The Washington times., 1901-07-09
FOREIGN TOPICS.

| The difficulty of classifying conscripts
In the French army according to fitness
| for service has been ingeniously solved
! by NJ Pignet French army surgeon
! Ills method is based on the relations of
chest measurement and weight lie adds
/ the chest measurement TO the weight. and
/ deducts the result from the height The
smaller the residuum. the greater is the
! endurance of the subject Thus. a young
man Of twenty has an average chest
| measurement Of 50 ceutime tres and weighs
! SO kilogrammes The sum Of these is 40
| iils average height is ! metre 50 centime
| tres Deducting 40 from 16o gives 20 as
the classification. The number ranges
| IT 1In 10. very strong. to 35. very weak. An
| examination of 800 men has fully borne
| out the conclusion that the higher the
/ reslduum the greater is the liability to
illness, and vice versa.
! The Bishop of London has issued an
order for the reprinting of the book of
common prayer because of the alterations
made necessary by the death Of Queen
| Victoria and the accession of King Ed
ward Altogether eighteen different
pages are affected by these changes, and
the few firms who are privileged to publish
the prayer book have been officially noti-
fled of the alterations required. There is
special mention of the Queen before the
collects in both morning and evening
| prayers, in the litany, in the prayer for
the high court of Parliament, in the two
collects for the communion service, in
the prayer for the whole state of
Christs church militant" and also in
special prayers arranged for the army
and navy. There is also prayer of
thanksgiving ordered u be used in all
churches on June 30 being the day upon
| which her Majesty began her happy
reign In the meantime people who are
accustomed to use prayer books have
! been furnished with printed SLIPS of cor
rectiOns. as follows;
"In all cases where the word queen
appears, the word king is to be sgbSti
tutcd. In ali cases where Victoria ap-
pears. read Edward
Instead of our sovereign lady, read
our sovereign lord
In the prayer for the royal family,
instead OF Albert Edward, Prince of
Wales, the Princess of Wales and ALL
etc, read our gracious Queen Alexan-
dra, George, Duke of Cornwall and York,
and the Duchess of Cornwall and York
and ALL etc.
In all cases where she or her ap-
pears read he, his or him "
This announcement is taken TO mean
tEat the King does not intend to appoint
his son as Prince of. Wales at present
II there was such a purpose the correc-
tion of the prayer book would be deferred
until the announcement was made, so
that the title could be inserted in place
of the Duke of Cornwall and York.
a new use for the lances carried by the
soldiers of many European armies has
been devised in Germany. In the early
stages of the war in the TransvaaI much
was heard of Beers being 'spitted' on
English lances. In the German army,
however, scheme has been devised by
which the Iances of the cavalry form
framework for boats. This is such an
advanced step that the English are watch
ing closely to see what success attends
it Twelve to sixteen Iances and few
cross sticks for the framework for these
lance-boats, and besides the oars. which
are made of a lance and a canvas blade.
the only other essential part of the boat
is the waterproof covering 1t takes only
five minutes for the troopers to tie the
framework together and two minutes
more to fasten on the cover. Then the
boat is ready for launching Sometimes,
to ensure greater stability, the two boats
are fastened together like catamaran.
When these boats are packed up one
horse easily can carry two of them 1t
IS said that with the old system it re-
quired 300 men and $500 horses merely
to look after the transport of the boats
if every squadron in the English army
were supplied with two boats. With the
new boats, however. only 800 horses are
needed and in the item of fodder alone
there IS saving Of Sl51,500 a year.
A curious superstition begins to gain
large number Of supporters in Berlin. the
capital of the enlightened German EN-
pire.
The witch doctors, named Grau. Frei-
berg. and Hermann, have established
reputation for eradicating disease from
men and beasts by driving it into trees.
The cures are effected at night on Tues
days and Fridays of the week of full
moon and there must be trees in the
neighborhood to receive the castout dis
eases. A condition is that the moon must
be visible
A needle is stuck into the skin covering
the affected part of the body and re-
mains there until a few drops of blood
appear. The blood is collected on a sheet
OF paper and the paper is rolled into the
shape of a pill
The doctor then goes into a wood
alone carrying this pill, selects a tree and
inocuIatcs the bark with the pill The
process of blood-lstting and incubation
is repeated three times. 'Drs-" Grau,
Freiberg and Hermann tell the police
they did not invent their procedure, but
inherit il from their parents.
The ancient Germans in the second and !
third centuries practiced exactly the
same hocus-pocus, although Grau and his I
friends don't know it, Grau, Freiberg,
and Hermann have had hundreds of pa
tients and the attentions of the police are /
deeply resented by large number of |
their adherents.
The impression prevailing in some quar-
ters of the globe that the cat" as an |
implement of punishment is no longer |
tolerated in Great Britain IS erroneous. |
According to a return recently laid on the |
table of the House of Commons, the pun
ishment of fiogging was inflicted last year I
in England and Wales in fifteen cases for /
offences against section 4S of the larceny /
act of 1861. In three instances the con- !
yictions were for robbery with violence /
and in the remaining twelve for robbery |
with violence by persons in company. In |
every case it was ordered that the pun
ishment should be inflicted with the cat" |
Six offenders were condemned to be /
logged once and nine twice. Six of the /
were passed at the Leeds as
sizes, three at the Liverpool assizes, three
at the Durham assiZes, one at the New
castle-on-Tyne assizes. and two at the
central criminal court.
In of I'm dc