energy and precision, I aid in the development of the accordant center, I am improving the cerebral organism, building for myself a better and more symmetrical mental fabric. I am firmly convinced that the better and firmer the union of each hand with its proper hemisphere of the brain, the better the brain and mind, and the better the thought, the reason and the imagination will be. I claim better results from the right hand when the left hand is worked also, than from the right hand working alone, in almost any kind of hand work. In two hundred and forty trades, or crafts, the workman employs both hands quite freely, and in certain occupations, like carving, engraving, modeling and chasing, the left hand works as much as the right. All progress is a matter of persistence and self-control.

"Memory-drawing," says our author, “is one of the most beneficial exercises for expanding the mind and giving the artistic ability so much to be desired educationally. All good artists sketch incessantly; it is beneficial even to recall forms and designs when there is no opportunity to put them down on paper. We should be able to think compositions and designs, and mentally to change them from state to state, just as the character of our speech or the current of our ideas change when we are thinking or reasoning." The pupils are required to memorize units of the different styles of design, and then make original combinations of them. Mr. Tadd states that from nine hundred children doing this work he has had no two designs exactly alike.

Then follow careful directions for carrying on the work, with over three hundred and eighty photographs, representing children working in every necessary position and of the work as it is really done by the children-not as one might imagine it should be done. The size of blackboard recommended for each pupil is 4x5 feet, so that large curves requiring exercise of the arms may be made. An erect, wellbalanced position is necessitated and work with both hands simultaneously cultivates

great freedom and certainty of touch. Cheap manila paper of a light color-thirty-six pounds to the ream-is said to be good for practice work, and a half sheet eighteen by twenty-four is suitable for desk work. They use a medium soft pencil and no eraser.

In each department devoted to drawing, carving, coloring and modeling, careful and practical directions are given for carrying on the work from first to last.

He advocates the use of natural objects for standards in color, not the stained paper we are all familiar with, and insists on cultivating a love of nature and beauty by study of natural objects. Use the natural leaf, fruit, bird, insect, as model for form and color when feasible.

It is impossible to give more than a hint of all the good things in this volume without quoting the whole book. Every page is luminous with hope for better results from educational efforts in the future.

SALT A SUGGESTED CAUSE OF CANCER.

DR. BRAITHWAITE, of Leeds, in the London Lancet, suggests that cancer results from the use of an excess of salt in the diet. It may be that several causes co-operate in the production of the disease; it may be that there is an over-nourished condition of the body resulting from eating too much, and especially too much meat; or a loading of the body with effete non-oxidized matters, as among those who lead indolent and indoor lives; or, again, that some local irritant or stimulant may determine the place at which cancer shall develop; but whatever may be the part played by these conditions, Dr. Braithwaite holds that the one factor which will be found to be operative in all cases is an excess of salt in the diet. supporting his suggestion he points to the asserted rarity of cancer among the Jews, who do not eat pork; to the fact brought out by a recent research into the distribution of cancer in Buffalo, that the increase in

In

the prevalence of cancer which has taken place there has fallen specially upon the foreign-born population, and particularly on the Germans, who eat much salted food; and to the generally asserted relation existing between prevalence of cancer and the consumption of large quantities of meat, which, he says, contains large quantities of salt. At first sight what he says about the Jews might seem to incriminate the pig. But he points out that the pig is just the one domestic animal in which no case of cancer has yet been met with. Hence, if cancer occurs among those who feed on bacon, it is the salt and not the pig that does the mischief. Salt is a powerful stimulant to cell metabolism, as every wateringplace physician knows. Such stimulation, however, according to Dr. Braithwaite, may be overdone. The farmer who over-manures his fields with artificial fertilizers finds weeds as well as crops grow up luxuriantly. So with the salt eater, in whose over-stimulated cells small provocations, which otherwise would have passed by without effect, set up infective overgrowths. It is an interesting speculation, which, however, seems to us to remain at present in the regions of pure hypothesis.

AMMONIA FOR DOMESTIC USES.

AMMONIA as known to the housewife has almost limitless uses. It is cleansing and refreshing in the bath; it cleans glass beautifully, removes grease and stains from woolens and clothing, revives the fainting, clears out drains and discourages vermin. It brightens faded colors, saves the laundress much hard labor, and has become so much of a household necessity that its sale is fairly immense.

And, as a commercial matter, of course, it is extensively adulterated. Much that is sold as "Household" ammonia consists of a small percentage of genuine ammonia and a large percentage of common sal soda held in solution in water. The cost of this

bogus ammonia is very small and explains why a very large bottle of it can be sold at a very small price.

Parsons' "Household" ammonia was a real improvement on ordinary ammonia for detergent purposes about the household.

The process by which it is made consists of the partial saponification of ordinary ammonia water by the addition of oleic acid-the chemic base of oils the resulting mixture being a solution of ammonia and ammoniacal soap. This mixture is even more cleansing, without being nearly so caustic as unmodified ammonia, and hence is less harsh on the hands as well as on delicate fabrics.

This process was patented by the late Mr. Parsons, but his product has nearly disappeared from the market for the very poor reason that more money can be made on the inferior mixtures.

Every physician ought to be able to prepare a good ammonia for his household, and from the following directions which we glean from the American Druggist, any intelligent housewife can prepare her own ammonia at a considerable saving from the cost of even the inferior market varieties.

Procure from your druggist one quart of the "stronger water" of ammonia. The technical name is aqua ammon. fort. Of course all ammonia is a solution of ammoniacal gas in water. This "stronger water" is or should be of the strength of 26 per cent. It is powerfully pungent and must be handled with as little agitation as possible and with great care when it is uncorked. If kept for any time it should be stored in cold place and out of reach of servants or children.

To one quart of this ammonia add one dram of yellow soap, half an ounce of lavender water and three and one-third quarts of distilled water.

A still better formula is, powdered borax one ounce, castile soap half an ounce, stronger water of ammonia two and a half pints, and distilled water one gallon.

The soap is to be dissolved in half a pint of boiling water, the borax and balance of

the water to be mixed with the ammonia and the soap solution added last.

To make the "violet" ammonia a weaker solution is used and extract of violet, orris root, or some other odor is added.

A GREAT EXPERIMENT IN HYGIENE.

"LAST Saturday saw the inauguration,' says London Hospital, "of a great practical experiment in scientific hygiene. As the result of a long series of investigations the source and origin of malarial infection has been traced to the malaria parasite, and the whole history of this parasite has been laid bare. This was a great achievement. The pæans of science have been sung from many platforms, and great has been the acclaim at its unearthing this mysterious disease, a disease by which man is barred from the full utilization of perhaps half the otherwise. habitable globe. But with knowledge comes responsibility. The wondrous tale of the malaria parasite would be of only indirect importance to mankind were it not that there is hope that when its lessons are applied they may result in saving life and adding to the wealth and happiness of nations. And this is the experiment which is going to be tried; the practical application of the knowledge we possess. We know as the result of the experiments conducted last year in the Campagna by the delegates of the London School of Tropical Medicine that it is possible by protecting one's self from mosquito bites to keep free from malaria. What Dr. Ross and Dr. Logan Taylor, the delegates of the Liverpool school, who last Saturday sailed out from that city, wish to show is that by ridding a town of mosquitoes the same thing can be done for all the inhabitants. They go out with funds sufficient to employ thirty or forty natives for a year, and their aim is to clear Freetown of mosquitoes by filling up the puddles and emptying the tanks of water in which they breed;

and by fumigating the houses in which they lodge they hope to put a check to the multiplication of the mosquito and thus to break up the cycle of the malaria parasite's life by eliminating the creature in whose body one phase of that cycle must be passed. This once done the municipal authorities must continue the work. The experiment will go on for ten years, but long before then we may hope to see some results in the diminished prevalence of this fell disease."

HOW TO TREAT MUSCULAR AND JOINT SPRAINS OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.

HALDOR SNEVE says, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, that in a vast majority of so-called sprains, there will be no elevation to be felt by the palpating finger, and in these cases the cold douche and static electricity, both for its local and mental effect, give remarkable recoveries. In his recapitulation he says: 1. Ligaments are rarely if ever torn in so-called sprains, and are never stretched.

2. The pathology in the majority of sprains is a rupture of the areolar and connective tissue around the joint, and a contusion of the lining of the joints.

3. Immobilization of muscles is not rest. On the contrary, in all sprains the muscles. should have passive exercise the first few hours and days, and active exercise after that. In the majority of cases active exercise should be instituted from the beginning.

4. The plaster casts should not be used. at all, even in cases where we have a fracture, unless it be impossible to maintain a proper position of the joint.

5. Hydrotherapy in the shape of ice applied over a wet cloth the first few hours; water in the shape of hot fomentations or in the shape of the Scottish douche, where we wish a stimulation, is of very great value.

6. The counter-irritation of static elec

tricity in conjunction with massage is the best treatment for a strain.

7. The ambulatory treatment of sprains in conjunction with massage is to-day the best treatment.

FALSE ECONOMY IS A DESTROYER.

WHAT Would you think of an engineer who would try to economize on lubricating oil, at the expense of his machinery or engine? We should say that he is very foolish, but many of us do much more foolish things; for, while we do not economize on that which would injure inanimate machinery, we economize in cheerfulness, in recreation, in play, in healthful amusements, which would lubricate life's mechanism and make it last longer.

How many of us allow the delicate machinery of our bodies, so wonderfully made, to run without lubrication until it is so worn, rasped and ground away by friction that the whole being jars and shakes, as it were, when it should run noiselessly and unconsciously!

We economize in our friendships by neglecting them; we economize in our social life until we are obliged to pause in our lifework because the axles, so to speak, have become dry, and we have to stop life's train every little while because of the hot-boxes; whereas, if we would only take our fun as we go along every day-if we would only lubricate our bearings by taking a few minutes here and there to see the ludicrous side of life or have a little chat with a friend, we might avoid much physical misery and many things detrimental to health.

How unfortunate it is that the poor, the people who should pay the least for things, pay the highest prices for nearly everything-prices which even people in better circumstances cannot afford!

They buy shoes which come to pieces almost the first time they put them on, and purchase clothing which rips, and has to be constantly sewed and resewed, and which never looks neat. They buy their coal by

the bucketful, even when they could better afford to buy it by the ton, thus paying two or three times what it is worth. They buy cheap groceries, which is the worst kind of economy; adulterated spices because they are cheaper; poor soaps, poor everythingand this is the worst kind of economy.

The poor would be shocked if they were told that they are more extravagant than the people who are well-to-do. It is not always because they cannot afford to buy in quantities, but they do not think. These people rarely calculate or use paper and pencil to figure out the cost. If poor people would learn how to use their brains, and learn to figure more how to buy, with even their small means, to the best possible advantage, and how to use the best economy -not for the day, merely, but in the long run-they would greatly improve their condition-Orison Swett Marden, in December Success.

THE MILK SUPPLY OF NEW YORK CITY.

FROM the report of the investigation into the milk supply of this city, made by the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, we condense the essentials, as follows:

This investigation into the city's milk supply is the first work of the institute to be made public. The bacteriological work was done at the laboratory of the Health Department.

The milk delivered to New York amounts to over one and a half million quarts a day. This comes from five different States and forty-four counties. Much of it is brought two hundred miles, and some of it over three hundred miles, and its production over such a wide area of territory has made anything like a general supervision impossible. While the County Medical Society accomplished little in raising the standard of pure milk, several dealers in the higher class of bottled milk were interested through the society, and had signified their willingness to coöperate, pro