PROBABLY the remotest and loneliest spot on earth is the little island of Tristan d'Acunha. This speck of an island, which is only seven miles long and six wide, lies almost midway between Africa and South America, and a thousand miles south of the equator.
When Napoleon was imprisoned on St. Helena, it was thought that the loneliest place in the world had been assigned to him as a prison. But St. Helena is fourteen hundred miles nearer a continent than is Tristan d'Acunha. Many hundreds of miles of ocean lie between it and the smallest island nearest to it. Tristan, in short, is a tiny oasis in a boundless wilderness of water, go from it in which direction you will.
It is a rocky and cliff-girt little isle, with a solitary mountain a thousand feet high rearing itself from the midst. Weeks and sometimes even months elapse without so much as the film of a ship's sail being espied in the distance from its shores.
Yet on this lonely speck of rock and earth, there lives a bright, cheerful, thrifty Christian community which is, seemingly, quite happy in its isolation from all the rest of the world. There are about a hundred inhabitants, all Englishmen and English women. The oldest inhabitant is a man of seventy-eight, who was wrecked on the island fifty years ago, and has ever since dwelt there, and has become the patriarch of the little company.
An English captain, returning from a long voyage, in the course of which he anchored at Tristan, has recently given a very interesting account of the community. Those who compose it are one and all farmers, cattle-raisers, and shepherds. In the valleys of the island are fertile fields, where potatoes mainly are grown. On the slopes were grazing some seven hundred head of cattle and as many sheep. The food of the people consists for the most part of beef, mutton, fowls, potatoes, and fish.
As to the dwellings, they are described as being kept very clean and tidy, as we might expect from English people, and the people themselves are healthy, robust, and long-lived. They have some whaling-boats, and are very adventurous in their sea-roaming after whales. They sometimes row as far as twenty miles out to sea to intercept a passing ship.
It is often the case that that region is assailed by mighty tempests of wind, while the island is subjected at times to what are called the "rollers"—huge masses of high-raised water which fairly inundate the lofty shores.
Tristan used formerly to produce many fruits and vegetables which can no longer be grown there. The reason of this is that the island is overrun by rats, which escaped from a ship that anchored there, and which the people have never been able to exterminate.
The people have preserved the customs of their English native land. In the center of the settlement stands the little English church, to which all the inhabitants repair on Sunday mornings. Thus the church bells of England, and the prayer and praise of the home churches, find a faint echo across the leagues of ocean which stretch between the motherland and the lonely rock of the Southern seas.
The people of Tristan, solitary as their island is, steadfastly refuse to leave it. They look upon it as their home; to some it is their native land. The ships which now and then touch upon its shores in vain offer to bring them back to the haunts of civilization. They have grown to love their loneliness, and to be content with a lot which is strange and pathetic indeed.—Youth's Companion.
The Unworthiness of God’s Children
By Leighton
LET not unworthiness scare the children of God. Parents love their children and do them good, not because they see that they are more worthy than others, but because they are their own.—Leighton.
SECULAR.
—Eight inches of snow fell October 20, at Ishpening, Mich.
—In most parts of Ireland no rent is paid. Boycotting is virulent.
—The Servian Government has expelled every journalist from Nissa.
—Workmen are engaged in putting gold-pointed lightning rods on the Washington monument.
—A gang of expert forgers in New York has been “unearthed,” and the principal actors arrested.
—The cotton-cushion scale-bug is doing considerable damage in the vicinity of Healdsburg, Cal.
—Recently $9,000,000 in coin was shipped in fruit cars from the San Francisco mint for Washington.
—An investigation into the diseases of cattle in Nevada has shown some of them to be pleuro-pneumonia.
—There is said to be a lemon tree in Oroville, Butte County, Cal., which has over a thousand large lemons on it.
—The Chinese Government has decided to proceed immediately with the building of railroads through the empire.
—The climate of Tonquin, Farther India, seems to be unfavorable to Frenchmen, of whom 3,000 have died of cholera.
—Two revenue officers were killed, and a third dangerously wounded by illicit distillers in Montgomery County, Georgia, October 23.
—The rewards offered in Arizona and New Mexico for the Apaches' scalps have driven many of that tribe into Mexico, where trouble is feared.
—It is reported that the Sultan of Zanzibar has ceded to the German-African Association a seaport, with a good harbor, twenty-five miles south of his capital.
—The Spanish Minister is taking extraordinary precaution, since Alfonso's serious illness, to prevent the Republican Party plotters from gaining a foothold in Spain.
—A terrific explosion of gas took place October 21, at the coal mines at Plymouth, Penn., in which four miners were killed outright and twelve others fatally injured.
—The electric light seems to be an attractive place of resort for birds, millers, and moths, many of which are found dead, in the early morning, at the foot of electric light masts.
—The S. F. Chronicle has printed a fac simile of a fraudulent certificate used by a Chinaman to gain admission into the United States. The investigation by the Grand Jury is expected to implicate some of the custom-house officials.
—At the meeting of the regents of the State University of California, held October 20, Prof. E. S. Holden, of Madison, Wis., was elected president of the University, and appointed director of the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton.
—The British ship Cilernum was burned and sunk August 20, in the Atlantic Ocean. Her burning was caused by an explosion among the coal on board, in which one man was killed and several injured. The Dutch barkentine Zitia hove in sight in time to save the crew.
—The Grand Jury has found a true bill against Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, and the other prisoners in the Armstrong case, for abduction, conspiracy, and indecent assault. By this it will be seen that it is more dangerous to attempt to ferret out crime than it is to perpetrate it.
—The English authorities at Woolwich arsenal have been ordered to supply 10,000,000 rounds of cartridges and 10,000 rifles for an expedition to be sent against King Theebaw of Burmah. It is feared that there will be a general massacre of all foreigners on account of the troubles there with the British Government.
—The Nordenfeldt gun, which has been such a wonder for its destructiveness, is now declared to be behind the quick-firing gun manufactured by Messrs. Hotchkiss, in regard to its utility in war. However true the above declaration may be, Nordenfeldt's submarine torpedo-boat has lately proved herself capable of remaining under water six hours without inconvenience to her crew of four men.
—While the Marquis of Lorne, Liberal candidate for Hampstead, was addressing the electors at Brentfordtown, seven miles from London, he was attacked by a mob, rotten egged, and driven from the stand. The supporters of the Marquis rushed to his rescue, and a fight ensued; but the Marquis fled for the train, and immediately departed for London. The fight ended in the mob gaining control of the platform, and passing resolutions condemning the policy of the Liberals.
—The attitude of the European powers towards each other makes the settlement of the Roumelian trouble fraught with great danger. The representatives of the powers are now met at Constantinople for the purpose of settling the Roumelian trouble. It is understood that Germany, Austria, and Russia are in favor of deposing Alexander, and restoring Roumelia to Turkey; while England, France, and Italy are in favor of the union of Roumelia with Bulgaria under Prince Alexander. In the meantime, Servia has crossed the lines into Bulgaria, and extensive war preparations are going on.
The Effects of Tobacco
a slight sign of assent or dissent to a question. The doctors were fully agreed that tobacco was the sole cause of the stroke.
"It is my business to point out to you all the various and insidious causes of general paralysis, and smoking is one of them. I know of no single vice which does so much harm as smoking. It is a snare and a delusion. It soothes the excited nervous system at the time, to render it more irritable and more feeble ultimately." —Mr. Solly, Surgeon of St. Thomas Hospital.
2. Dizziness of the head, caused by irregular supply of arterial blood in the brain, is a common result of the free use of tobacco.
3. Amaurosis is also frequently induced by the use of tobacco. It is commonly confined to one eye. It is generally curable, but not always, by giving up the habit. J. W., a coach-builder, upwards of fifty years of age, had smoked for thirty years, generally two ounces of tobacco a week, when he became so blind as to be unable to work, or even walk through a crowded street. He applied to an eye dispensary, where the medical man, who is considered a good oculist, told him that he labored under amaurosis, and prescribed accordingly. After following his treatment for some time, and finding himself no better, he visited a neighboring city, and consulted another oculist, who instantly detected tobacco to be the cause of his blindness, as if the obnoxious stench of the weed had led him at once to this conclusion. J. W. instantly threw away tobacco forever, visited a relative in the Highlands, where, in a short time, his vision gradually returned, became clear, and enabled him to return to his business quite cured. A skillful English physician states that out of thirty-seven patients suffering from loss of sight by paralysis of the optic nerve, twenty-three were inveterate smokers. —Rev. A. Sims.
Christian Temperance and Reform
It must never be forgotten that the church of Christ is a temperance society instituted by God himself, and that to it all other temperance societies must be auxiliary. Paul gives us the true key when he tells us that temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit—that is, a Christian grace or virtue. Religion alone can furnish the strength to resist temptation and save from falling. When men realize this, if they can be brought to repentance and prayer, there may be hope of real reform.
Human law and its restraints may be valuable as a help, to a certain extent, the vicious may stand in fear of it; but it does not strike at the root of the evil, it does not reach the heart; no man was ever made better, no man was ever Christianized, by law. If the great evil of intemperance is ever to be done away, it is by the preaching of the gospel, by the spread of its principles, by touching the heart, by the divine law of love, which, while it denounces drunkenness as sin, is still full of pitying tenderness, knowing that it is human to err and God-like to forgive.—Churchman.
The Doctor Who Prescribed After Death
The Massachusetts papers tell of a lady in Sharon Heights who died under the care of a Taunton "mind doctor." He never saw the sick woman, but said he could prescribe just as well. So he sent postal cards and a root medicine daily, and, looking into the dim distance, would write down on the card her state of health. She died the other day, but the postals came all the same and the root medicine too. The first day after the patient's death, the doctor wrote: "I find you about the same; the acid in the blood has diminished." The second day after the death, he wrote: "I find you about the same; a little better if anything."
Duty and God’s Approval
DUTY should be performed, not in view of securing the favor of men, but the approval of God. Men may condemn, but if God approve, all is well.—Sel.
RELIGIOUS.
By Editor
—Seven hundred Christians are said to have been massacred recently in Anam.
—Catholic missions are about to be permanently established among the Indians of Alaska, Archbishop Seghers being now on his way to that region with two missionary priests.
—John Morgan, a noted Mormon elder, is reported as asserting that there is a great demand for Mormon elders in the South, especially in Tennessee, and that 200 converts to the faith will start for Utah next month.
—Dr. Goodell thinks that there may be a harmonious church that is not up to the Bible standard, and illustrates his idea as follows: "Your pastor and people are thoroughly united, you say, United? Yes—all frozen solid together."
—When the pope can be called in to arbitrate in such a matter as the dispute over the Carolines, between Spain and Germany, who shall say that there is no longer any danger from the papacy? The truth is, the pope is a very important factor, not only in Europe, but also in American politics, but is well pleased to have Protestants blind to his character and power. Protestant indifference and credulity are a great aid to papal schemes.
—Cardinal McCloskey died October 10, at his home in New York. As in the case of Pius IX., Protestants have been profuse in their expressions of respect and admiration for this Catholic dignitary. The Catholic Standard boasts: "Prayers for the dying cardinal and archbishop are offered up at a meeting of Protestant ministers, and his life-work and character are eulogized, and held up as a model, in Protestant pulpits on the Sunday following his death." The cardinal is to be succeeded by Archbishop Corrigan, who has administered the affairs of the diocese for several years.
—Four hundred thousand people in Boston. Three hundred thousand who are not habitual attendants at church worship. A large part of these who never cross church thresholds at all. That is the story "Plymouth Rock" tells. It is a true story. Prof. John L. Sullivan, short-haired rumseller and prize-ring ruffian, lives in Boston. Religiously he is doubtless in accord with the great majority. A little more religion, if at the expense of a little less belles-lettres and even a diminution of prize-fighting—would it do the city of the Puritans any harm?—Christian at Work.
—October 11 was the semi-centennial anniversary of the introduction of the gospel into the Fiji Islands. Fifty years ago, no portion of the South Sea Archipelago was sunk in deeper debasement. The very name Fiji was a synonym for cannibalism and everything that was inhuman and brutal in the most degraded savages. In all these islands nothing was so cheap as human life. Two-thirds of the children were killed as soon as they were born. Killing the sick to get rid of the trouble of taking care of them, and aged parents to avoid the helplessness attending second childhood, ranked as social institutions, and he would have been a brave man who disregarded either practice. Polygamy was universal, and women held a most degraded position. Of all dark places of the earth, Fiji seems to have been darkest. But all this is changed now. There are nine hundred Wesleyan churches in these islands; their services are crowded with devout congregations, the schools are well attended, and the first sound that greets the ears at dawn and the last at night, is that of worship from each dwelling at the hour of prayer.
Editorial Department.
By Editor
In the Editorial Department the articles are principally devoted to Biblical exposition and the answering of questions on Bible subjects. Current events of general interest are discussed, when they have any bearing on morality and religion. With politics, as such, the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has nothing to do. Believing that a religious paper should be one that can be read by all classes of people without arousing sectional or party feelings, this journal leaves the discussion of politics to political papers, of which there is a sufficient number to meet the demand, and devotes itself to matters of more importance which receive less attention.
Sabbath-School Department.
By Editor
The Sabbath-School Department is largely a running commentary, by the editors, on those portions of Scripture covered by the two series of lessons. The lesson notes, while of great service to students in the preparation of their lessons, are of interest and profit to the general reader. Original and selected articles of interest to the Sabbath-school workers are published in this department.
Missionary Department.
By Editor
In the Missionary Department will be found reports from mission fields, both home and foreign, together with a brief description of them and their wants. During the past year this department has been extremely interesting, and the prospect is that it will be still more so during the coming year.
Temperance Department.
By Editor
No department of the paper has met with more favor in the past than the Temperance Department. While the Signs of the Times advocates prohibition, it does not believe that the cause of temperance is advanced by mingling it with politics; neither does it confine itself to a condemnation of the liquor traffic, but considers temperance in its larger relations, as embracing everything that in any way affects health. Many temperance societies are accustomed to use the articles in the Signs of the Times in their regular meetings.
Home Circle Department.
By Editor
The Home Circle Department is fully described by its name. Short stories of an elevated character are published, but no serials. Beside light, entertaining reading for the family circle, this department contains many practical hints and suggestions for the household.
Religious and Secular News.
By Editor
The Department of Religious and Secular News is in keeping with the moral tone of the paper. The news is carefully sifted of everything sensational or low. It is the design that the reader shall be able to find in this department the current news in the most simple and direct form, and only that which is reliable.
Among the other things that will make the coming volume one of special value, is the
Series of Historical Articles
By Editor
Already begun. The articles are entirely independent of one another; yet they in reality form a series in which the prophetic records are placed side by side with the records of history, thus showing the exact and literal fulfillment of the former. Every lover of history cannot fail to be interested in these articles, because he will find in them the
Outline of History,
Graphically portrayed; and the lover of the Bible will find them invaluable, because, in tracing the fulfillment of the prophecies, they show, beyond all controversy, the divine origin of that book.
Church History,
By Editor
Another series of articles, soon to be begun, will take up a portion of
Church History,
Showing how, when, and why men departed from the simplicity of the gospel, and brought in the many errors which made a reformation imperative.
Besides these, it is designed, in addition to matters that incidentally come up for consideration, to take up certain lines of Scripture doctrine and canvass them thoroughly, so that the reader may obtain a connected and comprehensive view of the subject treated upon. Among the subjects to be considered, are the Sanctuary, the Law of God and its relation to Christ and the Gospel.
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES is the only religious journal in the United States which does no advertising. Its entire sixteen pages, with the exception of the necessary notices from the publishers, are filled with choice reading matter in endless variety. Advantageous offers of advertising are continually being refused. The publishers, and all connected with the paper, are determined to give subscribers many times the worth of their money; and the steady pursuance of this determination has given it the largest circulation of any purely religious journal in the world. The fact that the SIGNS OF THE TIMES contains SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY, has gained for it a world-wide reputation. For terms see last page.
Appointments.
By Charles L. Boyd
Directors Appointed for Oregon.
IN harmony with the instruction given by the North Pacific T. and M. Society at our last camp-meeting, Brethren J. C. Bunch and H. A. Baxter have been appointed Directors of District No. 1; the former to especially look after the western portion of the district, and the latter the eastern portion. Brother E. D. Hurlbert has been appointed director of District No. 3, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Brother Baxter.
CHAS. L. BOYD,
Pres. North Pacific T. and M. Society.
OUR GENERAL AGENTS.
By Editor
Australia—Henry Scott, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
England—The Present Truth, 72 Heneage Street, Great Grimsby, Eng.
Hawaiian Islands—L. A. Scott, Honolulu, H. I.
Michigan—Miss Hattie House, care Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.
New England—Mrs. E. T. Palmer, N. E. Tract Repository, South Lancaster, Mass.
North Pacific—Mrs. C. L. Boyd, East Portland, Oregon.
Switzerland—W. C. White, 48 Weiherweg, Bale, Suisse.
Notice to Agents.
By Editor
ON and after Dec. 1, 1885, the following books will cease to be used as premiums with the SIGNS, "Geikie's Life of Christ," "Early Writings," "Sketches from the Life of Paul," "History of the Waldenses," and the "Golden Grains."
We still continue to use the "Sunshine at Home" and the "Great Controversy" as premiums—the SIGNS OF THE TIMES one year with either "Sunshine" or "Great Controversy" for $3.00, or six months for $2.25, to new subscribers.
RECEIPTS.
CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE.—B R Sheckler $22, Norwalk $19.50, San Francisco $149.50, Vacaville $53.50, A L Kingsbury & Co. $100, M E Abbott $2.
STOCK IN HEALDSBURG COLLEGE.—A L Kingsbury & Co. $200.
RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT.—Ind T and M Society $200, Tenn T and M Society $15, Penn T and M Society $395.27, Wis T and M Society $400, Ohio T and M Society $424.11.
CALIFORNIA T AND M SOCIETY.—Dist No 2 per Mrs Anne Saunders $44.20, Dist No 5 per W H Ingels $40.80, Mrs A T Stickney $9.
CALIFORNIA CITY MISSIONS.—W L H Baker $5, Josie Baker $5, A C Morton $5, Otto Stevens $2.50, Olive Stevens $2, Della Frisbie $1, A L Kingsbury and J F Lameneth $25, T H E $500, Friend $5.
ORDERS FORWARDED.
By Editor
Books Sent by Freight.—Eld S N Haskell, Eld A T Jones, Mrs A Dean, Isaac G Knight.
Books Sent by Express.—H Munn, Geo H Derrick, Prof W C Grainger, Eld A T Jones, H S Guilford, Eld J Fargo, Eld M H Brown.
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
By Editor
FOR 1886.
A 16-PAGE WEEKLY PUBLISHED AT OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, FOR THE
INTERNATIONAL TRACT AND MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
WITH the beginning of the new year, the Signs of the Times enters upon its twelfth volume. The publishers are determined to spare no pains not only to keep up its present reputation, but to make improvements during the coming year, which will make the journal of great interest, and more efficient for good than ever before. There is probably no other paper published which UNIFORMLY contains so great a variety of choice reading matter. Its departments are, EDITORIAL, MISSIONARY, TEMPERANCE, SABBATH-SCHOOL, HOME CIRCLE, SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS NEWS, AND GENERAL ARTICLES.
This is not simply the scope of the paper in general, but in each number every department is represented by fresh and interesting reading matter.
THE ADVENT REVIEW
By Editor
AND SABBATH HERALD
A RELIGIOUS FAMILY JOURNAL,
PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT BATTLE CREEK, MICH., BY THE S. D. A. PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION.
Sixteen large, closely printed pages of choice reading matter, treating upon all the Prophetic themes of the Bible, the Signs of the Times, Second Coming of Christ at Hand, Closing Reforms in the Church, the Gospel of Christ, Conversion, Practical Godliness, etc. etc.
This is the organ of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, the oldest journal of this people. It is now in its sixty-second volume. Contains full reports from the ministers and the doings of the different organizations of this denomination. No one should fail to take the REVIEW AND HERALD.
Price, in advance, $2.00 per year.
Address,
REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
The Signs of the Times.
By Editor
OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, OCTOBER 29, 1885.
READ the Prospectus of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES for 1886, on the preceding page. Also show it to your neighbors.
FROM Brother A. La Rue we have received copies of Honolulu papers noticing the mission work in the islands. The work done by our missionaries is meeting with some opposition, and the end is not yet.
IN a recent letter, Elder Haskell speaks most encouragingly of the success of the missionary work in Australia. Of the canvassing work he says: "Brother Arnold has taken about three hundred orders for 'Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation.' He has taken as high as eleven orders in one day, and usually averages about six or eight, or from thirty to forty per week."
ALL our readers will be interested in Brother White's report of the Swiss Conference, found on another page. We have also on hand, to appear next week, quite a full report of the European Council of Seventh-day Adventists, recently held in Basel. We have read it with the deepest interest. We shall also give some extracts from a very interesting letter from Sister White. We are glad to hear from our co-laborers across the water, and we are sure that all friends of the cause will look with the greatest eagerness for reports from them.
THE Sabbath Memorial for October has just reached us. This number seems to us more than usually interesting. The article on "Sunday Guess-Work" is one that we would like to have everybody read. The Memorial is doing faithful work for the Sabbath of the Lord, trying to induce men to walk in the "old paths." The subscription price is only thirty cents a year, post-paid, and our American Sabbath-keepers would do themselves as well as the editor a favor by sending that amount to W. M. Jones, 56 Mildmay Park, London, N.
AGAIN we would call attention to the bound volumes of the "Testimonies for the Church," Vol. 4 of which, containing nearly 700 pages, is now on our table. The entire set can now be furnished promptly, substantially bound in cloth, for $6.00. We regard this as extremely low, since there are about twenty-six hundred pages of reading matter in the set. There are few publishers who furnish an equal quantity of reading matter, in as good shape, for so little money. Such books could not be bought at the book stores for less than $2.00. And when we take into consideration the quality of that which they contain, we think they are cheap at any price. Let the orders for them come in, and then let them be read with carefulness.
WE have now on hand a new lot of binders for the SIGNS, which we can furnish, post-paid, at the low price of one dollar apiece. A new volume will soon begin, and many will want to preserve the valuable information which it will contain, for future reference. When a series of articles on any subject is completed, if a person can read the whole in one connection, his interest in it will be much greater, and his knowledge of it much increased. But ordinarily some of the papers will be lost or soiled, so that such connected reading is impossible. By means of this binder, the papers may be preserved and kept clean, ready for reference at any time. When no more than two papers are in the binder, it forms as perfect a book as though it contained the whole volume. Those who wish to keep all their papers, can do so by obtaining a new binder each year, and the expense will be less than it would to have them bound at the close of the year. With the binder, your papers are bound all the time. We would not be without one.
Question.
By Editor
"SOME claim that Rev. 20:5 is the work of the papacy, and cannot be found in the oldest manuscripts. Is this the case?" A. W. R.
We suppose that the brother means that some claim that the insertion of Rev. 20:5 is the work of the papacy. There is no foundation for such a claim. There is nothing about the verse that should lead any one to suppose that it is an interpolation of the Roman Church. No commentary of which we have any knowledge gives any intimation that the verse is not genuine. In Greenfield's Greek Testament a note is made to the effect that some omit the verse, but that Griesbach thinks it should be retained. But all the commentators treat the verse as though they had never heard any doubts as to its genuineness.
Santa Ana Camp-Meeting.
By Editor
A NOTE from Elder Loughborough, dated Oct. 20, gives the following concerning the camp-meeting, which is now just over. We hope to hear more next week:—
"The camp is in a park of pepper trees, near to the center of the town. We have twenty-four tents on the ground, and about one hundred campers. The interest in the meeting is good. Harmony and peace are in the camp, and the interest and outside attendance evenings are good. We are holding a Sabbath-school convention each morning from nine to ten o'clock. We have already had two interesting sessions, and expect to have at least two more. We have a Biblical Institute from 10:30 to 11:45, each day. These, with children's meetings, missionary meetings, etc., give us about nine meetings a day. The time is well filled, and yet there is ample time for exercise between meetings. The camp-meeting seems to be accomplishing much good for our people. Last Sabbath afternoon about forty came forward for prayers; some of these were those just starting in the way."
A Word in Season.
By Editor
THE California State Board of Health, in their Monthly Circular concerning the prevalence of disease in the State, utter the following words of caution in regard to small-pox, which we gladly give further publicity:—
"Small-pox has not yet made any progress in this State. It is spreading in Mexico and in Canada, and has appeared in New Hampshire and New York. It also prevails in England, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Russia, and South America, countries with which we are in constant communication by travel and otherwise. Under these circumstances, we may very safely predict the advent of the disease to this coast before very long; it is therefore the act of prudence to take early warning, and prepare to render the invasion as limited as possible, and this can only be done by vaccination. It is now several years since small-pox was epidemic in California. Since then many thousands have been born, or added to the population by immigration, who have never been protected by vaccination; to these may be added those who, although vaccinated in childhood, have, by reason of age, acquired a renewed susceptibility to the influence of the disease. Among these classes of persons our danger lies, as it is the unprotected that are attacked. This danger must be removed by vaccination and revaccination, thus depriving the disease of the source from which it obtains its victims. By so doing we can virtually stamp it out. It is a disgrace to civilization to hear of an epidemic of small-pox in this century, when the means of averting it are so accessible, so certain, and so innocuous to the individual and the community. It is to be hoped that every physician receiving this circular will see that the unvaccinated in his vicinity are protected at once, as at any moment the disease may appear in our midst, owing to the constant communication with localities where we know it exists. If every one, male and female, were efficiently vaccinated, we might be certain to escape; but should the disease now appear, it would not fail to prostrate numberless persons who might have been protected from this most loathsome of all diseases, had physicians done their duty in admonishing their patrons of its necessity."
OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE FORETOLD.
By Uriah Smith
THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY.
BY ELD. U. SMITH.
THIS is a full exposition of a portion of prophecy which applies to our own Government, showing the position the United States holds in prophecy, and the part it has to act in the closing scenes of time.
THE SUNDAY MOVEMENT,
Which is now attracting such general attention, is thoroughly canvassed, and abundant testimony is given to prove that it is fast coming to be the ALL-IMPORTANT QUESTION in this country. Dealing with our own land and applying to our own time. Of surpassing interest to every American reader. New edition; revised and enlarged. Cloth, 225 pp., 75c. Paper covers, new edition, condensed, 186 pp., 25c. Address,
SIGNS OF THE TIMES., Oakland, Cal.
Or, REVIEW AND HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich.
EARLY WRITINGS OF MRS. WHITE.
COMPRISING "Experience and Views" and "Spiritual Gifts, Volume One," bound in one volume. This makes a neat and attractive book of nearly 200 pages, and should be read by old and young. The matter and the style in which it is presented are so interesting that no one who has read one chapter will forego the pleasure and profit of reading the remainder. Price, 75 cents.
Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.
The Cheapness of Honorary Degrees
By Editor
IN a speech at the commencement exercises of Hamline University, Hamline, Minn., Prof. H. B. Wilson, speaking of literary titles, said:—
"The initials A. M., D. D., LL.D., or LL.B., may mean one thing or another, anything or nothing, as one may choose to interpret them. The appellative attachments to one's name are, in this fast and progressive age, exceedingly cheap; yea, they may be said to be dog cheap! We have in our mind, just at this time, one who carries quite a large proportion of the Roman alphabet in front of his name, and D. D. and LL.D. in its rear, who cannot spell or write our mother English with respectable propriety."
Not long since we saw in a denominational journal on this coast, a "college," that is now defunct, highly recommended, because it had conferred in its short life-time more degrees of D. D. (honorary, of course) than many of the older Eastern colleges! If it had only lived a little longer, there need not have been a minister on the coast who could not place two capital letters after his name. Well, some men need them; we may say that they compose the chief part of their literary capital.
Chinese Laborers Boycott White Workers
By Editor
THE tables are being turned. Heretofore it has been the white laborers who refused to work with Chinamen, and who have "boycotted" the employers of Chinese. But last week the Chinese laborers employed in one of the most extensive cigar factories in San Francisco, struck because the firm had refused to comply with their demands, and turn off their white laborers. It is said that a Chinese Union has been formed in the city, composed of over 5,000 members, who are pledged not to work in any factory where white labor is employed. As the cigar business in San Francisco is larger than in any other city in the United States, and most of the skilled laborers are Chinese, trouble may be expected, especially since O'Donnell is daily urging the unemployed and the vicious classes to "dynamite" all who employ the Chinese, and to kill the Mongolians themselves.