autopsies. The conclusions drawn from over one hundred and forty measurements of this sort, are summed up as follows:

The capacity of an infant's stomach at birth is about one ounce. Increasing in size at the rate of an ounce a month for the first three months, its capacity is then four ounces. After that it increases more slowly, for the next four months at the rate of half an ounce a month. From eight to fourteen months it increases at the rate of a third of an ounce, when the child is a year old attaining a capacity of about eight ounces.

From these facts it will be easy for any one to estimate the probable capacity of a child's stomach at any time from birth to fourteen months of age.

The majority of people use better sense in feeding their dogs and their horses than in feeding their children and themselves. In the New York Hospital for Children, no flesh food is allowed during the first five years of life. It has long been noticed that the children of these institutions are less subject to disease, and recover more quickly when ill, than children who are allowed to eat flesh food. It is also a well known fact that nursing children are much less liable to take disease than older children. Is not this probably due to their simple diet? A dog or caged lion fed upon so promiscuous a diet as are children in most families, would soon sicken and die. It is no wonder that our children are so puny, and that so large a proportion of them lay in early childhood the foundation for chronic invalidism.

GIVING ANIMAL FOOD TO INFANTS.

There is no greater error in the management of children than that of giving them animal diet very early. To feed an infant with solid animal food before it has teeth proper for masticating, shows a total disregard of the plain indications of Nature in withholding teeth suited to this purpose until the age at which the system requires solid food. Before that time, milk, farinaceous food, and animal broths, afford the kind of sustenance which is at once best suited to the digestive organs and to the nutrition of the system. The method of mincing and pounding meat as a substitute for mastication may do very well for the toothless octogenarian whose stomach has been habituated to concentrated nutriment, but the digestive organs of a child are not adapted to the due preparation of such food, and will be disordered by it.

SUNNY ROOMS FOR HEALTH.

The rooms occupied by children should be made bright, light, and pleasant. It is seldom thought of as much as it should be, how essential to the health of children plenty of light—especially sunlight-is. One reason why poor people's children thrive in the face of most adverse surroundings is that they are nearly all day out of doors in the full light of day and in the air. Keeping children excluded from sunlight and putting them in dark, gloomy rooms, is similar to caging a young bird and keeping it always in the shade; it will soon droop and lose all brightness, becoming dull and songless. Some children look pale and delicate, although surrounded with every comfort-nay, luxury—well fed, well looked after, and the real cause is often want of light-want of sunlight-and want of cheerfulness in the people and in the rooms they inhabited.

DRESSING FOR THE OPEN AIR.

There is one thing that mothers and nurses often do thoughtlessly, and with serious results to the children. This is the habit of dressing them for their out-of-door drive or walk in the warm nursery, and then letting them stand around for some time while the nurse gets herself ready. For that is the usual practice. The nurse dresses the baby first, even to gloves and tippet, and then she begins leisurely on the details of her own toilet. Meanwhile the little one waits about in the warm room, getting warmer and warmer, until at last, when it gets into the outer air, it is in a perspiration that will induce a chill at once. A child should not have its wraps put on until the very last moment. And then it should be done, not in a warm room, but in the hall, from which it should be carried as soon as the operation is completed.

BRONCHITIS.

A good poultice for bronchitis is made with two tablespoonfuls of crushed linseed and one teaspoonful of dry mustard. This also it is better to mix in the invalid's room. Take a small basin, pour some boiling water into it to make it hot, then empty it, and pour a very little in quite boiling. Pick up the linseed with your left hand and

scatter it into the basin; with your right hand take a paper-knife and stir it as if you were making porridge, then add the dry mustard. Stir it until it becomes like a cake and does not stick to the dish. Then take a linen rag, the size you require, and put the linseed in the middle of it; spread it perfectly smooth with a paper-knife; cut away a very tiny bit of linseed all the way round, and turn the linen edge over itthis will prevent the linseed from falling. Feel the poultice in your hand to be sure it is not more than one-quarter inch thick, and lay it on the patient with the linseed next the skin. Be very careful that it covers the hollows at the top of the collar-bones, for there is the real danger of bronchitis, and not low down, as so many people imagine. A piece of flannel, just a size larger, should be laid over the poultice. When it is time to remove it, lift it gently as you would the mustard one, and wash the skin with warm water to cleanse it.

INFLAMED EYELIDS.

Eyes are too delicate and too valuable to be trifled with. One of their most frequent troubles is catarrhal ophthalmia, for which many simple alleviations and remedies are in use. In any affection of the eye one should not delay to seek medical advice. The front of the eyeball, and the surfaces of the eyelids which glide over the eye, are lined with a delicate membrane called the conjunctiva. Lying side by side in the substance of each eyelid, and connected with the conjunctiva, are the meibomian glands in parallel strings, about two dozen in each lid. The conjunctiva and meibomian glands are liable to the same congestive and inflammatory affection which in other mucous membranes is called a catarrh, or popularly a cold; hence this affection when occurring in the eye is called catarrhal ophthalmia, or, popularly, a cold in the eye. For this the subjoined remedies may be safely tried; but for inflammation of the subjacent sclero-cornea, or for anything else, a doctor should be consulted. These characteristics distinguish the two affections. First, the color of the inflamed conjunctiva ranges from red to bright scarlet, whereas the inflamed sclerotic varies from pink to almost purple. Next, the irregular network of vessels in the conjunctiva can be made to shift its place and slide about over the subjacent structures by merely dragging at the eyelids, whereas the more regular radiating vessels of the sclerotic are fixed, and keep their places under traction

of the eyelids. And, lastly, the sensation of the conjunctiva is as of sand under the eyelids, or a fly in the eye, combined with dryness; but in the sclerotic the pain is a dull aching and throbbing, combined with tightness. Now, if the sufferrer can satisfy herself that it is only her conjunctiva that is affected, with or without the meibomian glands, she may adopt these measures in the order in which they are given :-First, cold, strong tea used frequently as a lotion; next, a lotion of dilute solution of acetate of lead, sometimes called Goulard water; next, a solution of sulphate of zinc applied to the eye in such strength and frequency as the chemist who supplies it may direct. Nitrate of silver is not a thing to be lightly put in one's eye, nevertheless 4 grains of nitrate of silver in 1 oz. of distilled water, one drop of which is placed every few hours in the inner corner of the affected eye, is a favorite treatment of some physicians of high authority. In all cases apply glycerine or other fatty substance to the eyelids at night to prevent their being gummed together on waking. In cases of considerable pain use this prescription :-Hydrochlorate of cocaine, 8 grains; glycerine, 1 oz.; boric acid, 3 drachms; elder-water, 6 oz.; water to 8 oz. ; a few drops in each eye two or three times daily. In a simple catarrh this treatment will be found effective.

THE HUMAN FIGURE.

The rules of measurement used by Greek sculptors, are as follows: From the crown to the nape of the neck is one-twelfth the stature of a perfectly formed man.

The hand from the wrist to the end of the middle finger is one-tenth of the total height of a man of perfect proportions.

A man of good proportions is as tall as the distance between the tips of his fingers when both arms are extended to full length.

The face from the highest point of the forehead, where the hair begins, to the end of the chin is one-tenth of the whole stature of a man of perfect mould.

If the face from the roots of the hair to the chin be divided into three equal parts, the first division determines the place where the eyebrows should meet, the second the opening of the nostrils, if the man be perfect in form.

The proportions of the human figure are six times the length of the right foot. Whether the form is slender or plump the rule holds good

on an average. Any deviation from the rule is a departure from the beauty of proportion. It is claimed that the Greeks made all their statues according to this rule.

TWO REMARKABLE SPIDERS.

The Mygalida, or trap-door spiders, are a widely scattered species, and are particularly remarkable for the wonderful nests which they build instead of spinning a web. The Cteniza Californica, popularly known as the tarantula, digs a hole in the ground, about an inch in diameter, and from two inches to a foot in depth. It is lined on the inside with a fine, soft silk, spun by the spider, and the mouth, which is slightly enlarged, is closed by a cover which moves on a silken hinge, and fits so closely to the opening, when closed, that not even a knife blade can be inserted between it and the sides of the tube. This cover is made of dirt fastened together with threads, and, although lined with silk on the inside, is covered on the outside with sand, dirt, moss, etc., so that it exactly resembles the surrounding soil and is almost impossible to discover. In addition, the under side of the cover is provided with small holes, into which the spider inserts her claws, and by which she can hold it down so firmly that it is impossible to raise it without tearing. In these nests the spiders live, only coming out in search of prey. The eggs are laid and hatched in the nest, which serves as a nursery for the young spiders till they are old enough to go and dig for themselves. The shape and construction of these nests varies greatly with different species. The genus Atypus extends the silken lining of the tube several inches outside the ground, where it rests among the stones and plants; other spiders make a second door, half way down the nest; others build the nest with a branch, or chamber, into which they can retreat if an enemy succeeds in forcing the outer entrance. This chamber is sometimes closed by another trap-door, and sometimes communicates with the air by a concealed opening. The Mygalida are certainly most remarkable animals, and their constructive skill-which exceeds that of many men-is hard to account for. The idea of "instinct" explains nothing, but is simply equivalent to saying that we don't know; and the source of their wonderful knowledge must be left for future investigators to discover.

The Argyronetes, or water spiders, are even more extraordinary in their habits than their earth-dwelling cousins. Although they are true