Sept. 1"', 



♦ t^now'lk'dg:l 



2G3 



vary in distinctness. Their food, which they never took 

 unless alive, was Aphides at first, but soon flies formed 

 their chief diet. During the day they commonly remained 

 motionless, hidden behind the bark of the branches, with 

 feet and hands, which are evidently extremely sensitive, 

 compactly folded under the body, so that only their outer 

 edges ea"me in contact with the surface on which they 

 were seated. Occasionally they would pat the discs 

 against the sides of the body as if to moisten them. 

 Their activity was reserved for the night, although rain, 

 accompanied by a south wind, caused them to move about 

 uneasily. About October 1 they left the branches and 

 ferns and nestled away in the damp earth and moss, where 

 they remained through the winter, unless exposed to a 

 temperature above 60=. They took no food from the 

 first week in October till the l-4th of the following 

 May, when I gave them their liberty. They were then 

 placed on an oak tree, where, after climbing till a suit- 

 able crevice or hiding - place was found, they backed 

 themselves into it, and became to all appearance like a 

 part of the bark of the tree. 



THE SEA-BATHIXG IXFIRMARY 

 AT MARGATE. 



[In the following from the Morning Post, onr readers will probably 

 recognise the hand of one of the most esteemed contributors to 

 Kxom.EPGE. — Ed.] 



OX Monday, Aug. 28, without public announcement, 

 ceremony, or parade of any kind, was accomplished 

 one of those signal acts of private benevolence by which 

 our country and our century are honourably distinguished. 

 Tliat is to say, at the annual anniversary meeting of the 

 directors and committee of the Royal Sea-Bathing Infir- 

 mary, Margate, Sir Erasmus Wilson presented to the chair- 

 man the keys of the new wing, which, at a cost of nearly 

 £30,000, he had munificently added to that old and de- 

 serving institution. This new wing, entirely designed l)y 

 that accomplished architect and able litterateur, -Mr. James 

 Knowles, the well-known editor and proprietor of the 

 Xineleenth Century, consists of four spacious wards, four 

 nurses' rooms, two day-rooms, a large swimming bath- 

 house, and a chapel. The four wards are constructed 

 to hold sixty-four beds, and could well hold more if re- 

 quired. Two of these wards measure 63 ft. in length by 24 ft. 

 in width, and the other two measure r>6 ft in length by 

 2i ft in width, the height from floor to ceiling being 16 ft 

 throughout The nurses' rooms measure loft, by 12ft 

 Attached to each ward is a bath-room measuring 

 10 ft. by 'J ft, and a lavatory measuring 9 ft. by 

 7 ft 6 in. The swimming bath-house measures 60 ft by 

 30 ft, and is roofed by a huge skylight 27 ft above the 

 level of the floor. It contains 3-5,000 gallons of water, is 

 surrounded in the usual manner by a platform some 4 ft 

 to o f t in width, and is furnished at the upper end with a 

 row of dressing-closets, containing each a wooden seat and 

 pegs for clothes. The whole of this bath and the walls of 

 the bath-house are lined with white porcelain-faced bricks, 

 picked out in delicate bands of bufl' and blue. The wards, 

 nurses' rooms, day-rooms, bathrooms, lavatories, iVc, are 

 entirely lined throughout, vails and ceilings, with the 

 same porcelain-faced bricks, picked out with the same 

 tints of bufl" and blue. The special needs of the 

 patients in this hospital (all of whon\ are suflercrs 

 from scrofula and other diseases of the skin) being 

 sea-air, sea-bathing, cleanliness, ventilation, and an even 

 temperature, everything has been designed and carried out 



with strict regard to these curative conditions. The walls 

 are built hollow ; so guarding against excess of heat in 

 summer or cold in winter. The doors are all of double thick- 

 ness. The system of ventilation is so arranged as to admit 

 cold air from under the floors through the warm-water coil- 

 cases which stand in the centres of the various rooms and 

 form part of the warming apparatus ; while the vitiated air 

 is sucked out above throuyh valves just beloi': the level of the 

 ceilinffs, v:hencc it is carried off through continuous air-tight 

 metal lubes running along the hollow vails in connection 

 with the furnace chinmeg-shaft. By these ingenious con- 

 trivances an uninterrupted sucking action is kept up, and 

 an unchecked supply and renewal of fresh air is provided. 

 Additional ventilation is also obtained through thewindows, 

 which can be opened entirely or only let down at the top, the 

 upper part being shielded by screens of wire-gauze, to 

 prevent downward draught. Furthermore, and with a 

 special view to rendering all the surfaces proof against the 

 adhesion of contamination, disease-germs, dust, kc, the 

 floors are all laid down in the hardest teak planking ; the 

 walls and ceilings, being jjorcelain-lined, are capable of 

 being washed in every part, and the verg sash-lines to the 

 uinJows are made of wire-cording. Nor is this all. The 

 whole new wing — chapel and swimming-bath excepted — is 

 constructed with a flat terraced roof, supported on shallow 

 brick arches, which arches (crossing the rooms trunsversehj 

 overhead, and lined, like the walls, v:ith vhite porcelain 

 tiles) are furnished with iron channeh, or gutter-pipes, to 

 receive any condensed vapour tchich may rise to the ceilings 

 from the atmosphere breathed by the patients. Hence no 

 foul droppings and no return of vitiated air in any form 

 is possible. The terrace on the roof measures 350 ft in 

 length by 32 ft. in width, and is designed to form a breezy 

 and delicious promenade for the patients. It commands 

 an immense view of sea and shore, town and country, and 

 has all the advantages of a pier, without being actually in 

 the sea. An engine-room, constructed in the 1: asement of 

 the northernmost ward, contains engines for pumping salt 

 and fresh water — the former for the swimming bath, the 

 latter for warming and washing purposes, the motive power 

 being an Otto noiseless gas-engine. 



We have dealt thus at length upon the sanitary features 

 of Sir Erasmus Wilson's magnificent gift, for the reason 

 that many of these arrangements are as novel as they are 

 scientifcallg ingenious; and because the building is de- 

 signed, and we believe destined, to serve as a model con- 

 struction for futui-e imitation. It is but just to Mr. Knowles 

 to add that the whole of these admirable adaptations of 

 means to an end are his own invention. A sanitary problem 

 was proposed to him by Sir Erasmus Wilson, and it is thus 

 that he has solved it, to his own lasting fame, and the nor 

 less lasting benefit of others. 



THE rOISONOUS LIZARD. 



A AMERICAN naturalists declare the gila monster, known 

 to science as lltloderma susperta (Cope), or horrida, 

 to bo harmless, and are not satisfied with the evidence 

 given by naturalists of the Zoological Gardens, in support 

 of the theory that it is poisonous. " It is to be hoped," 

 says the Scietitifir American, "that the matter will now be 

 more fully investigated ; it is barely possible that our 

 American naturalists have prejudged the case," [Those 

 who want to air their familiarity (real or assumed) with 

 Greek, are not bound to speak here of naturalists, for they 

 may say herpetologists — it sounds finer] 



S\'ith regard to the name of this animal, a writer. 



