50,000 previously collected. From tables embodying the results of these inquiries it appeared that the London letter-sorters were the lowest in height, the average between the ages of 20 and 35 being 64-67.1 inches. They were also the lowest in point of weight, being only from 122.5 to 139.9 lbs. The metropolitan police stood at the head of both lists, height 69.2-71-5 inches and weight 162-5-182.7 pounds. From other tables it appeared that the average of weight and height varies with the social position and occupations of the people, so that to arrive at the typical proportions of the British race it would be necessary to measure a proportionate number of individuals of each class. Taking the census of 1871 as a standard, a model community should consist of 14.82 per cent of the non-laboring class, 47.46 per cent of the laboring class, and 37.72 per cent of the artisan and operative classes. The nearest approach to such a representative population will be found in some of the larger county towns, such as York, Derby, and Exeter. In the professional class the full stature is attained at 21 years, and in the artisan class between 25 and 30 years. According to some American statistics a slight increase in height takes place up to the 35th year. The growth in weight does not cease with that of the stature, but continues slowly in both classes up to about the 30th

year. Similar investigations which have been made in other countries have led so far to coin

cident results that it is hoped that, in course of time, information of great value will be elicited. -Nature.

A RAPID CURE FOR COLD.-R. Rudolfi reports in the Gazzetta Medica Italiana the following observation made on himselff. Being seized with a severe coryza, he happened to chew one or two twigs of the eucalyptus, at the same time swallowing the saliva secreted, which had a bitter and aromatic flavor. To his surprise he found that in the course of half an hour the nasal catarrh had disappeared. Some days later he was seized with another attack from a fresh exposure to cold, when the same treatment was followed by an equally fortunate result. He then prescribed the remedy to several of his patients, all of whom were benefited in the same way. He believes that this treatment is only suitable in acute cases.British Medical Journal.

A TELL-TALE COMPASS.-To the captain of a ship it is of prime importance to know whether the vessel is steering on her proper course or not. His first question before leaving his berth in the morning often is, "Steward, how's her head?" and many a passenger will remember the steward's early visit to the binnacle in order to prepare his answer. Mr.

H. A. Severn has devised a tell-tale compass which obviates the necessity for inquiry and the trouble of going on deck, and gives the captain the information he requires even in his own cabin. An electrical apparatus connected with a compass is fitted into a small box, which may be carried to any part of the ship; two adjustable index hands are placed above the card, and these, with allowance for deviations, are set to the vessel's course. Unbroken si

l'ence indicates that all is going well; but let the vessel once overpass the limits of deviation, and an electric bell rings and continues to ring until the right course is again steered. With two bells unlike in tone, one for starboard the other for port, it would be easy to ascertain the direction of the deviation, and thus lessen some extent the risks of navigation in crowded seas or near a coast.

to

VARIETIES.

VARIETY IN OCCUPATION.-There is a powerful reason for preferring a preponderance of intellectual over muscular exercises in all conditions of life, healthy or otherwise. The mind, unlike the body, is capable of perpetual and apparently unlimited development during the whole extent of life, while its influence over the body is, even in ordinary subjects, at least as great as the converse influence of the body. With the highly cultured it seems to be much greater, and this is probably the reason why brain-workers generally attain a greater age than others. We cannot doubt that, cæteris paribus, intellectual activity sufficiently varied is beneficial to the health rather than otherwise. As modern European life is constituted, complete mental rest for days and weeks together is necessary, in periods more or less frequent, for every brain-worker. By rest, indeed, we do not mean self-imposed inactivity or banishment from all else but ourselves and our thoughts, for, with Cowper, we believe that.

"Absence of occupation is not rest,

A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd." Probably this kind of mental inaction is seldom necessary, or even advisabl.. But besides the directly physical benefits of cessation from professional work, change of air, and other slight changes, restful elements are to be sought in the semi-emotional, semi-intellectual, recreation of music and art, already noticed, and of unfamiliar scenery; in such social exercises as acting and play-going, debating, card-playing, singing, and dancing; and, above all, in the pleasures of friendships and social intercourse. The principal difference which we believe should always exist between the occupations of the two sexes is, that women should never

give themselves over to such exhausting forms of work, whether of brain or of muscles, as men may. This is not so much because of their average strength being lower (for average considerations should not bind the exceptions) as because experience shows that such occupations tend to impair the distinctive grace and freshness of the sex. How much the human race owes to this freshness of life, usually preserved so much longer in women, none can tell, but all instinctively recognize its influence. The danger of desultory habits and moods, as a result of frequent variety in occupation, is, we believe, greatly exaggerated. It exists principally for those whose early eduIcation has been defective and limited, and whose natures have been formed in such a narrow mould that they cannot properly assimilate and dispose of the results of varied experience. For those who, coming of a cultured stock, have received a thorough and comprehensive training in early life, there should be no such danger. When their education is complete and this rule holds good for both sexes-they should choose and enter upon one regular occupation, but not be bound by any rules which their own taste and discretion does not fix, in the disposal of their leisure. The more variety in this the better.-Kensington.

TWILIGHT THOUGHTS.

O WINTER twilight, while the moon
Grows whiter on the deepening blue,
I find some brief-lived thoughts in you,
That rise not in the night or noon.
Of faded loves, that once were sweet,
But now are neither sweet nor sad;
Of hopes that, distant, looked so glad,
Yet lie, unnoticed, at our feet:
Of these I think, until the red

Has wasted from the Western sky,
And royal reigns the Moon on high ;-
What profits to lament the dead?
Small profit; yet in dreams that hold
One hand to forward, one to past,
We stay the years that fly so fast,
And link our new lives to the old..

F. W. B.

CONTAGION.-Contagion consists physically of minute solid particles. The process of contagion consists in the passage of these from the bodies of the sick into the surrounding atmosphere, and in the inhalation of one or more of them by those in the immediate neighborhood. If contagion were a gaseous or vapory emanation, it would be equally diffused through the sick-room, and all who entered it would, if susceptible, suffer alike and inevitably. But such is not the case; for many people are exposed for weeks and months without suffering. Of two persons situated in exactly the same circumstances, and exposed in exactly the same degree to a given contagion, one may suffer, and the other escape. The explanation of this

is that the little particles of contagion are irregularly scattered about in the atmosphere, so that the inhalation of one or more of them is purely a matter of chance, such chance bearing a direct relation to the number of particles which exist in a given cubic space. Suppose that a hundred germs are floating about in a room containing two thousand cubic feet of air. There is one germ for every twenty cubic feet. Naturally the germs will be most numerous in the immediate neighborhood of their source, the person of the sufferer; but, excepting this one place, they may be pretty equally distributed through the room, or they may be very unequally distributed. A draught across the bed may carry them now to one side, now to the other. The mass of them may be near the ceiling or near the floor. In a given twenty cubic feet there may be a dozen germs, or there may be none at all. One who enters the room may inhale a germ before he has been in it ten minutes, or he may remain there for an hour without doing so. Double the number of germs and you double the danger. Diminish the size of the room by one half, and you do the same. Keep the windows shut, and you keep the germs in; open them, and they pass out with the changing air. Hence the importance of free ventilation; and hence one reason why fever should be treated, if possible, in large airy rooms. Not only is free ventilation good for the sufferer, but it diminishes the risk to the attendants.-Nineteenth Century.

TWO LOVERS.

I.

Love my lover; on the neights above me
He mocks my poor attainment with a frown;
I, looking up as he is looking down,
By his displeasure guess he still doth love me;
For his ambitious love would ever prove me
More excellent than I as yet am shown,
So straining for some good ungrasped, unknown,
I vainly would become his image of me.

And, reaching through the dreadful gulfs that sever
Our souls, I strive with darkness nights and days
Till my perfected work towards him I raise,
Who laughs thereat and scorns me more than ever;
Yet his upbraiding is beyond all praise.
This lover that I love I call Endeavor.

II.

I have another lover loving me,

Himself beloved of all men, fair and true. He would not have me change although I grew Perfect as light, because more tenderly He loves myself than loves what I might be. Low at my feet he sings the winter through, And never won I love to hear him woo. For in my heaven both sun and moon is he, To my bare life a fruitful-flooding Nile, His voice like April airs that in our isle Wake sap in trees that slept since Autumn went, His words are all caresses, and his smile The relic of some Eden ravishment; And he that loves me so I call Content.

A. MARY F. ROBINSON.