POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



565 



The Annals of the Cakchiqnels. The Oriiiinal 



Text with a Translation, Notes, and Introduction. 



By Daniel 6. Brintoii, A.M., Al.D. Philadelphia. 

 1S85. Pp. 234. 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



Employes and Employers. — The Lehigh 

 Valley Railroad Company has established a 

 relief fund into which the employes put 

 voluntary contributions, and for every dol- 

 lar put in by a person in its employ the 

 company puts in another dollar. Thus, if 

 the 14,000 employes contribute a dollar 

 each, the company will contribute $14,000. 

 The management of the fund is in the 

 hands of President Wilbur and Paymaster 

 Wilhelm. In case a contributor is disabled 

 by accident, he is allowed three fourths as 

 much per day as his contribution in the 

 fund every working-day during his disabil- 

 ity, for a period of six months. In case the 

 accident results in the death of the con- 

 tributor within six months, or if he is in- 

 stantly killed, 850 is appropriated from the 

 fund for the funeral expenses. If he leaves 

 a widow and children under sixteen years of 

 age, an allowance of one half the amount 

 of his contribution, for every working-day, 

 is appropriated and paid the widow for one 

 year from the time of the contributor's 

 death, provided she remains unmanicd dur- 

 ing that time. If there be no widow, then 

 the allowance goes to the children, if any, 

 for the same period. In case the contribu- 

 tor loses a limb, he is provided with an arti- 

 ficial limb, and employment is given to him. 

 — Railuiay Review. 



Vapor- and Hot-Air Baths. — The value 

 of hot-air and vapor baths, as well as of 

 other means of promoting the perspiratory 

 function of the skin, has been recognized 

 from very ancient times ; and nearly all 

 peoples are acquainted with some means of 

 producing the desired effect. The modes 

 of taking these baths are exceedingly va- 

 rious. Among them are the Turkish and 

 Russian baths, which are, however, usually 

 arranged on too large a scale to be regarded 

 as practicable for small households. Of 

 hot-air baths, the extemporized " rum- 

 sweat " is among the most common. The i 

 naked person is seated in a chair, enveloped 

 in blankets which, spread over the chair. 



inclose him as in a kind of tent extending 

 from his neck to the floor. The heat is 

 supplied by burning spirit contained in a 

 small earthen vessel, which is slipped un- 

 derneath the chair. This method is at- 

 tended with considerable peril, the reality 

 of which has very recently been forcibly 

 brought to mind by the death of Dr. W. B. 

 Carpenter, who, taking a hot-air bath in 

 almost precisely this way — using a gallipot 

 of burning spirit instead of his bath-lamp, 

 which was out of order — upset the vessel 

 in changing position, and was so severely 

 burned by the ignited vapors that he died 

 in about four hours afterward. One of 

 the simplest forms of vapor-bath was the 

 old " hemlock-sweat," which, while it was a 

 rude and far from convenient application, 

 was efficacious, and had the character of a 

 medicated bath. Hemlock-boughs, with the 

 leaves, were broken up into a pail, and hot 

 water was poured upon them, with the effect 

 of immediately "steaming" the hemlock. 

 The pail was then slipped under the blankets 

 with which the bather was invested, while 

 simultaneously a red-hot brick was dropped 

 into it, whereby the bather was immediately 

 involved in a profusion of aromatic steam, 

 as hot as he could comfortably endure. We 

 remember to have seen, many years ago, a 

 simple, cheap, and tolerably convenient port- 

 able vapor-bath, in the shape of a chair 

 constructed especially for the purpose, with 

 provisions for burning alcohol with reason- 

 able safety and producing steam, all con- 

 tained within itself. The safest and most 

 convenient arrangement which has come un- 

 der our notice is the " Home Vapor-Bath," 

 which was invented by Mr. William W. Ro- 

 senfeld, it is said, when he was only six- 

 teen years of age. It is compact, and can 

 be introduced, at small expense, into any 

 house having " hot-water " attachments. It 

 is applied to the ordinary bath-tub as it 

 is found in nearly every good house, and, 

 depending wholly upon the use of the hot- 

 water pipe of the tub, avoids the direct 

 application of fire. It can be used with 

 any bath-tub, in addition to the other and 

 usual arrangements, and without disturbing 

 any of them. The principle of its operation 

 consists in subdividing the hot water into 

 small jets over a large area, so as to allow 

 the maximum of evaporatiou. This is ac- 



