2:U 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Skpt. 



another finds the less he takes the Ijotter he thinks. So it is 

 about tobac-co aiid about alcohol, and about bed blankets 

 aiij al>out woollen undershirts, and about almost every 

 habit, article of diet, or of clothing. Not only are there, 

 in the matter of physical health, as many tastes as there 

 are 3>en, but apparent nearly as many requirements. In 

 fact, if we go behind the health books to the sources from 

 which the authors extract their conclusions, we shall find 

 that almost the only certain and unassailable rule of 

 hygiene which will bear universal application, is that pure 

 air is good for the human aninml, and that the more of it 

 he has the better. All else is doubtful and disputed, or 

 weakened by inscrutable peculiarities of individual con- 

 stitution. — From the A'alioii. 



Spoxt.\xeovs Combcstiok of Cottox. — During one of 

 the hot days of June, a Connecticut lady thought she 

 smelled something burning upstairs. In searching for the 

 fire she entered a small close garret room used for storage. 

 She opened a window, and instantly a bag of carpet rags 

 hanging there burst into flame. The rags had been there 

 all winter. The tire was promptly smothered ; and when 

 the bag was opened it was found that only balls of cotton 

 rags were burned. Whether the rags had been dyed is not 

 stated. 



Mis.s Ameli.a B. Einv.\nr>.'< has received a letter about 

 Prof. Maspero, dated August 13, from which the following 

 is extracted ; — " As for Maspero, I have news of him from 

 his brother. Notwithstanding that our consul, M. Monge, 

 urgently recommended him to leave as long since as July ^<, 

 he persisted in remaining at Boolak, where he was working 

 day and night upon the completion of the new rooms lately 

 added to the museum. For these rooms he had but lately 

 received the necessary credit which should enable him to 

 decorate and fit them up. On tlie l.'Jtli, however, our 

 Minister of Public Works, under whose control he acts, 

 despatched a formal order for his immediate departure. 

 Despite this order, I believe he would still have remained 

 had he Ijeen alone ; but he had with him his young wife, 

 who is but just recovering from a severe illness, caused by 

 the extreme heat on board the steamer in which they have 

 been living, and his mother-in-law, Matlame la Baronne 

 d'Estoumelles (the mother of our (■hartjed'offuiri'ii at Tunis), 

 and these latlies refused to desert him. The railway lines 

 of the Isthmus were threatened ; his brigade of soldiers 

 had been withdrawn ; and his steamer was in danger of 

 Ijeing requisitioned for purposes of war. This boat was 

 his only home, Tlie hotels were empty and shut up. The 

 Europf-an shops were all closfrd. He had no resource but to 

 obey. He has left the musf^um in charge of his Nazir, the 

 faithful Kourschid ElFendi— a brave old Circassian, who 

 was especially valued by Mariett<! on account of his energy 

 and integrity. All the precious relii-s in wrought gold, 

 and everything which might tempt the cupidity of mere 

 »poil<-r8, have l>een removed ; and I think there is nothing 

 to f<-ar from orrlinary thieves ; but, if it comes to burning, 

 pillaging, and assassination, as at Alexandria, I do not sec 

 how even Masp-ro's f.nnence would avail to defend the 

 building. As in war-time a house wliich it is particularly 

 sought to prot«:t is converted into an ambulance, the old 

 tumble-down dwelling in which Mariette lived has been 

 a««igni-<l to some Arab hareems . . . . Jt was not possible 

 for .M. Maspero to remain at IsmaTliah ; he has therefore 

 starV'l for France by way of Italy, where he is at the 

 pnwnt moment He is expected to arrive in Paris about 

 tb'' 20th iait, where he will hold himself in readiness to 

 return to his post as noon as such return is possible." 



Ifttris to the (Eliitor, 



{Tht Editor Jofa not hold himfet/rttpoMtible/or th* opiniom of hit corrfapondtnft, 

 Ilf eoHnot unjertakt to return mintutrriptt or to corrfupntitt trith their trriler». All 

 eommimtfotioNt thould lie iie thort u$ poaiibU^ contiMtently vith/ult and clear »tat«' 



All Kditorial commHiticitiiotia ehould lie addreeeed to the Kditor of KnowlvdOE : 

 all Liitineti commyinieationt to the J'uiliiher,, at the Ol/ice, 71. Ureal Queen, 

 ttrert. ff'.C. 



All Jtemitlaneet, Ckequet, and Po$t-Offlce Orderi ihoulj be made payable to 

 Me..rM Ifuman J^ Son$. 



*,• All Uttere to the Editor trill be Numbered, For ronvenienp* t}f reftrenre, 

 corretpondenU, «hen r^ferrintj to any letter^ Kill oblige 6y mentioning tie number 

 and the page on vhieh it appeare. 



lol 



«, that I 





than flxitr of opinion," — Faradin 

 " Show' mo A man who makes n' 

 done nothing." — Liebig. 



miiilakos, and I will show you i 



ALCOHOL AND INHERITED VICES. 



[530] — I am mtlier ninused on rending tlio little fii>nnon with 

 which my friend Mr. Proctor lins suiiplomontod my loUer, No. 514, 

 page 201, especially with the latter part as applied to myRolf. My 

 owu position, as explained in my penuUimato ))nrapiaj)h, is rigidly 

 logical. How Mr. Proctor can approve of tho rest of my letter and 

 find fault with this is inscrutable. If I am ri-lit in what I stated as 

 tho rcsnlta of my experiments and observation.s, the drinking of 

 wino or heer, or tea or coffee (except as medicines when ill), ia n 

 jime vice, a pAi/dt'cii/ vice, of course. Its cssontial nature remains 

 absolutely tho same, whether it be big or little. 



I said " fully or vice," using the synonym to prevent that mis- 

 understanding of my meaning into which Mr. Proctor has evidently 

 fallen, lie rcafls the word " vice" as implying immorality. I used 

 it properly, in accordance with tho definition wliich I find on 

 referring to tho first dictionary that comes to hand, viz., "a defect, 

 fault, blemish, or imperfection." 



Having stated my own case, I say, "If all would do this," *c. 

 Here, perhaps, I ought to have been more explicit, in order to 

 except those who really do believe that alcohol is tho " concciitratod 

 nutriment " described by Dr. Eppa, or who have disiiitirrod tlin 

 dead and buried paradox of Liebig, who imagined that certain drugs 

 may increase tho activity of tho animal raachino by checking tho 

 waste of its tisanes. 



I am as well aatisfiod that alcohol, nicotine, morphia, theine, 

 caffeine, Ac, arc not constituents of the healthy human brain, ornnj 

 other part of tho healthy human frame, as Mr. I'rootor is of the 

 rotundity of tho earth, and when I hear of a ni:in proposing to im- 

 prove a sound brain or sound body by tho addition of any of these, 

 1 regard him as Mr. Proctor wonld regard ,liihn Ilumiiden, had be 

 contemplated an excursion to tho limits of his flat earth in order to 

 ])eep over its boundary odgo. 



This, as I said, does not prevent mo from taking a cup of tea or 

 glass of wine occasionally, but I do so as I do a thousand other 

 things, from purely sensual motives, and not from any high moral 

 or intellectual convictions. I reeommond others to admit that they 

 are not angola, that they are not always influenced by purely moral, 

 intellectual, and apiritual motivoa. If wo thus frankly acknowlodgo 

 (he true character of our many small vices, their growth would Ih> 

 materially checked. This is especially tho case with inherited vices. 



I will cite only ono example. Our Universities, our public and 

 private schools and colleges, have inherited from the middle ages 

 the dirty f.ible8 of tho Greek mythology and tho Latin poets. 

 Insl<rad of treating these as wo treat tho corresponding literature 

 of Holy well-street, they arc described as conducive to "culture," 

 Ac. Kvorybmly who dares to think freoly, nn<i in capable of doing 

 so, knows that this is humbug, however " respectable" it may have 

 become. We know that the stated reasons for retaining tho dead 

 languages in their present educational position are not reasons at 

 all, but mere apologies. Tho dead languages woro not introduced 

 for tho puqioRCB which they are now said to servo; they aro mere 

 educational inheritance's sustained by tho fact that tho majority of 

 teachers know little else. If thcso men, instead of hunting np 

 virtuous dcacriptions of thoir own intolloctual vico (aeo definition of 

 this word quoted above) had frankly admitted its true character, 

 their natural ambition and desiro to do right would havolod to their 

 better qnalificalion, and have swept away this monstrous educational 

 incubas in I lie course of a ainglo gonoration. Tho same with a 



