Seavengers in Your Lungs.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8017, 2 January 1906, Page 4

Seavengers in Your Lungs.

One of the most wonderful pieces of mechanism in the body i 6 the contrivance for clearing out dust and other injurious things from the lungs. Anatomists call it ciliated epithelium. It is the skin which lines the tubes of the lungs, the lower part of the windpipe, the nose, and the little tube that connects the ear witli the back of the mouth. This skin, instead of being made np of flat layers like the skin of the hnnds, face, etc., is composed of little shells shaped like carrots, and placed side by side, with their ' thick ends uppermost. Projecting from these thick ends are little hairs, or cilia, from twenty to thirty being attached to each ceil. There are hundreds of millions of millions of them, and they are always in wave-like motion, just like corn moved by the wind. Although they are only 1-30,000 th of an inch long, and so fine that they can scarcely be seen by the most powerful microscope, they do an immense amount of work. About ten times per second they move swiftly forward, and then slowly back again. In this way they cause a constant flow of the fluids to take place in an outward direction, and with the fluid come the particles of smoke, dust and other things which we are always breathing in. They Follow Ships. Whales are not the only creatures that accompany ships. Sharks are the best-known followers. Their motive is, however, purely a mercenary one. They are the scavengers of the ocean, and swt\)low everything that is dropped overboard, including such trifles as feathers, ashes and old boots. The ferocity of the shark has been greatly exaggerated. They areas cowardly as wolves. You may ewini in perfect safety in shark-infested waters if jou make plenty of splashing. Almost as common u ship-follower as the shark is the porpoise. In the clear, green waters arouud the West Indian cojists shoala of porpoises—sometimes two or three hundred in number—will gather round a ship, darting up and down, and constantly throwing half their length out of the wave-tops. The speed at which they swim is simply Amazing.

A Japanese Prison, Imagine a pnrk or garden in the Japanese style, with dwarf trees, surrounded by a hedge, instead of a wall. In this park one sees a group of Jupane.se houses, like those occupied by the peasants. The prisoners are all nt work proportioned to their physical ability. Some are threshing and grinding rice; others are weaving coarse cloth, of a dark red color, of which the prison uniforms are made; the old and infirm are separating leaves oi paper. All of them receive a percentage of their earnings. Tho younger prisoners are in school. The discipline is military in form, but in its spirit reformatory. There are few evasions, notwithstanding the ease with which they could be effected. One reason for this is the efficiency of the Japanese police, which is said to be the best in the world. The prisoners are divided into three gvade3, and are differently fed, according as they are idle and refractory, amenable to discipline, or exceptionally well behaved. The only other punishment is solitary confinement in a sort of dungeon, not exceeding five days. No prisoner may be discharged, however short his term of sentence, unless his family or friends assume responsibility for him. The result has been the organisation of a large number ofpri. Boners' aid societies.

Where Batles are Salted, The remarkable custom of salting nowborn babies is still practised in certain parts of Europe and Asia. The method varies with the differing nationalities of thu people using it. The Armenians of Russia cover the entire skin of the infant with a very fine salt. This is left on the baby for three hours or more, and then washed off with warm water. A mountain tribe of Asia Minor, is even more merciless than tho Armenians. They keep their new-born babies covered with salt for twenty-four hours. Sovereigns in Soot, Chimney soot is one of the richest fertilisers known. That from coal is very rich in ammonia. When coal i 3 burned ammonia is set free, and during the various changes which take place in the process sulphite and carbonate of ammonia are both formed. Soot is a highly compound substance, containing not only ammonia, but lime, sulphuric acid, acetic acid, nitric acid, chlorine, and iron, nearly all of which are valuable, directly or indirectly. Soot is sold in England for about £lO a ton. It is often thrown away as worthless by those who do not know its value, but farmers should save evory ounce for use. Sprinkled around some kinds of plants, it often prevents attacks from insects, and the rains then carry it down into the earth, where it does duty us a fertiliser