Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

fidelity in every engagement; February, amethyst, insuring peace of mind; March, a bloodstone, denoting courage and secrecy in dangerous enterprises; April, sapphire or diamond, signifying repentance and innocence; May, the green emerald, typical of love; June, an agate, meaning long life and health. July, ruby or cornelian, which insures the forgetfulness or cure of evils springing from friendship or love. August, sardonyx, a happy married life; September, chrysolite, which preserves from folly; October, aquamarine or opal, which denotes both misfortune and hope; November, the topaz, bringing the owner fidelity and friendship; December, turquoise or malachite, signifying the most brilliant success and happiness.

A CHINESE CUSTOM.

According to the customs of Chinese society, the wife of the Chinese Minister to the United States will comb her hair up from her forehead, to show that she is married. Her tresses reach to her feet, and so difficult is the task of dressing them that one arrangement lasts several days. For the preservation of the coiffure she lies while asleep on a willow pillow as finely woven as an imported bonnet, shaped like a loaf of baker's bread. The maids dress their back hair in a queue, and arrange a bang one and one half inches deep, from ear to ear. A bit of coquetry is displayed by allowing a single lock to float loosely in front of the face and over the shoulder. The hair of the Chinese girl is never cut, and, as a result of the splendid care bestowed, it grows luxuriantly.

THE BRAIN.

Remember that the human brain is one of the most delicate, most wonderful, most marvelous structures that the mind can conceive. It is an engine which is only a few inches in diameter, the average weight of which is less than fifty ounces, which contains hundreds of millions of cells and fibers, these cells and fibers varying in thickness from onethree-hundredth to one-millionth of an inch. Every square inch of the gray matter affords substrata for the evolution of at least eight thousand registered and separate ideas; substrata in the whole brain. for evolving and registering tens of millions of them, besides the power of recalling them under appropriate stimuli; it transmits thoughts,

emotions, sensation and volition, by distinct fibers, whose time working has been ingeniously measured to the fraction of a second. This most wonderful and beautiful piece of mechanism, then, that works so smoothly, so easily, and without friction or pain when in order and not overburdened, needs only to be abused and overtaxed in order to have the nutrition of every part of the body disturbed, and the functions of the various organs rendered morbid. It needs only a certain amount of nervous exhaustion, varying with different people, to open the door to the inroads of neuralgia and its brood of torments, and to many forms of reflex nervous symptoms that render life a burden.—Ex.

THE INFANT BRAIN.

The brain of a child is proportionately much larger than an adult's, but of much softer consistency, and its convolutions are not complete. until the seventh year. This is one of the reasons why early study is dangerous. The child's heart beats much more rapidly than that of an adult, and the growth of the heart, instead of being regular, like the growth of the body as a whole, is accomplished by fits and starts. The more rapid action of the heart renders the child peculiarly liable to fever, and the liability is further increased by his weaker vital resistHence childhood is the special season for scarlet fever, measles, whooping-cough, and other similar complaints.

ance.

The irregularity of the heart's growth may give rise to disturbances of that organ of a seemingly dangerous character, but with proper care they will pass away as the heart attains its full development. Such proper care includes ample nourishment, sufficient sleep, and the avoidance of special strain. All children are curious, all children love approbation, and all have a certain sense of justice. They are naturally active, and when a child mopes it is in bad physical condition. When a child is fidgety, give him something to do. The surplus nervous force must work off. If you find the right way, nothing will so much save the clashing of will power between the mother and the child.

Nature is constantly prompting the child to do something, and we are trying to keep him from it. Give him something to play withblock games or something that will amuse him. In this manner you can entirely do away with the wrong use of the hands. One of the great truths of the kindergarten is, that if we will control the right ten

dencies, the wrong tendencies in the child will die out. Cultivate the right kind of characteristics. The child finally reaches the period when he realizes the appalling power of destruction. He destroys every thing he gets his hands on. It is a natural characteristic. It is that instinct of the child that makes him want to push himself into the work. This instinct is of an investigating nature. When it takes the form of destruction it is bad, of course, and creates a certain spendthrift tendency. But the child must investigate. Give him toys he can take apart, and show him how it is done. Give him a horse that can be hitched and unhitched to the cart at his pleasure. This is one of the principles of Froebel's theory.

The season of rapid growth and development, say between the ages of ten and twenty, needs particular attention. Nature is then at work, as it never will be again, in building up the tissues and developing the nervous sensibilities. This is the period which makes the largest demands for an outdoor life, for pure air, sunlight, active exercise, abundance of nutritous food, a vigorous digestive tract, a ready assimilation, and an active elimination of waste. It is the period of study and ambition, as well as of a wisdom that thinks itself wiser than it is. The increasing mental activity needs to be regulated by experienced teachers and considerate mothers, lest the brain be worked at the expense of other organs and tissues. Duller minds should not be forced to keep step with those which are naturally more active, and the influences of the home and the schoolroom should be tranquilising and adapted to evoke the kindlier feelings. Fretful parents and scolding teachers may do a life long injury during this susceptible period. It is a period when neither study nor night excitements should interfere with sleep; when bad novels do their worst work; when parents need to know what their children read, and to be their confidential counsellor in all delicate matters; when the use of tobacco is specially perilous, almost surely giving rise to affections of the heart, and when spirituous liquors and all opiates are peculiarly pernicious.

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF FOODS.

The medicinal properties of some foods are as definite as their nutritive, and as reliable as those of drugs; indeed, the pharmacopoeia includes the following so-called foods in its list of official drugs: asparagus, cabbage, carrots, dandelion, endive, garlic, Indian corn,

leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, parsnips, sweet potatoes, sorrel, sea weeds, tomatoes, the cereals, spices, sweet herbs, sugar, honey, molasses, the various berries, the oily nuts, animal fats, eggs, oysters, many kinds of fish, nearly all fruits and their jellies and their juices, the wines, cordials, and spirits, the condiments, and salt especially, without which life is insipid indeed. In their order the dietetic qualities of the condiments will be considered, and the special action of various foods in connection with the various ways of preparing them.

Just as common salt is indispensable to the health of cattle, the salts of potash present in vegetables and fruit are important to man. good health of many vegetarians is due to this substance.

The

The cookery of vegetables largely affects their dietetic value, and mistresses should instruct their cooks as to the proper ways of treating these important foods. In the first place, the most strict attention should be paid to cleansing them thoroughly from dust, sand, and injurious worms and insects; careful washing in plenty of cold salted water, with a brush or cloth, will suffice for roots, and careful examination of the leaves of succulent plants; the latter should be left blossom end down in enough salted cold water to cover them for at least an hour. This will generally destroy all parasite life, so that the small creatures will fall of their own weight to the bottom of the water, unless enfolded between the leaves; therefore cabbage, lettuce, etc., should be carefully inspected before cooking. Soft water in cooking will so far soften the tissues of vegetables as to extract much of their juices and valuable salts, unless salt is added to it; and the boiling of peeled vegetables withdraws much of their potash, the value of which we shall presently see. French cooks, having first thoroughly cleansed them, will save the water in which they have been boiled for sauces and soups. We would suggest moderate salting, and then have the water used in making the white sauce usually served with vegetables.

RINGWORMS AND ECZEMA.

The best remedy for ringworm depends entirely on the depth to which it has penetrated. When the disease is quite superficial it is very easily cured by painting the affected parts with strong acetic acid or tincture of iodine. But when the head is the point of attack, and the parasite gets deep down into the follicles of the hair, the difficulty is to get at it without so ruinous destruction of scalp as would be worse

than ringworm. Under these circumstances, perhaps the best treatment for inveterate ringworm is to cut the hair short, and deal with a small patch at a time by means of croton oil; but as undiluted croton oil is very strong, no unpracticed hand should venture on its application. Next to this comes, perhaps, three daily annointings with compound citrine ointment. It sometimes happens that eczema supervenes on ringworm, and thus masks the original disease. The eczema must be treated first, and the ringworm dealt with afterwards. The ringworm is not really cured, but only disguised by the supervening eczema. It happens, also, that ringworm is followed by that disorder now called eczema impetiginodes, which some consider to be a combination of eczema and impetigo. It has very thick crusts, which must be removed and kept removed. I know a case which lasted for years, and underwent innumerable treatments, and at length, whether through treatment or spontaneously no one was quite sure, it disappeared. The hair must be cut short, the head well oiled, and then poulticed till the softened. crusts can be shaled off. Wash the head with strained gruel, and when all the crusts are removed, apply benzoated zinc ointment, or some of the remedies which have been most recommended. After washing with gruel, always dry the head; wear a flannel cap, and persevere in whatever plan of treatment is, adopted. The process of cure is sometimes tedious, but is accelerated by a general soundness of health, to which tonics are in many cases conducive.

TREATMENT OF SLIGHT WOUNDS.

In the treatment of wounds we must attend to these rules: First, stanch the bleeding; secondly, put the injured part under the most favorable conditions for healing to occur; and, lastly, we must try to prevent excessive inflammatory action from setting in, and avoid blood poisoning.

If the cut is a small one, a very little pressure will stop the bleeding, such as that of a piece of rag tied moderately tight round the part. larger, a piece of soft rag, or lint, must be folded up, made into a pad, pressed on the bleeding part, and tied there.

In large wounds, and where blood is coming out in small jets with every beat of the heart, the fingers must be firmly pressed on the part for some time, until a clot forms in the vessel and blocks it up. If a very large blood-vessel has been cut and there is danger of the person

« AnteriorContinuar »