ABYSSINIA. 



ADULTERATION. 



France ; he became an advocate of the princi- 

 ple of religious toleration, and joined the or- 

 der of Freemasonry. He did not renounce 

 polygamy, but in his retirement at Damascus 

 had three wives. Most of his numerous chil- 

 dren died before their father, and one of his 

 daughters became a Christian. A religio-philo- 

 sophical work, which he wrote in Arabic in. 

 his retirement, was well received, and trans- 

 lated by Dugat into French under the title 

 " Eappel a 1'Intelligent, Avis a I'lndiffe'reut " 

 (Paris, 1858). 



Special works on Abd-el-Kader have been 

 published by Lame'naire, " Vie, Aventures, 

 Combats et Prise d' Abd-el-Kader " (Paris, 

 1848), and Bellemare, "Abd-el-Kader Sa Vie 

 Politique et Militaire " (Paris, 1863). 



ABYSSINIA,* a country of Eastern Africa, 

 the boundaries of which continue to be unset- 

 tled. The area of Abyssinia proper, which 

 was formerly said to comprise the three im- 

 portant states of Tigre, Amhara, and Shoa, is 

 estimated by Behm and Wagner ("Bevolke- 

 rung der Erde," vol. v.) at about 158,000 square 

 miles; the population is believed to be from 

 3,000,000 to 5,000,000. The larger portion 

 of this country is governed by King John (for- 

 merly known as Prince Kassai), while Shoa is 

 under the government of King Menelek. The 

 son of the late King Theodore, Prince Alma- 

 yoo, who after the death of his father was sent 

 to England to receive there a careful education, 

 died at Leeds on November 24, 1879. 



As the King of Abyssinia lays claim to large 

 territories which have of late been annexed to 

 Egypt, especially the port of Massowa, the two 

 countries have been for years on unfriendly 

 terms. In 1879 the Government of Egypt sent 

 Gordon Pasha on a special mission to King 

 John to settle the pending difficulties peace- 

 ably. The King refused to accept the proposi- 

 tions made by Gordon Pasha, and threatened 

 to invade Egypt. (See EGYPT.) 



An Egyptian functionary, Zobir Pasha, who 

 was ruler of Darfoor before the annexation of 

 this country to Egypt, gave in September to an 

 American writer the following account of the 

 situation of affairs in Abyssinia : 



Kin John has now reduced to obedience his two 

 vassalliings, Menelek and Wold-Mikail. The King 

 knows well that by order of the Sultan at Constanti- 

 nople the Egyptian army is reduced to 18,000 men. 

 The King knows also that Gordon Pasha has left Cairo 

 with papers from England and France forbidding 

 Abyssinia to make war with Egypt. But will not 

 England and France also prevent Egypt from going 

 to war with Abyssinia ? Munzinger Pasha stole for 

 Egypt the country of the Bogos. King John then 

 took back by force a part of this territory. Ismail 

 Pasha then sent three expeditions against Abyssinia. 

 The first, commanded by Munzinger Pasha and con- 

 sisting of 2,000 men, was annihilated by King John, 

 and Munzinger himself killed. The second, consist- 

 ing of 1,800 men, shared a like fate, and its command- 

 er, Colonel Arendrup, was killed, together with Count 

 Zichy and Arakel Bey, the son-in-law of Nubar Pasha. 



See " Annual Cyclopaedia " of 1877, art. ABYSSINIA. On the 

 former history of King John, see "Annual Cyclopaedia" of 

 1878 and 1875. 



The third expedition, consisting of over 20.000 men, 

 magnificently equipped and provided with a large 

 European and American staff, was also defeated and 

 driven from the land. Soon after the defeat of this 

 third Egyptian army, Menelek. King of the Shoa coun- 

 try, broke out into revolt in the south, and was aided 

 by King Wold-Mikail in the north. King John hast- 

 ened to put down these formidable revolts, and in the 

 mean time the Egyptians stole back again the Bogos 

 country. But now Menelek and Wold-Mikail are 

 friends with King John, and have taken wives from 

 his family ; and, mark well my words, King John wall 

 get back the Bogos country (a fertile district on the 

 north and northwest frontiers of Abyssinia) by fair 

 means or by foul, or he will perish in the attempt. 

 Who will prevent him? Eijypt can not. and King 

 John does not believe that England and France wiU 

 go to war with him to prevent his taking back from 

 Egypt what rightly belongs to him. 



King Menelek of Shoa, the southern part of 

 Abyssinia, in August informed the British An- 

 ti-Slavery Society that he had abolished the 

 slave-trade throughout his dominions. In De- 

 cember the relations between Menelek and the 

 King of Abyssinia were reported to be critical, 

 because Menelek has failed to pay his annual 

 tribute. 



ADULTERATION. The Governments of 

 Germany, Belgium, and other European coun- 

 tries have in recent years taken active steps 

 to suppress adulteration and the use of dele- 

 terious substances, more particularly in foods 

 or in articles where a direct noxious effect 

 upon the public health results. In Great Brit- 

 ain the health authorities are empowered to 

 suppress the sale of articles of food containing 

 injurious ingredients. In the different Ameri- 

 can States special acts have been passed rela- 

 tive to debased or adulterated food articles. 

 In the State of New York dealers in artificial 

 butter are compelled to label it as such, and 

 strict measures have been taken to put a stop 

 to the adulteration or reduction of milk. No 

 general laws have been enacted, however, to 

 suppress the debasement or falsification of 

 commercial commodities, or even of food prod- 

 ucts, a kind of fraud to which the larger por- 

 tion of the mercantile community are them- 

 selves unwilling parties. This subject has been 

 called to the attention of the public frequently 

 of late by chemists, microscopists, and physi- 

 cians; but the deadly effects of some of the 

 materials from which articles of daily use are 

 manufactured, and the extent to which the 

 adulteration of foods, beverages, and medicines 

 is carried on, according to the testimony of 

 expert analysts, is hardly conceived of by the 

 general public. Dr. Kedzie, President of the 

 State Board of Health of Michigan, has offi- 

 cially warned the people of that State of two 

 very dangerous sources of disease and death in 

 the reckless employment of poisonous mate- 

 rials in manufactures arsenic to color wall- 

 papers and to dye clothing materials, and lead 

 in the sheet-tin of which cheap cooking vessels 

 are made. In the report of the Canadian Com- 

 missioners of Inland Revenue for 1877 it^is 

 stated that out of 180 specimens of groceries 

 93 were found by analysis to be adulterated. 



