at Nehardea by Rabbi Leir, a learned man who turned out several famed pupils. Samuel studied and specialised in various branches of learning, but his chief reputation and, indeed, the profession he finally made his own was that of the healing art. As a student he early made such progress in medicine that he was permitted to perform autopsies, and we have records of some of these. There is an account of a decision of his as to how large a piece of skull could safely be removed in case of

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... . He is quoted as stating after examination of an aborted foetus that it was 41 days old, showing an intimate knowledge of the conformation of the product of conception at various stages. His opinion upon the abnormality termed spina bifida is also upon record. He must have carried out anatomical dissections, because there are extant quotations from his views on the limit of the spinal marrow. He appears to have been cognisant of the lacrymal gland and of the atrophy of which it is susceptible under certain circumstances in advanced age. His treatise upon the pathogenic symptoms following upon abrupt changes of diet is quite modern in thought. Allvarieties of regimen, he said, are liable to be the starting point of some malady. For external diseases he sought natural causes for their occurrence and for their fatal termination; so for penetrating sores he accused the air of rendering them incurable. Also for wounds which finally poisoned the system, he said the cause was some virus upon the weapon that had inflicted the injury. In pathology he endeavoured to indicate for each malady the characteristic symptoms: for grave rhinitis, following probably a polypus ulcer, he said it could be detected by the offensive odour proceeding from the nasal organ. Migraine he attributed to excessive solitude and introspection. Magic as a curative he ignored. As to the propriety of attempting cures upon the Sabbath he was entirely favourable. He advocated the use of the speculum in order to ascertain if hæmorrhage proceeded from the vagina or the uterus. He was a great believer in bleedingas a remedy for many ills. Cleanliness was a main feature of his preventive teaching. The hands should be washed at least twice a day to prevent eye affections. He admitted his inability to cure three illnesses: that proceeding from eating green dates, if unripe and sour; the evil consequences of wearing a damp linen waistband as a girdle; and illness caused from going to bed after eating too hearty a meal and taking no exercise. Perhaps he also intended to convey that patients acting so foolishly were unworthy of being given remedial relief. A SHORT WAY WITH COCKROACHES. THE Bttlletin of the Chicago School of Sanitary Instruction has been dealing with domestic pests, the latest issue . describing a simple and effective way of ridding premises ; of these unpleasant arthropods. Commercial sodium . fluoride mixed in equal parts with flour is dusted over the runways or applied with a dust-gun or powder-blower. ' The immediate effect will be noticed that the insects will come out of their hiding places, and after rushing about in a frantic manner for , a time become paralysed and soon die. The dead or paralysed cock-' roaches may then be swept up and burned. As a rule premises can be . ridden of roaches by this method in 24 to 48 hours." . The same mixture is said to kill caterpillars when fed on foliage that has been dusted with it. The fluorides should ; be used, however, with care and the inhalation of the dust . should, of course, be avoided, as these salts have an injurious action on the human subject. Their use as preservatives in : food is legally prohibited in the United States. '. A. E. W.—As far as the necessity for sleep is concerned, , there appears to be no essential difference between a brain worker and a manual worker. The function of sleep is to . renovate the tired tissues, whether brain or muscle. The ' brain worker, so long as he is awake, uses every muscle in his body, as we know from recent calorimetric investigations, ;' although, of course, in smaller degree than the manual . worker. The manual worker's muscles are controlled by, cells in the grey matter of the brain, in which it is that the first symptoms of "muscle" fatigue really appear.