The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-09-19

1 ne 8PDcdICu at A1otg luAo ALO0CLl
Sir Roland of Triermsin, in the guis'
of trading Yankee, guild in mouth
and jack-knife in hand. He walked
through the magic barriers with tn,
sturdy step which had SOUNDED
across a continent, and the enchant
ed princess awoke.
"And on her lovers arm she leant,
And round her waist she felt II fold, ~
And FAR across the land they went,
To that new world which is the Old.
Across the hills, and far away,
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
And deep into the dying day,
The happy princess followed him."
Dropping metaphor, we find thai
Japan, after unknown ages of Sc
cIusion, has resumed her place
among the progressive nations
She has stepped from the dim twi-
| light of the ninth century into the
glaring light of the nineteenth, at q
single stride. She finds herself
dazed and bewildered, a stranger in
a new and wonderful world. It IL
as If Arthur and his sturdy knights
had leaped from the repOse of Ava
lion into the rush and racket OF
Broadway. Take such inventions
as the spectroscOpe.4 chloroform.
photography-now is it possible to
represent. the ideas conveyed by
these words in a language whose
development was utterly arrested a
thousand years ago?
But the four winds of God are
blowing upon the dry bones. japan
is fully and utterly in earnest in her
effort to wheel into the ranks OF
modern progress. The Emperor
has sent his ministers to this coun-
try and to Europe, determined to
import and utilize the fruits of west
ern civilizations.
But here a great practical diff
Guilty arises. AS l said before, 1T Is
utterly impossible to express in the
Japanese tongue, the ideas of mod
ern science. During the year 1872
great reforms were instituted in
Japan. The Mikado received the
foreign ambassadors in person for
the first time; banished the jap
anese dress from court, and adopted
the European proclaimed freedom
to christianity abolished the feudal
tenure of lend; abolished the law
which banished women from the
temples /; issued an edict permitting
the priests to eat flesh, to let the
hair grow, to wear ordinary cos
tunes and to marry; abolished the
theatres and the hideous legalisation
of social vice which has for ages
cursed the Empire; and adopted the
European calendar. A surprising
years work and now it seems that
before another year passes the Eng
lish language will be adopted
throughout Japan.
Mr.. Mort, the Japanese amb&ssa-
dor, decides the English language
is, all things considered, the best
one for his people to adopt. But
he recoils from our irregular verbs,
and our fearful orthography; such
words as catarrh, phthisic, caout-
chouc, psychomachy and the ougheS
aforementioned are too much for
young Japan, And so this icono.
elastic Mort has recklessly under.
taken the task of Japanning the
English language. He has adopted
the Webster phonetic alphabet, and
spells every word phonetically. He
has regularised all verbs. Write,
writed; go, COED stand, standed ;
these are good Japan-English par
ticiples. A thousand American
teachers are to learn this phonetic
English, and are then to be sent to
Japan to educate, in normal schools,
fifty thousand Japanese teachers,
who will in turn teach it to every
soul in Japan. And in another
year or two, by royal decree, the
old speech of japan will be solemn
ly buried, and this new patent lam
guage will take its place.
The scheme is grand, simple, and
full of promise. 1t will probably
succeed. 1t will be extended into
China and Farther India it will be-
come the commercial language of
the far East; it will work it's way
into America and Europe, its prac-
teal common sense; and if once
fairly rooted across the Pacific. it
will ultimately become the long
needed Universal Language.
Concerning the proposed inter-
national system of weights, meas
ures, and coinages, / will speak
briefly. The metric system origi-
mated amid the horrors of the First
Revolution of France. 1t was such
a time as is best adapted to the de-
yelapements of new ideas and new
systems. The fountains of the
great deep were broken up; old
things were passing away, amid the
blood and fire of such a struggle
as never before darkened the page
! of history. Il was the golden hour
ics in every field of thought. The
I II !, rnfnnuntnpr
thing concluded to reform the Cal.
endar and weights and measures
along with government and relig-
ion. And in this hour and power
of darkness, this struggle of Titans
thu Metric System was born. anG
introduced by Prince Tallyrend. 1
is very beautiful and simple. The
first problem was to ascertain thu
length of a terrestrial meridian
A quadrant, or ninety degrees o.
this meridian was divided into ter
million equal parts, and one o
these parts is the metre, or stand
ard unit of length. This is a littlt
more than one yard; it is abou
1897 inches. This is divided int
. 1Oths, called decimetre into l00ths
called centimetres into 1,000ths
> .called millimetres it is also multi
piled by 10 forming a decametre
by 100 forming a hectometre; b.
1000 forming q kilometre by 1000
forming a myriametre; being abou
: 81 miles.
? ~ In square measure we have tn
following: A square, whose sid
, is 10 metres, is called an arC
, about 8 square rods. 100 are
J equal l contiare; 100 centiare
3 equal hectare.
+, The measures of volume are
D A cube of one decimetre, or tent
part of a metre, is called one litr,
! which is little over one quar-
; To this the decimal system is ais
J, applied.
: The unit of weight is one cubi
centimetre of rain-water. 1t
: called a gramme. To this tn
J, decimal system Is also applied.
q Here, then, is the Metric systel
of France. 1t does away with tn
= heterogeneous absurdities of tn
/ vast range of denominate number
4 Instead of the yard, which is sal
0 to be the exact length of the ar
n of King Henry the Eighth, "
h have the metre, which is an al
a quot part of the earth's meridian
i constant and invariable. A
! weights, measures, surfaces an
\ solids are based upon this. I'll
II system is one which all nations &C
b adopt. 1t is entirely adapted
le our decimal system of notatio
s. 1t is simple, beautiful, scientii
70 and complete.
2: In the year 1870 an information
y commission, representing the val
y Gus Christian powers, was appoin
a ed to investigate and report upc
D. the metric system. This commi