802 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
holes stout ash, oak, or hickory pegs 
about 5" long, called "tholes," are in- 
serted for the reception of the oars. 
( To be continued.) 
.-o-<i 
BY 
Hints From India. 
W. L. D. O'GRADY. 
' COOLING SHADES. 
URING the very hot weather 
when President Garfield lay 
dying, a multitude of inventors 
pressed on his physicians va- i 
riouti api)liances for cooling the air of the 
sick chamber. Most of them were inef- 
ficient, and with few exceptions the rest 
were very expensive, too much so to be 
used in ordinary dwelling houses. Brew- 
eries have long had excellent apparatus 
for cooling the cellars, and some of our 
hospitals are equally well provided ; but 
whether sick*or well, the average resident 
of our cities has to submit to more or less 
stewing or baking during the heated 
term. We grumble, but do nothing to 
relieve ourselves, and soon cool weather 
comes and we forget all about the dis- 
comfort till we catch it again next year, 
and then we grumble again. 
The inhabitants of countries where 
warm weather lasts longer than it does 
here use some very simple means to lower 
the temperature of their sitting-rooms. 
They not only keep them dark, which our 
proudest housekeepers do for another 
reason, namely, to save the carpets from 
fading, but use great fans, windsails, 
" thermanlidotes," or windvvheels driv- 
ing air through cloths saturated with 
saltpetre, etc. The simplest plan of all 
is universal in India, where on the plains 
it is hot all the year round. There the 
kuskus tattle, or loosely woven mat of tlie 
fragrant fibrous roots of a shrub, is hung 
in one or more windows, the rest being 
carefully closed, and kept well wetted. 
The evaporation on even the calmest day 
soon sends down the thermometer inside 
the house, and the refreshing coolness is 
accompanied by a delightful perfume. 
In some parts of Italy and Spain coarse 
blankets are used, and if we cannot get 
kuskus here — and very little of it is im- 
ported, though it is very cheap and would 
surely be appreciated if better known— we 
might make ourselves much more com- 
fortable by using wet blankets too. 
The great objection to this plan, if car- 
ried out as it is in India or elsewhere now, 
would be the trouble of keeping the affair 
properly wet, and besides, too free be- 
sprinkling with h(^e or watering pots 
would muss up the carpets. In India, 
where labor is very cheap, the trouble 
does not force itself on the attention of the 
I peoi)le chiefly benefited, and as the floors 
are usually of hard cement like marble, 
if they are splashed it does not ljurt 
them. There is an excellent arrange- 
ment, however, for automatically supply- 
ing the requisite amount of water for 
keeping the kuskus tattle sufficiently wet, 
and at the same time doing away with all 
possible inconvenience, which is cheap 
and easily applied. 
A simple tin, zinc, or galvanized-iron 
trough is placed at the top of the tattie 
fastened to small brackets at the top of 
the window. It may be concealed hj a 
lambrequin. The trough is triangular in 
section, the pins it worlds on being a little 
on one side. A cistern of some kind, 
enough to hold 24 hours supply of water, 
must be above the trough (unless a hose 
can be led to it and controlled as easily) 
with a small spout - a quill or tube of the 
same size of glass or metal would do ad- 
mirably—and this should drip into the 
trough. When the water in the trough 
rises to nearly level with the balancing 
pins, the centre of gravity goes to the 
side and upsets the trough, which imme- 
diately recovers the original position 
when empty. It should upset every five 
minutes. The arrangement of this con- 
■trivance is worthy of the ingenuity ®f a 
smart boy, and the results are delightful. 
Dust and flies are excluded and the air is 
cooled. It is within the reach of the 
poorest. 
A PORTABLE ARM-CHAIR. 
Portable furniture is probably better, 
appreciated in India than anywhere else. 
Officers there, as a rule, are moved about 
a great deal, to great distances and at in- 
tervals rarely exceeding three years, 
something after the Methodist discipline. 
