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the Mind what seems to be a disease is a false belief, a Parasite, a hateful excrescence, and that what happens in the Body is the Shadow of the lie in the Soul. Lord, help us to believe that all evil is utterly unreal; that it is silly to be sick, absurd to be ailing, wicked to be wailing, atheism and denial of God to say, 'I am sick.' Help us to stoutly affirm with our hand in Your hand, with our eyes fixed on Thee, that we have no dyspepsia, that we never had dyspepsia, that we will never have dyspepsia, that there is no such thing, that there never was any such thing, and that there never will be any such thing, Amen."

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BARELY fifteen years can have elapsed since the automatic coin-in-the-slot machine first appeared in public places to supply customers with cigarettes, matches, chocolates, sweetmeats, stationery, etc.; while in its latest phase this contrivance-in conjunction with a lighted street lamp-has been made available for the automatic purveyance of hot water and hot drinks. Surely, it may be thought, this extremely utilitarian. invention can only have been due to the ingenuity of the present generation; and it is, therefore, startling to learn that the automatic machine is one of the oldest projects in everyday use, since it was known a century before Christ, being the invention of that great mathematician, Hero of Alexandria, who flourished B.C. 117-81.

Hero invented what he termed a "sacrificial vessel which flows only when money is introduced," and a full description of this apparatus is contained in his famous treatise on pneumatics, reissued by Thevenot, royal librarian to Louis XIV. of France, in the year 1692. "If into certain sacrificial vessels a coin of five drachms be thrown, water or wine shall flow out and surround them," so runs the postulate.

The explanation of the mechanism inside

the vase was very simple; the vessel contains another holding the wine, and near to the latter is placed a vertical rod about which turns a well-balanced beam. When the coin is dropped through the slot it falls on one end of this horizontal beam, which being depressed, opens a valve suspended from a chain at the other end, and the wine commences to flow out through a pipe.— From Good Words.

A CERTAIN learned professor was instructing a class of schoolboys about the circulation of the blood. To make sure that they understood, he proceeded to question. them.

"Can you tell me," said he, "why it is that if I were to stand on my head there would be a rush of blood to my head, and that there is no rush of blood to my feet when I stand upon them?"

For a moment there was a silence, and then a small boy answered:"It's because you feet are not empty, sir.”

INSOMNIA.

THERE are a few of us who have not at some period or the other of our lives suffered from inability to sleep, and have not tried every possible expedient to woo "Nature's sweet restorer." Most people, of course, have their favorite prescription for obtaining sleep. Some, in imagination, watch sheep jumping through a hedge one after the other; others fancy they see ships sailing out to sea. The late Dr. Wilberforce used to repeat very slowly A, E, I, O, U-a vowel at each inspiration and expiration. Many, doubtless, have heard of the midshipman who, when at home, could not sleep because there were no waves beating against the sides of the ship, and got his mother to imitate the familiar sound by dashing pails of water against his bedroom. door. We might observe, en passant, that

this mother must have been a most selfsacrificing person, not only to forego her own rest, but also, from a strict sense of maternal affection, to risk the ruin of her household goods by the inundation. We own, therefore, to a little scepticism as regards the strict accuracy of this tale. Be this as it may, a safe remedy for want of sleep-less original, perhaps, than any of the above, but suited almost to everybody -is nothing more or less than eating onions. The late Frank Buckland once said: "Everybody knows the taste of onions; this is due to a peculiar essential oil contained in this most valuable and healthy root. This oil has, I am sure, highly soporific powers. In my own case it never fails. If I am much pressed with work, and feel I shall not sleep, I eat two or three small onions, and the effect is magical."

FLOAT OUT, O SOUL!

Float out, O Soul, into the glowing west, Join yonder clouds that wait thee as their guest,

And as their fleecy forms around thee fold, Robe thee in purple fringed with burnished gold.

They are to us the portals of the skies,
Thou shalt discover what beyond them lies.
Float gently on into the vast expanse
That stretches far beyond our human
glance,

Through seas and seas of never ending light

Undimmed forever by the shades of night.
No moon, no sun, no stars can add a ray
To the bright light of that resplendent day.
Float ever on, and now thou art aware
Of forms celestial in the ambient air,
The white-winged spirits that on pinions
fleet

Are sent before thy homing way to meet. With these as guides soar on in glad surprise,

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Wouldst know, O Soul, what is this airy flight,

Thou takest thus through realms of golden

light,

This floating forth upon the last-drawn breath?

This is, in mortal language, this is death.
But in the language by immortals used
The ear is never by that word confused,
'Tis never heard beyond this scene of strife,
They call it coming through the Gate of
Life.

-Andrew H. Smith, in the Post Graduate.

THE SUPERABUNDANCE OF MEDICAL MEN.

UNDER this caption the Medical Record expresses some alarm at the present status and future prospects of the country.

We do not share in this professional foreboding. Natural conditions will soon readjust the matter. Lean results in the matter of fees every year drive doctors into other lines of business. Supply is temporarily in excess of demand, but the checks exist and will inevitably forge to the front.

This is the plaint of the Record:

"There are few countries of the civilized world in which the supply of medical men is not more than equal to the demand. Probably Russia is almost the only exception. In Great Britain competition among doctors is painfully acute, and a similar statement applies with equal force to France and Austria. It is notorious that the evil is more accentuated in the United States than in any other part of the globe, and that, unless steps are taken to restrict the output, the situation from being serious will become absolutely alarming.

"In Germany the aspect of affairs, viewed from the physician's standpoint, can hardly be termed encouraging, for the practisers of the healing art increase and multiply out of all proportion.

"Mr. Oliver J. D. Hughes, United States Consul-General to Germany, has recently

sent to the Assistant Secretary of State at Washington some quotations from an article which appeared in The Aerztliche Central-Anzeiger, with regard to the position of medical men in Germany. It appears from the article in question that in 1880, on an average, one physician was counted for every 3,400 inhabitants; in 1900, there was one for every 2,000, and, in all likelihood, in 1906, the proportion will be one to 1,850 people.

"Not only is the present position of medical men in Germany unsatisfactory, but their prospects for the future are even more gloomy.

"The total number of physicians in Germany now amounts to 28,500, only 6 per cent. of whom are in the employment of the State. The remaining 94 per cent. get no pension, are not freed from municipal taxes, and most of them are compelled to pay a considerable house rent.

"It is computed that, up to 1906, about 500 physicians will die every year, while 1,350 young physicians will come from the medical schools, so that their number will be increased by 860 yearly.

"The German physician's lot does not compare favorably with that of the American. He has to study for at least six years and a half, generally for a longer term than this, and must spend more than 12,000 marks ($2,856) on his studies. After all this work and expenditure of money it is stated that more than one-half of the German physicians make less than 3,000 marks ($714) a year.

"From 1887 to 1896 the increase of the population of Germany amounted to 115 per cent., while the number of physicians during the same period augmented by 63.8 per cent."

HOW TO LIVE CHEAPLY.

ONE of the subjects talked and written about a good deal at the present time is how to live cheaply. Prices of all the great staples of life are high. Rents are enor

mous. Fashions are exacting. Wants multiply while resources diminish. How to make strap and buckle meet is the problem which presses on hundreds of housekeepers. It is what is done to keep up appearances that destroys the equilibrium between outgo and income, and makes life a drudgery and vexation. How to live cheaply is a question easy enough to answer if one will be content with a cheap living. Substitute comfort for show. Put convenience in the place of fashion. Study simplicity. Refuse to be beguiled into a style of living above what is required by your position in society, and is justified by your resources. Set a fashion of simplicity, neatness, prudence and inexpensiveness, which others will be glad to follow, and thank you for introducing.

Infuse dignity, sincerity, kindness, virtue and love into your simple and inexpensive home and its members will never miss the costly fripperies and showy adornments, and they will be happier in the cozy and comfortable apartments than most of their wealthy neighbors are in their splendid establishments. It does not follow that in order to live cheaply one must live meanly. The best comforts of life are not costly Taste, refinement, good cheer, wit, and even elegance, are not expensive.—Domestic Magazine.

JAMES CLARENCE HARVEY, the poet, is a very effective after-dinner speaker, and always has an apropos story to tell. His latest is as follows: "An Irishman died in a remote county in Ireland where there were none of the refinements of mortuary art. His relatives were anxious to have his name and the date of his birth and death engraved upon a coffin plate, so the village tinker was sent for.

"How old was he?' asked the tinker. "Twenty-eight,' was the reply. "Well,' said the tinker, 'I'm afraid I can't do the job, for I can't make an “8;” there's too many curlicues in it; but I could

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As we mentioned a week or two ago, Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson holds that the continued use of arsenic may lead to cancer. He now goes a step further and suggests1 that the large increase in the prevalence of cancer which has taken place during the recent years may be due to the fact that modern processes of manufacture have introduced arsenic in yearly increasing quantity into various largely-used articles of diet. As an illustration of the increasing and hitherto unsuspected presence of arsenic in food he takes the case of beer. The revelations just made before the Royal Commission as to the almost inevitable presence of arsenic in all beer which is made from malt dried over coke, make it seem more than probable that for the last few centuries during which coal and coke have been gradually superseding wood for the drying of malt, the community have been habitually consuming arsenical salts. Now it is precisely during these years that cancer is supposed to have ⚫ been increasing. The cases lately observed have amply illustrated the difficulty that exists in diagnosing many cases of chronic arsenical poisoning, and it is probable. probable enough that a considerable number of cases which have in years past been registered as "peripheral neuritis," "vagabond's melasma," "pernicious anemia," "Addison's dis

1 Polyclinic, May, 1902.

ease," "multiple cancer of skin" and other names may in reality have had their origin in the dietetic imbibition of arsenic. "Now if, as seems proved, the continuous use of arsenic in small medicinal doses can predispose the skin to multiple cancer, there seems no reason," he says, "for doubting that it may do the same for the other tissues, and for the mucous membranes and the viscera." Of course "there must also be the constitutional tendency, the appropriate age, and in some cases the local irritation," but if it can be shown, as it apparently can, that modern methods have opened many new channels by which arsenic may obtain access to our bodies, and if the prolonged use of arsenic can so modify nutrition, as to lead to the development of cancer, it seems only a legitimate use of the scientific imagination to suggest that the absorption of arsenic may be at least one cause of the modern increase in the prevalence of the disease. Mr. Hutchinson's remarks concerning the arsenical nature of the gases derived from the combustion of coal may perhaps throw some light upon the causation of "chimney-sweep's cancer." It has always been somewhat of a mystery why the irritation of soot should be so peculiarly provocative of the cancer process. But if soot contains arsenic, and arsenic causes cancer, all ought to be plain sailing.

HINTS FOR THE DOCTOR'S WIFE.

SPECKS made by insects upon gilded picture frames may be removed by dipping a soft camel's-hair brush in alcohol and applying it to the spots.

A cook should remember that a pinch or two of salt thrown on the red-hot coals when meat is being broiled, will immediately quench the blaze caused by the dripping fat.

Willow furniture may be cleansed with salt and water, applied with stiff nail-brush.

BLACKHEADS.

IN speaking of "blackheads," a contemporary uses the following plain language: "These are simply dirty pores. Deny it all one may, the disgusting fact remains that the pores are not kept open by daily washings of the face with warm water and the best soap, aided by brisk, hard rubbing with a' soft cloth, followed by a brisk, hard rubbing with a towel. Oh, no, women who know that a greasy cloth needs soap and water and plenty of soaking, who know that perspiration is an oily fluid that seeks to escape from the system, to bring to the surface many impurities, and who know that the skin has thousands of tiny sewers, whose outlets are these pores, will still cling to an inherited, ignorant whimsey that to keep the skin of the face soft and fine 'cold water and no soap' must be used on the face. They have the face' to say it, and their grimy, coarse-skinned faces attest the fact. Some of them at fifty discover that something is the matter, but would not properly 'wash' even then, but hire some shrewd woman to grease their faces and rub off the dirt and rub out the wrinkles. Every age has its wrinkles, and facial massage is largely a wrinkle of the present age.'"

And then the writer adds that, "for a face that has accumulated dirt for fifty years, a good emollient is to rub with finelybolted, wet Indian meal once a day, after softening the skin well with soapy warm water, then rinse well with warm water." If the latter is not done, the face will be rough. The face cloth is better than a sponge. All of which is good, sensible hygiene.

THE ONE HUNDREDTH JAG.

THE Philadelphia Medical Journal says that it is very rare that a man survives his one hundredth jag. The maximum capacity of a man for alcohol is about two thousand gallons of whisky in fifteen years.

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PROBABLY nothing tires one so much as feeling hurried. When in the early morning the day's affairs press on one's attention beforehand, and there comes a wonder how in the world everything is to be accomplished, when every interruption is received impatiently, and the clock is watched in distress as the moments flit past, then the mind tires the body. We are wrong to drive ourselves with whip and spur in this way. Each of us is promised strength for the day, and we must not wear ourselves out. If only we keep cool and calm, we shall be less wearied when we reach the eventide. The children may be fractious, the servants trying, the friend we love may fail to visit us, the letter we expect may not arrive; but if we can preserve our tranquility of soul and demeanor we shall get through everything creditably.

"ABSENT TREATMENT," says American Medicine, is the device whereby the hordes of modern American quacks are prosecuting their calling. The people seem also to be in a frenzy of wild superstition upon the subject. So great has become the popularity of the method that the modesty of the healers is overwhelmed by the te deums of the healed, and by the applications of the would-be healed to take their money and institute the absent treatment therefor. "I was forced into taking patients," says one. The healers naturally become indifferent to all the ordinary conditions of reason and materiality, ignore time and differences of longitude, and they even boast that they do not treat each patient personally. How could they when bushels of letters demand attention? Strange as it may seem, this absent treatment mania may both kill and cure itself through the action of the United States Government as expressed in rulings of the Postmaster-General. Is a thought a marketable article? is the question the Government has to decide. Mrs. Helen Wil

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