The monotony of farm life in Australia, where houses are few and far between, has recently been modified by an ingenious use of the telephone. It would hardly have paid any one to lay wires from farm to farm, for those buildings are often separated by many miles of open country; but some one found that the wire fences which are in common use were most eff1cient lines of communication for telephonic purposes, and the discovery has resulted in friendly intercourse being established between the members of families separated from one another by as much as a dozen miles. A number of different stations are now connected in this way, and we can readily un derstand what comfort the thought must bring to the members of an isolated household that they are, in case of emergency, within call of fellow-beings.
In the old days when the Spanish province of Aragon was a proud and independent monarchy, the people used, when choosing their king, the following singular form of election : — "We, the freeborn inhabitants of the ancient king dom of Aragon, who are equal to you, Don Philip, and something more, elect you to be our king, on condition that you preserve to us our rights and privileges. If in this you should fail, we own you for our king no longer." A New Bra1n every S1xty Days. — A German biologist has calculated that the human brain con tains 300,000,000 nerve cells, 5,000,000 of which die and are succeeded by new ones every day. At this rate we get an entirely new brain every sixty days.
LITERARY NOTES. The complete novel in the March issue of L1pp1ncott's is '• The Sport of Circumstances," by Clarinda Pendleton Lamar, a tale of modern southern life. Joseph A. Nunez, in an article on " Cuba," gives timely and interesting facts relating to animal and vegetable life in our new possession. " Recollections of a London Lawyer," by G. Burnett Smith, tells amusing incidents of London Law Courts, especially connected with the career of Montagu Williams. "Brainerd's Idol," by Wm. T. Nichols, is a tale of an ambitious editor, and is followed by the " Percep tion of the Picturesque," by J. Hunter. Geraldine Bonner has a romantic story entitled " His Honor.'
"The Etchingham Letters," which are now running serially in The L1v1ng Ac;e are attracting wide atten tion by their range and their humor. They treat of everything, from cycling to theology, and with a
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brightness which shows that the art of letter-writing is not extinct.
Scr1bner's Magaz1ne for February brings forward several more of its attractive features for 1899. It is not a "War Number," although it contains one of the most graphic things yet written about the war—the second instalment of Governor Roosevelt's serial on "The Rough Riders." Senator George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, one of the oldest and most conspicuous of the members of Congress, begins his reminis cences of the political events of the past fifty years. "Aunt Minervy Ann " is destined to take her place alongside Uncle Remus as one of Joel Chandler Harris's two most humorous characters. The first of her Chronicles, in this number, tells how she "ran away from home and then ran back again." A new writer of fiction, William Charles Scully, who has been highly praised by Kipling, appears with a tale of South Africa entitled "The Lepers." Miss Anne O'Hagan has written a very humorous tale of IrishAmerican political life entitled " Riordon's Last Cam paign." In the February number of the Amer1can Month ly Rev1ew of Rev1ews the editor seeks to apply the lessons of our national failures in the South during the reconstruction period following the Civil War to the present problems of a similar nature in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. The editor warns us against a new type of "carpetbagger" who is threatening to invade Cuba—namely, the franchisegrabber. A large proportion of space in this number is given up to editorial and contributed articles on the management of foreign dependencies. Sylvester Baxter contributes an interesting study of the Dutch rule in Java, and Dr. Daniel Dorchester makes a statistical exhibit of the recent drift toward colonial and protectorate governments.
An important discussion of the problems of politics, by Franklin Smith appears in Appleton's Popular Sc1ence Monthly for March, under the title " Poli tics as a Form of Civil War." Professor Robinson contributes an instructive as well as amusing account of a curious pet, a scorpion, of which he was at one time the possessor. A number of interesting portraits and two maps add very much to the value of Pro fessor Ripley's account of " The Racial Relationships and Peculiarities of the people of the Balkan Penin sula." There is also an article of special timeliness on "The Recent Marvelous Increase in the Produc tion of Gold." by Alexander E. Outerbridge, Jr., whose father was for many years director of the mint.
