220 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



July 



iiei'miott lu "Sew £ngland Life. 



If one exaniiut:'S t be history of New 

 EuglniKl chia-acter, be wiil find it hard 

 to exagpfiTi'ie the part which religion 

 has played iu its deveJcpuieut. In for- 

 mer days eveu the irreJigious had, iu 

 the background of their lives, a severe 

 and self denying standard of living 

 ■which it was impossible for them to ig- 

 nore. Sin itself was invested with a 

 fearful dignity, and surely no dream of 

 human perfection ever so exalted the 

 nature of man as did that stern theology 

 which taught him that the stars and 

 planets were only lights to light him at 

 night; that for his benefit or for his 

 punishment God might at any moment 

 interrupt the course of the universe, and 

 finally that he had within himself th« 

 momentous power of choosing eteruai 

 punishment or eternal happiness. Un- 

 der that religious belief there grew uf 

 men and women — some of them are stili 

 living — who constituted little reservoir!- 

 of moral strength upon which the com- 

 munity or eveu the nation itself could 

 draw iu times of necessity. 



What influence will take the place ol 

 that old belief? What moral force will 

 curb the passions, chasten the lives, 

 stimulate the energy of the rude people 

 ■who are born in these remote towns? 

 Whence shall they derive the discipline 

 and the self control without which 

 their primeval strength will be as use- 

 less as the undammed waters of a moun- 

 tain torrent.? I confess that these 

 thoughts fill me with apprehension for 

 the future, aud sometimes I am even led 

 to think that New Eugland character 

 reached its culmination iu the heroic 

 sacrifices of the civil war and entered 

 thereafter upon a long and gradual 

 course of sure decay. All this, however, 

 may be — and I trust that it is — simply 

 the pessimism of an old man. — Philip 

 Morgan in Atlantic. 



Toxines and Antitoxines. 



The opiuicu that distinct toxines re- 

 quire distinct antitoxines would appear 

 to require some modification. Dr. Cal- 

 mette has shown that anti snake venom- 

 ous serum protects against scorpion poi- 

 son. Roux aud Calmette have shewn 

 that rabbits vaccinated against rabies 

 acquire remarkable powers of resisting 

 the action of cobra venom. Again, ani- 

 mals vaccii.atcd against tetanus and 



anthrax, respectively, not ouly elaborate 

 antitetanic and antianthrax serum, but 

 such serums have aLso been found to be 

 iu some cases capable of couuteracting 

 the effects of cobra venom. Calmette 

 has also shown that antidiphtheria, 

 antitetanus, antianthrax aud autichol- 

 era serums possess decided immunizing 

 powers with regard to the vegetable 

 toxine of abrine. Dr. Memmo, working 

 iu the Hygienic institute of the Uni- 

 versity of Rome, has ob.served that a 

 distiuct, although slight, curative ac- 

 tion is produced by antidiphtheria se- 

 rum in cases of tetanus. 



Some extremely interesting investiga- 

 tions by Dr. Marriotti-Bianchi, dealing 

 with the action of normal serums from 

 various sources on diflfereut bacterial 

 toxines, also tend to confirm the abov4 

 observations. Bianchi has also been abli 

 to reproduce all the phenomena claimed 

 by Pfeiffer to be specific iu respect t(J 

 the behavior of cholera vibrios iu anti- 

 cholera serum by placing these vibrio? 

 in normal serum derived from dogs aud 

 cats respectively. It would appear that 

 not only may various antitoxines modify 

 one and the same toxine, but normal se- 

 rums may also produce iu some cases 

 protection against toxines. This latter 

 poiut has been specially dwelt upon by 

 Biauchi iu his memoir. — Nature. 



He Got the Votes. 



The late Governor Albert G. Porter 

 of Indiana was a good campaigner. In 

 oue of his stumping tours he was to 

 ^eak iu Morgan county. A number of 

 fine carriages were at the station as the 

 train drew up to carry Mr. Porter and 

 the persons who were with him to the 

 place of speaking. Off at oue side was 

 au old fashioned "carryall," with rag- 

 ged oilcloth curtains, wheels iucrusted 

 with mud, preseuting a sadly dilapi- 

 dated appearance. Mi. Porter looked 

 beyond the carriages to this conveyance, 

 aud his clear blue eye lighted with 

 pleasure as he recognized the driver, 

 who was a well known mossbacked 

 Democrat. "Why, George," said Mr. 

 Porter, extending his hand, "I'm glad 

 you're here. Gentlemen," turning to 

 the 1 ersous i.t the carriages, who were 

 awaiting hiui, "'never mind me. I'm 

 going to ride over with my old friend 

 George." Kis "old friend George" 

 had four grown sous, all Democrats, 



