680 



Village History. 



[Nov., 



It is improbable that the fluctuations observed were due to 

 conditions peculiar to India. The author quotes an American 

 experiment (Armsby, The Nutrition of Farm Animals, 1917) 

 which points to the same conclusions, and in which daily fluctua- 

 tions in the weight of a mature steer up to 5 per cent, of the 

 body weight were observed. Many American investigators now 

 take averages over ten successive days, in carrying out experi- 

 ments involving the live weights of cattle. 



Then, in this country, variations of the same order were 

 recently observed in the course of certain experiments on the 

 nutrition of cows carried out at Leeds University by Crowther 

 and Woodman. Fluctuations in the weights of cows up to 43 lb. 

 on two successive davs were observed. 



Facts of this description show how necessary it is under modern 

 conditions to secure greater accuracy than has been observed in 

 the past in experimental work with animals. The sources of 

 error in feeding trials may be even greater than those with which 

 Mr. Beaven's trenchant articles were concerned, for not only is 

 the weight of one animal subject to considerable fluctuations but 

 the variation from animal to animal is very large. 



****** 



Of the value of local history no one now needs to be con- 

 vinced. Its inspiration serves not only to preserve what is 



TT-n 4- best in the past, but to assure a higher 



Village History. , ™ 



standard of living m the present, ivlore 



of us than ever now know those little towns of Flanders where 

 the unlovely creations of the eighteenth and nineteenth cen- 

 turies are replaced, sometimes, perhaps, with a too conscious 

 archaism, by worthier memorials of the genius of the country, 

 and where it is hard to escape Flemish pottery, Flemish lace, 

 Flemish silverwork, Flemish beer. Even if the emphasis is 

 a little overdone, if there is too much stage furniture designed 

 to please the eye of the visitor, yet commercialism at its worst 

 cannot undo the gxTod that lies in building houses which really 

 do express something of the spirit of the people, and in making 

 wares which are known for what they are without the aid 

 of an inscription. 



Mr. Guy Ewing. whose account of an interesting experi- 

 ment appeared in the October issue of this Journal makes 

 an effective plea for the practical study of village history. He 

 has worked single-handed , hut lest others who are not equipped 

 as he is for the task should hesitate to follow his example, it 

 is not out of place to remind them that assistance may be had 



