Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 8.djvu/526

510 again the edifice raised upon this firm foundation has tottered, it has been again set up on the same basis. These principles, which alone uphold the unity of this vast empire, stand to this day intact, nor does "Von Richthofen perceive any evidences of senile weakness in the body politic; on the contrary, he thinks that in the future Chinese civilization will have a mighty development, without losing any of its native characteristics. The principles which governed its first establishment, and which are still influential in moulding it, are in fact perfectly in accordance with natural laws, being simply the application to the social and political state of the principles of the paternal authority and filial obedience. In China the authority of the father of a family is unlimited, the obedience of the son is absolute. The emperor, as the father of his subjects, the mandarins, his representatives, receive from the people a filial obedience, but at the same time the sovereign must conform himself to the holy maxims of Confucius. There may be cases of defection, rebellion; functionaries may yield to corruption, as has been the case of late years; but sooner or later order will be restored, and the mandates of the central power will be again respected to the outermost limits of the empire.

European Life in India.—The "Value of European Life in India" was the subject of a paper read at the last meeting of the British Association by Dr. F. J. Monat. The author stated that within the present century the annual loss of European life in India had gradually and steadily decreased from about 60 per 1,000 to an average of 15 or 16. This decrement is still in progress. Among 24,500 British army officers in India, from 1861 to 1870, the death-rate from all causes was not quite 17 per 1,000. In the Madras Presidency, in the same period, among corresponding classes, the average rate was somewhat less; and, among carefully-selected European railway employés, the parliamentary returns show the mortality rate to be about 10 per 1,000. The author expressed the opinion that the Anglo-Saxon colonization of the plains of India is impossible; but that in the hill country a healthy, vigorous, European population could take root and flourish. On the whole, he regarded the present state of the question as most encouraging, and that the risks to life in India of persons who were sound in constitution, and reasonably prudent in their mode of life, are not much in excess of those incurred in more temperate climates.

Cost of a Small-Pox Epidemic.—At the recent meeting of the American Health Association a paper was read by Dr. Benjamin Lee, on the cost to the city of Philadelphia of the small-pox epidemic which existed there in the winter of 1871-'72. When the disease first appeared, no effective measures were taken to combat it. The public treasury could not bear the expense, it was said; besides, were any thoroughgoing action to be taken by the city authorities, traders from abroad would learn that the disease prevailed in the city, and would go to other markets. Dr. Lee's paper is intended to show that herein the authorities were "penny wise, pound foolish." The direct and the indirect losses caused to Philadelphia by that one visitation of small-pox amount to an enormous sum of money, a small fraction of which would have sufficed, if judiciously expended, to insure immunity from the disease. The losses as computed by Dr. Lee exceed $20,000,000.

 

article on "the Horseshoe Nebula in Sagittarius" in the number of for January, 1876, contains two annoying errors which the editor desires to correct. In Fig. 2, page 271, the letters W and E also the letters N and S are interchanged.

In Fig. 6, page 279, great injustice is done to M. Trouvelot's drawing, owing to the introduction by the engraver of two bright patches near e and d, and c and h (see figure). These should be as faint as the nebulosity near g.

cores of a pair of enormous ox-horns were discovered, some years since, in Adams County, Ohio, at the depth of about 18 feet below the surface of the ground. According to the American Journal of Science they measure nearly 6 feet from tip to tip, and are 22 inches in circumference. The original horns must have been of enormous size, as the core of the horns of the ox is about one-third of the entire length.