The Waco evening news. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 1891-1894, 1893-04-01

| immense period or time. ltb animals
and plants, as we'll as its people, have
far greater resemblance to those OF
India than to those of the near main
land. The monkeys and lemurs of
Madagascar are not to be found In
Africa, while all the great African
animals of prey are absent. Among
the lemurs is one known as the ayeaye,
the formation of whose digits is
unique. The egg of an extinct bird
of Madagascar is fifteen times the
bulk of that Of an ostrich, and yet the
bird itself does not appear to have
been larger than the New Zealand
moa, an extinct bird to which it had
an affinity. This same peculiarly
runs through all the birds of Madagas
car The water birds aud sea fowl are
of course those of Africa, but there
are one or two extraordinary excep.
tons. The beautiful snake bird,
allied to the cormorant, is an Indian
species. There is also water hen
which is peculiar to Madagascar and
which has the remarkable features Of
long tail and long foot. 1t is great
puzzle to naturaists. A group Of
cuckoos is peculiar to,the island, with
no relations in Africa or India; while
bird allied to the thrushes is not
African, but 10 allied to species in
the Mauritus and all the Mascarene
islands.
PRINCIPLE OF PROTECTIVE INocU-
LATloNs Microbes, explains, DR.. Dr..
w. M. Hafiine, do not, as a rule, act
as directly on the animal organism by
their mere presence, as one might be.
lieve, but rather by the chemical sub
stances they create, which are danger
Gus posons for the organisms Now,
this production Of poisonous sub
stances does not constitute function
inseparable from the existence of
microbes. For, by modifying some of
the conditions of existence of the little
being, such as the degree of environ.
ing temperature and the presence of
certain chemical substances, and
above all, the aeration and action Of
free oxygen, it is possible to trans
form a mlcrobe into another resemb.
ling it in all points, except that it
does not produce poisonous substances
or at any rate in only infinitesmal pro-
portions. The new microbe shows no
signs of degeneration from the original,
Il is quite as lively and vigorous,
notably in the faculty, of breeding,
and, furthermore, the modification is
lasting, tho new microbes enge ndering
beings similar to themselves. This
series Of remarkable facts was discov-
cred by M. Pasteur, and served as a
basis for his method of artificial vac
cination. He was led to the oonolu-
sion that if an "attenuated" microbe
zone whose virulence has been dimin.
ished by the processes mentioned) be
introduced into the body of an animal,
the resulting indispositiop, causing
the animal itself no serious inconveni.
ence, suflices to render it proof
against attacks Of the original
microbe.
FUTURE OF THE Es.-The
epoch called the reign of humanity,
observes DR.. q. Binet, is nearing
it's summit. What will become of
the different human races is a prob
lem M. Iaborowski, the distin-
guished anthropologis', has at
tempted to solve. The globe has
now billion and II half CT people,
which will doubtless be doubled in
a very short time. People repre-
sentipg about one fifth of humanity
now visit all parts Of the globe, and
are gifted with a power of expan
sion never before realized. Their
civilization will ell ace all distinc
tive race peculiarities. In effect,
the greater part of the Ia oes will
disappear, but for n long time, in
certain conditions of climate, there
will be place at the side of the
Europ eans for very different races,
edowed with ability to work, and
thus capable OF competing for
great part of the globe. These
races are not very numerous, but at
their head is the Chinese. who alone
represent one-third of humanity.
Others will disappear in a more or
less distant future. Among these
are the Laps, many of the inhabi.