510 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



again the edifice raised upon this firm foun- 

 dation 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, lie tliinlcs that in the future Chi- 

 nese civilization will Lave a mighty devel- 

 opment, without losing any of its native 

 characteristics. The principles which gov- 

 erned 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 fam- 

 ily is unlimited, the obedience of the son is 

 absolute. The emperor, as the father of 

 his subjects, the mandarins, his represent- 

 atives, receive from the people a filial obe- 

 dience, but at the same time the sovereign 

 must conform himself to the holy maxims 

 of Confucius. There may be cases of de- 

 fection, 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 outer- 

 most limits of the empire. 



Earopeaa Life in India. The "Value of 

 European Life in India" was the subject of 

 a paper read at the last meeting of the Brit- 

 ish Association by Dr. F. J. Mouat. The au- 

 thor 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 Biiti^h 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 cor- 

 responding classes, the average rate was 

 somewhat less ; and, among carefully-select- 

 ed European railway employes, the parlia- 

 mentary returns show the mortality rate to 

 be about 10 per 1,000. The author ex- 

 pressed the opinion that the Anglo-Saxon 

 colonization of the plains of India is impos- 

 sible ; but that in the hill country a Iiealthy, 

 vigorous, European population could take 



root and flourish. On the whole, he re- 

 garded the present state of the question as 

 most encouraging, and that the risks to life 

 in India of persons who were sound in con- 

 stitution, 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 As- 

 sociation 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 ; be- 

 sides, 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 indi- 

 rect 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 dis- 

 ease. The losses as computed by Dr. Lee 

 exceed $20,000,000. 



NOTES. 



The article on " the Horseshoe Nebula 

 in Sagittarius " in the number of The Popu- 

 CLAR Science Monthly for January, 1876, 

 contains two annoying errors which the 

 editor desires to correct. In Fig. 2, page 

 271, the letters IF and ^and also the let- 

 ters 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 A 

 {see figure). These should be as faint as 

 the nebulosity near g. 



The 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 Sci- 

 enee they measure nearly 6 feet from tip to 

 tip, and are 22 inclies in circumference. 

 The original horns must have been of enor- 

 mous size, as the core of the horns of tho 

 ox is about one-third of the entire length. 



