A BY JESSE MACY, M. A., LL. D., Professor of Political Science, Iowa College. FEW months ago Germany and England were engaged in the coercion of the State of Venezuela in a manner which threatened the peace of neighboring States. Many surmises are in the air as to what was, in that affair, the real motive of the allied powers. One prevailing idea has been that the German Emperor, seeking occasion for extending his dominions in the New World, has formed designs upon portions of South America. The careful London Spectator definitely accused Emperor William of a deep-laid EMPEROR WILLIAM. In the uniform of his Death's Head Hussars. scheme to foment a quarrel between England and the United States. A railway is proposed through Asia Minor to the Persian Gulf, under the patronage of the Emperor, and the British government has just escaped being drawn into an alliance with Germany for its construction and use. Critics of the plan accuse the Kaiser of a deliberate purpose to secure English capital to perfect a German industrial and political enterprise, and, at the same time, to involve England in a disastrous dispute with Russia. Some years ago, terrible massacres of Christians took place in Armenia. The leading powers of Europe were under treaty obligations to prevent the continuance of the outrages, but we are told that their way was blocked by the interference of the German monarch. These are but samples of the charges brought against William II. in current discussion of world politics. Favorable criticisms are also not lacking. The Emperor has been accounted the great preserver of the peace of Europe and he is shown to have made progress in soothing the exasperated feelings of the French. While nearly every specific statement concerning the motives and the policy of the head of the German empire is subject to denial, since all are in the main matters of mere opinion, it is nevertheless true that taken together they single out the Kaiser as the greatest personal factor in the world politics of to-day. The great autocrat of all the Russias, though nominally absolute. seems to be conditioned and thwarted by adverse and unmanageable forces, as the Emperor is not, and the Tzar is, therefore. really less free. How happens it that the head of one of the most enlightened of the modern States, with a government resting upon constitutional guaranties, and in the most democratic of all the ages, holds the commanding position in domestic and foreign politics? The question admits of a definite and satisfactory answer. After ages of petty jealousies and unceasing strife the North-German States have become thoroughly welded into a harmonious and united Empire. Coincident with the triumph of united Germany came a great development in manufacture and commerce and to the Germans has suddenly dawned the consciousness that they are a great, industrious, and progressive people. Not only have these changes come suddenly, they have come in such a way as to cause the credit for the marvelous national advance to accrue to one or two individuals. After the Revolution of 1848, which drove the King of Prussia into exile, the old Emperor, William I., who was then Crown Prince of Prussia, formed a plan for reorganizing the Prussian army, which was carried out in the teeth of the most determined opposition. In the meantime, the Crown Prince became Regent, an later King William IV., of Prussia. THE STATE DINNER GIVEN TO EMPEROR WILLIAM BY THE KING OF ITALY DURING HIS RECENT VISIT. Throughout his strenuous and persistent endeavor to force the new policy upon the nation he had the effective coöperation of Prince Bismarck. In carrying out the reforms against the strongest popular resistance the King and his followers took their lives in their hands; they dared to violate the laws for the sake of the high ends of state; and the bold initiative of their great leaders forced the German people, in a manner against its will, to a commanding and triumphant position in the eyes of the astonished world. Not until the reorganized army had triumphed over Denmark, over Austria, and over France were the people reconciled to the King's purpose. Their conversion was thorough and complete. Not unnaturally a conviction became prevalent that the rulers of the German nation were possessed of superior wisdom. The old Emperor was hailed as the Father of all Germany, and the iron Chancellor as one embodying all political foresight. Because in the face of popular opposition practically universal they had compelled the people to accept a policy whose wonderful success suddenly gained for it universal ap of government. Even during the early struggles that led to the union of the German States, when matters were forced contrary to the law, care was taken to legalize every act as soon as possible. When the Emperor fails to convince his people that his policy is for the good of Germany, his peculiar power will be at an end. They realize far more keenly than do Americans or English the singular difficulties of their situation and the need of the most sagacious and far-sighted statesmanship in the conduct of the national affairs. Wedged in as they are between the two powerful and aggressive States of France and Russia, commercial rivalry has brought them THE KAISER IN KHAKI. Wearing the Khaki uniform of Colonel of the British proval, they received the unstinted homage It should be borne in mind that the conditions here described are not unfriendly to the development of a true democracy. A monarch who rules as does the German Emperor by popular approval is not likely to become a dangerous tyrant. The forms of constitutional monarchy are carefully observed, and the people are all the time being trained in the use of the machinery THE NEW GERMAN STATUE ERECTED IN HILLSIDE into a condition which threatens conflict with England. The unstable Austrian empire is likely to go to pieces on the death of the present aged Emperor, and when that impending event takes place the resources of Germany will be taxed to their utmost. Indeed, so difficult and so momentous are the problems near at hand for Germany to solve that it scarcely seems the part of wisdom to continue to regard her Emperor, powerful, aggressive, and erratic though he is, as a menace to distant States. GOLD-EXTRACTING DEVICE.-Edison, the inventor, has devised a scheme for extracting the gold in the "low grade" quartz gravel beds of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Northern Mexico, and Lower California. Gold is to be found in these regions in immense quantities, but the present method of extracting it from the gravel is too expensive to make mining profitable. The old-fashioned placer hydraulic system is lacking, but Mr. Edison thinks he has solved the problem of separating the gold from the gravel by an air blast. His machine has been tried in the desert near Sante Fe with favorable results. It is said that the Edison process reclaims 98 per cent. of the gold from the gravel, while 75 per cent. was washed out by the means employed in hydraulic mining. It may be doubted whether a larger percentage of gold will be saved than by the hydraulic process. The process is simple. A steam shovel digs the gravel out of the ground; conveyors carry it to sieves that separate it into particles of uniform size. In the separator the gravel falls through a narrow slit before a rotary blower, which drives a full blast of air against the falling mass. The sand and light gravel are blown into a separate compartment, while the particles of gold, being heavier, fall to the bottom of the machine. HYBRIDIZATION OF SEA-URCHIN AND STARFISH.-Dr. Jacques Loeb, professor of physiology, University of California, has recently given the first proof that it is not impossible to hybridize animals that are not in close blood relationship. By following the same idea that guided him in his experiments on artificial parthenogenesis, namely, that a slight change in the constitution of the seawater (or the blood) may give tissues properties that they do not possess ordinarily, he has succeeded in fertilizing the eggs of a seaurchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) with the sperm of a starfish (Asterias ochracea). Winnowing machines are in vogue in many regions having an insufficient supply of water, but generally the cost of handling the apparatus is so great that the profits are small. Edison's machine can handle large quantities of auriferous earth with a minimum employment of labor. If successful, it will affect mining in the deserts Several remarkable results were educed from Professor Loeb's experiments. He discovered a series of solutions in which the eggs of the sea-urchin can be fertilized by the sperm of the starfish, though such fertilization is impossible in normal seawater. Again, the seawater contains certain substances which, if added to these solutions, prevent such fertilization. But most wonderful of all is the fact that the same solutions in which the eggs of the sea-urchin can be fertilized by the sperm of the starfish render difficult or impossible the fertilization of the same eggs by the sperm of their own species. Yet in the same solutions the eggs of the seaurchin are very readily fertilized by the sperm of their own species, when those constituents of the seawater are added that inhibit the hybridization of the egg of the sea-urchin with the sperm of the starfish. Inasmuch as both the pure-blooded larvaæ and the parthenogenetic larvæ of the sea-urchin form a skeleton, while the larvæ of the starfish form no skeleton, it is of special interest that the hybrids between the two form no skeleton, or, at best, a very rudimentary one. Professor Loeb concludes that it is not impossible that the spermatozoon of the starfish contains substances that interfere with the formation of a skeleton. Also, the Professor concludes that these facts may have a bearing upon certain phenomena of infection and immunity. He feels almost convinced that, while in seawater, the eggs of the sea-urchin are immune against the sperm of the starfish, in the artificial solutions they become al of Australia and other gold countries most or completely immune against the where water is scarce. sperm of their own species, and at the same time lose their immunity for the sperm of the starfish. It is a remarkable fact that surprisingly small though very definite quantities of certain constituents of the seawater suffice to reverse the character of the immunity. advantages of an intensified illumination Heretofore, the great imperfection in the method of dark-field illumination has been the failure to eliminate all light reflected from the surfaces of the condensing lens and the microscopic objective. Whenever any of the light of the stronger illuminatory ray mingles with the weaker light reflected from the particle which is being observed, the visibility of that particle is proportionately blurred, just as the light of the rising sun gradually obscures a morning moon. Perfection in darkfield illumination has been attained when none of the light of the illuminatory ray enters the line of vision in the observation of an object through the microscopic objective, and the object is visible solely by virtue of its own reflected light. MEMORIZING has hitherto generally been effected by mastering a section at a time and repeating its predecessors with each addition. In such a method it is obvious that earlier sections are repeated much more frequently than later ones, and that special effort must be made to connect each section to its neighbors. Both defects would be remedied by memorizing the piece as a whole instead of by sections; and this alternative method has been tried in Germany first upon adults in a psychological laboratory and again upon twelveyear-old school boys. Both tests revealed the superiority of the entire method. Of, course, other factors enter into the rapidity with which a given selection can be learned by heart, such as the amount of attention, the familiarity and interest of the subject; but repetition is indispensable. This interference of the direct light of the illuminatory ray or of its reflected light from the surfaces of the condensing lens, with the reflected light of the object under observation, is overcome through the application of the principle that when the illuminatory ray is perpendicular to the axis of the microscopic objective any direct light or any light reflected from the surfaces of the condensing lens can no longer enter the line of vision of the observer, and hence can no longer interfere with the reflected light of the particle to be observed; provided that the condensing lens for the illumination of the object and the microscopic objective for the observation of the object are so adjusted as to meet at a common focus (A, fig. 1). It will be seen that with this construction no light reflected from the condensing lens (B), or passing through it directly, can possibly enter the microscopic objective (C), thereby permitting the observer of the particle located at A to view the same solely by virtue of its own reflected light. MICROSCOPE.-A discovery which may have far-reaching results in the field of scientific investigation and do much toward the further solution of the problem of the molecular construction of matter was recently made by two professors of Jena University-H. Siedentopf and R. Zsigmondy. They have discovered a new method of microscopic observation, whereby ultramicroscopic particles are not only made visible, but can also be studied with a view of determining their size. A full description was recently published by the inventors in the German scientific journal Annalen der Physik (volume 10, 1903), and reprints of the same are to be had by interested parties by addressing the men above named. The method consists mainly in a powerful artificial illumination of the particles to be observed. These particles, because of their minuteness, exert no material influence upon the vibratory period of the light waves, and hence appear to the observer as self-illuminating, or luminous objects, by virtue of their reflected light. Since, however, the reflected light is weaker than the original illuminating beam, it is necessary, in order to secure the |