inert mass: the other dog experienced at once frightful attacks of
epilepsy. Analogous effects are produced in mankind. Surely the
"absinthe duel" which is said to have taken place at Cannes, when both
the combatants perished after drinking an extraordinary quantity, may be
strictly denominated a duel with deadly weapons. In the south of France,
it is said, one person sometimes invites another to partake of absinthe
by the slang phrase, "Take a shovelful of earth;" as if an American
bar-room lounger, recognizing with grim humor the deadly quality of his
liquor, should say, "Come and get measured for your coffin." The French
expression has certainly, in view of Dr. Magnan's disclosures, a
melancholy picturesqueness. This subject has to France a national
importance, since, if the recent report of Dr. Bergeron does not
exaggerate, the _absintism_ introduced amongst the French army in
general by the Algerian officers did its part toward producing that
inertness and lack of vigor which generals often complained of in their
subordinates during the disastrous invasion of 1870.

* * * * *

Richard II., in the play of that name, disheartened by his calamities,
responds to all the encouraging words of his lords and followers with a
bitter satire on the wretchedness of royalty:

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground,
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been depos'd; some slain in war;
Some haunted by the ghosts they have depos'd;
Some poison'd by their wives; some sleeping kill'd;
All murther'd; for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court.

The unhappy monarch was destined to furnish in his own tragic fate one
more illustration of his homily. His words come vividly to mind in
reviewing the curious catalogue which a European statistician lately
furnished of the number of sovereigns who have perished by violent
deaths or been discrowned by disaster. The list, which must perforce be
incomplete, embraces 2540 emperors or kings, who have ruled over 64
nations. Of these, 299 were dethroned; 151 were assassinated; 123 died
in captivity; 108 were formally condemned and executed; 100 were killed
in battle; 64 abdicated; 62 were poisoned; 25 died the death of martyrs;
20 committed suicide; and 11 died insane. Even these lists do not
probably include all the unnatural deaths and dethronements that ha