ness in spite of his violation of all the accepted rules of the trade. Latterly, he has relaxed his rule, in consequence of representations made to him from every side, and allowed the trade a discount of from ten to fifteen per cent; so that now the larger part of his business is done through the shops. He also set his head against advertising, and has consequently been boycotted by the press, and made the victim of a "complete conspiracy of silence" during the last fifteen years. The "Times" is glad to publish his stray letters now and then, but ignores his books; and the professed literary journals "have not noticed anything that one of the foremost literary men of the time has written since 1872. The secret of Mr. Ruskin's success in spite of his hostility is told by his publishing agent:" In the long run a good article is sure to fetch a good price. Mr. Ruskin is a good writer, and the public has found out the fact. As for my own part, I have simply had to see that the 'get up' was correspondingly good."
How to take a Turkish Bath.—Persons who are timid about taking the Turkish bath, or are afraid of exposing themselves to extremes of temperature, may find security in observing a few simple rules. The bather should first go to a room a little above blood-heat, and remain there until the surface of the body is moist and reddened. If the skin does not begin to assume this condition in about ten minutes, he should have himself given a warm-water-and-towel rubbing. When perspiration has fairly begun, and the skin is moist from head to foot, the bather should have a little cold water thrown upon the feet and legs, and should afterward go into a room of somewhat higher temperature, where he should lie or sit down, with his eyes closed, if that is agreeable. But he should not remain in any of the hot rooms longer than half an hour, nor so long if the ventilation is imperfect or the air impure. He should be "finished" with an affusion of slightly cold water, and should exercise extreme caution about taking the douche or plunge, which it is always safe to omit. He may drink water, soda-water, or lemonade in the bath, and a small cup of coffee or tea in the cooling-room, where he should lie or sit down, wrapped in towels, until the perspiration has subsided; but should not remain so long as to become cold. He should afterward dry the skin briskly with a rough towel, and dress quickly. A short, pleasant walk, followed by a light meal with agreeable conversation and cheerful surroundings, are desirable after the bath.
Roundabout Heating.—We often hear of devices by which the application of force is to be greatly simplified and cheapened; a favorite scheme of the present time is to make the application in the shape of electricity. The projectors of such schemes forget or do not know that the effect they desire to produce must be obtained from the consumption of force in some other form equivalent to the power they will develop, with a considerable excess that is destined to go to waste. The real working of these devices is illustrated by Professor W. M. Williams in the case of a proposed foot-warmer for rail way-cars, which is to be heated by applying the electric current to acetate of soda. The foot-warmers of this substance already in use are heated by immersing them in hot water, when they may be kept warm for several hours. "Instead of such direct heating, we are first to heat a boiler, losing heat in the production of steam, losing more in working the steam-engine, very much more in the dynamo, and more again in transmission. The cost of such electric heating would be at least twenty times as great as direct heating, not to mention cost of apparatus."
Oral and Text-Book Instruction—The difference between the oral and the so-called text-book method has been defined by Dr. William T. Harris in a paper on the "Teaching of Natural Science in the Public Schools," which is published in Bardeen's "School-Room Classics." In the oral method the teacher is the general source of information; in the other, the pupil is sent to the text-book. In neither is cramming with mere words considered good teaching; and yet, with a poor teacher, it may happen under either. The excellence of the oral method should be its freedom from stiffness and pedantry, and its drawing out of
