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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



they do not exert an equal stimulating effect. 

 It is, however, rich in such elements of a 

 perfect food as fat, albumen, and starch, and 

 has nearly twice as much mineral salt as tea. 

 To obviate the unpleasant effects of the fat, 

 a large amount of it is removed, or diluted, 

 during the process of manufacture. When 

 deprived of the excess of fat, cocoa yields a 

 bland, easily digested, and slightly stimulat- 

 ing beverage, which is generally free from 

 any subsequent unpleasant effects. 



New Tests for Color-blindness. The 



method of testing the eyes of railway servants 

 by skeins of differently colored wools has 

 been pronounced by the Congress of the So- 

 ciety of Drivers and Firemen unpractical, be- 

 cause the conditions under which it is made 

 are different from any to which the men are 

 subjected in their work. The congress has 

 recommended that the men be tried day and 

 night on the railway with actual signals at 

 any necessary distances ; and have suggested 

 that, in any case in which a member of the 

 society is discharged or reduced on account 

 of failure in responding to the dot and wool 

 test, he should be examined by a surgeon, 

 with the right to have a practical trial with 

 signals if the surgeon's report is not unfa- 

 vorable. The Lancet suggests that there are 

 other cases where a surgeon's examination 

 may be in place when, for instance, aman's 

 eyesight fails after he has been on duty six- 

 teen, eighteen, or twenty-three hours. Again, 

 a man may have impaired his vision by ex- 

 cessive smoking. 



Choice Oriental Fruits. It has been said 

 that more than a hundred different preserves 

 could be made from a judicious blending of 

 the fruits of the East and West Indies and 

 of South America. The Indian preserves 

 were formerly in much request. In the 

 thirteenth century the most renowned pre- 

 serve was a paste made of candied ginger. 

 In India preserves and jellies are made of 

 the pear, quince, mango, tamarind, date, gua- 

 va, banana, etc. In Singapore pineapples are 

 preserved whole, and the same manufacture 

 is carried on on a large scale in the Bahamas. 

 Among other fruits preserved in their natural 

 Btate, in sirup crystallized with sugar, or made 

 into jelly, are the pineapple, bread-fruit, gin- 

 ger, jack-fruit, papaw, mangosteen, pomeloe, 



and nutmeg. Preparations of pineapple are 

 among the best of these. Both the red and 

 white guava make excellent sweetmeat paste 

 or jelly. Bread-fruit, whether in sirup or crys- 

 tallized, is flavorless to the European taste, 

 and more a food-substance than a fruit. Pre- 

 served ginger is popular in England, but is 

 not much esteemed on the Continent. The 

 Spaniards eat raw ginger in the morning to 

 give themselves an appetite ; and it is used 

 at table, fresh or candied. Among sailors it 

 is considered anti-scorbutic. The mangosteen 

 is one of the most delicious and famous fruits 

 of the Indian Archipelago, and has the " deli- 

 cate and characteristic flavor of the straw- 

 berry, grape, pineapple, and peach, . com- 

 bined." The mango is the best fruit of India, 

 and is cultivated in about as many varieties 

 as the apple. The half-ripe fruits are made 

 into tarts and marmalades. The finest va- 

 rieties seem to thrive in Jamaica, where the 

 mango is a popular fruit with the negroes. 

 The list of Oriental fruits available for pre- 

 serves is long and contains many names 

 hardly known, except as matters of curiosity, 

 in the West. 



Fishing for Crocodiles. The Sundyaks, 

 or Dusuns, of the east coast of Borneo, eat 

 crocodiles, and fish for them. According to 

 Mr. R. T. Pritchett's description of their 

 mode of fishing, they bind a dead monkey 

 as bait upon a stick, along which, at inter- 

 vals, are tied lengths of fishing-twine. These 

 are brought together some seven or eight 

 feet off, and attached to the end of a rat- 

 tan seventy or eighty feet in length. The 

 bait is thrown into the river at a suitable 

 spot, and the other end of the rattan is 

 slightly secured to an overhanging branch. 

 The crocodile takes the bait, and retires 

 to enjoy and digest his meal, paying no at- 

 tention to the stick. The hunter, going 

 to the river the next morning, and miss- 

 ing his rattan, looks along the river till he 

 finds it floating on the stream ; the crocodile 

 is of course at the baited stick. The hunter 

 takes the rattan and with a sharp jerk upon 

 it draws the stick " athwart-ship " in the 

 interior of the crocodile. The rattan is 

 pulled on shore as quickly as possible, and, 

 with the help of as many of the hunter's 

 friends as may be required, the crocodile is 

 disposed of. The professional sportsmen, 



