The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 27, 1903, Page 5

- vement in the and social ts of Ire- il & ’ she was ¥ he i inant partner ful Irish struggle beg five years 2 >h S ell was be- who Gladstone Home adership first of ward of head- al quarters .\ called “C: * as an indi- eation of n. Recog- mizing tha: hopeless mi- pority in the Bri rii#ment they tried to c ith one or the other of t parties by mtly wal awber, for the very Instead of con- 1 of ot a oppo- n. Instea v He was sice ¢ € n He believed ¢ show “I care nothing ng for its exist- s to ec and destru VVONDERS OF By William Greer Harrison [ (S 2l oS e lling effect, so that “moderates” became r Michael Davitt, the sh patriot, who had just been released from Da where or prison, he had spent ove ven years as a Fenian convict, jolned the Parnell forces, and his example was followed by thousands w had lost faith in “‘constitutional »thods of fighting. F ssor Galbraith of Trinity College, d Home Ruler, said to Parnell, You are in rebellion.” “Yes,” was the answer, “but in justifiable rebellion. Englishmen will not give me an op- portunity of concerning myself about the affairs of my own country, and [ mean to concern myself about the af- fa of their country rom that day to this is has been the policy of the Irish Parliamentary party to stand aloof from alliance with - either of the great English parties—Liberal or Tory—as the case ¢ be, but always to act and vote independent body. Like Jay who, as he expressed it, was etimes for the Republ at er times for the Demo but vs for the Erie Railroad, so the h members sometimes acted with Liberals, at other tim with To- always for Ireland. This pol- dhered to, has won yie of Ireland many vic- lly in the passage of « nd acts,- culminating in the nd greatest known as the 1 land act. With regard to political rights and zes of description the representatives have forced the tion from both the great Eng- rties that there shall be no dis- i in future as against Ire- thus reversing the old policy of al legislation in favor of England tland otland every on , It may be asked, does want now? Will she never “Never,” cry her lead- ers, “until she has her own Parlia- ment to make her own laws and look after her own interests,” similar to the legislatures in the various States of the American union. The central- ized bure acy known as Dublin Castle must go. There are too many Englishmen and Scotchmen holding positions under the present system to suit the “men in the gap,” ative who have sacrificed much in their ntry's cause and expect now to some of the rewards. Pat will be eatisfied with the crumbs, but ts his full share of Dublin Castie ool 'RADIUM LL sclentists in all ages have begun their investigations on recurring acdldents with what is called & wor hypothes that is, in ord nce, a good guess. So it is with lh‘: latest scier , radium, which appears te throw off continuously an amount of energy of & very high order w out loss in weight or diminution in force. It also appears to send out par- ticles of matter the light which it yields. In that respect the radium light differs from sun or electric light, and unless & mechanical or chemical shield can be placed between the particles of matter and any object upon which the light is turned there would be dan- ger, where the object is a delicate one, of its serious hurt, if not destruction. A great deal has been claimed for ra- @ium. A great deal was and is claimed for the Roentgen ray and the Finson ray, but we must not expect too much at the moment from any one of these discoveries. They are all three of the ghighest velue in the world of science, but their introduction to the world as remedial agents will be deferred until we know more of them. Already the X-ray an@*the Finson ray dave been most usefully applied—but even with them the application is for the present limited. Radium is in & class by itself and is & wonder-worker. Of course the sensa- side of the discovery has been to death in the press. Romantio with vivid imagination have in radium what Ponce de Leon n Florida—the elixir of life. The are to be healed, the deaf made nd the lame to walk, by the A number of quasi les have already been offered to public, but scientific men have ced these stories where they belong. No man’'s sight has been restored, no deaf mute has been made to speak or hear, and the lame have refused to tior rs use of rad um. the possibilities of this wender- metal, this radium, must set us all ng, and in our guessing we may find that working hypothesis to which ] have previously referred. Now fu it is time to come down to the story of radium itself, which I premise by saying that the world owes its grat- ftude to Madame Curie, the prime dis- coverer « for bringing into radium, practical science the most remarkable physical phenomenon humanity has see Br fly, the facts of the remarkable discovery are as follows: A French chemist named Becquerel had acci- dentally placed a sensitive photo- graphic plate wrapped in light-proof paper in a drawer with a piece of the phosphorescent salt of the element m. Several days later it oc- rred to him to develop the plate, and to his amazement he found that, in spite of the darkness of the drawer, and In spite of the light-proof en- velope, the plate had been affected. Subsequent investigations proved that the uranium rays resembled the so- called X rays in their power to pene- trate apparently opaque objects. Becquerel confined his attentions to uranium, not dreaming that almost within his grasp was one of the most important discoveries of the age. It was at this hour that Madame Curie was led to the study of uranium compounds and luminous substances. A woman of brilliant scientific attain- ment, she brought a wgll-developed mind to the work. Bhe began an ex- haustive research of the residue of pitchblende, & pecutlar black ere found in Bohemia, Saxony, Cornwall and Colorado, from which uranium is derived. Assisted by her husband, also a sclentist, Madame Curie thor- oughly examined a specimen of Bo- hemian pitchblende residue utterly devoid of uranium, and found it much more active than any uranium salt. It was clear from this that energetic substances never even thought of re- mained te be identified. The search of this remarkable wom- an resulted in the discovery of twe elements. One she named “polon- fum,” after the land of her birth; the other was christened “radium.” Both were found to be “radio-active”—a word invented by Madame Curie. The details of her investigations are in- teresting. In the first place, she had to se- cure several tons of pitchblende res- idue. This enormous mass*was found to contain nearly all the metals to a greater or less degree. It was neces- sary to separate such different metals as lead and calcium sulphate, silica, iron, oxide, aluminum, copper, bis- muth, zinc, cobalt, antimony, niobium, barium, nickel, tantalium, arsenic and others. Finally, after much costly chemical work, the Curies reduced the pitchblende residue into portions containing different elements. These were separately exposed to photo- graphic plates wrapped in light-proof paper for the purpose of isolating THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. MEN WHO HAVE BEBN IN OF IRELAND'S ¢ those which were radio-active. The active substances were concentrated by arduous processes, until at last a few hundredths of a grain of enor- mously active radium were obtained. The accepted theory of radium is that it is an element that shoots oft particles of itself into space at such terrifio speed that 100,000 miles a sec- ond is considered a low estimate. “ot- withstanding the fact that this waste goes on continually and at such enor- mous velocity the actual loss Is almost nothing. One result of this marvelous emission of particles is the maintenance of heat three degrees higher than the alr which surrounds it. It has been proved that radium not only possesses this remarkable property, but that its rate of heat emission remains un- changed regardless of the temperature of the element which surrounds it. In other words, there is no percep- tible variation when the alir that sur- rounds it 1s of 90 degreses or that of 812 degrees Fahrenheit, when air be- comes liquid. Bo wonderful is this ele- ment given to the world by Mme. Curie that the most brilllant scientific inves- tigators both here and abroad are put- ting forth the greatest systematized efforts to discover new properties. Con- Jectures that seem wildly improbable are daily made public, yet it cannot be denied that radium has extraordinary possibilities. It is so highly luminous that print can be read by its light, and, curiously enough, it possesses the pow- er of imparting its own luminosity to other bodies which iIn their normal state are quite Inactive. 8o powerful is the photographic ac- tion of radium that it is capable of pen- etrating black paper and other opaque objects as readily as sunlight passes through clear glass. Held against the temple of a blind man radium will so affect the retina that the sensation of light is produced. Applied to the nerve centers of small animals the rays par- alyze and ultimately kill. As this dead- ly effect can be produced with a minute speck it can be easily understood that radium in any quantity would be dis- astrous to human beings. Professor Curie even asserts that he would not venture Into a room contain- ing two or three pounds of the element for fear that his eyesight would be de- stroyed, his skin burned and possibly he would be fatally stricken. Radium destroys the germinating power of seeds, kills the larvae of butterflies and had such a bactericidal effect that it has been used to good purpose in the treatment of skin diseases, and even in cancer. Its power of causing other bodies to become luminous renders it invaluable in the testing of precious stones. By its aid diamonds are ren- dered phosphorescent and can thus be readily distinguished from paste imi- tations, which are not so sensitive to the rays. Recent writers on the subject have gone so far as to say that a pound of radium uncontrolled would annihilate the earth, that in smaller portions it would aid in the transmutation of metals, that it may solve the problam of light without heat, perfect wireless communication and achieve possibilities still beyond the horizon of our knowl- edge. Many hypotheses have been ad- vanced to.explain the wonderful mani- festations of radium. It is considered certain that part of the emanations are streams or torrents of material parti- cles infinitely smaller than the atom, which until now has been considered the smallest subdivision of matter, pro- jected incessantly by the subject itself with a speed at least 100,000 miles a sec- ond. Beyond this fact little is known. It is yet to be determined what prop- erty of matter permits any form of it to maintain a practically eternal en- ergy in expelling a stream of frag- ments of its own mass so small that they cause no appreciable loss in weight, and what is the form of the matter thus projected. HE study of temperaments con- siders all characteristics of the body which show any mental pe- culiarity. For two thousand years it has been recognized to be a subject of great importance. For many years it has been known that a study of tem- peraments was one of the best ways of learning to know people as they really are. Only lately has the importance of a knowledge of temperaments been considered as useful for the teacher. Seldom, if ever, has been emphasized the importance of parents studying this subject, that they may train more sat- isfactorily their own children. Every person knows in a vague sort of way that many whom they meet have their characters stamped indeli- bly upon their faces. So clearly do their characteristics stand out that we feel almost able to read their thoughts. How few have ever considered the im- portance of determining, roughly at least, the temperament which predom- inates in each child. Yet to a large ex- tent parents might thus determine not only the best treatment for the train- ing of any child, but they could fre- quently determine for what profession - each one is best suited. While few, it any, have emphasized this fact, still fewer will dare deny the truth of the statement. A very large proportion of ruined children are the victims of training, such as the jparent would never have subjected them to had they appreciated the peculiarities of certain tempera- ments. After having determined their own temperaments parents should try to de- termine what characteristics of any temperament are most marked in each child. Having certainly determined this, a few suggestions may be of untold value to the present and future wel- fare of the child. The Nervous Temperament. Hair, light brown; eyes, generally gray; complexion, clear: face generally tapers toward narrow chin; nose, rath- o The present leader of the Irish Par- Hamentary party is John E. Redmond, one of the very few really eloquent speakers In the present House of Com- mons. After a stumping tour in Aus- tralla on behalf of the Irish Land T.eague he visited San Francisco, ac- companied by his brother Willlam, about twenty years ago. They were well received and left a most favorable impression. He has been in Parliament ever since and was one of Parnell’s most faithful adherents. When at the behest of Gladstone the majority of the Irish members dethroned Parmell from the leadership in consequence of the divorce scandal of Shea vs. Parnell, John Redmond stuck to his chief. When the party, after having been long di- vided, was reunited John Dillon with- drew in favor of Redmond and he has shown himself admirably qualified for the leadership. He is supported by many able debaters and experienced parliamentarians, but among them none =o brilliant and able as Willlam O’'Brien, who has suffered great pri- vations and hardships in the cause of Ireland. He came very near losing his life at the hands of a mob of Orange- men in Kingston, Canada, for daring to talk in that city about home rule for Ireland. The determination of Willlam O’'Brien to resign his seat in Parlia- ment and withdraw from public life 18 received with great sorrow by his colleagues of the Irish Parliamentary party and his countrymen of nearly every class and creed. John Red- mond declares his loss would be al- most irreparable and calls on the United Irish League and Irishmen fgenerally to do all that Is possible to induce Mr. O'Brien to reconsider his decision. Of all the men prominent in the Irish struggle against land- lordism and English misrule for the last twenty years Willlam O’Brien is the most popular. Parnell was a great leader and master of men, but he was not an orator. He was cold and distant In manner and hated to speak from a public platform. Sent to a school in England when a boy and afterwards to the Unilversity of Cambridge he had the coldness of style and mannerisms of speech of an Englishman. O'Brien, on the contrary, was in his element on the public platform. On the green hillside, “where every sod beneath his feet was an Irish patriot's sepulcher,” he played upon his audience as “Ethon of the Hills” played upon the harp, moving them to tears and laughter at will. Fragile in frame and- weak in & TOBRIN Sl fealtW his menfal vigor madsteréqd Hid bodily weakness, and he went through scenes and strife like that described by St. Paul as to what he endured in his labors as Apostle of the Gentiles. If O’Brien had been born in France at the time of Lafayette he would prob- ably have been found at the top of a barricade or leading a forlorn hope against the Bastile. The whole ap- pearance of the man Indicates a restless, enthusiastic character like what we would expect to find in Peter the Hermit at the time of the Crusades. He began life in the hum- blest walk of journalism and step by step he advanced until he became edi- tor of United Ireland, a newspaper founded by Parnell in oppeosition to the Freeman's Journal, which was considered too slow for the times. He proved himself the very embodiment of the militant journalist. Day after day he poured hot shot into the camp of the enemy. The Chief Secretary for Ireland at the time, Mr. Forster felt that either United Ireland should be crushed or that he should pull up his stakes and quit. The paper was suppressed and William O’Brien was put into prison as a “sus- pect” without trial before judge or jury. . When William Forster threw up the sponge and retired from the administration of Irish affairs O’'Brien was released only to continue in still flercer and more deflant tone his at- tacks upon the coercion regime. It is remarkable what a number of the supporters of the Parnell policy be- longed to the journalistic profession. A. M. and T. D. Sullivan, Sexton, Healy, O’Brien, Harrington, T. P. O’Connor, Justin MecCarthy and his son, Justin Huntly McCarthy, made imperishable names for themselves as heroes in the st Most of them have risen to fame and fortune. Space will permit me only to refer to one of this bright galaxy. Not since the days of Burke and Sheridan did an Irish orator command such attention in the House of Commons as Thomas Sexton, rife. the present editor of the Dublin Freeman's Journal. When the House had Dbarely a quorum present, the whisper, “Sexton is on his legs,” was sufficient to fill the empty benches with members of every party. In ¢ sequence of his brilliant record he had the exceptional honor of election to Parliament from an Ulster constitu- ency within the very corral of the enemy. Since his retirement the most strenuous efforts have been made, in vain, to induce him to return to the scene of his triumphs in the House of Commons. Gladstone, in a letter to Lady Wellseley, described Sexton as a “master” and acknowledged “in mat- ters of finance he was second to none.” As Lord Mayor of Dublin Sexton made a most enviable record At present he believes he can serve his country best by sticking to his pest in the editorial chair of the Freeman's Journal, where his services are called into great requisition since the pas- sage of the Wyndham land bill. He has passed through the darkness and the dangers of the jungle and the for- est into the open and now sees a clear path and bright sunshine over- head. CHILD TEMPERAMENTS ‘ By Wm. J. Shearer, A.M.Pd.D. er narrow; neck, longer than usual; build, rather light; often quite tall and very thin. A child of nervous temperament is apt to be impulsive and excitable, quickly provoked and jugt as quickly reconciled, persistent in" work, very apt to study harder in school than is best, apt to be cheerful, likely to speak quite rapidly. in many cases undecided about action. ‘What terrible mistakes parents are daily making in the treatment of the child of nervous temperament! The uervous child acts on the minute from impulse. If such a child is angry or stubborn, don’t be too hasty. Give the child a little time. Speak gently and quietly. The result will be the child will change for the better in a moment. The government of such a child must contain much of love, though it may be full of quiet determination. Parents should beware lest, by harsh treatment, they rouse all the worst passions of the child’s soul. It is just as easy to give such a child the direction needed, In a way which will enlist all its best sym- pathies. It is a nervous child who ia found breaking down mentally and physically because of over-study. Such a child is apt to gain In mind at the expense of his Lealth, The Lymphatic Temperament. Light hair and eyes; complexion, without much color; face, square; nose, rather flat; neck, short; bulld, rather heavy A chlld of the lymphat- fe temperumml is not apt to be im- pulsive or excitable, is not easily pro- voked, finds it hard to forgive, plods along persistently, rather slow of mo- tion and of speech, cares little for mus- cular exercise. The child of a lymphatic tempera- ment needs a little more vigorous treatment than the nervous child. While parents should at all times be kind, they may be more energetic and force- ful with a child of this temperament. Such a child will not need so much di- rection as the nervous child. However, he will stand, without great injury, far more harshness. A child of this dispo- sition is often believed to be stubborn, whereas in truth the child is naturally slow to comprehend and act. The Billous Temperament. Hair, quite dark or black; eyes, quite dark; complexion, dark: face, rather square; nose, somewhat / outspread; neck, short: build, quite heavy. A child of a bilious temperament is not apt to be impulsive or serious. Is likely to be rather passionate, re- vengeful, jealous and, in many cases, unscrupulous. In work and play, ear- nest, persistent, careful and decided. Next to the nervous child the child of bilious temperament is most apt to be greatly injured by improper meth- ods of management. The child of a sanguine or of the lymphatic tempera- ment will stand a great deal of im- proper treatment without being great- ly injured. Not so with those of other temperaments. How many children of this temperament have been driven from school or from home to the jail or the gallows because of improper treat- ment! The child of this temperament will not soon forget its tiger There will remain the pouting ai mean dis- position to get even. He is almost as hard to deal with as a balky horse. Nothing but great kindness will enable a parent to properly manage the child of this temperament. Beware of too much harshness here, especially with the older child. The Sanguine Temperament. Halr, reddish; eyes, quite light, gen- erally blue; complexion, quite florid; face, nose and neck same as billous temperament. A child of the sanguine temperament, like the child with the nervous temper- ament, is likely to be implusive, ex- citable, quickly provoked and easily reconciled. He Is apt to be quite cheer- ful and look on the bright side of things. Less imaginative than the child of nervous temperament but more emo- tional. A child of this temperament is likely to be happy in the pursuilt of any object, little or great. The sanguine child is really quite hard to manage at times. Tears flow quite easily. Angry looks and improper words are likely to be frequent. This child must have a firm government. There need be very little said if it is spoken in kindness, but what is said must be sald with firmness. While it is very easy to find chfldren who show most of the characteristics of some one temperament, it Is very difficult to find a child who shows all the characteristics of any temperament. Nearly all have what may be called mixed temperaments, which show some of the characteristics of two or more temperaments. However, one of the four mentioned will probably predomi- nate. While some may prefer one tempera- ment and others another, it would seem that that individual is mest fortunate who Is blessed with a balanced temper- ament. In the balanced temperament the four temperaments blend, so that the objectionable tendencies in each are tempered in such a way as to give the most satisfactory results.