Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/298

284 The cloister-life of the middle ages tended to the increase of the warriors by drawing gentle spirits and those skilled in the handicrafts to the convents, and leaving it to the knights and their retinues to do the marrying and the bringing up of posterity. Now the military establishments of the European empires are working in the opposite direction. They tend to draw the brave and the turbulent from married life, and to leave the raising of families to the industrious and those who shun the field of battle. The effect of the system on the population of France after the Napoleonic wars was visible, and has been much remarked upon. Hence it is probable that the warlike nations are destined to decline, and peaceful ones, like Great Britain and the United States, to prevail, and thus will come to pass the prediction in the Sermon on the Mount, that the meek shall inherit the earth.

The Mole a Friend to Man.—A writer in "Land and Water" pleads for the mole as a much-abused animal which really does more good than harm, fulfilling its mission "of ventilating the soil with many-branched tunnels, and of converting insects, worms, etc., into fertile mold. . . . The ingenuity which the mole exhibits in the formation of his covered ways might stimulate—perhaps has done so—agriculturists to improve their drainage systems; the comminuted earth and other material which he leaves behind him might also instigate them to produce the same results on a scale commensurate with their requirements. . . . We cease to be surprised at the work executed by the mole when we examine its structure. The fore-paws, short and very sturdy, are moved by immense muscles, and are supported by a clavicle of great strength; the broad palms arc turned outward, the better to form scoops for throwing earth, gravel, soil, etc., behind while the animal is burrowing. The 'fingers' are small, so much so, in fact, as easily to be overlooked, but each is terminated by a nail, long, flat, sharp-edged, and very strong, eminently calculated as a tool for cutting through the soil. The snout, which we have noticed as furnished with a terminal bone, assists in these operations, and the neck is supplied with muscles of extraordinary vigor." But the hinder part of the animal is undeveloped and feeble, and it is said that the creature can progress more swiftly in the ground than on it. Its sense of hearing is very acute, but it has no external ears, and its eyes are barely visible. Its hair is very fine and stands straight out, so that, whichever way the animal goes, it is not "against the grain." The nest or home in which the mole resides, and in which the young are produced, is worthy of notice. A high arched roof is made by the removal of a quantity of earth; here and there pillars—portions of the solid soil—are allowed to remain as supports. The earth, of which the nest is composed, is pressed and beaten, and with it are mingled grass-stalks and roots to give it a greater consistency, and by this means to make it sufficiently compact to throw off heavy rams. Within the dome is erected a small mound, littered with soft grass and leaves. This is the bed, and from its elevated position is secure from whatever drainage may casually make its way below. From this mound lead off, in various directions, the passages excavated by the animals, and these often extend as far as thirty or forty feet from the central hall." The small mounds dotted over the scene of the animal's labors are merely the soil thrown up while in search of worms, etc., and have nothing in them specially worthy of examination. The mole usually seeks to be near the water, or to have access to it.

Obesity.—Obesity, says the "Lancet," may be promoted or relieved, to a limited extent, by the selection of diet and regimen, but it is fundamentally dependent on some inherent state of being or habit of life. For its safe and effectual treatment, provided the case be not of so long standing as to be beyond all remedy, this state must first be understood and regulated. Whatever interferes with oxidation, or with the due metamorphosis of digested food within the tissues, is apt to lead to its storage in the form of fat. It is, therefore, necessary for health that consumption should be limited as nearly as may be to what is necessary for sustenance, and that discharge of waste and tissue demand should be at the same time encouraged by moderate bodily exercise. The limitation of food should.