144 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The reports of the United Kingdom Tem- 

 perance and General Provident Institution 

 are regarded by Dr. J. J. Ridge as affording 

 evidence of increasing weight and conchisive- 

 ness to the value of temperance as a factor 

 in longevity. For the last year the actual 

 claims upon the Institution for relief were, 

 in the temperance section, 71 "06 per cent; 

 in the general section, 100*2 per cent of the 

 expected claims. A summary of five quin- 

 quennial returns, or for twenty-five years, 

 shows that while in the general section the 

 deaths have fallen short of the expected 

 number by 242, in the temperance section 

 the deaths are 1,470 fewer. The fact that in 

 the general section the deaths are below the 

 healthy male average proves that the dif- 

 ference between the two sections is not due 

 to excessive drinking on the part of any 

 considerable number of the general section. 

 The comparison is therefore fairly between 

 abstainers and moderate drinkers, and goes 

 to show that the use of alcoholic liquors 

 produces degeneration of the tissues and 

 shortens life. 



Some habits of crocodiles are described 

 by M. Voeltzkow, who observed the ani- 

 mals in Vituland. Seventy-nine newly laid 

 eggs were obtained from a spot six paces 

 in diameter which had been cleared of 

 plants, apparently by the crocodile having 

 wheeled round several times. The eggs lay 

 in four pits, dug in the hard, dry ground, 

 about two feet obliquely down. According 

 to the natives, the crocodile, having selected 

 and prepared a spot, makes a pit in it that 

 day, lays twenty or twenty-five eggs in it, 

 and covers them with earth. The next day, 

 it makes a second pit, and so on. It re- 

 mains in the nest from the beginning, and 

 sleeps there till the young are hatched, in 

 about two months, at the setting in of the 

 rainy season. 



A PAPER by Prof. William Frear, in the 

 American Chemical Association, dealt with 

 differences in composition in the European 

 and the American chestnut. European chest- 

 nuts transplanted to this country lose their 

 peculiarities in some degree, but American 

 chestnuts also exhibit wide differences in 

 different years. 



Tre question of the relative influence 

 of animal and vegetable diet on the animal 

 temperature has never, according to the 

 Lancet, been investigated in the human 

 species on a sutficiently comprehensive scale 

 to be of any value ; hvX such comparative 

 facts as throw light on the matter tend to 

 indicate that vegetable feeders, among the 

 lower creation, have a high temperature. The 

 evidence, however, does not seem to be uni- 

 form to this point, and it is suggested that 

 some of the apparent discrepancies may be 

 due to the nature of the clothing of the skin. 

 A correspondent of the Lancet and his wife 

 have for about three years been living chiefly 



on fruit and vegetables, with a little milk 

 and its products, eggs and cheese, and with- 

 out alcohol, and find that they live as health- 

 ily as before, at a lower expenditure of 

 energy. If it be proved that a minimum 

 of animal diet will support life efficiently 

 under reduced combustion and reduced waste 

 of material, " a valuable as well as curious 

 fact will be added to our practical knowl- 

 edge." 



The limit of a man's power to do with- 

 out sleep has been the subject of curious 

 experiments. Lord Brougham once tried it 

 on himself, and, beginning Monday morning, 

 kept awake till Tuesday night, when he fell 

 asleep on seating himself while trying to 

 dictate to an amanuensis. The recent com- 

 petition of six men in Detroit, in trying to 

 postpone sleep for seven days, is in point. 

 Beginning on Monday noon, March 80th, four 

 of the men failed before Thursday. A fifth 

 kept up till Sunday moining, had a hard 

 struggle with his sleepiness all through the 

 day, and succumbed at midnight. The sixth 

 completed the time and was conducted to 

 the stage and introduced to the spectators, 

 but was sound asleep before the introduc- 

 tion was over. It is said, however, that 

 these men were allowed to sleep in fifteen- 

 minute naps at the end of their several 

 vigils, and it is added that they suffered no 

 permanent ill. 



According to Brandis's Wald in der 

 Vereinigten Staatcn von Nord America, for- 

 est vegetation is much richer in North Amer- 

 ica than in Europe, and comprises 412 spe- 

 cies — of which 176 are native to the Atlan- 

 tic region, 106 to the Pacific, 10 are common 

 to both, 46 to the Eocky Mountain region, 

 and 74 are tropical species near the coasts 

 of Florida — as against 158 species in Eu- 

 rope. Six North American species of forest 

 trees — the red-bud or Judas tree, persim- 

 mon, hackberry, plane tree, hop hornbeam, 

 and chestnut — are also indigenous in Eu- 

 rope, all now growing there naturally south 

 of the Alps. And since many American for- 

 est genera existed in Europe in Tertiary 

 times, while only five European forest gen- 

 era (Cera/onia, Laburnum, Olca, St/yin(/a, 

 and Laurus) are not found in America, it is 

 possible that other species formerly common 

 to both countries were destroyed in Europe 

 north of the Alps by the Glacial epoch. 



A PARLIAMENTARY rcport shows that ether 

 is now used to a considerably large extent 

 in Ireland to produce intoxication. It is 

 preferred to whisky because it is cheaper 

 and more effective. Its effects are described 

 as arousing combative instincts and produc- 

 ing a high state of exhilaration accompanied 

 by shouting and singing and the use of pro- 

 vocative words. Even children are accus- 

 tomed to it, and come to school smelling 

 of it. 



