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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



instance) is, contrary to the received opinion, a 

 harmless operation. Dr. Senator subjected a 

 patient suffering from subacute rheumatism to a 

 gradual envelopment, until both legs, from the 

 tips of the toes to the hips, both arms, from the 

 tips of the fingers to the shoulders, were incased 

 in sticking-plaster, and hi3 back, abdomen, and 

 breast, painted with collodion, which was daily 

 repeated. The patient remained a week in this 

 condition without reduction of temperature or 

 albuminuria. Another case is cited, where a 

 patient remained for three days under similar 

 conditions. A third patient had a coating of 

 tar all over the body for a week, but presented 

 no abnormality, except blackening of the urine, 

 which was shown to be due to the presence of 

 carbolic acid. In considering the grounds of the 

 prevailing opinion as to the necessarily fatal 

 effect of an impermeable coating on the skin, Dr. 

 Senator refers to the case of the gilded boy — a 

 child who was covered with gold-leaf in order to 

 act the character of an "angel" in a miracle- 

 play. This child, he says, died so soon that it is 

 probable that there was something poisonous in 

 the gold leaf. He also quotes current American 

 history, to show that a coat of " tar and feathers " 

 of itself produces no ill effects. 



Utilizing the Flood- Water of the Nile. — Anoth- 

 er gigantic engineering project has been suggested, 

 namely, diverting a portion of the flood-water of 

 the Nile into the deserts of Nubia, Libya, and 

 Soodan. As is well known, the main stream of 

 the Nile is fed by the great equatorial lakes of 

 Africa, and its annual inundations are caused by 

 the in-rush of torrent-water, laden with soil from 

 the fertile slopes of the Abyssinian plateau. This 

 silt is now for the most part deposited in the 

 bed of the Mediterranean, where it is gradually 

 forming a new delta. Sir Samuel Baker, in a 

 letter to the London Times, after rehearsing 

 these facts, proposes a plan by which not only 

 the water of the Nile, but the mud which it now 

 deposits wastefully, may be utilized as a means 

 of fertilizing the deserts south of Egypt. He 

 proposes, by suitable engineering works, to divert 



a portion of the Nile flood-water into these des- 

 erts, where it can deposit its rich sediment in 

 the sands, and also irrigate them so as to trans- 

 form them into " cotton-fields that would render 

 England independent of America." He would 

 construct sluices and dams at different points of 

 the Nile ; at the cataracts, for instance. These 

 dams and sluices, by enabling craft to pass the 

 cataracts, would also render the Nile navigable 

 from the Mediterranean to Gondokoro. 



-The following 



When and how much to eat.- 

 remarks on " Regularity of Meals " occur in a 

 paper by Dr. Wilson, read at the recent Domestic 

 Economy Congress at Birmingham : For the ac- 

 tive out-door laborer and artisan, an early break- 

 fast before work, a mid-day dinner, with an inter- 

 val of rest, and supper after the day's work is 

 over, have long been proved by experience to be 

 the most conducive to health. For the business- 

 man, a later breakfast, a mid-day luncheon, and a 

 late dinner after the day's work is over, is the 

 best arrangement. For literary men, who write 

 more in the evening than during the day, an 

 early dinner and a light supper will be found to be 

 the most advantageous for steady work. Idlers, 

 to enjoy life, if they possibly can, should dine 

 early if they intend to spend the evening at thea- 

 tres and the like ; but if they accept dinner-invi- 

 tations freely, they should be very careful not to 

 eat too much at the mid-day meal. The break- 

 fast-hour should be determined, in great measure, 

 by the hour of rising, but in any case food should 

 be partaken of before the material business of 

 the day is commenced. Those who like to take 

 a "constitutional" before breakfast would find 

 their appetite whetted, and their walk made all 

 the more enjoyable, if they took a little milk, or 

 cafe-au-lait, with bread or biscuit, before start- 

 ing. Work done before breakfast is always irk- 

 some and fatiguing, and on that account is very 

 likely to be badly done. The last meal should 

 be sufficiently late for the whole not to be absorbed 

 before retiring to rest. To a person in health, 

 three meals a day ought to be quite sufficient ; 

 and the practice of continually "taking some- 

 thing " is sure to bring on indigestion. 



