Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 7.djvu/525

Rh method of obtaining facts upon which to base an induction was by diligent study of Burke's "Peerage," and by sending out circulars of inquiry to members of the upper and middle classes, and to directors of asylums for the insane. Tke result showed that insanity, idiocy, and deaf-muteness, are in the United Kingdom about evenly divided, pro rata, among the progeny of consanguineous and of unconsanguineous marriages; that is to say, Mr, Darwin's investigations have failed to show any evil accruing from the marriages of first cousins. Mr. Darwin acknowledges that the opinion of prominent medical men is against such intermarriages, and that a general consent of physicians possesses far greater weight than his own purely negative results, "My paper," he adds, "is far from giving any thing like a satisfactory solution of the question as to the effects of consanguineous marriages, but it does, I think, show that the assertion that this question has already been set at rest cannot be substantiated. The subject still demands attention, and I hope that my endeavor may lead more competent investigators to take it up from some other side."

A New Ornamental Evergreen. — The myrtle-tree of Oregon attains a height of from twenty to fifty feet, and a diameter of from six to twenty inches. Dr. F. S. Matteson, who describes this beautiful tree, in the Boston Journal of Chemistry, says that it is an evergreen of very full foliage, with leaves three inches long and half as broad, of a deep shining green color; they are delightfully fragrant. The wood is hard, heavy, fine-grained, and takes a high polish; when varnished it is of a dark, variegated color, and is scarcely inferior to rosewood. The tree is very tenacious of life, sprouts freely from the stump after the tree is felled, and is a vigorous, upright grower. It blossoms in early spring, and the best honey in the world is gathered by bees which work in the myrtle-groves. Settlers are cutting down these groves for lumber and fuel, and the timber is burned in heaps to clear the land, Many trees are left standing for the sake of ornament. The nuts afford good food for swine. This tree must certainly become a leading evergreen for ornamentation, as it is unsurpassed by any known tree for all the qualities which make an evergreen desirable, Dr. Matteson thinks it probable that a highly-fragrant oil, useful as a perfume, and perhaps for medical purposes, may be distilled from the leaves.

American Origin of the Chinese. — The colonization of the American Continent from the "Old World," so called, is one of the commonplaces of historical speculation; the colonization of a large portion of the "Old World" from America is a theory of more recent origin, and yet perhaps as plausible as the one which it is intended to supplant. At a meeting of the California Academy of Sciences, Mr, Charles Wolcott Brooks read a paper on the "Origin of the Chinese Race," in which he very learnedly set forth the evidence of their American origin. The author's thesis is supported by a great multitude of facts, but the space at our command will admit only of the barest outline of his argument. According to Chinese annals, Tai Ko Fokee, the great stranger king, ruled the kingdom of China, In pictures he is represented with two small horns, like those associated with the representations of Moses. He and his successor are said to have introduced into China "picture-writing," like that in use in Central America at the time of the Spanish conquest. He taught the motions of the heavenly bodies, and divided time into years and months; he also introduced many other useful arts and sciences.

Now, there has been found at Copan, in Central America, a figure strikingly like the Chinese symbol of Fokee, with his two horns, and in like manner there is a close resemblance between the Central-American and the Chinese figures representing earth and heaven. Either one people learned from the other, or both acquired these forms from a common source, Many physico-geographical facts favor the hypothesis that they were derived in very remote ages from America, and that from China they passed to Egypt. Chinese records say that the progenitors of the Chinese race came from across the sea, But the Pacific is a wide ocean to cross, and favoring winds must have been taken advantage of to carry the emigrants from shore to shore. Mr. Brooks then