, 1891-05-15
JUST A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE.



The Possession OF It Does Sot Pee Very
Well In the Long Kun.
at doesn't pay to know just a little
about things" said one of those men
who are always after general informa-
ton" Judging from experience l
thoroughly agree with the gentleman
who said, "A little knowledge is a danger
Gus thing For example, l have never
been able to eat an egg with thorough
relish-though exceedingly fond Of them
for their fiavor-since l learned that the
little spot on one side of the yelk, toward
the butt end, is the germ Of the chicken.
You may cook an egg in what fashion
you please. bat whether it is boiled,
poached or fried, You will find that germ
always conspicuous, when once you
know It is there, and yOu cannot eat the
egg until you have carefully removed it.
1t would add considerably to my happi-
ness if | could believe today what l was
taught in the nursery, that the white of
an egg makes the bones of the subsequent
fowl and the yelk the flesh, instead Of
knowing, as l do, that both are merely
the food by the consumption of which
the germ is developed.
But that is only a very minor in
stance. Ny slight knowledge of patho-
logical anatomy, amounting to the mer-
est smattering, is a source of continual
distress TO me. Though an abstemious
man, on the whole, | cannot indulge in
glass Of any alcoholic beverage without
realizing that | am subjecting my sys-
TEN to the action of a heart stimulant
which accelerates the pulsations of that
organ i~njur1ously. The slightest sensa-
ton Of any sort about my chest causes
me to imagine, despite myself, that the
tubercular bacilli are beginning to get
in their deadly work upon my pulmona-
ry system.
Presumably it IS only a trifling inter
costal rheumatism, but l am none the
less uneasy. A similar feeling in the
small Of my back makes me think of
Bright's disease. Surprising that l swal-
low an orange seed by accident, it oc-
cur to me at once that there is u chance
for its getting into a certain useless sac
attached to the stomach, where, If it
does, it will occasion inflammation that
is necessarily fatal before long. / know
that my iutestines are n prey to certain
yermiculor parasites, "a are those of
every one else; but they do not occasion
me so much annoyance as the possibili-
ty, always existing, that painful concre-
tons Of lime may be forming in my
bladder or my liver.
"a superficial knowledge of physiology
takes much Of the poetry out of exist
ence and remOyes a large part of the
gliding from the s%ublunary gingerbread,
AS n might say. Having acquired it,
n man realizes rather painfully that he
is largely an elevated animal after all,
though hitherto he hasimagiued himself
chiefly mind.
Surprising that ones partner in the
german is n thin girl, he cannot help
figuring her out rs an articulated skele-
ton and setting an estimated price upon
her as a preparation in that guise. This
does not apply, however, when she is an
acknowledged heiress.
Imagination is always opposed to
fncts, and by as much as the latter are
calculated to dispel agreeable illusions;
they are destructive of happiness. There
fore l am inclined to think that however
desirable knowledge may be respecting
things with which one has no personal
and intimate concern, it is most com
Portable to know a very little about ones
self and ones environment. Drink deep
or taste not the Pierian spring Wash
ington Star.