Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/298

286 other seemed quite contented to sit without protection in the sunniest corner of the inclosure. The whole colony of porcupines (six in number). . . were abroad and in the highest spirits, erecting and rattling their quills, and sitting up to inspect their visitors like gigantic rabbits." The demeanor of the semitropical birds was even more interesting than the power of adaptation to climate shown by quadrupeds. The Argus cock-pheasant from Sumatra or Borneo "was displaying its beauties in the open air, among leaves and grass tipped with icicles, and showed plumage so close and perfect that it was impossible to doubt that the colder climate had, if anything, added a luster to its unrivaled wealth of ornament."

Mental Growth through Physical Education.—In a paper on Mental Growth through Physical Education Jakob Bolin begins his argument by showing how muscular work, or physical exercise, serves to keep the metabolism of the body at a proper level. Then it operates on the mind thus: "When you are sitting at your desk for any appreciable length of time, sunk in profound thoughts, these thoughts, however pure and lofty, are actually slowly poisoning your brain, decreasing its aptitude to the work at hand, and you will find, as time passes, that you are not able to keep your attention fixed, your will power has lost its grip, your memory is deteriorated, you can not grasp an idea as before, and there creeps over you a certain feeling of lassitude and dullness; your temples throb, your face is flushed, there is a sensation of fullness, your head aches. And all this because your thoughts—your mental work—have pumped up into your head a quantity of blood giving the necessary fuel for these thoughts, but there has been no agent at work strong enough to remove the ashes and refuse. But rise from your table, take a few deep inhalations, move your arms in rhythm with the respiration, walk for a quarter of an hour, and you will probably find the unpleasant symptoms gone and yourself ready to begin anew; your attention, which was wandering, has become fixed, your will power is stronger, your memory its own self, your ideas from vague have become more clear and your conclusions more logical. And the temporary beneficial effects of occasional muscular work are easily made permanent by applying the remedy steadily and systematically." Another purpose than this is also served in systematic gymnastics, in which a uniformity of movement and a definite rhythm are cultivated. By these "we endeavor to teach our pupils to have, by means of their muscular sense, a due appreciation of the proper order of things and also to do things exactly each at its proper time, to let things follow each other in a previously arranged order, to complete one thing before they undertake a new enterprise; we teach them also by the same means not to feel as if each were a completeness by himself, but try to let them acquire the habit of considering themselves as units of a greater whole, which suffers if not each unit works with the aim in view of gaining the greatest perfection for the whole. In the gymnasium each one must subordinate himself to the welfare of his class; in the baseball field that sensation of identification with the team is created; in the rowboat each works in harmony with everybody else; and thus, through evolving this feeling of belonging together, we hope to react favorably upon the doings of these same individuals as units of a greater whole, the community, the nation, humanity, so as to direct their mental as well as physical capacities toward the common welfare, toward the progress of the race, to make not a better man but better men."

Domestic Birds of the Chinese.—Fowls form a considerable part of the food of the better classes in China, and the breeding and rearing of them constitute an important industry. Four varieties of fowls are described in the report of the United States consul at Ching Kiang, each of which has its peculiar characteristics and qualities. Of the smallest of the breeds, the chow, a white cock, is carried on the coffin at funerals and is sacrificed at the grave; and it is customary on the native boats to kill one on New Year's day and sprinkle the blood on the bow for the propitiation of evil spirits and to insure good luck during the year. Ducks are reared in great numbers, and are largely used as food, both fresh and salted. They are all artificially hatched. After fledging, the birds are driven about in flocks through canals and from pond to pond, where they find their food. The