jet girt Vett journal WELSH P'T'G. CO., L't'd. Pubs. WELSII, - - - - - L Duration of Life. A European statistician has pub lished carefully prepared figures of longevity which tend to throw a rather remarkable light on the rela tion, first of progress, and secondly of climate, to the duration of life. It would appear that Germany, with a population at the time of 55,000,000, counted less than SO centenarians, or In the ratio of .' to 700,000; that the ratio is lower still in Denmark, where it is one to 1,250,000, and in Belgium, where it is one to 1,350,000, but that It rises in Sweden (1:600,000), Eng land (1:260,000), France (1:190,000), Norway and Scotland (1:100,000), and Spain (1:405,000), till it attains an as tounding height in the Balkans, where Roumania can show one centenarian for every 5,000 inhabitants, Servia one for every 4,500, and Bulgaria one for every 1,000. The obvious deduc tion. would be that climate is evident ly a powerful factor in determining the length of life, and that the Medi terranean countries enjoy especially favorable conditions in this respect. The vegetarian should also have his innings here, for 'it is the oil and grain-eating peoples of the south that seem to have approached nearest to the secret of immortality. It is in certain parts of the Balkans that Elie E Metchnikoff found old age to flourish, and ascribed it largely to the prevail ing diet of fermented milk. But it is alsd obvious that centenarianism varies inversely with the scale of civilization. There is, however, the cheerful reflection that longevity also seems to vary inversely with the A scale of literacy, and that perhaps statistics in Servia are not kept so carefully as in Germany. Tchaikow sky's music may not be the only me dium in which the Slav imagination utters itself. Washington of Lincoln's Day. ft Dr. Johannes Rosing, who was at- et tache to the Bremen and Hanseatic d legations at Washington during the t civil war, and who later became con sul general of the North German Con fed'eration at New York, publishes in b the Weser-Zeitung extracts from his d reminiscences, dealing rather inti- ii mately with condiiuons in \Vasliinlgton ti nimediately pIrecedfing the first Lin- I Si coin inauguration. The federal capi tal of the time, he remarks by the way, was hardly thu present, bti 'iialt "city of mauni :icent di aniicea'." Ti streets, whicd were unpaved, and as a c 'ule undIlanl d, were a llhabitat for't dnm.-et:c anin:! - of all dscrilptions. b except after a heavy rain, when thty t remlinded Lord Lyons, the iBritish d minister, of the tut :id flood of Fathle: Tiber. On one occasion a horse and d its rider were drowned on Pennsylva nia avenue, and a like fate almost overtook the Italian minister on his way home from the second inaugura tion of Mr. Lincoln. The coach fell 1l into a hole and was wrecked, and the 9 minister was saved only through the 11 devotion of a negro, who plunged to + his rescue and carried him out of danger on his back, Aeneas-like. The Universal Language. An interesting Canadian writer has been looking up the matter and finds that English is coming into such wide use that before long our tongue may f be regarded as a world language. e Certainly the figures he gives are c sqggestive. Summarized, they show tiat from 1800 to 1900 the number of persons speaking English increased from 20,000,000 to 135,000,000. or 575 per cent.; French, from 34,000.000 to 4o,000,000, or 41 per cent.; German, from 35,000,000 to 70,000,000, or 100 per cent.; Russian, from 30,000,000 to - 90,000,000, or 200 per cent.; Spanish, i from 30,000,000.to 45,000,000, or 50 per cent.; Italian, from 18,000,000 to 3~2,00),000, or 77 per cent., and Portu guese, from 8,000,000 to 13,006,000, or 62 per cent. The absolute accuracy of these figures may be open to some question, but there is no doubt as to the remarkable gain in the English speaking population of the earth. And the United States furnishes the larger proportion. By the English aimiralty's orders perfect models are made in paraffin w'ax of every new battleship before It is laid down, and these models are tested in a tank, being 400 feet long and 20 feet wide. They are made of wax because it is a material which does not absorb water or chbmange its weight, so that alterations an be easily made and the material as. be melted up and used again. Admlnstrative London contains 11 quare miles, and a population of ,500,000. Greater London contains ,an area of 093 square miles, with a -opulatlon of 6,581,372. Possibly Lon Gorn ba no Ized boundary, the limits Wing 'exteuded or reduced at h.c :leUsre of the posmater-general. hi-e" wlld boar that . killed King ioVIo horse hadn't a very delicate ipohton of the respect due royal .v6en when disguised in the shape Sa man. ------------------- CAM HE MAKE THEM SAW WOOD?