856 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



after-edges, so that when left to themselves 

 they always fell down, and so closed the 

 aperture. Somewhat similar machines have 

 been found in Ireland, north Germany, Styr- 

 ia, and Italy, and their character has been 

 the subject of discussion. They are usually 

 regarded as traps, and it is remarked that 

 all the examples from Italy, Ireland, and 

 Laybach were found in bogs which in earlier 

 times were lakes. If they were really traps, 

 they could be used only in water, where the 

 animal could insert its head from below ; 

 and, among amphibious animals, the otter 

 and beaver are the only ones to which all 

 the conditions involved in a trap theory 

 would apply. 



The Qualifications of a Good Norse. 



" Now in what," asks Dr. Hal C. Wyman, in 

 an essay on The Training of Nurses, " shall 

 the ideal nurse be trained ? She should have 

 a good education. She need not be schooled 

 in mathematics or philosophy, poetry or sci- 

 ence ; but she must have a good common- 

 school education that will enable her to read 

 any instructions that may be given her, or 

 left with her, in writing; to make records of 

 the condition of the patient, and to write 

 orders for those who may be subject to her. 

 . . . She must be fully acquainted with the 

 English and the metrical system of weights 

 and measures, and she ought to be a good 

 reader, sufficiently well acquainted with the 

 art of elocution to read various selections for 

 the entertainment of her patient. One of 

 the most interesting scenes of hospital life I 

 ever witnessed was that of a Gray Nun in a 

 ward of paralytic and demented patients, 

 reading the news of the day. The soft 

 modulations of her voice, the rapt attention 

 of her listeners, and the agreeable contrast 

 to the listless, weary air of the patients in 

 an adjoining ward I shall never forget." 

 Not only should there be trained nurses in 

 large cities and in connection with large hos- 

 pitals, but they are needed " in communities 

 where there are no large hospitals, in com- 

 munities where there are no hospitals at all, 

 and there ought to be some means of train- 

 ing them on the ground where they are 

 needed. Every county, nearly, has its or- 

 ganization for the medical care of the sick 

 poor. That class, more frequently than any 

 other, needs the tender and supporting min- 



istrations of the nurse. Why not, wher- 

 ever there are physicians employed by the 

 county, have the county physician, with the 

 aid of the superintendents of the poor, or- 

 ganize a school for the training of nurses ? " 



Reversion, or Arrested Development. 



In a paper in opposition to the doctrine of 

 reversion to a former type, Miss Layard said, 

 in the British Association, that in consider- 

 ing the subject of linear evolution the great 

 importance of a clear understanding of the 

 laws of reversion is apparent ; for, if it can be 

 positively proved that structures common to 

 lower groups occasionally make their appear- 

 ance in man through this means, a strong 

 point has been gained. It is logically certain 

 that there can not be a return to a state 

 which has not once existed. But if, on the 

 other hand, such appearances can be traced 

 to an arrest during the process of develop- 

 ment, or to a sport, the phenomenon shows 

 no connection between higher and lower 

 groups. If we carefully divide positive cases 

 of arrested development and sports from 

 those which may be, strictly speaking, con- 

 sidered to have true appearances of rever- 

 sion, the number diminishes enormously. 

 Perhaps the most important point to be 

 ascertained is as to the limit of time after 

 which reversion to an earlier type becomes 

 impossible. If there be no limit, then it 

 may be a matter of surprise that reversion 

 is not more constant in man. 



Storage Reservoirs for the Mississippi. 



Captain Eads's scheme of jetties and all 

 other plans for improving the Mississippi 

 River by tinkering with the channel are con- 

 demned by Mr. Jacques W. Redway, in a 

 pamphlet on The Physical Geography of the 

 Mississippi River, as likely to work more mis- 

 chief in tlie end than they remedy. The au- 

 thor, on the other hand, advocates a plan 

 embodying the storage of the surplus water 

 that accumulates during the spring floods. 

 This will both lessen the volume of the fresh- 

 ets that occur at the breaking up of the win- 

 ter season, and also furnish a supply to be 

 drawn from during the low stage of summer 

 and fall. The storage reservoirs in construc- 

 tion at the present time are mainly the natu- 

 ral basins at the head of the Mississippi 

 proper Chippewa, St. Croix, Crow Wing, 



