The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-04-14
Facts About the Salic Law
and its Origin.
II Fixed the Succession to
Lands and to the Throne.
What Berlin Treaty Granted the
Cretans- .Edison's Big Plant.

f"In the course Of my reading" says a
correspondent in "a letter 60 The News. II
have several times found reference 90
tho Salic Law. generally in the form of a
statement that this or that parsonage was
debarred from the succession TO throne
or the title by this law. Will the Gossiper
kindly enlighten me as 10 what the law
Is aud what its origin wasy' Tho code
known as the Salic law is a collection of
the popular laws of the Sale or Salian
Franks, committed to writing in barbar-
Gus Latin in the fifth century while
the people were yet heathens. There
exist several texts of this code, and much
obscurity envelops its history. IL relates
chiefly TO compensation and the punish
ment of crimes, and thcre is chapter
containing provisions regarding the sue
cession TO what are called Salic lands,
which seems TO have been inserted at
later date. 1t Is difficult 70 determine
precisely what these lands were The
terra salica was probably 50 called from
its being more especially attached 10 the
"sal" or hall of the lord cr proprietor
Some derive salic as applied 10 the people
from the same word. 1t thus came To
designate inherited land as opposed TO
land acquired otherwise.
Although the Frankish law did not in
these sale lands, whatever they Were, WAS
confined to males, probably from the i'm.
portance of securing military service of
the chief proprietor. Ii was but doubtful
analogy that led the rule of succession to
salic lands TO be extended TO the success
sion to the French crown, and IL seems 20
have been only i'm the fourteenth century
that the exclusion of females from the
throne became an established principle.
The accession of Philip the Long was
probably the first occasion on which IL
received public sanction, and the fact that
Edward Ill rested his claim on female
succession, doubtless led to that instance
being regarded as an unquestionable prece.
dent for all future time.
In the dispatches concerning the insur-
rcction lin Crete frequent reference is
made to the treaty of Berlin. That treaty
was formulated in 1878, but the causes
which led up TO Ii had their origin much
earlier. From 1880 To 1910 the Island of
Crete was administered by the viceroy
of Egypt by order of the powers. There
were revolts against the Turks in 1859
and in 1866 and "a great measure of free
dom and Independence was granted to the
Cretans in 1868 which was confirmed by
the treaty of Berlin entered into ten years
later Article 20 Of that treaty reads:
1.-The sublime porte engages to scrupu-
plan of ofsgoyernment of 1868, by introduce
Ing there the notifications which shall bc
aujudged equitable" !" Article "a: "In the
case that the agreement relative to a rec
tification Of the frontier provided by pro-
tocol xiii, between the sublime porte
and the kingdom of Greece, shall not he
realized, the powers declare themselves
ready to offer their good services To the
two powers, Ottoman and Greek. ="
The first school devoted to the instruc-
tion Of the blind was founded at Paris by
Valentin Hauy in 1854 During the pre-
ccding year Mile. Paradis, blind pianist
gave concert in Paris and he then
learned that the way she was taught to
read music was by the use of pins and
that she had become acquainted with
geography by the aid of maps in relief,
constructed by Weissenburg blind
man of Mannheim. This gave Hauy the
idea OF printing with raised or embossed
letters and he began the work. In 1856
he issued quarto entitled "Essai sur
pEducation des Aeugles, F" with letters in
rehef, the first work Of its kind. Hauy
made hasty and unfortunate marriage
with an uneducated woman. He went
afterward to ST. Petersburg to superin-
tend an Institution for the instruction of
the blind under the patronage of the en-
press mother, but this did not succeed
duu uc TtturHcu JO i>drls, Wncfe he llNcu
with his brother, the celebrated Abbc,
until his death in April, 1922.
1t Is reported that on tho first OF the
coming month Edison's mill, at Edison,
N. j., will be- shipping daily 1900 tons
of the finest Bessemer ore ever mined
He has spent nearly 81, OOo, 600 in perfect
Ing his plant, most of the machinery
bcing of his own invention. A ton of
dynamite day is used for breaking
rock from the mountain sides. An elec-
trio crane, 2O0 feet long, runs on an over
head trolley wire, loads tons of rock into
buckets, two of which are car load
lifts them to the surface, and places them
upon n fiat car. They are hauled quar-
ter Of mile TO "A crushing plant Its
roar, as IL soizes the masses of rock can
be heard "a mile. When the rock is re.
duced TO dust IL is conveyed TO the top of
thc mill. SO feet high. From this point
TO the ground are 400 mag
nets. The falling ore and sand pass about
two inches from the face OF the magnets
The PARTICLES of ore are drawn tu the
lnegnGts and the shower of sand falls 20
the bottom of the mill Edison saws
" We quarry, crush and grind brick ore