POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



863 



were developed from exceedingly small pipes 

 with flat heels to larger barrel-shaped pipes, 

 and then to pipes with long handles and 

 pointed spurs. The makers' marks were put 

 on the heels of the oldest specimens, on the 

 bowls of more recent ones, and on the stems 

 of still later ones. 



Stammering and its Causes.— :M. Cher- 

 vin, founder and director of the Institution 

 for Stammerers, at Paris, has recently made 

 researches into the prevalence of stammer- 

 ing in France, as shown by the reports of 

 the recruiting officers for the army during 

 the last twenty years, and into the climatic 

 and other influences that are favorable to 

 the development of the infirmity. He has 

 represented the results of his inquiries by a 

 map which exhibits the relative number of 

 stammerers in each of the departments at a 

 glance. The map shows that the country 

 may be divided into two distinct parts, by a 

 line running from Bordeaux to Geneva, on 

 the south of which the number of stammer- 

 ers is vastly greater than it is on the north 

 of it. The proportion of stammerers to 

 the whole number of young men who have 

 reached the ago when they are liable to 

 conscription appears to be about five to one 

 thousand. The districts along the Mediter- 

 ranean coast seem to be the most liable 

 to the aflliction ; and it has been found that 

 stammering is also extraordinarily frequent 

 in Piedmont, which has a similar climate and 

 population. M. Chervin attributes the origin 

 of the habit in this region partly to the ex- 

 treme animation of the speech of the south- 

 ern people, partly to the hot winds which are 

 the cause of nervous disorders with which 

 stammering may be connected. Stammer- 

 ing may be produced by a sudden fright 

 suffered during childhood. Sometimes the 

 habit comes on gradually, or is developed 

 by association with stammerers. Men ap- 

 pear to suffer more from it than women, as 

 all authors agree, so that out of a hundred 

 stammerers hardly more than ten or twenty 

 will be women. This may, however, only 

 signify that men feel more inconvenience 

 from the evil and notice it more. The re- 

 ports of the recruiting officers show that the 

 proportion of stammerers is three or four 

 times less in the cities than in the country ; 

 a fact that is very suggestive by the side 

 of another which M. Chervin has brought 



out, that stammerers arc most rare where 

 there are the most schools. It is evident 

 that as youth become more accustomed to 

 using their language and learning to distin- 

 guish words, to spell and write them, they 

 learn to have a clearer conception of them, 

 to articulate more distinctly, and escape con- 

 fusion. The great number of stammerers 

 in savage countries has been observed by 

 travelers. It is ascribed to the absence of 

 a knowledge of their language, and to the 

 frequent repetitions of the same syllables 

 which appear in their words. 



Investigating the Ligiitning-Rod.— Dele- 

 gates were appointed in the summer of 

 1878, by a number of British societies, to 

 consider the possibility of formulating the 

 existing knowledge on the subject of the 

 protection of property from damage by elec- 

 tricity, and the advisability of preparing 

 and issuing a general code of rules for the 

 erection of lightning-conductors. These 

 delegates have held several meetings, and 

 have already collected a large amount of 

 information. Several of their number are 

 also engaged in forming abstracts of the 

 literature of the subject. In order that 

 their report may be as trustworthy and 

 exhaustive as possible, the delegates ask, 

 through Mr. G. J. Symons, their secretary, 

 for information to be communicated to them 

 by correspondence, on the following points : 

 "Full details of accidents by lightning, 

 stating especially whether the building 

 struck had a conductor or not. If there 

 was a conductor, state its dimensions, con- 

 struction, mode of attachment to building ; 

 whether its top was pointed, distance of its 

 upper terminal from the place struck, na- 

 ture and extent of the connection between 

 the conductor and the earth, and whether 

 the earth was dry or moist; whether the 

 conductor was itself injured, and whether 

 the conductor or the point struck was the 

 most salient object in the vicinity. Infor- 

 mation is also desired, either verbally or by 

 sketches, as to the position of metal spout- 

 ing and lead roofing relatively to the point 

 struck, and to the conductor. Details of 

 the thickest piece of metal melted by a 

 flash of lightning are much needed. Unim- 

 peachable evidence of the failure of con- 

 ductors is much desired, as such failures 

 would be extremely instructive." 



