Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-18
TOLD BY KWANG-HSU
His Physical Condition Secret
Iy Revealed to Visitors.
MINUTE ACCOUNT GIVEN
Crisis Of the Reform Movement in
China.
GREAT FIGHT OF YUAN SHI KAI
Two sources Of strength-Hero of
the New Army-Successful
Financial Policy.
MINUTE ACCOUNT GIVEN
GREAT FIGHT OF YUAN sH1 KAI

| SHANGHAI, December 1S-An extra
| ordinary document. surreptitiously handed
| to a French doctor by the late Emperor
| of China, relates an extremely interesting
| story. 1t is perhaps the strangest docu-
ment ever indited by a sovereign. NJ.
Pichon, the French minister of foreign
affairs. was in the year 1898 representing
his country at Peking, and, moved by
! sinister reports of the state of the en-
peror's health, he obtained permission for
the doctor of the legation to see and ex
| anime him. The authorization having
been granted by the dowager empress, DR..
Dethove went to the palace in company
with NJ. Vissiere, who was to act as in
terpreter.
Kwang-hsu, who was then twenty
| eight years of age, looked more like a
lad of fourteen than a grown-up man.
Very frait and delicate, with dark
eyes in his deadly pallid features, such
expression as he had appeared sad and
wild. DR.. Dethove, after the usual pre-
liminaries. obtained the leave of the dow
| ager empress to sound kwang-hsu.
Through the intermediary OF the inter-
prefer various questions were put to the
imperial patient, and suddenly, as the two
visitors happened to be standing between
him and his aunt, he snatched paper
from his velvet boot and slipped it into
DR.. Dethove's hand without being per-
| ceived by the dowager empress.
| This document is one of the most mi
| mute descriptions of his own case ever
| given by a neurasthenic sufferer. In it
| the emperor explained that he was re-
| duced to such a state of nervous pros
| tration that he was seized with faintness
whenever he heard the sound of gong.
At night, while he was dreaming, the
same sound would haunt him. and then
the morning when he awoke he would be
| in condition Of total collapse. After
| having mentioned tn symptoms related
! the emperor went on:
Physical Wreck.
Moreover. since the spring of this year
the fingers of my left and right hands have
seemed to- be swollen internally and to be
| inert as wood. My lons and legs are
painful if they were empty. When
ever 1 speak, cough or sneeze, the whole
of my body seems to shrink; l breathe
quickly, as if / was painting, and find re-
| lief in signing. Besides this. cannot
dure cold. or heat fatigue If / re-
main standing for any length of time my
loins anw legs grow even more painful.
my chest is oppressed. my breathing more
rapid. and do not feel as If / had any
| OASIS unOer my rect. II, on the Other
hand, 1 remain seated for long time my
eyes feel as if they were swelling and
my four limbs are painfully deadened, my
chest is oppressed and l can scarcely
breathe At night while l am asleep my
legs and knees become cold. When l
have awakened the whole Of my body is
inert and it Is difficult for me to move or
| to turn round.
II am so run down that I cannot be re-
| stored to health. If take medicine to
warm me up pimples come out on my
head and face. or little blisters form on
my throat and gums, and l suffer from
toothache. Although 1 eat and drink
good deal during the day, do not easily
| digest my food. On the other hand, 1
feel during the day too lazy to move and
| to do anything and have great longing
to lie down, although when 1 remain for
some time in that position my chest seems
| to swell and to be weighed down with op-
preston. l am also extremely afraid Of
! wind. If I have been caught little by
a fresh breeze / feel a pain above my
right temple. Yet, in autumn and winter,
| when / am a little more clad. or at night.
when 1 have rather thicker coverlets on
| me- pimples easily break out on my face.
while small blisters appear on the throat
and tongue. 1t is the same thing if there
are substances in my ordinary beverage
which produce a sensation of heat