The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-07-28
THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH.

If the household. and is easily prepared ;
but it is often forgotten. A teasPoonii,ui l
of lime water added to glass OF lnilh
corrects the tendency which mix mas "
coagulate in forming hard, lndlgestloIie
mass. For this reason 1t Is frequently
ordered by physicians to be added 10 t4 n.
nursing bottle of children in summer. IL
is useful for rinsing out nursery pottles !,
and as a mild disinfectant, 1t Is one ol
the safest we have To prepare II, place
n LAYER of unslaked lime in VIDE mouth
ed lar and fill it with pure cold water
The druggist uses filtered water LOT tnls
purpose. Lime makes what the chemlSs
calls saturated solution in water ana
therefore there is no danger OF putting
too much lime in the water. Inc water
will take UP only so much lime. Wheh
the water has only stood few hours II
will have absorbed all the lime it IS cap.
able of receiving. 1t may then be DRAINED
off and more water added till the lime Is
absorbed If you are inclined to acldlty
of the stomach in the summer, 1t Is
GOOD plan to add little lime water TO
the water that you drink.
ACTIVITY OF THE BRAIN.-Dlsregard-
inc states of excitement, which DO not
come within the scope OF the question,
the brain of healthy man or woman
living simple and natural life would be
most active as soon as the process OF
awakening is quite complete. But as the
derands of civilization gradually aoro-
gate the processes of nature, the period
of highest intellectual activity Will vary
according to the condition of the md
vidual mode of life The brain OF the
literary man or the journalist is, as a rule,
most active at night, although study OF
the lives of the most celebrated writers
will, it should be added, disclose VIDE
variety of period and method of work.
Again. the highest capacities OF some
brains are only developed during the
time that the mind is on the border-land
between sleeping and waking. 1t is then
that the brain, shut off, as it were, from
the confusing influences of the external
world, seems to concentrate its energies
upon its storedup impressions, to review
them with marvellous accuracy and scope
of vision, and to recomblne into new
shapes and projects for the future with
clearncss and originality unknown in
actual waking life. This faculty IS, how
eaer, almost entirely confined to the high
er orders of intellect.
VERMIN AS DISEASE FACTORS. For
tunately for mankind, the rat is already
so detested d member of the animal king
dom, says the Philadelphia Press, that
the malign and morbtic influences which
are laid at its door by DR.. S. E. Weber,
of Lancaster, in paper read before the
keystone Veterinary Medical Society of
Philadelphia, will add little to its evil
record as far as the average layman is
But DIR. Weber's investiga
tons into the diseases of rats and rats as
disease spreaders are no ordinary investi-
cations and his discoveries no small
thing. While his work in what is com
paratively virgin field, at least in this
country, has aroused the greatest interest
among scientists, it is of no less interest
to every one, since, like the poor of old,
the rats we have ever with us. They are
our unrecognized domestic animals.
Unpleasant in their life, often doubly
unpleasant in their death, the rats in their
ordinary state find every mans hand in
stinctively raised against them; but when
looked upon as potent factors in the
spread of contagion, as living sources of
infection, whereby consumption, diph-
liberia, skin diseases and other hideous
Affections are more than brought to our
doors, the rat becomes the very persOniti-
cation of all that is horrible in vermin,
and gangrened vermin at that! Through
the diseased rat, as the doctor points out,
disease reaches man by at least three por
tals-the cat, the dog, and cattle. In the
last case the disease may come from the
infected meat or the poisoned milk.
These three indirect avenues are consid-
erably added to when the possibility
of direct contagion in our houses becomes
an evident factor in the case. The rat is
no epicure, nor nice about his habitation.
1t is subject to those parasitic and germ
diseases to which the human economy are
especially susceptible, and hence should
be the object of war of determination.
In these days of scientific sanitation
the part that the rat plays as refuse de-
stroyer is small indeed. Grant it all its
luc On llllS STORE, IL DulI OF WndU Ine
doctor suggests of its evil potencies be
true, the world were well rid of it, large
and small and all its kindred. The war
fare should be conducted in such a way
as not to bring on new, while avoiding
special, evils, Just how large percent
age of vermin are disease-ridden and con-
taminate our food supply, or infect our
household pets, or spread contagion
through the house, can be left for the
doctors to decide; but it is well that the
public should know that the rat is more
than a mere dcspoiler of pantres and
terrltier of women that its destruction
is imperative. The shibbolcth of medi-
cal scheme to-day is the word "prcven-
ton" Here is II new field. BY limit
ing the rat population we limit an agent
of the disease-producing germ, and so
protect mankind from one source of
affection. Samson's fire brand foxes in
the wheat-tields were no more danger
GUS than swarms of disease bearing TO.
dents are to human beings. Extermina-
ton should be the order of the day.
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HIS NIGHTMARE.
II