lf^2 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Dec. 30, 1881. 



Even BO for tlic ontcomo of thoRO ozporimcnts mny prove of high 

 vnlai' to pmotirat natrimomcrs. Tho piorfi on which thpir grnat 

 tolowopcB turn nro built of solid Riono, lilthcrto rognrdcd lui tho 

 mnlorial most insuHCo|itil)lo to change or disturbance. Tlio Oarwins 

 have rthown that surli piers arc really most sensitive to ino<|uaIitiefl 

 of lempemliire and to small stresses. They yield and warp to a 

 most unexpected ilegree. Their bad conducting power is responsi- 

 ble for this in part, and it is fruitfully snggcated that it might Ix 

 well to plato the piers with copper and to swathe tliem with flannel. 

 Astronomers, who, to their vexation, have to redetermine the level of 

 their insi rumen! s from hour to hour, and who have long suspected 

 the occurrence of microscopic earthquakes, will take note of this 

 practical hint. They will make ready u.sc, too, of the observation 

 here recorded as to the effect of the observer's own weight. They 

 will think more of the drainage of the soil around their instniments 

 after the observation on the irregular and long-continued swi^lling 

 of the ground that results from the percolation of water. Mean- 

 while, tho British As.sociation and Cambridge may be congratulated 

 on the now and valu.ibIo field of work thus opened out under their 

 auspices, and esi>ccially on their liaring enlisted the services and 

 energies of two workers who 80 worthily keep up the tradition of 

 an honoured name. 



BREATHING. 



Bv Dr. J. MoBTIMEB GCANVILLE. 

 (Abstract.) 



EVERY act of life, every movement, evorj- thought, involves the 

 final use of some particles of the body. In tho groat majority 

 of instances the material used cannot be used again, and must be 

 disorganised and removed. This is effected tlirough the agency of 

 the blood, which brings tlie materials of food within roach of the 

 living colls of which every tissue of the body is composed. These 

 draw nourishment from the blood, just as tho plant takes up 

 material nourislimcnt from the earth through its rootlets. Side by 

 side with this process of feeding and growth, and an indispensable 

 part of tho process, is the interchange of elements — oxygen, hydrogen, 

 carbon, nitrogen, and the like. In short, the vital process is in a 

 large measure chemical, and the oxydising agent — oxygen derived 

 from the atmosphere — is the most potent agent and factor in the 

 production of the general result. If the supply of this agent is not 

 sufficient for tho vast purposes which it is required to effect, the 

 animal must suffer a diminution of health, and in the end die. It is 

 plain, therefore, that the phrase "breath of life" is full of the 

 deepest significancc. If the animal cannot breathe— using that 

 term with its broad meaning — it must cease to live. It follows that 

 the first concern of the living being, for himself and other living 

 beings, should be to secure a full and fresh supply of pure air. In 

 the case of children, this is especially necessary, for the obvious 

 reason that the chemico-vital changes of structure in their organisms 

 are more active and persistent than those wliich go on in the adult 

 body. The child is growing in bulk, as well as constantly using up 

 the materials of its body and requiring to replace them by new. 

 The result is a large, continuous, and inexorable demand for copious 

 supplies of fresh air. How is that demand complied with in the 

 majority of cases ? Growing children ought to live in the open air ; 

 but wo mow them up in schoolrooms and confine them to tho house 

 on the smallest pretence of weather or indisposition. When a child 

 is ill, its systemic demand for air is not diminished, but rathor in- 

 crea-scd, as is plainly shown by the quickened pulse and breathing. 

 Bad weather is no excuse for the C(;nfineraent of children indoors. 

 The danger of "cold " is increased by this treatment. Children are 

 made delicate, and susceptible to the depressing effects of sudden 

 or great changes of temperature, by the practice of calUiig or 

 keeping them indoors for every shower of rain or cold wind. They 

 are also rendered generally weakly by wrappiug-up. Later on in 

 years the requirement is very much in proportion to the activity. 

 But, even in a state of rest, the need for oxygen is considerable. 

 It health is to be maintained, it must bo in excess of the actual 

 chemical requirements. la truth, the more air of tho purest de- 

 scription which cau be taken into the lungs the better. Wind is, as 

 a rule, an advantage, because there is less chance of tho atmosphere 

 wo inhalo having stood stagnant over bad soil, or around sources of 

 poisonous or dolotorious exhalations, and thus contracted pollution. 

 Breathing bad air is disastrous. The "stifling feeling" and " head- 

 ache" which are so commonly produced by sitting in a public 

 meeting, arc the immediate and more pronounced effects of 

 breathing bad air; but, long before those inconveniences are 

 consciously experienced, and even when they aro entirely absent, 

 linmi is being doue. The robust may not feel tho effects, but they 

 too aro injured, whilo the weakly aro onfoeblod, and tho seeds of 

 disease arc sown, and will probably spring up later on, and cause 



troablo of some kind. Katuro'g proventire remedy for diaeaae, 

 whether in tho individnal or in the mnltitade, is a bath of pure air. 

 The E/itateii Roll. 



MAN'S PROPER FOOD. 



LONO Ijeforo reading Dr. Carpenter's articles in Knowledgb, I 

 hud believed that, as a race, we aro prone to eat more meat 

 than is necessary. I must, hoivcver, protest against Miss Kingaford's 

 argument, which, put baldly, is this : — 



" Men and ajws are closely akin ; apes eat fruit and herbs only, 

 therefore mon ought to eat fruit and herbs only." ' 



I cannot, however, sec why it is desirable for men to go out of 

 thoir way to assimilate themselves to apes, and 1 even think it 

 possible that the divergence of tho human from the ape stock began 

 when men became omnivorous. I cannot assent either to the validity 

 of the arguments derived from tho animals mentioned by Min 

 Kingsford and in your article. I say that tho wolf is incomparably 

 superior to horse, mule, or camel in endurance, and I would myself 

 gladly back cither a lion or a tiger against a gorilla. There may be 

 no tiesh-fcd animal equal in strength to the rhinoceros, and the 

 othor grass-fed animals mentioned are also grand 8pccimc9&<>f bulk 

 and strength (and often too of unwieldy inertness) but, xceight for 

 u-fiijht, they cannot compare in strength or activity with the car- 

 nivorous animals. Were tho vegetarian Indians, who became 

 intoxicated from eating meat, equal in stature, strength, or intellect 

 to the omnivorous European r I guess not ; it does not appear indeed 

 that they were not South American Indians, some tribes of which 

 are scarcely human. And that even a purely flesh diet may not be 

 prejndioial is, I think, pretty well shown by the physique and 

 strengtli of the Sioux and some of the other sufficiently fed tribes 

 of North American Indians. I have lived with them in tho buffalo- 

 hunting season, when they and (after my biscnit was done) I too 

 practically lived on buffalo meat only, and if I li.ad not seen it in 

 them, I could not have believed in man's having such wiry endur- 

 ance ; whilst for myself, I can say that, though blessed ordinarily 

 with health and strength beyond the average, I have at no other 

 time known either in anything like the perfection in which I 

 enjoyed them then. Of course, the active life in the open air 

 accounts for nmch of this, but the diet must, at least, have been 

 wholesome. Personally, I believe in a mixed diet, but I also believe 

 that man's cajiability of eating anythinj is one great element of his 

 superiority to the beasts of the field. Certainly his adaptability to 

 any climate is owing to that cajiability. Are the northern regions 

 to be depopulated on the ground that, as there are no fruits and 

 herbs there on which Miss Kingsford's apes can live, man also has 

 no right to live there ? Practical. 



CALLAO "PAINTER." 



ON approaching Callao in a steamer, at a certain season in the 

 year, the traveller suddenly becomes aware of an unbearable 

 stench in the cabin and everywhere else on board ; he naturally 

 asks " what is the matter," — he is informed " it is the ' Painter,' " 

 the traveller, not yet knovring what really causes the vile smell, 

 wishes " the painter would clear out with his smells." The next 

 thing to bo noticc*d is that the white paint on board becomes black- 

 ened. If the person who has observed the offensive smell for the 

 first time, as well as the gradual blackening of the paint, has any 

 knowledge of chemistn,-, he at once sees the cause of mischief, viz. : 

 a great excess of Free Sulphuretted Hydrogen in tho atmosphere — 

 this is reallv tho case, the air smelling abominably strong of "rotten 

 eggs"— i.e.'. H^S. 



If ho now looks at the sea around him, he notices that the vrater 

 has a yellowish milkish appearance, .showing tho presence of sulphur 

 in the water — anyone who has seen Harrogate Sulphur Water will 

 see what I mean, for the cases are similar. 



His next thought is naturally what causes this singular phe- 

 nomenon. 



In answer to his question to those on board, "are you troubled 

 with earthquakes at this time on land (Callao) and sea? " he is told 

 that such is the case. 



That earthquakes are felt at this time, the traveller, whether 

 scientist or not, has rather a questionable gratification of fielding 

 out for himself before he has been long in the neighbourhood of the 

 " Painter." That some of these earthquakes arc serious occurrences 

 our Geographies show us, though nothing is said about the 

 " Painter." 



The conclusion I have come to is one which anyone else would 

 come to respecting this disagreeable local phenomenon, viz. : — that 

 at a certain season of the year a submarine volcano breaks out 

 impregnating the sea with its sulphurous vapours, then when the 

 sea has absorbed its share, the air bcoomos filled with the gas. 



