s a plan, showing the double walls with interposed
solid earth, to exclude any possible impurity from the cellar in case
of neglect. The vaults may be reached from the outside opening, for
removing the contents. In the whole arrangement there is not a vestige
of impure air, and it is as neat as a parlor; and the man who cleans
out the vaults say it is no more unpleasant than to shovel sand from a
pit.

[Illustration: Fig. 1.]

Those who prefer may place the closet at a short distance from the
house, provided the walk is flanked on both sides with evergreen
trees; for no person should be compelled to encounter drifting snows
to reach it--an exposure often resulting in colds and sickness. A few
dollars are the whole cost, and civilization and humanity demand as
much.--_Country Gentleman_.

[Illustration: Fig. 2.]

[Illustration: Fig. 3.]

* * * * *

POISONOUS SERPENTS AND THEIR VENOM.

By Dr. G. ARCHIE STOCKWELL.

Chemistry has made astounding strides since the days of the sixteenth
century, when Italian malice and intrigue swayed all Europe, and
poisons and poisoners stalked forth unblushingly from cottage and
palace; when crowned and mitered heads, prelates, noblemen, beneficed
clergymen, courtiers, and burghers became Borgias and De Medicis in
hideous infamy in their greed for power and affluence; and when the
civilized world feared to retire to rest, partake of the daily repast,
inhale the odors of flower or perfume, light a wax taper, or even
approach the waters of the holy font. These horrors have been laid
bare, their cause and effect explained, and tests discovered whereby
they may be detected, providing the law with a shield that protects
even the humblest individual. Great as the science is, however, it is
yet far removed from perfection; and there are substances so
mysterious, subtle, and dangerous as to set the most delicate tests
and powerful lenses at naught, while carrying death most horrible in
their train; and chief of these are the products of Nature's
laboratory, that provides some sixty species of serpents with their
deadly venom, enabling them in spite of sluggish forms and retiring
habits to secure abundant prey and resent mischievous molestation. The
hideous _trigonocephalus_ has forced the introduction and acclimation
of the mongoose to the cane fields of the Western tropics; the tiger
snake (_Heplocephalus curtus_) is the terror of Australian plain