308 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



only when we take the population en masse. Now, the people com- 

 posing it form naturally two parties. One includes the great proprie- 

 tors, the great planters, the leading merchants, and all those who be- 

 long to them, who, so to speak, lead the life of colonists. It is to such, 

 and to such alone, that the desolating figures referred to apply. 



The other part of the population is composed of people who till the 

 ground with their hands, and who are disdainfully called by the name 

 of poor whites. These are the descendants of the first colonists, who 

 were all too poor to buy slaves, too proud to enter into the service of 

 others, and who accepted for themselves and their posterity the life of 

 small farmers. This last population keeps very mucli by itself; it has 

 multiplied, and not only become prosperous, but its physical type has 

 improved so much that travellers all speak of the personal beauty, 

 both of the men and the women, of this race. 



So, in this same Island of Bourbon, the rich planter and the work- 

 ing-men in cities, perish from the life of excess and debauchery, for 

 which they are too much inclined in the colonies. The poor whites, 

 who devote themselves to the cultivation of the earth, which is said to 

 be impossible for the European under the tropics, have continued to 

 develop, and have gained in all respects, because they have joined to 

 moderate labor a sober life and pure manners. 



Gentlemen, there is in this fact a practical lesson. Perhaps some 

 among you will leave France ; perhaps you will go to the colonies or 

 to Algeria to seek your fortune ! Let me impress upon you the his- 

 tory of the poor whites of the Isle of Bourbon they have found that, 

 to maintain health of the body, one of the best means, undoubtedly, 

 is to preserve the health of the soul. 



-*- 



ON THE DIGESTIBILITY OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL 



FOODS. 



By PEOFESSOE VOIT, 



OF THE UNIVEBSITT OF MUNICH. 



(Abstract by M. Andre Sanson ) 



AT the session of the Munich Academy of Science, December 4, 

 1869,Voit detailed the chief results of investigations made in his 

 laboratory by Drs. Bischoff, Forster, Hoffmann, and Meyer, students 

 of medicine, as to the differences which exist between animal and vege- 

 table substances in point of digestibility, both in the carnivora and 

 human beings ; and also as to the importance of nutritive salts and 

 condiments. These results have such a bearing upon alimentary 

 hygiene that we have thought it desirable to give an extended analysis 



