330 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and finally appear the Germans and Slaves, the two mightiest peo- 

 ples of to-day. 



In conjunction with these migrations of races, widely extended 

 wanderings are apparent among the related divisions of the central or 

 midland races, and especially of the Semites and Indo-Europeans, 

 which wanderings are conjoined with the sad fate of the peoples con- 

 cerned. 



The fate of the Jews is well known, at present scattered over the 

 whole world as traders and bankers. The Phoenicians played the same 

 role in antiquity as the Jews in modern times ; we find them every- 

 w^here at that time, wherever the country was open to commerce. 

 The Armenians, among the Indo-Europeans, may be compared with 

 the Semitic Jews. The migrations of the Armenians, who like the 

 Jews have no particular fatherland and in great measure live by traf- 

 fic, are in no way behind those of the Jews ; besides, the history of 

 both people has a great resemblance, as in large part their move- 

 ments have been the result of religious persecution. 



A people who have migrated widely are the notorious gypsies 

 According to their descent, the gypsies, who call themselves Roman, 

 are Indian. They speak an idiom which finds a relative in the present 

 dialect of India — the Enkelinnen of the noble Veda tongue. Indeed 

 there is impressed on this idiom a mixture of foreign elements from 

 all the tongues of Asia and Europe, through whose areas the fugi 

 tives passed. We find in it Persian, Armenian, Greek, Magyar, 

 Slavonic, German, and Roman terms, and increasingly as we follow 

 the jargon westward. In every country that the gypsy has reached, 

 he has picked up morsels and incorporated them in his own idioms. 

 But these very philological fragments are of the greatest value to the 

 student, as they surely indicate to him the road which the fugitive 

 from the far East has pursued in his migration. 



YACCINATIOX IjST NEW YOPJv. 



By E. OSGOOD MASON, M. D. 



THE question of the usefulness and safety of vaccination as prac- 

 ticed in the principal cities of the United States is fairly settled. 

 The general voice pronounces it both safe and useful. A small minor- 

 ity only of the intelligent refuse to acquiesce in the verdict, and com- 

 paratively few among the ignorant now refuse to test its benefits. In 

 Europe, notably in England and Germany, the same can not be said. 

 It is among the German population that even here the greatest preju- 

 dice exists, and in England there is at the present time a controversy 

 going on, growing out of efforts to extend and enforce a compulsory 



