The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-02-14

that feyer-strickell district, the Roman
Campagna Sinor Tomasi of Rome, and
Prof. Klebs Of Prague have discovered
the source of malaria to be q microscopic
fungus. The next step for the benefit OF
mankind is to find some means Of
destroying these fungi, or rendering
them innocnous.
Prof. Proctor thus sums up the effect
Of climate..upon mortality: Fewer per-
sons than usual die after bitter winter,
not because such q winter is favorable
to life, but because it kills Oft many Of
the weaker lives during its progress and
more than usual die after mild winter,
not because such a winter is unfavorable
to life, but because it leaves alive many
who would have died during its pro-
gress had it been Of the average sort. =
A fact probably but little known is
that the U. s. nickel five cent piece fur
nishes key to metric measures and
weights. This coin is two centimetres
in diameter and it's weight is five
grammes. Five Of them placed in q
row will give the length of the decline
tire, and two of them will weigh a deca-
gralnme. As a kilolitre is u cubic metre,
the key to tho measure Of length is also
the key to measures of capacity
A curious belief among the natives
of Bnrmah is that firefies arc employed
as lamps BY the weaver birds, the insects
being caught by the birds and glued to
their nests by pieces Of soft mud. Mr.
Z. Z. Layard finds this belief a supersti-
ton. He says, however, the bits Of mud
are always to be found in nests of the
weaver birds, being probably used to
cleanse the birds bills. During the
cleaning process it is probable a FREELY
is occasionally removed from % birds
mouth and stuck in the mud, being thus
unintentioally made to serve as 81 lamp
instead Of as a breakfast.
Several cases are reported in which
scarlet fever, measles and other infcc-
tions diseases have been spread by cats
and dogs. ....-s
The minds of thoughtful people
often revert with curious speculation to
that period long prior to historic times
when the first primitive types Of the
human race peopled the earth. What
was the world like them is question
Of great interest. In a recent lecture,
Prof. Boyd Dawkins pictured London as
it probably existed in the days of the
cave men. While the river-drift men
and the cave men We're living in Britain,
the hills and valleys in the south Of Eng
land presented the same outlines as
now. Could we take our stand in those
times on the Essex heights and look over
the Thames valley in the direction Of
London, we should see dense forest of
oak, ash, and Scotch fir, and the course
Of the Thames marked by willows and
alders. A few thin columns of smoke
rising over the tops of the trees would
mark the camping places Of primeval
man. In the forests wild boars, mann
moths and rhinoceroses, wild horses,
stays and Irish elks would meet our eyes
and in the summer countless herds OF
bisons, like those now ranging over the
plains of northwestern America. In the
winter there were vast numbers of rein
deer and few musk-shcep. In the riv-
ers were offers and beavers, and the ex-
plorer wonld be startled by the snort OF
the hippopotainus in the reaches Of the
Thames near Brentfoul. Beasts of prey
also abounded-llons, leopards, hyenas
grizzly bears, wolves and foxes. If we
penetrated to one Of the camp fires, VIC
should have seen the river-drift hunter
chipping or using some Of those rude
flint implements which lie buried in the
London gravels along with the remains
of the animals which he hunted. The
river-drift man, in the long course Of
ages, was succeeded by the man Of the
caverns, like him hunter, living on the
same animals, and more highly equipped
for the battle Of life. In time the cave
man disappeared, the climate and geog.
raphy Of England became nearly what
they are now and the hunter stage OF
civilization was succeeded by that of the
llerdsman and the tiller of the ground
and the manufacturer of the Neolithic
Age. From the Neolithic Age through
| untold centuries to historic and modern
times the progress of man i'll Europe has
been unbroken, and the present condi-
ton of European people is to he looked
upon as the result Of /, series Of gradual
changes by which civilization succeeded
civilization, and race succeeded race,
the old order yielding place unto the
| new," because the new order is higher
and nobler.