P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



7»3 



exercise of extreme care. It is practically 

 observable that when nutrition is impaired in 

 a nerve-center or branch, extreme difficulty 

 is met in restoring the integrity of the nerv- 

 ous function, and even the wear and tear of 

 ordinary life seems to increase the exhaus- 

 tion instead of reducing it by stimulation of 

 the recuperative faculty. 



Handiwork - Teacliing in Swedish 

 Scboois. — Slojd is the Swedish name for 

 handiwork instruction in the schools. It 

 was invented by the famous Finnish edu- 

 cator Uno CygnrEus, and was adopted in 

 Sweden about fifteen years ago. The teach- 

 ing is confined to simple work in woods, if 

 it is regarded merely as a training for the 

 faculties, or in many branches if it is to be 

 regarded as subsidiary to technical instruc- 

 tion. No efforts are spared to make the 

 system attractive to pupils and parents. 

 Pupils are allowed to keep what they have 

 made, or to buy it cheaply ; or are credited 

 with deferred pay, which they forfeit if they 

 leave before a stipulated course is com- 

 pleted, or which is given them as credits in 

 a bank-book on finishing the course. The 

 sympathy of parents is catered to by teach- 

 ing the children to make and use such com- 

 mon implements as are most in demand at 

 home ; and by allowing them the use of the 

 school-tools to make family repairs. The 

 system has proved very successful in Swe- 

 den, Norway, and Finland. 



Protection of Building - Stone. — All 



methods of protecting building-stone against 

 "decay depend upon filling the pores of the 

 stone with some substance that shall ex- 

 clude water, the vehicle by which acids are 

 introduced. This is easily done while the 

 builders are handling the stone, but it is 

 very hard after the structure has been set 

 up to paint on the water-proof material so 

 as to insure its absorption to any consider- 

 able depth. Several processes including the 

 use of silicate solutions have been described 

 by Mr. W. G. Dent as having been used with 

 mure or less of success. Oxalate of alumina 

 applied to limestones gives them a coating 

 of the insoluble double oxalate. Organic 

 substances like linseed-oil give considerable 

 protection for a time, but are ultimately 

 oxidized. Among inorganic or mineral sub- 



I stances parafEne has been used, as upon the 

 I obelisk in Central Park, with a degree of 

 I success ; but the objection holds against its 

 application that the stone has to be warmed 

 j to secure a sufficient depth of absorption. 

 I The obelisk on the Thames Embankment, 

 London, has been treated with a prepara- 

 tion of solution of gum-resins in petroleum- 

 spirit. But, Mr. Dent says, " if care be taken 

 in the selection of the stone, it is only under 

 special and exceptional circumstances that 

 it will be considered desirable to resort to 

 methods of preservation which must neces- 

 sarily be expensive, and can only be regard- 

 ed as the best cure for defects th:.t admit 

 of no other remedy." 



The Wild Cattle of New Zealand.— The 



New Zealand farmers lost great numbers of 

 cattle during the Maori wars which ended 

 in 1868, through their being turned loose 

 by the enemy and by other accidents inci- 

 dent to a season of disorder. These animals 

 and their descendants now roam wild in the 

 bush, particularly on the North Island, 

 where they afford a sport "that is little 

 less exciting and dangerous than that which 

 exists in South Africa and the Western 

 prairies of America." They are exceeding- 

 ly difficult to reach, on account of the char- 

 acter of the bush around which they hov- 

 er, which is composed of the long, twining 

 creeper known as " supple-jack." No horse 

 will try to penetrate this bush, because the 

 instinct of the animal tells him that he will 

 get his feet and legs entangled in the vines. 

 '■ Not so, however, the wild cattle ; they will, 

 when surprised, rush madly into the densest 

 shrubbery, and seem fully aware that noth- 

 ing can possibly follow them into it ; and it 

 is thus that instinct has induced these cattle 

 to bid defiance to man, and to live their 

 primitive life over again." 



Varions Kinds of Soap.— According to 

 a lecture by Dr. Stevenson Macadam, the 

 remains of a well-organized soap-factory 

 have been found in the ruins of Pompeii. 

 Soap-factories existed in Italy and Spain in 

 the eighth and in France in the ninth cent- 

 uries. The manufacture in Great Britain 

 is first heard of in the fourteenth century. 

 White soap is generally prepared from tal- 

 low, with a little lard and palm-oil. In yel- 



