NOTES. 



5ii 



is on a level with the water in the intervals 

 of the strokes ; in paddling, the head is well 

 elevated ; the individual is able to look 

 about, he can deliberate as to what is best 

 to be done, and he is much less liable to 

 take water into the larynx or glottis. With- 

 out prejudice to the art of swimming, chil- 

 dren should be exercised from the tenderest 

 age in the act of paddling and treading 

 water, so as to impart confidence to them. 

 Even without any preliminary practice what- 

 ever, there is nothing to hinder man, woman, 

 or child, from beating the water with the 

 hands and feet, just as the lower animals 

 do, and so keeping themselves afloat for a 

 protracted period a period that in a mul- 

 titude of instances would be sufficient to 

 invite rescue, and preserve life. The action 

 of the feet alone will sustain the body ; a 

 fortiori, the action of both feet and hands 

 will prove yet more effectual. In this, as 

 in many other things, man is too often un- 

 aware of his own immense capacities. 



Peppernihit-Cnltnrc. We take from the 

 Polytechnic Review the following notes on 

 the cultivation of the peppermint-plant in 

 the United States : Of the entire crop, fully 

 two-thirds is produced in Michigan. The 

 soils best suited for the cultivation of pep- 

 permint are the black-ash swamps of West- 

 ern New York, and river-bottoms. The 

 land must be drained to allow it being 

 worked early in spring. The one-year roots 

 are planted in ploughed land in rows, the 

 space between the rows being from eighteen 

 to thirty-six inches. During the first year 

 the ground mnst be kept free from weeds. 

 The plant contains most oil at the period of 

 blossoming, or just afterward, and the crop 

 must be gathered on a dry day. Within a 

 day or two after cutting it is carried to the 

 still and the oil extracted. There must be 

 a good supply of water to make distilling 

 successful. If dried too much, there is a 

 loss in leaves falling off, and the yield of oil 

 greatly diminished. The mint-straw, on be- 

 ing dried, is readily eaten by animals in 

 winter. The annual product is about 70,- 

 000 pounds, the greater part of it being ex- 

 ported to Europe. 



Uses of Castor-Oil in the Arts. Castor- 

 oil was formerly employed only as a medici- 

 nal agent ; but now its uses in the arts are 



manifold, and its manufacture has come to 

 be a considerable industry. St. Louis is the 

 centre of this industry in the United States, 

 and nearly all the castor-beans grown in 

 this country are produced within a circle 

 of about 200 miles south and southwest 

 of that city. The chief uses of castor-oil 

 in the arts are, according to the Shoe and 

 Leather Reporter, as a lubricator for coach 

 and carriage axles, in the manufacture of the 

 best shoe-blacking, as a dressing for calf- 

 skins, for treeing boots, as a substitute for 

 neat's -foot oil, and keeping leather soft, mel- 

 low, and pliable. Crude castor-oil is used 

 largely in the manufacture of morocco. It 

 will not "fry" or "gum," and imparts soft- 

 ness and weight, and leather prepared with 

 it remains mellow and pliable. The crop of 

 castor-beans for the year 1S75 was 303,498 

 bushels; in 1876 the crop was only about 

 one-half as large. Last year a firm in St. 

 Louis made, from 125,000 bushels of beans, 

 7,000 barrels (47 gallons each) of crude 

 castor-oil. 



NOTES. 



There will be two solar eclipses this year, 

 one on the 1st of February, the other on 

 the 29th of July. The former will be central 

 and annular as observed from high southern 

 latitudes; the latter will be total in the 

 western part of North America. It will be 

 best observed at Denver, Colorado. 



The " Copley Medal " for 1877 has been 

 awarded by the London Royal Society to 

 Prof. James Dwight Dana, of Yale College, 

 for his biological, geological, and minera- 

 logical investigations carried on through 

 half a century, and for the valuable works 

 in which his conclusions and discoveries 

 have been published. 



A prize of $20,000 is offered by the 

 Council General of Guadeloupe for the best 

 new process for extracting the juice from 

 sugar-cane, the cost not to exceed 40 per 

 cent, of the market value of the product. 

 The prize is open to competition till June 1, 

 1880. 



Numerous facts are cited by the Aus- 

 tralian explorer, Landsborough, which go to 

 prove that dense forests are on the increase 

 in Australia, that the climate is growing 

 moister, and that even the great central 

 desert may, in course of time, become inhab- 

 itable. The frequency of fires, prior to the 

 introduction of sheep-farming, when there 

 was nothing to keep down the grass, was 



