POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



427 



•with an aureole, while the shadows of other 

 objects, notably of the tower of the inn, 

 assume gig.intic dimensions, all within the 

 compass of a grand picture-frame denned 

 by a rainbow. A similar phenomenon has 

 been observed on the top of the Egisch- 

 horn, above the Aletsch glacier, in Switzer- 

 land. Another series of striking effects is 

 produced in the Brocken by the excessive 

 precipitation and deposition of moisture. 

 Guests at the inn say that the telegraph- 

 posts sometimes appear a yard thick under 

 the accumulation of frost upon them, and 

 the wires are frequently broken under the 

 weight of the ice with which they become 

 covered. The extremely fine drops of wa- 

 ter, suddenly frozen, deposit themselves in 

 crystalline figures upon everything against 

 which the wind drives them. Under these 

 effects Brocken landscapes take on a fan- 

 tastic aspect in winter, which is heightened, 

 when the sun is shining, by the reflections 

 from the innumerable minute crystals. 



Decrease of the English Death-Kate. — 



The English Registrar-General shows, from 

 a review of the mortality of England during 

 the ten years (1S71— '80), that the mean an- 

 nual death-rate has fallen to 21* 27 per thou- 

 sand, the lowest average since civil registra- 

 tion began. With this general fall is an in- 

 crease in the death-rates in the later periods 

 of life. This is also significant of improved 

 tenure of life, for it shows that a larger pro- 

 portion of persons live to be old enough to 

 die in the later periods. Dr. Ogle gives the 

 credit of the lessened death-rate among 

 young people to improved sanitation, which 

 has removed many fruitful sources of mor- 

 tality, while by aiding the survival of weakly 

 persons it may have had a tendency to in- 

 crease the death-rate of the later periods. 

 The changes in the death-rates, Dr. Ogle 

 adds, " have given to the community an an- 

 nual addition of 1,800,047 years of life 

 shared among its members ; and, allowing 

 that the changes are the direct consequence 

 of sanitary interference, we must regard 

 this addition of nearly two million years 

 of life as an annual income derived from 

 money invested in sanitation." 



Cardiac Overstrain. — The " Lancet " 

 improves the occasion of the recent deaths 

 of two persons by syncope after severe mus- 



cular exertion — one during an Alpine expe- 

 dition, and the other after a sharp row on 

 the river — to enforce the necessity of un- 

 dergoing suitable preparation by training 

 before engaging in unusual exercises. Both 

 of the deceased persons, it says, " were of 

 an age when degenerative changes in the 

 muscular tissue of the heart or of the ves- 

 sels would hardly be expected, and the syn- 

 cope must have resulted from the sudden 

 strain thrown on the cavities of a heart 

 weakened previously by a long period of in- 

 activity, and before the concordant action 

 between the heart and great vessels had 

 been established. This is always a danger 

 when violent exercise is suddenly under- 

 taken, and the mischief is of course greater 

 in elderly persons than in young adults." 



How Bice is Cleaned and Polished. — 



According to the reports transmitted by our 

 consular officers from England and Germa- 

 ny, the processes for cleaning rice are quite 

 complicated. The grain, after having been 

 taken to the top story of the mill and blown 

 and sieved, is divested of its paddy or husks 

 by passing it over a sieve having a jump- 

 ing action or tapping motion at the bottom, 

 or by being carried between stones like 

 those usually employed for grinding wheat. 

 These stones, in England, are of a compo- 

 sition of magnesian calcinate and emery, 

 and always keep a sharp face through the 

 difference in hardness between the emery 

 and the magnesian cement. Shelling-stones 

 covered with cork have been tried and given 

 up; and in Italy a surface of hard wood 

 set on end is sometimes used, like the Bur- 

 mese native hand-mills. In the process of 

 shelling, a meal or flour is made from the 

 crushing of the rice - paddy and the three 

 pellicles which, inside of the paddy, inclose 

 the grain, and is removed by apparatus 

 adapted for the purpose. The husks are 

 separated from the grain by a blast or ex- 

 haust, and the pellicles which still adhere 

 to the grain by bruising in a mortar. The 

 rice is then winnowed again, milled, re- 

 screened, and polished, in polishers that 

 generally consist of a shccp-skin-covcred 

 drum — the skin of a South Down is pre- 

 ferred, on account of the thickness of its 

 wool — which revolves inside of a fixed wire 

 casing about eighteen hundred to two thou- 



