TOPICS OF THE TIME.

Hastings Standard, Issue 6, 2 May 1896, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE TIME.

Tis i: negotiations for peace between 1 t«ily and Abyssinia have apparently had a fi;ui tls.j.-rf result. The rattle of musketry ami the roar of cannon will be resumed, unless one side or the other offers concessions for the sake of peace. Abyssinia is a country with a long' and interesting history. In ancient times it was known as Ethiopia, and in the eighth century b.c. its kings established themselves in Egypt and gave a dynasty, known as the 25th, to that country. {Several of them are mentioned in the New Testament. What makes the Abyssinians specially interesting to Europe is that they are the only nation m Atrica. or Asia who have retained C Imscmmty. Safe in their mount;] in fa i c they were able to defy the Arabs and other Mohammedan invaders, ami as (hbhon says, " encompassed by the enemies of the Ethiopians slept for near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten.'" During the middle ages mysterious rumours from time to time reached Europe of the existence of a Christian kingdom in the far East whose sovereign was known as Prester (that is priest or presbyter) .John. Various attempts were made to reach this kingdom, supposed to be Abyssinia, and towards the close of fifteenth century the Portuguese opened up relations with it which lasted for nearly 150 years. About the middle of the sixteenth century the

Giilias, r> p ople from the South, invaded u nitv.v, which thev gradually oven: en, and the power of the Empei < 1 \i«, who bad exisited from time iraim moried, wa-i greatly weakened by the in;i:-p»rA-nt Galla chiefs, who e;-laL-a.=iieu themselves in different localities.

It was the famous King Theodore who succeeded in bringing a large part of Abyssinia under his direct control. His exactions and tyranny, and his ceaseless wars against the Gallas and other tribes, gradually sapped his power, and finally his refusal to give up a number of Dritish subjects whom he "was detaining in captivity led to one of the most singular incidents in the history of Abyssinia. A Dritish expedition under the command of Sir Dobert Napier, afterwards Lord Napier of Tuaedala. eon si .sting' of 16,000 troops, making with the transport service and camp follower?; a total of i>2,000 men, land'si at Anne s ley Di:y. The force inarched through over 100 miles of mountainous country, inhabited by savnge tribes, stormed Magdala, the Emperor's fortress, occupying a wcllnigh impregnable position, and rescued the captives, Theodore hue-elf committing suicide. This wonderful campaign, which was a masterpiece of skilful organisation, was carried through without any loss of life to the jirirish, and no doubt it helped to produce false impressionas to the difficulties that would he involved in an attempt to compii r Dut at that time the natives were not armed with European weapon:e England as.-i~:tod by some powerful chiefs, and Theoi lore's a re;-, was disan'ocued towards him. A number of circumstance* favoured the DnAh advance, and if was kuov.ii that England had no intention of retaining the country. At

any ivlf, when a few years later the Khedh-e of Kgypi, 1: ia;ii 1 Pasha, sent a l'i!';.'' f• >rcv to invade Aby.-jsina, Isl.; army v.-a-s surprist d and massacred, peace being uhimately concluded thron h 1 i V ' ) (f f'c eral (ioiii-.n I i King Join:, 1 ill 1 1 w th the !)crvi 1 ! 1 ! J (i Shoe, tlif s< 1 t ( i c i * I in i became ±m iriw in

\~ir-ri, Jri.n.s Ci.ax, in a Foreign Ofiieo ReiKH't on the trade of I>enniavk, gives an account of the working of the i t-curing; factories which have sprung up in that country since 1 when the English marketwas closed to live, pi fi ,n n il\ dl ii(. ]'v the eim or Isf) i eighteen ot t;v - r m I 1 1 il« i h 1 ■■■■•■;*. but JiIOSL o[ I ' O \ 1 ]_> < I I 1 t pier export trade. A I > tot\ i i-.u 1!\ by all the far l i ni J ui am who roar pigs sum proportionate to the number of pigs they will he able to deliver annually. Tin si u ities are held by the Bunk which «m tt- the loan for building the curing bouse. and it is usuallv st-ipn-lated t l ' 0 1 e \ 1 d 1 unit in ten wars. Ih ]i ti ptu -> 1n 1 theiu < ' < s t \ i l ) th i al! tljfi j.i ; (l i , 1 i i exacted on i 1 i i i< 1 h 11 1 taking. Li, , o <1 i 1 1 n iln grades of cpmlity, and payment is made in accordance with prices fixed by the Committee. a small percentage being di inn ml i l i u u t t md. The cook ito in t < l the payment (>li mill ji nd il ay divide any surplus on the year's operations in proportion to the weight of pork delivered by each member. At every caring bouc there is a shop for the sale of sausages, fat, and other by-pro-duets, and a great pa rt of ihc prolits of the establishment is obtained front this department. Hie bacon factories are vain able to 1 finish 6u nier-s a.s adjuncis to their e mm ,as the separated niiik is sol I, t< i i ait extent. Jor feediug pigs.

Souk lime ago, says tlio British Medical -journal, wo showed cause why early rNing, instead of being a virtue, as utiscientific moralists have taught us, should Ik 1 considered a mischievous practice condemned by sound physiology, as well as by the natural instinct of mankind. It now appears—if we are to believe an American specialist in mental disease—that, in stating the cast; against early rising, we did not go far enough. Dr. Seidell 11. Taleott, of Middleton New York, has recently called attention to the relative fre•piciiey with which farmers and their families become insane. The cause of this, we learn, has hitherto been thought to ho the isolation of their lives, the hard work they have to do, and perhaps the excessive use of " pie " and potatoes. Insanity in this country lias been attributed to almost everything from tea-drinking to the reading of tracts, but the influence of potato as an etiological factor is new to us. Perhaps our Irish brethren niav bo able to enlighten us oil the point. As to ♦« pic " —well, we have seen pies the chemical products of which we could easily believe would " work like madness iu the blood " of anyone rash enough to eat them. Dr. Taleott, however, believes that insanity among the bucolic class of the population is mostly due to the inhuman hours at which they are in the habit of getting up. Possibly some mav he disposed to think that early rising is rather j>rhn« )'<u-i <■ evidence of insanity than a cause of it; but, without going so far as this, we take it that most alienists will agree that the foolish feeling of superior virtue which the habit of early rising is apt to engender is akin to the exalted mental state which from precedes what Auguste C'oinfc (speaking to himself) called m'nr rrrrhmi. Hectical physchologists have a true collector's enthusiasm for a new species, and we hope that what we venture to call " matutinal mania " may find a place in the next classification of mental diseases that may be proposed.