Various

“ In those States in which the facilities for securing a medical education are abundant, and where the time and money to be expended are within the reach everyone, there is always the danger that an undue proportion will forsake trade in order to join the profession. This is especially the case when times are bad. Many persons seem to be possessed of the idea that the practice of medicine as a means of livelihood should be regarded as a something to fall back upon when other resources fail. Accordingly, when trade is depressed and money is scarce, there is a rush to enter its ranks. ”

“ A huge wilderness lay before us like the dry bed of a vast ocean, whose waters by some subterranean convulsion had been sucked into the bowels of the earth, leaving in its whirling eddies the debris of submarine mountains heaped up in rugged confusion or scattered over its sandy bottom. ”

“ From the time when landscape gardening was first practiced as a fine art to the present day, park makers have been ambitious to change the face of nature—to dig lakes where lakes did not exist and to fill up lakes where they did exist, to cut down natural hills and to raise artificial ones, to plant in one place and to clear in another, and generally to spend money in construction entirely out of proportion to the value of the results obtained. ”

“ A retrospective survey of the progress made and of the reforms instituted in medical education in the United States is instructive. In many respects there is cause for much congratulation, while for other reasons the situation gives rise to feelings of alarm. It is pleasing to note and it augurs well for the future that a decided advance has been made in the direction of a more thorough medical training, yet at the same time it is discouraging to observe that, despite these progressive steps, competition does not abate, but rather daily becomes more acute. ”

“ It is doubtful if any king since the time of Frederick the Great has studied the routine of the public offices and has made such practical inspections of industries of all kinds; indeed, there is hardly a man in Germany who has more general knowledge of the material development of the country.
In the army he has worked his way up like any other officer and has a firm grasp on all the multifarious details of the military establishment of the great country. ”

“ No park can be beautiful unless the trees which adorn it are healthy, and no tree is healthy which suffers from uncongenial climatic conditions and insufficient nourishment. Even if they are not inharmonious in a natural combination, the trees and shrubs which need constant pruning to keep them from looking shabby are too expensive for park use and should, therefore, be rejected when broad, natural effects in construction and economy of maintenance are aimed for by the park maker. ”

“ The effect of scenery must be considered, if we are to understand the peculiarities which mark the different tribes. Some imagine that the Indians are all alike, that they are all cruel savages, all given to drunkenness and degradation and only waiting their opportunity to wreak their vengeance upon helpless women and children. Those who know them, however, are impressed with the great variety which is manifest among them, and are especially convinced that much of this comes from the scenery amid which they have lived. ”

“ The most superficial examination of any of our large urban parks will show that wherever elaborate construction and planting have been attempted they have failed from subsequent neglect to produce the effects expected from them, and that broad, quiet, pastoral and sylvan features are the only permanent and really valuable ones we can hope to attain in our great city parks. ”

“ A NOVEL WAY OF RIDING A BICYCLE.
"Artists" of the variety stage and the circus are always trying to find something new, for the same old trapeze performances, trials of strength, performances of rope dancers, etc., have been presented so many times that anyone who invents an entirely new trick is sure of making a large amount of money out of it; the more wild and dangerous it is, the better. Anything that naturally stands on its feet but can be made to stand on its head will be well received in the latter attitude by the public. ”

“ Petersburg, which in winter is inaccessible to ships, but in summer enjoys a moderate climate, lies in the same latitude as the northern part of Labrador, where snow falls in every month of the year and where floating ice frequently retards navigation even in midsummer. As a result of the severity of climate the only people who find northern Labrador a place fit for existence are the Eskimo tribes, who win their living under great difficulties almost entirely from the sea. No white men live there, with the exception of some missionaries and the occasional traders. ”

“ The first and most important steps toward this desirable consummation have been already taken, and when a four years' course comes into practice throughout the country, the difficult problem of checking excessive competition will at any rate be much nearer its solution. Why should France, Germany, Great Britain and other European nations consider that a course of from five to seven years is not too long to acquire a good knowledge of medical work, while in many parts of America two or three years' training is esteemed ample for the manufacture of a full-fledged doctor? ”

“ It costs a great deal of money to cut out dead and dying branches from trees and shrubs, to remove dead trees and fight insects, but work of this sort must be done, unless the selection of plants used to decorate our parks is made with the greatest care. Fortunately, the trees and shrubs which need the least attention, and are therefore the most economical ones to plant, are the best from an artistic point of view; and to produce large effects and such scenery as painters like to transfer to canvas, no great variety of material is needed. ”

“ In the event of war, the government (of Great Britain) may occupy all the stations on English territory or under the protection of Great Britain, and it may use the cable by means of its own employes."
It is not a pleasing reflection that in the actual situation the United States is at a great and embarrassing disadvantage. Meanwhile it would seem to be the policy of the United States to overcome this disadvantage by the multiplication of submarine cables under American or other than English competing foreign ownership and control. ”

“ Stripping plate patterns are not rapped, and there frequently occur on surface of patterns, remote from the action of the stripping plate, rectangular corners just as important to mould sharply as those at the parting line. Such corners have either to be filleted or "stooled" in stripping plate work, and neither method often is practicable. When the entire pattern and plate are vibrated so that the corners where the pattern joins the plate draw perfectly, as they do in the machine to be described, it is obvious that similar corners anywhere on pattern surface will draw equally well. ”

“ The west winds, blowing toward the European coast, carry from this warm ocean belt air with higher temperature than that which exists over the land. On the eastern side of the Atlantic in place of a warm ocean current there is the cold Labrador current, which blows from the north and chills the water of the northwestern Atlantic. Therefore, the winds that come from the ocean blow over water that has been cooled, and the prevailing winds, which are from the west, come over the land, which is cool in winter and warm in summer. ”

“ Every big machine shop in the oil regions is turning out gas engines. The machine shops are also using gas engines to drive their own machinery. During the last year twenty of the Standard Oil Company's pipe line pumping stations have been equipped with gas engines. In all the new stations and in old ones where new machinery is needed, the gas engine will be preferred. Where natural gas cannot be had and coal was formerly burned, gasoline is used. ”

“ Simplicity of design often means a saving of unnecessary expenditure, but it should not mean cheapness of construction. The most expensive parks to maintain are those which have been the most cheaply constructed, for cheap construction means expensive maintenance. Roads and walks should not be made where they are not needed, and they should not be made unnecessarily wide to accommodate possible crowds of another century, but those that are built should be constructed in the most thorough and durable manner possible, in order to reduce the cost of future care. ”

“ They built their terraced houses, taking the cliffs and mesas as their patterns, and made them so similar to the rock and cliffs that it was difficult to recognize them at a distance. They did not mould the mountains into villages as the Mayas did, but they made their houses to conform to the mountains, and took the mountain gods and their nature divinities as chief objects of worship.
The contrast between the ancient tribes of this region and the wild tribes which intruded upon them was very great. The Navajoes were a mountain people and drew their religion from the mountains. ”

“ But metal refuse, scraps of iron, old boiler plates, under his magic touch, are also turned into the most useful things. For instance, the steam hammer used in the government workshop is rigged on steel columns from the debris of an engine room of a wrecked vessel. The hammer is the crank of a disused shaft of a cotton machine, the anvil is from an old "monkey," that drove the piles for the Suakim landing stage in 1884; the two cylinders are from an effete ice machine, and the steam and exhaust pipes come from a useless locomotive of the old railway. ”

“ The civilized races, such as the Greeks, Romans and other nations who formerly dwelt on the coast of the Mediterranean, are taken as examples. The Greeks are said to have owed their peculiar character and their taste for art to the varied and beautiful scenery which surrounded them. Their mythology and poetry are full of allusions to the scenes of nature. Mountains and springs, rivers and seas all come in as the background of the picture which represents their character and history. ”

“ On one road in Great Britain, having but 2,000 miles of track, there are employed more men in the manufacture and installation of signal work than are employed by all the signal companies and in the signal departments of all the railroads of the United States, where we are now operating about 182,000 miles. ”

“ Many of the compositions which have been invented have been well adapted for use for certain purposes and have been used to adulterate the pure rubber, but no substance has been produced which could even approach India rubber in several of its important characteristics. There has never been a substance yet recommended as a substitute for rubber which possessed the extraordinary elasticity which makes it indispensable in the manufacture of so many articles of common use. ”

“ The medical profession of America is quite as conscious of the disastrous results of competition as are its fellow practitioners on the other side, and should use every legitimate means to sweep away the evils of the present system.—Medical Record. ”

“ Why not do yourself well if you can? One of them even went in for the luxury of having three shooting irons, two revolvers and a double-barrel slug pistol, so that when either of the weapons got hot while he was holding Baggara horsemen at bay, there was always one cooling, ready to hand. He also, which I believe is a phenomenal record with any campaigner, took with him thirteen pairs of riding breeches, a half dozen razors and an ice machine. Even our commander-in-chief, when campaigning, denies himself more than two shirts and never travels with ice machines. ”

“ To make yet another comparison, the total number of medical schools in Austria and Germany, with a population exceeding that of this country, is twenty-nine. Great Britain, with more than half the population, has seventeen; while Russia, with one hundred million inhabitants, has nine. Of course we do not argue that America, with her immense territory and scattered population, does not need greater facilities for the study of medicine than do thickly inhabited countries, as Germany and Great Britain ”

“ It is desirable that every one entering on medical studies should possess a general education. With the exception of a few unimportant schools, the entrance examinations would appear to afford the necessary test. Then comes the much more vital point of how to gage, in the fairest possible manner, the extent of the medical knowledge of those who have undergone their full term of study. ”

“ Man can bear more than animals. In an absolutely dry air he can endure a temperature of 50 degrees (122 degrees F.) But in an atmosphere saturated with water, underground, where the breath of the workmen fills the narrow space with poisonous vapors, a temperature of even 30 degrees (86 degrees F.) entails serious consequences. In a large number of workmen the bodily heat rose to 40 degrees (104 degrees F.) and the pulse to 140 and even 150 a minute. ”

“ The compressed air used in the workings produces by its escape a very sensible lowering of the temperature, which can be made still lower by using saline solutions whose freezing point is as low as -20 degrees (4 degrees F.) , and which will circulate through pipes along the tunnel. The removal of the debris can be effected by electric locomotives; thus the horses, which use up the precious air, can be done away with. The electric light, which can be operated without contamination or consuming the air, will also render great service ”

“ We so often hear that the Scotch schools never meet with casualties under anæsthetics because they always use chloroform, and prefer to dispense with any apparatus, that we can readily accept the replies given to the coroner as representing the views current among the majority of even the thoughtful alumni of those great centers of medical training. ”

“ When a large current density is used, there is considerable decomposition of the iron electrodes when either salt or pure water is used, and in the case of horizontal electrodes, the under surface of the top plate may become covered with bubbles of gas, making the resistance between the plates quite variable. For large current density a horizontal top plate is not advisable, unless a large number of holes are drilled through it. ”

“ The most restful park scenery, and, therefore, the best, can be obtained by using judiciously a small number of varieties of the hardiest trees and shrubs, and the wise park maker will confine his choice to those species which Nature helps him to select, and which, therefore, stand the best chance of permanent success. ”

“ The railroad companies of the United States in expending large sums for handsome and convenient terminals and luxurious cars are placing monuments before the public eye which naturally lead to the belief that every appointment of such roads is on the same high plane, and it requires much less expenditure to furnish luxurious equipment to be carried over 1,000 miles of road than it does to equip 10 miles of the 1,000 so as to make it safe ”

“ As illustrating the importance of being able to work without stripping plates on a line of work which is much more extended than that possible with them, we may say that a machinist with a drill press supplied with split patterns and planed pattern plates has matched and fixed five sets of from four to eight pieces in a day: and wooden patterns fitted for temporary use in the same way are of frequent occurrence when it is not thought wise to go to the expense of metal patterns on account of the relatively small number of castings to be made from them. ”