AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
371 
the pleasure of cultivating it. The healthful ex¬ 
ercise, and the improvement of the taste would 
be lost, if the work be done in common with 
others, or be delegated to a hired gardener. O. J.] 
House Tools—Hints to the “ Men-folks.” 
We dislike to offend by too plain talk, so the 
reader will please understand that in what follows, 
we do not refer to-him, but to “another man.” 
On a recent evening we happened into his house 
(the other man’s house) and saw his wife trying to 
cut out a garment; or possibly it was a patch for 
a coat for her boy or her husband; but it was 
hard work, and a ragged edge was left. She made 
sundry efforts and by clipping several times it 
seemed to come into about the desired shape. The 
fact was; the rivet was loose, and as for a cutting 
edge, that was worn off years ago. We noticed that 
she looked at her thumb and fingers to see if they 
were blistered. Three minutes with a hammer to 
head the rivet, and a grindstone, whetstone, or 
even a file, to give a cutting edge, would have made 
all right, saved the wife several hours of time in-tlie 
course of each week or month, and enabled her to 
do her work much more easily, and to patch more 
neatly. But her husband was a “ hard working¬ 
man,” and hadn’t the three minutes’ time. Having- 
some business with him, we found him at the store 
sitting in his accustomed place on the counter. 
The wife went to fix up the wood fire, and at¬ 
tempted to lift up a brand with the tongs, but the 
legs would turn and slip by each other. After sev¬ 
eral vain trials she pushed up the fire, and swept up 
the coals that had scattered from the falling brand. 
One minute’s time, with a hammer, would have 
tightened the joint and made the legs meet square. 
A daughter was trying to cut hash or mince meat, 
but the thug, thug, indicated that the dull knife 
was only mashing and not cutting the meat. The 
tired girl showed plainly that she had been at it for 
an hour or more. Three minutes with the grind¬ 
stone, or whetstone, or a file, once a month, would 
give that knife a sharp edge, and save many a pound 
of elbow g-rcase, many wearisome hours, give that 
daughter a little extra time to read the American 
Agriculturist (only the other man “ don’t take it ”), 
and the finely cut tough meat would be far more 
digestible than when swallowed hurriedly in large 
pieces. (A Hale’s meat cutter, costing $2.50, would 
cut the hash for a large family in four; minutes, 
or in less time, and do the work excellently.) 
One Monday we took dinner at the house of this 
“other man.” The bread was not in smooth cut 
slices, but appeared as if haggled off from the loaf 
with the back of a scythe. The dried beef, instead 
of being in nice thin shavings, nice to look at, and 
nice to eat, was in thick, scraggy pieces, as if 
chopped off with a very dull hatchet. The table 
knives appeared to have been sharpened on the 
iron shovel handle, or on the stove edge so long, 
and were so much rounded off, that except from the 
shape it would have been difficult to tell on which 
side the edge had been. Five or ten minutes with 
the grindstone would have given a good edge on 
one side of every knive in the house. How much 
work it would have saved in the kitchen, in prepar¬ 
ing meals, cutting up meats, paring. potatoes, etc., 
the reader may figure up. (If the writer was the 
wife of this “ other man ” lie would take a few les¬ 
sons on knife-sharpening and 'be independent.) 
Glancing through the open kitchen door, we saw 
Bridget trying to stop an old leak in a boiler, with a 
plaster of dough, but it would come off, and the wa¬ 
ter would run on to the stove and over the hearth. 
A drop of solder would have saved all this trouble 
and vexation. If the “ other man ” had read the 
Agriculturist for November, 1859, page 342, he would 
have known how to apply the soider himself in less 
than three minutes.-We have made several calls 
at this “other man’s ” house, but the above will do 
for a beginning. Please show him this copy of the 
Agriculturist and perhaps his curiosity may be ex¬ 
cited to read more of his personal matters which 
will be found in the next volume. 
About Artificial Limbs. 
It was reported a few years ago, that a monoma- ' 
niac in France, who believed in the doctrine of 
chance, conceived the idea-that the first human 
body was the result of a chance aggregation of par-' 
tieles of matter. Instead of trying to prove his 
theory by reasoning, or on scientific principles, he 
went to work to demonstrate it by actual experi¬ 
ment. Learning from chemical analyses the kind of 
atoms entering into the composition of a perfect 
body, and the proportion of each, he collected the 
requisite materials, put them into a cylinder, or 
kind of churn, and commenced operations. His 
idea was, that, by the long continued agitation of 
the particles, he would in time bring them into just 
the proper position and arrangement, and a human 
body would be the result. He further believed that 
as he had collected only pure materials, a body more 
perfect than any one now existing among de¬ 
teriorated mortals would be the result. If 
we remember rightly, he was a bachelor, and 
vowed celibacy until he had produced a per¬ 
fect woman from his tub or churn. The last 
turning away at the 
crank, as he had been for several years before. 
Leaving our monomaniac to work on until 
his own fragile and ill-composed elements 
themselves fall asunder, it is pleasing to turn 
aside and contemplate the real progress that 
lias been made toward con-structing artifi¬ 
cial bodies, or in supplying such of the 
non-vital portions as chance to be lost by 
disease or accident. With our own eyes 
we have seen artificial hands* feet, legs, arms, 
cars, eyes, noses, not to mention the more 
common ones of teeth, aud hair, etc.—all 
of which were so natural in form and appear¬ 
ance, as to escape the notice of the casual ob¬ 
server. Some of these artificial members 
are so perfect in form and construction as to 
serve nearly all the purposes of the natural 
ones. Having a friend who had lost a leg 
(shot off above the knee in a battle last 
Spring,) we had occasion to examine the con¬ 
struction of this particular member, and we 
confess to an agreeable surprise at the 
perfection to which the manufacture has 
been carried. After examining some of 
the most noted forms, any one of which 
would be a great acquisition to a legless man, 
we were led to give the preference to those made 
by Mr. Selpho, of this city. We have not room for 
a minute description of the construction, and of 
the means and appliances by which the manufac¬ 
turers imitate the action of the natural limb. Es¬ 
sentially, the external appearance of the limb, in 
form and color is an exact imitation of the natural 
one. The structure is an ingenious combination of 
tough wood, leather, steel, India rubber, etc., by 
which lightness, strength, pliability and durability, 
are admirably secured. Fig. 1, gives the general 
appearance of an unclothed leg of nearly full length. 
Inside of this, as partly shown in fig. 2, are joints, 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
springs, strong catgut'tendons, cushions, etc., that 
serve to give elasticity and motion partly within the 
control of the wearer. The knee joint and the heel 
joint, bend and yield to pressure almost like the 
natural structure. We had the engravings specially 
made for the Agriculturist, but find it difficult to 
explain the various parts without having the: read¬ 
er present to see the actual limb, and will therefore 
not attempt it. The leg, as made by Mr. Selpho (of 
