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Rh sinners punished. With regard to the spread of sex knowledge, the clergy's attitude is dangerous to human welfare. The artificial ignorance of sex subjects which orthodox Christians attempt to enforce upon the young is extremely dangerous to mental and physical health. The young are much less likely to act wisely when they are ignorant, than when they are instructed.

These two venereal diseases are no more controlled under the moral standards of today than they were two centuries ago, and yet medical science offers for these diseases what it can offer for few others; both a prevention and a cure. And it is due to the ignorance and the bigotry of the theists that the spread of sex knowledge is hampered so that a sane conception of sex and the prevention of venereal disease does not eradicate these diseases. The theists have, therefore, without sense or justice, founded their morality on disease; neglecting the fact that all disease is immoral in the widest sense, since it is detrimental to the happiness of man, and that no one disease is more so than another. The morality of the body is health not disease. So much for the actual facts and reality. In passing to the theoretical, we again see the truth of the statement that religion is the last resort of human savagery.

To postulate that a supreme being is omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving, and then to assume that he inflicts disease on his children as punishment for sin is a sadistic mental aberration. In his omniscience he full well knows beforehand what each of his children will do. He foreordains their sins and then punishes his children for sins that he wills them to commit. It is just as if a syphilitic father should punish his syphilitic child because the child has that congenital disease for which the father is responsible. If the theist insists that his deity is all that he claims him to be, then it is only logical


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364 “You are in good time,” said I, “it is but half past nine.”

“It wouldn’t do to be late on a day like this,” he said gaily, “see how the sun shines. Come, you don’t look as brisk as a best man should. I thought you would have been on tenterhooks of excitement. Get up, get up! Look here, a bird has given me luck”—he showed me a white smear on his shoulder.

I drew myself up lazily.

“All right,” I said, “but we must drink a whisky to establish it.”

He followed me out of the fragrant sunshine into the dark house. The rooms were very still and empty, but the cool silence responded at once to the gaiety of our sunwarm entrance. The sweetness of the summer morning hung invisible like glad ghosts of romance through the shadowy room. We seemed to feel the sunlight dancing golden in our veins as we filled again the pale liqueur.

“Joy to you—I envy you to-day.”

His teeth were white, and his eyes stirred like dark liquor as he smiled.

“Here is my wedding present!”

I stood the four large water-colours along the wall before him. They were drawings among the waters and the fields of the mill, grey rain and twilight, morning with the sun pouring gold into the mist, and the suspense of a midsummer noon upon the pond. All the glamour of our yesterdays came over him like an intoxicant, and he quivered with the wonderful beauty of life that was weaving him into the large magic of the years. He realised the splendour of the pageant of days which had him in train.

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Rh “It’s been wonderful, Cyril, all the time,” he said, with surprised joy.

We drove away through the freshness of the wood, and among the flowing of the sunshine along the road. The cottages of Greymede filled the shadows with colour of roses, and the sunlight with odour of pinks and the blue of corn flowers and larkspur. We drove briskly up the long, sleeping hill, and bowled down the hollow past the farms where the hens were walking with the red gold cocks in the orchard, and the ducks like white cloudlets under the aspen trees revelled on the pond.

“I told her to be ready any time,” said George—“but she doesn’t know it’s to-day. I didn’t want the public-house full of the business.”

The mare walked up the sharp little rise on top of which stood the “Ram Inn.” In the quiet, as the horse slowed to a standstill, we heard the crooning of a song in the garden. We sat still in the cart, and looked across the flagged yard to where the tall madonna lilies rose in clusters out of the alyssome. Beyond the border of flowers was Meg, bending over the gooseberry bushes. She saw us and came swinging down the path, with a bowl of gooseberries poised on her hip. She was dressed in a plain, fresh holland frock, with a white apron. Her black, heavy hair reflected the sunlight, and her ripe face was luxuriant with laughter.

“Well, I never!” she exclaimed, trying not to show that she guessed his errand. “Fancy you here at this time o’ morning!”

Her eyes, delightful black eyes like polished jet, untroubled and frank, looked at us as a robin might,


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In company with his uncles, one a mighty hunter and the other a noted scientist, Don Sturdy travels far and wide, gaining much useful knowledge and meeting many thrilling adventures.

DON STURDY ON THE DESERT OF MYSTERY;

Or, Autoing in the Land of the Caravans.

 * An engrossing tale of the Sahara Desert, of encounters with wild animals and crafty Arabs.

DON STURDY WITH THE BIG SNAKE HUNTERS;

Or, Lost in the Jungles of the Amazon.

 * Don's uncle, the hunter, took an order for some of the biggest snakes to be found in South America to be delivered alive! The filling of that order brought keen excitement to the boy.

DON STURDY IN THE TOMBS OF GOLD;

Or, The Old Egyptian's Great Secret.

 * A fascinating tale of exploration and adventure in the Valley of Kings in Egypt. Once the whole party became lost in the maze of cavelike tombs far underground.

DON STURDY ACROSS THE NORTH POLE;

Or, Cast Away in the Land of Ice.

 * Don and his uncles joined an expedition bound by air across the north pole. A great polar blizzard nearly wrecks the airship.

DON STURDY IN THE LAND OF VOLCANOES;

Or, The Trail of the Ten Thousand Smokes.

 * An absorbing tale of adventures among the volcanoes of Alaska in a territory but recently explored. A story that will make Don dearer to his readers than ever.


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136 that instead of man asking his god for forgiveness, what actually should be is that God should ask the forgiveness of man for his bungling and error.

Christianity has attempted from its inception to eradicate the sexual instinct and in so doing has antagonized an instinct that is as fundamental as that of self-preservation. All it has accomplished is a distortion. The church, by claiming that it alone was privileged to regulate sexual desires, has done one of two things to each of its adherents. It has either made him a hypocrite or driven him insane. Much of the insanity in this country could be overcome were religion and sex permanently divorced; and an immediate amount of inestimable good could be accomplished when one considers that fifteen per cent of all mental disease is caused by syphilis.

Physical disease having been considered as a malicious trick of Satan, it was but natural that the disease of the mind was also attributed to satanic intervention. The conception that insanity was a brain disease, and that gentleness and kindness were necessary for its treatment, was throttled by Christian theology for fifteen centuries. Instead the ecclesiastic burdened humanity with a belief that madness was largely possession by the Devil. Hundreds of thousands of men and women were inflicted with tortures both physical and mental. It was not until 1792 that the great French physician Periel, and William Tuke in England, placed the treatment of mental disease on a rational and scientific basis. And this, in spite of such ecclesiastical attacks as were seen in the Edinburgh Review of that period. These two men, Penel and Tuke, were the first acknowledged victors in a struggle of science for. humanity which lasted nearly two thousand years.

The clergy resisted Jenner when he introduced vaccination, and yet the application of this measure of defense


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Rh against disease has probably saved more lives than the total of all the lives lost in all wars. The clergy maintained that "Smallpox is a visitation from God, and originates in man, but Cowpox is produced by presumptious, impious men. The former, heaven ordained, the latter is perhaps a daring and profane violation of our holy order."

In the seventeenth century, the Jesuit missionaries in South America learned from the natives the value of the so-called Peruvian Bark in the treatment of ague. In 1638, quinine, derived from this bark, was introduced into Europe as a cure for malaria. It was stigmatized as "an invention of the Devil." The ecclesiastical opposition to this drug was so strong that it was not introduced into England until 1653.

The medieval Christians saw in childbirth the result of a carnal sin to be expiated in pain as defined in Genesis. Accordingly the treatment given the child-bearing woman was vastly worse than the mere neglect among the primitive peoples. Her sufferings were augmented by the fact that she was no longer a primitive woman and childbearing had become more difficult. In these "Ages of Faith" which could be better called the "Ages of Filth," nothing was done to overcome the enormous mortality of the mother and child at birth. Attempts, however, were made to form intra-uterine baptismal tubes by which the child, when it was locked by some ill chance in its mother's womb, could be baptized and its soul saved before the mother and child were left to die together. But nothing was done to save their lives. No greater crimes were ever committed in the name of civilization, religious faith, and smug ignorance than the sacrifice of the lives of countless mothers and children in the first fifteen centuries after Christ among civilized mankind.

Approaching our own time, we have the example of Dr.


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366 with bright questioning. Her eyes were so different from the Saxton’s: darker, but never still and full, never hesitating, dreading a wound, never dilating with hurt or with timid ecstasy.

‘Are you ready then?” he asked, smiling down on her.

“What?” she asked in confusion.

“To come to the registrar with me—I’ve got the licence.”

“But I’m just going to make the pudding,” she cried, in full expostulation.

“Let them make it themselves—put your hat on.”

“But look at me! I’ve just been getting the gooseberries. Look!” she showed us the berries, and the scratches on her arms and hands.

“What a shame!” he said, bending down to stroke her hand and her arm. She drew back smiling, flushing with joy. I could smell the white lilies where I sat.

“But you don’t mean it, do you?” she said, lifting to him her face that was round and glossy like a blackheart cherry. For answer, he unfolded the marriage licence. She read it, and turned aside her face in confusion, saying:

“Well, I’ve got to get ready. Shall you come an’ tell Gran’ma?”

“Is there any need?” he answered reluctantly.

“Yes, you come an tell ’er,” persuaded Meg.

He got down from the trap. I preferred to stay out of doors. Presently Meg ran out with a glass of beer for me.

“We shan’t be many minutes,” she apologised. “I’ve on’y to slip another frock on.”


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138 James. Y. Simpson, professor of obstetrics at the University of Glasgow about 1850, first administering an anesthetic to alleviate the pain of childbirth. He was bitterly opposed by the clergy on the ground that it was impious to attempt to escape from the curse pronounced against all women in Genesis. It was Dr. Simpson who, in defending this humanitarian practice, asserted that opposition, particularly on theological grounds, had been presented against every humane innovation in the past.

When Paul Ehrlich, in 1910, announced his discovery of salvarsan for the treatment of syphilis, the clergy again were horror-struck that man should interfere with a visitation of the, Lord.

The resistance to the spread of information concerning contraception, commonly known as birth control, is an example of the Church's dominance of government today; and yet this information is as vital to the welfare of humanity as is the control of cancer.

In 1926, our newspapers carried conspicuous headlines, "Episcopal Church Joins Catholic to Gag Birth Control"; four years later, 320 bishops of the Episcopal Church met in London, and by a majority of 3 to 1 voted in favor of contraception when "there is morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence." The bishops had by this time become well aware of the insistence of secular opinion towards this movement, and having done their best to prevent this progressive movement for the past one hundred years, they finally accepted defeat, proving once again that religion has never accepted anything that science has shown to be a fact or of benefit to humanity until it was compelled to do so to save its face. The infallible Church, however, still persists in its opposition and in the Encyclical of Pope Pius XI, published in January, 1931, it is said, "The conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children. Those


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Rh who, in exercising it, deliberately frustrate its natural power, and purpose, are against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious." So speaks the infallible Pope, but the great majority of physicians hold that there are few things more perilous to mental health, intellectual efficiency, moral equanimity, and physical well-being than prolonged denial of the sex urge for the average, normal human being. Every physician can furnish numerous case histories to substantiate the statement that continual sexual abstinence is prejudicial to the health and happiness of the man and woman, and is the causation of hundreds of semiderelicts and psychoneurotics. Furthermore, the rising tide of insanity in this country would be stemmed were religion and sex permanently divorced.

Today the modern clergy still endeavor to explain natural phenomena by supernatural theories, and while they do not assign preternatural powers to witches and demons, they yet persist in attempting to pervert facts of science, and delude themselves with faith in some supernatural force. The clergy state that the physician cures disease through the mediation of God, the physician merely playing the part of the agent of God, through whom the real cure is effected. Is anything more ridiculous and at the same time more contradictory, than to suppose that an all-powerful god should have to appoint an intermediary to perform his work? And if it is only by God's will and aid that a cure takes place, then it follows that God must be willing for the individual to be cured; why in the name of reason, did He not prevent the initial step, the contracting of the disease? What a mass of suffering, of mental anguish might thus have been spared us! Thus, this omnipotent being either did not desire to spare us this misery and suffering, in which case he must surely be a monster incarnate; or, on the


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140 other hand, he is powerless to halt it, and thus cannot be omnipotent.

While the clergy maintain that a cure is only effected by God's will, the physician knows otherwise. The physician accomplishes his cures alone, and definitely cures and saves the lives of human beings by his own skill, intelligence, and application of methods which have been developed by the exercise of secular knowledge, not theological nonsense. When man is so unfortunate as to contract an infection of the appendix, and that inflammation succeeds to pus-formation so that this diseased and nonessential part of the human anatomy is on the point of rupturing and causing a fatal peritonitis, it is not by God's will and intervention that a cure is effected, but by the intervention of the surgeon who removes the diseased part. If man depended upon God's will to save him, as he did in the past, the appendix would rupture, peritonitis would set in, and despite prayers and sacrificial offerings, the Deity would exact his life.

When an innocent infant, in the first few weeks of life, develops an intussusception (an infolding of the bowel which causes an acute obstruction), the prayers and supplication of the parents avail not a particle; if the surgeon did not save the infant's life by operating and removing the obstruction, the benevolent being would allow the child to die.

The adult who develops a hernia, which is due to a defect in the construction of the human body, which is assigned to an omniscient being who still persists in forming bodies that are defective, and this hernia becomes strangulated (twisted), the deity sits calmly by in omnipotent inaction, while the prompt interference of the surgeon saves the individual's life.

When the surgeon observes a superficial cancerous growth, or an internal growth which can be removed in


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Rh I heard George go heavily up the stairs and enter the room over the bar-parlour, where the grandmother lay bed-ridden.

“What, is it thaïgh, ma lad? What are thaïgh doin’ ’ere this mornin’?” she asked.

“Well A’nt, how does ta feel by now?” he said.

“Eh, sadly, lad, sadly! It’ll not be long afore they carry me downstairs head first——”

“Nay, dunna thee say so!—I’m just off to Nottingham—I want Meg ter come.”

“What for?” cried the old woman sharply.

“I wanted ’er to get married,” he replied.

“What! What does’t say? An’ what about th’ licence, an’ th’ ring, an ivrything?”

“I’ve seen to that all right,” he answered.

“Well, tha ’rt a nice’st un, I must say! What’s want goin’ in this pig-in-a-poke fashion for? This is a nice shabby trick to serve a body! What does ta mean by it?”

“You knowed as I wor goin’ ter marry ’er directly, so I can’t see as it matters o’ th’ day. I non wanted a’ th’ pub talkin’——”

“Tha ’rt mighty particklar, an’ all, an’ all! An’ why shouldn’t the pub talk? Tha ’rt non marryin’ a nigger, as ta should be so frightened—I niver thought it on thee!—An’ what’s thy ’orry, all of a sudden?”

“No hurry as I know of.”

“No ’orry——!” replied the old lady, with withering sarcasm. “Tha wor niver in a ’orry a’ thy life! She’s non commin’ wi’ thee this day, though.”

He laughed, also sarcastic. The old lady was angry. She poured on him her abuse, declaring she


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Rh its entirety, does he trust to the Lord to halt this pernicious development? No, the surgeon does not consult God, but resorts to his own knowledge and skill to save a human life.

The diphtheritic child who is strangling to death with a diphtheritic membrane in its throat is not permitted by the physician to be left to the benevolent being's will, nor to the prayers of the parents. The physician's prayer is the diphtheria antitoxin, which in his hands is the lifesaving device.

When the physician administers quinine for malaria, or salvarsan for syphilis, he effects cures for these diseases by using agents to. which the clergy strenuously objected "when they were first introduced. And when the ecclesiastic attributes to the Deity whatever laws man has been able to evolve out of his own experience and wisdom, he establishes, fallaciously, the corollary that if "God is responsible for the cures, He is also responsible for the non-cures. Then what of the countless number that died of disease before man evolved those cures, and what of the wholesale murder of His children in the past ages?

Do certain diseases still baffle the physician? Surely it is less often than the pestilences of old which baffled sacrifice and prayer. The cruelest laws ever devised by man have more equity and benevolence in them than the appalling and irrational jurisprudence of the Deity.

Do certain diseases as yet remain to plague man? Then it is only because religion has for the past 2000 years been the greatest obstacle in the development of cures for these diseases. Every single individual, in the past 2000 years, who has succumbed to a disease, for which medical science has no cure, has died directly at the hands of religion. The obstruction which religion has placed on the development of medical science has laid at


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142 its feet the responsibility for the deaths of countless millions throughout the ages.

The religionist replies that man's mind cannot fathom the will of God. Which is an irrational statement for it is a well established fact, and indeed, a criterion of insanity, that when the deranged are confronted with facts which are conclusive and with creations of the imagination, they cannot differentiate fact from fancy, and maintain, instead, that fancy is the real fact. The religionists are guilty of the same breach of reason. They suffer with what may be termed, "dementia religiosa." The remarkable feature of the latter disease is its wide prevalence.

Dr. Haggard in his book, "Devils, Drugs, and Doctors," declares, "The early and Medieval Christians accepted the doctrine of the power of demons in the lives of men; they saw this power particularly in the demoniac production of diseases. They believed in miracles and especially in the miraculous healing of diseases. The demonological belief of the Christians was inherited from the doctrine of the Jews, who were believers in demons and the 'possession by the devil.' Jesus himself cured by casting out of devils. Following his example, Christians everywhere became exorcists. Jewish demonology was continued among Christian converts, and the belief in supernatural interpositions in human affairs was widely accepted. Nothing has retarded the growth of scientific medicine during the past 2000 years so much as the iron grip of theology in maintaining practices based on belief in this supernatural origin of disease." The fabled curing of disease by casting out devils, and the New Testament recordings of Jesus's conviction that disease was caused by evil spirits, have had an inestimable detrimental result on the development of medical science. The fact that Jesus believed in the demoniacal production of diseases and cured them by exorcism was deemed so important


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A new series for boys giving full details of radio work, both in sending and receiving—telling how small and large amateur sets can be made and operated, and how some boys got a lot of fun and adventure out of what they did. Each volume from first to last is so thoroughly fascinating, so strictly up-to-date and accurate, we feel sure all lads will peruse them with great delight.

Each volume has a Foreword by Jack Binns, the well-known radio expert.

THE RADIO BOYS' FIRST WIRELESS;

Or, Winning the Ferberton Prize.

THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT;

Or, The Messsage That Saved the Ship.

THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION;

Or, Making Good in the Wireless Room.

THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS;

Or, The Midnight Call for Assistance.

THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE;

Or, Solving a Wireless Mystery.

THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FOREST RANGERS;

Or, The Great Fire on Spruce Mountain.

THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL;

Or, Making Safe the Ocean Lanes.

RADIO BOYS WITH THE FLOOD FIGHTERS;

Or, Saving the City in the Valley.


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Rh by the author of the Gospel according to Mark that he has actually recorded the Aramaic words Jesus was reported to have used in addressing his patients. In Mark V:41, Jesus is reported to have given the command "Talitha cumi" to a little Jewish girl whom her parents believed dead. In Mark VII:34, Jesus is reported as uttering the magical word "Ephphatha," as he "put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue" in behalf of "one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech."

An excellent and timely illustration of what occurs when secular, knowledge has not yet replaced ecclesiastical ignorance and bigotry, particularly in the field of medicine, is furnished by an article from one of Philadelphia's leading newspapers, The Evening Bulletin, of December 23, 1932. We quote it verbatim:

"Faith Healers Arrested ; Two Charged with Choking to Death 5-Year-Old Girl, Linden, Texas, Dec. 23, 1932. Despite a purported confession, officers to-day continued an investigation of the death of a five-year-old girl, allegedly at the hands of two itinerant preachers who sought to 'drive out the devil' they believed responsible for her partial paralysis. Murder charges were filed against Paul Oaks and his brother, Coy Oaks, and precautions taken to prevent possible mob vengeance. Sheriff Nat Curtright said the accused men admitted they had choked the child to death in an attempt to cure her. Officers said the preachers had been conducting meetings in rural communities and had preached on the subject of faith healing. George Wilson, a neighbor, officers said, found the two men kneeling over the prostrate form of the child. They ordered him to leave, declaring he was a 'devil.' He said the child's father was in the room."

Medieval exorcism still practised in one of the leading nations of the world! In America, which prides itself on


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nearly half a century Mrs. Beeton has been the guide, philosopher and friend of countless happy homes. In every English-speaking country her "Household Management" has appeared amongst the wedding presents of a bride as surely as the proverbial salt cellars, and thousands of grateful letters testify that it has often proved the most useful gift of all. Many competitors have paid Mrs. Beeton the compliment of imitation and adaptation up to, and sometimes beyond, the utmost limits the law allows, but her work stands to-day, as of old, without a rival. Press and public have alike proclaimed its merits. Every writer dealing with the reality or romance of domestic life has recorded its constant rescue of young housekeepers from perplexity and woe. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in his great study of married life, entitled "A Duet, with an occasional Chorus," makes his heroine say—"Mrs. Beeton must have been the finest housekeeper in the world. Therefore, Mr. Beeton must have been the happiest and most comfortable man"; and his hero concludes, that "this book has more wisdom to the square inch than any work of man"—a wonderful testimonial when one remembers that the last edition thus praised contains more than 80,000 square inches of closely packed information.

The book of Household Management has not, however, maintained its great reputation solely by the merits of its first issue. It is true that Mrs. Beeton brought to its origin such ability, method, and conscientious care, that with the exception of corrections demanded by changing prices, processes and materials, her work stands practically unaltered to the present day. But if nothing has been taken away, very much has been added. Eight years after the first appearance of the book, an enlarged and revised edition was found necessary. Since then the changing years have brought extra information, new features, and increased size, till we find the new edition we are now introducing


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144 its scientific advances, towards whom the rest of the world looks for guidance in scientific discoveries and practices!

To have retarded the growth of medicine for the past 2000 years! Think of the strides made in medicine in the past hundred years, and dwell on the comfort humanity derives from it, in contrast to the filth, misery, and pestilences of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Would so much progress have been possible had man still persisted in the belief that disease was due to demoniac intervention, and that the sum total of all knowledge humanly possible was contained in the Bible?

It is no longer necessary for children to choke to death with diphtheria. Yellow fever, and small pox in civilized countries are, or could be, wiped from the face of the earth. Malaria is controlled; tuberculosis will shortly be a rarity; typhoid fever and cholera have been eradicated wherever there is sanitation; erysipelas can be controlled; hydrophobia prevented; childbirth fever has lost its tremendous mortality; tetanus can be checked; syphilis and gonorrhea can be controlled; diabetes and pernicious anemia can be controlled; surgery is reclaiming vast multitudes and restoring to useful and happy lives thousands who would have hitherto died. So much has been done; but it is especially true that there is as much, at least, yet to be done. But all this has been achieved so recently. What might not have been won had not the minds of men been polluted from infancy, warped by the first professional holy men, the religionists, the priests? Had the idea of a supernatural force been allowed to die in the Dark Ages, as it surely would have, as man's mind expanded and developed, humanity would today find itself more advanced on the road to progress. But as it was, the myth of religion was foisted on the superstitious brain, and man resigned himself to


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RELIGION AND MEDICINE his fate, and lived in such a manner as to please this hypothetical supernatural being. The inevitable result was the abject misery, both material and spiritual, of Europe during the period when the Church was in absolute control.

If this myth and mystification had died with the dead ages, as it should have done, what a fitter place to live in this world would be today! Consider the needless misery and the agony of those who died of the various plagues; and think of the advanced stage of medicine of Alexandria, three hundred years before the Christian era, where the physicians were welcomed to the famous library by the emperors. The state gave them their livelihood and their duties were to advance medicine by study and research. Anatomy was studied and dissection was allowed. With the coming of Christianity, the remnants of this library were destroyed, and with them went all progress in that field. If such had been the enlightened state in Egypt three hundred years before Christianity appeared, then why had not science made the same progress then as it does now? Because, to the knowledge stored in the library at Alexandria had not been added a progression of learning, a continued process of research; if this had not been halted by Christianity, how much vaster would our achievements be today?

It was not necessary for all of those millions to have been the victims of plagues, of inquisitions, of witchcraft burnings, of religious persecutions and wars. The sorrow and pain brought to untold numbers throughout the centuries could have been prevented; and would have been if man had been interested in the welfare of his fellowmen instead of the glorification of an almighty being. Future generations may well declare religion to have been the curse of humanity. The Church had cursed the human intellect by cursing the doubts which are the


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146 necessary consequence of its exercise. She had cursed even the moral faculty by asserting the guilt of honest error.

Medicine which has for its sole objects the alleviation of man's sufferings, to cure them when possible, to relieve more often the pains: and ills which make this life a living hell, what might it not have accomplished ages ago had religion not interfered with its progress? Whatever cures are known, and preventions that are practiced now, could have been common knowledge centuries ago. And what of the multitudes that perished who might have been saved, and what of the misery which might have been prevented, had not this curse fallen upon man?

Since 1906, there have been only five deaths from yellow fever in the United States. Outbreaks of cholera and plague are unknown. In former years, puerperal fever took the lives of from five to fifty of each one hundred parturient mothers. At present, an average of one out of 1250 mothers dies of this infection following childbirth. Deaths from many diseases are less than one-tenth of their former number. These include wound infections, diphtheria, scarlet fever, malaria, dysentery, typhoid, small pox, and many dietary and metabolic diseases. Since 1880, the medical sciences have accomplished a total net saving of human life from all diseases which, if equally distributed among, the population, would add sixteen years to the life span of each person. In 1880, the average duration of human life, that is, the average age at which death occurred, was 41.78 years. In 1925, the average duration of life was 58.29 years. In other words, those born at this time live on the average 16.5 years longer than those born at any time prior to 1880. In a population of 120,000,000 this would mean a total of 1,920,000,000 additional years of life. Such a figure is as difficult to conceive of as are the interstellar spaces.


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Rh This is one contribution, numerically expressed, which medical science and its offspring, preventive medicine, have made to humanity in the short space of fifty years.

Indeed if, as the religionists believe, there is a god, he could not have punished his subjects more than by instilling in them the "dementia religiosa." If the Church had not taught that the sum total of all knowledge was contained in the Bible, and prohibited, on pain of death and confiscation of property, the promulgation of any discoveries, men would have reasoned as they are accustomed to at the present day, and we would not be 2000 years behind in all branches of learning.

But there has never been an advance in science of widespread importance, which in some manner endangered some mouldy religious concept, that the Church has not bitterly opposed; an advance which in time has proven of inestimable good for all mankind. (A glance at the history of human progress will reveal scores of such instances.) The opposition to medicine, as previously noted, is only one of many examples which might have been chosen. In proportion, as the grasp of theology upon education tightened, medicine declined, and in proportion, as the grip relaxed, medicine developed.


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vi to public notice has twice the number of pages and is four times the size of its modest ancestor.

It may seem strange that a book, originally considered most comprehensive and complete, should have needed such transformation. The world, however, has travelled of late at electric speed, and the far-reaching changes of time have touched household affairs from standpoints apparently far remote.

In cookery, for example, where the growth of our pages is most noticeable, many causes have contributed to change. We have relinquished almost entirely the old British prejudices against things foreign, and adopted, in great measure, those French methods which established a bond of union among good cooks all the world over, long before l'entente cordiale became a recognized newspaper phrase. Increased habits of travel have taught us the favourite dishes of other countries, while improved means of transport have brought to our doors fresh food supplies from all quarters of the earth. Cookery schools and classes have also educated many mistresses to the possibilities of the art, and encouraged them to insist on more variety and delicacy in their daily fare than the plain cook of old was wont to furnish. In short, every tendency of modern life, with greater wealth possibly—greater luxury certainly—is towards a tremendous enlargement of everyday cookery. In the present issue is given all information necessary to meet present–day demands in this respect.

Amongst the principal features of our new issue are—

.—The book has been re-composed throughout from a special fount of new type, of size and clearness to suit modern requirements, and printed on the best English paper, and strongly and artistically bound in half leather.

.—The book has been copiously illustrated in the most useful manner. Hundreds of photographic reproductions of actual dishes, processes, and materials have been included. No expense, however great, has been spared in obtaining the best possible results. The numerous coloured plates have been faithfully reproduced from nature, and printed in fourteen colours in the highest style of lithographic art.

.—All the old cookery recipes have been carefully re-tested and prices and details altered wherever necessary. More than two thousand new recipes are given, contributed by Mr. C. Herman Senn,


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 Rh


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Rh assisted by some of the most famous chefs and teachers of the art that the world contains.

.—The cost of the recipes and the prices of articles mentioned in this book have been most carefully, minutely, and diligently averaged from lists compiled from the most reliable authorities all over the kingdom. The task of estimating these prices has been among the most difficult and perplexing problems encountered in revising this work. Some provisions fluctuate greatly in price from day to day, whilst a very great difference indeed exists between the cost of purchases made in town or country, for cash or for credit, by mistress or by maid, selected personally or as allotted to you to suit the convenience of a tradesman. After a most minute consideration of the factors involved, we believe the costs given in our recipes should hardly ever be exceeded; whilst the housewife who gives the trouble needed to buy in the most advantageous manner, will often be able to effect a very considerable saving on the prices quoted.

.—This, a frequent difficulty in small households, has been carefully explained and illustrated by numerous photographs, showing the methods of the best professionals.

.—Our ancestors held a practical knowledge of this art indispensable to the education of every gentleman. We moderns also realize how much a really good carver can do towards diminishing waste, distributing choice portions equally, and maintaining the sightly appearance of a joint. The art has been thoroughly dealt with and very fully illustrated by a unique series of photographs of the methods of the best professional carvers.

.—The most recent and popular designs are illustrated, and diagrams given showing clearly how every fold is made in producing these patterns.

.—This section has been enormously increased. Australian, American, Canadian, South African, German, Italian, and all foreign cookeries, have been comprehensively dealt with, so that Britons living under other skies may learn how to combine the dishes of their adopted country with those of the Motherland. We at home may also gain variety in our own menus, and learn how to give a complimentary and characteristic repast when welcoming guests from abroad.


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 HENRY FROWDE

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OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE

7 PATERNOSTER ROW


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viii, which is so strongly believed in and practised by many thousands, has been carefully dealt with.

, now so popular with cooks, and indispensable in Flat life and for all amateur cookery and impromptu meals, is dealt with in a new chapter.

have been contributed by two of our most eminent physicians.

has been contributed by a well-known barrister, author of several standard law books.

We take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude to many eminent authorities and great firms for the courtesy, thoroughness, and disinterested zeal with which they have given time, information, facilities, and assistance to us, whilst engaged in our long, laborious, but engrossing task of compressing all information of practical value to our readers into the new "Mrs. Beeton."

It would be out of place in a preface to allude to all the many features of our new issue. Many are there, and all the old Mrs. Beeton as well. For details, and also because it is easy in a book of this size to look for information in the wrong place, we would ask our readers to make use of the very comprehensive index and tables of contents furnished herewith.

All these new features have had one disastrous effect from the publishers' point of view. The book as it now stands is half as large again as the previous edition, and is offered at the same price. We believe this to be by far the greatest value for money ever given in book production. We can only trust that this new and enlarged edition of MRS. BEETON'S HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT will meet with the same hearty welcome its old and well-tried predecessors have always enjoyed.

1906.


text: Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management/Abridged Preface to the First Edition


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frankly own that, if I had known beforehand the labour which this book has entailed, I should never have been courageous enough to commence it. What moved me, in the first instance, to attempt a work like this, was the discomfort and suffering which I had seen brought about by household mis-management. I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than badly-cooked dinners and untidy ways. Men are now so well served out of doors—at clubs, hotels and restaurants—that, to compete with the attractions of these places, a mistress must be thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of cookery, as well as all the other arts of making and keeping a comfortable home.

In this book I have attempted to give, in the chapters devoted to cookery, an intelligible arrangement to every recipe, a list of the ingredients, a plain statement of the method of preparing each dish, and a careful estimate of its cost, the number of people for whom sufficient, and the time when seasonable. Friends in England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Germany have very materially aided me. A diligent comparison with the works of the best modern writers on cookery has also been necessary to the faithful fulfilment of my task. But in the department belonging to the Cook I have striven to make my work something more than a Cookery-Book, and have, therefore, given a short account of the natural history of the animals and vegetables which we use as food. I have followed the animals from their birth to their appearance on the table; have described their management; the position of the various joints; and the methods of carving Meat, Poultry and Game. Skilful artists have designed the numerous drawings which illustrate many important and interesting items. The coloured plates are a novelty not without value. Rh


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2 Towards the end of the work will be found valuable chapters on the "Management of Children," "The Doctor," "Legal Memoranda," which have been contributed by a great physician and an eminent solicitor. I wish here to acknowledge the kind letters and congratulations I have received during the progress of this work, and have only further to add, that I trust the result of the four years' incessant labour which I have expended will not be altogether unacceptable to some of my countrymen and countrywomen.

248, Strand, 1861. ISABELLA BEETON.


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 GENERAL CONTENTS


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131 we determined to start forth quietly to within sight of the aboriginal encampment, with the twofold purpose of viewing the corroborie, and noticing if possible the whereabouts of the sheep. As the wind was blowing directly from the 'blacks' camp, and pretty strong at the same time, it was not a work of very great difficulty getting near it unheard; when, however, we had approached within about three hundred yards we deemed it prudent to get upon our hands and knees, and in that position worm ourselves through the long waving grass, as close as prudence would allow. We were beginning to become heartily tired of this mode of progression when, all at once, we found ourselves on the summit of an undulation, at the base of which the blacks camp appeared, brilliantly lighted up. The suddenness of this spectacle bursting upon our vision quite took our breath away, and it was some time before we became collected enough to note calmly that which we had come purposely to observe. We had reached not only to within sight of the savages, but we were quite near enough to hear them speaking plainly. At the moment of our arrival on the crest of the rise there was much talking and laughter going on, the stolen sheep doubtless being the theme.

We had not been viewing the proceedings in the camp long from our recumbent position when the aboriginal footlights, or fire, which served the same purpose, were freshened up, and the lyoors (who were seated in a semi-circle a short distance from the fires, and whose duties consisted in the orchestral portion of the performance) gave a few spasmodic thuds on the Mullangies by way of calling the performers


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132 to the front; thereupon a hoary-headed ruffian stepped forward, birraworie in hands, which he clinked in concert with the mullangie thuds, at the same time beginning a tchowie in a low monotonous tone, which ere long gradually swelled in volume. At the end of the first bar the lyoors chimed in, and the dancers sprang into the lighted space, flourishing their weapons in savage glee as their lithesome legs quivered in time to the savage music. The hoary leader of the band, becoming warm to his work, rushed backwards and forwards along the crescent row of lyoors, singing out the tchowie, apparently for bare life, while flakes of foam spirted [sic] from his lips, as it might do from the mouth of a hunted boar, by reason of his exceeding fervidness. The lyoors, taking their time from him, became equally energetic in their performance upon the mullangies, and their high, shrill treble, mingling with the leaders bass, made altogether the most hideous accord that it was ever our ill-luck to listen to. Meantime the dancing had become as vehement as the music, for the quivering and writhing of forty pairs of legs, strung up to high pressure by their tchowie and its barbarous accompaniments, made such an exhibition as it seldom falls to civilised man's lot now-a-days to witness. The time now became faster and more fast, till at length the motion was altogether so rapid that individual legs could not be distinguished. Looking at the dancers when they had attained to this phase of the corroborie seemed like viewing a monster heap of serpents heaving and coiling together in the throes of mortal agony But, alas!


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chaucer, Geoffrey


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133 oven aboriginal muscular humanity cannot keep up such high-pressure motion for ever, so, with a deafening clang, produced by the birrawories and mullangies conjointly, the tchowie ceased instantaneously, and the sweltering dancers sank as one man exhausted in their tracks.

This grand finale was just about as much as our nerves could well sustain; therefore, after having noted the position of our abducted sheep, we gladly crawled from the vicinage of the savage dancers and retraced our steps cautiously to our own encampment.

We recovered the sheep next morning, and did not fail whilst doing so to admonish the thieves for the trouble they had given us, as well as for the sheep they had so shamefully maimed, and those they had killed outright and consumed.

When the aborigines steal a number of sheep, if whilst driving them away they should find themselves pursued, they immediately break the legs of a goodly number, knowing right well that those so maimed must be left behind, and will therefore be recoverable after the pursuers have retired with the sound ones. Frequently, too, the blacks, when they have succeeded in getting off with a lot of stolen sheep and have consequently no fear of pursuit, will, to save all further trouble in the matter of shepherding, break the legs of every one close to their camp so that they can slay, frizzle, and eat, with but the merest minimum of exertion.


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134 CHAPTER XVII.

THEIR LACK OF COMMEMORATIVE MONUMENTS, EVEN THE MOST SIMPLE, TOGETHER WITH THE CAUSE THEREOF. THEIR METHOD OF GENERATING FIRE. OF OPOSSUM CLOAKS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. OF THE UTILISATION OF GRASS SEEDS, &C.

The continued and persistent endeavour of these people to forget those of their tribes who have paid nature's just debt prevents them from possessing any monuments or other analagous [sic] objects wherewith to commemorate particular or striking events. Even the rude cavern common to most uncivilised races is unknown here, but the reason for this is obvious enough. Any such lasting work would, without doubt, have the effect of keeping the memory of those who constructed them, or those whom they were intended to honour, ever present to their descendants, and the avoiding of this is the one thing in which all the aborigines of tho colony are unanimous.

The innate terror of death, which the aborigines as a rule possess, gives rise to this peculiar characteristic, besides it is the cause which induces the cowardice so largely found in the aboriginal character, and altogether precludes anything approaching to combinations in their relations with hostile tribes, as (to quote their own adage)—"What would it advantage me if my tribe quite destroyed the Bukeen, if I should be killed in the struggle?" Thus it follows that every individual man's corpus is every individual man's special care, or, in other words, number one is the aboriginal golden rule.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chaucer, Thomas


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2 field spreads itself out before the mind, as one of vast extent and interest; the importance of cultivating this field appears to be of incalculable magnitude; the difficulties which threaten to impede the progress of Divine truth in those regions ought not to be overlooked; while the existing facilities for conducting a series of operations for the benefit of that interesting people should be allowed to animate and encourage us. An allusion to what has been done, to what is doing, and to what remains to be done, may not be unsuitable; and a prospective view of the contemplated results, when these designs shall have been fully carried out, may properly conclude the whole.

China demands the attention of Christian philanthropists, with regard to the antiquity of its origin, the extent of its territory, the amount of its population, and the advance of its civilization. In nearly all these respects we shall find that it rises superior to every other unevangelized country, and stands forward with a prominence, which bespeaks it the greatest of pagan nations.

Commencing with the early history of China, we may be allowed to correct an error into which many have fallen, relative to the assumption of an extravagant chronology by the Chinese. It has been generally supposed that the Chinese maintain an antiquity of myriads of years, and that their historical records, stretching far back into the vista of more than a thousand ages, are at such variance with the comparatively recent account of Moses, as to oblige us either to question the one or the other. This was, at one time, gladly caught at by the sceptics of Europe, and they thought that they had discovered, in the high antiquity


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135 Their method of generating fire, we imagine, to belong exclusively to the Australian aboriginal tribes, at least we never heard of the same system being followed by other races. Their modus operandi is as follows:—

A hard dry log is selected, having a sun crack in it about half an inch wide at the surface and about an inch and a half in depth, and this crack is filled to within half an inch of the lips with dry grass, well teased out to make it soft. Then the operator, having a piece of dry wood fourteen inches long and from two to three broad, fined down to a blunt edge on one side, holds it by one end in both hands and rubs the blunt edge backwards and forwards across the crack immediately above the part containing the dry grass. At first the rubbing is performed very slowly, but with considerable pressure; as the crack, however, begins to get filled with the filings the rate of motion is increased, until the filings quite fill he crack to the top; then, for the space of half a minute, the rubbing is done so rapidly, the rubbing stick cannot be distinguished. At this stage the operator suddenly pauses, without lifting the rubber from the groove, which by this time he has cut across the crack, and gently fans the filings under the rubber with one hand, and if the smoke continues to ascend the operator knows that the result is satisfactory and that fire has been procured; therefore, with great care, he lifts out the dry grass upon which are the ignited filings (it is these filings which take fire, and not the rubber as many would be inclined to suppose) enveloping them nicely with the grass, waves it gently in the air, and in a short time it bursts into flame.


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Rh of the Chinese, combined with the Hindoo and Egyptian races, an argument which threw discredit on the chronology of the Bible, and weakened the evidence of its Divine authority. The fact, however, is, that the Chinese, like most other heathen nations, have a mythological as well as a chronological period; the one considered by themselves as fabulous, and the other as authentic; the one connected with the history of their gods, and the other with that of their men. In the former they speak of their celestial emperor, who reigned 45,000 years; their terrestrial emperor, who reigned 18,000 years; followed by their human emperor, who reigned as long: without condescending to enlighten us as to the names, characters, events, or circumstances of these wonderful individuals, or their still more extraordinary reigns; nay, without so much as telling us whether their dominions were established in heaven or on earth, or whether they referred exclusively to China, or included other nations. In short, the vague account they furnish us of these fancied emperors shews that they were merely the figment of the imagination, introduced to supply a deficiency, and to amuse the credulous. Indeed, so little credit is attached to this fabulous period by the Chinese themselves, that one of their most respectable historians, Choo-foo-tsze, does not venture to allude to it; but, passing by these extravagant assumptions, commences his relation at a much later period, when events and circumstances of a connected character stamp the records of the age with greater marks of credibility. Another Chinese historian, named Fung-chow, remarks, "How is it credible that more than 10,000 years elapsed before the yang, or 'superior principle,' was produced, and the heavens spread;


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136 The whole operation is most simple, and takes much less time to perform than we have taken to describe it; so easily is it done we many times have had a native do it merely to get our pipe lighted.

The best timber for effecting this purpose is red gum (a eucalyptus), pine, grass-tree, and salt-bush. Those timbers of the eucalyptus family, known by the colonists as box, messmate, and stringy bark, are utterly useless for the purpose of generating fire by friction, but for what reason we cannot tell. We only know that such is the fact, though doubtless it is either for their lacking altogether, or containing too much of some requisite principle, this, however, is a question for chemists to solve.

Should it be necessary to make fire when the timber has been saturated by continued rains the native cuts down the log on which he intends to operate until he has got beyond the saturated portion, then he cuts a groove to take the place of the sun crack, and the rubber is split from the heart of a smaller log to ensure dryness. If it be raining at the time fire is required an opossum cloak is held over the operator until the desired end is achieved.

In the matter of tattooing these people differ considerably from other savage races. The tattooing performed by most savages, more especially the New Zealanders, is more like the marking produced by pricking Indian ink or gunpowder into the skin, as practised by seafaring men, than anything else, whilst the tattooing of these natives is prominent enough, even in the dark. One ornament of this kind, which we have found common to all the aboriginal tribes, is the raising of hard, smooth lumps across the back from the


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137 point of one shoulder to. the point of the other; these lumps graduate from the centre of the back, where they are longest, to each shoulder, where they are shortest. In the centre of an adult's back the lumps are about three inches long, by a thickness in the middle of about three-quarters of an inch, and the short ones on the shoulder are two inches in length, with a diameter in the middle of half an inch. These excressences [sic] are ovate in form, and are placed at regular intervals from each other, which when seen at a little distance, looks like a broad ornamental band stretching from shoulder to shoulder. The excrescences do not show any scars, but are perfectly smooth, more so in fact than any other portion of the person, and when seen on a man inclined to be hairy their lack of capillary growth is most peculiar. These tattooings are formed by cutting through the skin and filling up the incisions thus made with opossum fat, previously mixed with fine, wood ashes; the wounds by these means are kept open for several months, and during all that time suppurate and slough considerably, but notwithstanding this fact the wished for excrescences continue to grow. When the growth is deemed sufficient, the fat is applied in a pure state, when, in the absence of the irritating ashes, the wounds soon heal up, and, strange to say, without leaving the faintest trace of scar behind. They also make bands of a similar character, only less in size round the upper portion of the arm, the excressences being parallel with the length of the limb.

The women are not tattooed in any way, this honour being reserved exclusively for the lords of creation. The operation is performed shortly after the attainment of puberty.


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4 and that 10,000 more elapsed before the yin, or 'secondary principle' was produced, and the earth formed; that 10,000 more passed away before the yin and yang united to produce the various material existences; and, further, that 40 or 50,000 years more passed away, before the process of the two principles was finished, and the sages appeared! Such a tale is contrary to all sense and reason. From the time of the sages Yaou and Shun to the present age is not more than 3000 and odd years. How can it be believed that 40 or 50,000 years elapsed after the formation of the heavens and the earth, before man appeared, or the earth and water were adjusted, and food supplied to human beings? or that, if the world had existed so long, these things should not have been arranged before Fŭh-he and his successors? It is evident that Pwan-koo, the first man, according to the fabulous records of the Chinese, who acted at the separation of heaven and earth, could not have been long before Fŭh-he, perhaps a thousand years, certainly not ten thousand; and the time of Fŭh-he must have been very near Yaou and Shun, perhaps a hundred years, certainly not a thousand. No scholar should decline a thorough enquiry." Sze-ma-tsëen, another very celebrated historian of China, does not record anything relative to the three emperors above mentioned; how much less then might he be expected to refer to Pwan-koo, who is placed before them.

Thus Chinese authors of the greatest reputation agree in considering the first part of Chinese history as entirely fabulous. Whilst, however, we fully coincide with them in this opinion, we cannot help, on a review of their brief allusion to this period, suggesting


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138 In the making of their opossum cloaks it might be said that they display at least a modicum of taste approaching to the artistic. When an opossum skin has been thoroughly dried and all the fat removed it requires to be scraped to ensure pliancy; this part of the operation is performed by means of sharp-edged mussel-shells, and scraping so performed is generally done so as to represent a pattern of some kind. They succeed in doing this so well that the various portions scraped upon the separate skins join together most accurately when sewn into the rug.

Before the advent of Europeans these cloak patterns usually took a scrolly shape, and striking objects in nature, such as flowers, foliage, or animals, were never copied. Since then, however, we have seen the great glaring designs common to cheap druggists very successfully reproduced, even to the colours. These colours are made by mixing pigments of different shades with fish oil, and laying the shades on the respective portions of the designs requiring them, thus produce an exact counterpart of the copy. Should a rugmaker be entirely lacking in artistic taste he merely scrapes the skin diagonally. When the whole skin has been thus scraped he turns the skin round and again scrapes diagonally, this time, of course, the scraping crosses the lines first made, thus forming a lossenge-shaped design. This latter method, as regards utility, is unequalled by any other, for thus treated, if the pattern be a small one, the skins become pliant and soft as well-prepared doe-skin.

The prepared skins are sewn together by means of fine sinews, which are drawn from opossum tails, instead of thread; these sinews are used whilst in a damp state,


text: The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina/Chapter 16


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Rh the idea, that the whole is probably based on some indistinct recollections of the theory of the creation. Of the first man, they say, that soon after the period of emptiness and confusion, when heaven and earth were first separated, Pwan-koo was produced; his origin is not ascertained, but he knew intuitively the relative proportions of heaven and earth, with the principles of creation and transmutation. During the supposed reign of the celestial, terrestrial, and human emperors, they allege that the year was settled, the months and days arranged, and the hills and rivers divided; all which may be but distant allusions to the formation of the heavenly bodies, and the settlement of the earth and waters.

The next period of Chinese history is that which is said to have elapsed between Fŭh-he and the sages Yaou and Shun, which the Chinese denominate the age of the "Five Rulers," and at which Choo-foo-tsze begins his history. There is much difference among historians as to the arrangement of this era, and Choo-foo-tsze himself says, that "several things affirmed of this epoch were all pushed up by people who lived in subsequent ages." While, therefore, we might be unwilling to give full credit to what Chinese writers say of the events of this period, it is not improbable that much of it is drawn by tradition from the correct account of the antediluvian age handed down by Noah to his posterity. The coincidence of ten generations having passed away, the institution of marriage, the invention of music, the rebellion of a portion of the race, and the confused mixture of the divine and human families, closed by the occurrence of the flood, in the time of Yaou, might lead us to conclude, that in


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139 when well shrunk, which they become from drying, the seams formed by them are both strong and firm. Needles not being known to them in their savage state, a bodkin made of bone was the instrument by which the punctures to receive the sinews were made, and the quickness and dexterity displayed in the manipulation of these rude instruments and appliances is truly astonishing.

In wet weather the rug is invariably worn with the fur to the weather. Worn in this manner they are almost impervious to rain, whereas when the flesh side is exposed to the wet the cloak becomes saturated and consequently unpleasant in a very short space of time.

In those portions of Australia where nardoo and other freely seeding plants containing farina in the seeds abound the natives possessed mills wherewith to bruise the seed into a coarse description of flour. These mills were made of quartz slates, shaped like an ellipsis, shelving gradually from the edges to the centre; in size they were two feet six inches long by eighteen inches broad, the pestal being a clumsy piece of the same material, shaped somewhat like a steelyard weight.

These mills were quite common from the north-western portion of Victoria right through to Cooper's Creek, on the confines of New South Wales, and thence to Lake Hope, in South Australia, but doubtless they are extant to this day in the regions remote from settlement.


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140 The operation of milling was always performed by women, and the method thereof was by rubbing the clumsy pestal round and round on seed in the hollow slab, with, of course, an occasional thump or two.

This grinding or bruising, or in fact a combination of both motions, requires two operators, one to use the pestal and the other to stir the meal during the process. The meal would stick to the mill by reason of the thumping were it not constantly kept stirred As the clumsy pestal if wielded for long by one person, becomes fatiguing the lyoor millers change alternately from that implement to the stirring culk (stick).

They do not possess any means whereby the husks can be separated from the meal, it is therefore used as it leaves the mill. They seldom convert the meal into bread, but when they do, it is formed into thin cakes and baked on the hot coals, as bush men do their leather jackets.

The way in which the meal is commonly prepared for consumption by the aborigines is by mixing it with water until it is of the consistency of gruel, in which state it is greedily consumed by old and young.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE LEGEND OF THE courtenie (NATIVE COMPANION) AND kurwie (EMU); OR, HOW THE WICKED ONE WAS PUNISHED.

Before the blessing of the sun's cheering rays was vouchsafed to the earth, when the days and nights were alike dreary and dark, and long prior to the advent of man;


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141 when, in short, the earth was little better than a dark, cold wilderness, and was inhabited by the birds of the air and the beasts of the field only, it might be supposed during that cheerless time that peace and goodfellowship was the rule which obtained amongst the birds and beasts, but it was not so, for even in those days strife was more common than amity; the birds and beasts quarrelled continually, and much bad blood and general discomfort accrued accordingly. Broken bones were not by anyway uncommon in those days; even grim death's visage occasionally entered upon the already dreary-enough scene of their incessant disputes.

The courtenies (native companions) were nearly always at the bottom of every disagreement, and like ill-conditioned attorneys, they seemed to make a point of laying themselves out for mischief and were never at rest unless so engaged.

The kurwie (emu) in those long-since bygone days dwelt altogether in the clouds. She had immensely long wings then, which bore her wheresoever she felt inclined to go. During her manifold flights through airy space she occasionally caught a passing sight of the earth and the birds and beasts thereof, and these glimpses of terrestrial life gave much food for thought, and little wonder either, as everything she saw there was so very different to what existed in her cloud sphere. The little that she had seen of the earth and its creatures raised her curiosity to such an extent that she at last resolved to know more about them, so one day she soared quietly down until she was near enough to the earth to be able to take note of the on-goings there. From the point of observation which she had chosen she saw the


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entering on the prospects of China with regard to the ultimate diffusion of the Gospel, it may be well to offer a few remarks on its former and present state, as introductory to the consideration of its future destinies, and with the view of encouraging those exertions which, by the Divine blessing, may result in its universal evangelization. The conversion of the Chinese to the Christian faith must be viewed as an object every way desirable, and some observations on so important a theme from the pen of one who has long devoted his energies to this work, may not perhaps be considered altogether unacceptable.

In contemplating the evangelization of China, the


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142 various beasts and birds of the earth enjoying themselves after their respective natures, and wished in her heart that she might join them in their sports; amongst them all, however, the proceedings of the courtenies met with the greatest approbation.

Having thus seen the courtenies so apparently happy, dancing and singing, the kurwie could not help returning again and again to view their proceedings in the swamps, and to listen enraptured to the sweet tones of their voices. On one of these occasions she became so ravished by reason of the dulcet music and graceful dancing of the courtenies, she could no longer contain herself in the clouds, so swept right down amongst the birds and beasts much to their consternation. With the exception of the courtenies every bird and beast that could fly or run took themselves off in the direst of terror; the courtenies would gladly have done the same had they been able, but fear, craven fear, had paralysed their wings, so that they were unable to budge even a single feather; this fact, however, is not much to be wondered at, as the sudden and abrupt advent of such an uncouth monster as the kurwie seemed to them was cause ample enough to frighten the very bravest, whether beast or bird.

When the kurwie found that her feet felt firm and did not sink into the ground, she folded her wings with much complacency, after which, on finding that she possessed the power of progression (of which, until then, she had been


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6 their allusions to this period the Chinese are merely giving their version of the events that occurred from Adam to Noah. When Yu ascended the throne, the lands were drained, and China became habitable. About this period wine was discovered; Yu tasted it, and found it sweet, but rejected it, saying, "at some future period wine will occasion the ruin of the country." If now we should consider this to be a description of the antediluvian period, down to the age of Noah, traced according to Chinese recollections, and illustrated by Chinese fancy; and if we should account Yu to be the first founder of the Chinese empire, we should then be assigning them a very high antiquity, without giving any countenance to the extravagant pretensions which their fabulous writers have assumed. These thoughts are merely thrown out as suggestions, in which some sober and judicious men have concurred, who have considered the highly wrought relations of the times of Yaou and Shun as mainly imaginary not according with the state of improvement in other parts of the world at that period, nor even with the condition of China itself, at subsequent epochs of her history.

If then we consider Yu to be the first real character in Chinese history, and place the beginning of his reign at B. C. 2204, or one hundred and four years after the flood, about the age of Peleg, when the earth was divided, we shall find that it just gives time for such an increase of the human family as would admit of emigration, and yet allow for China being in such a state of marsh, as to require draining for the sake of culture, which service was ascribed to the labours of Yu. Thus the empire of China, even when deprived


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143 entirely ignorant) other than that of flight, she stalked majestically up to the courtenies, bowed gracefully, and wished them "good day;" the salutation having been politely reciprocated by the courtenies she proceeded to account to them for her unlooked-for presence—"For ever so long it has afforded me much pleasure watching your usual avocations in the swamps, and the wonderful aptitude which you display in capturing the fine fat fish and frogs with which they seemingly teem, has met with my unbounded admiration; and, really, the unaffected gusto with which you gobble them when caught has made my beak water on many occasions. Your music, too, to which I have greedily listened with the utmost rapture, surpasses every sound I ever heard, and you excel so in dancing that in watching your frequent performances I have been so carried away by sheer excess of delight that I have caught myself on more than one occasion endeavouring to tread a measure in the air, taking your finished example as a guide, but, of course, failure to a most lamentable degree was the unvarying result. Now, should you not object, I shall be highly pleased if you will condescend to instruct me in all these wonderful accomplishments. Without doubt this is a great deal for a stranger, such as I am to you, to ask, but really I am so enamoured of all your graceful acquirements, as well as being most anxious to feed on the dainty produce of these inviting marshes, that I would almost undergo any amount of privation; yes, indeed, I would even endure considerable physical pain to gain my end. And the mere face of my having overcome the hereditary pride of the kurwie race so far as to place myself under an obligation to


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144 any bird, should, methinks, be quite proof enough of my extreme longing in the matter, therefore I fancy that you may be inclined to pardon me for the coolness of this request."

"Oh! as for that Madam Kurwie, I don't see anything particularly cool about your expressed wish for extended knowledge," replied a gaunt dame courtenie. "We shall only be too delighted to impart whatever we may know, of which so courteous and clever a stranger as yourself happens to be ignorant (the fear engendered by the kurwie's abrupt appearance on the scene had, thanks to her excessive suavity, quite departed), but, as far as I am able to see, it is almost impossible for us to comply with your wishes, and the reason thereof is obvious enough, as you will readily admit when I explain it to you." Before the conversation had reached so far, at a sign from the courtenie with whom the kurwie was holding converse, all the assembled courtenies had placed their wings across their backs, making it appear to the simple kurwie that they were wingless. "You see, you have very long wings of your own, which carry you whithersoever you may wish to go; now it is a noted fact that birds with wings, capable of flying, can never learn to catch fish and frogs as we do, nor is it possible for such birds to be taught either singing or dancing." The courtenie dame said all this so pat, and in such an emphatic manner, as could not help but impress the innocent kurwie with its truthfulness; she therefore hung her head most disconsolately; after a little consideration, however, she brightened up somewhat, as she asked—Whether there was not some means by which the mere


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Rh because there is no property which is called "identical". The proposition is senseless because we have not made some arbitrary determination, not because the symbol is in itself unpermissible.)

In a certain sense we cannot make mistakes in logic.

Self-evidence, of which Russell has said so much, can only be discarded in logic by language itself preventing every logical mistake. That logic is a priori consists in the fact that we cannot think illogically.

We cannot give a sign the wrong sense.

Occam's razor is, of course, not an arbitrary rule nor one justified by its practical success. It simply says that unnecessary elements in a symbolism mean nothing.

Signs which serve one purpose are logically equivalent, signs which serve no purpose are logically meaningless.

Frege says: Every legitimately constructed proposition must have a sense; and I say: Every possible proposition is legitimately constructed, and if it has no sense this can only be because we have given no meaning to some of its constituent parts.

(Even if we believe that we have done so.) Thus "Socrates is identical" says nothing, because we have given no meaning to the word "identical" as adjective. For when it occurs as the sign of equality it symbolizes in an entirely different way—the symbolizing relation is another—therefore the symbol is in the two cases entirely different; the two symbols have the sign in common with one another only by accident. Rh


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 LIST OF COLOURED PLATES


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Rh The number of necessary fundamental operations depends only on our notation.

It is only a question of constructing a system of signs of a definite number of dimensions—of a definite mathematical multiplicity.

It is clear that we are not concerned here with a number of primitive ideas which must be signified but with the expression of a rule.

Every truth-function is a result of the successive application of the operation (- - - - T)($$\xi$$, . . . .) to elementary propositions.

This operation denies all the propositions in the right-hand bracket and I call it the negation of these propositions.

An expression in brackets whose terms are propositions I indicate—if the order of the terms in the bracket is indifferent—by a sign of the form "$$(\bar \xi)$$". "$$\xi$$" is a variable whose values are the terms of the expression in brackets, and the line over the variable indicates that it stands for all its values in the bracket.

(Thus if $$\xi$$ has the 3 values P, Q, R, then $$(\bar \xi)$$=(P,Q, R).)

The values of the variables must be determined.

The determination is the description of the propositions which the variable stands for.

How the description of the terms of the expression in brackets takes place is unessential.

We may distinguish 3 kinds of description: Rh
 * 1) Direct enumeration. In this case we can place simply its constant values instead of the variable.
 * 2) Giving a function "$$fx$$" whose values for all values of "$$x$$" are the propositions to be described.
 * 3) Giving a formal law, according to which those propositions are constructed. In this case the


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Talk:Address of August Spies

This speach couldn't have been given in 1885 if it was a response to the Haymarket Affair because the Affair was in 1886!

title: Talk:Address of August Spies


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To face matter—Front.


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Rh terms of the expression in brackets are all the terms of a formal series.

Therefore I write instead of "(- - - - T)($$\xi$$, . . . .)", "$$N(\bar \xi)$$".

$$N(\bar \xi)$$ is the negation of all the values of the propositional variable $$\xi$$.

As it is obviously easy to express how propositions can be constructed by means of this operation and how propositions are not to be constructed by means of it, this must be capable of exact expression.

If $$\xi$$ has only one value, then $$N(\bar \xi)$$ = $$\sim p$$ (not $$p$$), if it has two values then $$N(\bar \xi)$$ =$$\sim p.\sim q$$ (neither $$p$$ nor $$q$$).

How can the all-embracing logic which mirrors the world use such special catches and manipulations? Only because all these are connected into an infinitely fine network, to the great mirror.

"$$\sim p$$" is true if "$$p$$" is false. Therefore in the true proposition "$$\sim p$$" "$$p$$" is a false proposition. How then can the stroke "$$\sim$$" bring it into agreement with reality?

That which denies in "$$\sim p$$" is however not "$$\sim$$" but that which all signs of this notation, which deny $$p$$, have in common.

Hence the common rule according to which "$$\sim p$$", "$$\sim \sim \sim p$$", "$$\sim p \or \sim p$$", "$$\sim p.\sim p$$", etc. etc. (to infinity) are constructed. And this which is common to them all mirrors denial.

We could say: What is common to all symbols, which assert both $$p$$ and $$q$$, is the proposition "$$p.q$$". What is common to all symbols, which assert either $$p$$ or $$q$$, is the proposition "$$p\or q$$".

And similarly we can say: Two propositions are opposed to one another when they have nothing in common with one another; and every proposition has only one negative, because there is only one proposition which lies altogether outside it. Rh


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Author:Romolo Gessi

Works

 * Seven Years in the Soudan, 1892

title: Author:Romolo Gessi