Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 3.djvu/541

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Facts for Spencer.—Some striking illustrations of governmental negligence are given in the Lancet, in an article on "Army Medical Services." The writer states that in the armies of the first French Empire there was one surgeon to each 130 men. The French troops sent to Algeria in 1830 had only six surgeons to each 1,000 men. In the Crimean War the proportion was less than one (0.72) per 1,000. Throughout the war, the average number of patients under the care of each surgeon was 300. In the Italian War affairs were about as bad—less than one surgeon per 1,000 men. After Magenta, each surgeon had 175 wounded men, and after Solferino 500 under his charge. If he devoted 2½ minutes to each case, every moment of 24 hours would be taken up. The writer refers in terms of commendation to the medical and sanitary service of the United States during the late War of Secession. During the war between Austria and Prussia, 26,000 wounded of both armies were left, after the battle of Königgratz, totally without medical assistance, and unsupplied with food or water. The French army in the late war with Prussia had only two medical officers per 1,000 men, but 4½ veterinary surgeons per 1,000 horses!

A Singular Race.—A French traveller, M. Duveyrier, describes, in "Ocean Highways," a curious race, the Imôhagh (called in our maps Tauricks or Tuâregs), who dwell in the heart of the Sahara. They are pure Berbers, with white skin, but their uncleanly habits give them the appearance of blacks. The men alone wear a thick black veil over the face, while the women dispense with that covering. A man would consider himself dishonored were he to expose his face, and he takes precaution against any involuntary breach of decorum, by wearing his veil at all times, whether sleeping, walking, fighting, riding, and even speaking to his father. As a general rule, the Imôhagh despise fire-arms, as fit only for cowards, "but they fear them extremely" remarks M. Duveyrier.

They treat their women with great respect. No Imohagh woman would consent to her husband indulging in plurality of wives; and, what is perhaps more singular still, the women alone know any thing of the art of writing. In political affairs the weaker sex exercise a powerful influence; and, when a chief dies, the supreme authority descends to the eldest son of his eldest sister.

Reproduction of Eyes in Crawfish.—That the crawfish has the power of reproducing an eye which it may happen to lose is a fact quite familiar to naturalists, but we are indebted to M. S. Chantran, of the French Academy of Sciences, for the discovery that this power of reproduction varies according to the animal's age. In a recent number of the Comptes Rendus, M. Chantran gives the results of his observations on this subject, from which it appears that a crawfish one year old quickly and effectually repairs such injuries, while in animals two or more years old reproduction is uncertain in its operation, and never perfect. His first experiment was with a number of one-year-old animals. In October, 1871, after the close of their moulting season, he clipped off their eyes. Moulting commenced in May of the year following, and in September, after four months, the eyes were perfectly reproduced.

The next experiment was with animals two years old. These he deprived of their eyes, either immediately before moulting set in, or in the interval between two moults. The results in these cases were various. In some of the animals, after three or four months, the eyes were reproduced, but then the pupils were so disfigured as to leave it doubtful whether they could serve for the purpose of vision; in others, one pupil was considerably smaller than the other.

Finally, in the case of full-grown animals, which moult less frequently—the females but once a year, and the males twice—the author's results did not show any