HINTS ON HEALTH. IN TWO CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER I.—THE SKIN.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 117, 4 February 1873, Page 3

HINTS ON HEALTH. IN TWO CHAPTERS. — CHAPTER I.— THE SKIN.

Alfred Pcweb.

Therk's a skin without and a skin within, A covering skin and a lining skin, But the skin within is the skin without Doubled inwards and carried completely throughout. The palate, the nostrils, the windpipe, and throat, Are all of them lined with this inner coat ; Which through every part is made to extend — Lungs, Liver, and bowels, from end to end. The outside skin is a marvellous plan For exuding the dregs of the flesh of man ; While the inner extracts from the food and the air What is needed the waste in the flesh to lo^air. While it goea well with the outside skin You may feel pretty sure all's right within ; J?or if anything puts the inner s,kin out Of order, it troubles the skin without. The doctor, you know, examines your tongue To see if your stomach or bowels are wrong ; If he feels that your hands are hot and dry He is able to teil you the reason why. Too much brandy, whisky, or gin, Is apt to disorder the skin within ; While, if dirty or dry, the skin without Refuses to let the sweat come out. Good people all ! have a care of your skin, Both that without and that within ; To the first you'll give plenty of water and loap, lo the last little else besides water, we'll hope .' But always be very particular where You get your water, your food, and your air ; For if these be tainted or render'd impure, It will have its effect on your blood — be sure ! The food vrhich will ever for you bo best Is that you like most and can soonest digest ; All unripe fruit and decaying flesh Beware of, and fish that is not very fresh. Your water transparent and pure as you think it, Had better be filter' d and boil'd ere you drink it, Unless you know surely that nothing unsound Can ha»e got to it over or under the ground. But of all things the most I would havo you beware Of breathing the poison of once breathed air ; When in bed, whether out or at home you may be, Always open your window and let ik go free. With clothing and exercise keep yourself warm, And chapge your clothes quickly if drenched in a storm; For a cold caught by chilhng the outside skin Flies at once to the delicate lining within. All of you who thus kindly take care of your skin And attend to its wants without and within, Need never of small-pox feel any fears, And your skin may last you a hundrrd years

Some of the famous stage drivers of California are engaged in a controversy as to which of them can perform the most reckless feats of driving without going to destruction Clark Fo»s, the proprietor of the noted stage line running to the Geysers, makes a proposition to wager a heavy stake that he will beat the time, claimed by the opposition stage party, of seven minutes down the old Geyser grade of two measured miles from the Geyser House, with six borsos and a load of eight passengers. He also makes a proposition to drive against any other mau with the same team and load, withput reference to timo previously made. This challenge has brought out several responses, and one man. proposes to bet Fops nn even thousand dollars tha,t he dare not ride down the grade as fast as another driver — one Charley Crowoll — will dirve. The road designated for the proposed exhibitions of slilll is one of the most dangerous in the world, constantly win ling, and in many places so narrow that only about six inphes are left between the line where the outer wheels roll along and the edge of the precipices shooting down one, two, pr even three thousand feet. It would occur to some minds that the most difficult condition to fulfil in carrying out the teits proposed by the rival whips would be the finding of tho eight passengers who are stipulated for in each trial. Jlatiti Grasses in Queensland. — It is stated upon good evidence that the native grasses in Queensland are commencing to die out. The immense plains of rotting feed that once covered the Darli q Downs nave, for the last three years, been gradually but surely failing, and giving plane to bare barren patches. Runs that would a few years back carry 100,000 sheep will scarcely carry half the number, while t' p poorness of the feed would have anj extraordinary effect upon the increase. In many cases it is said that the flocks, instead of showing an increase, actually have fallen off. Why is an avoirdupois weight like au unconsciontious per3o& ? Bodause it has no icTuple*

Asbestos. — Wo take the following from the Cornwall Chronicle.— "lt Kill scarcely bo orcditcd by the majority oi the population of the colony, that the manufacture of cloth from asbestos is an old Tasm/inian or Van Diemanian industry, lost, like some of the arts known to the ancients, yet nevertheless this is. simply the fact. When thx original settlement of Port Dalrymple was at York Town, near the site of the Tasmanian Charcoal Jroii Company's woiks, the Uqveminent of the day recognised the immense Talue of the mineral deposits in the locality, and made some attempt to utilise them. Wfaoo iha Government eitaU aliment was removed to George Town, and that ancient \illage became the capital of the north, the Gov eminent erected a woollen factory there, and made their own blauLets— -verj substantial blankets too— and also a variety of fabrics suitable for clothing the prisoners. Some scentilic men, and the c weic many educated, accomplished men amongst tiie Government officurs of that period, determined to manufacture indestructible cloth from asbestos. They had some skilled woollen cloth-makers under their control, and a large quantity of asbestos fibre was procured from the ranges for Use. One great difficulty lay in the way; the fibre was so short that none of the wheels used for spinning wool and hemp into jam could be persuaded to make a thread of the tine short fibres of the asbestos. But ' whore there's a^ will there's a way,' 00l tl c self-reliant men of George Town discovered it m this instance. The asbestos was spun with fine hemp or flax, the cloth woven closo, and when the web was completed put to the crucial test of the fire. The result was the disa.ppcyau.ee of the hempen material, and the indestructible asbestos remained for use. We are informed that it was an invaluable material for shirts, cravats, pockethandkerchiefs, gloves, and socks. Every gentleman with a stock of those mado from, asbostoi cloth, was independent of his washerwoman, and to some extent of his wife, if he had one. On waslung day all he required was a good clear fire, put of the flames of which his shirts came ready for u,e, starching and ironuig being luxuries not much indulged in in those dajs. When the doctrine of free trade came into fashion, and commission agents were established in this fifth section of the world, the- indestructible shirts, cravats, &c , went out, and a very remarkable industry was lost to the colony. These are facts for which a gentleman high in offico under tuc present Government ca.n vouch, and to man i 1 Tasmania would attempt to question bis veracity if we ch Oo e to mention his nama." Anecdote or Mask Lesion.— A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine relates the following ;— " I once stood nearly half-an hour with Mark Lemon looking ataPunch in South-ampton-street. We stood in a doorway, and enjoyed the show immensely. Going to our rooms afterwards, he said, ' What do jou think my cabman had arranged for my especial honor"?' One day in the week it was Mark Lemon* custom to visit the leading contributors to Punch in the way of business relating to copy and drawings. He employed each week the same cabman, who had bought a new Hansom for the editor's weekly rounds. ' The cabby had built or bought a new Hansom for me, and had arranged to have a figure of Punch painted upon the panels. He thought it best to speak to mo before ordering the work to be done, he said. I told him he was quite right in his judgment as to tho desirability of consulting me ; that I was much pleased at his intended mark of attention in the matter of painting, but that I would rather the cab were not embellished.' " Mistaken Identity — In a fashionable Scotch church in London there has been a " scandalous " little incident, very painful to one unfoitunate man, and very amusing to many others. A gentleman well known in society reoently deserted his wife, and she, poor preature, has since been roaming about the world in search ot him. Having been informed that her husband "worshipped" pretty regularly m tbt> church alluded to, she went there in a great rago and during the service fixed her eyes on a highly respectable elder, who, though not her husband, was amazingly like him. Immediately after the service concluded, tho excited woman rushed from the gallery where she had been sitting, and w ithout vv aiting to make certain whether she was right or wrong, seized the unfortunate elder by the whiskers, and poured a shower of blows on his head. Before her mistake was made known to her and an explanation given, the poor cider's frontispiece was black and blue. He did not give the woman into custody, but, like a good Christian, took her home with him to dinner. How camk it there 9 — The following puzzle is propounded in the South Australian Register: — Mr J. P Swarm, of Salisbury, on Monday brought to the Register office the corpse of a locust which boys had found in a live state inside the egg of a native hen. The lads were as is their wont, pricking wild fowls eggs and blowing out the contents; but in one instance their elierts were unavailing, and upon their breaking the shell they saw inside a large locust,. T, lie iiuect lived till next day, when it expired, doubtless from the want of breath. The question for solution is, how did it get inside the egg, which we are assured was not cracked or punctured previously to the boys manipulating it. Our informant is thoroughly reliable, and has met w ith. no person who can give a satisfactory answ er to the above query. Tho Australasian gives the following anent the presentation of a testimonial • — '• A Melbourne resident, who was not so great a man in the ejes of anybody as himself, was some months ago on the eve of departure for Europe. Ho called at the placo of business of a wOl king jeweller, to whom he did not presume his appearanco would b.e known, and informed him that he and a few other gentlemen were about presenting a friend with a gold vase, m token, of their respect and regard, and that he had been commissioned by them to select the testimonial. A3 order was given for the manufacture of the vase. When the inscription was furnished, the jeweller, to his astonishment, found that the purchaser and the presentee v\er^ one and the same. Bcng a, prudent , tradesman, he masked his thouglist and held Ins tongue He mado the vase, engraved it, and got paid for it It probably now adorns tho sideboard of tho successful Australian colonist in his elegant English residence. Hl9 visitors read of his gold-emblazoned virtues, and distract themselves in wondering what manner of men they be who give gold cups to such men as their new acquaintance from foieign parts. How much more genuine are half tho testimonials than that which a man presents to himself?" The happiness of the human race in this world does not consist in our being devoid o£ passion?, but in our learning to command them. What la the difference between a good conscience and a brawler ? One feels in the right, tho other reels in the fight. _^______