ELECTRICITY IN THE FAR EAST.
The willingness of the Japanese to adopt, without reserve, says a writer in the Electrical World, a civilization totally different in character from that under which they had previously lived, is one of their most striking characteristics. While they are very conservative in many ways, they are the most liberal people in the world in others. Twice in their history they have experienced a complete change of front, and adopted a foreign civilization. The first time was many centuries ago, when Chinese civilization, with its literature, manufactures, and science, was found to be better than their own, and its adoption raised them from a state of barbarism to one of comparatively high civilization; and now, in these last few decades, the new civilization of the West has been adopted to a degree that must astonish anyone who has a thorough understanding of the magnitude of the change that has taken place. In no way is this change made more evident than in the hold which electricity has taken in the past five years. The telegraph, of course, has been in use since soon after the opening of the country, and now extends to all parts of the empire. When it was first established, there were many amusing occurrences, due to the inability of the people to understand how the message was sent over the wire. The writer's first visit to Japan was early in 1886, and one day he was, with a guide, walking over a remote mountain road along which passed a telegraph line. A countryman was met who had seated himself by the roadside and was intently watching the wire. The gaze was so fixed that the guide asked what he was doing, and he replied that he was waiting to see a message go along the wire, that he had watched many times since it was put up, but had never been able to see anything. This incident was, perhaps, no more amusing than the reception of the telephone in Rio Janeiro. The writer was in that city when the exchange was being started, and considerable opposition was shown, as the people supposed nothing but English could be spoken, and, in order to be able to use it, they must learn that language.