Paraffin oil would hardly be deemed a desirable beverage by an epicure, but it is used in large quantities as a stimulant by Russian immigrants in this country. The habit is one that they acquire in their native land, and, strange as it may seem, they adhere to this form of intoxiation even when other liquors are within the reach of their purses.

It is computed that when at rest we consume 500 cubic inches of air a minute, says "The Medical Record." If we walk at the rate of one mile an hour we use 800; two miles, 1,000; three miles, 1,600; four miles, 2,300. If we start cut and run six miles an hour we consume 3,000 cubic inches of air during every minute of the time.

The largest map in the world is the Ordnance Survey Map of the British Isles, containing 103,000 sheets, and costing £200,000 a year for twenty years. The scale varies from ten feet to onetenth of an inch to the mile. The details are so minute that maps having a scale of 25 inches "show every hedge, fence, wall, building, and even every isolated tree in the country. The plans show not only the exact shape cf every building, but every porch, area, doorStep, lamp-post, railway, and fireplug."

That women are better than men all women and most men are willing to admit. Statistics lately collected show conclusively that they have better luck than men in the criminal courts. For instance, in 100 convictions, the number of women, in England and Wales, is but 18; in Germany, 18, in France 17, in Hungary 16, in Austria 14, in Belgium 11, in Russia and the United States 9, and in Italy 8. It is to be re

membered, however, that not so many women as men are arrested, and that it is much easier to convict a man than a

woman.

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THE PASSING OF THE FLY.

It is announced that our annual harvest of flies is diminishing in number, and not less surprising is the reason therefor. A writer in "The Electrical Review" says "Entomologists report that of late years the annual crop of flies is decreasing rapidly and steadily. The almost universal adoption of electrical traction is credited with bringing about this desirable result. It has been stated that stables are the chief breeding places of flies, and as the street car horse has been emancipated the number of stables is consequently growing less; hence the failure of the fly to be born in multitudes. as in the past."

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FALSE TEETH THAT GROW.

"Popular Science News" reports a new kind of false teeth invented by a Dr. Zamesky. "They are made of gutta percha, porcelain, or metal, as the case may be. At the root of the false tooth holes are made. Holes are also made upward into the jaw. The tooth is then placed into the cavity. In a short time a soft granulated growth finds its way from the patient's jaw into the holes in the tooth. This growth gradually hardens and holds the tooth in position. Dr. Zamesky has tried them on dogs and men, and with success, it is reported."

Those who entertain the idea that the vegetarian is a spindle-shanked, bloodless, insane sort of person," says the editor of "Good Health," referring to

"M.

M.

Speaking of the time of day at or near which most deaths occur, Finlayson, of Glasgow, says "Le Journal de Medecine" (Paris), believes that it is 6 A. M. His observations include 15,000 cases. Beadles makes a difference between the sexes; he says it is 5 to 7 A. M. for men, and the evening hours for women. Schneider, of Berlin, less vague, in his affirmations, bases his statistics on 57,000 deaths, and gets 5 to 7 A. M., without distinction of sex. M. Raseri (25,474 observations) remarks that it is generally in the afternoon that people bid adieu to the fair land of Italy. Finally, M. C. Fere has collected 11,404 cases at the Salpetriere and Bicetre hospitals, and finds that they take place at all possible hours, but that there is a lull from 7 to 11 P. M."-Translated for "The Literary Digest."

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"The Tibetans," says "The Missionary Alliance," "are the most preeminent praying people on the face of the earth. They have praying-stones, prayingpyramids, praying-flags flying every house, praying-wheels, prayingmills, and the universal prayer, 'Om mani pad me haun,' is never out of their mouths. A German writer on Lamaism says of this sentence, which literally means, 'Oh, God! the jewel in the lotus,' that these six syllables are, of all the prayers on earth, the one which is most frequently repeated, written, printed, and conveniently offered up by mechanical means. They constitute the only prayer which the common Mongols and Tibetans know; they are the first words which the stammering children learn, and are the last sighs of the dying."

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THE LAUGHING-PLANT.

According to the Montreal "Pharmaceutical Journal" for May, this plant grows in Arabia, and derives its name from the effects produced by eating its seeds. "The plant is of moderate size. with bright yellow flowers and soft velvety seed pcds, each of which contains two or three seeds resembling small black beans. The natives of the district where the plant grows dry these seeds and reduce them to powder. A small dose of this powder has effects

In Switzerland they have commenced making phonographic clocks and watches which, it appears, leave anything

heretofore accomplished far in the shade. By merely pressing the button of the new timepiece, it pronounces the hour distinctly. The alarms call to the sleeper: "It's six o'clock; get up." There are some which even add the words: "Now, don't go to sleep again." The form can be changed to suit the buyer and make the warning more or less emphatic. This application of the phonographic principle is due to French watch maker settled at Geneva. He introduces into clocks and watches little slabs of vulcanized rubber, which the desired words are traced in grooves corresponding to the hours and fractions of hours.

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THE GREAT ARE TIMID.

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on

Is timidity an evil? We must not be in a hurry to answer yes, merely because it means a state of discomfort in the person affected. So far, no doubt, it is an evil; but it may be a necessary evil. Probably if the world had had no timides, it would have had no art. Art, as Tolstoi has recently been insisting, is essentially a mode of transmission of feeling. But it is an indirect mode, a veil, as it were, behind which a man

reveals his personality. The artist communicates with his fellows not in his own person and face to face with them, but withdrawn from their gaze. This means that he is of the race of the timid. Hear Rousseau: "I should be as fond of society as any one else were I not sure of showing myself in it not merely to my disadvantage, but as quite different from what I really am. The course I have taken in writing and hiding myself is the only one open to me." Virgil, Horace, Benjamin Constant, Michelet, Amiel were all notably timid men. And, as we saw that timidity leads to meditation and analysis, it enters into the temperament of the philosophers and man of science. Per contra, a thoroughly stupid man is seldom timid.-London Daily Chronicle.

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AN ANCIENT HOSPITAL.

At Baden, near Zurich, Switzerland, in connection with recent excavations at Windisch, the Roman Vindonissa, an ancient military hospital has been discovered, says "The Scientific American." It has fourteen rooms, which appeared to have been well supplied with medical, surgical, and pharmaceutical apparatus, including probes, tubes, forceps, cauterizing implements, and even safety-pins; medicine spoons of bone, silver measuring-vessels, jars and pots for ointments, etc. Some coins were also found, those of silver being of the reign of Vespasian and Hadrian, those of copper bearing the effigy of Claudius, Nero, Domitian.

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There exists in the town of St. Emilion, near Bordeaux, France, a whole church carved out of a single rock, of an early Romanesque character. It was carved some time during the eleventh century, but the exact date is unknown. It is 115 feet long by 80 feet wide.

Relatives had been arriving from far distant cities since the first of the week, and when the golden sunlight broke across the eastern horizon, driving back the shades of night, it brought good cheer to many relatives and friends who had long looked forward to this memorable event.

The committee on arrangements were somewhat disappointed that they were unable to hold the reunion on the old ancestral farm on account of the lack of shade, but were sincerely grateful to Mr. Pumphrey for the use of his beautiful grove, where they, the descendants of one of the oldest and most versatile families, spent the day in hearing and relating family reminiscences and history. Nearly four hundred names appeared on the register of attendance. Of these, one hundred and eighty-two were kindred-members of the family founded by Thomas and Watkin Watkins when they emigrated to the wilderness which then made up the valley of the Ohio.

Miss Helen Cherrington, a charming daughter of the clan, told the beautiful story of their settlement in Radnor; prayer was offered by the Rev. T. S. Griffith; verses read by the Rev. J. V. Stephens; and an address of welcome was delivered by Pres. J. W. Watkins, during which he related the following as the origin of the reunion.

In the years 1766, '68, '70, and '72 there were born in Llanerfyl, Montgomeryshire, North Wales, three Welsh boys and one girl. Evan, Thomas, Watkin and Mary Watkins, of whom we are the descendants. Evan and Mary died in the old country. The widow of Evan Watkins and her children came here and lived on what is known as the Lockport Jones farm. Watkin Watkins came to Radnor in the year 1806 and settled on the adjoining farm. Mr. Thomas Watkins came to Radnor in the year 1822.

Many others took part in the proceedings, and a chorus and a quartette furnished the music.

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January 1st, 1898-Total descendants of Watkin Watkins, 194; dead 60; now living 134. Grandchildren-Total 67; dead 18; living 49. Great-grandchildren-total 92; dead 23; living 69. Great-great-grandchildren--total dead 3; living 16. Estimate made on same average as above for all up to records received-many yet to get: Grandchildren-Total 210; dead 58; living 152. Great-grand-children-total 295; dead 73; living 222. Great-great-grand-children-total 61; dead 10; living 51. And

On his visit as assistant commissioner to the parish of Abernant, Carmarthenshire, Mr. Marchant Williams only discovered one charity, that of Thomas Howell. The donor belonged to a family which has had a long and honorable career. One of the Howells was in the diplomatic service of King James, and was the author of the well-known "Epistles" bearing his name. At one time the family belonged to the Church of England; in fact, the ancestor of the Conwil-Abernant branch was a clergyman, while at present the race of Howell has supplied the chief pillars of Dissent in that part of Carmarthenshire.

Who can account for the strange vicissitudes of life? Syr W. T. Lewis' health is said to be shattered; Mabon is reported to be losing flesh, while David Morgan, the miners' agent, who while serving two months imprisonment with hard labor was gaining 2 pounds weekly, and is happy!

I am very glad to hear of the movement toward establishing a Cambrian Professorship at Marietta College, O., and I sincerely hope it will be crowned with success. The contributions of 1 Wales to human culture have been of great importance, and call for much more study than has yet been given to

Llandrindod Wells has long been known as the rendezvous of popular preachers, and at one time no meeting or assembly could be carried on without ministerial aid. Now, it would seem, Welsh politicians are encroaching on the preserves. At a lecture given by the Rev. Eynon Davies lately, the chair was taken by Mr. Brynmor Jones, M. P., and the vote of thanks was moved and seconded by Mr. S. T. Evans, M. P., and Mr. Hugh Edwards, editor of "Young Wales," each of whom took the opportunity of discoursing on Welsh politics.

An hospital for Welsh pilgrims was at some ancient period founded and endowed at Rome. In 1579 one Owen Lewis, a native of Cowbridge, was in Rome, and he made a grant of some farms ten miles east of Rome, which he had purchased, for the support of the said hospital. (Vide "Strype's Memorials.") Some pilgrims from Wales are said to have visited this hospital in the fifteenth century.

There are depths of wisdom in the Vale of Glamorgan. "Our ancestors," writes an enthusiastic Welshman from that quarter, "never suffered from bald