POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



859 



Hygienic Living. — Some independent 

 opinions on health and disease are expressed 

 in Dr. Allinson's book, "Hygienic Medi- 

 cine." Our civilization is held to be the 

 cause of many of our diseases ; thus, the 

 close confinement of our homes is charge- 

 able for diseases of the breathing apparatus ; 

 the artificial warmth produced by fires, 

 clothes, and hot foods and fluids is injuri- 

 ous. Many suffer from want of exercise, 

 others from not keeping their skins clean. 

 Reasoning from their structure, men should 

 live on fruit, grain, and vegetable products, 

 especially fruit; food and fluids should be 

 taken lukewarm and not hot. All diseases 

 being regarded as but one, with different 

 names according to the locality where they 

 manifest themselves, the author prescribes 

 as the one remedy for all, hygienic living — 

 consisting of proper food at proper inter- 

 vals, pure air always, regular exercise, and 

 clean skins. Drugs are good only to kill 

 parasites on the skin or expel them from the 

 intestines, and to produce anaesthesia during 

 surgical operations and insensibility to un- 

 bearable pains; otherwise they do harm 

 rather than good. 



Profits of Forest Cnltivatlon. — The his- 

 tory of forestry in India shows, according to 

 the presentment of Mr. George Cadell, in 

 " Macmillan's Magazine," how a revenue 

 which, in the year 1886-'87, returned a sur- 

 plus of 41,017,000 Rupees, was built up, un- 

 der systematic management, " from not only 

 an entire absence of income, but from a rap- 

 idly diminishing capital." The means by 

 which this gain was drawn in were, " re- 

 straining the destruction of the forests by 

 the wood-merchants, who felled for the sake 

 only of personal aggrandizement, ... by 

 guiding, without checking, the cutting of 

 trees by the peasantry for their agricultural 

 and building necessities," and by steering 

 " an arduous course " between the necessity 

 for restraining reckless waste, and the obliga- 

 tion for meeting legitimate demand. The re- 

 turns of three years' forest administration in 

 the canton of Vaud, Switzerland — 1884, 188.'^, 

 and 1886— show that the 24,500 acres of 

 forest-land gave an avei'age revenue of more 

 than five shillings per acre. The French 

 forest budget for 1886-'87 shows a surplus 

 of 13,400,000 francs, or 5'25 francs per acre. 



The Prussian forests return a surplus of 

 23,900,000 marks, which is equivalent to a 

 net income of 3 '6 marks per acre. Lands 

 in Great Britain are told of, the agricultural 

 value of which is no more than twelve or 

 fourteen shiUings per acre, that bear larches 

 which, when sold, realize from one shilling 

 to one shilling and threepence for each 

 cubic foot. A certain crop of Scotch fir 

 seventy-five years old, standing on ground 

 the annual value of which does not exceed 

 ten shillings, is valued for transfer at £132 

 per acre. Generally, a crop of larch stand- 

 ing within reasonable distance of a railroad- 

 station ought to be worth £50 or $250 an 

 acre when fifty years of age. It should be 

 remembered, too, that while ordinary agri- 

 cultural operations exhaust the soil, trees 

 enrich it. 



Walloon Superstitions. — The "Walloons 

 of Belgium believe in all kinds of omens, 

 including most of those which are common 

 in other countries. Among their supersti- 

 tions is one that to meet a priest, when about 

 to undertake anything unusual, is a certain 

 sign of failure, and puts a stop to further 

 proceedings. Few will throw reeds into the 

 fire, because they are of service to oxen ; and 

 an ox having been present at the Saviour's 

 birth, it ought to be regarded as sacred. 

 The bed of a dying person must be placed in 

 such a position that the rafters can not run 

 in a contrary direction to it ; for, unless they 

 are parallel, the agonies of death would in- 

 evitably be protracted. When linen is 

 washed, the water is never said "to boil," 

 but " to play " ; otherwise, the clothes would 

 be destroyed. Precious stones are supposed 

 to possess virtues more valuable than their 

 intrinsic worth. An aerolite is said to be 

 unsurpassed as a means for discovering a 

 thief. The metal must be ground to pow- 

 der, then mixed with flour and made into 

 bread, of which no genuine thief can swallow 

 the smallest portion. On Easter-Sunday it 

 was the custom to breakfast off of two eggs 

 that had been laid on Good-Friday, in order 

 to render the eater proof against fever. To 

 abstain from meat after Lent was a cure for 

 toothache. In taking a dead body to the 

 church-yard, if they come to four cross-roads, 

 the bearers put down the coffin, and all 

 kneel to repeat a short prayer. The idea la 



