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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



found, having a little round, clear spot in 

 their depth, but which otherwise preserve 

 all the appearance and elasticity of the nor- 

 mal red globules ; they are simply, if the 

 expression may be allowed, stung. Besides 

 these globules, others exist in which the 

 evolution of the microbe is more advanced ; 

 the clear spot has become larger, and is sur- 

 rounded as if by a setting of fine black granu- 

 lations ; all around, the hemoglobine, plainly 

 distinguishable by its greenish-yellow tint, 

 forms a ring, which grows narrower as the 

 parasite increases in volume. At last, noth- 

 ing is left of it but a perfectly colorless, 

 narrow marginal zone, the hemoglobine hav- 

 ing entirely disappeared, and the substance 

 of the red globule having been taken pos- 

 session of by the microbe till it has been 

 reduced to a shell. "We now have a. circular 

 element having nearly the dimensions of 

 the red globule, and inclosing the microbe, 

 which has reached its perfect condition, and 

 is provided with one or more very slender 

 prolongations, which are, however, not visi. 

 ble in this condition. At this moment the 

 parasite is about to pierce the membrane 

 that contains it, and escape into the plasma 

 of the blood. This microbe can be found 

 in every patient about to be attacked with 

 fever, except those suffering from marsh- 

 cachexy, concerning whom M. Richard can 

 not speak decidedly, because he has not 

 made sufficient examinations of them. 



Geological Influences in English His- 

 tory. Professor Archibald Geikie has an 

 article in " Macmillan's Magazine " illus- 

 trating how the history of the English peo- 

 ple has been affected by the geological struct- 

 ure of their island. That the relation thus 

 assumed is real may be proved by viewing 

 the contrast between the heart of En^- 

 land and the heart of Scotland. The former 

 is inhabited by a rich agricultural or busy 

 mining English-speaking population, is dot- 

 ted with large cities, and teems in every 

 clement with the bustle of enterprise ; the 

 latter, a region of rugged mountains and 

 narrow glens, is tenanted by a Celtic race 

 that clings to its old tongue and habits, 

 has never built towns and hardly villages, 

 abounds in pastures and game-lands, but 

 has no industrial centers, no manufact- 

 ures of any kind, and only a feeble agri- 



culture struggling for existence along the 

 bottoms of the valleys. These differences 

 prove, upon examination, to have arisen 

 fundamentally from the utterly distinct geo- 

 logical structure of the two regions, by 

 which diversities in human characteristics 

 were initiated in far prehistoric times, and 

 have been continued, in spite of the blending 

 influences of modern civilization, down to 

 the present day. Passing by the conjectures 

 as to what may have happened in prehis- 

 toric times7and between the Cymric and 

 Gaelic branches of the Celtic race, we come 

 to the Roman conquest, which was extended 

 over the lowland regions of the Old Red 

 Sandstone and Carbonif erons strata of Eng- 

 land and Scotland, and was stopped at the 

 crystalline rocks of the Highlands. The 

 same geological influences which guided the 

 progress of the Roman armies may be traced 

 in the subsequent Teutonic invasions of 

 Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Norwegians. It 

 was on the former platforms of undisturbed 

 strata "that invaders could most success- 

 fully establish themselves. So dominant 

 has been this geological influence, that the 

 line of boundary between the crystalline 

 rocks and the Old Red Sandstone, from the 

 north of Caithness to the coast of Kincar- 

 dineshire, was almost precisely that of the 

 frontier established between the old Celtic 

 natives and the later hordes of Danes and 

 Northmen. To this day, in spite of the in- 

 evitable commingling of the races, it still 

 serves to define the respective areas of the 

 Gaelic-speaking and English-speaking pop- 

 ulations." On the northwestern coasts of 

 the island there are none of the fringes 

 of more recent formations which have had 

 so marked an influence on the eastern side. 

 Hence, though the Norsemen possessed 

 themselves of every available bay and inlet, 

 driving the Celts into the more baiTen inte- 

 rior, the natural contours made it impossible 

 that their hold on the ground should be so 

 firm as that of their kinsmen on the east. 

 Hence the Gaels eventually came down upon 

 them, and all obvious trace of the Norse oc- 

 cupation disappeared, save in the names given 

 by the sea-rovers to the islands, promonto- 

 ries, and inlets. The difference in the charac- 

 ter of the Irish and the Highlanders both 

 Celts may be traced to differences in geolog- 

 ical structure and scenery. The Irishman is 



