1808.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
337 
mY® & ims 3 
“ Sunstroke.” 
Lightning strikes, and with terrible energy tears, molts, 
and destroys whatever would obstruct its passage; but 
properly speaking, the snn does no such fling. No sud¬ 
den beam darts with resistless force to smite the unfor¬ 
tunate person who may be exposed >1n the sunshine. 
What is called sunstroke is really prostration from ex¬ 
cessive heat, and it may occur in any overheated apart¬ 
ment in the shade as well as in the sunshine. Persons 
enfeebled by drinking, by over exertion, or other causes 
which lessen the strength, are most liable to be thus 
affected. During the hot weather of July, this year, 
when more than two hundred persons died from this 
cause, in New York alone, in a single week, it was ob¬ 
served that a very large majority were of intemperate 
habits. Confirmed teetotallers were exempt. No tem¬ 
perance lecture could be stronger. TTsnnlly there arc 
symptoms of prostration by heat, occurring in time to 
avoid a fatal result. Trembling, faintness, inability to 
move, and a sinking feeling, usually precede the more 
marked effects. When any such feelings are experienced 
during extreme heat, all exertion should be instantly stop¬ 
ped, and the person lie down in the shade at once until 
entirely relieved. Cold water or ice applied to the head, 
and some stimulant administered with judgment, will aid 
in recovery. Prevention is not difficult. All excess in 
food, drink, or exercise, and much excitement of any 
kind, should be especially avoided, when the mercury in 
the thermometer marks 90 degrees or upward. If work 
must be done, a cabbage leaf or wet handkerchief 
placed in the top of the hat will serve a good purpose. 
Caai*I«*as CS amUjlisig - . 
A traveler describes a singular mode of gambling wit¬ 
nessed by him in Peru. A negro having a large tray of 
pies takes his stand at some corner where many are pass¬ 
ing. Those who wish to engage in the game, usually boys, 
each place a penny on some one of the pies, which are 
valued at five to ten cents each. The proprietor then with 
a small brush drives away the flies which swarm over 
the eatables, and all anxiously wait to see on which pie 
a fly will first alight. If it be on one where a penny is 
placed, it becomes the property of the person who laid 
down the penny, and the remainder of the money is 
taken by the owner of the pies. A similar style of gam¬ 
bling has been practised in Paris, by dissolute young 
men who place several lumps of sugar upon a table, and 
then bet as to the lump on which a fly will first alight. 
Ways of CScttisag a BVivimg’—IV. 
TRY YOUR STRENGTH, SIR? 
The apparatus shown in the above engraving, called 
* a dynamometer, is very popular in a crowd. Everyman, 
and every boy especially, likes to be strong, to know the 
power of his muscles, and if it be more than ordinary, to 
exhibit it. So the man who lets people try their strength 
at a penny apiece finds it quite profitable. The writer 
once discovered a trick of tills trade while trying tire 
machine witli a number of friends. Being of about ordi¬ 
nary strength he could lift probably 400 lbs., but pulling 
at the dynamometer he was astonished to find he had 
lifted over 500 lbs., according to the mark on the dial 
plate. The proprietor complimented the surprising 
strength shown by a not very large man, but the latter 
smiled to notice how the apparatus was arranged to show 
more than the real strength laid out. If such trials of 
strength, carefully made, so as not to strain the person, 
would lead to the use of proper means of increasing one's 
muscular power, the exhibitor of the dynamometer might 
be classed among the useful members of society. Dr. 
Winship, the strong man, who lifted 2,000 lbs. or more, 
showed how muscle can be increased by training. Such 
extraordinary lifting power is not needed, and costs more 
time and work than it is worth, but it proves that every 
healthy young person can improve his strength sufficient¬ 
ly if he will patiently labor for it by taking proper exercise. 
A FVivate B*ic4jttve Gallery. 
Finer pictures than were ever painted on canvas may 
be owned by many without expending a cent. By train¬ 
ing the eyes to observe, the imagination to arrange, and 
the memory to keep the scenes presented in every day 
life, or described by others in books and newspapers, 
one may furnish his inner apartments most gorgeously. 
Artists do this before they try to show their thoughts in 
pictures for the eyes of others, and every painter will tell 
you that the scene in his own mind is far more beautiful 
than anything he can express with pencil and brush. 
Perhaps there is a mountain not far from where you live. 
It looms grandly up toward the sky, and cannot fail to 
make a strong impression on the mind of one living near 
it. Now, it is not difficult with such a strong point to 
begin with, to work up a fine picture gallery. You can 
imagine all the varied changes of color which vines 
and flowers would give; new trees may be grouped here 
and there ; a torrent rushing down the side, with a cat¬ 
aract midway, with the deep rugged gorge which it has 
worn away, will change the scene ; you can build castles 
and palaces along its sides, and a towering fortress at the 
top, and set phantom soldiers, or real troops in armor, or 
with shining bayonets, climbing up the sides, and charg¬ 
ing among the well defended works. If there is no such 
striking feature in the surrounding landscape, then 
make one. Read the best description you can find of 
forest, lake, or mountain, and bring it before you. There 
is no end to the variety of choice landscapes which may 
thus be possessed, and the making of them will not only 
fill many an otherwise unimproved hour with pleasure, 
but refine the taste, and purify and elevate the thoughts. 
44 Ejitlle Iny Brittle.” 
A nut dropped by a squirrel fell through the opening 
in the middle of an old millstone which lay upon the 
ground, and being thus protected, grew into a thriving 
sapling that shot up through the opening. In a few 
years it had increased so that it filled the space and was 
firmly wedged to the sides of the heavy stone. Still It 
grew, and in a few years more, little by little it lifted the 
entire weight clear from the earth, so high that a man 
could sit beneath it. All was done by atom after atom, 
borne by the sap to the growing trunk. Think of this, 
my little man, puzzling over “Long Division” in arith¬ 
metic; little by little of thinking and working will take 
you through Fractions, Rule of Three, and those terrible 
problems at the end of the book, by and by—but be sure 
that the little by little is not neglected. And you, hard 
working lad on the farm, or in the shops, look at Frank¬ 
lin, Watts, Morse, Field, Lincoln, Grant, and thousands 
more who have lifted the weight of circumstances that 
would hold them down like millstones, and who have 
by their steady perseverance risen above their fellows, 
easily bearing their burdens ; and “ Keep pegging away." 
A Great Structure. 
An exchange gives the following particulars concerning 
the dome of the Capitol at Washington. It is an hundred 
and eight feet higher than the Washington Monument 
at Baltimore, sixty-eight feet higher than that of Bunker 
Hill, and twenty-three feet higher than the Trinity Church 
spire of New York. It is the only considerable dome of 
iron in the world. It is a vast hollow sphere of iron, 
weighing S, 200,000 pounds. How much is that ? More 
than four thousand tons, or about the weight of seventy 
thousand full grown people ; or about equal to a thousand 
laden coal cars, which, holding four tons apiece, would 
reach two miles and a half. Directly over your head is a 
figure in bronze, “ America,” weighing 14,9S5 pounds. 
The pressure of the iron dome upon its piers and pillars 
is 13,417 pounds to the square foot. St. Peter’s presses 
nearly 20,000 pounds more to the square foot, and St. 
Genevive, at Paris, 60,000 pounds more. It would require, 
to crush the supports of our dome, a pressure of 775,2S0 
lbs. to the square foot. The dome cost about $1,100,000. 
Answers! to IProitolesms and IPsazzles. 
The following are answers to the puzzles, etc., in the 
August number, page 301. No. 314. Logogrigh. —The prin¬ 
cipal word is peat. From the letters may be formed, 1, 
Pat; 2, Pea (one syllable of peacock); 3, Pet; 4, Pate; 
5, Tape; G, Tap_No. 315. Mathematical Problem. — 
4,358 feet, nearly.... No. 316. Picture Puzzle.—It is a holy 
see (holey C,) in the midst of foes (of O’s)_No. 317. 
Metagram. —Meat, peat, feat, seat_No. 318. Puzzle Pic¬ 
ture.— Death and Time are a pair of dividers_No. 319. 
Puzzle Picture .—A bee laboring (belaboring)_No. 320. 
J grand , a petit , (J, large, a, small), read together, 
j’ai grand appetit; meaning I have a great appetite.—As 
this part of the paper is sent to press very early in the 
month preceding publication, it usually occurs that the 
names of those answering puzzles are not published un¬ 
til two months after the appearance of the puzzles. The 
following have sent in correct answers to problems, etc., 
previously published. Jas. E. Masters, A. N. Daniels, 
Charles P. Anderson, Alice May Carrington, Eva Gray, 
J. Milton Snyder, Columbus Snyder, Mina M. Walker, 
Rufus M. Farrand, James A. Johnson, A. D. Wexler, 
R. Hall, M. Gathaw, Frank T. Wray, Isabcll Lucy Stew¬ 
art, Sarah Dowland, Martha Richardson, Samuel M. Ed¬ 
wards, Edgar Tapper, Frank E. Cabot, G. Wood. 
No. 321. Puzzle Picture— How does this remind you 
of a sound on the sea shore mentioned by poets? 
No. 322. Puzzle Picture.—This man, in climbing after his 
goose,is in danger of tilling. How may ho got down safely? 
No. 323. Illustrated Rebus .—Very good advice to talkers. 
No. 324. Metagram .—A word of five letters causes the 
motion of the heavenly bodies. Change the first letter 
and it becomes a pleasant retreat; a fortress; a dress¬ 
maker ; a waterman; a haymaker; what frightened men 
often do; and a gift to a woman. What is the word ? 
No. 325. Word Puzzle.—In my first my second sat, my 
third and fourth I ate. What is this curious word ? 
