Miscellaneous.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1598, 30 September 1882, Page 2

Miscellaneous.

AN OLD, OLD STOIJY. C-o-m-e in ! Well I declare, stranger, you gave me quite a turn 1 I — I — Avas kind of cxpectin' somebody, and for half a minute I thought mebbe as 'twas her, but she'd never stop to knock ; want a bite and a sup and a night's lodging ? Why of course ; sit down, do. I — a — most forgot lo ask you, I was that frustrated. Pour soul ! How tired and wornout you look ! I can make you comfortable for the night and give you a good meal of victuals and a shake clown on tfe floor, buit I would h-a-r-d-1-y like to put you in Lizzie's room — she was that particular, and your clothes are so wet and drabbled. Why, woman, what makes you &hake so — ague ? Never heard tell oi any in these parts. Guess you must have brought it with you. Well, a good night's rest will set you up wonderfully, and you can lie right here by the stove, and the fire a-smolderin' will keep you warm, and the light will be a-burnin' till it's broad day — broad day ! What do I keep the light a-burnin' for ? Well, now, when folks asks me that, sometimes I tells them one thing and sometimes I tells them another. I don't know a3 I mind tellin' you , because you're such a poor, misfortunit creetur, and a stranger, and my heart kind of goes out to such. You see I have a daughter. She's been away these ten years, has Lizzie, and they do say as she's livin' in grandeur in some furrin' place, and she's had her head turned with it all, for she never lets her poor old mother hear from her, and the fine people she's with coaxed her off unbeknownst to me, and I don't mind 'telling you as it was a great shook to me, and I ain't the same "woman since Lizzie went out • one night, and when she kissed me said, " Leave a light in the window, mother, till 1 come back;" and that was ten years ago, and I've never seen her since, but I've burned a light in the window every night all these ten years, arid shall till she comes home. Yes, it's hard to be, a mother and be disappointed so. I allowed she was dead till folks, as seen her well and splendid, told me different, and I was sick a long time — that's what made' 'my hair so white — but I hope she never heard of it,j 'twould have made her as miserable asl was, and her .fine things wouldn't have been much | comfort" to her,! , Folks blame her/ terribly, but I'm Her mother, and it just seems as^if T could see* her ; -so, pretty, with Her Jong brown, curlsj arid^thejSmUe^sheh'ad/and.her gentle v?ays,'.aM>l' Joying her better than, Heaven! above .me' Ft"' TfiisTis'tmy pu v nishment^-to"sit' alonej<alliday. and never to sleep.at -night,- °^l rhear'ner-'crying^'-Mother! mother I .w c here*

it's my child that "was lost and ia found— pu out the light— put out the light, for the night is over and it's the clc*r, broad day at last I — The Detroit Free Press.

THE POSITION AND MOVEMENTS OF THE STOSUOH. According ,to Dr. Leshaft, the Professor of Anatomy at St. - Petersburgh, the statements current ip anatomical ,. text books tlie normal position of the. ; stomach' are erroneous. He has made careful observations on the point in more than twelve hundred bodies, and has arrived at the following conclusions : The stomach does not, as is -usually asserted,, lie horizontally in the abdominal cavity, but vertically, so that the fundus touches the diaphragm ; the smaller curvature and pylorus are to the right, and the larger curvature is to the left. Its position is in the left hypochondrium, and the situation of the pylorus is in the vertical line formed by a continuation of the right margin of the sternum. If the stomach is enlarged, no one part can be alone displaced, but all parts are equally moved by the distention. The arrangement of the muscular fibers of the stomachs is such that food entering it is moved toward the pylorus, where it can be most thoroughly mixed with the gastric juices, and it then passes back along the centre of the cavity to the fundus, where the resistance is least. This movement of the food along the wall to the pylorus, and back again along the centre, is rendered possible by the form of the organ and it is probable that it is to thi3 movement that the peculiar shape of the fundus is due. As is well known, the fundus is absent in newlyborn children. Thus the shape of the stomach determines the long retention of food in the organ for the purposes of digestion, and its slow passage through the pylorus. If the transverse colon is distended with gas, it may rise to the left of the stomach, as high as the fourtlTintercostal space, and even as high as the fourth rib. If the coils of the small intestine are similarly distended, the lower part of the stomach may be pressed forward, and the stomach may assume a more oblique position. Even a large stomach, accustomed to difitic repletion, maintains a vertical position but the pylorus is moved a little upward and to the right. — The Lancet.

STOBIES WITHOUT MORALS. It so happened that both George and James did not wish to attend school one day. When asked their reasons against going to school on that particular day, George promptly replied that ho wanted to go fishing, but James said that in his opinion one's brain gains needed strength by occasional rest ; that he thought perhaps he might, by way of change, learn quite as much away from school in the contemplation of nature's changeful moods, and that, notwithstanding an almost uncontrollable impulse dragging him schoolward, it would, no doubt, ease his aching head and tense nerves to stay away for one day. So George was sent to school, and James went fishing. George was an honest lad, but James possessed the instincts of a politician, and carried his point. Bichard was given ten cents by his kind aunt to put into the contribution box. Now Eichard was a very thoughtful lad. He was very fond of lozenges, and on his way to church it occurred to him that perhaps some of the little boys in heathen lands might also be fond of lozenges. As he neared the apothecary shop the thought grew upon him, and when he had reached the shop door he had concluded it would be selfish in one having his advantages for acquiring lozenges not to use them for the benefit of lozengeless boys in lands where apothecary shops do not abound. So he entered and purchased two rolls of lozenges, and then proceeded on his way to church. When the box came around, Eichard put two lozenges into it for the poor heathen lads. Not only did he thus make these benighted children happy, but he also had all the lozenges he wanted to eat during church time, and money enough left to buy more. Pew boys weuld have thought of the far-away heathen lads. If they had all the lozejages they wanted themselves, they would not have cared if the sons of heaiihendom never got so much as a taste of candy.— Boston Transcript.

TEA. One of the most valuable and exhaustive contributions to tea literature which wo remember to have seen, says the London Grocer, is that just published in the form of a cyclopedia, by Messrs W. B. Whitfcingharn, Gracechurchstreet, E.C. It consists mainly of compilations from the Indian Tea Gazette, a publication in Calcutta that has for a number of years been exclusively devoted to the consideration and discussion of all questions relating to tea in India, from the time of its earliest introduction there down to the latest periods of its importation here. The cultivation of the plant in the different districts and provinces, the selection of soils and manures, and buildings for its manufacture, etc., are all ably treated in this work ; and as, it deals thoroughly with the scientific, statistical, and domestic branches of the subject, it is a manual of information and instruction well deserving the attention of the tea planter, importer, dealer, and consumer. In the ten years ending 1876 the imports and consumption of Indian tea in the United Kingdom increased from about 3,000,000 pounds to 28,000,000 pounds and within the last live years the supply and demand have kept close pace together, till they have reached between 45,000,000 and 46,000,000 pounds ! Imagine how this prodigious growth of the tea trade must have benefltted the native Indian race and the country to which they belong. Our author says: "Hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been taken out of jungle and planted with tea. Districts hitherto deadly are fast becoming salubrious ; coolies arc in fair health, instead of dying off like sheep ; and the tea industry, which was once looked upon as the last refuge for the destitute, is now viewed as a profession of the highest social rank." According to the cyclopedia : "We say that a green tea has'a fine flavor, also that a congou has a fine flavor, but they are totally unlike." The volatile oil it contains gives to tea its flavor. The effect of this oil is to produce wakefulncss ; but, on the other hand, the best authorities declare that " theme," another property in tea, does not create sleeplessness, being of a nature to soothe and compose. Theme also supplies to the human system what it loses by fatigue. This property in coffee is called caffeine, and the drinking of it is attended with similiar results ; but at the same time it is well known that " green tea will produce effects on persons that black teas will not," and that there is a greater fermentation in black tea than in green. Tannin, which is a powerful astringent, is another ingredient in tea ; when chewed it "puckers up the month," but it is thought by some that it aids digestion. " Tasting tea upon an empty stomach, is injurious, producing a sense of weakness, as if one had fasted a long while;" and " tea experts,", who are at it all day, " are jnade exceedingly nervous." Some assert that there is nourishment in tea ; others say that there is none, .and that tea consumes food ; while the book we quote from informs us that tea,' , like liquors and drugs, when taken moderately,' will have one effect, but' if consumed largely it will produce just the opposite. With, regard to the names of different sorts of -teas and their 'meanings, we may state, that "Pekoe is a term from the Chinese "Pai-hao" — White Down or Hair, because made from young' spring leaf buds, while they are still "covered with down.' " Souchong" is from 'iSeap-chung," which, means, Little Sprouts. <'Congou" v is, a corruption of '** Ktmg-fou," or ; labor and "Hyson," or, He^Chnn," signifies tF^airlSpringi; Awhile the meaning ,qf ' " Young: Is,' Bef op 'the" Hatful. 'Tfie* 'j^sirgc|ions,;foV •rmaking 'are^Hke^ise tyblwid&v^Mqjmjj 'axiG^x'Bt&iv Arocers^^iniffliii'yreri'clerlsa to

seven to ten minutes, " is^at the best point for drinking." —Scientific American.

A BURNING LAKE. ' It is said that from one of the chief naphtha . wells "of Eussia, the liquid shoots up as~from a fountain'!- and has formed a lake four .miles long and one and a quarter wide. Its depth is, ho\^ayer,- only tw.o feet. v This .enormous surfaco*bf inflammable liquiditeceritly ignited, and presented an imposing spectacle, the'thick black clouds of smoke being lighted up by the lurid glare of the central column of . flame, which -rose to a great height. The smoke and heat were" such as to render a nearer approach than one thousand yards' distance impracticable. Suitablo means for extinguishing the fire were not at hand, and it. was feared that the conflagration would spread underground in such a manner to cause an explosion. This supposition led many inhabitants of the immediate vicinity to remove to a safer distance. The quantity of naptha on fire was estimated at four and a half million cubic feet. The trees and buntings within three miles' distance were covered with thick soot, .and this unpleasant deposit appeared on persons' clothes, and even on the food in the adjacent houses. Not only was ' the naptha itself burning, but the, earth which was saturated with it was also on fire, and ten large establishments, founded at great expense for the development of the trade in the article, were destroyed. FISH AND " MEAT " AS FOOD. There is some danger, says the Lancet, of the fish question falling out of memory- This is not to be tolerated after the interest Avhich has been excited, and for some time maintained, in connection with this important phase of the food problem. Whatever may be the nutritious value of fish as food—and we believe that to be very great —it must be evident that a full and cheap supply of fish would - react so as to produce a lowering of the price of butcher's meat. The " purveyors," as they like to be called, are encouraged,'and,«in truth enabled, to keep up the price of flesh because there is nothing to compete with it as a staple of the common food of the people. A revival of the old and healthy habit of living largely on fish would place the meat supply on an entirely new footing. This is manifest on the face of tho facts but what may not be equally apparent, though it is scarcely less noteworthy, is the consideration that nervous diseases and weaknesses increase in a country as the population comes to live on the flesh of the warmblooded animals. This is a point to which attention has not been adequately directed. " Meat " —using that term hi its popular sense —is highly stimulating, and supplies proportionally more exciting than actually nourshing pabulum to the nervous system. The meat eater lives at high pressure, and is, or ought to be, a peculiarly a<Jtive organism, like a predatory animal, always on the alert, walking rapidly, and consuming large quantities of oxygen, which are imperatively necessary for the safe disposal of his dis&ssimilated material. In practice we find that the meat eater does not live up to the level of his food, and as a consequence he cannot, or does not, take in enough oxygen to satisfy the exigencies of his mode of life. Thereupon follow many, if not most, of the ills to which highly civilized and luxurious meat-eating classes are liable. This is a physiological view of the food question, and it has bearings on the question offish supply which ought not to be neglected.