The National tribune., 1889-06-27
TRIBUNETS.


ceptional starts the query of how many words
there are in the English language which end
in ciol Some insist that there are only four,
and others that there are as many as six. The
first that occurs to everybody Is eion scion, it
being spelled both ways. THE NATIONAL
TRIBUNE, which always favors the simplest
allowable spelling of every word, prefers cion,
and this spelling is supported by etymOlogy.
1t comes originally from the Latin sectio, cut
ting, from secare to cut. The old French hor-
ticulturists, from whom we get the art of graft
ing and propagating by means of cuttings,
spelled it cion.
The next is coercion, from con and arcere, to
shut up, to press together.
The third is suspicion, from sub, under, and
specere, to look, view.
The fourth is distraction, from the Greek ostra-
kion, small shell. 1t is the name of genus
of rough-skinned fishes, having the body COW
cred with an armor of solid, immovable, bony
plates
The dfth Is internecion, an obsolete word,
meaning mutual slaughter, from inter, among
or between, and necare to kill.
The sixth is epiaicion an obsolete word mean
ing a song of triumph, from the Greek epinik-
ion.
The seventh is pernicion, an obsolete word,
meaning destruction, perdition from per, thor
oughly, and necare, to kill.
Worcester gives another word, on the au-
thorty of Brande which Webster does not. 1t
is ceSfracioH, n family of sharks which were
| abundant in the second geological epoch, and
which is now represented by the Cestrdcione
PhiHipsii, small brown shark two or three
feet long, which infests the Pacific, and is
called the nurse" in Australia, aud the "cat"
or kitten shark" in China.
THEY are beginning to advertise for hop
gatherers in Wisconsin and Oregon, but they
don't want the kind that gather at the hops at
the side.
CRoNIs Croninl Seems to us we have
heard the name before. Didn't he have red
nose, or something, and lived out West-ore-
gon, possibly?
COUNT HARDEGa has just died in Vienna.
IL all the bad eggs in the European nobility
should suddenly die, tho mortality would ex-
ceed that at Johnstown, but it would not be
reckoned so much Of disaster.
UNLESS history be as shameless slanderer
as the New York Times or Euening Post, Nero
was probably the wickedest old fellow that
ever wore crown. He poisoned and murder
cd without scruple whoever stood in the way
of his ambition or vanity, burned Christians as
torches to his saturnalia, or had them clothed
In the fresh skins OF wild animals and torn to
pieces by dogs in burlesque hunts. and had his
mother assassinated. while his relations with
women would have brought q blush to the
check of Brigham Young. Yet there were good
points about even Nero. Parts Of his reign were
very creditable 10 him and prosperous to the
Empire. His armies were successful against the
enemies of Rome, and he paid much attention
to the building up OF the Eternal City and to
the development Of the resources of the EN-
pire. Ono Of his schemes was the cutting of
canal through the narrow Isthmus of Cor
inth TO connect the Saronic and Corinthian
Gulfs. AZ that time that was as important an
undertaking as the digging of the canal across
the Isthmus of Suez was in modern times, for
though the Isthmus of Corinth is but four
miles broad. il compels all the vessels passing
between the ports of the Mediterranean and
Constantinople to sail around the entire Gre
clan peninsula. Nero began the work about
the year c.. when he went TO Greece to crafty
his ambition to be victor in music and chariot
driving in the Olympic games. He inaugu-
rated IL with the theatrical demonstration
which was the ruling passion of his life, but
other objects soon claimed his attention, and
ok,
cost him his throne and life. A Greek banker
has taken up the work where Nero dropt it
! 800 years ago, and the canal will soon be
completed. 1t presents but little difficulty,
for the entire length of the canal will be but
little over four miles, and its depth but eight
meters.