NOTES. 



863 



hound is most docile and willingly affection- 

 ate. He can be trusted with children; so 

 much so, that a boy may safely do duty as 

 the 'hunted man ' when the hound is being 

 trained in hill or forest. The animal is nev- 

 ertheless suspicious of the motions of stran- 

 gers; he therefore makes a most efficient 

 guard either to person or to property." Both 

 scent and sight are remarkably well devel- 

 oped in the blood-hound ; the animal is beau- 

 tifully formed all over for hard work, but 

 does not excel in speed. In olden times he 

 was called the " slow-hound," among other 

 names, and when the trail was perceptible, 

 even to human senses, the dog was taken on 

 horseback to save time. Great value is put 

 upon the hound's up-bringing and general 

 treatment when not on duty. " If the creat- 

 ure has been reared and trained by a fool, 

 and under the influence of fear — if he be not 

 well kept, properly bedded, exercised, and 

 fed, and allowed the companionship of man, 

 he is certain to develop more or less of nerv- 

 ous debility, and ten to one will go wrong 

 at the critical moment. , . . Some people 

 doubt the possibility of dogs tracking a crimi- 

 nal through the streets and lanes and busy 

 thoroughfares of a crowded city. They speak 

 of cross-scents ; but in doing so they speak 

 of what they do not understand as well as — 

 the blood-hound does. He has got the right 

 scent at the right place, and, if he is the 

 right sort of dog, he will stick to that and 

 no other. Besides, it has been done over 

 and over again." 



Diet and Disease. — Dr. A. Hunter's new 

 cook-book — " Culina Famulatrix Medieinse ; 

 or, Eeceipts in Modern Cookery, with a 

 Medical Commentary " — contains much plain 

 speaking with reference to certain dishes 

 which are supposed to contribute to the 

 increase of the business of doctors. A cer- 

 tain giblet-soup is described as containing 

 " a considerable amount of gout and scurvy." 

 A mock-turtle soup is pronounced " a dan- 

 gerous dish, and will soon bring a man to 

 his crutches " ; a second kind is denounced 

 as " a most diabolical dish, only fit for the 

 Sunday dinner of a rustic who is to work 

 the six following days in a ditch-bottom " ; 

 and of a third, the author observes, " there 

 is death in the pot." Other dishes of equally 

 elaborate composition, and to the lay view as 



indigestible, are well spoken of; whence it 

 may be inferred that the author is as preju- 

 diced as scientific. 



NOTES. 



Dr. H. a. Hark, of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, has issued, through P. Blakis- 

 ton. Son & Co., Philadelphia, his essay on 

 " Mediastinal Disease," to which the Medi- 

 cal Society of London awarded the Fother- 

 gillian medal for 1888. 



A CURIOUS story of foster relationship be- 

 tween a wood-duck and a hen is told by a 

 Mr. Palmer. The duck was hatched along 

 with a brood of chicks from an egg that had 

 been placed under the hen. It was attended 

 as well as her other chicks by the mother, 

 and reached adult age. Then, when the hen 

 brought out another brood of chicks, it kept 

 in close attendance, much to the hen's an- 

 noyance, and with occasional resultant fights. 

 Finally, the duck drove away the hen and 

 took exclusive care of the chicks during the 

 day, only giving them up at night. 



A NEW oil-burning light, called from its 

 inventor the Doty light, is said to be well 

 suited for Ughting all places where brilliant 

 illumination, without dark shadows, is re- 

 quired at moderate cost and without elabo- 

 rate preparation. In it oil is forced by com- 

 pressed air through a tube which has been 

 formed into a double coil. The coil is heat- 

 ed, so that the oil is vaporized in passing 

 through it, and, becoming ignited at the 

 burner, issues in a brilliant flame. The press- 

 ure of the air is kept up by a few occasional 

 strokes upon a hand-pump. Three sizes of 

 the light are placed upon the market — 300, 

 500, and 1,000 candle-power. The inventor 

 claims for it numerous advantages resulting 

 from its being self-contained, self-generating, 

 and portable. 



The greater prevalence of diphtheria, 

 small-pox, and scarlet fever in the cold sea- 

 sons of the year is explained by Dr. H. B. 

 Baker as resulting from the tendency in 

 those periods to catarrhal inflammations of 

 the respiratory tract. This is also exempli- 

 fied in the prevalence of influenza, bronchitis, 

 and tonsillitis. The cause of these forms of 

 inflammation may be found in the retention 

 of non-volatile salts in the mucous lining of 

 the air-passages. 



The land of the salt-district in Cheshire, 

 England, is gradually undergoing subsidence 

 in consequence of the pumping up of the 

 brine which is produced by the solution of 

 the rock-salt far below the surface. As this 

 brine is removed, fresh water takes its place, 

 and this reacts upon the rocks, forming new 

 brine, which is pumped up in its turn. And 

 so the process goes on year after year, with 

 constant removal of the props of the earth. 



