POPULATION OF THE GLOBE. 579 
POPULATION OF THE GLOBE. 
According to ‘‘ Die Bevolkerung der Erde,” published by Messrs. Behm and 
Wagner, Europe has a population of 315,929,000 inhabitants; Asia has 834,707,- 
ooo; Africa has 205,679,000; America, 95,495,000; Australia and Polynesia, 
431,000; the Polar regions, 82,000, which give altogether a total of 1,455,923,- 
ooo, an augmentation of 16,778,o0c over the last known census. At the close 
of 1877, Germany reckoned a population of 43,943,000; Austria and Hun- 
gary, in 1879, estimated 38,000,000; Great Britain and Ireland, in 1879, 34,500,- 
ooo; and France, in 1876, 36,900,000; Turkey in Europe, 8,860,000; and the 
Russian Empire, 87,900,000. 
China has in Asia, in all her dependencies, an extent of 11,814,000 square 
kilometers, on which there are 434,600,000 inhabitants; Hong Kong has 139,- 
144 inhabitants; Japan, according to the official census of 1878, had 34,300,000 
inhabitants. The English possessions in India have a population of 240,200,000; 
the French possessions in India have 280,000 inhabitants ; Cochin China has 
1,600,000 inhabitants; Chinese India has 36,900,000; the East India islands 
have 34,800,000; and the islands of Oceanica, 879,000. 
According to’ Dr. Nachtigal, Africa has an extent of 26,283,000 square kilo- 
meters, which are thus divided: Forests and uncultivated lands, 6,300,000 square 
kilometers; plains, 6,225,000 square kilometers ; deserts, 10,600,000 square kilo- 
meters; steppes, 4,200,000 square kilometers. The English possessions in North 
America have a population of 3,800,000; the United States have 48,500,000 ; 
and Mexico has 9,485,000; and Brazil has 11,100,000. As to the Polar regions, 
they have an extent of 3,859,000 square kilometers around the Arctic circle, and 
are scarcely inhabited, except in Iceland, where there are 72,000 inhabitants, and 
in Greenland, where there are 10,000 inhabitants. The Antarctic regions have 
an approximate extent of 660,000 square kilometers. —Translated from ‘‘ Z’ Expo- 
ration” by J. F. 
The vectrician tells this story: A number of gentlemen were the other day 
about to dine, and one of the dishes was especially cared for, containing, as it 
was seriously averred, a ‘‘gymnotus,” fresh from the rivers of South America, 
which was to forma part of therepast. Usually, electricians scrupulously observe 
decorum, but the chairman, instead of pronouncing the benediction, turned to 
the dish containing the eel and solemnly requested grace, when, with a sweet 
cadence, as if from a mermaid in cavernous regions, was heard all over the place, 
‘¢Be present at our table, Lord,” etc. ‘The cover was then raised, and the 
anticipated electric eel turned out to be a telephone which had been ingeniously 
connected to a distant room, and which, being a religiously good telephone, not 
only produced a pleasing sensation to all present, but afterward returned thanks 
in a powerful but well-known voice to the admiring listeners. 
