POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



635 



the use of the various kinds of baths wards 

 off disease, or that washing in cold watei" 

 prevents catarrh, rheumatism, etc. As long 

 as " water manipulation " is accompanied by 

 an agreeable general sensation and no erup- 

 tion on the surface of the skin occurs, it 

 may be pursued as a pastime ; but when it 

 produces great itching or eruption on the 

 skin, the bathing and washing must cease. 

 The consequences of friction, douches, hot 

 vapor, shampooing, etc., sooner or later 

 show themselves in the shape of permanent 

 redness, a sensation of burning or itching, 

 and the production of nodules and furuncles, 

 which precede the formation of pustules and 

 abscesses. Prof. Hebra speaks as follows 

 of the employment of water in the treat- 

 ment of skin-diseases : 



"Its employment is contraindicatcd in 

 all sensitive, irritable persons whose skin is 

 liable to prolonged redness, the production 

 of rashes, and itching ; in all cutaneous af- 

 fections accompanied by acute swelling and 

 serous infiltration ; and in all chronic der- 

 matoses in which the horny layer of the 

 epidermis either through the effects of 

 disease or of remedies has been removed, 

 exposing the layer beneath. Thus it is not 

 proper to employ water soon after using 

 stimulating substances externally, as ar- 

 senic, iodic mercury, etc. By avoiding 

 water and employing starch or other inert 

 powder, the healthy state of the surface 

 will be much sooner restored. Water, on 

 the contrary, is indicated in those diseases 

 where its macerating and irritating eifecta 

 are useful, namely, in chronic dermatoses, 

 such as psoriasis, lichen, ichthyosis, old 

 eczema, prurigo, etc. Water also exerts 

 the most beneficial effects when different 

 secretions the products of inflammation, 

 and the remains of dead tissue have to 

 be removed, as in abundantly-suppurating 

 wounds, ulcers, and gangrene. It is useful 

 also in favoring the formation of new epi- 

 dermis in pemphigus, and after extensive 

 destruction of the skin by burns or caustic 

 substances." 



Domestication of thfe Wild-Turkey. The 



following observations on the habits and 

 domestication of the wild-turkey we take 

 from a paper of similar title by J. D. Caton, 

 published in the American Naturalist. Mr. 



Caton commenced domesticating the wild- 

 turkey about ten years ago, his original 

 stock having been procured from the eggs 

 of the wild hen ; it has been twice replen- 

 ished in the same way. The young birds 

 from the wild-turkey's eggs, when brought 

 up in close intimacy with the human fam- 

 ily, become very tame, but they are afraid of 

 strangers, and when anything excites their 

 suspicion they take wing and are off like 

 a flock of quails. The young turkeys breed 

 freely when a year old. Mr. Caton is now 

 raising the eleventh generation of the do- 

 mesticated wild-turkey, and says that the 

 breed has not deteriorated either in size or 

 in reproductive powers. But they have 

 changed in form and in the length of the 

 legs ; the body is shorter and more robust, 

 and its position is more horizontal. As re- 

 gards color but little change was observed 

 in the first or second generation ; after that, 

 the tips of the tail-feathers and tail-coverts 

 began to lose the soft chestnut-brown of 

 the wild-turkey, and to become lighter ; the 

 changeable purple tints of neck and breast 

 assumed a greenish shade ; the bristles on 

 the naked portions about the head became 

 more sparse or altogether disappeared ; the 

 blue about the head and the purple of the 

 wattles became bright -red; the pinkish- 

 red of the legs became dull or changed 

 to brown. These changes of color were 

 seen in the first year of the bird's growth, 

 but in its second these marks of degenera- 

 tion would in most individuals, especially 

 the cocks, disappear, and the plumage 

 would show the thorough-bred wild-turkey. 

 Each succeeding generation shows these 

 changes to be more pronounced, but each 

 year as the bird grows older the shades of 

 color of the wild parent become more dis- 

 tinct. But Mr. Caton has hens now three 

 or four years old with brown legs and on 

 whose feathers the white has very consider- 

 ably superseded the cinnamon shade, and 

 he is satisfied that without a fresh infusion 

 of wild blood in the course of fifteen or 

 twenty years more but few individuals would 

 show the distinctive marks of the wild-tur- 

 key to any considerable extent. 



The habits of the wild-turkey are not 

 so rapidly changed as the form and color- 

 ing, still they too change. The wild-turkey 

 cock by the time he is five months old seeks 



