168 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



June 



but beyoud this one deals With uucer- 

 tainties, aud I recollect an idiot youth 

 whose extremities had the coutour of a 

 geuius or a Trilby. 



If cue examines the hands of a large 

 number of jjcrsons with a nervous en- 

 dowment, he will find curious defects in 

 the length and relative proportions of 

 the fingers. The length of the finger is 

 determined by that of the middle one. 

 If the index and medius are closed upon 

 the palm, the ring and little finger "be- 

 ing left extended, the middle finger 

 will reach close to the place where the 

 so called life line runs down, between 

 the ball of the thumb aud that of the 

 little finger. It will touch the palm just 

 below the highest part of the ball of the 

 thumb. The middle finger is taken as 

 the standard of length by which to 

 gauge that of others. In a normal hand 

 the forefinger reaches just to the root of 

 the middle finger, the ring finger is lon- 

 ger and should reach nearly to the mid- 

 dle of the nail of the medius, while the 

 little finger should reach to the last 

 joint of the third finger. Now, in in- 

 ebriates, epileptics, neurotics and the 

 degenerative generally these proportions 

 are often not observed. The most com- 

 mon defect is shortness, especially of the 

 third and little fingers, though some- 

 times a disproportionate length occurs. 

 Sometimes these fingers are unnatural- 

 ly slender, or the little finger is slightly 

 bent. The most common abnormality of 

 the thumb is excessive shortness, with a 

 defective mobility. These peculiarities, 

 well accentuated, from what we may 

 call the "decadent hand" — the hand 

 that writes our sensuous novels, the 

 Hauptmanu drama, paints symbolic pic- 

 tures and exploits pure atheism. Such 

 hands may be well formed to the ordi- 

 nary eye and may be attached to slender 

 and graceful limbs, but this kind of 

 beautiful hand and arm is found quite 

 as often among the children of alcohol- 

 ics and among those highly cultivated 

 families which have become degenerated . 

 by vicios vices and viciouus crossing. — 

 Medical Record. 



PYGMIES. 



Some Information About These Strange 

 Mites of Humanity. 



The Greek word pygmy means a meas- 

 ure from the elbow to the hand. The 



pygmies were a fabulous race o'f dwarfs 

 about whom many interesting stories 

 have been tuld. According to Homer, 

 they were so very small that they were 

 attacked every year by the cranes on 

 the coast of Oceanus and were unable to 

 defend themoelves. 



Writers of a later date locate the pyg- 

 mies at the mouth of the Nile. We also 

 read of northern pygmies inhabiting the 

 region of Thule, and of others that 

 lived in subtt-rraneau dwellings on the 

 eastern side of the Ganges. It is said 

 that once when Hercules visited the 

 country inhabited by these little crea- 

 tures two whole pygmy armies attacked 

 him while he was asleep. One army 

 fell upon his right and the other upon 

 his left, but the hero easily and quickly 

 rolled them up in his lion's skin. 



They were not, it seems, at all afraid 

 of Hercules, for by the aid of a ladder 

 they climberl up his drinking cup and 

 helped themselves to its contents. 



Aristotle says: "The pygmies were 

 probably some diminutive race in Upper 

 Egypt who rode very small horses and 

 lived in caves." He did not believe 

 that the stories told about them were 

 altogether fabulous. 



It has often been declared that there 

 are pygmy r.-.ces of human beings in the 

 heart of Africa. Indeed Du Chaillu 

 some time a^^o discovered a pygmy race 

 in the mountainous country on the east 

 of the southern great branch of the 

 Ogobai. They are about 4i^ feet in 

 height and are called Orbongos. "They 

 live in the midst of negro tribes of or- 

 dinary size," says Du Chaillu, "and 

 there is nothing remarkable about them 

 except their diminutive size." — Balti- 

 more American. 



A Unique Coat of Arms. 



There was one Philadelphian who not 

 only invented arms for himself, but new 

 and republican arms, after discarding 

 the ancoHtra! arms of his family. This 

 was Peter Brown, at one time an emi- 

 nent citizen of Philadelphia. 



In 17<J4 William Priest, an English 

 musician, became attached to the the- 

 ater in Philadelphia in his professional 

 capacity. In 1802 Mr. Priest printed in 

 London a book entitled "Priest's Travels 

 In the United States, " which is now 

 exceedingly rare. The frontispiece to 

 this book is a strange and cjirious de- 



