FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



281 



ferred, and, having secured them, each colony 

 added a new pleasure to his life." Among 

 other measures for making Walton Hall 

 pleasant for his animal friends, he prohib- 

 ited the use of any kind of firearm within 

 the grounds. At last, however, the rooks 

 and rabbits became so numerous that it was 

 necessary to hunt them out with guns and 

 dogs. Yet the waterfowl, "of which there 

 was a beautiful variety, . . . floated leisurely 

 away from the noisy reports and seemed 

 to think themselves perfectly secure on the 

 opposite side of the lake ; while the herons — 

 perhaps to get a better view of the sport — 

 perched on the highest branches of the trees 

 till the battue was over. This heronry was 

 one of his most successful achievements, ac- 

 complished by the simple mode of attraction 

 I have already described . . . One of his 

 keenest enjoyments was to take his guests 

 up to the telescope room, where the instru- 

 ment was always set in the direction of the 

 heronry, in order that he might the more 

 completely study the habits of its interest- 

 ing inhabitants, and observe the strange con- 

 struction of their nests and the curious posi- 

 tions they would assume." 



Hygiene ef & Natoral Life. — A view of 



the actual conditions of health under a sub- 

 stantially natural manner of living among 

 the natives of Labrador was given by Lord 

 Strathcona and Mount Royal, chancellor of 

 McGill University, in an address before the 

 Middlesex Hospital Medical School. So 

 long, the author says, as the natives keep 

 to their own food and habits — they live 

 largely on meat and fish, always cooked, and 

 upon wild berries and fruits — they generally 

 retain their teeth. But in the case of the 

 natives from the interior, who adopted the 

 food of the white men, they soon lost their 

 teeth, and their lives were often shortened. 

 Although the climate is severe and the sum- 

 mers are short, the country is healthy, and 

 no doubt the open air conduces to freedom 

 from disease. A form of Turkish or rather 

 vapor bath has been in vogue among them 

 as far back as we have any record. They 

 rig up a small tent, put intensely hot stones 

 inside, and pour water upon them, and then 

 take the bath, which is regarded as very 

 beneficial in many complaints. They have 

 decoctions ef herbs, and understand the 



preparation of nourishing foods, which are 

 given in cases of failing strength and vi- 

 tality. A decoction made from boiling 

 crushed bones and marrow is largely used in 

 cases of lung disease. Amputations are oc- 

 casionally performed by the natives them- 

 selves, or by the European and Canadian 

 residents, in a primitive way. What may 

 be termed a primitive and somewhat rude 

 form of antiseptic treatment was practiced 

 in the district many years before Lord Lis- 

 ter introduced his great discovery. For the 

 treatment of wounds, ulcerated sores, etc., a 

 pulp was made by boiling the inner bark of 

 the juniper tree. The liquor which resulted 

 was used for washing and treating the 

 wounds, and the bark, beaten into a plastic, 

 pliable mass, was applied, after the thorough 

 cleansing of the wound, so as to form a soft 

 cushion, bending itself to every inequahty of 

 the sore. Scrupulous cleanliness was ob- 

 served, and fresh material was used for 

 every application. The incident shows that 

 while discoveries and inventions are being 

 made in centers of the highest civilization, 

 they may yet be practiced in a primitive 

 way in distant localities hard of access, while 

 the world of science is still unaware of 

 them. 



Free Traveling Libraries in Wisconsin. 



— The institution of Free Traveling Libraries 

 in Wisconsin was suggested to the Hon. J. 

 H. Stout by the observation that the excel- 

 lent public library at Menomonie was used 

 by only a very small proportion of the coun- 

 try people entitled to draw upon it. Finding 

 that the failure to take out books in larger 

 numbers was due to the difliculty of getting 

 and returning them and not to lack of appre- 

 ciation of them, he procured five hundred 

 books well chosen for popular reading, divided 

 them into sixteen small libraries each con- 

 taining thirty volumes, and distributed them, 

 with rules and directions concerning the use 

 of them, at suitable places in the country, to 

 be sent, when that constituency had done 

 with them, to some other, when one of the 

 other libraries should take their place — and 

 so on. The libraries went into opei-ation 

 in May, 1896. The demand that arose for 

 the books encouraged the founder to make 

 additions, and now there are thirty-seven 

 traveling libraries in Dunn County, thirty-four 



