solid. Five of these elements have a double or changeable character; thus, phosphorus may exist either as a yellow and most inflammable. solid, or as a red and singularly incombustible one; carbon, as the very different substances, plumbago, charcoal, or the diamond; oxygen, as simple oxygen or as ozone. Sulphur is known in three distinct characters while hydrogen is suspected of being the parent of all the so-called elements, itself the sole, final, real element. And then, nitrogen, the really most wonderful of them all, is the basis of all life (so much so that the phrase, "There is no life without nitrogen," has long since become a recognized axiom to which no exception is known, either in the vegetable or the animal world), is the essential ingredient of all our explosives, and is especially curious as so fickle a gas that in all its chemical unions it flies away on the smallest provocation, the very individualist and anarchist of chemistry.

The cell is always colloid. All solid matter is either crystalloid or colloid. The crystalloid is a firm solid. The colloid is a jelly. The crystalloid always grows from accretion or addition from without. The colloid can grow from increase of its constituent parts. The crystalloid is generally dissolvable in water. The colloid is rarely soluble in water. The colloid is the form of all living organic matter.

The word colloid is from the Greek, Kolla, glue, and oidos, like unto, so that colloid is that which is like unto glue, gelatine, jelly.

It has four parts. First, an outside envelope called the wall, though this is sometimes wanting; second, a fluid called the protoplasmic water; third, the kernel or interior cell within the cell, called the nucleus; fourth, the very inmost marrow and root of the cell within the nucleus, called the nucleolus, the little or lesser nucleus. We trust that our readers will not quarrel with us for this torrent of technicalities. As John G. Saxe once said, "We come to hard words when we meddle with Greek." But they are unavoidable in even the briefest consideration of the subject.-The Healthy Home.

SPONGING OUT A HEADACHE.

In case of the ordinary nervous headache from which women suffer so much, says an authority, remove the dress waist, knot the hair high up on the head, out of the way, and, while leaning over the basin, place a sponge soaked in hot water, as hot as can be borne, on the back of

the neck. Repeat this many times, also applying the sponge behind the ears, and, if the assertion of the writer is not a mistaken one, in many cases the strained muscles and nerves that have caused so much misery will be felt to relax and soothe themselves out deliciously; and very frequently the pain promptly vanishes in consequence.

Every woman knows the aching face and neck generally brought, home from a hard day's shopping, or from a long round of calls and afternoon teas. She regards with intense dissatisfaction the heavy lines drawn around her eyes and mouth by the long strain on the facial muscles, and when she must carry that worn countenance to some dinner party or evening's amusement it robs her of all the pleasure to be had in it. Cosmetics are not the cure, nor bromides or the many nerve sedatives to be had at the drug shop. Here again the sponge and hot water are advised by the writer quoted, bathing the face in water as hot as it can possibly be borne; apply the sponge over and over again to the temples, throat and behind the ears, where most of the nerves and muscles of the head center, and then bathe the face in water running cold from the faucet. Color and smoothness of outline return to the face, an astonishing freshness and comfort results, and if followed by a nap of ten minutes all trace of fatigue vanishes.—Health and Home.

A NARROW CHANCE.

William Sauer, a young law student, had a recent experience which he will never forget. Bright and early in the morning he started out for a good, long bicycle ride, heading toward Montgomery, a place in Hennepin county, seven or eight miles beyond Fort Snelling. He reached the village, and, after a good rest, turned about and started back. Three miles on the way he became thirsty, and discovering a well at an unoccupied farm house, halted to get a drink. He stepped on to the boards which surrounded the pump and commenced pumping. He had not made more than three strokes when the board upon which he stood broke in two, and he dropped to the bottom of the well, a distance of fifty feet. He was stunned, and remained in a dazed condition for some time. When he at length came to his senses he began calling for help. The well was back from the road at least 150 feet, and there was not a residence within a mile of the place. After a half

hour of long effort his eyes were sufficiently used to the darkness of the hole to enable him to see a little. A small pipe extended down into the water from the pump above.

He wrapped his arms and legs about it with the hope of being able to climb it. It was damp and slippery, and when he got up two or three feet he slipped back into the water. He tried it over again with the same result. Then he tried calling again. He was finally so hoarse that he could not utter a sound. He made another desperate effort to climb the pipe, but it was a failure. Then he gave up hope. But as one thing and another trooped through his mind it seemed to him that he was too young to die. There was too much in life he had hoped for. The thought was too terrible. He became very calm and canvassed the situation carefully. If he could climb the pipe ten or twelve feet he would reach the point where the well hole became so narrow that he could touch the stone wall with his feet. He mustered all his strength and wrapped himself about the pipe once more, Again and again he climbed part way up and slipped back. Once he was so far up that he could almost touch the wall with a hand. And then! down into the water he went again. At length an idea struck him. He took off his shirt, tore it into strips, dug up sand from the bottom of the well and worked it into the cloth, and wrapped the strips around the pipe as far up as he could reach. Then he climbed up and wrapped strips still farther up. At last with one superhuman effort he planted a foot on a stone in the wall. After a few moments pause to catch his breath he began moving upward, and very soon he was on the outside He was badly bruised, but not seriously hurt.

once more.

WORTH REMEMBERING.

The juice of half a lemon in a teacup of strong black coffee, without sugar, will often cure a sick headache.

The skin of a boiled egg is the best remedy for a boil. Carefully peel it, wet and apply to the boil; it draws out the matter and relieves

soreness.

For simple hoarseness take a fresh egg, beat it and thicken with pulverized sugar. Eat freely of it and the hoarseness will soon be relieved, When your face and ears burn so terribly bathe them in very hot

water--as hot as you can bear. This will be more apt to cool them than any cold application.

Castor oil may be comfortably taken in hot milk, in a half-wineglass of weak punch in hot water sweetened and highly flavored with essence of peppermint or wintergreen.

A sure cure for inflammatory rheumatism is made by taking one ounce pulverized saltpetre and putting it into a pint of sweet oil. Bathe the parts affected and a sound cure will speedily be made.

Neuralgia in the face has been cured by applying a mustard plaster to the elbow. For neuralgia in the head, apply the plaster to the back of the neck. The reason for this is that mustard is said to touch the nerves the moment it begins to draw or burn, and to be of most use must be applied to the nerve centers, or directly over the place where it will touch the affected nerve most quickly.

room.

The custom, in spite of modern sanitary teaching, still prevails. of keeping the occupant of a sick-room at all hours in a darkened There is no sense in this; it is as if the attendants were anticipating the death of the patient; and, if the reason is asked for, it is as inconsistent as the act. The reason usually offered is that the patient cannot bear the light-as though the light could not be cut off from the patient by a curtain or screen, aad as though to darken one part of the room it were necessary to darken the whole of it. The real reason is an old superstitious practice connected with small-pox and other terrible diseases involving the exclusion of light. A more injurious practice really could not be maintained, as by it a great remedy is lost. Sunlight diffuses through a room and warms and clarifies the air. It has a direct influence on the minute organic poisons-a distinctive influence that is most precious--and it has a cheerful effect upon the mind. The sick should never be gloomy, and, in the presence of the light the shadows of gloom fly away. Happily this fact is now recognized in hospital practice, and should be equally so in private practice.

WATER AS A MEDICINE.

The human body is constantly undergoing tissue change. Worn out particles are cast aside and eliminated from the system, while the new are ever being formed, from the inception of life to its close.

Water has the power of increasing these tissue changes, which multiplies the waste products, but at the same time they are renewed by its agency, giving rise to increased appetite, which in turn provides fresh nutriment. Persons but little accustomed to drink water are liable to have the waste products formed faster than they are removed. Any obstruction to the free working of natural laws at once produces disease, which if once firmly seated, requires both time and money to cure. People accustomed to rise in the morning weak and languid will find the cause in the imperfect secretion of wastes, which many times may be remedied by drinking a full tumbler of water before retiring. This very materially assists in the process during the night, and leaves the tissues fresh and strong, ready for the active work of the day.

Hot water is one of our best remedial agents.

A hot bath on going to bed, even in the hot nights of summer, is a better reliever of insomnia than many drugs.

Inflamed parts will subside under the continual poulticing of real hot water.

Very hot water, as we all know, is a prompt checker of bleeding, and besides, if it is clean, as it should be, it aids in sterilizing our wound. A riotous or rotten stomach will nearly always gratefully receive a glass or more of hot water.

A CASE OF TRANCE.

Miss Cora Mattoon, of Plymouth Centre, Ct., was attacked with the grip on May 6, and a few hours later sank into a trance, from which she did not recover consciousness until May 20. Dr. Peas, of Thomaston, was the physician in charge of the case, and he administered nourishment as best he could to sustain life. When Miss Mattoon recovered, the first person she recognized was her sister, and she greeted her with the strange question: Are you dead, too?

The family thought the young lady's mind was wandering, but in a short time, and as soon as she gathered strength enough to talk, they were told a strange story, which, as the young lady is perfectly sane, is considered the queerest experience ever heard. It can best be told in her own words, as related to a News man, in an interview to-day: When I became unconscious, said Miss Mattoon, I saw strange and new surroundings, as plain as I do the furniture of this room. I thought I was