January, 1890, Issue.

If any of our subscribers do not intend to preserve their volumes, we would thank them if they will kindly mail to us the issue for January, 1890, for which we will pay twenty cents.

Second-Hand Street Car Tickets.

The good people of Washington, D. C., are, at the present time, justly exercised over what may be righteously termed a disgusting and dangerous practice of the street car companies. It seems that fare tickets are sold in packages. When one is received from a passenger, the conductor punches a slip which he carries, while the tickets pass into his pocket and are subsequently turned into the office, to be again sold, thus becoming, in time, not only second, but tenth, twentieth, and even fiftieth hand. The dirt and probable disease with which these tickets become, in time, encrusted is marvellous to behold. Certainly, the saving to the companies must be very slight and not at all a justification of a practice which we must conscientiously say is not only opposed to the teachings of hygiene, but is antagonistic to the very dictates of decency itself.

Dyspepsia-The Diet and the Humors.

The answer of the wife of the good-natured husband to that of the illnatured one, was, if coarse and blunt, also philosophical. When asked how she managed to keep him so good-natured, she answered, "I feed the brute." Lauder Brunton in his Lettsomiam Lectures, quoting Sidney Smith, said: "Happiness is not impossible without health, but it is very difficult of attainment. I do not mean by health merely an absence of dangerous complaints, but that the body should be in perfect tune, full of vigor and alacrity. The longer I live the more I am convinced that the apothecary is of more importance than Seneca; and that half the unhappiness in the world proceeds from little stoppages, from a duct choked up, from food pressing in the wrong place, from a vexed duodenum or an agitated pylorus. The deception as practiced upon human creatures is curious and entertaining. My friend sups late; he eats some strong soup, then a lobster, then some tart, then he dilutes these esculent varieties with wine. The next day I call upon him. He is going to sell his home in London and retire to the country. He is alarmed for his eldest daughter's health. His expenses are hourly increasing, and nothing but a timely retreat can save him from ruin. All this is the lobster; and when overexcited nature has time to manage this testaceous incumbrance, the daughter's health recovers, the finances are in good order, and every rural idea effectually excluded from his mind. In the same manner old friendships are destroyed by toasted cheese, and hard salted meat has led to suicide. Unpleasant feelings of the body produce corresponding sensations in the mind, and a great sense of wickedness is sketched out by a morsel of indigestible and misguided food. Of such infinite consequence to happiness is it to study the body."

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Salt for Headaches.

An English doctor reports over thirty cases of headache and facial neuralgia cured by snuffing powdered salt up the nose.

Boston Cars and Boston Sewers.

W. R. Nichols, of Boston, found more than twice as much deadly carbonic acid gas in the air of passenger cars than in the Berkeley Street sewer.

Removal of Ashes and Garbage.

There is no earthly reason why the scavenging of our cities should not be done at night. The dripping swill cart and the wind-scattered ashes would be less of a nuisance at this time than when the streets are full of people.

A Substitute for Handcuffs.

A French policeman arrested three prisoners, and not having the handcuffs to secure them, he just cut off their suspender buttons. Their hands were thus occupied, and they couldn't run away, so they were marched safely to prison.

A Dangerous Hugger.

There is said to be a girl in Genesee County, New York, whose strength is so great that when she hugs a man she always breaks one or more of his ribs. When she drives with a young man she is always asked to take the lines.

An Ideally Healthy Locality.

The conversation had turned on the healthfulness of two localities.

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"In our village," said one, we don't average over a death a year."

"Why, that's a terrible mortality," replied the other; "in our town we only had one death in five years, and that was the doctor."

The Cost of "La Grippe" in England.

The cost to England of the influenza epidemic is estimated at $10,000,000, about one-half of this amount having been paid by insurance companies and friendly societies, and the remainder representing loss of wages and disorganization of business.

Wholesome Food for Russian Soldiers.

The medical department of the Russian Ministry of War has decided to establish movable laboratories of toxicological chemistry and bacteriology attached to each army corps. In these laboratories all food supplied to the

troops will be analyzed.

Tonsorial Disinfection.

The authorities at Nordhausen, in Saxony, at the suggestion of the district medical officer, have issued an order to barbers to disinfect their brushes and other implements immediately after use and before they are applied to the hair or beard of another customer.

He Retired from Business.

A strong man, under forty, was accustomed during the four months of Winter to leave home at 6 A. M., and return from business at 11 P. M. “In about three years his body grew so tired that it retired from business to a quiet place under the sod, where it is now taking a long rest."

Sweating of the Hands.

A lotion composed of four ounces of cologne water and half an ounce of tincture of belladonna, is highly recommended as a cure for the disagreeable sweating of the hands and feet, from which many persons suffer. The affected extremities should be rubbed two or three times a day with the lotion.

Malignant Scarlet Fever.

Recent observations seem to show that inflammation of the ear and other grave complications which often arise in scarlet fever, are due to secondary infection, that is, self-infection by the patient. This fact emphasizes the importance of thorough cleanliness, ventilation and disinfection in this disease.

Influence of Pure Air.

A dairy at Frankfort-on-the-Main made the following valuable observations. They kept in a standard stable eighty Swiss cows, extraordinarily well fed and treated. In the years 1878 to 1879, prior to the introduction of a ventilation system, the same yielded on an average per cow, 3,700 liters in 1877, same amount in 1878, and 3,716 liters in 1879. Subsequent to the introduced ventilation the amount of milk yielded, the food being the same, was as follows: In 1880, 4,050 liters milk per head; in 1881, 4,152; in 1882, 4,354 liters.

Contagion by Kissing a Corpse.

The following simple, yet wonderfully eloquent paragraph needs no comment; it carries its lesson so plainly that he who runs may read :

"A woman in Ohio recently lost her child by diphtheria, and forced her other children to kiss the dead body. The latter also sickened and died.”

Diet in Diseases of the Kidney.

According to Dujardin-Beaumetz, the nourishment should consist chiefly of hard-boiled eggs and such vegetables as beans, peas, lentils and potatoes, which may be made into a thick soup. Green vegetables may be used and also mush made from corn, barley, or oats. Fruit may be eaten freely. The drink should consist of milk.

Spurious Cloves.

Spurious cloves are reported from Germany. They consist of a paste of wheat flour and ground oak bark, with a small proportion of genuine clove, pressed into metal moulds and roasted. In general external appearance they approximate closely the genuine. In the mouth they soften to a gritty paste,

color the saliva brown, and have a remarkable bark flavor.

To Clean Lamp Burners.

To clean lamp burners, take a piece of sal soda the size of a walnut, put into a quart of soft water, put your lamp burner in it (an old tomato can is good enough), set it on the stove; after boiling for five minutes remove the burner, and when put back on the lamp will be as good as new. All the carbon on the old burners should be removed once every month.

Comparative Value of Cows and Steers.

Three and a half pounds of milk are said to be equal to one pound of meat; and if we estimate a cow to give but 4000 pounds of milk in a year, her product would be equal in food value to 1000 pounds of meat, which would require a steer, under ordinary feeding, four years to produce; so that the cow produces as much return for her food in one year as a steer does in four.

Perpetual Paste.

A correspondent of the Br. and Col. Dr., gives directions for making a paste which will keep twelve months. Dissolve a teaspoonful of alum in a quart of warm water, cool, stir in flour to give it the consistence of a thick cream, carefully breaking up all lumps; then stir in as much powdered resin as will lie on a sixpence, and half a dozen cloves to give it a flavor. Have on a fire a sauce-pan with a teacupful of boiling water. Pour the flour mixture into it and stir well all the time. In a few minutes it will be of the consistence of porridge; then pour it into a jar, let it cool, cover it and keep it in a cool place. When any is needed, take out a small portion and soften it with warm water.

Rest.

Rest, as well as exercise, is indispensable to health and life.

Good health, says a retired manufacturer, watching the strife from which he has withdrawn, tells of five business men under forty-four, in the circle of his personal acquaintance, who within one year died of brain or kidney disease, or went to the madhouse, all from overwork.

Laws of Health.

TRAMP " Thankee kindly, mum; I'd no hope of gettin' sich a fine supper to-day, mum. May heaven bless ye!" May heaven bless ye!" Housekeeper—“As you've had

a good supper, I think you might chop some wood." "Yes, mum; but you know the old adage, ‘After a dinner rest a while; after supper walk a mile.' I'll walk the mile first, mum."

Elastic Mucilage.

Dissolve I part of salicylic acid in 20 parts of alcohol, add 3 parts of soft soap and 3 parts of glycerine. Shake thoroughly and add the mixture to a mucilage prepared from 93 parts of gum arabic and the requisite amount of water (about 180 parts). This mucilage keeps well, and when it dries remains elastic without tendency to cracking.

Perfumery as a Detective.

The well-known detection of a crime in Diplomacy, through the perfume of a woman's glove, was reproduced by a recent occurrence in Paris. A man who found his room robbed of all his jewelry perceived a peculiar perfume, and a few days later noticed it again when passing two well-dressed women in the street. They were arrested and found to be the thieves.

Removing Indelible Ink.

Physicians are often asked how to remove indelible ink, and they sometimes cannot quite remember, so the Medical and Surgical Reporter mentions the following method: First moisten the stain with tincture of iodine, and, after a few minutes, remove the iodine stain with a solution of hyposulphite of soda. Finally wash in clean water. Repeat if necessary.

The Influence of Diet on Character.

The Dietetic Gazette says: "By searching we might find that the egotism, conservatism, and tenaciousness of the Englishman are as much the results of his beef and ale as is his gout; that the sparkling bonhomie of the Frenchman comes from his cuisine and bubbling champagne, as do also his mercurial disposition and his passionate life; that the maccaroni and fortified wines bestow song and art on the Italian, as do beer and sauerkraut stamp solidity and patriotism on the German. America, ever able to give the world a lesson, contributes rush and dyspepsia as the production of hog and whisky.