in the case of money due upon an award by an arbitrator, in which case interest is due from the day when the award was made. A third exception was in the case of a bond for money, in which case interest was added from the day it ought to have been paid. And lastly, if a surety had to pay money for his principal, he could recover it back with interest. In all other cases, if there was no express agreement about interest, none could be claimed. If, however, there was a course of dealing between the parties, or a usage affecting a particular trade to give interest, then, without express agreement, this was understood. A recent statute somewhat amended the above defect of the common law, for by 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 42, s. 28, a jury may now add interest at the ordinary rate on all debts or sums certain, which are made payable under some written instrument at a certain time; and even if not due under a written instrument, then if a written demand has been made, expressly giving notice that interest will be charged from and after the date of the demand, if not paid then, interest will also be due. But even in these last cases, it is discretionary in the jury to give the interest, and therefore it is not claimable as a matter of course. As regards compound interest, it is à fortiori not claimable in any case, except where it has been expressly stipulated for, or where there is in some particular trade a definite custom to pay interest, and such custom must always be proved.

It ought also to be added, that the Court of Chancery has always been in the habit of charging trustees who have misapplied funds with 5 per cent. interest on the amount, and also compound interest; but in simple cases of retaining moneys in hand without investing them, they have been charged 4 per cent. Formerly, it was prohibited by statute in England to lend money on the security of real estate at a higher rate than 5 per cent.; but these statutes have been abolished, and now any person may borrow or lend at whatever rate of interest he can agree with the other party. Pawnbrokers are allowed to charge interest not exceeding a fixed sum. See PAWNBROKERS.

In Scotland, the law has always been much more liberal in allowing interest to be claimed on outstanding debts, for there the converse principle was acted on, that on nearly all debts whatever, interest was claimable either by statute or by common law. Thus, interest is due on bills of exchange, on the amount contained in a horning or charge to pay, on sums paid by cautioners, on the price of lands sold, on money advanced at request, on the price of goods sold, if the usual time of credit has expired, and generally on all debts which there has been delay in paying.

INTERFERENCE, a term employed to express the effect which rays of light, after being bent or diffracted, produce on each other. If the rays meet after diffraction, their light, when allowed to fall on a surface, will be divided into bars or stripes, alternately light and dark, as is shewn in the article DIFFRACTION (q. v.). This phenomenon has been made the touchstone of the two rival theories of light, the undulatory and the emission. According to the former, it is thus explained: if two luminous waves simultaneously impel a molecule of ether, its motion will be the resultant of the original impulses; and if the two motions (as in the case of diffraction) be nearly in the same direction, the resultant will be nearly their sum; if opposite, their difference. Thus, when a particle has begun to undulate from the action of a luminous wave, and if, while in motion, another wave impinge upon it, the result will be increase of light, if the motion of the second

wave conspire with that of the first; but a decrease, if they oppose each other; and total darkness, if, while opposing, they are equal in velocity. Let d be the distance corresponding to a complete period of vibration; then, if the second wave impinge upon the molecule after it has accomplished one or more whole vibrations corresponding to the distances d, 2d, 3d, &c., and has returned to its original position, the two waves will evidently conspire together, and produce more violent motion; but if it impinge on the molecule, when the latter has only accomplished half a vibration, corresponding to distances id, d, fd, &c., then the wave will oppose the particle's return to its original position; thus producing diminution of motion, or, if equal, rest. In the former case, the intensity of light is increased; in the latter, dimin ished; and if the undulations are of equal velocity, the light is doubled in the first case, and destroyed in the second. The emission theory totally fails to explain interference. In light of different colours, the value of d differs for each colour, being least for violet, and greatest for red light. The principle of interference accounts in the most satisfactory way for the colours of thin plates, the fringes that accompany shadows, &c.; and its explanation forms the most decisive reason yet known for adopting the undulatory in preference to the emission theory of light. See LIGHT.

INTERJECTIONS are exclamations expressive not so much of a thought as of an emotion-as, ah! alas! hurrah! pooh! They are, therefore, hardly parts of speech, and never form part of a sentence. They are, in fact, more akin to the sounds emitted by the lower animals, than to articulate language.

I'NTERIM, in the history of the Reformation, the name given to certain edicts of the German emperor for the regulation of religious and ecclesiastical matters 'in the meantime' (Lat. interim), till they could be decided by a general council. The first is the Ratisbon Interim, the result of the deliberations of a commission appointed during the diet of Ratisbon (Regensburg) in 1541, of which Eck, Pflug, and Gropper were the Roman Catholic, and Melancthon, Bucer, and Pistorius the Protestant members. On the greater number of doctrinal points, the commission found it possible to agree on terms which might be deemed consistent with the views of both parties; but as to the sacraments and the power of the church, the differences were irreconcilable. By the Protestants in general, the whole movement was looked on as a scheme to entrap them into a formal return to the Church of Rome. At the next diet, at Augsburg in 1548, a new interim was by the emperor's command prepared by Pflug, Helding (Sidonius), and Agricola. It is called the Augsburg Interim. In it the use of the cup by the laity, the marriage of priests, and some other minor things, were conceded to the Protestants; but it met with very general opposition, particularly in the north of Germany, and was revoked in 1552. By the exertions of the Elector Maurice of Saxony, a third interim, the Leipsic Interim, was adopted at the diet of Leipsic on 22d December 1548, which guarded the Protestant creed, but admitted great part of the Roman Catholic ceremonial, and recognised the power of popes and bishops, when not abused. But the offence given to the more zealous Protestants by this interim, which Melancthon, Bugenhagen, and Major supported, led to division in the Protestant Church.

INTERLAKEN ('between the lakes'), a village of Switzerland, is delightfully situated on the right bank of the Aare, in a plain between Lakes Thun and Brienz. Along the Walnut Avenue or Highway,

full view from the village, are the magnificent Jungfrau and several other remarkable peaks of the Bernese Alps. The visitors are the chief source of income to the inhabitants, who number from 1000

to 2000.

INTERLINEATIONS in a deed are additions or corrections written either on the margin or between the lines. In England, interlineations in a deed are not fatal, provided only it is proved that they were made before executing the deed. It is usual to put the parties' initials opposite the place where the interlineations occur, in proof of this, or at least by way of memorandum. În affidavits and other documents, the initials should also be put at the places interlined. In Scotland, if the interlineation is at all material, it ought to be signed by the parties, and the fact mentioned in the testing clause, otherwise it will be presumed that the interlineations were made after the execution, and will vitiate the deed.

INTERLOCUTOR, in Scotch Law, means a finding or judgment of a judge or court in a cause. In England, the word is not used.

INTERLOCUTORY JUDGMENT, in England, Ireland, and Scotland, means a judgment which is not final, but which is merely a step in the suit or action. So as to interlocutory decrees or

orders.

I'NTERLUDE, in Music, is a short melodious phrase played by the organist (generally extempore) between the verses of a psalm-tune. In the German Protestant Church, the interlude (or zwischenspiel) is generally played between each line of the verse, to give the congregation time to breathe. To accompany the chorale of the Lutheran Church with scientific and appropriate interludes, is reckoned in Germany the chief test of a good organist.

INTERMA'RRIAGE.

The intermarriage or intercourse of near relatives has been universally believed to entail degeneration upon the offspring,

and the act has been condemned and prohibited. The physical deformity and mental debasement of the Cagots of the Pyrenees, of the Marrons of Auvergne, of the Sarrasins of Dauphiné, of the Cretins of the Alps, and the gradual deterioration of the slave population of America, have been attributed to the consanguineous alliances which are unavoidable among these unfortunate peoples. More recently, the same opinion has been sup ported by the history of deaf-mutism and of idiocy. Of 235 deaf and dumb children whose parentage could be traced, 70, or nearly 30 per cent., were the offspring of the intermarriage of blood-relations. But in opposition to, and apparently destructive of such an hypothesis, may be adduced the unimpaired condition and symmetry of the Jews, of the small Mohammedan communities in India, of the isolated tribes in North America, among whom the repeated intermarriage of near relatives is compulsory. Moreover, this opinion does not hold in the analogous cases among the inferior animals, as the Arabs can trace the pedigree of their most valuable horses to the time of Mohammed, whilst they record the ascendants of racers for 200 years, and avoid all crossing; the stud-books in this country shew the perpetuation of the qualities of strength, and weight, and fleetness by propagation within the endowed family, both Eclipse and Childers being descended from a horse the offspring of a parent and foal; and the descendants, again, of these horses, which still maintain the highest estimation, afford many instances of very close breeding; and lastly, the Durham ox and the Ditchely sheep were the result and triumph of breeding in and in. The present state of the controversy, as it has been recently conducted in France, may be summed up in the proposition, that consanguineous alliances are not necessarily hurtful to the offspring, provided the parents be healthy and robust; but the obser vations of Devay and Bemiss in America shew that such generalisations should be received with

caution. It should be added, that even were it established that mental disease generally followed such unions, the transmission might depend rather upon the increased certainty of reproducing hereditary tendencies, than upon the violation of any physiological law.-Steinau, Essay on Hereditary Diseases and Intermarriage; Devay, Du Danger des Mariages Consanguins (1862); Boudin, Dangers des Unions Consanguins, &c.; Annales d'Hygiène Publique, Juillet (1862).

INTERMEDIATE HARMONIES, in Music, are the harmonies introduced between extreme nonrelated keys, while modulating from the one key to the other, which harmonies prepare the ear to receive the new key.

INTERMEZZO, a short dramatic comic scene, with singing, peculiar to the Italian stage, and introduced between the acts of an opera or play.

INTERMITTENT FEVER. See AGUE. INTERNATIONAL LAW is divided into public international law and private international law. 1. Public International Law, or the law of nations, consists of those rules which independent nations agree among themselves to be just and fair in regulating their dealings with each other in times of war and peace. The mode in which they arrive at this common understanding of what is just and fair, is by comparing the opinions of text-writers who profess to set forth and collect the general opinion of civilised nations, for all these writers appeal ultimately to the principles of natural reason and common sense, as the test of what they profess to be the proper rule. Treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce also define and modify the existing international law as between the contracting parties. The decisions of prize-courts, which profess to proceed on principles of natural justice, of universal application, are also declarations of this international law. The leading doctrines thus adopted are as follows: A sovereign state is one which governs itself independently of foreign powers. In the event of a civil war in one nation, other nations may remain indifferent spectators, and treat the ancient government as sovereign, and the government de facto as entitled to the rights of war against its enemy. If the foreign state profess neutrality, it is bound to allow impartially to both belligerent parties the free exercise of those rights which war gives to public enemies against each other, such as the right of blockade, and of capturing contraband and enemy's property. Where a colony or province asserts its independence, and has shewn its ability to maintain this independence, the recognition of its sovereignty by other foreign states is a question of policy and prudence only; but until acknowledged, courts of justice and private individuals are bound to consider the ancient state of things as remaining unaltered. When a change occurs in the person of the sovereign, or in the internal constitution of a state, all treaties made by such state which were not personal to the former sovereign, continue to be binding on the succeeding sovereign.

All sovereign states are, in the eye of international law, on a footing of equality. Each state has the right to require the military service of its own people for purposes of self-defence, and to develop all its resources in the manner it thinks fit, so long as it does not interfere with the same equal rights of other nations. When, however, one state unduly aggrandises itself, and augments its military and naval forces beyond what all the other states consider proportioned to its position, then those other states have some ground to interfere. This, how ever, is considered a delicate business, and not to be attempted rashly; and it is difficult to define 247

what is a just ground of interference. The acquisition of colonies and dependencies has never been considered a just motive for such interference. According to Wheaton (International Law, 88, 6th ed.), interferences to preserve the balance of power have been generally confined to prevent a sovereign, already powerful, from incorporating conquered provinces into his territory, or increasing a dictatorial influence over the councils and conduct of other independent states. The aversion to interference has no doubt, in modern times, become stronger and stronger; and it may be taken to be now almost an axiom, that no foreign state has any just ground of interfering in what is merely an internal revolution of a state, or a mode of readjusting its own constitution; in short, each state ought to be allowed to manage its own internal affairs, and to choose whatever form of government best suits the people, for the exercise of this right can, in general, nowise affect other states.

Each state has the natural right to make its own laws regulating the property and status of all the subjects within its territory. On the high seas, both the public and private vessels of every nation are subject to the jurisdiction of the state to which they belong. Offences there committed against its own municipal laws give to the state to which the vessels belong jurisdiction; but no right of visitation and search belongs to a nation in time of peace, though piracy and other offences against the law of nations, being crimes not against any particular nation, but against all mankind, may be punished by any state in which the offenders can be found. The traffic in slaves is, however, not classed with piracy by the law of nations, though nations may declare it to be so as regards their own subjects; and they may also enter into a compact as to that matter, as has been done by Great Britain with other nations. With regard to crimes and their punishment, though each state will punish all crimes by whomsoever committed, if committed within its own territory, and also all crimes committed in its public and private vessels on the high seas, or in a foreign port; likewise all crimes, wherever committed, by one of its own subjects, yet it cannot arrest one of its own citizens if he is within the territory of another state; to do so would be an invasion of the municipal law of that state; hence it can only arrest its criminals in foreign states by the leave of such state, and such state is not bound to accede to such a request. Hence arises the expediency of two states entering into an extradition treaty, by which they bind themselves to give up to each other criminals who have committed certain specified offences.

There are certain usages or ceremonials of respect shewn by one nation to another in certain circumstances, and these are founded on the theory of the equality of sovereign states. As regards the right of precedence among kings, emperors, and princes, there is nothing settled and binding, except, perhaps, that Catholic powers concede the precedency to the pope. But as regards minor matters, it is the settled courtesy for one nation to salute by striking the flag or the sails, or by firing a certain number of guns on approaching a fleet or a ship of war, or entering a fortified port or harbour. Sometimes these ceremonials are regulated by express treaty, as, for example, as regards the maritime honours exacted by Denmark from vessels passing the Sound and Belts at the entrance of the Baltic Sea.

The rights of states in time of peace consist of the rights of legation and of negotiation. Every independent state has a right, in point of courtesy and usage, to send public ministers or representatives

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