In the weaving of fabrics, China has taught us to make use of the fibres of ramie and nettle fibre. In 1841 a missionary returned from China and told how thread made from ramie fibre had been woven into beautiful and delicate cloth in China from the most ancient times. Nobody listened to him until the English took up the idea and imported nettle fibre, which they called China grass, and used it in their silk fabrics with the greatest success.

If the spirit of routine, whether in science or industry, did not paralyze the Chinese spirit until it becomes a perpetual paradox, what practical inventions might not have been known to the Chinese ages ago! But a brilliant idea, an invention, has scarcely begun among them before it is brought to a halt, without any general development. This is the history of Chinese civilization, which has itself been crystallized for centuries. Later the people of the West take up the original Chinese idea, and it flashes out as a modern invention a second-hand invention, one might almost say.

Our illuminating gas is a typical example. The soil of China is rich in deposits of mineral oil, and for a long time the Chinese have drawn off these combustible oils by means of wells. Sometimes these liquid deposits were under such pressure that they burst out through the surface of the soil in the form of black vapors. We have a description of a salt works, whose hot rooms were heated by means of gas drawn from a well, and carried through bamboo tubes to the factory. With another extension of this primitive piping they lighted the courtyard and outbuildings. Other accounts tell us of the lighting of cities by the same process. All this was in the sixteenth century. Europeans would have smiled at such stories and declared them to be fables, until long afterward Europeans

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Gunpowder was made in 400 B.C The Chinese made several kinds by mixing it with arsenic or cinnabar. AF these powders were in big grains, which}}} either burst firearms or swiftly wore them out. It seemed as if these peaceful people did not invent the powders so much as a means of destruction as for a pretty pyrotechnic toy. The Chinese have always been fond of fireworks, and they were for a long time. unrivaled in their beautiful flowers. symbolic animals, and sheaves of fire in all shades. They reached perfection in producing fruit, especially grapes, in their natural colors by mingling, according to the color desired, camphor, white lead, indigo, and cinnabar. These fireworks were topped off with beautiful flaming swans, which escaped from their places to glide out over the waters of a neighboring lake before they sank hissing into its depths.

Dare we speak of ancient Chinese medicine? Yes, we may well let our modern doctors smile when we recall the theory of 'humours' of the eighteenth century, which after all is not very far removed from our time. We can easily recall what was the condition even of modern medicine before Pasteur's day- and that is only yesterday.

In the fifth century before our era a certain Pien-ts'iao declared war on Sorcery, which before that time had made the diagnosis, the physician being nothing but the executor of the sorcerer's will. Pien-ts'iao invented the Chinese theory of the pulse. An anææsthetic, whose effects were like those of ether or chloroform, was used in China in 220 A.D. by the surgeon Haoua-t'ouo. This is established beyond doubt by the text of Kou kin yi

t

t

tong, which was brought to the attention of the Academy of Sciences in 1849 by Stanislas Julien.

The Chinese anæsthetic, known as ma yao, — that is to say, 'the remedy which takes away feeling,'- was extracted from Indian hemp, which also yields hashish. The old Chinese text tells us, ‘Haoua-t'ouo gave a dose of ma yao to the patient, who a few minutes later became unconscious that is, as though he were deprived of life. As the case demanded, Haoua-t'ouo would operate upon the person or amputate, and remove the cause of the sickness. Then he would draw the tissues together at the point of incision and apply ligatures. After a few days the sick man was on his feet again without having felt the least pain during the operation.' This text from the year 220 makes the controversy over who first discovered ether seem childish.

The Chinese inventive spirit found an application for mercury in a very amusing way. Little puppets were devised whose bodies contained a drop of mercury, causing the little manikin to jump about in the oddest way. Have we not here the origin of those mechanical toys that are the joy of every child on the Boulevard?

While we are on the subject, let us not forget those Chinese charlatans who traveled over China exhibiting their magic eggs. These eggs had char

acters and designs in relief on their shell. These were made by drawing with a fatty substance and then plunging the egg into vinegar. The acid dissolved the calcareous matter of the shell, leaving the parts protected by the fat standing out in relief. Is not this Chinese experiment like our process of etching?

It is interesting to note these examples of ancient Chinese inventive genius. Without exaggerating the merits of the old Chinese, without wishing to claim for them precedence in all our discoveries, it is fascinating to turn back to these thousand-year-old 'hints,' which might have had practical development and become 'scientific,' if the original idea had not been mummified from the very moment of its emergence from the Chinese mind. With this people, application has never followed the idea. It conceives, it sketches out, but it falls back into lethargy, leaving to the peoples in the West the energetic effort before which it recoils.

Alluding to certain French discoveries that have never left the laboratory, and that others have later turned to good account, Schopenhauer has called the French the Chinese of Europe. Personally, I do not find that bad company if I may believe Voltaire, who wrote: 'Inventors will always hold first place in the memory of mankind.'

ASTONISHMENT on all sides. No escape from it. Wherever you open the book, from the middle of the first volume on, you shake your head, ask yourself whether you are dreaming, and shake your head again. Is it possible that this was written by that General whom William II honored above all others, in fact raised to the rank of Field-Marshal? Did he write this down, day by day, without a faltering of the pen? And his own nephew, likewise a General by the grace of William, is willing to publish all this to the world in the day of the young Republic which he hates, and during the lifetime of the uncrowned man of Doorn? Ah, if he were not at Doorn, but still on the throne, how soon the name of the dead uncle would be dropped from the army list and from the scroll of the Prussian orders, and how quickly the living nephew, accused and convicted of lèsemajesté and high treason to the thousandth degree, would be cast into prison for all time with the usual loss of all civil rights!

'Oh, would to God that I were in a position to say something good about the Kaiser at least once in a while!' writes William's favorite in his diary. But the honest chronicler was in a position to set down more evil things about his Kaiser than any sworn enemy of the monarchy or the most malignant Communist would ever dare.

And yet Count Alfred von Walderse was the confidential friend and th political schoolmaster of Prince Wi liam. And a very satisfactory one. To him the Crown Prince, later the Emperor Frederick, was 'a very weak man,' without settled opinions, and extremely uncertain in his aims, greatly prejudiced in favor of liberal ideas, as he notes in his diary under the date November 25, 1883. 'Quite different is his son, Prince William, who is already a man of character and forms decided opinions of his own. As weak as the father is, just so unyielding will be the son.'

On March 14, 1885: "The Prince was here a long time. . . . I have stopped making notes of his visits, as he comes so often; sometimes every day. I feel that he is much nearer to me now, and I believe that I have read his mind and heart. He certainly has the stuff to make a brilliant future out of. He is clever, industrious, lively, and persistent in following up an idea. He possesses a hard head, and already shows decidedly conservative tendencies, and a marked conception of his future duties. To all appearances he likes and trusts me.'

Two months before this, on January 16, Waldersee had written: 'Possibly he has n't exactly too much heart; but in my opinion this is a good thing for him and his future.'

Waldersee devoutly hoped for the coming of a great war; 'but how can we ask that of an eighty-eight-year-old Kaiser and a seventy-year-old Chancelor?' he complains on October 15, 1885. Both on November 1, 1886, and January 27, 1887, he sets it down frankly as a sacred duty 'even to force a war with France.' He is therefore delighted to be able to note, under the date February 15, 1887: 'Prince William is naturally very bellicose, and regrets that matters seem to be somewhat more peaceful lately. My opinion, that things would begin to move again rapidly when we increased the army, pleased him greatly.'

Unfortunately, Bismarck was averse to war. On November 17, 1887, Waldersee notes: 'Since we are fully prepared, consistency demands that we make up our minds immediately to make war.' In furtherance of this idea, he advises Prince William to get permission to be present at all councils presided over by the Kaiser. He demands 'action.' It is better to 'seize the initiative than to leave it to the enemy.'

At this time the General exercised such an influence over the Prince that he was able to persuade both Prince and Princess William to attend a meeting in the General-Staff building, at which Stöcker, the well-known Jewbaiting court preacher, was to be eulogized. The Prince spoke of him as the 'modern Luther,' while Bismarck savagely attacked all kinds of 'Stöckerism and bigotry.' On the same occasion, the Chancellor protested against Waldersee's war lust. Concerning this charge, Waldersee is filled with mockery and derision: it all came from jealousy and the fear that 'I might cut out "dear Herbert," Bismarck's son, in the Prince's good graces.' 'I took the liberty of giving Prince William a little information concerning his friend

Herbert Bismarck, and he seemed in no way annoyed at it,' he writes on December 15, 1887, in his Memoirs.

Two days later there was a council at the Imperial Palace - Moltke, Waldersee, the Minister of War, General Albedyll, and, for the first time, Prince William. Subject: a two-front war with France and Russia. "The dear old gentleman (the Kaiser) begins to grow pretty feeble,' notes Waldersee. For again the Kaiser expressed no desire at all for war, and warned the Prince to make no mention of the meeting. 'The Chancellor, too,' observes Waldersee about New Year's, 'is no longer the same as of old. The 'world war" is not far off and we are the ones to start it, but the Kaiser absolutely refuses, and the Chancellor manifests still less desire. . . . Bismarck declares it his duty to avoid war. . . . Our foreign policy is carried on in an extremely pacifist manner, and to our disadvantage,' repeats Waldersee bitterly.

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Fortunately, an apparently permanent coolness between Prince William and the Bismarck family seemed to be brewing. Certain newspapers began to attack the 'so-called military warparty.' 'I am in a position to prove that these articles emanate from Bismarck.' In exchange, Waldersee had now won 'a particularly favorable standing with Prince William,' as he notes on February 2.

Then came the death of the old Kaiser. Waldersee lost no time in suggesting to Prince William, now Crown Prince, 'with the greatest frankness,' that 'the new Kaiser and his Empress would in all probability commit so many blunders that the Prince's future would be very favorably prepared for.' Day in and day out intimate interviews between William and Waldersee. On April 6, 1888, the General writes, 'If Kaiser Frederick

were a man he would kick the Chancellor out to-day.' On April 8: 'I still think we ought to go to war with Russia and France now, while we have Austria and Italy as allies. . . . That Bismarck refuses to recognize this is a fatal mistake.'

The Emperor Frederick contemplated the transfer of the General to another post in order to make an end of his mischievous influence upon the Crown Prince, but nothing was done. Waldersee sarcastically remarks in his diary that customs

become

strangely milder. 'One hundred and fifty years ago, Katte lost his head on account of his evil influence with the Crown Prince, while I am to get the command of an army corps for the same offense!'

"Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one,' were William and Waldersee during the fateful ninety-nine days of Frederick's reign, and not less so thereafter. The General was made honorary chief of a regiment - the highest military distinction - and became the great Moltke's successor as Chief of the General Staff. He felt himself already the 'coming man.' To be sure, he does not precisely confess that he desires the post of Chancellor, but he writes on February 9, 1889, 'when one or two of his (Bismarck's) successors have broken their necks, something might be said about it.' And on March 1, 1890, he observes that, while he certainly does not care to be Bismarck's successor, yet, 'in case the Kaiser desires to abolish universal suffrage and cannot make use of Bismarck in that contingency, I offer myself for the task.'

He rejoiced at that time at his relations with the young Kaiser - 'better ones are not possible.' William 'is very considerate, and always of my mind.' In fact, he felt things going so well that doubts arose in his mind whether

the situation could last. Alas, the end! was nearer than he imagined, and not only in outward things, but in the opinion of the quondam favorite concerning his imperial patron.

The Memoirs shed a totally new ligh: upon the manner in which Waldersee. with Count Philipp Eulenburg and other conspirators, set to work to bring about the fall of Bismarck.

With a brutal cynicism without parallel, the great Chancellor branded as a liar and a cheat, an inefficient, dogmatic, tyrannical blackguard. In fact, terms are used in the manuscript of such a foulness that the editor dared not print them, substituting for them merely the conventional line of dots. Waldersee represents the Kaiser as invariably hostile to Bismarck. But the problem is to coach the Kaiser aright, for, with all his faults, the Chancellor is still a clever and extremely cunning character. Under no circumstances must it be thought that the Kaiser wants to get rid of Bismarck,' he writes on January 12, 1890.

Three days later he writes to Eulenburg that when the break came it was most important that public opinion should not be with the Chancellor. The contrary must happen, 'which I don't think should be difficult.' The Kaiser must be given to understand that the Chancellor is 'engaged in serious financial operations in connection with the Bourse, especially with Bleichröder' (at this point more apologetic dots). Under the date January 25, the diary records: "The Kaiser is in a very excited state of mind and complains bitterly of the Chancellor, whose lies he has now discovered for himself.' On February 14, Waldersee says, having already a few days. before prophesied the Chancellor's fall, 'the moment is by no means unfavorable for the Kaiser.'