e lived through one of those periods of culture and progress so
rare in history." The Russian press taking the cue believes, that
"towards those days the Eastern Question will be finally settled, the
national dissensions of the European peoples will come to an end, and
the dawn of the new millennium will witness the abolition of armies and
an alliance between all the European empires." The signs of regeneration
are also fast multiplying in Japan and China, as if pointing to the rise
of a new historical wave in the extreme East.

If from the cycle of two-and-a-half centuries we descend to that which
leaves its impress every century, and, grouping together the events of
ancient history, mark the development and rise of empires, then we shall
find that, beginning from the year 700 B.C., the centennial wave pushes
forward, bringing into prominence the following nations, each in its
turn--the Assyrians, the Medes, the Babylonians, the Persians, the
Greeks, the Macedonians, the Carthagenians, the Romans, and the Teutons.

The striking periodicity of the wars in Europe is also noticed by Dr. E.
Zasse. Beginning with 1700 A.D., every ten years have been signalized
by either a war or a revolution. The periods of the strengthening and
weakening of the warlike excitement of the European nations represent a
wave strikingly regular in its periodicity, flowing incessantly, as if
propelled onward by some fixed inscrutable law. This same mysterious
law seems also to connect these events with the astronomical wave or
cycle, which governs the periodicity of solar spots. The periods when
the European powers have shown the most destructive energy are marked by
a cycle of fifty years' duration. It would be too long and tedious to
enumerate them from the beginning of history. We may, therefore, limit
our study to the cycle beginning with the year 1712, when all the
European nations were fighting each other in the Northern, and the
Turkish wars, and the war for the throne of Spain. About 1761, the
"Seven Years' War"; in 1810, the wars of Napoleon I. Towards 1861, the
wave has been a little deflected from its regular course; but, as if to
compensate for it, or propelled, perhaps, with unusual force, the years
directly preceding, as well as those which followed it, left in history
the records of the most fierce and bloody wars--the Crimean War in the
former, and the American Civil War in the latter period. The periodicity
in the wars