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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



this side of the Atlantic. A cure for 

 whooping-cough, in use not only in Eng- 

 land but in North Germany, consists in put- 

 ting into the mouth of the whooping child 

 a newly-caught fish, and then letting it go 

 again. The cough is communicated to the 

 iish. Another cure for the same malady 

 consists in passing the child nine times 

 under and over a donkey. To charm away 

 warts, an elder-shoot is to be rubbed over 

 them ; then as many notches are cut on the 

 twig as there are warts. The twig is bur- 

 ied, and as it rots away the warts disappear. 

 There are persons still living who have been 

 stroked by a hanged man's hand for the 

 sake of dispelling tumors. In Devonshire 

 there is a superstition that, if a person suf- 

 fering from any disease throw a handker- 

 chief in the coffin of a suicide, the disease 

 will be cured as the handkerchief rots away. 

 In other localities, the fore-foot of a hare, 

 worn constantly in the pocket, is considered 

 a potent charm against rheumatism. A like 

 practice is found in this country, a horse- 

 chestnut taking the place of the hare's foot. 

 In some places the anti-rheumatic talisman 

 is a potato. Bread baked on "Good Fri- 

 day " is supposed to possess wonderful cu- 

 rative virtues. Such bread, it seems, never 

 grows moldy. It is often kept for years, 

 sometimes as many as twenty. It is most 

 effectual when taken grated in brandy. 

 Nor is it only for man's ailments that Good 

 Friday bread is medicine; it is also con- 

 sidered good for some of the complaints of 

 animals for instance, it cures " the scours " 

 in calves. 



Climate at Great Altitudes. The " Little 

 Annie gold mine," in Rio Grande County, 

 Colorado, is doubtless the highest gold mine 

 worked anywhere on the globe, its elevation 

 being 11,300 feet above sea-level. An in- 

 teresting account of the climatic conditions 

 lure existing is given by Professor C. E. 

 Koliins, in the " Kansas City Review of Sci- 

 ence." The geographical position of the 

 camp is 37 28' 18" north, and longitude 

 106 30' west that is to say, it is in the 

 latitude of Syracuse, the most southerly 

 city of Europe ; but, owing to the elevation, 

 the climate is arctic. The mean annual 

 temperature in 1877-78 was 26-95 Fahr., 

 the maximum being 69 (July), and the 



minimum 24 (November). The mean 

 maximum was 50"4, and the mean mini- 

 mum 4 58 for the twelve months. Snow 

 fell every month except July, 1877 ; few 

 nights are without frost ; the fall of snow is 

 about twenty-four feet per year. The dry 

 atmosphere is scarcely ever chilly. Even 

 when the temperature is as low as 10, 

 the air is generally still. From the middle 

 of November to the middle of June loco- 

 motion is performed on snow-shoes run- 

 ners of the Norwegian pattern. Absolutely 

 cloudless days are very common. On the 

 11th, 12th, and 13th of August, the sun, 

 moon, and several stars were visible from 

 10 a. m. to 2 p. m. Of a lunar rainbow, 

 seen on the evening of August 4th, the same 

 year, Professor Robins says that "it ap- 

 peared about 9 p. M., the moon being full ; 

 and it lasted fifteen minutes. The chro- 

 matic scale was complete in the primary, 

 and the secondary arc was perfectly defined 

 around the entire semicircle. The upper 

 outlines of the mountains were but faintly 

 discovered through the blackness of the 

 storm, while the valley of the North Ala- 

 mosa was flooded under the arch by an 

 inundation of intense light, brighter than 

 that under the most brilliant aurora, but 

 golden." Of parhelia there are about half 

 a dozen striking exhibitions every year. 

 Meteors are frequent, but the author has 

 not observed cither ])araselence, aurora bo- 

 realis, or mirage. 



The Seeds of Disease. It is believed by 

 Pasteur that he has discovered the germs 

 which produce puerperal fever and malig- 

 nant pustule. The primary organism which 

 engenders puerperal fever he describes as 

 presenting itself in the form of cells united 

 to each other in series of two, four, or six, 

 and each having an average diameter of 

 two thousandths of a millimetre. Of the 

 researches which have resulted in the dem- 

 onstration of the germs of malignant pus- 

 tule we take the following account from 

 the "Medical and Surgical Reporter": 

 " M. Pasteur's researches on malignant pus- 

 tule have proved to him that the disease 

 was produced by the presence of the bac- 

 teridium discovered in 1860 by M. Davaine, 

 and this demonstration was made by the 

 application of the method of culture which 



