MAY 25, 1883.1 



SCIENCE. 



457 



which our knowledge of these subjects is still fragmen- 

 tary and imperfect, — points which are to be settled 

 by direct experiment. Such experimental researches 

 are of the highest value; and it is much to be regret- 

 ted, that while the governments of England, France, 

 and Germany, are employing their leading scientific 

 men in such work. Congress has deliberately stopped 

 a most promising series of investigation of this kind, 

 and has resolved to confine its efforts to paying bills 

 after an epidemic has made its appearance. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Gorrespondeni-i are requested to be as brief as ; 



The writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good 

 faith. 



Use of the moxa in Japan. 



As I rode behind the naked-backed iinriksha coo- 

 hes, I noticed along each side of the spine, from the 

 head to the hips, white, irregular scars, about the size 

 of a dime, indicating, as I supposed, some skin-dis- 

 ease, to which they are very subject from their diet 

 and exposure when young. These were the marks 

 left by the moxa, a household remedy, probably in- 

 vented in Ja)ian, — a painful and powerful agent, well 

 known in modern surgery. It is made of the pith of 

 a reed (Artemisia), mixed with powdered charcoal, 

 in a conical form. This is ignited, applied to the 

 skin, and allowed to burn slowly until extinguished. 

 The flesh is severely burned, with the resulting scar 

 alluded to. As if this were not sufficient to expel 

 the 'winds and vapors,' which they and the Chinese 

 believe to be the cause of all diseases, this is com- 

 bined with acupuncture, the needle passing through 

 the moxa deeply into the tissues, and conveying the 

 heat to the supposed seat of disease. As they employ 

 this every spring as a preventive measure, it is rare 

 to see a coolie without these scars. The accoucheur 

 calls it to his aid, and is directed to burn three cones 

 on the little toe of the right foot to accelerate the 

 operation of nature. Even infants are thus tortured. 

 A child about three years old, suiiering from a wast- 

 ing diarrhoea, who had thus been uselessly tormented, 

 was brought to me; the many wraps having been 

 removed, a simple water dressing and mild opiate 

 brought the little creature round all right in two 

 days. Samuel Kneeland. 



The least bittern in Newfoundland. 



While on a recent visit to Newfoundland, I ex- 

 amined a mounted specimen of the least bittern 

 (Ardetta exilis) that had been killed in a fresh-water 

 marsh about a mile from St. John's, in the early 

 part of October, 1882. The latitude of St. John's is 

 47° 33' N., and it is hardly necessary to add that this 

 species has not previously been recorded from so far 

 north. C. Haet Merriam, M.D. 



Locust Grove, New York. 



Science for •ro-orkingmen. 



Tour article in the number of Science for April 

 20, upon this topic, was timely and suggestive. The 

 example offered by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad 

 is indeed worthy of imitation. But such work, how- 

 ever novel it may be in the east, has been done to a 

 greater or less extent in this state for several years. 

 It may interest your eastern readers, who sometimes 

 think that we westerners must always wait for them 

 in such matters, to know of a few attempts here to 

 do similar work for the working-classes. Three years 

 ago the officers of the St. Louis and San Francisco 

 railroad maintained, with the hearty co-operation of 

 its friends, a course of lectures in at least one im- 



portant town on its line of road, for the special bene- 

 fit of the railroad employees. 



Two winters ago the Crystal plate-glass company, 

 whose works, situated about thirty miles from this 

 city, bring about them a population of nearly fifteen 

 hundred, arranged a similar course of instruction lec- 

 tures, which were attended by audiences of six and 

 eight hundred persons. 



The president of the St. Joe lead-mines at Bonne 

 Terre, about seventy-five miles south-west of St. 

 Louis, has just begun a like work, and intends to 

 provide a good course of practical lectures, or talks 

 upon science, literature, and travel, for the coming 

 winter. 



At Bonne Terre and at Crystal City, reading-rooms 

 and libraries have been opened for all who choose to 

 avail themselves of such opportunities; and at the 

 former place a public reading from some standard 

 author is given every Friday evening. The results 

 attending such efforts to help working men and 

 women have been sufiicient to encourage these and 

 other corporations to go on to still better things. 

 The knowledge conveyed, and impulse given to 

 thought and study, are only a part of the good done. 

 A better relation between employers and employed 

 is sure to come from the good feeling which prompts 

 such action, and the grateful appreciation with which 

 it is received. 



Washington university is in this matter willing to 

 take the position assumed by Johns Hopkins univer- 

 sity in Baltimore, and has some half a dozen or so 

 among its busy professors who are always ready to 

 respond heartily to such calls for help. This institu- 

 tion has, in fact, been tlie main dependence of the 

 corporations above mentioned in their efforts to do 

 something to entertain and instruct their people. 



We have accomplished but little here yet, but it 

 may not be amiss to put ourselves on record as having 

 begun. It helps us, always, to know what others 

 are trying to do. M. S. Snow. 



■Washington university, St. Louis, May 2. 



Robins, sparrovsrs, and earth-worms. 



An amusing bit of impertinence on the part of 

 the immigrant house-sparrow is seen in his habit 

 of stealing earth-worms from our great lumbering, 

 native American robin. As everybody knows, the 

 robin is not a little skilful in extracting earth-worms 

 from their burrows in land covered with short grass, 

 as in pastures, lawns, and yards. The bird quickly 

 detects the worm's head, as the creature lies resting 

 near the mouth of its burrow, and seizes it instantly 

 by a sudden blow with the beak. The head of the 

 worm once firmly grasped, the robin straddles his 

 legs apart, braces himself firmly, and gradually lifts 

 his head to the uttermost, and thus slowly, by what 

 is manifestly a powerful and a fatiguing eifort, 

 drags out the resisting worm. Having succeeded 

 in an important enterprise, the bird very naturally 

 pauses for a moment to take breath; and at this 

 critical instant of time a sparrow steps forward, out 

 of a squad of these birds which have been watch- 

 ing the robin's proceedings, quietly takes the worm 

 from the robin's mouth, and incontinently flies 

 away with it, leaving the original possessor in blank 

 amazement. The transaction is well worth seeing 

 for its own sake, and needs but to be looked for, in 

 order to be seen frequently in and about our cities; 

 and it suggests a question which may, perhaps, 

 be profitably studied by the coming generation of 

 naturalists. Indeed, the fact itself Is worth putting 

 upon record as a sort of bench-mark to serve as a 

 point of comparison for observers in future years. 



