and disgust, or by
withholding from the food a considerable quantity of fat, or, finally,
by forbidding beverage during meals. Emaciation is obtained readily
enough in either way, and demands only the constant exercise of will
power on the part of the patient; but unhappily, severe regimen cannot
always be prescribed. When the obese patient has passed the age of
forty; when the heart suffers from degeneration; or when the heart is
anaemic--in all, rigorous treatment will serve to still further enfeeble
the central organ of circulation, and tend to precipitate accidents
that, by all means, are to be avoided. In such cases, by _not_ treating
the obesity, the days of the patient will be prolonged. In degeneration
of the heart, however, the method of Ebstein may be tried; and when
there is renal calculi and gouty diathesis, that of Germain See may
prove satisfactory.

Paris, France.

* * * * *

STILT WALKING.

[Illustration: SYLVAIN DORNON, THE STILT WALKER OF LANDES.]

Sylvain Dornon, the stilt walker of Landes, started from Paris on the
12th of last March for Moscow, and reached the end of his journey at the
end of a fifty-eight days' walk. This long journey upon stilts
constitutes a genuine curiosity, not only to the Russians, to whom this
sort of locomotion is unknown, but also to many Frenchmen.

Walking on stilts, in fact, which was common twenty years ago in certain
parts of France, is gradually tending to become a thing of the past. In
the wastes of Gascony it was formerly a means of locomotion adapted to
the nature of the country. The waste lands were then great level plains
covered with stunted bushes and dry heath. Moreover, on account of the
permeability of the subsoil, all the declivities were transformed into
marshes after the slightest fall of rain.

There were no roads of any kind, and the population, relying upon sheep
raising for a living, was much scattered. It was evidently in order to
be able to move around under these very peculiar conditions that the
shepherds devised and adopted stilts. The stilts of Landes are called,
in the language of the country, _tchangues_, which signifies "big legs,"
and those who use them are called _tchangues_. The stilts are pieces of
wood about five feet in length, provided with a shoulder and strap to
support the foot. The upper part of the wood is flattened and rests
against the leg, where it is held by a strong strap. The