Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-10

E"S " the last century, people
are already beginning to dispute the exact ter
mination Of the nineteenth and commencement
Of the twentieth century. 1t will be very dis
tressing not to know to which century we be-
long. So II is proposed that the government
should fix the fin de steele by official decision.
At the proper time placards like theatrical pos
ters should be displayed: Tomorrow, close of
nineteenth century. Day after tomorrow OPEN
ing of twentieth century, Entrance freer'
Even such scientific men as Camille Flammarion
and Bertillon have had sharp correspondence
on the subject, and there seems TO be no way of
settling the problem. On. party maintains
that the nineteenth century will end with its
hundredth year. that is. after ninety-nine years.
eleven months, twenty-nins days. twenty three
hours and ffty-nine minutes-in other words,
at the end Of 1899 The opposing party holds
that, however this may be. the twentieth CEN
fury cannot possibly begin until January /,
1901. just as the second decade of figures in
enumeration begins with eleven, while ten closes
the first The doubtful clement is therefore
the year 1900, which, according to one party
belongs to the nineteenth century, and accord
ing to the other, to the twentieth.
PREDICTIONS FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
A master Of statistics in the Revue Rose has
made prediction of what the world will be at
the end of another hundred years. First. The
climate will not have changed sensiblv. Sec
ondly. In population Europe will have Is. 900 900
Inhabitants Asia. |. 900 000. 900, while America
will have reached 6S5 900 600: Australia 30, 0oO,-
OJG. and Africa 100, 900. COO The CHEZ inc -e.se
Il In America first and in Europe next. In the
former Spanish America has the heaviest in
crease. There is this difference, however that
In America the increase will go on accelerating
while In Europe it will go on in O decreasing
ratio. The diminution of increase in popuia-
ton, which is already noticed in France will
follow in Germany, Italy and England. AZ for
the different nations Mt tina. time. Russia will
have $40 ,OO9, 900 of population, Germany 115,-
100000 and France only 81. 600 China will
have passed $50. 000, coo aud in all probability
will sill remain outside OF modern civilization
In America these figures have the greateat
meaning. The United States viii have
100000 90: Mexico and Brazil. 10000
0O1; Canada. 10000 600: the Argentine
civilized nations which have the greatest
power viii be the United States ard Russia
having together over 700. 1000 600 inhabitants
The Engli-h language will be spoken BIZ more
than 500 .000. 0C0. while the Russian language
Will still be little current among other IA
lions on account of its structure and alphabet
Spanish and Portuguese will como next with
235.OO0, 600. while French including the in
habitans OF Indo-Chna, Canada aud AgIers
who speak that language. will, like German.
represent lOO.OOO.0J0 only. In this way the
English language will have the advantage of
all others. These predictions, however fan
tastlc they may appear. are based on a careful
study Of the statistics of this century, with all
the probabilities for the next which can be
foreseen. The ilusory element comes from the
uncertain political future of the diferen. nations
THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL CT PARIS.
As is we'll known nothing is more advanced
in the life of the century than the municipal
council of Paris. They have gone back to an
Gent times for a personal tax which they wish
ff,i pann nm oil hoa halo ht,t
cutler in the way. First it is common enough
| In Paris that !. man who is rightly bachelor or
ceiibate may at the same time be burdened with
! q family. Now the end proposed is 20 tax onl :
| single mer who have no burden Of this kind
| Accordingly i! was thought to replace the word
ee!ibataire by the paraphrase men living alone
without family" But in this case a great
number OF poor wretches would fall under the
| law, whereas the fine was aimed at the well-to-
/ do who are unwilling to take on themselves the
legal obligations OF a family. So the idea of
celibacy had to crop up again. Then it was
asked what means should be taken to find out
who are the celibates and who are not Here
even the municipal council drew back. thinking
so dubious an inquisition would shock the sem
sibiiity of the very Parisians. A bouevardier
who has been married more than twenty-five
| years, seized the occasion to give new deriva-
| ton of the word celibataire. which according
| to him, must come from the Latin coelum
| habi.are-to dwell i'll heaven. Perhaps in his
case marriage has been failure.
| WOMAN IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Jules Simon the venerable academican in con-
nection with his son. Gustave who is a cCmp etent
physician. has published a book on Woman in
the Twentieth Century" Twelve editions
were sold in the first month and numberess
others since. The father modestly attributes
this success to the collaboration of his son. as a
book OF his own during the whole Of las. wear
did not 60 beyond the third edition; but un.
doubtedlv il is the subject which has sold the
| book. The author is too conservative to suit
modern ideas. and our revo!utionists are saying
that his title should have been Woman IN the
Seventeenth Century Many parts of tho book
certsinly appeal to those who do not wish TO
break abruptly v ith the past. The author dis
claims any desire of demanding new political
\ rights for women or freedom in the marital
| union. But there are serious reforms on which
he insists ~ complain of that article of the
civil code which forbids the search after the
paternity Of children of unmarried girls. am
not with my century when it renders divorce
easy, when it hides religion out Of sight as a
forbidden object. when it replaces education
with an orsie Of instruction" The sons part
| treats especially of the duties Of mothers and
nurses and Of hygiene and ply steal exercise for
women. He insists much or the capabilities of
women for measuring out drugs. and winds up,
as a Frenchman should by saying that a woman
who negiects being amiable is guilty toward
society!
HYGIENE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
| These questions Of homely hygiene and medi-
cine bring up the researches which an oculist Of
Hamburg has been making into such things rs
they existed during the middle ages. 1t ia
| quite the fin de steele spirit thus to "look be-
/ fore and after" Herr Kotelmann has been
| reading the sermons written in various German
dialects during the thirteenth. fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. He has found very curious
things on domestic economy, the treatment Of
| the skin, diet after childbirth. the behavior Of
the patient toward the physician and 90 on. It
seems these old-time preachers OF Germany en-
tered into the most familiar details in their in
struction of the people and. whatever attention
they paid to the soul, they did not
neglect the care Of the body. Lep-
rosy, one says, comes from impurity
| Of the blood in the first place, but secondly
! from melancholy and thirdly from anger.
When the stomach IL burdened, says another.
the mind becomes feeble, so that the excess Of
vapors which mount from the stomach to the
head dulls the understanding in such wise that
q man no longer known rightly what he is doing.
| One zealously explains that. - food keeps
soul and body together, therefore II 10 impor-
tant to choose carefully the cook who II to pre-
pare the food. Often, ct great dinners, every
thing Il too salty, too fat or too insipid. This
II bad, but guests should seem content with what
IL served them, and they should not call
out "there 10 too little salt or ''this
1 "a Ton fatr Eor ndiAra tfoo's saka 4 c~,li