OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 861, 31 August 1888, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

THI: IDEAL FOOD OF MAN-

In the s'.omach of man there is a comparatively sim, ie apparatus. It was clearly not the stomach of a herbivorous, neither was it the stomac h of a carnivorous animal. It was more con'plicated than the latter, more curved, with more surface for digestion. The human stomach would seem to hold an intermediate position between the digestive apparatus of the carnivora and herbivora, with a strong inolination towards the fruiteater. Again, if they took the length of the whole intestinal canal, from the commence mentto its end—a good index—the human digestive organs approximated to those of the fruit-eaters. They could not, however, rest on that alon<?; but, on the study of the apparatus as a whole, they would come pretty near to the truth. By that means they would see that the provision made for digestion in man was much more elaborate than that made by nature for the carnivora •; and that all these details placed man amongst the frugivora or fruit eaters. Taking the in. testinal canal, the stomaoh, the" digestive process, and the teeth as the tests, man might be truly said to be a frugivorous animal, and fruit with grain his ideal food.— Dr. Richardson. CUNNING OF THE FOX. Dr. J- F. Landrey relates the following, showing the wonderful sagacity of a fox : On the Lower Wabash a company of hunters from Tippecanoe Country, encamped for the night among the cavernous limestone hills occasionally found in those regions. The hounds soon traced up the retreat of an old grey fox and her family in one of those narrow crevices that probably led into a more open cavern further in. The whining of the yonng foxes was very distinct, and led to loader hayings of the bounds. The mother however was * not at home.’ But it was not long till her barking was heard beyond the camp, on a small hill in another direction. The dogs soon took the hint, and gave her a magnificant chase around the hill. Doubling on her track, she eluded the dogs, returned to her cubs, and either carried or induced them to follow her into the deeper recesses of the cavern, beyond the dangers of digging and chasing. I have often thought that little piece of strategy a masterly piece of generalship. What could be more natural than to desire to draw away from her youDg ones the threatening dogs and men? Seeming to know that her own barking would have the desired effect of diverting their attention to larger game in an open field, she ventured to draw their attack upon herself, and succeeded in saving the lives both of herself and her young ones. THE HYDRA. The fabulous reptile of Argolis had it 3 home in the marshes of Lardsa, and possessed the peculiar property of growing heads when wanted. This many-headed monster required the labours of Hercules for its extermination, for as soon as one head was struck off another head grew in its place. The Hydra, of the polype family (Hydra varidis) or green hydra, that frequent the green-covered ponds and marshy stagnant pools in this country, possess some of the wonderful properties attributed to the fabled monster of Argolis. In magnitude it is opposite to that of large, and is scarcely visible to the nuked eye, except when fully stretched out, and in a glass of clear water. Then they measure about oneeighth of an inch only. Their numbers are often so great that they give a green colouring to the water. When viewed through tho microscope it looks a very formidable monster. The body is similar to a water leech, capable of stretching a long distance. One end is generally secured to a pieoe of weed. The opposite end is furnished with an opening or mouth, which is surrounded by eight or nine Jong flexible arms called tenticles, which are covered with mmute discs or suckers similar to those of the octopus. Those tenticles can bo extended a considerable distance, and are used for seouring the food and bringing it to the mouth. The hydra is capable of making rapid changes in his outward form. The tenticles, when fully spread and the body extended, can in a second of time be converted Into a ball like form. The minute monster is said to he almost indestructible by amputatiou. And like the fabulous reptile—yet more wonderful - when the head is struck off, a new head not only grows on the body, but a new body grows to the old head, and this act of apparent destruction produces two living monsters. Further if one or more tenticles be oat off, new ones grow in their stead, and haoe severed teuticle grows into a perfect hydra. The hydra has beeu out into twelve parts : each part has developed into a perfect animal Tneir development is almost equalled by their voracity. The naturalist says that a hydra has been divided down the centre of the body, and the two portions, within twelve ’hours after the operation, have each devoured a worm as large as themselves. C. T. SUCCI, THE FASTING BEANThe Accademia Medico-Fiaica of Florence has just given a diploma to Signor Sued, on the occasion of his having completed his thirty days’ fast. The document runs as follows: ‘We the undersigned, do certify that Signor Giovanni Sued, of Cesenatico, in the

Romagna, African traveller and explorer, has completed at Florence a fast of thirty days —from the midnight of the Ist to the midnight of March 31st of this year—subjecting himself to all the regulations imposed by the Committee of Surveillance created ad hoo, and to all the scientific observations of the Commission nominated by this Academy, the results of wbioh will be made publici juris at as early a date as possible. We further declare that by his courageous experiment, and by his scrupulous fulfilment of every moral pledge undertaken by ‘him towards us, Signor Succi has deserved well of science, Then follow the signatures of Professor Angiolo Filippi, President of the committee of Surveillance, and of Dr. Vincenzo Crapola, his secretary ; of Professor Luigi Luciana, President of the Aoademy, and the Secretary of its proceeding?, Dr. Aurelio Bianchi. Lancet. VEGETABLE ALBUMENSDo vegetable albumens constitute as good a diet for man as those derived from the animal kingdom ? In a paper contained in the Zeitschrift fiir Biologic, Dr. Rutgers asks the above question, and gives the following reply as the result of his experiments. First, vegetable albumens are capable of supplying the place of the ordinary albumens we are., accustomed to consume as food without causing any disturbance of the nitrogenous balance in the economy ; secondly, beans and peas overcharge the alimentary traot, not only owing to the solids, hut to their disposition to develop gas, whilst meat and rice cause no disturbance, and therefore contrast favourably with them. They are consequently various contraindications to an exclusively vegetable diet. The acidity of the stomach, as well as of the urine, are much less upon an exclusively vegetable than upon an ordinary mixed diet. Milk, if not taken as an exclusive diet, can be very perfectly digested by an adult. —Lancet.

A GENUINE MORMON BIBLETo the Editor of the ‘World': The following facts may be of interest to those of your readers who are fond of the rare, quaint and valuable in literary productions : I have in my possesoion a copy of the first edition of the Mormon Bible, or * Book of 1 Mormon,' as it is called. I am informed through reliable sources that only four copies of this edition are known to be in existence. One owned by a Western New Yorker recently sold to a speculator in rarities for 850dols. The first edition was publiahed in 1830 at Palmyra, Wayne county, N. Y. The author and proprietor, the title page tells us, is ‘Joseph Smith Jr.,’ and the printer ‘E. B. Grandin.’ In a short preface Smith tells us that his Book of Mormon is a translation from certain gold plates, which plates, he says, were found by him in the township of Manchester, Ontario county, N. Y. After the preface follows the body of the work. At itß dose appears the affidavit of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmor and Martin Harris, to the effect that ‘ they have Been the plates’ Smith refers to and * the engraving thereon.’ The book is substantially bound in sheep and contains nearly six hundred pages. David Whifcmer, one of ‘the witnesses,’ recently died in the State of Missouri at an oxtreme old age. He protested upon his death-bed that the affidavit above set ferth or alluded to and subscribed by him was true in every particular. I came into possession of this valuable book through a great-aunt of mine, w’ho bought it at the time of the issue. Charles L. Dean. THE LESSON OF THE ARMADA. In a letter to The Times last week, a correspondent, over the initials C. A. G. 8.,’ tells us the lesson taught by the story of the Armada, which hesuinmarised thus : ‘When we have an enemy to contend against we should meet him where we are strongest and he is weakest. So long as a conflict is to be apprehended we should direct all the energies of our defence to becoming supremo on the element on which a maritime, and especially an insular, State is most likely to have its opponents at a disadvantage. Till we have secured undisputed command of the sea, till our trade can pass over it unmolested, we should not think oi, much less make preparation for, Continental expeditions. It has never been possible for us to undertake one oi these singe-handed. In these days, when oven Italy oan keep up twelve army corps on the peace footing, it is less possible, as well as less desirable, than ever. Notwithstanding all the millions that the British taxpayer gives, we are now farthcr from being able to do so than we were in the year of Poitiers or tho year of Blenheim. At the same, time, onr interests on the sea have enormously increased, and we are less than ever in a position to fritter away what should be devoted to their protection.’—Public Opinion. A SPIRITUALIST CREMATEDPhiladelphia, May 2.—The body of Damond Y. Kilgore, a spiritualist, was yesterday cremated at tho Philadelphia Crematory. He was a' spiritualist, and the services wore conducted by spiritualists. Mrs Kilgore, accompanied by her two little girls, descended by a spiral staircase to the cremation-room, followed by the rest of the party, excepting the speaker and the choir, who remained around the opening through which the coffin hid descended. A long, coffin-shaped iron pan called a crib was laid on tho flo u beside fete c iffia, and was lined with strips of muslin soaked in alum. The body was then laid into the crib and completely covered with another layer of soaked cloths to prevent the clothes from taking fire. All the time Mrs Kilgore and her little girls attentively watched the preparations. The crib was then caught up with iron handles and hung on an iron bar projecting from the truck at a height even with the furnace door. ’ The truck was then wheeled to the furnace, when the air-tight door was opened with a patent wrench, and, as it swung baok, disclosed a long, narrow brick

retort glistening with red heat. The crib gently slid from the arm of the truck, and, as it struck the red-hot floor of the retort, a bright blaze flashed around the feet, and before the door could be closed, had enveloped tho whole body. The choir stood around the hole above and sang ‘ Nearer to Sweet Eden’s shore.” The family and friends of the dead man then took their last look at his burning body through the littlo glass peephole iq the door, and the funeral was over. A REMARKABLE INVENTION. A Minneapolis, Minn., man has invented a machine for digging trenches ancl sewer and gas mains. The apparatus is fifty feet long, but cau be made longor. On the front of the machine a 4-horse power engine runs two knives, which do the digging. In the rear another engine which furnishes the power for tho apparatus, carries the dirt to that part of the machine and drops it into the portion of the trench in whicn the pipe meanwhile has been laid. The trench may be of any reasonable width. Six men attend the monster. It has been o'aimed that 1,200 yards of pipe oan be laid in a day by this machine. THE BRITISH SOLDIER. British troops have done great things in their day, and in the faoe of overpowering numbers, too, as when Wellington, with 25,000 mss, some of them 'Spaniards and Portuguese and of no value, turned upon his 70,000 pursuers under Key at Busaco, in the Peninsular war, and boat them ; and again when in tho Crimea, Colonel Scarlet with a single brigade of cavalry, the * Heavy brigade, charged successfully 10,000 Russian horse. These are but specimens of what the British soldier can do. History abounds with similar instances. But in those days, there is reason to believe, brawn and com age were of more value than now, when the direful machino gun and its cousin, the magazine rifle, have come into general use. The soldier whoso nerves cannot stand the approach of cold steel has heart enough for the work behind the machine gun battery, and may prove a very demon with a repeating rifle on a half mile range.—Scientific American. THE FIFTH ENGLISH GERMAN EMPRESS. That is the rank assigned to the Princess Royal, the new German Empress, by an industrious diver into historical antiquities. The first (says the Newcastle Chronicle) was Eadgyth, daughter of King Eadward the elder, who became the wife of Otto I. Hie second was Gunhild, the daughter of Cnub or Canute, who was married to the Emperor Henry 111. Tho third was Matilda, danghter of Henry 1., our last Norman King, who married Henry V., Emperor of Germany, and became subsequently, by her union with Geoffrey Plantageuot, Earl of Anjou, the mother of our first Plautagenet king. The fourth was Isabella, the daughter of King John, who became the consort of the Emperor Frederick It., eurnamed ‘ The wonder of tho world.’ Isabella’s daughter married Albert the Degenerate, Margrave of Meisson and i huringia, and their sen Frederick with the Bitten Cheek was the direct male ancestor of the late Prince Consort, and in consequence of the present Empress Victoria.

VALUE OF MACHINERY TO LABOUR. ‘Tho machinery in the United States represents the labour of a thousand million men, or fifty times as much labour as that of all the men in the country. When motive power is still further cheapened—say in another generation —I believe that the. unskilled labourer, if sober and industrious, can have a house of his own and a horse and carriage and library ami a piano. It is terrible stupidity that leads some labouring men to suppose that machinery is their foe. Is is the thing that gives them independance and even freedom. Without machinery society would drift into the condition of master and slave. The multiplication of machinery means for every worker more food, betior clothes, better house, less work. In fact, I believe that the indefinite increase of machinery is going to solve what folks call ‘ the labour question’ —that is, the desire of hand workers to get a bigger slice of the margin of profit.’ -Thomas Edison. THE ORIGIN OF BOOKKEEPING. The origin of bookkeeping, like that of most other useful arts, is involved in great obscurity. Systematic bookkeeping is generally admitted to have been first practised at Venice, in the fifteenth century. Lucas do Borgio published a regular treatiso on the subject, in tho Italian language, in Beckman, in his ‘History of inventions, says that the Banians of India have been from time immemorial in possession of the method of boodkeeping by double entry, and that Venice was the emporium e£ Indian commerce at the time Friar Lucas's treatise appeared. Other authors think that doubleentry was known to the ancients, and revived only in Italy with the revival of commerce ; and certain quotations are adduced in support of this opinion, which show that the ancients entered the receipts and payments of money on opposite pages m the way of debtor and creditor; but nothing beyond single-entry can bo inferred from this practice. The first treatise on bookkeeping in the English language, of which there is any account, was published in the year 1543, by Hugh Oldcastle, a schoolmaster.

A federation of olubs and societies in Pariß has been formed with the object of cheapening medical attendance. Adult members of the association pay 40 cents a year for medical attendance and children 20 cents. The fibre offsilk is the longest continuous fibre known. An ordinary cocoon of a wellfed silkworm will often reel 1000 yards, and acoounta are given of a cocoon yielding a fibre nearly J of a mile in length. In England a four-wheeled cycle has been invented’for military uses, which will carry three riders, and is fixed with a Maxim gun at the rear and a rifle inside the right-hand front wheel. Queen Victoria is said to have been so charmed with Florence that she contemplates purchasing a residence and grounds near Fiessole, within a short distance of the Villa Palmieri. v Isaac Pitman, the ‘ father of short-hand writing,’is now seventy-six years old. He is almost an ascetic, using no wine, beer, spirits, tobacco, nor animal food of any kind. In religion he is an earnest Swedenborgian He is an early riser and a hard worker. Oil of peppermint in vapour diluted even to one part in 100,000 will kill cockroaches in an hour, they dying in convulsions. One drop of the oil placed under a bell-jar covering a cultivation of cholera bacilli will kill both bacilli and spores in forty-eight hours. It is also regarded as one of the best surgical antiseptic, and of great value in phthisis and diphtheria. Catherine de Medicis, in order to be assured of the assistance of Heaven in a certain project, vowed to send a pilgrim to Jerusalem who should walk three feet forward and one back all the way. A conntryman of Picardy undertook the fulfilment of this vow, and having occupied a whole year in the task, was rewarded with a title and a large sum of money.