eminent place as a blood poison. This, he thinks, is shown in the crimes of alcoholists and drunkards. Suicide, insanity, idiocy and moral manias are traceable to the influence of alcohol on the brain.

CURE FOR ROUND SHOULDERS.

Round shoulders are almost unavoidably accompanied by weak lungs, but may be cured by the simple and easily performed exercise of raising one's self upon the toes, leisurely, in a perpendicular position, several times daily. Take a perfectly upright position with the heels together and the toes at an angle of 45 degrees. Drop the arms lifelessly by the sides, animating and raising the chest to its full capacity muscularly, the chin well drawn in. Slowly rise up on the balls of the feet to the greatest possible height, thereby exercising all the muscles of the legs and the body; come again into standing position without swaying the body backward out of the perfect line. Repeat this exercise first on one foot then on the other. This is not the first time we have recommended this exercise.

AMMONIA AS A POWER.

A most successful test was made recently of the use of ammonia as a motive power to displace steam. The test was the first that has ever been made on a marine engine, and the trial was most satisfactory. An ammonia plant has been fitted out on the tug E. W. Hartley, which made a trip up and down the Schuylkill river, subjecting the new scheme to a practical test. It is known as the Campbell ammonia engine system, and its workings are novel and interesting, not only to the mechanical and scientific circles, but also the laymen of the industrial world.

Any ordinary engine can be converted into a Campbell ammonia engine simply by the addition of a "generator," which is much like a boiler. Steam is used simply for the purpose of heating the aqua ammonia in the generator. The heated ammonia expels a gas, leaving a weak solution of ammonia in the bottom of this boiler-like affair. When, by raising the temperature of the ammonia, sufficient power is generated, the throttle valve is opened, and the gas passes into the cylinder of the engine, and propels the piston rod in every way the

same as steam. It is here exhausted the same as steam, but at this point the gas is cooled and conducted back to the generator. Before it reaches the latter vessel it is carried by a "spray coil" to a point where the gas comes in contact with the ammonia solution, which has been rejected from the generator, and here the solution is recharged by absorption and by the natural affinity existing between water and ammonia.

By this means the same body of ammonia is used constantly, exhausting itself only to be recharged with new life and to be returned to the generator. The same is true of the water used. The steam in the generator imparts its heat to the ammonia, and is thereby condensed to be carried back to the boiler to be used again. In the Campbell ammonia engine there is absolutely no waste. On the other hand there is a saving of coal, as the engine can be operated on onehalf the amount of fuel. On the Hartley only one of the two furnaces was used, and there was all the speed and pressure that could be desired.

Many advantages are claimed for the Campbell engine. The principal one is that the life of a boiler is more than doubled. The average term of service of a boiler is less than ten years, and a boat is laid up about one-tenth of the time undergoing repairs to the boiler. Because of the uniform purity of the water this is done away with in the Campbell process, and the boat is in constant service. This and the saving of coal are the chief advantages claimed, but not an unimportant one is the dispensing with the many disadvantages of the lubricating oils. These are wholly unnecessary, as the ammonia itself serves as a lubricant.

ELECTRIC BELTS AND PADS.

Of all the humbug devices by which quacks gull the public, none is more barefaced than the electric belt swindle. It is not very long ago that almost a quarter of the people in some sections of the country were wearing curious little disks about the size of a silver half dollar, composed of alternate smaller disks of zinc and copper. This combination was said to be a battery. It was attached to a string about the neck and was worn next the skin over the pit of the stomach, and it was supposed to cure dyspepsia, rheumatism, nervousness, and about every thing else.

As a proof that it was a genuine battery, the owner was instructed to place it on his tongue. Of course, the zinc and copper disks acted upon by the saliva, would cause a slight electric current to be gener ated, just as in the familiar experiment at school when the boys would place a piece of zinc above and a silver half dollar below the tongue in order to feel the galvanic current passing through that organ. Having felt this current in his sensitive tongue, the gullible patient was told that the same thing, constantly passing into his body from the surface, was a sure panacea for his ills,—and his fifty cents was quickly forthcoming.

But none but the most ignorant could for a moment suppose that the insignificant and imperceptible current generated by the action of the perspiration on the zinc and copper, would produce as much effect on a disease as the infinitely stronger and more evident current produced by rubbing the back of the family cat,-and the latter operation would be a far more sensible therapeutic measure.

We class all such things with the magnetic inhalers, hair brushes, caps, soles, etc., as being expensive toys at the best.

Charcot experimented with magnets, and thought he obtained. wonderful results by their use, until, having used a wooden dummy in the shape of a magnet, and getting the same effects, he came to the conclusion that the whole thing was due to suggestion.

It is much the same with all the various remedial appliances above noted. If the patient is in need of electrical treatment it should be given by a medical man who thoroughly understands it, just as you would employ only an educated physician in any event of sickness or injury.-J. S. BAKER, M. D., in Healthy Home.

ALCOHOL IN PATENT MEDICINES.

A drink of whiskey is resorted to by the toper to "make him feel better." Alcohol seems to produce a temporary elation which many makers of patent medicines take advantage of. If a dose of the medicine seems to affect the patient at once, the presumption is that he will go on taking the remedy. Besides this, if the alcohol habit is once formed it will be hard work to discontinue taking the medicine, just as it is hard to stop drinking whiskey when the habit is once formed. Look out for a majority of the "bitters "-they are simply disguised alcohol.

In the report on nostrums, proprietary medicines and new drugs, which was read before the American Association for the cure of Inebriates, the analyses of a large number of well known patent medicines, disclosed alcohol in varying proportion.

We have grave doubts of the value of remedies of this nature It is on this account that after thoroughly testing its merits, we have endorsed the merits of HERBA VITA, advertised in this journal, as simple, harmless and efficacious. It is a real sin to dose the young with alcoholic mixtures.

A DYING WIFE'S DREAM.

The mystery surrounding the sudden disappearance two years ago of William Short, who was at that time employed by the Long Island Railroad Company, as a car cleaner at Jamaica, L. I., has been solved. The discovery of his body in an abandoned well in the car yard was the result of a dream by his wife just before her death, last Tuesday. At the time of Short's disappearance little was said in regard to the matter, Mrs. Short speaking of it only in her family and to relatives. Every night from the time of her husband's disappearance to the day of her death, Mrs. Short would place a light in the window and leave the door unlocked, believing that her husband would return. The support of the family, four boys and three girls, fell to the wife's lot and at times it was hard work for her to get along. Monday morning she attempted to leave the house, but sank into a chair exhausted and died there shortly after.

During the two years intervening between Short's disappearance and his wife's death, the children repeatedly declared that they believed the body of their father would be found at the bottom of the old railroad well. At the time of his disappearance Short's broom and pail were found near the uncovered well, and it is wondered at now that some examination of the well was not made.

Mrs. Short did not believe the statement of the children. Recently, however, she told some neighbors that she had been repeatedly awakened by a vision of her husband, who stood by her bedside and told her that he had fallen into the well. The vision appeared so real that several times she got up and lighted a lamp, after which the vision would disappear.

Mrs. Short's death revived these stories, and two men, John Magale and William Amberman, secured a fifty foot ladder, lowered it into the well and started to search the bottom. Magale made the first descent but soon reappeared with a frightened look on his face. When questioned as to the cause of his fright he replied that Short's body was at the bottom of the well.

The news of the finding of Short's body spread rapidly and a crowd soon gathered. A rope was procured, Magale made another descent, fastened the rope around the body, which was drawn up to the surface.

Notwithstanding the fact that it had been in the water for two years, it was in a very good state of preservation, no sign of decomposition being visible, and was recognized at once as that of the missing Short. This peculiar fact is attributed to the depth of the well and the large quantity of lime in the water.-N. Y. Press, Aug. 13.

MISCELLANEOUS. ·

SULPHURING OR BLEACHING DRIED FRUIT A MISTAKE IF NOT A CRIME.

(From the type of forthcoming volume of the American Public Health Association.)

BY JOEL W. SMITH, M. D., CHARLES CITY, IOWA.

The subject of this paper should command the careful attention of consumers of dried fruit, of conscientious fruit dealers, and of all health authorities. Fruit is now regarded more as a necessity than as a luxury, the want of it being a common cause of ill health.

As fresh fruit is not always obtainable, various methods for preserving it are in use, drying being one of the oldest and best for many fruits. Middle aged people recollect when sun or air drying was the only method for market. Then some good housewife discovered that more rapid drying by artificial heat, with or without the addition of sugar, was a cleaner method, safer against fermentation and decay, retained the flavor better, and the fruit was also lighter colored, than when sun or air dried. The present evaporators are only an enlargement of the idea of such more rapid drying, while canning consists of the exclusion of the microörganic germs of fermentation.

This is an age of progress, yet experience often shows that not all changes are improvements. It is about fifteen years since the sulphuring or bleaching of dried fruit began. At first only the uniform light color was sought, as in apples, pears, etc., but for some years past nearly all the large evaporating establishments have "sulphured" all kinds of fruits and some vegetables, and now much of the California sun-dried fruit for market is also treated in the same manner. The