esence of danger. Hence, perhaps, the reason
why white appears more frequently in islands where competition is less
severe and enemies less numerous and varied. Hence, also, a reason why
albinoism, although freely occurring in captivity, never maintains
itself in a wild state, while melanism does. The peculiarity of some
islands in having all their inhabitants of dusky colors--as the
Galapagos--may also perhaps be explained on the same principles; for
poisonous fruits or seeds may there abound, which weed out all white or
light-colored varieties, owing to their deficiency of smell and taste.
We can hardly believe, however, that this would apply to white-colored
butterflies, and this may be a reason why the effect of an insular
habitat is more marked in these insects than in birds or mammals. But
though inapplicable to the lower animals, this curious relation of sense
acuteness with colors may have had some influence on the development of
the higher human races. If light tints of the skin were generally
accompanied by some deficiency in the senses of smell, hearing, and
vision, the white could never compete with the darker races, so long as
man was in a very low and savage condition, and wholly dependent for
existence on the acuteness of his senses. But as the mental faculties
become more fully developed and more important to his welfare than mere
sense acuteness, the lighter tints of skin, and hair, and eyes, would
cease to be disadvantageous whenever they were accompanied by superior
brain power. Such variations would then be preserved; and thus may have
arisen the Xanthochroic race of mankind, in which we find a high
development of intellect accompanied by a slight deficiency in the
acuteness of the senses as compared with the darker forms.

AN INVOLVED ACCIDENT.

Though American recklessness of life is proverbial among foreigners, we
may be thankful that India-rubber bags of explosive gases are not
carried by ignorant boys through our streets, as in Newcastle, England.
The practice resulted by a singular chain of mishaps in a violent
explosion. The first error was in using a bag for conveying an explosive
gas; the second in using a _leaky_ bag; the third in the experimenter,
who put coal gas into a bag containing oxygen; the fourth in sending a
boy to deliver it. Then comes a chapter of results. The boy became tired
and stopped to rest, dropping the bag on the pavement. Just as he did so
a passer-by lit his