OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 746, 18 June 1886, Page 5

OLLA PODRIDA.

THE JUMPERS. Dr. J. D. Thornton, of the United States Marine Hospital Service, gives some further interesting details in the New York Medical Record, of the class of French-Oanadians among whom the peculiarly hysterical affection, recently referred to under the title of * Miryachit,’ or * lata,’ is prevalent. They are known as * jumpers,’ and suffer from the same over-sensitive condition of the nervous system, with uncontrollable tendency to imitation, as were then described. They are found especially among the lumbermen — French Canadians, who go over into Maine and the other lumbering district. _Dr. Thornton says :— ‘ I had from time to time heard lumbermen and others whose avocations lead them to spend much time among -the French camps, speak of these ‘jumpers,’ but had given no credence to the, as 1 thought, absurd stories they related in regard to them, until one day, while attending to my duties in the waiting-room of my fumigating station, I incidently let fall the window near ray desk, by turning the button suddenly, thus letting the frame fall a short distance, making a quick, sharp noise, when three out of seven FrenchCanadians who were sitting near, awaiting their certificates of inspection, leaped into the air as if they had been shot, at the same time uttering a yell whieh would have done credit to a North-American Indian. From that time I was on the watch for these strange characters, and, when possible, made inquiries of them through my interpreter, in regard to the cause of their condition. Before speaking of this, perhaps it will be well to enumerate some of the manifestations whieh give them the characteristic name of ‘jumpers.’ One or two instances will be sufficient. Recently one of them, a French Canadian of small statue, came out from an adjacent camp to the post-office. Just as he was about to ask the postmaster for his mail, he being a total stranger to the official, a man of sixty-five years of age, someone knowing the fellow to be a ‘jumper’ mischievously cried out, ‘ Grab h’m by the throat !’ The fellow sprung like a eat, and grasped the old man by the throat, and held on until removed, the irate postmaster pouring forth torrents of invectives on the poor fellow, who really was perfectly guiltless. Another unfortunate wood-chopper had just come into camp from two day’s work and was standing near the large camp heater, in which was a very hot fire, when someone cried, ‘Grab the furnace 1’ No sooner were the words said, than the poor fellow obeyed the order, and, as a result, left a scorched pattern of each hand on the nearly' red-hot jfipe, thus rendering him unfit for his work in the woods for some weeks. I could, were it not for taking up valuable space, enumerate instance after instance fully as peculiar .as this above. In brief, it may be stated that at any time and under any circumstances, with the slightest provocation, and almost instantaneously on being spoken to. one of these fellows will obey any command, imitate any action, without regard to its nature, trivial or serious. He will leap on to a table, or over a stove, or into a river or pond ; throw any article or weapon he may have in his hand in any direction

indicated; will repeat any sentence or exclamation. So serious a matter is this, that many of the lumbermen absolutely refuse to admit a man known as a ‘ juniper ’ into their camps. I find they are not wholly confined to French Canadians, as occasionally a Canadian of Irish parentage will exhibit the same symptoms. As 3tated above, I have endeavoured, when possible, to investigate as to the cause of this peculiar and distressing condition ; arid, while I find, without doubt, that primarily it is due to an inherited nervousness, the immediate cause is in taking such children, when small, and, while firmly held, tickling them until convulsive symptoms appear. This seems to be the story of such ones as I have made inquiries of. Whatever the cause, the condition is one much more easily acquired than lost, as it firmly clings to its victim far into adult life.’ THE ELECTRIC LIGHT IN AMERICA. There is, says a contemporary, little giound for surprise at the progress made by the electric light in America when the price paid for gas is considered. A list of the prices per thousand cubic feet shows that the lowest price charged is 4s, namely, at Baltimore, Pittsburg and Chicago. From this price it ranges up to 16s. at Galveston aud San Antonio, Texas. The most usual price is 10s., and an average may be taken at Ss. SUICIDES. In the paper on ‘ Suicides in England and Wales in relation to Age, Sex, Season, and Occupation,’ by Dr. YVilliam Ogle, M.A., read before the Statistical Society on February 16, the drybones of statistics are worked up in a very interesting way. It is shown by the author that the deaths registered in the“ twenty-six years ISSB-S3 in England and’Wales as due to suicide were 42,639, and in the proportion of seventy-two annually per million persons living. The suicide rate increases rapidly with age until after middle life, but in the more advanaed age periods again diminishes. The maximum rate Is in the fifty-five to sixty-five years period, when it reaches 251 per million persons living. At all age periods, . with one exception, tne male rate is far higher than the female, and the difference between them increases with age. The one exceptional period is the fifteen to twenty years period, when the female rate is slightly the higher. Taking all ages together, out of equal numbers living and in the same age distribution, the male suicides are to the female suicides as 267 to 100. It is also shown that the number of suicides vary very definitely with the seasons, forming a regular annual curve, of which the minimum is in December and the maximum in June. The occupations in which the suicide rates are lowest are those which imply rough manual labor, carried on mostly out of doors, and by men who are comparatively uneducated. The occupations with the highest suicide rates are those which are sedentary, and followed by highly educated men, as the learned professions. The commonest method of suicide is hanging ; then follow, in order, drowning, cut or stab, poison, gunshot. Women, however, select drowning before hanging, aud poison before cut or stab. The choice of method is also affected by age, the young showing a comparative preference for drowning, poison, and gunshot; and by occupation, men using preferentially the instruments of their crafts ; and by season, drowning being avoided in the cold months. —Iron. DYEING IN DEATH. Few persons who enter their grocer’s or Italian shop so provide themselves with a phial of that deep crimson liquid known as cochineal have much acquaintance with the singular animal to which their jellies_ or fruit-juices owe their brilliant coloring. The Cochinilla, or Cochineal, is an insect which most people would call simply a blight. It is of the same kith and kin as the mealy-bug, black fly, ‘ scale,’ and several other such parasitic creatures, whose particular character often seems to vary with the vegetable growth upon which they find themselves developed. The plant upon which the cochineal thrives is one of the many varieties of ‘ prickly-pear ’ cactus ; and the history of its life then, as managed I by its human cultivator, is of remarkable interest. The appearance of a cochineal plantation, with a full crop on, is perhaps the last thing that an ordinary observer would imagine to belong to anything of commercial value. Merely rows upon rows of stunted prickly-pear bushes, with all the leaves more or less blotched and crusted with a repulsive looking bluioh-grey mould or blight. Yet a single acre of good cochineal ground has been known to let at a rental of £SO or £6O a year, and to change hands at as high a price as £I,OOO The cactus plant is laised from a single leaf, which, in countries where it thrives, is often as large as a medium sized meat dish, and about ai inch thick. The cochmeaicaetus, or Tnno, as the Spaniards call it, is a species -with comparatively few and small thorns, yet it is not pleasant handling ; and the skill with which women and children pass up and down between the rows during the operations of cultivating and fathering, is ono of tlio most remarkable features "of the work. The single leaf is merely broken off from its parent plan*, and stuck in the ground, where it soon begins to push new leaves round the edges. It is not allowed to flower and fruit, as this withdraws part of the nourishment require ! by the insect. When the plant has reached two or three feet in height, and sufficient strength, a ‘ mother ’ is carefully installed on each leaf. This is the female insect, whose brood, in five or six months’ time, will form the crop which the plant supplies. She is a round and seemingly legless bug, in appearance not unlike a small leaden bullet or large shot. The legs, however, are there, though very minute, aud she soon gets a hold on the surface of the leaf. She is then carefully sheltered for a time from excessive sun or wet by a rag of white calico tied round the lief ; and while these are on the plantation looks from a distance as if it had been daubed with with wash. After a few days she will be found surrounded with the active little brood who are to form the futureerop. Foraweekor two these new bom

mites indulge their fancy to roam all over the surface of the leaf ; but it is the first and last ramble of their lives. As appetite , grows, each insect pierces with a sttong. sucker the skin of the leaf,’ through which it : begins to absorb the succulent juices it .. contains. Once fixed by the sucker, it remains on the same spot, moving no more during the term of its natural life. But there is a curious exception to tills. One day, about five or six weeks after the young brood has appeared, the crop seems to be suddenly much reduced, and a-number of the insects are found to have disappeared. They arc believed to be the males, who at a certain period of their life are provided by Nature with wings, with which they take to flight an I are seen no more. The females remain until they reach full growth, when they are removed into bags or trays, by scraping them off the leaf with a wooden blade. After this the plant appears yellow, flabby, and exhausted, and during the remainder of the year recruits itself for the '- next crop. The insects are spread out in large tray 3 consisting of a shallow, square ■ frame of wood, backed with canvas, and in these are exposed to tho sun, which soon ■■ o kills and dries them. They are then put through a process of polishing, much in the vv same fashion as a groom polishes curb-chains bv rolling in a sack. This gives them a color which is fancied- in the market, but appears to have no relation whatever either ■ to their quality or uses. The strength of the coloring matter is amazing. A single cochineal insect, alive or dead, pinched into a large tumbler of water, ■immediately gives a clear, pink tinge to the whole of it. While the fruit-gardener at home wrings his hands over the depredations of scale and mealy bug, let us remember tnere is at least one sort of blight which deserves well after death, by dyeing in our service again and again. Saturday Journal. JUSTICE RATHER THAN LAW. Mr Webster used sometimes to read the conclusion of a charge by Judge Dudley, a trader and a farmer, a manuscript copy of which he had for many years io liis desk. It was a treat to hear him read it m pure and undefiled English, as it doubtless came from Judge Dudley’s lips : ‘ You have heard, gentlemen of the jury, what has been said in this case by the lawyers, the rascals ! hut, no, I will not abuse them. It is their business to make a good cause for tueir clients ; they are paid for it, aud they have _ done in this case well enough, but you and I,'gentleman,-have, something else to con- , ( si’der. They talk of law. Why, gentleman, it is not law that we want, but justice. They would govern Us by the. common law of.. ;< England. Trust me, gentleman, common- . sense is a much safer guard for us ; the common-sense of Raymond, Epping, Exeter and the other towns which have sent us here to try this case between two of our neighbors. A clear head and an honest heart are worth more than all the law of all the lawyers. There was one good thing said at the bar. It was from one Shakespeare, an English player, I believe. No matter, it is good enough almost to be in the Bible. It is this : “Be just and fear , not.” It is our business to do just between the oafties, not by any quirks of the lav/ out of Coke or Blackstone, books that x uu/e ne\er ; read and never will, butoy common-sense and by common houesty, as between man and man. That is our business, and the curse of God is upon us if we neglect, or evade, or turn aside from it. And now, Mr Sheriff, take out the jury, and yon, Mr . Foreman, do not keep us waiting With idffi talk, or which there has', been too much already about matters which have nothing to do with the merits of the case. Give us an honest verdict, of which, as plain, common-sense men, you need not be ashamed.’ —Ben: Parley Poore, in Boston Budget. SCRAPS. An extraordinary fact in connection witli the Russian conscripts drafted into the ranks in 18S5 is shown by some statistics just published. The total number of conscripts accepted was 847,586, of whom no fewer than 43,530 were Jews. Several Russian explorations to Central Asia are sanctioned for the coming suinniei. Among others, Messrs. Ignatieff and Kras-..y now are to explore the Khan xogri Mountains, which are little known. The Khan Tegri Mountains are at the western end of the Tian Shan and are full of glaciers. The skull resists the ravages or tune better than any other bone, and the reason for it is a question which puzzles naturalists. -The fact has been noted on opening the »raves of mound builders, while the skulls of buffalo, elk and other animals on the Western plains are in a fair state of preservation long after the other bones nave entirely decayed. A French physician asserts that he has discovered a soporific whose effects can be exactly limited to the time required, ihis will, he says, enable travellers to sleep comfortably and confidently during a journey. He measured his doses by miles. Thus -an take a fiffcv mile dose before smarting on a railway journey, and open your eyes, pleas* antly refreshed, at your proper station. . , The Lancet and'some other medical journals favor Prof. Buisson’s treatment for hydrophobia in preference to Pastcur’a. It is alle"ed by its advocates that Buisson s method effects cures even after rabies has developed. The treatment consists mainly in vapor baths, draughts of hot borage solution, and injections of pilocarpine, inuucmg profuse perspiration. It is proposed to award „he Founders Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of England to Leint. Greeiy, the, leader of the late Arctic Expedition, ana the Royal Medal to Cavaliere Guido de Cora, Professer of Geography at the University of -min and founder and conductor of the geographical journal known! as the Cosmos. Tne Back Grant will probably go to Searjeant Brainard, who did such admirable work on the Greeiy Expedition. At a recent meeting of the Berlin AnthropologicaESociety, Prof. Virchow stated that the German Colonial Society hau sent circulars to all European colonies situated m the tropics, requesting observations to be made regarding the question of the acclimatization of Europeans in the tropics, the result of this inquiry to be communicated to the German Naturalists’ Association at their

next annual meeting in September. A.n exhibition of objects required in fitting out scientific travellers for their jouneys will also be held at the same time as the meeting German naturalists.