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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pain, or blood is drawn, a poultice is ap- 

 plied, and recovery is regarded as almost 

 certain. If the blood docs not flow, or the 

 patient does not suffer, the case is given up. 

 A case is quoted in which a young Chinese 

 was instantly relieved of the cramp of 

 cholera by this process. The Chinese ex- 

 planation of their treatment is that, when 

 the blood is in the poisoned condition which 

 induces the choleraic symptoms, it becomes 

 thick and accumulates in certain parts of 

 the body, from which it must be withdrawn. 



Development of Znni Civilization. — 



Mr. F. H. Cushing explained before the Brit- 

 ish Association his theory of the manner in 

 which the present civilization of the Zunis 

 rose by a genuine process of self-develop- 

 ment from a low condition of barbarism, 

 in which he finds every reason to believe 

 those Indians originally existed. The brush- 

 covered wigwam in which they first dwelt 

 gave way to a small building of lava-stone, 

 or a cliff-dwelling, and that to the pueblo- 

 house, which is both cliff and dwelling in 

 one. Their earliest vessels were gourds. 

 They incased them in wicker-work for safer 

 transportation ; then took the wicker-work 

 alone, and had a basket ; then plastered the 

 basket with clay to make it tight, and got 

 the idea of a pottery-vessel. The first orna- 

 mentation of their pottery was derived from 

 the imitation of this wicker-work frame. 

 And all this took only a few centuries — 

 nothing near the numerous cycles of ages 

 which some anthropologists imagine it must 

 have taken man to reach a civilized state. 



Family Relations of the Mnata Tanvo. 



— Dr. Pogge and Max Buchner have de- 

 scribed the people of the Muata Tanvo, or 

 Matianvo of Livingstone, as, although fetich- 

 worshipers, practicing circumcision, a " fine 

 warlike race, unhappily addicted to slave- 

 hunting, though far in advance of some 

 neighboring tribes, and living under feudal 

 institutions." " Among many peculiar cus- 

 toms," says General Lef roy, " is one which 

 invests one of the king's half-sisters, under 

 the designation of the Lukokescha, with the 

 second authority in the kingdom. She is 

 forbidden to marry, but permitted a sort of 

 morganatic alliance with a slave, any off- 

 spring being ruthlessly destroyed, and, on 



the death of the king, she has the princi- 

 pal voice in determining his successor, who, 

 however, must be selected from among the 

 sons of the late king. . . . The extraordi- 

 nary custom prevails here that a man's 

 children do not belong to him, but to the 

 eldest brother of their mother ; and, should 

 a child die, the father must make compen- 

 sation." 



Treatment for the Opiam-Habit. — In 



his little pamphlet on this subject. Dr. Asa 

 P. Meylert says that in all cases where un- 

 restrained the opium habitue takes a larger 

 quantity than would suffice him. The meth- 

 od of cure by gradual reduction alone he 

 has tried in one case at the patient's request, 

 but docs not propose to repeat the experi- 

 ment. Every reduction was attended with 

 severe suffering. In another case, he tried 

 to reduce gradually, using tonics to sustain 

 the patient, but no narcotics, nor a sub- 

 stitute of any kind. The case was that of 

 a woman, whose general health was good, 

 whose will-power was unusually strong, who 

 had not taken opium long, and was not 

 taking a very large quantity — thirty grains 

 of crude opium daily. It was a most favor- 

 able opportunity to try this method. The 

 result proved that, notwithstanding the ton- 

 ic treatment, she found a daily reduction of 

 four per cent intolerable. We must there- 

 fore — if we adopt this method — consider 

 something less than four per cent as adapt- 

 ed to the average patient. Suppose that 

 the average consumption be estimated at 

 ten grains of morphia daily — and this is a 

 low estimate. Suppose, again, that the pa- 

 tient continues the drug to the one tenth 

 grain before leaving it off altogether — and 

 this would be a minimum limit without spe- 

 cial treatment: to reduce from ten grains 

 to one tenth grain, at three and one half per 

 cent daily, would require one hundred and 

 thirty days, or nearly four and a half months ; 

 at one per cent, four hundred and fifty-nine 

 days, or over fifteen months. Those who 

 know how easily the opium patient is alarmed 

 by any sudden shock, and how naturally re. 

 lief is sought from the bottle for every ill 

 or mischance in life, need no assurance that 

 a cure which must extend over so long a 

 time is utterly impracticable for the average 

 patient, outside an institution. There re- 



