quence of bad drainage and the poison which they give out-concealed dirt, in fact.

"I CAN'T think what ails the clock? It went well enough at one time, but now for weeks and weeks it has been getting slower and slower, and yesterday, as if just tired out, it gave over ticking and stopped."

"Have you wound it up regularly?" asked the clockmaker, a grave-faced man. "Yes; pretty fairly. Tom winds it nearly every night." "H'm! nearly," said the man, now mounted on a stool for a closer look at the clock, which had given over ticking. "But here's some mistake with the key: it doesn't take hold." "Push it hard," said the woman; "we just lost the right key, but push this hard and it winds the clock up all right." "Beg your pardon, this winds it by no means all right,'

replied the man; "regular winding, however, and the right key could do but little for the poor clock now. Look for yourself, missis; look for yourself."

The door of the case was now opened, and the inside was discovered lined with a thick coating of dust, which had forced its way through the crevices. In the corners dust had collected in little heaps or balls of flue. All the wheels and works were covered and clogged with dust. "There," said the man, "this is what ails the clock. Do you expect wheels can turn round weighted and burdened with dirt in that way? And yet half the mischief I shall find out when I take my magnifying-glass to the more delicate parts you are not able to see. If you want your clock to keep time, use the right key, give it regular winding, and regular cleaning." So taking up the clock, the man walked away; whilst the illpleased woman muttered, "Who'd take all that trouble about a clock, I wonder?"

Reading this little scene, I wondered too-wondered if some of us might not be treating our bodies as this woman did her clock. So here are some statements made by wise people on this subject: carefully read and ponder over them; then you will see that the whole body must be regularly cleaned and regularly wound up, and with the right key too, if we would have the wheel of life turn easily; and happily each one of us has much power to prevent or lessen disease and pain. But lack of care will ruin the best-made clock, or the strongest body.

In England we cannot live as the inhabitants of warmer and more southern climates do-greatly in the open air. Our climate is chilly, and we require protection from the cold. The bleak east wind blows and the windows of our houses are shut, even when there is no fire burning in the grate, and so the only air left to breathe in the house is such as makes its way through the cracks of the windows, under the doors, or through the keyholes. Wherever a number of persons live together the air becomes poisoned, because it passes in and out of everybody's lungs, and when once it has been breathed it is not good to support life. The air which comes out of our lungs will not even support the life of a burning candle. The experiment is easily tried by breathing into a tube which passes into a wide-mouthed bottle through a basin of water, the mouth of the bottle being turned down into the water and the tube turned up into it, so that the air or gas breathed out of the lungs may go into it. If when all the water is displaced in this bottle by the air which is

breathed into it, the bottle be raised quickly out of the water and a stopper put into it before any of the gas can escape, it is found to contain carbonic acid gas, which is a poisonous gas, and no creature can live and breathe it. If a burning taper be plunged into the bottle it goes out in a moment; but if the lighted taper be held inside a bottle filled with another gas, called oxygen, which is found in very large quantities in pure air, the flame burns more brightly than ever. This shows that the gas which comes out of the lungs of all human beings, and animals too, at every expiration is unfit to breathe again, and cannot support life any more than it can support the flame of the taper. All living creatures require a supply of pure air, or oxygen, to live and be healthy. It is even better to go without food than without pure air. Every person above fourteen years of age requires about 600 cubic feet of shut-up space to breathe in during the twentyfour hours. If he sleep in a room of smaller dimensions he will suffer, more or less, and gradually approach the condition of being smothered.

THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA.

*

One hundred years ago the English were allowed by the Great Mogul or Emperor of India to build warehouses and dwellings in certain parts of his Empire. One of these mercantile settlements, or factories, as they were called, was planted on the bank of a large river just where Calcutta, the capital city of * Bengal, now stands.

In the year 1756, the * Nabob, or tributary king of the province of Bengal, died, and was succeeded by a very young man, who bore the outlandishlooking title of Surajah Dowlah. This young barbarian cast a covetous eye on the neighbouring British factory, and one summer day attacked the place suddenly with a large army. The small party of English who were in the factory, despairing of their ability to effect any successful defence, tried to make their escape to some ships which were lying in the river.

Several of the fugitives reached the vessels in safety. But in the confusion of the flight, 146 individuals fell into the hands of the victorious Nabob. These his officers thrust for the night into a small cell, which was used as the prison of the fortress, and was known under the dismal name of the Black Hole of Calcutta. This cell had but two small square holes for windows, and was only 18 feet long and 14 feet wide, so that the last person of the 146 had to be crushed in upon the rest with violence, as the door was closed and locked. The anguish of the crowded captives soon became so great, in this vile hole, that the neighbourhood resounded with the noise of their struggles and cries. As the night wore on, these sounds, however, gradually sank into silence. When the morning came, and the door of the prison was opened, the reason of this silence became sadly apparent. In the place of the 146 prisoners who were shut up on the previous day, they took out 123 corpses, and 23 miserable beings,