568 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the flow of water and facilitating its en- 

 trance into the earth, is an essential part of 

 a true forest." 



Popalarizing Agricnltnral Colleges. — In 



the Convention of Delegates from Agri- 

 cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, 

 which was held at the Department of Agri- 

 culture in July, 1885, the question was con- 

 sidered how the colleges can be made more 

 directly useful and more in sympathy with 

 the people. President Fairchild, of the 

 Kansas State Agricultural College, said that 

 the Michigan College had arranged in 1875- 

 '76 for a series of farmers' institutes to be 

 held each winter in the different counties of 

 the State. At each institute, the college 

 undertook to provide only half of the pro- 

 gramme, and insisted that the place where 

 the meeting was held should provide the 

 other half. The expenses of the institute 

 were also divided equitably. Every ques- 

 tion brought forward was open to discus- 

 sion, to which close attention was given, and 

 which was always encouraged. From that 

 day to this, the institute has grown in favor» 

 with both the farmers and the professors 

 in the Agricultural College. " The same 

 thing," Mr. Fairchild added, " has been in 

 vogue with us in Kansas since I went there 

 in 1879. "We opened a series of institutes 

 in the winter of 1880-81, and have contin- 

 ued them from that day to this, with grow- 

 ing interest, and with especial favor as re- 

 gards the farmer. We promote discussion 

 upon just such questions as the farmers 

 wish discussed, and the professors take es- 

 pecial pains to meet the questions which 

 may be raised by the farmers themselves." 

 The people are thus brought into full fellow- 

 ship, which they demonstrate, with the col- 

 lege ; and in Michigan the reports of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, which formerly 

 had to be " thrown at the heads of politi- 

 cians," are in demand and arc read. 



More abont tlie Efleets of Tobacco.— 



Dr. Hobart Amory Ilarc, of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, after an elaborate disser- 

 tation on "The Physiological and Patho- 

 logical Properties of Tobacco," expresses the 

 conclusions that "tobacco does no harm 

 when used in moderation — to the man who, 

 by occupation, leads an out door life, or one 



in which much physical exercise is taken, 

 but rather does good, by quieting any tend- 

 ency to continued action which may exist ; 

 to those who, by exceptionally long use, have 

 become inured to the effects of the drug, 

 and whose systems depend upon it ; or to 

 those whose temperaments are naturally 

 phlegmatic and easy-going. Tobacco does 

 harm to the young and not yet full-grown ; 

 to the man of sedentary habits ; to the nerv- 

 ous and those whose temperaments are 

 easily excited ; and to the sickly and those 

 who, by idiosyncrasy, are strongly affected 

 by the drug." The different methods of 

 using tobacco are harmful in the following 

 order: Chewing, cigarette smoking, cigar 

 smoking, pipe smoking, Turkish-pipe smok- 

 ing. The quality of the drug governs the 

 degree of its harmfulness more stringently 

 in some cases than in others, as do also the 

 character and constituents of the paper in 

 which cigarettes are wrapped. Finally, the 

 oft-repeated words " excess " and " moder- 

 ation" "form the key- stones of the arches 

 which the writers on tobacco, pro and con, 

 have raised." 



Life in New Guinea. — The Rev. J. 

 Chalmers, a missionary, recently visited the 

 country west of Maclatchie Point, South- 

 eastern New Guinea. He found the people 

 generous and hospitable. They are certainly 

 cannibals, but only as concerns their ene- 

 mies. Sorcery and superstition have their 

 home among them. In a duhu, or sacred 

 house, which Mr. Chalmers describes as the 

 finest he has ever seen, two large posts, 

 eighty feet high, support a large peaked 

 portico, thirty feet wide, while the whole 

 building is one hundred and sixty feet long, 

 and tapers down in height from the front. 

 A large number of skulls of men, crocodiles, 

 cassowaries, and pigs ornament it. The 

 human skulls are those of victims who have 

 [ been killed and eaten by the tribe ; and 

 they speak of this kind of food as the great- 

 est luxury, and think those are fools who 

 i despise it. The whole district from Orokolo 

 i to Panaroa is one great swamp, and the vil- 

 lages are all surrounded by muddy water. 

 Canoes are a necessity in making morning 

 calls. Bridges of logs or trunks form the 

 streets, and the roads are more easily trav- 

 ersed barefoot than in boots. The houses 



