Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-08-15
Curious, Useful and Scientific.
AFTER DINNER NApS.

Many persons, particularly the mid
dle-aged and elderly, allow themselves
after-dinner maps; and the custom, if
not carried to excess, is by many med
ical men considered beneficial rather
than otherwise, as by keeping the body
in state of quietude, digestion is
promoted and assisted. In southern
countries the midday sleep, termed
the siesta, is almost universally taken,
and wonderfully .refreshes the frame
enervated and weakened by the intense
heat. 1t is, however, recommended
that such sleep be not INDUCED in to
too great a length, as persons invariably
find such prolonged slumber in the day
time causes them to wake dull, ir-
ritable and unrefreshel: while most
have experienced, on having been
accidentally reused up a few minutes
after absolute forgetfulncss, a sensation
| Of lightness and renewed vigor, unat-
tended by peevishness, or the least de.
sire to sleep again. Medical men, in
ssnctioning the indulgence, particular
~ desire that it be taken in reclining
posture, and by no means lying
horizontally, the stomach in tho latter
position pressing on the intestines, and
causing the blood to be impelled to the
head. Corpulent persons, and those
who have tendency to apoplexy.
should be particularly mindful on this
point.
CANNIBAL STATISTICS.
The cannibals are more numerous
than is generally supposed. The Bat
tas are reckoned at 200, 600 souls; the
cannibals of Niger Delta ut 100, 900;
the Fans of 50, 900: the cave dwellers
Of the Bassuto country, about q tenth
OF the whole population-at 10000; the
MAN. Mans at about 500, 900; the Mi.
ranhas and Messaysas at 5000; the
other southern African cannibals at
1000 the Australian aborigines at So.
600; the Milanesian without includings
New Guinea, at 1000, 900. II a per- !?
son. choose to run the risk OF being
eaten, here is wide choice. Most of
these people, however, it must be re-
membered, are not oannibals except in
time of war, when it is more ancestral
custom which makes them efectually
dispose of an enemy by eating him.
PATENT BRAIN DROPS.
Psychologists tell us that the brain
consumes great deal of phosphorus,
and the doctors say that brown bread
is healthier than that made from bolted
flour, because of the phosphorus that
the bran contains, which in fine flour is
in great part absent. Baking powders
were accordingly invented, the princi.
pie purpose of which is to supply bread
with the needful amount of the phos-
phoric quality. A can,y has now been
invented and patented, which is moth
ing else than doses of phosphorus in
disguise. The love of candy has thus
been utilized and made to repair the
waste of nervous and brain forces. It
is pleasant way of taking medicine,
and even the children cry for it.
DR.. August Smith gives good rule
for ascertaining the amount of carbon
ic acid in the air Of the house: "Let
us keep our room so that the air does
not give precipitate when 1O} ounce
bottleful is shaken with Ealf an ounce
OF clear lime water" a sanitary regu-
lation which can easily be carried out.
CONDUCTORS OF SOUND.
Among the best conductors of sound
are iron and glass. Through them
sound is transmitted at the rate of H.
800 feet. over three. miles per second.
But in air sound travels only thirteen
miles per minute, or l, 142 feet per Sec
ond.
49,, ONIONS.
In the onion there is fountl a pecu.
liar oil containing sulphur, called the
sulphuret of allyle. The odor of the
breath after eating onions is caused by
the presence of small quantity Of
this oil, which is exhaled in breathing.
THE MINERAL WORLD.
There are about four hundred species
of minerals known but the varieties of
these species are almost infinite. For
example, carbonate of lime exists in
chalk, marble spar, photographic stone,