A man will die for want of air in five minutes; for want of sleep in ten days; for want of water, in a week; for want of food, at varying intervals, dependent on various circumstances.

The human hair is absolutely the most profitable crop that grows. Five tons of it are annually imported by the merchants of London. The Parisians harvest upward of 200,000 lbs., equal in value to $400,000 per annum.

American life average for professions (Boston): Storekeepers, 41.8 years; teamsters, 43.6 years; laborers, 44.6 years; seamen, 46.1 years; mechanics, 47.3 years; merchants, 48.4 years; lawyers, 52.6 years; farmers, 64.2 years.

The best time to bathe is just before going to bed, as any danger of taking cold is thus avoided; and the complexion is improved by keeping warm for several hours after leaving the bath.

The flavor of cod-liver oil may be changed to the delightful one of fresh oyster, if the patient will drink a large glass of water poured from a vessel in which nails have been allowed to rust.

In 1684, four men were taken alive out of a mine in England, after twenty-four days without food. In 1880 Dr. Tanner, in New York, lived on water for forty days, losing thirty-six pounds in weight.

During the last Paraguayan war it was noticed that the men who had been without salt for three months, and who had been wounded, however slight, died of their wounds because they would not heal.

A hospital for quarantine or for infectious diseases is called a lazaretto. This word is not derived from Lazarus, the Bible beggar, but from the isle of St. Lazarus, in Venice, where such an hospital was first built in 1484.

Calisthenics, or callisthenics (Gr. kalos, "beautiful," and sthenos, "strength"), is a name for exercises for promoting gracefulness and strength, and comprises the more gentle forms of gymnastics, especially adapted to girls.

The natural rate of the pulse varies at different ages. The beats per minute are as follows: At birth, 130-140; 1 year, 115-130; 2 years, 100-115; 3 years, 95-105; 4 to 7 years, 85-95; 7 to 14 years, 80-90; 14 to 21 years, 75-85; 21 to 60 years, 70-75, and old age, 75-85.

Appendicitis, the medical term for inflammation of a small intestinal appendix, the use of which no one has been able to discover, has become so common that physicians are advocating its removal from all infants as a preventive measure, like vaccination.

Spirits are said to be "proof" when they contain fifty-seven per cent of alcohol. The maximum amount of alcohol, says Parkes, that a man can take daily without injury to his health is that contained in 2 oz. brandy, 1/4 pt. of sherry, 1/2 pt. of claret, or 1 pt. of beer.

One should be cautious about entering a sick room in a state of perspiration, as the moment you become cool your pores absorb. Do not approach contagious diseases with an empty stomach, nor sit between the sick and the fire, because the heat attracts the vapor.

Influenza (Ital., "influence;" called in French la grippe), one of the class of diseases to which the term zymotic is now applied, has long been recognized by medical writers. The popular application of the name to any severe cold in the head is not sanctioned by medical author-ity.

Sal Volatile, a well-known remedy for faintness, consists essentially of a solution of carbonate of ammonia in alcohol. It contains in addition free ammonia and the volatile oils of lemon and nutmeg. As it is a strongly caustic liquid, it should never be taken unless well diluted with water.

Of every 1,000 clergymen between the ages of 45 and 65, it is found that only 15.93 die annually. But of every 1,000 doctors between the ages of 45 and 65 no fewer than 28.02 die every year. This is to say, the mortality of medical men is almost double that of clergymen, and the rate is increasing.

Small rose pimples are a sign of chicken pox; diffuse redness and swelling, of erysipelas; small red dots like flea bites, of measles; bright diffuse scarlet, of scarlet fever; small red pimples changing to pustules, of smallpox; rose colored spots, scattered, of typhoid fever.

After the age of fifty the brain loses an ounce every ten years. Cuvier's weighed 64, Byron's 79, and Cromwell's 90 ounces, but the last was diseased. Post-mortem examinations in France give an average of 55 to 60 ounces for the brains of the worst class of criminals.

Most fatal of historic plagues was the " Black Death," a name given to a form of typhus in which the body turns black and rapidly putrifies. An outbreak occurred in 1348, which desolated the world from China to Ireland. In Europe alone 2,500,000 died and in London 100,000 died.

In the cholera visitation of 1866, the proportion of deaths per 10,000 inhabitants in the principal cities of Europe was as follows: London, 18; Dublin, 41; Vienna, 51; Marseilles, 64; Paris, 66; Berlin, 83; Naples, 89; St. Petersburg, 98; Madrid, 102; Brussels, 184; Palermo, 107; Constantinople, 738.

Coagulation is the amorphous solidification of a liquid, or part of a liquid, as when the casein of milk is solidified by rennet in making cheese, or the white of an egg by boiling. The process varies in various substances. Albumen, or the white of an egg, coagulates at a temperature of 160°.

Hair which is lightest in color is also lightest in weight. Light or blonde hair is generally the most luxuriant, and it has been calculated that the average number of hairs of this color on an average person's head is 140,000; while the number of brown hairs is 110,000, and black only 103,000.

Homoeopathy (homoion, "like;" pathos, "disease") is a medical doctrine, which teaches that diseases should be treated or cured by drugs capable of producing similar symptoms of disordered health to those presented by them; or, as it is commonly phrased, "like cures like" - similia similibus curantur.

It is estimated that the number of insane persons in the United States is 168,900. Causes of Insanity. - Hereditary, 24 per cent.; drink, 14 per cent.; business, 12 per cent.; loss of friends, 11 per cent.; sickness, 10 per cent.; various, 29 per cent. This result is the medium average arrived at by Mulhall on comparing the returns for the United States, England, France and Denmark: