Aug. 11, 1882.] 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



183 



WEATHER CHARTS FOR WEEK ENDING SUNDAY, AUG. 6. 



Sunday, July SOth. 



Monday, July Sis'". 



Tuesday, Aug. 1st. 



Wednesday, Aug. 2xd. 



Thursday, Aug. 3rd. 



Friday, Aug. 4th. 



Saturday, Aug. Sth. 



Sunday, Aug. 6th. 



In the atove charts the dotted lines are " isobars," or lines of equal barometrical pressure, the values which they indicate being 

 given in figures at the end, thus — 30-4. Tlie shade temperature is given in figures for several places on the coast, and the weather is 



recorded in words. The arrows fly with the wind, the force of which is shown by the number of barbs and feathers, thus : — *- , 



light ; ^, fresh or strong ; y > , a gale ; » > , a violent gale ; signifies calm. The state of the sea ia noted in capital 



letters. The * denotes the various stations. The hour for which each chart is drawn is 6 p.m. 



cumstances, or dxiring violent muscular exercise 1 Working 

 men have got into the habit of -wearing these belts, but 

 they little know the danger and disadvantages which they 

 put themselves under. . . . The best method of supporting 

 the trousers is to wear a belt round the abdomen below the 

 level of the hip-bones, and passing lietween the top of the 

 hip and the prominence of the thigh-bones. This is also 

 the most comfortable method of suspending the trousers, 

 and if worn in this position it cannot unduly press upon 

 the abdomen." 



Some views of our author are open to discussion, but in 

 the main his views are such as all persons of sense will 

 agree with him in. We must demur to Dr. Pearse's state- 

 ment that the toes, unless altered by wearing pointed boots, 

 are as shown in fig. 8, p. 51. He will find no single foot in 

 ancient or modern statuary with the toes directed straight 

 forwards (when the feet are set together). In the Victory 

 of Melos (the so-called Venus of Milo) the slant of the toes 

 is marked, and we may be sure the model had not worn 

 pointed boots. 



THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 



THE Registrar-General's weekly return shows that the annual 

 rate of mortality last week in twenty-eight of the largest English 

 towns averaged 19G per 1,000 of their aggregate ]>opulation, which 

 is estimated at 8,400,571 persons in the middle of this year. In 

 London 2,577 births and l.:t9!1 deaths were registered. Allowing 

 for increase of population the births were 21, ami the deaths no 

 fewer than 307, below the average numbers in the corresponding 

 week of the last ten years. The annual death-rato from all 

 causes, which had been equal to 181 and 17'7 in the two pre- 

 ceding weeks, rose last week to 188. During the first four 

 weeks of the current quarter the death-rato averaged only ISO 

 per 1,000, against 208 and 25'0 in the corres|Kmding jx-rioils of 

 1S80 and 1881. Tho 1,.'?00 deaths included two frwm small-pox, 

 10 from measles, 47 from scarlet fever, nine from diplithoria, 63 

 from whooping-cough, 1 from typhus fever, IG from enteric fever, 

 2 from ill-defined forms of continued fever, lOS from diarrha>a and 

 dysentery, and 6 from simple cholera; thus, 204 deaths wcro re- 

 ferred to these diseases, being 255 Iwlow the corrected average 

 numlier in the corresponding week of the last ten years. Different 

 forms of violence caused 5G deaths ; 45 were tho result of negli- 

 gence or accident, among which were 2a from fractures and con- 

 tusions, 2 from bums and scalds, 10 from drowniing, and G of infants 

 under one year of age from suffocation. The death of a female in 



