POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



861 



and at least an equal number of banks, and 

 rocks, and shoals, and reefs, all of the same 

 coral formation. There is often a difficulty 

 in distinguishing one atoll from another. 

 A ring of coral surrounds a lagoon, the en- 

 trance to which is on the northwest side. 

 Where the coral is a foot or two above the 

 tide, a thick, green robe of clematis covers 

 the white rock, and tall palms flourish over- 

 head. Outside, the sea is in most cases at 

 least two hundred fathoms deep, and inside 

 it varies from three fathoms in some atolls 

 to an almost unfathomable depth in others. 

 Diego Garcia is situated in one of the hot- 

 test places in the world, where fierce sun- 

 shine alternates daily with heavy showers, 

 and the temperature is between 80and 90 

 all the year round. For scenery, there are 

 the three million palms and the varying blue 

 of the inland sea. The island furnishes, in 

 the names of its several points, suggestions 

 for a romance like that of " Paul and Vir- 

 ginia." " But all such tales fail, in leaving 

 out the realities. There is nothing about 

 fleas in any of them ; nothing, or very little, 

 about centipeds. The misery of life on a 

 coral island can hardly be exaggerated. . . . 

 It rains every day. The mosquitoes are un- 

 equaled for size and ferocity. The only 

 food is an occasional fresh fish, with tinned 

 meat and vegetables from England. The 

 monotony of existence is only broken by 

 the visit of an occasional ship, or by a gale, 

 which unroofs the house. To the lonely in- 

 habitants it is nothing that beautiful shells 

 and branching coral are to be found on the 

 beach ; that strange, bright birds come across 

 the ocean to build their nests in the cocoanut- 

 trees, or that the sea over the reef is an ethe- 

 real blue such as no one can imagine who has 

 not seen it." 



Restoration of Life. Dr. Richardson 

 has started the question whether life may 

 not be restored after actual death, and re- 

 lates some facts that point to the answer as 

 being in the affirmative. By combining 

 artificial circulation with artificial respira- 

 tion, a dog was restored to life an hour 

 and five minutes after having been killed by 

 an overdose of chloroform, when the heart 

 had become perfectly still and cold, and was 

 passing into rigidity. Animals that have 

 been killed by suffocation and partially dis- 



sected were brought to such a state of mus- 

 cular irritability that the experiment was 

 stopped for fear that they would return to 

 conscious sentient life. Frogs poisoned by 

 nitrate of amyl were restored after nine 

 days of apparent death, in one case after 

 signs of putrefactive change had com- 

 menced. The action of peroxide of hydro- 

 gen in reanimating the blood and restoring 

 heat in a really dead body is quite startling. 

 From these observations, Mr. W. Mattieu 

 Williams thinks the conclusion is justified 

 that " a drowned or suffocated man is not 

 hopelessly dead so long as the bodily organs 

 remain uninjured by violence or disease, and 

 the blood remains sufficiently liquid to be 

 set in motion artificially and supplied with a 

 little oxygen to start the chemical movements 

 of life." 



Peat-Smoke as an Antiseptic. Dr. 



Morgan, of Manchester, England, has re- 

 marked upon the healthy condition of the 

 Highland crofters, who live in " bothies " 

 the atmosphere of which is impregnated 

 with peat-smoke, and are yet not troubled 

 by disease, being particularly free from 

 consumption and other lung infections. 

 Their rooms are warmed by a peat-fire kept 

 constantly burning in the middle of the 

 floor ; and, there being no means of escape 

 for the smoke except a hole in the corner of 

 the roof, the atmosphere is often pungent 

 enough to make the eyes and nostrils smart. 

 Yet the inhabitants are well and vigorous, 

 and are liable to lung-diseases only when they 

 go to live in houses with chimneys. The 

 explanation of the phenomenon is not hard 

 to find. Peat-smoke is heavily charged 

 with antiseptics with tar, creosote, tannin, 

 and various volatile oils and resins and the 

 salutary influence of these more than makes 

 up for the adulteration of the air. 



Blondes and Brunettes. Reports have 

 been published of the "complexion-cen- 

 suses " of the school-children of Germany, 

 Belgium, Cisleithan Austria, and Switzer- 

 land. They show that more than one half 

 of those enumerated are of mixed type. 

 The distribution of the pure types blondes 

 and brunettes is very different in different 

 countries. The blondes predominate in 

 Belgium, and still more in Germany, while 



