Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 24.djvu/443

Rh lower lip and hanging from it ornaments of different forms and natures. A paper also appears in this volume by M. Fireira Penna on the ceramios of Para, low tumuli, which are wholly composed of urns or other vessels of terra-cotta, laid together and arranged in beds. The recent Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition, which was very successful, is to be followed by another, in which it is hoped the whole American Continent will be represented.

Magnetism of a Great City.—Mr. Richard Jeffries, in his essays on "Nature near London," remarks upon the way in which the magnetism of London is a force in its remotest suburbs, and the influence of the mighty city is felt in its most rural environments. "In the shadiest lane," he says, "in the still pine-woods, on the hills of purple heath, after brief contemplation there arose a restlessness, a feeling that it was essential to be moving. In no grassy mead was there a nook where I could stretch myself in slumberous ease and watch the swallows ever wheeling, wheeling in the sky. The something wanting in the fields was the absolute quiet, peace, and rest which dwell in the meadows, and under the trees, and on the hill-tops in the country." The inevitable end of every foot-path round about London is London; the proximity of the immense city induces a mental, a nerve restlessness; and, as you sit and dream, you can not dream for long, for something plucks at the mind with constant reminder "that the inland hills, and meads, and valleys, are like Sindbad's ocean, but that London is like the magnetic mountain which draws all ships to it."

Bacteria and Cholera.—Dr. Koch, of the German Cholera Commission, has made a report of the commission's examinations of cholera cases in Egypt. The disease was on the decline when the commission began its work, and this may partly account for the unsatisfactory character of the results. Twelve unquestionable cholera patients were examined, and autopsies were held on the bodies of ten persons who had died of cholera. No micro-organisms were found in the blood of the patients, and but few in the matters vomited up, but a considerable number were found in the dejections. In the autopsies, no infectious organic matter, except a few probably accidental bacteria in the lungs, was noticed in the lungs, the spleen, the kidneys, or the liver. A well-determined species of bacteria was, however, found in the walls of the intestines, and in some cases had penetrated to the tubular glands of the mucous coat, and provoked an irritation there, and had even reached the deeper layers of the mucous coat, and sometimes the muscular coat. It seemed evident that they had a connection with cholera, but whether as cause or merely as an accompaniment or result was still uncertain. To test this question, inoculations were made upon mice and monkeys, and a few dogs and chickens, and the bacterial poison was administered to some of the animals, but without effect in producing symptoms of cholera; although in a few of the cases septic affections followed. The results actually obtained, however, seem to Dr. Koch to afford a good reason why the experiments should be continued.

Superstitions about Infants.—Dr. H. Ploss remarks, in his book (in German) on "The Child in the Customs and Usages of Peoples," that the birth of a child impresses its relatives with the feeling that they are brought into the immediate presence of one of the mysterious powers of Nature, whose kindness in conferring the gift is acknowledged, and whose favor is invoked with observances in which feasts and offerings nearly always have a place; and the ceremonies observed on such occasions, and the toys that are given the child, have frequently an ingenious, sometimes an educational significance. The natural process of birth is brought, in the imagination of the people, into relation with hidden or supernatural causes: by many tribes it is supposed to be superintended by particular divinities; and the dangers and diseases to which the child is subject are ascribed to similar mysterious agencies. The accidents of pregnancy, the cries and calls, the influence of the evil-eye, the substitution of a changeling for the child, the ill-omened significance attached to certain acts, form a stock of superstitions deeply impressed in the popular