246 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



projecting from a bulbous base (Fig. 3). The extremities of the 

 needles in other species are curved and turned over, as in Figs. 2 and 

 5, and in others they are one or two times branched ; while in the 

 genus Microsphoeria the extremities of the appendages take the most 

 varied and most exquisite forms (Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9). 



The life and history of these little plants afford a large field for 

 studies and investigations, which are within the reach of every one 

 who has a good microscope, and is not engaged on any other special 

 study. Such researches are, moreover, of great practical value. The 

 parasitic fungi are one of the great plagues of agriculture. They fix 

 themselves in hosts upon leaves and fruits, where they shut up the 

 stomata and prevent the action of air and light. The hope of discov- 

 ering a remedy for such evils is dependent on the study of their causes. 



-*"*- 



THE INTKODUCTIOlSr OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.* 



THE roving shepherd sows hastily a piece of land, which he leaves 

 after harvesting his crop, to do the same the next year w T ith 

 another piece of land. But, when fruit-growing is combined with 

 agriculture, this unsettled shepherd-life becomes entirely changed. 

 The plantation of trees and vines must be inclosed, and taken care of 

 a long time before it will bring fruit. Hence arises the sense of a 

 settled home and of individual possession. Even the house of the 

 planter becomes a firmer structure ; the ground is more thoroughly 

 cultivated, so that a smaller territory suffices to support the family, 

 and individuals combine more and more into social communities. Man 

 thus becomes accustomed to a settled order of life, and to the relations 

 which form the foundation of lawful constitutions. Closely associated 

 with these changes in the mode of living is the introduction of domes- 

 tic animals. 



In the early time, when the tribes of the Indo-European people 

 still formed one undivided folk in its Asiatic home, the sheep and the 

 cow had already been tamed. This is proved in the case of the sheep 

 by the numerous varieties existing among them. The word daughter, 

 which means " the milker," and which is common to all the Indo-Eu- 

 ropean languages, bears witness to the early taming of the cow. Of 

 both these animals, man at first used only the milk, the flesh, and the 

 skin. Afterward the cow became man's assistant in agriculture* It 

 was not until a much later time that the horse took the place of the 

 cow, at first chiefly in traveling and in riding, afterward more and 

 more in agricultural operations. Here, however, arises the important 

 question, whether the people already possessed these tamed animals 



* Translated from the German. 



