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i El ion the o
eclrocution th
! o m tlin
. Only Humane Killing
A S 49— P A oo o
By Dr. E. A Spitzka, the Eminent
&M Brain Specialist. Nyl 2p Yy
“9900000 R. SPITZKA, the eminent brain specialist, read before the
opening session of the American Philosophical Society, at
Philadelphia, last week a paper which was virtually an out
and-out declaration for electrocution as the only humane
method of inflicting death, and he urged its adoption in all
States and countries. His paper, from which the brief ex
stracts presented below were taken, was based upon the
0009 results of thirty-one electrocutions, which he witnessed in
the Sing Sing, Auburn, Dannemora, and Trenton prisons,
the method being employed in New York, New Jersey, Ohjo, Massachusetts
and Virginia.
The history of electrocution covers a period of only twenty years, It was
first introduced in New York in 1888. In its operation, the electric current
is turned on and reduced and increased alternately. From seven to ten am
peres pass through a body. The time consumed in strapping is about forty
five seconds, and in sixty to seventy seconds the victim is shocked to death.
Consciousness is blotted out instantly. In only two cases of those I have
observed was there respiratory effort after the current was turned on.
A post mortem examination of the body reveals mueh interesting phe
nomena. There is a rising of the temperature, in one case as high as 12914
degrees F. The lungs are devoid of blood and weigh six or seven ounces av
oirdupois. The blood seems to be under a chemical change and is of a dark
brownish hue, almost black, and it rarely coagulates, On the fervous cells
there is no apparent effect, although there is a molecular change,
I have witnessed a number of hangings at Moyamensing Prison, and
would recommend a reading of Oscar Wilde's poem “Ballad of Reading Jail,”
to illustrate the unpleasantness of the dancing feet in the air,
The preparations in hanging are about as quick as in electrocution, but
the heart beats for some time after the drop, usually thirteen minutes. And
there is a spasmodic movement of the body after the shock of the drop, due
to a partly conscious effort to stop the choking, lasting for about one and
a half minutes.
In only one case was there no movement of the body after the drop, and
that was a Chinaman, who, it is believed, died of apoplexy. Of five bodies
which I examined at the Jefferson Hospital, in every case death was due to
strangulation,
& & & &
FlommAmrtpn o eanamh o T 3
$Th - ’ . é
e Meaning of a Smile
T S A ek S A
-
&M‘fl By Winifred EBlack.
N old man died in Michigan the other day and left $25,000 to
& young woman who was no kin to him.
In the old man’s will he said: “I leave this money to this
woman for, the sake of her bright smile. She comforted the
last months of my dear wife’s life, and I never saw her when
she was not ready to smile.”
Twenty-five thousand dollars for a smile.
» Well, it was cheap at the price.
It was a smile that came from the heart. If it hadn’t
been it would never have made the impression that It did.
A smirk is not a smile, neither is a grin. You ean smirk with malice
and you can grin when you feel like slamming the door, but you can’t smile
to save your life, unless there is kindliness and love in your heart.
The young woman who took her youth and her vitality and her cheerful
smile, and gave it to a sick old woman, did it because she was good and she
couldn’t help smiling. '
I am glad she s going to get that money. 4
i It isn't what we do that counts so much, after all: it’s what _we are,
I've been given a present with such a mean spirit showing in the eyes of
the giver that I felt iike throwing the gift into the fire,
And I have been refused a favor by some one who looked at me with
80 much Kindness that my heart was light in spite of the refusal.
Hypocrisy doesn’t pay—it never deceives any one long.
I never knew a man who lived for himself alone who could deceive peo
ple into liking him for longer than six months.
I never knew a woman who was at heart mean and envious who could
make even a little child like her when she smiled.
Beware of the man who's smile is a mere twist of the mouth,
Look out for the woman who looks as if she had been eating something
sour when she tries to smile,
Give me the woman who smiles because she can’t help it and the man
who laughs and doesn't know it.
They're the sort of people to live with. ‘
A & & & &
M Apr—iSe
§ The Criticism s
riticism That Help
*
AR S TAO 24 S A
% By Ellen Terry. %
00000000~ \WAS once asked, “Are you affected by adverse criticism?”
I answered then, and I answer now, that legitimate adverse
' criticism has always been of use to me, if only because it
“gave me to think"—furiously. Seldom does the outsider,
i however talented as a writer and observer, recognize the
@9ot es ACtor's art, and often we are told that we are acting best
i when we are showing the works most plainly, and denied
;““.... any special virtue when we are concealing our method.
Professional criticism is helpful chiefly because it induces
one to criticize one's self. “Did 1 give that impression to any one? Then
there must have been something wrong somewhere.” The “something” is
often a perfectly different blemish from that to which the critic drew atten
tion.
Unprofessional criticism is often more helpful. still, but alas! one's
friends are to one's faults more than a little blind and to one's virtues very
kind. It is through letters from people quite unknown to me that I have
sometimes learned valuable lessons. During the run of “Romeo and Juliet”
some one wrote and told me that if the dialogue at the ball could be taken in
a lighter and quicker way, it would better express the manner of a girl ot
Juliet's age. The same unknown critic pointed out that I was too slow and
studied in the balcony scene. She-——l think it was a woman—was porfectly
right.—McClure's Magazine,
& & & &
Reywweipvs oWy
Intuiti oot o
; niuttion the Root of
Trouble ¢
T, W S———: S
é Ey George Harvey. é
HE dominance in the feminine mind of intuition over reason
‘ " W produces paradoxes in morals, ad is largely responsible
for the trials and tribulations now being experienced in this
curiously and somewhat causelessly unhappy land. Envy, it
is true, lles at the root of our trouble; but, oddly enough,
envy not of the rich who hold, but of the rich who give.
Men continue to amass great fortunes and keep them to
; themseves or bequeath them to their own, and die uncen
sured by their fellows, to pass to their just rewards or
punishments elsewhere; it is upon those who are suspected of purloining
from the people in order that they may distribute more liberal alms, that the
wrath of the populace is now visited. Undoubtedly instinctive resentment
of the double gratification thus obtained—of first acquiring and then bestow
ing—constitutes the chief cause of this quite general disapproval; but it is
clearly the fault, as we have indicated, of intuition inherited from woman
rather than of the reasoning faculty granted by the Maker for some purpose
. known only to Himseif, %0 man.—The North Amerioan Review,
- The New Navy Nurse.
By PRISCTLLA LEONARD.
It is out of the question for 2 bat
tleship to carry trained ni ges such
as are found th the orflug '»!'ohdro
hospitals. There is no place for them
on shipboard, and in a na battle
they would be most unsuitablg.
The naval! hospital, therefoge, pre
fers to train a masculine bllgncket
nurse for this service, and by a some
what different course of aining,
specialized for naval needs, ¥
The recruit who is chosen to learn
nursing is not expected to know as
much about medicine as a hospital
nurse aghore; but, on the other hand,
he learns much that the nurse of
the hospital wards does fiot know.
The bluejacket nurse is not'a blue
jacket, really—that is, he wears a
spotless white costume instead. He
carries a tiny knapsack, in which is
packed a complete kit of bandages,
surgical instruments, splints, and so
on. He has drills in bandaging, and
everything in his knapsack is inspect
ed, to see that it is absolutely clean
and in order. W
Such a drill is a yery infiéesting
sight. The row of young eailors,
dressed in shining white, the quick
answers to the drill master, the ban
dage drill, in whiech each man in turn
adjusts and explains, on his comrade
as patient, the way to bind up _3 brok
en limb, a sprained ankle, a dislo
cated shoulder, and so forth, and to
adjust and use a tourniquet— all
this makes the looker-on admire
airesh the thoroughness and skill
with which the navy prepares for its
serious work. s
Half the bandaging is done, by the
way, with handkerchiefs, so that in
case bandages should give out in a
landing party, for instance, the sail
or’'s own handkerchief will be just as
good. All naval nursing is aimed
at meeting naval conditions or possi
bilities.
For this reason, the ladder drill
is another bit of hospital training.
A series of ladders and platforms,
to represent the stairways ahd decks
of a ship, is rigged up on the hos
pital lawn. Some of the nurses are
told off to represent the wounded.
They are picked up by their com
rades, laid on stretchers, gtrapped
down, carried up and down the lad
ders at the double-quick, passed
through the openings in the plat
forms, and so on, while the drill mas
ter stands, waich in hand, to count
the seconds. e
By graduation time the ladder
drill is so incredibly quick that the
outsider can hardly believe his' eyes.
First aid to the injured, of course,
is one of the most important drills
at the training school, and the nurse
is expected to recite the nature of the
injury, and tell just what results his
treatment is'meant to produce, as he
carries it on under the drill master’s
eye. i
The landing party drill is ra ex
citing. The nurses scatter cfver the
hospital grounds, hunting for prear
ranged, groups of injured men, On
finding them, they apply splints, ban
dages, and whatever else might be
necessary, and bring them in on
stretchers.
They write on a tag a description
of the case and tie it on the stretcher.
The doctor in charge questions them
on what they have done for the
wounded man, and why; and then
they are marked according to their
correctness both in treatment and
recitation. It all looks like fun, but
good deal of hard work and intelli
gence is required, for Unecle Sam
wants the best nurses possible.
There are to be two nurses to each
large war vessel. After graduation
six months’ work in the hospital
completes the training, and then the
full fledged nurse goes on board ship.
In a few years the naval hospitals
hope to graduate enough nurses to
be distributed among the smaller
vessels.—Youth's Companion.
Must Not Smoke in the Theatre.
Paul Mounet appeared at Hav:re
recently as the Missionary Bishop in
“Le Duel,” which we saw in New
York last year with Eben Plympton
and Otis Skinner. As he lighted a
cigar at the wings an officer of the
fire brigade informed him that he
must not emoke in the theatre.
“But it is in the play,” explained
Mounet; “I am smoking as I go on
and then T will throw my cigar on the
stage.” “Very well,” replied the offi
cer, So M. Mounet made his entree
as usual, but following him were two
firemen, one with a bucket of water
and the other with a huge sponge,
The audience, appreciating the situa
tion, roared and applauded with de
light, and M. Mounet carefully de
posited his cigar in the bucket and
wiped his fingers on the sponge be
fore proceeding with the dialogue.
They eniorce the regulations against
theatre fires in France.—Sports of the
Times, : g
-————w
Collects Menu Cards.
The Emperor of Austria is a man
with few hobbies. One of them is
the editing of an official court jour
nal. Another is the collection of
menu cards, and his stoek, which is
continually being augumented by
contributions from other monarchs,
is a very wonderful one. A rare spec
imen is that which was used at the
dinner given by the Czar to Presi
dent Faure some years ago. This
“card” is a square of perfeet black
marble, beautifully painted by a fa
mous French artist, the names of the
various dishes being lettered in ivory.
—Woman's Life,
e e e ——————
The number of books exported from
Germany by German publishers last
vear exceeded 42,000,000, weighed
42,100,002 pounds, and were valued
at $16,000,000, i ga
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With the Fonny Fellew
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The Seesaw. il
Fate will smile Z
And fortutme frown; - .
Beef goes up
As Iron comes down.
; —Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Had Heard None,
“That man is an idiot. He simply
won’t listen to reason.”
“How do you know?’-—Nashville
American,
To Headquarters.
"D;es vour husband bring fairy
stories nome to the children?”
““No, but he brings me some dan
dies.””—Houston Post.
+ Meaning Himself,
Mollie—‘‘Tell me, did you ever win
a prize at a lottery?”
Cholly—“No, I never did, but my
wife did.”’—VYonkers Statesman.
A Skyscraper Episode.
“‘A coping stone just fell from the
top floor.”
‘“lndeed? Telephone the first floor
to have the street cleared.”—Wash
ington Herald.
{ A Hypocrite.
Teacher — “What is a hypocrite,
Sally?”
Sally — ““A gal what comes to
school with a smile ‘on er face.”—
London Opinion.
¥ Malice Domestic.
Knicker—‘‘Are you afraid to go
home in the dark?” ;
Bocker—*‘‘My wife always sits up
for me with all the gas lighted.”—
New York Sun.
His Part.
She—'“Will you take part in our
theatricals?”’
He — ‘‘Really, T should like to.
What shall I take?” .
She—‘Tickets.”’—Philadelphia In.
i quirer,
| Truly Thoughtful.
“Don’t step on that crust. The
birds want it.”
“And I'm grinding it up so they
‘can handle it. See?”
The other man saw. — Houston
Chronicle.
A Modern Romance, ,=~ %
“Why don’t they marry?” o
“Family objections.” i
“As if a real man couldn’t over
come those!” °
‘“lt’s not always so easy. His wife
#on’t agree to a divorce.””—Washing
‘ton Herald, ‘
No Incentive.
Dolly — ‘“No, I won’t wash my
-facat”
Grandma — ‘““Naughty, naughty!
When I was a little girl I always
washed my face.”
Dolly—*‘Yes, and now look at it!”
~—London Opinion.
The Cherry Tree Avenged.
Washington had just declared he
couldn’t tell a lie. Y
‘“What will you say when folks
ask you how you enjoyed your vaca
tion?” inquired his father.
Seeing he had him there the old
; gentleman chuckled.—New York Sun.
Handicapped:
“Have you a tank in the build
ing?” inquired the inspector from the
itusurance office.
. “We hev,” admitted the janitor.
““What's the capacity?”
“Faith an’ Oi niver had money
enough to foind out.” — Bohemian
Magazine.
“As Doth Eternity.”
Bacon—'‘What's the matter with
Your wife to-day? She seems to be
in a bad humor.”
Egbert—‘“Why, she heard a lot of
hens cackling in the next yard this
morning and she's put out because
she couldn't understand them!’—
Yonkers Statesman.
| Something Long Needed.
“I hear you're trying to invent a
new style of cornet.”
“Yes; I'm at work on one with a
reflex action.”
‘“What's the idea?”
“If I can get it working right it
will blow the head off anybody that
tries to use it."—Philadelphia Press.
Sorry, But——
“Gumbolt and I have made a bet
and agreed to leave it to you. He
says a drowning man gets his lungs
full of water, and I say he doesn't.
Which of us is right?"
‘““What are the terms of the wa
“T?"
““The loser is to pay for a dinner
for the three of us.”
“H'm~-1 never knew Gumbolt to
pay a bet. You lose.””—Chicago Tri
bune,
No Place For Her,
Towne — “There are some hot
games up at the ball grounds these
days. Why don't you take your wife
to one of them?"”
Browne--‘‘Gracious! I don’'t want
to be a widower. She's too tender
hearted and sympathetic.”
Towne—'"What has that to do with
By’
Browne—"“Why, it would be just
like her to sympathize with the um
pire."~—Philadelphia Press.
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Always Fresh Allurements.
If all the discords in the ragtime
of time could be gathered up and
strung into one long soul-racking
score wouldn’t it look something like
a dress parade of the freakish forms
and fashions along our public thor
oughfares? declares The Argonaut.
The freakishness refers, of .course,
to the female discords that lead off
in this grand orchestral orgy; the
men being merely the plain, common
place, uninteresting rests ‘and bats
} necessary only to accentuate the
crashing crescendo of color and con
tour. The London Mail, reviewing a
: treatise on ‘““English costumes,’” says:
~ “Woman, whatever she wears, is
always charming. I bow. But what
woman wears is often the reverse of
charming. The world is forever be
ing surprised by its women. They
“are Classic one day and Pompadour
the next; after that, who knows?
Nobody.
‘At the present moment we are no
ticing an extraordinary person at
restaurants, at the theatres, in the
streets. She has sprung up in the
night. Her waist has vanished, her
hair is not as it was, her hat has out
matineed matinee hats. The Direc
toire lady has appeared. There' is
scarcely a woman in England who is
not aware of the fact. There is
scarcely a woman who is not looking
mentzally at her wardrobe and won
dering how to model last year’s
dress to meet the fashion, for fashion
is a sovereign power, and I will bet
that even the lady, I forget her name,
who rings a bell at political meetings,
is thinking about her hats.
“This is woman’s 2trength, that
she is always coming out in some
fresh aliurement—llike children who
make surprising remarks and draw
all attention.””
4 s, e
Value of Money Inculcated.
I determined to teach my children
early to learn just what money would
buy. and how far it would go, says
a writer in Harper’s Bazar. For five
years my two boys of sixteen and
fourteen have had $4 a month as an
allowance. Since entering the high
school two years ago, the -older one
is allowed $5. Out of this they must
buy all their clothes, and, if any
thing can be saved from it, they may
uge their judgment as to how it shall
be®pent. We always talk over the
expenditures in advance, and I ac
Appledore Soup.—Cook three medium-sized potatoes in
boiling salted water, and when soft, drain and rub through
a 2 purese strainer. Scald four cupfuls of milk with two
slices of onion; remove onion, and add milk slowly to
potato. Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter, add two table
spoonfuls of flour and stir until well blended, then ‘pgur
on gradually, while stirring constantly, the hot liquid.
Bring to the boiling polnt and add ene and one-half tea
spoonfuls of salt, one-fourth of a traspoonful of celery salt,
one-eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper and a few grains of
cayenne, Strain, and just before serving add three table
spoonfuls of tomato catchup.—TLadies’ World.
Our Cut-out Recipe.
Paste in Your Scrap-Book.
company the boys when they bny\
their suits and overcoats; but they
have learned for themscives how to
purchase shoeg, shirts, collars and
neckties. :
They have learned to watch for
mark-downs, and to buy out of sea
son on occasion, so that they may
have more money left for Christmas
gifts or personal pleasures. In these
years I have contributed to their
wardrobe only pajamas and bath
robes, which I made myself, and one
pair of expensive stockings for danc
ing school. Other relatives gave them
a few neckties at Christmas.
The boys have learned proportion
in spending. They have experienced
that it is sometimes wise to buy the
more expensive shoes or coats, if they
have the money in hand. Otherwise,
they nave learned to be satisfied with
the less costly article. They. have
occasionally earned a little money by
working for a neighbor, but in all
this time they have never nad any
from their parents outside the allow
ance, It has taught them both in
dependence and restraint. They
have never asked us for money for
this thing or for that. Instead, we
plan with them how it may be saved
by economy of expenditure in other
ways.
Why American Women Are Beautiful.
The interest in the physical well
being of women, which is of compara
tively recent origin with us, has ex
isted for years among all classes in
America. When the women of Amey
ica first began to take up physical
culture they did not do so from any
desire of promoting their health and
strength, but simply because they
wanted to become more beautiful by
systematic exercises, says Dr. Adal
bert Von Tobold, of Berlin.
They wanted to develop the grace
and beauty of their movements and
body to perfection, and they wanted
to appear graceful and pretty even
when nature had denied them these
qualities.
The initiative of this desire came
originally from a Frenchman, Fran
cois Delsarte, who had taught singing
and acting in Paris for forty years,
and who had devoted a great deal of
his time to the study of living beauty
and how to promote and preserve it.
- His writings on this subject after
‘his death fell into the hands of two
of his pupils, Steele Mackaye and
Genevieve Stebbins, who became the
enthusiastic promoters of Delsarte’s
lteachings in America.
American women of to-day owe
much to Genevieve Stebbins, who
combined the methods of Delsarte
with the best of Swedish gymnastics,
and who on her own body proved the
usefulness of systematic physical ex
ercise.
The results which she and her
pupils reached aroused a storm of en-~
thusiasm in America. Women of all
classes and ages began to take up the
course, and as soon as the methods
had proved beneficial to adults they,
were introduced in the various edu
cational institutions.
There is little doubt that when
American women of to-day excel the
women of all other nations in physical
grace and beauty they owe it to a very,
large exient to the teachings of Del.
sarte. s
Mot rienf:
Curious Old Legend.
According to a curious old legend,
the ruby first became known to mor
tals as the result of an act of kind
tness shown by a poor woman to an
linjured stork. = Philostratus, one of
the old Greek writers, tells us that
this gem was originally placed by the
stork in the fabric of her nest as a
charm against serpents, and Aeolean,
in his eighth “Book of Animals,” en
larging upon this fancy, thus relates
the episode:
“A certain widow, Heraclea by,
name, had tended a young stork that,
having fallen out of the nest before
it was fully fledged, had broken its
leg. Thereupon the grateful bird,
upon returning from the annual mi
gration of its kind, dropped into her
lap as she sat at her door a precious
stone, which, on her awakening at
night, she found to her astonishment
had lighted up her chamber like a
glowing torch. Upon examination
this stone proved to be a matchless
ruby.”
There_ are in reality two kinds of
rubies; the true or Oriental ruby, and
the spinel ruby. The former is a
red variety of the precious corundum,
of great variety and value; while the
latter is an aluminate of magnesium.
By ancient writers-a still wider
range—under the common name of
the “carbunculus” of Pliny, or the
“anthrax” (‘“‘glowing coal”’) of Greek
writers—included also garnets and
other inferior stones of fiery color.
Rubies vary in color from pale
rose-red through deep cochineal to
red-purple, the latter being the most
valued tint, known as the “pigeon’s
blood” color.
Ceylon and parts of Tartary furnish
very good spinels; these exhibit the
color of crimson poppies, while the
Balass specimens resemble pale roses.
The true rubies are obtained from
the mines, the spinels usually from
the beds of torrents.
By some of the ancient writers the
ruby was said to preserve from all
harm, and by others to glow and
deepen in color when danger ap
proached the wearer, and to turn pale
and lusterless when brought into con
flict with poisons. A ruby ring would,
therefore, have been a very desirable
possession for any guest who died at
the table of the infamous Borgias,
since Caesar Borgia, it is related, had
little hesitaiion in dropping poison
iato the wine govlets of his guests!
One of the most interesting “nis
toric” rubies is that which adorns tne
centre of the diamond Maltese cross
in the imperial State crown of Eng
land. Originally the property of Don
Pedro, King of Castile, it was pre
sented by him to Edward the Black
Prince, after the battle of Najara,
near Vittoria, A, D, 1367. Afterward
it was worn by Henry V. in his hel
met on the occasion of the battle of
Agincourt, 1415, and no doubt the
brilliant victory was in -no small de
gree attributed to tone glowing gem.
Periect rubies are enormously valu
able, 80 we can estimate the worth of
a good woman and of wisdom when
we find they excel in value these
rarest stones.—New Haven Register.
'_———‘——-_ g
Where the Octopus Abounds.
““The rocky coast of Brittany,” said
a lifeguard, “abounds in octopus—
the pleuvre, as they say down there.
“Walk a Breton beach at low tide
~—the beach of St. Liunaire, for in
stance—and you will easily find in a
half mile a score or more of perfect
cuttlefish of those friable white bones
that birds love,
“They are from six inches to a foot
Oor more in length, snowy and very
prettily shaped; they make nice ash
trays. The peasants gather them for
‘bird food, for ash trays, and also, I
believe, for cigarette cases.
“They are the bones of the octo
pus, and their abundance is a con
vineing groof of the octopus in those
rock strewn waters of France.'—
Minneepolis Jouraal, . i
