something so closely approaching it that there will be no excuse for further altercation." That paper believes that all "jingo" talk will cease after the Presidential election, whether President Cleveland gets his third term or not. The Free Press, Ottawa, briefly says: "Touch the pockets of the Yankee, and his good sense will soon show itself;" and the Toronto Globe sums up the question in this way: “What a happy and peaceful continent this would be if hysterical politicians were not obliged to tout for votes." The Montreal Daily Witness says:

1

"Our neighbors have only to imagine themselves settling some question with Siam and having Great Britain come and tell them to drop it and submit the matter to impartial arbitration. Every one of these Senators who tell how American President Cleveland's course is would be in a towering rage, and the United States, from Key West to Seattle, would be rushing to arms, including the Duckworth Club. Should this be followed by Britain's announcing, as Mr. Cleveland now does, that Britain would herself settle the dispute and enforce it by war, just imagine the fuss. What is meant, anyway, by impartial arbitration between Britain and Venezuela? It would be like asking to put a question between a widow and an insurance or railway company to impartial arbitration. We all know how impartial such things

are."

The hope that actual war will be averted is strong in Canada, but most papers think that war does not necessarily mean victory on the part of the United States. The Minerve, Montreal, says: "That fit of Yankee jingoism must not be taken too seriously. The financial ruin and other quite serious diplomatic consequences already brought forth by that bold stroke will cause the American Senate to reflect before assenting to this extraordinary 'sortie' of a President in search of a third term. Moreover, the United States have always 'made more money' by the free working of their manufactures than on the battle-fields. They can not forget that so easily."

Some, like The Globe, Toronto, are anxious to inform the world in general that the United States has nothing to hope from Canadians of any political denominations. This paper says:

"It is surely unwise to allow the impression to go abroad that upon any question affecting the loyalty of this country to Great Britain her people are divided. It is as false as it is mischievous. In such a situation as the present the whole nation, without distinction of race, creed, or party, is 'British and Canadian through and through.' At least one invasion of Canada was encouraged by the notion that the invaders would be joined by a large body of friends upon Canadian soil. There is no excuse for allowing that mistake, disastrous in its consequences to the people of both countries, to occur again."

The Mail and Empire, Toronto, indorses Lord Salisbury's answer as follows:

"For a diplomat, Lord Salisbury expresses his meaning with remarkable clearness. His answer to Secretary Olney's note, advising the British Government that it is the will of the United States that the Venezuelan boundary dispute should be referred to arbitration, is a plain, unqualified, and decided refusal to act upon that advice. It is an equally plain intimation to the United States to mind its own business."

So far we have quoted from the more moderate expressions of opinion, which are in the majority. But there is also a large number of papers that regard the chances of victory on the part of the United States too slight to dampen the spirits of the Canadians. The Gazette, St. Johns, N. S., says:

"What is the Monroe doctrine that any nation should respect it? It is nothing but the opinion of the President to Congress, and simply illustrates the arrogant impudence of the United States. But the Monroe doctrine might be some good, if the United States was in a position to protect it. It is well known that the standing army of the United States is a myth, and that the national guard is nothing more than an armed mob. . . . This little navy would not last twenty minutes in a battle with British ironclads. There is not a single perfect ship in the whole batch built these last few years. Every one of them is structurally weak, and of faulty

ABOLITION IN THE DUTCH EAST INDIES.

HOLLAND, like Great Britain, exercises a protectorate over

large native states in Asia. The Dutch dependencies are mostly inhabited by Malays, a fierce, treacherous race, much more difficult to handle than the gentle Hindu. Yet the Dutch Government has followed faithfully in the steps of other countries, and prohibited slavery within its territory. In the protectorates this is more difficult. The Malays refuse to accept abolition principles, and the Dutch have been compelled to admit slavery in a limited form. This is especially the case on the large island of Celebes. In answer to certain attacks made upon the Government on this account, the Handelsblad, Amsterdam, points out that it is bad policy to drive out Beelzebub by the help of the devil. If slavery has to be abolished at the cost of devastating the country in question, the advantages are ratber problematical. The Handelsblad says:

"Abolition is always a grateful subject to dilate upon in our national representation. Speakers can appeal to the constitution, to the demands of humanity, and above all to the sympathy of their hearers, those seated around the ministerial table no less than others. But does Mr. Farucombe Sanders reckon with the facts pertaining to the question? Does he take due notice of the lessons of history?

"The lessons of history! Abolition of slavery is described in bloody letters in the case of Pasumaland. The Government had come to the conclusion that the surrounding districts must be protected against the depredations of the people of Pasumaland, that their robberies and murders must cease. In 1866 the country was invaded and conquered, but within a month after the conquest a general rising took place, caused by—we quote the official report-dissatisfaction on the part of the chiefs and other slaveowners at the immediate and unconditional liberation of all slaves. It took great exertion to overcome the rebellion. This lesson alone ought to be sufficient to prove that the demands of humanity can not always be granted except at the cost of numerous lives, the destruction of the harvests, and untold misery. Caution is necessary in carrying out such reforms."

The paper here quotes from the Samarang Locomotief to show that a great step has been taken by the Dutch Government toward the abolition of slavery in countries under its protection. Art. 17 of the treaty with Gowa prohibits the sale and barter of slaves outright and makes it possible to refuse the return of runaway slaves. The paragraph runs as follows:

"In the Gowa country the capture and sale of slaves, as well as

FOR

COMPULSORY PROVIDENCE.

OR some time past there has been a serious agitation in Germany for the introduction of compulsory insurance against want in case of non-employment. The matter will be put before the Reichstag during the coming session. The projects most in favor aim at combining the workingmen into unions and societies who will be responsible for their savings-deducted according to law from their pay-and will assist them when out of work much after the manner of the unions and associations who already perform that duty during strikes. Albert Schaeffle who himself favors this plan, nevertheless draws attention to the suggestion of G. Schauz, who would leave the savings to a great extent at the disposal of their individual accumulators. Schaeffle summarizes Schauz's book, in the Zukunft, Berlin, thus:

*

The

All persons already within the limitations of the compulsory insurance laws are to become subject to compulsory savings regulations. Each state will be at liberty to fix the limit of the contributions. The savings are to be at the disposal of the owner during periods of non-employment, subject to certain regulations. contributions are to be collected by the employer, who is responsible for them until they have been paid into the bank. Not less than six cents per week will be collected, but laborers who are employed only during a limited time in the year, as in the building trades, must contribute ten per cent. of their wages. This is comparatively much, as the old-age pension only demands a contribution of three to six cents (according to the age at which the insurance begins) and the accident and sickness fund collects three cents on average earnings. But the savings fund is to remain individual, and therefore demands a larger contribution to become really useful. Three per cent. interest is to be paid on compulsory savings. When the savings have accumulated to more than $25, the owner has a right to withdraw any deposits beyond that sum. But the "locked" $25 is not touched until the owner is out of employment, when he will be entitled to assistance. He will then receive $1.25 per week if his savings are less than $7.50, $1.75 if he has been credited with $17.50 to $25. $2 if his savings amount to more than $25. The Imperial Government must undertake to deliver all papers relating to these savings free of postage, just as letters addressed to men on active military

service are now carried free.

Statistics show that counting 300 working days in the year for each industrial laborer, rather less than 15 are passed in enforced idleness on an average. As there is now a regular half-yearly census of the unemployed, it will be easy to determine further the necessary contribution. The employer is to be forced to pay one third of the weekly contributions, altho the laborer will have access to his conto during periods of strikes. Schauz's project is warmly advocated by Schaeffle, who does not believe that compulsory associations would act in a satisfactory manner. If the savings are turned over to a common fund the industrious workmen are likely to be exploited by the idle. This compulsory saving is not to supplant private endeavors, it is only to reach that very large number of workingmen who will not make provisions for a rainy day of their own free-will. This is also a reason why it would not be advisable to pay too large a * The enormous expenses of the German compulsory insurance system has, until now, prevented its application to persons outside of the industrial classes. It is, however, expected that the system will shortly be extended to all persons dependent upon their earnings.-ED. LITERARY DIGEST.

weekly sum out of the "locked" amount, for many men would else be tempted to relax in their efforts to obtain work. Of course there will be many complaints on the part of the laborers that their liberties are infringed, but as experience proves that they do not use their own initiative sufficiently to remove the danger of overburdening the charity and poor-house organizations, it is necessary to use compulsion. Even the worst paid would not be asked to give up more than 3 per cent. of their earnings as savings under the above project.- Translated for THE LITERARY DIGest.

THE

TURKEY'S ARMY.

HE Echo, Berlin, quotes a sarcastic bon mot on the Armenian question by a diplomat: "Until recently the powers were not united with regard to intervention; now they are united on the subject of non-intervention. A difference there is not." There is a good, deal of astonishment at this hesitation on the part of the powers. But perhaps the following article from the Novosti, St. Petersburg, explains their unwillingness to enforce reforms. What is known to the leading Russian journal is doubtless also known to the governments of Europe. Referring to the news that the reserves have been called out in most of the Turkish military districts, the Novosti says:

"These facts are very disquieting, especially as they gain importance when we remember that the Mohammedan population of the whole world is in a state of fermentation. There is much real danger in this. As soon as the mobilization of the Turkish army is finished, the peace of Europe can not be guaranteed a single day. It is less difficult to put the Turkish army into trim than most people suppose, and these operations are made easy further by the fact that the German military mission in Turkey has been continually busy in reorganizing the Turkish forces after the Prussian pattern. Thus the German officers have made it a point that the territorial system * should be introduced, and have created strong skeleton battalions, which gather up the reserve men during mobilization. Theoretically, the mobilization of the Turkish army has been greatly simplified. Practical difficulties exist, but these are chiefly financial.

They are The Turkish Let the Mo

Even in

"Turkey has now 18 army corps of 30,000 men each, or three divisions of 10,000 men. The quantity of the Turkish army is, therefore, by no means to be regarded as insignificant. In quality they are excellent on account of their moral force. imbued with the spirit of fanaticism and fatalism. army is exclusively composed of Mohammedans. hammedan world become convinced that it is passing through a critical moment of its history, and the Turkish army will quickly show that it understands the gravity of the situation. past days, when European armies were composed of professional soldiers only, the Turkish troops were among the best. To-day, when the armaments of Europe consist of semi-militia, every Turkish soldier may be counted a hero. His fatalism, his sobriety, and his endurance make him a powerful tool in the hands of any commander possessed of average ability. Hence the present feeling in Mohammedan circles makes the Turkish army dangerous, and Russia should be exceptionally careful. Russia must prepare for coming events, and happily a beginning has been made by the concentration of 60,000 men in the military district of Erzeroum."-Translated for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

MISCELLANEOUS.

A DOCTOR WRITES ABOUT DOCTORS.

WHEN

WHEN Sydenham, the great English physician of the seventeenth century, was asked what was best for a man to read to qualify him for the medical profession, he replied, "Don Quixote"!

Louis the Fourteenth, knowing how severely Molière had handled the members of the Paris faculty, said to him one day : "You have a doctor yourself; what does he do for you?" "Sire," replied Molière, "we chat together; he orders me some medicines; I do not take them, and I get well!"

These anecdotes occur in the opening paragraphs of a paper on "Medicine and Society," by J. Burney Yeo, M.D., in The Nineteenth Century, and indicate to some extent the professional catholicity of the writer. Here is what he has to say about "specialists":

"The present tendency to extreme specialization in medicine, it must be admitted, tends to diminish the closeness of this association and to lessen its interest. When a physician has the care of the whole complex organization of his patient, he feels an interest in his charge altogether different from that experienced by the man who looks after a small portion of it only: his nose, or his liver, or his kidneys, or his lungs. It is impossible to feel the same kind of interest in such a fractional part of the patient as in 'the whole man; indeed, one of the great evils of specialism is that the interest of the doctor tends to become centered, in a general sense, in the organ he takes charge of, and not in the individual; and this, I think, is injurious to both. The doctor loses much of the philosophical breadth of view which he gains by constant study of the intimate interconnection of the organic functions, and the patient can not obtain that general guidance and protection which a close and intimate knowledge of the whole man can alone afford.

"I am convinced that this modern tendency to extreme specialization detracts from the wholesome and legitimate influence which the profession of medicine should exercise on society. Many members of our profession are getting looked upon as mere handicraftsmen, or as skilful merely in the manipulation of some special appliances, to be summoned when needed for the application of their special art, and to be dismissed and forgotten as soon as their special work is done.

་་

by pure inadvertence no doubt, seems unavoidable by certain editors and sub-editors. These are advertisements of great value. Even medical editors themselves seem tempted by the fatal facility of doing so to indulge in frequent reference to their own too obvious merits. This tendency is counteracted to a certain extent by their willingness to open their columns freely to com. plaints of unprofessional advertising. It has always struck me as a very remarkable thing that while advertising within the medical profession is practised so extensively, and without incurring any adverse comment, the smallest notice in the public journals excites such lively animosity. It is quite peculiar to our profession. With the legal profession it is altogether otherwise; whoever is clever enough in that profession to make himself a. reputation with the public is commended for his skill and ability— and what would be thought disreputable would be for counsel to advertise themselves among solicitors.

"In the medical profession, on the other hand, the consultant (the counsel) endeavors to attract the general practitioner (the solicitor) by every means in his power. What would be thought. in the legal profession of a barrister who distributed widely among solicitors a paper or pamphlet entitled, ‘On a New and Successful Method of Defense in Actions for Libel'? And yet. this is precisely the kind of thing we all do.

"I am confident I am well within the limits of accuracy when I say that three fourths of the medical works that are published. year by year are published mainly for the purpose of advertising their authors, and that the advertisements of these books in the medical journals are many, many times in excess of what a publisher would think necessary for promoting their sale. Indeed. I am certain that the total amount spent in advertising averagemedical works that are not text-books is by far in excess of any possible profit that could arise from their sale.”

Provoking often as quacks are, says Dr. Yeo, reputable physicians ought to be grateful to them for one thing—

"They relieve us of some of the most troublesome and least interesting of our patients, those patients who weary us beyond endurance with their wretched habit of constant introspection, and by the extravagant importance they attach to very small sensations. 'Why does my little finger twitch at night?' inquires one; 'Why have I an itching at the tip of my nose?' asks another; and 'Why have I a sort of numbed spot about the size of a sixpence' (their precision is remarkable!) 'on my right shoulder?' demands a third!

'A good story is told of such a patient going to consult an authority on chest disease, and on entering the consulting-room. he placed his hand on his left side and said in a faint whisper, 'Doctor, I can not speak above a whisper with my left lung-it is. my left lung that is wrong. But'-and then he placed his hand. on his right side, and the voice of a transpontine tragedian he exclaimed-But with my right lung I can speak perfectly well!' These patients are the proper food for charlatans, and I for one do not begrudge them such sustenance. The charlatan is particularly successful in curing those patients especially who have nothing the matter with them-that is to say, nothing objective -nothing that can be weighed and measured, or that admits of any accurate definition-those who, as that sage physician Sir X. Y. used to say with particular emphasis, 'enjoy bad health.' These patients spend their whole lives in 'being cured' of one complaint after another, and they are always being 'cured,' yet they are never well."

Sympathy of a Macaw.-A letter in The Spectator gives a marked instance of sympathy on the part of a macaw: "When I was about seven," writes Mr. R. P. Newhouse, "one of my chief cronies was a macaw, who was never so happy as when seated on my shoulder and released from the chain which usually confined him to his perch. When any childish trouble affected me in his presence either real or occasionally simulated (I remember particularly a fall from a rocking-horse)-he gave the household no rest till he had been unchained. He would then hurry across the floor, climb on my mother's knee, and thence to my shoulder. And there he would stay, rubbing his beak against my face, kissing me with his black, dry tongue, and crooning 'poor,' 'poor,' until I showed signs of returning equanimity." This, the writer thinks, was doubtless an imitation of his mother's attempts at consolation; but he believes that it had a good deal of genuine sym- ' pathy in it.

SHALL AMERICAN

H

universities at all.

It is thought that Germany attracts American students because no entrance examinations are required nor are any examinations to be taken unless the student is a candidate for a degree, while at the French universities there is a fixed curriculum also for students from abroad in connection with which there are compulsory examinations. The Paris committee proposes to have the regulations changed in this regard and to give American students the same privileges that they enjoy in Germany. The committee also urges in favor of the French schools that there is no tuition to be paid, as also that women are admitted on the same terms that men are. In reply it can be said that Germany too is admitting women to some of her universities as "hearers" and in several instances has granted them degrees; and this is all that ladies from abroad ask or demand. Then the fact that the American student can save a few dollars in tuition by going to France is a matter of small moment, as most of these young men are perfectly able to pay the Collegiengelder asked by the German professors. One of the friends of the new movement urges that Americans be for the present asked to go to the provincial universities, in order that they might be free from the temptations of metropolitan life and sin in Paris. But the provincial universities of France as a rule consist only of single faculties and are no In Germany the national capital is not to the same degree the center and heart of the intellectual life of the country as Paris is of France, but there are excellent and fully equipped universities scattered over the whole empire far removed from the dangers of the capital. Then it is no doubt true that there are splendid scholars and specialists in France; but compared with Germany they are few and far between. In France a single man of special prominence may be an attraction to a certain school, but where is there such a combination of exceptionally fine talent as is collected at all the German university centers? In Germany the special student can find leading authorities on any and every subject, but in France only in particular lines. And then not to be overlooked is the question of language. The German language has in recent decades become very popular in America, and the majority of American students have a fair knowledge of the tongue spoken by the "nation of authors and thinkers." It is accordingly an easy matter for them to understand the diction of a German professor. Not so in regard to French. But few Americans master this language sufficiently to be able to follow a French discourse. Then, too, the German is of much greater practical benefit to an American than the French. Thus, while not denying the fact that for certain branches, such as the fine arts, the Paris school called "Ecole des Beaux Arts" offers special advantages, as other schools there do for architecture, music, painting, and sculpture,—yet the great and leading technical professions, for the sciences, etc., the German universities present attractions that can not be American students as a class will flock to the famous schools of equaled by anything in fair, France, and the probabilities are that Germany in preference to those of France.

for

SIGNIFICANCE OF VOCAL TONES.

N the folk-songs of the different nations of the world, says The Keynote, men of science will one day recognize a body of evidence of great value in the study of popular origins, racial relations, primitive modes of thought, ancient customs, antique religions, and many other things which make up the study of ethnology. The article continues:

"These folk-songs are the echoes of the heart-beats of the vast, vague, irresistible people. In them are crystallized habits, beliefs, and feelings of unspeakable antiquity, yet not in the words of the songs alone. Study of folk-song texts is only half-study; indeed, it is study of the lesser half of the subject in respect of truthfulness. The words of the people's songs are a record of externals chiefly, and very often they are only half-truths. If we would know the whole story which their creators put into them, consciously or or unconsciously, we must hear also the music.

'As the term implies, the folk-song is the product of a people; and a people do not lie. Music is an essential element of it, and music not only does not-it can not-lie. The things which are at the bottom of music, without which it could not be, are unconscious human products. We all act on a recognition of this fact when we judge of the sentiments of another not so much by what he says to us as by his manner of saying it. The feelings which sway us publish themselves in the pitch, dynamic intensity, and timbre of our voices.

"Try as we may, if we are powerfully moved we can not conceal the fact if we open our mouths for utterance. Involuntarily the muscles of the vocal organs become tense or relax in obedience to the emotional stimulus, and the drama which is playing on the hidden stage of our hearts is disclosed by the tones which we utter. I do not say in the words, mind, but in the tones. The former may be false; the tones are endowed with the elements already enumerated, of pitch, intensity, and timbre, and the modulation of these elements makes expressive melody.

"

'Science has recognized this law, and Herbert Spencer has formulated it. 'Variations of voice are the physiological results of variations of feeling;' and 'feelings are muscular stimuli.' Thus simple is the explanation of the inherent truthfulness and expressiveness of the people's music."

S°

A BRAVE DEED.

O many brave deeds have been seen by Archibald Forbes, says The Review of Reviews, that it is with some natural curiosity that we turn to his paper in Pearson's Magazine under the title of "The Bravest Deed I Ever Saw." The deed which Mr. Forbes here selects as the bravest that he ever saw was the rescue of a wounded trooper, which won for Lord Charles Beresford the Victoria Cross. He thus tells the story:

"Colonel (now General Sir) Redvers Buller had been ordered to make a reconnaissance before Cetewayo's kraal of Ulundi. Beresford led the advance, Buller bringing on the main body. Beresford, on his smart chestnut, with the white ticks on withers and flanks, was the foremost rider of the force. The Zulu chief bringing up the rear of the fugitives suddenly turned on the lone horseman who had so outridden his followers. A big man, even for a Zulu, the ring round his head proved him a veteran. The muscles rippled on his shoulders as he compacted himself behind his cowhide shield, marking his distance for the thrust of the gleaming assegai.

"It flashed out like the head of a cobra as it strikes; Beresford's cavalry saber clashed with it; the spear-head was dashed aside; the horseman gave point with all the vigor of his arm and the impetus of his galloping horse, and lo! in the twinkling of an eye, the sword-point was through the shield, and half its length buried in the Zulu's broad chest. The gallant induna was a dead man, and his assegai stands now in a corner of Beresford's mother's drawing-room.

"The flight of the groups of Zulus was a calculated snare; the fugitives in front of the irregulars were simply a decoy. Suddenly from out a deep watercourse crossing the plain, and from out the adjacent long grass, sprang up a long line of several thousand armed Zulus. At Buller's loud command to fire a volley