86 



SCTEXCE. 



[Vol. VII. , No. 155 



particular, however, Dr. Beddoe differs from Senator 

 Hoar ; that is, in respect to the origin of the custom 

 of gavelkind, by which the land of the father de- 

 scends to all his sons in equal portions, — a custom 

 adopted by our ancestors from the usage of Kent, 

 and which has had a most important effect upon 

 our history in fostering democratic institutions. 

 Our author believes that this institution was de- 

 rived from the Kymric branch of the ancient 

 Britons, and not the Germans, and that the term 

 can be best explained by the Welsh language. 



Great differences of opinion prevail among 

 recent writers as to the consequences of the 

 Anglo-Saxon conquest of England, hinging mainly 

 upon the degree of credibility attached by them to 

 the statements of the old British chronicler, Gil- 

 das. Some hold with Freeman and Green that 

 the ancient race was mostly exterminated ; while 

 Nicholas, and the Keltic school in general, are 

 equally convinced that the British element pre- 

 dominates in the modem English people. Our 

 author's conclusions upon this interesting subject 

 may be summed up as follows : About the middle 

 of the fifth century certain German tribes, invad- 

 ing the country, settled some districts almost ex- 

 clusively, making serfs of some portion of the 

 prior population, and forcing the remainder to the 

 west and the south. They uprooted Christianity, 

 and changed to a great degree the local nomen- 

 clature. But they adopted, or allowed to remain, 

 many usages relating to the land, and they inter- 

 married largely with the native women ; so that 

 their descendants exhibit changes in physical type 

 which approximate them somewhat to the original 

 inhabitants. In language the most important and 

 necessary words, particularly among the verbs, are 

 Teutonic : so are most of the grammatical forms 

 and rules ; and so, also, is the pronunciation. 



The Danes, in the latter part of the ninth 

 century, by their invasions, gave a strong Scandi- 

 navian tinge to the eastern counties of England, 

 and made themselves exclusive masters of the 

 islands around Scotland : in other parts of the 

 country their influence is not marked. 



But the Norman conquest, although it did not 

 at once introduce any very large accession to the 

 population, undoubtedly produced the type that is 

 still the prevailing one among the upper classes of 

 England. Our author finds, by an examination of 

 the color-tints of portraits of the nobility, a prev- 

 alence of dark hues, even more marked in the 

 Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than in the 

 nineteenth. The severity of the conquest was 

 chiefly felt in Yorkshire and parts <>f Lancashire, 



where the Anglo-Danish population was nearly 



destroyed. In other parts of the country no per- 

 manent change in the physical type or racial ele- 



ments seems to have resulted from it. In this 

 branch of his inquiries. Dr. Beddoe has drawn, 

 principally from Domesday book and other medi- 

 aeval records, interesting and useful inferences, 

 which we regret not to be able to quote. 



We will conclude by calling especial attention 

 to three exceedingly well executed plates, in which 

 are represented living faces, which, in the judg- 

 ment of our author, reproduce the various types 

 of ' the races of Britain.' His remark about 'the 

 singular beauty of the women of Devonshire' 

 seems fully warranted. H. W. H. 



THE CAUSATION OF PULMONARY CON- 

 SUMPTION. 



Scarcely four years have elapsed since the 

 important discovery of the tubercle-bacillus by 

 Koch was announced. Many then thought that 

 the key to the various problems of pulmona- 

 ry consumption was close at hand, if not in our 

 actual possession. Certainly therefrom a new 

 impetus has been received in the study of these 

 problems, — an impetus that may eventually bring- 

 about their solution ; but so far this discovery has 

 added but little to our actual knowledge of the 

 causation of this most insidious disease. 



This bacillus is readily and definitely distin- 

 guished from other allied micro-organisms. It 

 seems to be present in tubercles wherever found, 

 and is usually apparent in the sputum of con- 

 sumptives : in some few cases it is believed to 

 have been detected in the sputum when no signs 

 of the disease were discovered ; and other cases 

 are known where the most careful examinations 

 have failed to detect them, though tubercles were 

 unquestionably present. Still the evidence so far 

 is only negative. We may, without doing violence 

 to the facts, assume that the bacillus Kochi is a 

 constant accompaniment of tuberculous disease. 

 They are remarkable for their vitality : decom- 

 posed or even dried sputum containing them re- 

 tains all the powers of the fresh microbe, even 

 after months have elapsed. Inoculated into the 

 tissue of animals, either in the fresh state or after 

 cultivation, they almost invariably produce tuber- 

 culous disease, though never the ordinary chronic 

 consumption, but quick consumption, or miliary 

 tuberculosis, which is held to be distinct in its 

 nature. From these facts the conclusion would 

 seem self-evident that floating particles of dried 

 sputa, or at least when freshly thrown off from 

 the diseased subject, might easily enter the lungs 

 of healthy persons, and reproduce the disease. 

 Unfortunately clinical evidence does not support 

 th\B a priori deduction. Recent observations de- 

 monstrate that food impregnated with tubercu- 



