KEAD'T TO SY/JV£r~
r
of improper explosives, as well as the
improper use of suitable explosives,
results annually in the waste of great
amounts of coal. The use of too high
charges in blasting, or the use of un
necessarily violent explosives, shatters
much good coal, converting fuel into
dust which may_jtself be explosive
and become productive of much fur
ther damage. Such explosions often
loosen the roof of a coal mine, which
may fall later to be wasted, or produc
tive of fatal accidents.
In addition to the actual experiments
in testing explosives, important experi
ments are being made in rescue work.
One part of the station lias been fitted
up as a miniature coal mine. This is a
large glass-encased, air-tight room which
contains difficult passages such as are
found in coal mines. There are also
various obstructions similar to what
would he found in a n ine after it, had
been wrecked by an explosion; also dum
mies weighing 150 to 200 pounds, rep
resenting asphyxiated miners. This room
is filled with deadly gas and a rescue
mips of men who are being trained in
the work enter daily, clad in helmets
which supply them with oxygen while
they work. The men remain in this
chamber for two hours, removing ob
structions. picking up th< dummies, plac
ing them on stretchers and carrying
them away. There is also in the room
a machine which records the amount of
work a man may tie expected to do while
wearing one of these helmets. One-half
of the large building in which this rescue
room is located is used as an auditorium
and several hun
/W2f\ dred miners and
X ITS effort to stop the appalling
loss of life in the coal mines of
the country, the United States
government is meeting with
much success. For several
months an experiment station,
under the direction of the tech
nologic branch of the United
States geological survey, has
been iu operation at Pittsburg, Pa., with the pur
pose of discovering the causes of mine disasters
and suggesting a remedy.
Along with establishment of this station and
the agitation which preceded the necessary legis
lation, there has been a falling off in the number
of deaths in the coal mines for the year 190S, and
while the official figures have not yet been ob
tained, it is stated that the number of deaths
will be several hundred less than in 1907. which
was an unusual year. In December, 1907, four
ergies to dis
cover some
method b y
which fhis dust can Jte
prevented from being a
serious menace to the
miners. Experiments in
wetting it have been go
ing on for some time,
but nothing of a very
definite nature has as
yet been learned, unless
it is the fact that the
coal dust does not ignite
when there is a great
amount of moisture in it.
Every effort is being
made at the station to
come as close to the <
conditions in a mine- as j
ML~JP*I3
£X&l^OsSn/£. *S
fe£.3CUT: PAT^TY'AT
explosions took the lives of 700 men.
one of them—at the Monongah mine
in West Virginia—being the greatest
mining disaster in the history of this
country. There were 356 victims.
During 1908, there were but two acci
dents in which the -loss of life was
'very heavy; one in January at the
Hanna mine, in Wyoming, with a loss
of 70 men; the other. November 28,
at the Marianna mine in Pennsylvania,
w'hich resulted in 154 deaths.
Already at the experiment station
two discoveries have been made
which will tend to decrease the num
ber of deaths in the mines. It has
been demonstrated that a number of
•.-—the so-called “safety" explosives are
anything but safe, in fact the state
ment is made that with the present
*4 COS3L* 'PL/t37' K>JLShS7~
explosives used m mining, the miner takes his
life in his hand every time he touches oft a fuse.
It is the purpose of the government to continue
these experiments until the explosives of the
country are standardized in such a manner that
the miner will have a definite idea what these ex
plosives will do.
After the government has gone far enough in
its experiments, a bulletin will be issued recom
mending as permissible explosives such as stand
the test. The facts learned concerning these ex
plosives will be called directly to the attention
of the state mining bureaus as well as the oper
ators.
Perhaps the most important and far-reaching
experiments so far at the station are those in
which it has been definitely shown that coal dust
is an explosive equally as dangerous as the dead
ly fire damp. This has been a mooted question
among mining engineers and miners alike, both
insisting that it is impossible to explode coal dust
unless there is gas present. That the coal dust
will explode in the mine where there is no gas
has been repeatedly shown to several hundred
operators and miners at the testing station. The
experts at the station are now bending their en
possible. The tests of various dynamites and
powders used in blasting coal are being made in
a mammoth boiler plate cylinder which has pre
viously been filled with gas or coal dist. The cyl
inder is 100 feet long and six feet in diameter.
Safety valves have been placed all aioug the top
and are left unfastened in such a manner that
whenever there is an explosion the valves fly
open on their hinges. A series of portholes on the
side, covered with one-half inch glass, enables
those conducting the experiments to witness the
results from an observation house 60 feet away.
An explosive mixture of fire damp and air, or coal
dust and air, is pumped into the cylinder and the
explosive which is to be tested is shot into it from
one end of the cylinder, so that the flame goes
right into the firs damp or coal dust. Natural
gas is used at this station for fire damp, because
it corresponds very closely to this deadly gas.
The cannon in vdiich the explosives are placed
is fired by electricity from the observation house
which is parallel with the cylinder itself.
These investigations are expected to accom
plish a double purpose; not only a reduction In
the number of men killed in the mines, but also
a saving of the waste in mining cod The use
operators have 'vaulted the rescue drill
through the large glass windows which
separate the auditorium from the gas
tilled chamber. Although there has
been hut little opportunity so far for
the rescue corps to demonstrate its ef
ficiency at the mines, still it has done
some good work.
Once the helmeted men while fight
ing a mine fire succeeded in bringing
an unconscious man to a place of safety,
where lie was given oxygen treatment
and recovered his senses in a short
time.
It is not the intention of the United
States government to furnish rescue
corps whenever there is a disaster. The
present corps was organized with the
idea of encouraging the mine owners
and miners tnemseives to torm suen organizations.
Invitations have been issued to operators through
out, the country to send picked men to the experi
ment station, where they may watch the govern
ment rescuers at work and later go through the
same training themselves, in order that they may
gain the necessary confidence in the Use of these
helmets. Already a number of the large mining
companies have taken advantage of this invitation
and are organizing rescue corps at their mines,
fully equipped with oxygen helmets.
In 11)07 more than 3,125 men were killed in the
coal mines of the country—a death rate of 4.S6
for every 1,000 men employed. This is from three
to four times as many men per thousand as are
killed in any coal-producing country of Europe,
where experimental stations such as the one in
Pittsburg have been in operation for several years.
Full Beards for Farmers.
The protection of farmers and others who are ex
posed to the heat a great deal is a serious and diffi
cult matter. Cancer is on the increase, and farm
ers furnish a large proportion of the cases, many
of them being due to the direct effects of sunlight
on the face and hands. A full beard for the farmer
is most desirable for his protection.
_—Jl-—-■■■
NO ROYAL ROAD TO EDUCATION
r
Successful Student Must Be Called
Upon to Make Effort.
“Do all you can," urged President
Eliot in a recent address, “to influ
ence, each in his own community, the
raising of the standard of instruction
in high schools.” He added, also, pri
vate schools. But these do not concern
ns nor the public, comments the Bos
ton Herald. We believe with Presi
1 iWtaMMaaMMu
dent Eliot that the American people
will be likely, in the future an in the
past, to value a thing largely by what
it costs, not cost in money only, but by
what it cost in effort.
Education is a result of effort, not of
inspiration, and the greater part of the
effort must come from the student,
whether he be in the gramma:* schoel,
the high school or the university. It is
a mistaken idea that education should
be made easy, that mediocrity should
set the standards of the courses of the
schools, but It is a current idea, and not
limited to any city. Authority is too
much inclined to provide bargain ed
ucation. There can be no bargain.
There never has been a royal road to
education, and there never can tie one.
But the belief that one exists, and that
a smattering of many things is good
enough, has served to cover the coun
try with myriads of lives more or less
content with superficial views and
achievements, and the appearances of
things. That is the penalty the pub
lic pays for bargain education.
The Realm of the Possible.
T3»e realm of the possible was given
to man to hope, and not to fear in.
. . . If (in sorrow) the thought
strikes you that we are punished for
our sins—mourn for them, and not for
the happiness which they have pre
vented. Rather thank God that he
has stopped us in time, and remember
his promises of restoring us if we
profit by his chastisement.—Charles
Kingsley.
^2fiBSQQ9fiC9fiu^flfi£S^MSX£(
jDIET AND|
HEALTH
|| By DR. J. T. ALLEN ;i
< Food Specialist , 1
Author of "Eating for a '[
« Purpose." "The ffeitt
i Gospel of Health." !'
Etc. ■ |
(Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowies.) j
“THE DIET CURE”
(Continued.) .
You cannot go to church or the
opera, especially in the winter, when
less air ami light are admitted, with
out admitting into your air passages,
enough germs of consumption or of
pneumonia or other germ disease, to
send you to the grave, if the vitality
of the blood is so low as to allow
these disease germs to multiply so far
as to develop the disease in virulent
form.
Many of us have had consumption
so far started, without knowing it,
that post-mortem examination of our
lungs would show that small colonies
of the tuberculosis germ had started
their work of destroying the lung tis
sue but had been overcome by the
natural defensive powers of the sys
tem. And this applies to nearly every
other disease. How often we read of
death from the scratch of a pin or a
nail, because the blood was in bad
condition, the defenses weakened!
Some modern medical philosophers
hold that the vitality is in the nerves,
that, therefore, the secret of health
lies in keeping the nervous system in
order, and that, consequently, cure
depends upon toning the nervous sys
tem, which they aim to do by soothing
drugs, by mental iniluence, by elec
tricity. by change of scene or by rest,
or all of these.
It is true that all the physical func
tions are controlled by the mind, with
the nerves as conductors of sensation
carrying impressions from every part
of the body to the spinal column and
the brain, and carrying messages from
the brain and spinal column to every
cell in the body, with the sympathetic
nerve system directly controlling the
vital processes—digestion, pulsation,
etc., subject to suggestion from the
objective mind, which is constantly
going on while we are awake—every
thought, every mental picture influenc
ing the body, sometimes so powerfully,
as in fright, as to cause death; but
the nerves are as powerless to act, of
themselves, as are the wires from a
battery to produce a current. They
must be charged front the dynamo, the
brain, and that requires a galvanic bat
tery, with the blood as its liquid: and
the quality of the current must de
pend. largely, upon the quality of the
liquid, the blood. Unless the neces
sary elements are supplied to the
blood and the waste removed death
must, in time, ensue. Poisoned blood
will no more support life than will
worn out liquid supply life to a bat
tery.
It is important, indeed, to treat the
nervous system, and profound knowl
edge of physiology and of psychology
are necessary to do this wisely, but
the materia! vital supply must come
from the food. Proper feeding is the
prime condition of a sound nervous
system. Let a child be ill nourished,
pre-natal, or post-natal, and you
have a weak, "nervous” child,
but feed a child well (avoid
ing the almost universal error, too
much food) and it is vigorous in every
way.
"Cold is a form of congestion, as,
indeed, every disease ie, in a sense,
congestion; resulting, primarily, from
bad feeding, including defective elim
ination.
Diligent searchers after disease
germs have at length discovered a
germ to go with pneumonia, the grip
and, as was to be expected, with each
kind of "cold,” a great variety. Now
germs play a very important part in
the causation of disease, a part as im
portant. at least, as the common house
fly plays in the causation of filth. It
is worthy of note, that the typhus
fever germ has almost disappeared,
because the degree of filth necessary
to entertain that festive bug has been
relegated to a semi barbarous age.
The blood is circulated through
every tissue by the vital impulse of
the nervous system, which controls
the expansion and contraction of the
h"art and the arteries, as it controls
every other vital function. If the tem
perature of the body be suddenly low
ered, contraction of the minute blood
vessels at the surface of the body re
sults, driving the blood inward and
away from the extremities.
Now if the circulation is free and
easy through all the tissues, if the
system is not clogged by the waste
from imperfectly digested food, and if
the nervous energy is high, and not
abnormally sensitive, the balance of
the circulation and nerve supply are
easily restored, but if the circulation
is sluggish and vitality low, a more or
less permanent congestion results; we
have a slight or a severe "cold." show
ing chiefly in the head, the lungs, the
throat or congesting the kidneys and
precipitating rheumatism, if the sys
tem is predisposed to rheumatism by
improper food and sluggish circulation
or, if the vitality is very low, as in
the aged or the inebriate, pneumonia
may result, even without any record
of a distinct chill, or, if there is an
hereditary predisposition to consump
tion. that dread disease may gain a
foothold.
The blood thus leaving the surface
Girls May Sit on Beau’s Knees
Cleveland, O.—In a decision in which
no names were used, Judge Adams of
the juvenile court ruled that a girl
may sit on her beau's knee without
fear of interference by the law.
An excite^ parent demanded the ar
rest of his daughter. “She is 16,” he
said. “I came down stairs at 11:30
o'clock last night and found her sitting
on a young man's knee, her arm around
bis neck. I told her to go to bed at
onpe and ordered the young man
away. She kissed him good-night be
fore my eyes. I want you to awe her.”
“There is no law’ by which I can in
terfere,” said the judge. “No court
would attempt to interfere with a girl
sitting oh her beau's knee.”
Baby Pianist Is Marvel.
Leipsic.—This city is boasting the
world's greatest child musical prodigy
of the body, the pores of the sk.n are
more or less closed, and the work of
the skin, which is to throw off a large
part of the waste of the body. Is Im
posed upon the lungs and the kidneys.
The functioning of the nervous system
is also unbalanced, which contributes
to the same result. The action of the
interior skin, that is, the mucous lin
ing of the air cavities, and of the ali
mentary tract, is disturbed, on account
of sympathy with the outer skin; it is
congested. The lining of the interior
of the body is but a continuation of
the outer skin, it is for these reasons
that there is an extraordinary dis
charge of mucus, often general, when
one is suffering from cold, and. with
the extraordinary congestion, closing
the pores of the skin, to a large ex
tent, and the increased waste of tissue,
due to fever, the urine contains more
waste.
The purpose of the fever is to burn
up the waste matter in the system; it
is a natural curative process, and to
“cure" the fever except by doing the
same thing that nature is doing by
the fever and thus render the fever
unnecessary—to stop or lower the
fever by quelling it with anti-febrile
drugs is always to combat the cure,
and is sometimes extremely danger
ous, as in pneumonia in a vigorous,
full-blooded man. Blood-letting, a
therapeutic agent now relegated to a
barbarous age, though often “indi
cated," is far more scientific than that
—but lack of space forbids an interest
ing explanation here.
To stop a cough by drugging is
equally irrational, as a rule. The
cough is a curative measure.
If the fire bell were to sound on ^a
cold night in a hotel where every
guest knew that a quick run down a
long, cold hall, would bring him to a
safe place—not warm, but safe—few
or none would "take cold" by making
the run and back immediately, bare
foot and protected only by a night
robe, 1 even though they might, en
counter millions of influenza and pneu
monia germs on the way), but let a
dozen of the same people discover on
awakening quietly, that they must
walk through that same long hall,
barefoot, and protected only by a night
robe and many of them will contract
cold, one tonsilitis, another influenza
and perhaps one ta senile inebriatei
even pneumonia. Almost every reader
must have seen the proof of this, so I
shall pass at once to the conclusion:
Don't fear that every draft will give
you cold; set your mind against taking
cold, but don’t choose to sit in a draft.
Keep moving when you are exposed to
an unusual degree of cold: tense mind
and muscles, walk fast. The atmos
phere in ill-ventilated rooms is poi
soned and the system is far raore like
ly to be overpowered then by even a
slight draft than it would he in cold
but pure air in the open. No poison,
no “cold," no pneumonia, even at 20
beiow zero, with the ears and fingers
freezing. Grip, or common influenza
is “catching" in a poisoned, "close"
atmosphere, and where it finds lodging
in a body laden with poisonous matter
from unexcreted waste of superfluous
food, it may become firmly established
and lead to serious consequences. The
germs of influenza, consumption, or
pneumonia are always at hand, like
vermin, ready to perform their office.
Those who hold to the theory that
the germ is the prime cause of cold,
say that a draft or wet feet or a
drenching cold rain, may be ignored,
if we can only avoid the germs, but it
is a physiological fact that extreme
heat and cold affect every living or
ganism, even when conditions are
otherwise normal. I formerly suffered
much from tonsilitis. but not since I
understood and applied the theory of
osteopathy, that disease is due to in
terference with free circulation of the
nerve energy and the cure, "take off
the pressure, —that is, relieve the con
gestion—a theory that finds useful ap
plication often, even though it is only
part of the truth. Osteopathic treat
ment is especially indicated in pneu
monia even where there are no "bones
to set" and aside from massage, which
is also beneficial, but it is no more
wise to treat pneumonia by osteopathy
alone than to treat it >>r drugs alone
or by "science” alone.
An old physician says that he has
noticed, for many years, that pneu
monia sets in more frequently at the
beginning of the week, than at the
end. This is undoubtedly because peo
ple as a rule eat more heavily on Sun
day, so that the vitality is more ab
sorbed in eliminating waste matter,
leaving less to resist the attacks of
disease and also because, in winter
and spring, people are more indoors
on Sunday.
Some authorities name among the
predisposing causes of pneumonia, un
der-feeding. Manifestly the prime
cause is defective nutrition, with ex
posure as the existing cause and the
germ as the incidental or secondary
cause. Improper feeding, most fre
quently eating too much or eating the
wrong food, is usually the prime fac
tor in the mal-nutrition predisposing
to pneumonia or "cold.” The statistics
show also that pneumonia, which is
second in death-dealing power only to
consumption, becomes gradually more
frequent toward the close of winter
and spring when people eat most
heavy food and least fruit and are
most indoors and subject to sudden
changes of temperature, (March, April
and May, when the weather is most
changeable, showing the largest har
vest of death), and that the fewest
deaths occur in July and August when
the weather is least changeable, when
most fruit and least meat are eaten
and people are most in the open air.
P.ecause I have not space enough to
give the natural treatment for pneu
monia, and because It is advisable al
ways to have a physician, in serious
cases, whose instructions should be
followed implicitly, I shall give only
the treatment which will apply to any
form of cold, and to tao initial stage
of pneumonia.
This treatment is clear.'y indicated
by a proper understanding of the true
causes of cold or congestive chill, in
eluding pneumonia, and by n proper
understanding of the effects of such
chill- and the means by which nature
can be assisted in restoring the nor
mal condfttion—that is, the condition
in which all the powers of nutrition
are performing their respective func
tions naturally, the condition of health.
The essential primary factor in the
causation of common cofd, consump
tic n and pneumonia, is defective feed
ing and it must follow that the natural
diet, simple but nourishing, is the
most important means of prevention.
1 .’mow a man who can break the ice
in the river In winter, and take a
rlunee bath and be none the worse the
ne.v. day. If the average healthy man
were to fall off a city bridge and break
through the ice, the danger would be
not pneumonia but the result of the
mental and physical shock. If he were
quickly landed without physical injury,
and immediately run to an adjacent
hotel and have a brisk rubbing with
a Turkish towel, and then dress at
once, and feel that he was none the
worse, the effect would probably be
the seme as in the ease of the man
who voluntarily can take a river bath
in January, but in no case is this ad
visable. It indicates, however, like the
example of the hotel guests,- an im
portant means of prevention, which
everybody should follow in varying de
gree according to age and strength, in
winter. It also indicates the serious
mistake of preparing for a cold, grip. »
or pneumonia, by hugging the stove
continually or remaining closely in an
ill-vePiilated, dark, steam-heated, car
peted room. The temperature of the
sleeping room should not be above 50.
It is best to breathe out-door air.
■whether one is in average health or
suffering from pneumonia.
The farmer's toy who 50 years ago
saw th< stars shining through tiie roof
when he awoke in the morning after h
severe storm in February, with a
blanke: of snow around him. was not
addicted to catching cold as much as j
we who think we must hear the steam
hissing before we venture to expose
our hands or feet.
On awakening in a temperature of
30, we can at least be sure that al
though the nose and ears may feel
cold, there is no danger of catching ^
cold. The Indian, asked why he did ^
not catch cold like the white man.
said, "Me all face.” If we can extend v
this immunity to the arms, then to the
legs and then to the entire body, and
maintain it, we shall have a permanent
defense against the exciting cause of
"colds" including pneumonia.
Rub the arms, alternately extended,
uncovered, vigorously, for five min
utes, then neck and chest. When a
glow has been induced in the upper
part of the body, jump from bed and
begin to rub the legs, vigorously, alter
nately, with the hands, till a glow lias
been secured, all the time breathing
deep and fast. Next begin to rub
briskly the trunk in every part that,
can be reached, going to the extremi
ties when a tendency is felt to chill,
thus keeping the circulation equal
ized. Follow ten minutes of this
exercise with movements exercis
ing every muscle in the body,
flushing the small arteries in every
tissue. Then begin with a wet
towel, rubbing vigorously the extremi
tiesand then the trunk, finally removing
the robe and ending with a dry Turk- ''
ish towel rub. This may take 30 min
utes, but it will be the most profitable
investment of the day. It may require
weeks’ or months'gradual approach in
a mild temperature before this full
program can he carried out in a freez
ing temperature but the (Effort will he
repaid many times. With a walk of
five miles daily, this will supply ideal
physical exerc.se and be an insurance
against disease, if the proper food .s
eaten and the mental conditions right.
Rut if these preventive measures
are neglected, the nutrition is bad and
a severe chill takes place, threatening
perhaps pneumonia: Fresh air first,
the colder it is the quicker it wilt
burn off the waste, relieve congestion
an^ give life to the blood by furnishing
oxygen. Empty the alimentary canal
as quickly and completely as possible,
by emetic, (if a meal has been eaten
within two hours) euema and rhubarb;
stop eating till you are sure that nor
mal conditions have returned, resum- ^
ing with acid fruit, fresh if possible,
after one or two days or longer in
serious cases. Sit with the leet in hot
water up to the knees for half an hour,
adding hot water as the bath cools.
When the stomach settles, drink a;
much lemonade (no sugar) as possible
While sitting with the feet in bath
reclining havj? a cold pack about the
head and neck. Have thorough mas
sage and osteopathic treatment and a
vapor bath and, in ordinary cases, no
cold or pneumonia will develop.
Don't yield to the inclination to eat
ravenously; the appetite is not natural.
There is a rapid burning up of waste
matter, but that should ga on without
interruption, whereas a heavy meal
will Interfere with the cure. "Feed a
cold and you’ll starve a fever" (later),
the fopular maxim should read.
Fever is a beneficial process; it is
nature’s house cleaning. To stop it
by depressing the action of the heart
is always wrong, often fatal.
The high temperature, as in pneu
monia is prolonged by the poisonous
matter generated in the blood by the
pneumo coccus pneumoniae, the spe
cific germ of lung fever, degenerated
blood being rapidly poured in upon the
heart, but to refrain from adding fresh
poison by eating when the stomach
cannot digest and to keep the ali
inentary canal clean and clear and to
furnish plenty pure air at the lowest
temperature to burn off the waste in
the blood and vivify it with oxygen_
this is simple but effective, always.
In Pilar Osorio, a threc-year-old girl hi
a piano recital before an audience ot *
critics, she played the moet classic* >
selections perfectly. She playa whol^v
from memory. Her case has excited
so much comment that arrangements
have been made for a scientific com
mission to examine the girl and "her
ancestry in an effort to find the source
of her talent. The girls parents have
accepted numerous engagements for
the public appearance of the child hut
,i ^l“,y,iaia*’/
a tender age will be prevented on gf
maauariaa grounds, *
