Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/147

Rh but always first ascends to the ceiling. The universal testimony of medical men is to the effect that no harm, and much good, results from this practice. One effect is that patients accustom themselves to living at a lower temperature without noticing it. At Davos, Leysin, and Falkenstein there are covered terraces or long, sheltered corridors, open on one side to the air and protected from wind, where a large number of phthisical patients in various stages of disease recline on couches for the greatest part of the day in all weathers. In the winter there is no heating apparatus, and warmth is kept up by fur clothing and abundant covering.

Requisites of a Public Museum.——"If public libraries, why not public museums?" asked Prof. E. S. Morse in the Atlantic Monthly a year ago. Having discussed the subject in a general way, he comes to the application: "First and foremost, then, the town museum should illustrate the natural products of the immediate region. By natural products is meant, of course, the animals, plants, rocks, and minerals found in the county, or possibly in the State; for a county collection would require but a few extralimital forms to compass the State. Second, a general collection of similar material from elsewhere, to show the relation of the county to the rest of the world. Anatomical, physiological, and morphological series should next find place in such a museum. The minor factors of natural selection, such as protective, alluring, and warning coloration, mimicry, etc., should be illustrated, as far as possible, from collections made in the immediate neighborhood. And, finally, a series of forms to show the phylogenetic development of the animal kingdom should in some way be given. Such a series would require large floor space, and the solution of many perplexing problems as to form of cases and methods of display. Yet a scheme of this sort must ultimately be devised." Such an idea has been attained in part by the Peabody Academy of Science in Salem, the collections of which comprise, first, a remarkable series of the animals and plants, rocks, minerals, and archaeological specimens collected in the county of Essex, which are continually increasing as new forms are added; an epitome collection of the animal kingdom, brought from all parts of the world; and an ethnological collection, arranged by countries. These collections are all fully and clearly labeled. At close intervals throughout the entire collection special colored labels are displayed, calling attention by title and shelf number to books in the public library referring to the immediate groups. Courses of lectures are given in the Academy Hall every year, which are practically free to the public.

Life in Balochistan.—An interesing lecture on the northern Balochis, a hill tribe of Balochistan on the northwestern frontier of India, was recently read before the Indian Section of the Society of Arts by Mr. Oswald U. Yates, a gentleman who, while engaged in Government work, spent seventeen years in the neighborhood of these people and gave much of his time to a study of their language, history, and customs. The Balochis are Mohammedans, but not very assiduous votaries; none have been converted to Christianity, however. They are probably a mixture of Kurd and Arab. Their language is quite similar to Persian—so much so that Pottinger, who visited Balochistan in 1830, and who was familiar with Persian, could after a few weeks understand most of what was said to him. In order to be a respected citizen, a Balochi must have long, curly black hair, the longer the better; and a long beard is also considered desirable. They are very superstitious. On certain days they believe it is bad luck to go in certain directions; they are guided in this by a rhyme, which translated is:

 On the 1st and 11th I will not go east. On the 5th and 15th I will not go west. On the 3d and 13th I will not go south. On the 7th and 17th I will not go north.

They augur coming events from an examination of the lines on the shoulder blade of a newly killed goat. Goats are also made use of in discovering the sites of disused wells, this, however, is not peculiar to the Balochis. Their method of irrigating is rather unique. "Before the commencement of the rains, the fields are inclosed by lofty embankments, varying in height from three to ten feet, and inside these banks (called latbandi) the water from the hill torrents is admitted; when one is full the next is filled.