., founded by Mr. Jonas G. 

 Clark as an institution for the highest cult- 

 ure, was opened in October, 1889, in the de- 

 partments of mathematics, physics, chemis- 

 try, biology, and psychology, under the pres- 

 idency of G. Stanley Hall. The president 

 is, for the time being, Professor of Psychol- 

 ogy, and, with the assistance of Prof. Sand- 

 ford, will assist students in the departments 

 under that head by instruction, or by con- 

 ference and guidance to literature ; and will 

 direct the work of special students in the 

 history, methods, and organization of edu- 

 cation, elementary, intermediate, and supe- 

 rior, lecturing on them during a part of the 

 year. The professors are H. H. Donald- 

 son in neurology, Edmund C. Sanford in 

 psychology, Warren P. Lombard in physi- 

 ology, F. Mall in anatomy, Albert A. Nichol- 

 son in physics. The methods of instruction 

 include field-work, excursions, "coaching and 

 cram classes," examinations, conferences, lab- 

 oratory work, and lectures. The students are 

 classified as independent, candidates for the 

 degree of Ph. D., special students not candi- 

 dates for a degree, medical students, and 

 preliminary candidates or undergraduates. 



Twenty fellowships and ten scholarships 

 have been provided by Mr. and Mrs. Clark, 

 affording free tuition to thirty persons. 



Huron and Iroquois Burials. In a paper 

 on " Indian Burial in New York," read at 

 the meeting of the American Association, 

 Mr. W. M. Beauchamp said that several 

 modes of burial prevailed in the Huron and 

 Iroquois family at the same time ; but at a 

 later date the influence of contact with Euro- 

 peans and of the custom of adoption was 

 observed. Although the usual position in 

 Indian burial was supposed to be a sitting 

 posture, facing the west, the bodies in a 

 large proportion of the New York graves, 

 while sitting, faced the east. Many burials, 

 both early and recent, were horizontal, and 

 often without deposited articles. For sec- 

 ondary burial, bone-pits were common in 

 the western part of the State, appearing like 

 the Huron ossuaries of Canada, or rising 

 into mounds. The eastern Iroquois, at 

 least after the formation of their league, 

 did not rebury their dead. They used raised 

 tombs, sometimes a mound of earth, and 

 often a wooden structure like a small house. 

 Burial in circles was secondary ; the bodies 

 were laid with their feet toward the center. 

 Graves lined with stones are not frequent, 

 but stone heaps were raised over some graves. 

 Bodies were rarely buried one above another, 

 with an intervening layer of earth. When 

 buried in mounds, or in the bone-pits, they 

 might be placed promiscuously or arranged 

 with care. The mode of sepulture was af- 

 fected by superstition and in consideration 

 of crime. The New York Indians have for 

 a long time been burying their dead much 

 in the manner of their white neighbors. 



How the Woodcock feeds. A writer in 

 "Forest and Stream" gives the following 

 account of the way he saw woodcock "bor- 

 ing " for worms one moonlight night : " The 

 birds would rest their bills upon the mud 

 and stand in this position for several seconds, 

 as if listening. Then, with a sudden, swift 

 movement, they would drive the bill its 

 entire length in the soil, hold it so for a 

 second, and then as swiftly withdraw it. 

 Though I watched the birds carefully with 

 the glass, I could not detect the presence of 

 a worm in their bills when they were with- 

 drawn. But a subsequent process gave me 



