Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/154

144 assigns the causes of subsidences which have taken place at Northwich and its neighborhood, Cheshire, England, to the pumping of brine for the manufacture of salt. The first subsidence was noticed about 1770. The sinking has since gone on very rapidly, and much destruction of property has resulted. Large lakes or "flashes," one of more than one hundred acres in area, and of all depths down to forty-five feet, have been and are being formed.

Central Africa, according to Dr. Junker, an almost perpetual state of warfare prevails. The abduction of a woman is often sufficient to engender strife; and, consequently, the abodes of the Central African tribes and their political conditions are subject to continual and incessant changes. If a conquered tribe will not surrender its territory, it falls into a condition of bondage to the victorious race. It can not be said that one district is wholly occupied by one race, but the population is in every case very mixed and composed of the most diverse elements.

Akkas are described by Dr. Junker as the only voluntary nomads of the Central African regions. They construct their little cone-shaped grass huts in the shelter of the trees of the woods, and live in a district as long as the chase lasts. They prefer to abide among some tribes and avoid others. The rulers welcome them, and they, being practiced archers and cunning warriors, are employed in the invasions of the territories of neighboring tribes. They possess no industry, and buy even their arrow-heads in exchange for meat, the produce of the chase. They are timid and suspicious, and Dr. Junker only once saw about one hundred and fifty of them together. They can not properly be described as dwarfs, but only as relatively very small men.

supposes that the electrical manifestations of the atmosphere are produced by the friction of particles of water and ice, and such other substances as may be lifted to the upper regions and dispersed through several miles of thickness. The differences in the character of the manifestations are dependent upon differences in intensity. Auroral lights are due to discharges in rarefied air.

vessel of new construction has undergone a successful trial at Southampton, England. Its peculiar feature is the shape of the submerged part, which is that of a W, with the angles well rounded off. The two keels are of brass, and hollow, so that the water flows through them from end to end. The vessel possesses remarkable buoyancy.

Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, discussing recently the subject of further legislation for habitual drunkards, were agreed that past legislation in the matter had been a complete failure. The present law presupposes the consent of the patient to measures for putting alcohol out of his reach for a year; the proposed new law, which the society approved, will do away with this condition. Sir D. Maclagan regarded the so-called "liberty of the subject" in such a matter as this as "an intense humbug. Dr. Batty Tukc insisted on a distinction between those whose drunkenness was a pure vice and those with whom it was an insanity; to which Dr. Yellowlees objected that it was hard to "house respectable lunatics with the class of habitual drunkards."

a paper on "Clothing," Mr. Francis Vacher insists, as a primary consideration, on the importance of wearing clean, porous, and warm woolen clothing; condemns aniline and other injurious dyes; exposes the evils of scanty clothing, unequal pressure, heavy superfluous ornaments, ill-adjusted corsets, and high-heeled boots; discriminates between different styles of children's clothing; and pronounces the morning suit and under-wear of men nearly perfect.

the conditions are set forth in Mr. J. B. Bailey's work on "Modern Methuselahs," moderation in eating, drinking, and living are conducive to long life. Persons in a comfortable position and of average intelligence enjoy better prospects for a long future than those at either extreme. "Earnest and ungrudging exercise of the mental powers appears to be no bar to old age, and at times to favor it; but, as a rule, while a moderate use of the faculties tends to health and endurance, excessive use of them has often, directly or indirectly, had a reverse effect."

the removal of tattoo-marks from the skin, M. Variot recommends, in the "Revue Scientifique," covering with concentrated solution of tannin and retattooing in the part to be cleared; then rub with a nitrate of silver crayon, when the parts will turn black; sprinkle tannin-powder on the surface several times a day. A dark crust will form, which loses color in three or four days, and in a fortnight or so comes away, leaving a reddish scar free of tattoo-marks, which in a few months becomes little noticeable.

question whether the cuckoo ever hatches its own eggs is still a subject of active discussion. Herr Adolf Midler has lately described a case which he himself claims to have observed. Herr Adolf Walter, who has not observed a case, thinks Dr. Midler is mistaken. An incident related by Dr. Erasmus Darwin is cited in evidence for the affirmative; but, as Dr. Darwin and his authority are beyond the reach of cross-examination, the adherents of the negative refuse to receive it.