Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-12

project, who is appointed by the minister of the
interior. and who is required to reside at the
prefecture, which stands on the Quai de rHor-
loge, adjoining the palace of justice and the
prison OF the Conciergerie. He has under his
orders force Of nearly seven thousand police
men in uniform, twenty-one officers OF the peace.
eighty district commissioners of police (Com-
naissaues), five hundred detectives and a num-
Der of agents secrets. or private paid informers
known only to himself and to the two or three
principal members Of his staff This staff con-
sists Of the directors, sub-drectors and clerks
Of twelve sections: each Of which transacts a
special class of business; thus there is the
Bureau DIES Etrangers," "Bureau de la Surete
Generate" Bureau des Garnis' ffor the super
vision of hotels and lodging -hoases), and so on.
For administrative purposes, Paris is divided
into twenty wards (drrondiSseme'ts) and eighty
quarters Each ward has a force of about three
hundred aud twenty five policemen, commanded
by an officer of the peace; and each quarter
police station, managed by a cOmmissare. The
officer Of the peace is the captain of the police
corps in his ward; he wears silver-aced uni
form and sword, ranks with q captain in the
army. and is always a well-educated gentleman,
OF status much superior to an English SUPER
intendent He is never chosen from the ranks
of the police sergeants but is generally selected
from what one may call the upper or gentlemen
detectives of the prefecture. else from among
the secretaries and clerks to the directors His
lodged in the Marie of his ward. where he is
provided with comfortable suite of apartments
with coal and gas free His duties are to super
intend the men of his brigade. to go rounds of
inspection in order to see that they are on their
beats. and on important occasions, when great
crowds have to be kept in order. or when riots
have to be suppressed. he takes command of his
brigade in the streets. Three times a day he
sends reports to the chief of the municipal po-
lice at the Prefecture concerning all that has &C.
N adj ffnf h.A hri-
gades in the twenty wards, there is Brigade
Centrale" of two hundred and fifty men and an
officer. who. like the Division of the London
police. form reserve available for special
duty.
AS the area and population of Paris are barely
equal to half those Of London. the seven thou
sand Partisan policemen form 4 stronger force
than the ten thousand and odd who guard the
English capital and we must add to them the
gendarmes and republican guards. who. though
under the orders of the minister of war. may
really be described as mounted police. The
Partisan policemen. who used to be called SER
gent de ciNe but is now termed garden dc la
PAIR. has nothing to do beyond keeping order in
the streets. 1t is the republican guards who
escort prisoners in the cellular vans from the
jas to the law courts and stand by them in the
criminal docks: who attend at theaters. casinos
and all places OF public amusement; and who
line the streets whenever there is any pageant.
On the race-courses soldiers are generally
pressed into service to keep the course clear
and thus policemen are never diverted from
their regular beats and duties 1t is considered
so important that policeman should learn to
know all the people in the district where he is
stationed that a mans beat is scarcely ever
changed. The average term Of service in the
force is fifteen years, and during that time a
man will have to walk. daily and nightly. the
same set of streets. till he knows the face of
every man, woman and child in the locality. BY
day each policeman walks singly; by night they
always go in pairs. at least IN the populous
quarters. Their pay begins at fifty-six pounds
a year. and rises gradually to eighty pounds.
Every ward OF Paris, as above said. has four
quarters. and each quarter has its police station
with a cOnlmissafre. The cOmmissaire de police
Is an official having no equivalent in England
He is the cnstOs n,OrgH,. the censor, the eXecu-
tive magistrate of the district where he resides.
He is not Justice. for he has no power to pass
sentences; but he has unlimited power as to
ordering the arrest of persons whom he may
regard as suspicious characters; and as arrest
in France generally involves three days deten-
ton ut least, this puts the liberty of the subject
at the commissaire's mercy-Co'1sti0 Magazine
Eating Before Sleeping.
AN OI.D-TIME RULE REVERSED By AN ADVOCATE
OF LATE SUFFERS
From the New York journal of Commerce.
Man is the only animal that can be taught to
sleep quietly on an empty stomach. The brute
creation resent all efforts to coax them to such
a violation of the laws Of nature. The lion
roars in the forest until he has found his prev
and when he has deyOured it he sleeps over
until he needs another meal. The horse will
paw all night in the stable and the pig will
squeal in the pen. refusing all rest of sleep until
they are fed. The animals which chew the cud
have their own provision for late meal just
before dropping OFT to their nightly slumbers.
Man can train himself to the habit Of sleeping
without preceding meal, but only after long
years OF practice. AS he comes into the world
nature is two strong for him. and he must be
fed before he will sleep. A chid's stomach is
small, and when perfectly filled. if no sickness
disturbs it, sleep follows naturally and inevita-
bly,. AS digestion goes on the stomach begins
to empty. A single fold in it will make the
little sleeper restless; two will waken it; and if
it is hushed again to repOse the nap is Short and
three folds put an end to the slumber. Pare
gOric or other narcotic may close its eyes again.
but without either food or some stupefvng drug
it will not sleep, no matter how healthy it may
be. Not even an angel who learned the art Of
minstrelsy in celestial choir can sing babe to
sleep on an empty stomach.
We use the oft-quOted illustration. sleeping
as sweetly as an infant" because this sfumber
efa child follows Immediately after it's stomach
is completely filled with wholesome food. The
sleep which comes to adults long hours after
partaking Of food, and when the stomach is
nearly or quite empty, is not after the type Of
mfantile repose. There is all the difference in
the world between the sleep of refreshment and
the sleep of exhaustion.
To sleep well the blood that swells the veins
in the head during our busy hours must flow
back, leaving greatly diminished volume be-
hind the brow that lately thrObbed with such
vehemence. To digest well this blood is needed
at the stomach, and nearer the fountains of life
1t is fact established beyond the possibility of
contradiction that sleep aids digestion, and that
the process Of digestion is conducive to refresh
ing sleep. 1t needs no argument to convince us
OF this mutual relation. The drowsness which
always follows the well ordered meal is itself
testimony Of nature to this inter-dependence
The waste of human life by the neglect of this
lesson is very great. The daily wear and tear of
the body might be restored more fully than it
usually is ii this simple rule was not SO systema-
tically violated Sleep is wonderfully recupera-
tive, but it may be shOrn of half its benefits by
unfavorable conditions. Foul air in the bed
chamber leaves the sleeper almost as exhausted
in the morning as when weary with the days
labors he sank upon his bed A gnawing stOm-
ach, empty of food, takes out Of the nightly
sleep that refreshing sense Of comfort which
properly belongs to it. 1t leaves the blood to
thrOb in the heated brow, and haunts the slum-
Der with an ever nreSpnt source IF 6isouiaf