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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nated by the lungs and skin of the animals 

 under experiment, for he found that the 

 same changes were observable in animals 

 kept in a cage, the bottom of which was 

 strewed with arsenic. Besides the changes 

 in the bones, the heart, liver, kidneys, and 

 even the spleen, underwent fatty degenera- 

 tion. The young of animals fed with ar- 

 senic were invariably born dead, though 

 they attained a large size, and presented 

 remarkable hypertrophy of the spleen, and 

 incipient changes in the bones. 



What shall wc eat ? Dr. E. C. Angell, 

 author of a paper in " The Sanitarian " en- 

 titled " Alimentation in Health and Dis- 

 ease," would make wheaten food and not 

 beef the basis of alimentation. In a natu- 

 ral and rational system of dietetics wheat 

 and the allied seed-foods, including beans, 

 lentils, peas, and rice, must, he holds, take 

 the place now usurped by animal foods, 

 including, besides flesh-meats, butter, cheese, 

 eggs, and milk. Next should come the ap- 

 petizing, juicy fruits, and then the plant- 

 foods, which are neither seeds nor fruits, 

 and which are generally styled vegetables. 

 After these come the various animal foods, 

 and last of all the stimulating spices, bever- 

 ages, and other food adjuncts. According 

 to Dr. Angell, " the true life-giving and men- 

 tal, moral, and physical force - producing 

 bread is neither more nor less than sound, 

 ripe wheat when deprived of its thin outer 

 silicious husk, coarsely ground and mixed 

 with water, and subjected to just that de- 

 gree of kneading and baking which will 

 suffice to prepare it for mastication, insali- 

 vation, and the subsequent action of the 

 gastric juice." The dough should be knead- 

 ed into rolls a little larger than the largest 

 macaroni, and when baked the product 

 gets the name of " sticks." In these 

 " sticks " we have every nutritious element 

 of the grain, with no fermentation, no cryp- 

 togamic vegetation, no deleterious chemical 

 or mineral ingredients. We have, further- 

 more, a substance that must be chewed, as 

 it can not be swallowed without due mas- 

 tication and insalivation, and consequently 

 its digestion is insured. Attrition, or cold- 

 blast wheat, coarsely ground and unbolt- 

 ed, contains all the natural nutritive ele- 

 ments of the wheat. Besides this, it pos- 



sesses the mechanical properties which dis- 

 tend the intestines, promoting their peri- 

 staltic action; it is therefore antidotal to 

 dyspepsia. For children it is specially val- 

 uable, and its substitution for common 

 bread, and the use of fruits instead of flesh- 

 food, until the deciduous teeth shall have 

 given place to the permanent denture, would 

 be of incalculable benefit and would con- 

 tribute to the production of good teeth. 

 " The early loss of these organs," says Dr. 

 Angell, "is conclusive evidence that the 

 prevailing system of dietetics is radically 

 wrong." 



Government Aid to Artisan Schools. In 



England government aid is given toward 

 the support of science schools for artisans 

 and mechanics, a sum of money being 

 granted to the teacher according to the 

 number of students whom he succeeds in 

 getting through the government examina- 

 tion. Furthermore, in order to encourage 

 the students, valuable prizes are presented 

 to those who obtain first-class certificates 

 at the examinations, which, it may be added, 

 are not competitive, that is to say, if every 

 student succeeds in obtaining the requisite 

 percentage of marks, all obtain what are 

 termed Queen's prizes. If the class be one 

 in which scientific apparatus is required, 

 the Government pays half the cost of such 

 apparatus. Already above 50,000 young 

 men attain a respectable proficiency in one 

 or more branches of practical science ev- 

 ery year. In " Chambers's Journal," from 

 which the foregoing particulars are taken, 

 we find the following interesting account of 

 the rise and progress of one of these science 

 schools for young artisans : " In the town 

 in which this school is situated, a few 

 spirited young men determined to have a 

 class during the winter. Their scheme at 

 first met with some opposition, but the 

 young men were bent on extending to their 

 town the advantages which the Government 

 of the country hold forth to the industrial 

 classes to educate themselves ; and, ere the 

 first days of winter had gone, the class be- 

 came an accomplished fact. The difficulty 

 experienced in obtaining the requisite in- 

 struments for the class was got over partly 

 by means of the aid from Government, and 

 partly by the ingenuity of the young men 



