The eagle., June 19, 1895, Page 15, Image 15

About The eagle. (Silver City, N.M.) 1894-1???

Image provided by: University of New Mexico

                
Til K JíAüLE: WEDNKSDAY, JUNK 1, 1!)5.
15
SOLDlfcRa lü Cú Ür-ARED.
They Would litre Ueen Beheaded Under
the Usual Custom.
The stipulation in the treaty of peace
between China and Japan that the
Chinese who have been captured by
the Japanese and others who sold sup
plies to the Japanese troops in their
march through Manchuria and Shant
ung shall not be punished by the
Chinese authorities, was inspired by
humane considerations. It is the cus
tom of China to behead such of her sol
diers as fall into the hands of the ene
my, and are afterward returned to their
country. During several naval and
land engagements upward of five
thousand Chinese troops were captured
by Japanese, and it is to preserve their
lives that the foregoing provision was
inserted in the treaty. The same con
siderations influenced the other previ
sion relative to the purchase of sup
plies from Chinese subjects. The curi
ous fact develops in this connection
that China has not a single prisoner of
war belonging to Japan.
The United Press dispatch, which
contained the exclusive announcement
that the indemnity of two hundred mil
lion taels will be paid in seven yearly
installments differs from official reports
previously received, which limited the
payment to five instead of seven install
ments. It is believed, however, that
the statement contained in the United
l'ress dispatch is correct. While no
definite information has been received
regarding the matter, it is understood
that the indemnity will take the form
of a bond issue on the part of China, the
bonds to be retired during a period of
seven years, and to bear interest at five
per cent, per annum. The presumption
is still very strong that the indemnity
will be paid in silver.
Until the beginning of the war be
tween China and Japan each country
had a consular jurisdiction over its sub
jects in the other country. It would
now appear that Japan, will no longer
grant this privilege to China, although
stipulating for a continuance of this
right for herself. The explanation
given for this exception is tliitt J.ivan
is now a civilized country, with a code
of laws based on the highost prin
ciples of justice and equity, and that
she can be safely trusted, therefore, to
deal fairly with the Chinese iiubjoets
living within her border.-,. China, on
the o'jj'.cr hand, it is asserted, iu still a
barbarous country, and foreigner..; there
must receive the prote;'.io:i of their
own country since little, if any, will be
afforded to them by the local authori
ties. NICHOLAS II. IN PEACE.
r.usHlii'n Interests Aro t Th'.n Time Alt
Opposed to Wiir
There is no safety in predicting any
turn in a game in which a youthful
monarch of Russia holds a strong hand,
but, though many rumors have been
running around about the new czar,
Mi.iholas II., there seems no probability
of his undertaking any inflammable
r ib, says Col. T. O. Dodge in the
F )i-ain. llnrviiii has so much more to
f i.! i:i pe:i x than war. llarely a tbid
of her army has the new K'.nn'il-'xu
riilo, and it will be two years before
the other regiments are so equipped.
Her revenues are none too great. Russh.
needs her money for the great trans
Siberian railway, and she ought no't to
blow it out of the mouths of big guns.
No doubt there is a tension in many of
the international relations, but that is
always present, and diplomats are
growing more reasonable. It is proba
ble that what has been said of the char
acter of Nicholas is in the main true;
and this should lead him to follow in
the footsteps of his illustrious father
and make Russia still the dictator of
peace.
No man will be rash enough to say
that war may not come. Every one of
the continents lias spots where an acci
dental outbreak, the blunder of an
overzealous servant, may work such a
hardship, actual or ideal, to some great
power as shall call for an excited de
mand for reparation. It is then that
cool heads, if not thick skins, are in
demand; and it is then that the ei'Jer
vescence of journalists in search of
circulation or notoriety does most harm.
The human animal, according to his
kind, is the silliest of all animals, if we
measure him rightly. I know of no
other that is capable of sueli irrational
freaks, and it is on these that .peaji or
war hangs by a hair. Hut, to resume.
I do not believe, despite all the talk,
that there is in the present status of
the world a set of conditions which will
lead to early war.
The l.n Ue or Illoocl.
Every polar expedition and whaling
vessel which visits the Raffin bay region
puts in at Yaureke Hunk, so as to al
low explorers and seamen to visit the
celebrated Lake of Wood. Of it the
author of "Jly Summer in the North"
says: "It is a lake of considerable ex
tent, tying only a few feet above tiie
level of the sea. and appears of u de:-p
dark blood red. Careful cxu::ii:i.
ation proved, however, that the water
itself was ns pure and clear as possible;
the red effect being due to the fact that
the bottom and sides of the lake, a ;
well as the few stones whi.'h were rjat
tered about in it, were coated most per
fectly with the rea snow plant. l:i
some places, where the water had evap
orated, the withered red plants on tlx
soil and rocks looked exactly like dried
spots of blood.
Nutur.i'g L glitnlii? Rod.
M. Oovaroff, the Russian electrician of
Moscow, and I'ror. Ilischrt, govern
ment forest inspector of the same city,
have made some investigation con jer.i
ing the liability to lightning stroke oT
certain species of trees. In the win
iners of lli'JII and 1S04, the two sjien'.i ;t.
mentioned spent l'J'J days in the great
forests between Moscow and Rcincre.'.'.
and during that time found .W7 trees t!i;.l
had recently been struck by lightning.
Of the total number of marked trees
302 were found to be white poplar (pop
ulus alba), this notwithstanding t!r.'
fact that that species is not any wry'
near as common as a half dozen or do.-,-en
other varieties. On OovnrofT'u sr.-;
gestión the government reeommen '.
that the peasants use it as a lightnh
conductor.
A CURE FOR IDIOCY.
It Remullís to He Seen How Sucoeitful It
Will I?e.
A cure for idiocy is one of the latest
achievements of surgical science, which
has taken so many giant strides of late
years that it may be almost termed one
of the wonders oí the century. Experi
ments were made on the skulls of two
children, who had been idiotic from
birth, and the latest accounts are that
they are not only surviving the shock
of the operation, but are giving prom
ise of a recovery of the mental facul
ties. It would be more correct to say,
says the Washington Star, that they
are gaining those faculties, for the
idiot from birth has no development
until the obstruction on the brain is re
moved. This is exactly the process in
the present trials. Holes are drilled in
the skull of the child, at the top of the
head where the "Fontanelle" or "soft
spot" is usually located. In the case
now under observation, these spots had
become hardened at birth, and thus
the expansion and development of the
brain had been arrested. The opera
tion was, therefore, to make a new or
artificial fontanelle. Great care had to
he exercised, of course, to avoid injur
ing the brain, and there lay the main
difficulty of the operation. The scalp
is drawn anew over the apertures in
the skull thus made, and the little
brain is left to cure itself. The chil
dren thus operateil on are two years
old. It is, of course, a question just
when the patients should be subjected
to the experiment, and the age of two
years has been chosen as the starting
point. It has been considered prob
able that at this ago the child, if it
should recover its health and gain in
telligence, will be scarcely behind oth
er children of its own age a dozen
years later. I!y that time assisted na
ture would have caught up with itself,
os it were. There may be some ques
tion in the minds of ultra-sensitive peo
ple as to whether it is right for sur
geons to experiment in this way upon
helpless children by performing opera
tions that may cause death. Yet there
will probably be no general outcry
against such an effort. In some sense
death is preferable to life-long idioe'.
Few parents would be likely to object
to the experiment upon t'.ieir own un
fortunate offspring if conducted with
the care which should attend all such
dangerous proceedings.
Ills Way.
We all know the story of that bright
boy who answered correctly when
nsked how many legs a fly has, but who
had been enabled to do it only by
catching an in ;eet an 1 counting. The
Philadelphia Record gives a parallel
instance: A teacher recently told her
scholars to mark on thir ulates the
Roman numerals from one to twelve.
In about three minutes one of tin boy.i
held up his hand signifying that he had
accomplished the work. "Why, John
ny," said the teacher, "how yon nm:,!
have hurried! None of the other sjhol
nrs are half done. Now tell me how
you came to finish so quickly." "I cop
ied them from the clock on the wall up
there," replied Jimmy, with great glee.