The Placer herald., 1872-07-13
HOUSE AND FA Il n d.

of the back is the weak or strong point Of
every person. 1t is tie center OF voluntary
motion. Nearly three hundred muscles are
directly or indirectly connected with the
motions of which the small of the back Is
she pivotal center. Hence, while those
who are strong and whose muscular systems
ar, we'll balanced, know nothing OF spinal
weakness or vertebral distortion invalid5 are
forever complaining Of this part Ct the body
One very prominent cause Of weak backs
and crooked spines is the unhygienic, un-
anatomical seats and benches ct our school
houses, churches and halls; nor arc the
seats and benches provided on s:eamhoats,
railroad cars, or at stations or ferry houses
any better. 1t is Impossible for any person
to occupy these seats long without beng
forced out of shape. And when school chill
dren are confined to them for several hours
dav for months and years, their backs viii
inevitably be more or less weakened, with
corresponding deformify of body, for life.
If we 90 into private f,milies, even into
the palaces of the opu!ent, we find the seats
made more for show than for use. Girls
suffer much more by using such seats than
bows. for the reason that boys are taught to
run, jump and exercise themselves all over
and all through, while girls are expected to
keep still and be pretty.
It is certainly one of The strange problems
Of the nineteenth century that no parent,
teacher or mechanic will give any attention
to anatomy or physiology in the construction
of seats for the human body. Must our
chairs, sofas, settces, divans, tcte-a-fetes and
pews forever be dictated by fashion and
never conform TO nature? Must our tortured
bodies forever be compelled to shape them
selves to tie seats instead Of the seats being
ADAPTED to our bodies? Go through all the
great chair factories of the country and yon
will not find a single article that is not put
together in gross violation of the rules Of
health or comfort If some Cooper Peabody,
Stewart. Vanderbilt or Astor would invest n
little million of dollars in establishing an
immense chair factory con strictly hygicnic
principals" he would do more to improve
hrman health, promote longevity and remedy
the hack-ache than any medical college IN
the lana.-Fjom " Back ache IN Science
Of Health.
Raw BEEF FOR INyAIlps. Among the
new food which medical science has made
available to prolong life, is raw beef Ger
tain enfeebed constitutions will not receive
benefit from drugs; cod liver o pepsine, etc,
are rejected by the stomach or fail to support
life, and the patient wastes away for want
Of nourishment which ordinary food will not
supply. In such cases, raw beet frequently
becomes The only remedy. In London and
Paris the number of consumptiye patients
whose life has been prolonged on the raw
beef diet is so great that all the pracical
physicians have adopted it as among the
most reliable of remedies The value of This
treatment is not unknown to American ply |
sicians, but the practice ia ess common here
than in Europe The late Secretary Raw
lincs iudulged in sanguine hopes of rebuild
ing bis shattered constitution by adopting raw
beef for his principle food; fol months he
rapidly gained flesh and strength, but during |
a short journey, attended by undue expos
ure in the extreme heat Of ummcr, he WAS
prostratcd hy hemorrhage, from which he
never rallied. 1t requires some ingenuity to
make this food palatablc. One mode is to
chop the beef finely, season it with salt, and
then heat it by placing the dish in which II !
is contained in boiling water, thus very slight
ly cooking it, A better one is to pound The
tenderloin thoroughly with an iron pesile in
mortar, then force the crushed flesh througl
a seve, thus separating it into the minr'cs'
particles. Thus prepared, put the meat into
bo. beef soup, seasoning to the taste, and
again pass soup end meat through seiye,
30 as to thoroughly assimiate the two sui
stances, while the favor of soup alone vii
be recognized hy the palate. In this form
the patient learns to yearn for his soup, and
TO like it as much IA DIR. Kane did his Arc
tic dinners Of raw zeal and walrus. Golden
Era.
How TO KILL SoU1RnELs Santo
Barbara Press relates that ''some time since
Mr. Dixie w. Thompson took us out in his
buggy to an outside lot on which the SOUR
rels had 'squattcd and taken up their claim
and were in high elee over their possessions
lie had with him large man bellows, to
which he had attached about yard of gutta-
percha hose. On reaching n squirrel burrow
where a colony had evidently settled he SCI
his machine down, thrust the end of the hose
into one Of the numerous squirrel-hoes.
threw some shavings, cobs and sulphur into
the tea-kettle, struck match, set the shay
ings on fire, caught hold of the bellows, and
in a moment the sight and smell suggcsted
another fire and birthstone region, for the
earth all round began to send up putls o.
yellow and Internal looking smoke wnereve'
squirrel had ever run his underground
road. The precaution had been taken 10
cover all the holes with earth before the
smoke was forced into the burrow. In one
instance the amoke rushed out of hole ovel
thirty feet distant from the main entrance Of
the nest 1t tikes about five minutes io
smother whole colony of these troublesome
pests, and they never show any signs of lf'
again. the holes remaining closed and unds
turhed The work of eXerminatipn is accom-
plshes at trifing cost. a multitude o
squirrels can be thus destroyed by one mar
= i.