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 Rh claimed, largely by virtue of papal grant and warrant, to acquire the territory and the mastery of the semi-civilized races of America. He denied the validity of the papal titles, he main tained the sovereign rights of the aboriginal races, and he claimed to place international rela tions upon the basis of equal rights as between communities in actual possession of independ ence. In other words, he first clearly affirmed the juridical principle of the complete inter national equality of independent States, however disproportionate their power. Suarez, in his work "De Legibus et Deo Legislatore," from the point of view of the Catholic theologian, assumes that the principles of the moral law are capable of complete and authoritative definition, and are supported by the highest spiritual sanction. Among the jurists who followed Grotius, the classical names are those of Puffendorf, Wolff, Vattel and Bynkershoek. In England, Sir Leoline Jenkins and Lord Stowell are the most illustrious of those who have made important contributions to international law. A curious example of the reward of excessive virtue, which is often its own undoing, is thus given : The English pickle manufacturers have been making their pint bottles hold a little more than a pint, to be on the safe side of an English law on the subject. But when they sent these pint bottles to Canada they ran against a law which provides that any package measuring more than a pint must pay duty as a quart.

In the Baram district of Borneo, according to Mr. C. Hose, it is customary, when a dispute arises, concerning the ownership of a fruit-tree, for example, for the parties to take their positions, in the presence of the witnesses and a throng of spectators, in about four feet of water, each as severating that he is the rightful owner, and pray ing that the water and the birds and animals may bear him witness. Two sets of cross-sticks have been driven into the mud at the bottom of the river. At a given signal, each disputant puts his head under his cross-stick, and keeps it in the water as long as he can, a friend holding his legs in order to detect the first signs of fainting, and pull him out on their appearance. The man who can keep his head under water the longer time is declared to be the winner, and the loser is not

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allowed to make any further claim. Men recov ering from serious illness often change their names, hoping that the evil spirit that caused their illness may lose trace of them. When this is done, the former name is never mentioned again. The most precious articles of clothing and weapons are deposited in the graves, because the friends wish the spirit of the deceased to ap pear to advantage on his arrival in the other world. In view of the prevalence of influenza, the minister of the imperial household of Japan has issued the following instructions : " Special care should be taken to avoid having audience with the emperor when under the influence of cold, or otherwise ill. Those officials who have to ap proach the emperor, or whose duties take them to the inner part of the ccjurt, should be careful to avoid coming into contact with the patients, and in otherwise unavoidable circumstances they are to take a bath and change their clothes be fore attending office. Those who have to ap proach the emperor, or to proceed to the inner part of the court, shall refrain from attending the office in the event of their believing that they have caught the epidemic cold, or in case of their having actually been suffering from the malady, they shall attend the office only after bathing and a change of clothing, three days after complete recovery." CURRENT EVENTS. Only one child attends the school at the Lovejoy school, for colored children, at Alton, Ill., and his education costs the city nearly Si 200 annually. It would be cheaper to pay his expenses in a first-class university. In a portion of Hanover, Germany, a local decree requires each farmer to deliver to the authorities twelve sparrows or sparrow heads between October 1 and December 1, or pay a fine of six marks. It is safe to say the sparrows will be delivered.

The oldest bank-notes are the " flying-money." or "convenient money," first used in China, 2697 B.C. Originally these notes were used by the Treasury, but experience dictated a change to the banks under Government inspection and control, A writer in a provincial paper says that the early Chinese '' greenbacks " were in all essentials simi lar to the modern bank-notes, bearing the name of the bank, date of