RED CROSS SOCIETY. 



REFORMED CHURCH. 



785 



are giving utterance to language both shock- 

 ing and dangerous to the community, and to 

 which utterances sufficient attention is paid to 

 be reported by the newspapers at large, a word 

 also through the press may be due to the people 

 as well as to the Red Cross itself. It will be 

 remembered that one of the first public moves 

 following the recent riots in Chicago was a tele- 

 graphic dispatch from the Red Cross express- 

 ing sympathy, and offering aid, if needed, to 

 the wounded policemen of that city, which dis- 

 patch was properly and gratefully responded 

 to. The province, however unintentional of 

 an assumed guise, is to mislead ; and, in view 

 of this fact, we beg the people to bear in mind 

 that the real and legitimate Red Cross of this 

 country knows nothing of this body of men ; 

 that it does not wound, but seeks to help whom 

 others have wounded ; that to-day it marks 

 every military hospital in the civilized world; 

 that by national law it is worn by every offi- 

 cer and every attendant serving the sick and 

 wounded of any field ; that, being of the Gov- 

 ernment, it is true to the Government ; that, 

 being of the people, it is true to the people; 

 that, being of humanity, it is true to human- 

 ity ; that, by the articles of the treaty under 

 which it exists and its own principles, it can 

 never be aggressive, it can never assimilate 

 with anarchy, hostilities, or violence, but that, 

 when or wherever the threatened work of such 

 as these leaves off, the work of the real Red 

 Cross must forever begin." 



The twentieth anniversary of the Red Cross 

 was celebrated in the parent city, Geneva, in 

 September, 1884. The occasion was especially 

 interesting on account of certain features that 

 marked the progress in facilities for carrying 

 on the work. This was more particularly 

 shown by an exhibit at night for the purpose 

 of illustrating the advantage of using electric 

 lights to clear a battle-lield of the wounded 

 and slain. About half of the great mall of 

 Geneva, known as the Plainpolais, was parti- 

 tioned off by portable fencing, and over its 

 surface, upon its grass-plats and walks, lay, 

 singly and in clusters, over a hundred gym- 

 nasts, or turners, who had volunteered to repre- 

 sent the wounded, dying, and slain on a battle- 

 field. At nine o'clock a powerful electric light 

 was turned on from one of the remote corners 

 of the mall. Forthwith a number of firemen 

 (four companies of whom had been trained to 

 do ambulance-work and porter service for this 

 occasion) issued from one quarter, and, with 

 lantern in hand, a flask of water, and a warmed 

 can containing preserved refreshments, were 

 seen to go forward searching for the wounded 

 and giving them a preliminary measure of re- 

 lief. They were soon followed by the so-called 

 searching and permanent relief corps, which, 

 from a given starting-point, divided into sec- 

 tions and marched diagonally across the battle- 

 field, covering its entire extent. Rays of elec- 

 tric light were so operated that these searching 

 sections could readily see every part of the field 

 VOL. xxvi. 50 A 



they traversed. The ambulances and porters 

 then entered the field, and, following the search- 

 ing sections, carefully placed the wounded on 

 stretchers or in the ambulances, while the dead 

 were also lifted into ambulances or carried 

 away. Within a surprisingly short time the 

 field was cleared of its fifty-two wounded and 

 sixty-four slain. The effect at times was ghast- 

 ly to which the peculiarity of the electric light 

 largely contributed heightened as was the 

 scene by the occasional moan of wounded, 

 cries of help, the slow, measured walk of the 

 ambulance-horses, and the suppressed manner 

 in which directions were given by the large 

 corps of volunteer physicians, who personated 

 the military surgeons on the battle-field, and 

 one or more of whom accompanied each ambu- 

 lance section. 



Within a few years Queen Victoria has in- 

 stituted a new order of the Royal Red Cross, 

 consisting of an enameled crimson cross, edged 

 with gold, bearing the effigy of the Queen in the 

 center, and the words "Faith, Hope, Charity" 

 on the arms. The cross is to be attached to a 

 dark-blue ribbon "edged with red, of one inch 

 in width, tied in a bow and worn on the left 

 shoulder. The official circular, noticing the 

 establishment of the order, says the decoration 

 shall be conferred upon any ladies, whether 

 subjects or foreign persons, who may be rec- 

 ommended by the Secretary of State for War, 

 for special exertions in providing for the nurs- 

 ing, or for attending to sick and wounded sol- 

 diers and sailors, or upon any nursing sisters, 

 whether subjects or foreign persons, who may 

 be recommended by the Secretary of State for 

 War, or, as the case may be, by the First Lord 

 of the Admiralty through the said Secretary 

 of State, for special devotion and competency, 

 which they may have displayed in their nurs- 

 ing duties with the army in the field, or in the 

 naval and military hospitals. 



REFORMED CHURCH L\ AMERICA. The sta- 

 tistical reports of this Church, rande to the 

 General Synod in June, give the following 

 footings : 



Number of particular synods 4 



Number of classes "4 



Number of churches 536 



Number of ministers 554 



Number of families 46,409 



Number of communicants fc3,037 



Number received on confession 4.719 



Number of baptisms of infants 4,708 



Number of baptisms of adults 1,094 



Number of baptized non -communicants 29,779 



Number of catechumens 29,867 



Number of Sunday-schools 769 



Total enrollment of Sunday-schools 96,535 



AMOUNT OF CONTRIBUTIONS. 



For religious and benevolent purposes $231,975 



For congregational purposes 659,429 



The statistics of the missions in China and 

 Japan, which have heretofore been included in 

 the general statistics, are this year omitted, by 

 authority of the General Synod. 



The Board of Education reported to the 

 General Synod that it had received $20,581, 

 and was in debt to the amount of 



