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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century, by
+Various, Edited by John Clark Ridpath
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century
+       Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: John Clark Ridpath
+
+Release Date: May 14, 2005  [eBook #15824]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH
+CENTURY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Richard J. Shiffer, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
+
+Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World,
+in a Series of Short Studies
+
+Compiled and Edited by
+
+JOHN CLARK RIDPATH
+
+Published by
+The Christian Herald,
+Louis Klopsch, Proprietor,
+Bible House, New York.
+
+1896
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This little volume constitutes one number of the Christian Herald
+Library series for 1896-97. The title indicates the scope and purpose
+of the work. Of heavy reading the reader of to-day no doubt has a
+sufficiency. Of light reading, that straw-and-chaff literature that
+fills the air until the senses are confused with the whirlwind and
+dust of it, he has a sufficiency also. Of that intermediate kind of
+reading which is neither so heavy with erudition as to weigh us down
+nor so light with the flying folly of prejudice as to make us
+distracted with its dust, there is perhaps too little. The thoughtful
+and improving passage for the unoccupied half hour of him who hurries
+through these closing years of the century does not abound, but is
+rather wanting in the intellectual provision of the age.
+
+Let this volume serve to supply, in part at least, the want for brief
+readings on important subjects. Herein a number of topics have been
+chosen from the progress of the century and made the subjects of as
+many brief studies that may be realized in a few minutes' reading and
+remembered for long. Certainly there is no attempt to make these short
+stories exhaustive, but only to make them hintful of larger readings
+and more thoughtful and patient inquiry.
+
+The Editor is fully aware of the very large circulation and wide
+reading to which this little volume will soon be subjected. For this
+reason he has taken proper pains to make the work of such merit as may
+justly recommend it to the thoughtful as well as the transient and
+unthoughtful reader. It cannot, we think, prove to be a wholly
+profitless task to offer these different studies, gathered from the
+highways and byways of the great century, to the thousands of good and
+busy people into whose hands the volume will fall. To all such the
+Editor hopes that it may carry a measure of profit as well as a
+message of peace.
+
+J.C.R.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  [All articles not otherwise designated are by the Editor.]
+
+
+  CRISES IN CIVIL SOCIETY.
+                                                     PAGE.
+
+  Brumaire--The Overthrow Of The French Directory,      9
+  How the Son of Equality Became King of France,       14
+  The Coup d'Etat of 1851,                             19
+  The Chartist Agitation in England,                   23
+  The Abolition of Human Bondage,                      27
+  The Peril of Our Centennial Year,                    35
+  The Double Fête in France and Germany,               40
+
+
+  GREAT BATTLES.
+
+  Trafalgar,                                           44
+  Campaign of Austerlitz,                              50
+  "Friedland--1807",                                   55
+  Under the Russian Snows,                             59
+  Waterloo,                                            63
+  Sebastopol,                                          71
+  Sadowa,                                              77
+  Capture of Mexico,                                   84
+  Vicksburg,                                           89
+  Gettysburg,                                          95
+  Spottsylvania,                                      104
+  Appomattox,                                         112
+  Sedan, by Victor Hugo,                              118
+  Bazaine and Metz,                                   129
+
+
+  ASTRONOMICAL VISTAS.
+
+  The Century of the Asteroids,                       136
+  The Story of Neptune,                               146
+  Evolution of the Telescope,                         156
+  The New Astronomy,                                  165
+  What the Worlds Are Made Of,                        175
+
+
+  PROGRESS IN DISCOVERY AND INVENTION.
+
+  The First Steamboat and its Maker,                  184
+  Telegraphing before Morse,                          196
+  The New Light of Men,                               205
+  The Telephone,                                      216
+  The Machine That Talks Back,                        225
+  Evolution of the Dynamo, by Professor Joseph
+        P. Naylor,                                    235
+  The Unknown Ray and Entography,                     244
+
+  STAGES IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY.
+
+  The New Inoculation,                                256
+  Koch's Battle with the Invisible Enemy,             266
+  Achievements in Surgery,                            276
+  GREAT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.
+  BY B.J. FERNIE, PH.D.
+
+  Defence on New Lines,                               284
+  Evangelical Activity,                               289
+  Bible Revision,                                     291
+  Bibles by the Million,                              293
+  A Great Missionary Era,                             296
+  Preaching to Heathen at Home,                       299
+  Churches Drawing Together,                          304
+  Organized Activities,                               308
+  Humanitarian Work,                                  314
+  The Sunday School,                                  316
+  Pulpit and Press,                                   318
+
+
+
+
+Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century.
+
+
+
+
+Crises in Civil Society.
+
+
+BRUMAIRE.
+
+THE OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH DIRECTORY.
+
+The eighteenth century went out with the French Directory, and the
+nineteenth came in with the Consulate. The coincidence of dates is not
+exact by a year and a month and twenty-one days. But history does not
+pay much attention to almanacs. In general our century arose with the
+French Consulate. The Consulate was the most conspicuous political
+fact of Europe in the year 1801; and the Consulate came in with
+_Brumaire_.
+
+"Brumaire" is one of the extraordinary names invented by the
+French Revolutionists. The word, according to Carlyle, means
+_Fogarious_--that is, Fog month. In the French Republican calendar,
+devised by the astronomer Romme, in 1792, Brumaire began on the
+twenty-second day of October and ended on the twentieth day of
+November. It remained for Brumaire, and the eighteenth day of
+Brumaire, of the year VIII, to extinguish the plural executive which
+the French democrats had created under the name of a _Directory_, and
+to substitute therefor the One Man that was coming.
+
+The Directory was a Council of Five. It was a sort of five-headed
+presidency; and each head was the head of a Jacobin. One of the heads
+was called Barras. One was called Carnot. Another was called
+Barthelemy. Another was Roger Ducos; another was the Abbé Sieyes. That
+was the greatest head of them all. The heads were much mixed, though
+the body was one. In such a body cross counsels were always uppermost,
+and there was a want of decision and force in the government.
+
+This condition of the Executive Department led to the deplorable
+reverses which overtook the French armies during the absence of
+General Bonaparte in Egypt. Thiers says that the Directorial Republic
+exhibited at this time a scene of distressing confusion. He adds: "The
+Directory gave up guillotining; it only transported. It ceased to
+force people to take assignats upon pain of death; but it paid nobody.
+Our soldiers, without arms and without bread, were beaten instead of
+being victorious."
+
+The ambition of Napoleon found in this situation a fitting
+opportunity. The legislative branch of the government consisted of a
+Senate, or Council of Ancients, and a Council of Five Hundred. The
+latter constituted the popular branch. Of this body Lucien Bonaparte,
+brother of the general, was president. Hardly had Napoleon arrived in
+the capital on his return from Egypt when a conspiracy was formed by
+him with Sieyes, Lucien and others of revolutionary disposition, to do
+away by a _coup_ with the too democratic system, and to replace it
+with a stronger and more centralized order. The Council of Ancients
+was to be brought around by the influence of Sieyes. To Lucien
+Bonaparte the more difficult task was assigned of controlling and
+revolutionizing the Assembly. As for Napoleon, Sieyes procured for him
+the command of the military forces of Paris; and by another decree the
+sittings of the two legislative bodies were transferred to St. Cloud.
+
+The eighteenth Brumaire of the Year VIII, corresponding to the ninth
+of November, 1799, was fixed as the day for the revolution. By that
+date soldiers to the number of 10,000 men had been collected in the
+gardens of the Tuileries. There they were reviewed by General
+Bonaparte and the leading officers of his command. He read to the
+soldiers the decree which had just been issued under the authority of
+the Council of the Ancients. This included the order for the removal
+of the legislative body to St. Cloud, and for his own command. He was
+entrusted with the execution of the order of the Council, and all of
+the military forces in Paris were put at his disposal. In these hours
+of the day there were all manner of preparation. That a conspiracy
+existed was manifest to everybody. That General Bonaparte was reaching
+for the supreme authority could hardly be doubted. His secretary thus
+writes of him on the morning of the great day.
+
+"I was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the
+eighteenth Brumaire, and, on my arrival, I found a great number of
+generals and officers assembled. I entered Bonaparte's chamber, and
+found him already up--a thing rather unusual with him. At this moment
+he was as calm as on the approach of a battle. In a few moments Joseph
+and Bernadotte arrived. I was surprised to see Bernadotte in plain
+clothes, and I stepped up to him and said in a low voice: 'General,
+everyone here except you and I is in uniform.' 'Why should I be in
+uniform?' said he. Bonaparte, turning quickly to him, said: 'How is
+this? You are not in uniform.' 'I never am on a morning when I am not
+on duty,' replied Bernadotte. 'You will be on duty presently,' said
+the general!"
+
+To Napoleon the crisis was an epoch of fate. The first thing was to be
+the resignation of Sieyes, Barras and Ducos, which--coming suddenly on
+the appointed morning--broke up the Directory. Bonaparte then put out
+his hand as commander of the troops. Too late the Republicans of the
+Council of Five Hundred felt the earthquake swelling under their feet.
+Napoleon appeared at the bar of the Assembly, and attempted a rambling
+and incoherent justification for what was going on. A motion was made
+to outlaw him; but the soldiers rushed in, and the refractory members
+were seized and expelled. A few who were in the revolution remained,
+and to the number of fifty voted a decree making Sieyes, Bonaparte and
+Ducos provisional _Consuls_, thus conferring on them the supreme
+executive power of the State. By nightfall the business was
+accomplished, and the man of Ajaccio slept in the palace of the
+Tuileries. He had said to his secretary, Bourriene, on that morning,
+"We shall sleep to-night in the Tuileries--or in prison."
+
+The new order was immediately made organic. There could be no question
+when Three Consuls were appointed and Bonaparte one of the number,
+which of the three would be _First_ Consul. He would be that himself;
+the other two might be the ciphers which should make his unit 100. The
+new system was defined as the "Provisionary Consulate;" but this form
+was only transitional. The managers of the _coup_ went rapidly forward
+to make it permanent. The Constitution of the Year III gave place
+quickly to the Constitution of the Year VIII, which provided for an
+executive government, under the name of the CONSULATE. Nominally the
+Consulate was to be an executive committee of three, but really an
+executive committee of _one_--with two associates. The three men
+chosen were Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean Jacques Cambaceres and Charles
+Francois Lebrun. On Christmas day, 1799, Napoleon was made FIRST
+CONSUL; and that signified the beginning of a new order, destined to
+endure for sixteen and a half years, and to end at Waterloo. The old
+century was dying and the new was ready to arise out of its ashes.
+
+
+HOW THE SON OF EQUALITY BECAME KING OF FRANCE.
+
+The French Revolution spared not anything that stood in its way. The
+royal houses were in its way, and they went down before the blast.
+Thus did the House of Bourbon, and thus did also the House of Orleans.
+The latter branch, however, sought by its living representatives to
+compromise with the storm. The Orleans princes have always had a touch
+of liberalism to which the members of the Bourbon branch were
+strangers.
+
+At the outbreak of the Revolution, Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of
+Orleans, fraternized with the popular party, threw away his princely
+title and named himself Philippe Egalité; that is, as we should say,
+Mr. _Equality_ Philip. In this character he participated in the
+National Assembly until he fell under distrust, and in despite of his
+defence and protestations--in spite of the fact that he had voted for
+the death of his cousin the king--was seized, condemned and
+guillotined.
+
+This Equality Philip left as his representative in the world a son who
+was twenty years old when his father was executed. The son was that
+Louis Philippe who, under his surname of _Roi Citoyen_, or "Citizen
+King," was destined after extraordinary vicissitudes to hold the
+sceptre of France for eighteen years. Young Louis Philippe was a
+soldier in the republican armies. That might well have saved him from
+persecution; but his princely blood could not be excused. He was by
+birth the Duke of Valois, and by succession the Duke of Chartres. As
+a boy, eight years of age, he had received for his governess the
+celebrated Madame de Genlis, who remained faithful to him in all his
+misfortunes. At eighteen he became a dragoon in the Vendome Regiment,
+and in 1792 he fought valiantly under Kellermann and Dumouriez at
+Valmy and Jemappes. Then followed the treason, or defection, of
+Dumouriez; but young Louis remained with the army for two years
+longer, when, being proscribed, he went into exile, finding refuge
+with other suspected officers and many refugees in Switzerland.
+
+Thither Dumouriez himself had gone. Of the flight of young Louis,
+Carlyle says: "Brave young Egalité reaches Switzerland and the Genlis
+Cottage; with a strong crabstick in his hand, a strong heart in his
+body: his Princedom is now reduced to _that_ Egalité the father sat
+playing whist, in his Palais Egalité, at Paris, on the sixth day of
+this same month of April, when a catchpole entered. Citoyen Egalité is
+wanted at the Convention Committee!" What the committee wanted with
+Equality Philip and what they did with him has been stated above.
+
+Consider then that the Napoleonic era has at last set in blood.
+Consider that the Restoration, with the reigns of Louis XVIII. and
+Charles X., has gone by. Consider that the "Three Days of July,"
+1830, have witnessed a bloodless revolution in Paris, in which the
+House of Bourbon was finally overthrown and blown away. On the second
+of August, Charles X. gave over the hopeless struggle and abdicated in
+favor of his son. But the Chamber of Deputies and the people of France
+had now wearied of Bourbonism in _all_ of its forms, and the nation
+was determined to have a king of its own choosing.
+
+The Chamber set about the work of selecting a new ruler for France. At
+this juncture, Thiers and Mignet again asserted their strength and
+influence by nominating for the throne Louis Philippe, Duke of
+Orleans, representative of what is known as the Younger Branch of the
+Bourbon dynasty. The prince himself was not loath to present himself
+at the crisis, and to offer his services to the nation. In so doing,
+he was favored greatly by his character and antecedents. At the first,
+the Chamber voted to place him at the head of the kingdom with the
+title of _Lieutenant-General_. The prince accepted his election, met
+the Chamber of Deputies and members of the Provisional Government at
+the Hotel de Ville, and there solemnly pledged himself to the most
+liberal principles of administration. His accession to power in his
+military relations was hailed with great delight by the Parisians, who
+waved the tri-color flag before him as he came, and shouted to their
+heart's content.
+
+At this stage of the revolution the representatives of the overthrown
+House and of the Old Royalty sought assiduously to obtain from Louis
+Philippe a recognition of the young Count de Chambord, under the title
+of Henry V. But the Duke of Orleans was too wily a politician to be
+caught in such a snare. He at first suppressed that part of the letter
+of abdication signed by Charles and Angoulême in which reference was
+made to the succession of the Duke of Berry's son; but a knowledge of
+that clause was presently disseminated in the city, and the tumult
+broke out anew.
+
+Then it was that a great mob, rolling out of Paris in the direction of
+the Hotel Rambouillet, gave the signal of flight to Charles and those
+who had adhered to the toppling fortunes of his house. The Chamber of
+Deputies proceeded quickly to undo the despotic acts of the late king,
+and then elected Louis Philippe king, not of _France_, but of the
+_French_. The new sovereign received 219 out of 252 votes in the
+Deputies. His elevation to power was one of the most striking examples
+of personal vicissitudes which has ever been afforded by the princes
+and rulers of modern times.
+
+
+THE COUP D'ETAT OF 1851.
+
+With the overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848, what is known as the
+Second Republic, was established in France. On the tenth of December,
+in that year, a president was elected in the American manner for a
+term of four years. To the astonishment of the whole world, the man so
+elected was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who had since the downfall of
+Napoleon been prisoner, exile and adventurer by turns. In the course
+of President Louis Napoleon's administration, matters came to such a
+pass between him and the National Assembly that one or the other must
+go to the wall.
+
+In the early winter of 1851, a crisis came on which broke in a
+marvelous manner in the event called the Coup d'Etat. The President
+made up his mind to conquer the Assembly by force. He planned what is
+known in modern history by pre-eminence the stroke. He, and those whom
+he trusted, made their arrangements secretly, silently, that the
+"stroke" should fall on the night of the second of December. On that
+evening the President held a gay reception in the palace of the
+Elysee, and after his guests had retired, the scheme was perfected for
+immediate execution.
+
+During the night seventy-eight of the leading members of the
+Opposition were seized at their own houses and taken to prison. The
+representatives of the people were hurried through the streets, and
+suddenly immured where their voices could be no longer heard. At the
+same time a strong force of soldiers was stationed near the Tuileries.
+The offices of the liberal newspapers were seized and closed, and the
+Government printing presses were employed all night in printing the
+proclamation with which the walls of the city were covered before
+morning. With the coming of daylight, Paris awoke and read:
+
+1. The National Assembly is dissolved;
+
+2. Universal suffrage is re-established;
+
+3. The Elective Colleges are summoned to meet on December 21;
+
+4. Paris is in a state of siege.
+
+By the side of this proclamation was posted the President's address to
+the people. He proposed the election of a president for ten years. He
+referred the army to the neglect which it had received at the hands of
+former governments, and promised that the soldiery of France should
+rewin its ancient renown.
+
+As soon as those members of the Assembly who had not been arrested
+could realize the thing which was done, they ran together and
+attempted to stay the tide of revolution by passing a vote deposing
+the President from office. But the effort was futile. A republican
+insurrection, under the leadership of Victor Hugo and a few other
+distinguished Liberals, broke out in the city. But there was in the
+nature of the case no concert of action, no resources behind the
+insurrection, and no military leadership. General Canrobert,
+Commandant of the Guards, soon put down the revolt in blood. Order was
+speedily restored throughout Paris, and the victory of the President
+was complete. It only remained to submit his usurpation to the
+judgment of the people, and the decision in that case could, under
+existing conditions, hardly be a matter of doubt.
+
+In accordance with the President's proclamation, a popular election
+was held throughout France, on the twentieth and twenty-first of
+December, at which the Coup d'Etat was signally vindicated. Louis
+Napoleon was triumphantly elected President, for a period of ten
+years. Out of eight millions of votes, fewer than one million were
+cast against him. He immediately entered upon office, backed by this
+tremendous majority, and became Dictator of France. In January of
+1852, sharp on the heels of the revolution which he had effected, he
+promulgated a new constitution. The instrument was based upon that of
+1789, and possessed but few clauses to which any right-minded lover
+of free institutions could object. On the twenty-eighth of March,
+Napoleon resigned the dictatorship, which he had held since the Coup
+d'Etat, and resumed the office of President of the Republic.
+
+It was not long, however, until the _After That_ began to appear.
+Already in the summer and autumn of 1852 it became evident that the
+_Empire_ was to be re-established. In the season of the vintage the
+President made a tour of the country, and was received with cries of
+_Vive L'Empereur_! In his addresses, particularly in that which he
+delivered at Bordeaux, the sentiment of Empire was cautiously offered
+to the people. The consummation was soon reached. On the seventh of
+November, 1852, a vote was passed by the French Senate for the
+re-establishment of the imperial order, and for the submission of the
+proposed measure to a popular vote.
+
+The event showed conclusively that the French nation, as then
+constituted, was Bonapartist to the core. Louis Napoleon was almost
+unanimously elected to the imperial dignity. Of the eight millions of
+suffrages of France, only a few scattering thousands were recorded in
+the negative. Thus, in a blaze of glory that might well have satisfied
+the ambition of the First Bonaparte, did he, who, only twelve years
+before at Boulogne, had tried most ridiculously to excite a paltry
+rebellion by the display of a pet-eagle to his followers, mount the
+Imperial throne of France with the title of Napoleon III.
+
+
+THE CHARTIST AGITATION IN ENGLAND.
+
+One of the most important political movements of the present century
+was the Chartist agitation in Great Britain. This agitation began in
+1838. It was an effort of the under man in England to gain his rights.
+In the retrospect, it seems to us astonishing that such rights as
+those that were then claimed by the common people of England should
+ever have been denied to the citizens of any free country. The period
+covered by the excitement was about ten years in duration, and during
+that period great and salutary reforms were effected, but they were
+not thorough, and to this day the under man in Great Britain is mocked
+with the _semblance_ of political liberty, the _substance_ of which he
+does not enjoy; the same is true in America.
+
+The name _Chartist_ arose from an article called the "People's
+Charter," which was prepared by the famous Daniel O'Connell. The
+document contained six propositions, follows:
+
+(1) We demand Universal Suffrage--by which was meant rather Manhood
+Suffrage than what is now known as universal suffrage, meaning the
+ballot in the hands of both sexes. This the Chartists did not demand.
+
+(2) We demand an Annual Parliament--by which was meant the election of
+a new House of Commons each year by the people.
+
+(3) We demand the right to Vote by Ballot--by which was meant the
+right of the people to employ a _secret_ ballot at the elections
+instead of the method _viva voce_.
+
+(4) We demand the abolition of the Property Qualification now
+requisite as a condition of eligibility to Membership in the House of
+Commons.
+
+(5) We demand that the Members of Parliament shall be paid a salary
+for their services.
+
+(6) We demand the Division of the Country into Equal Electoral
+Districts--by which was meant an equality of _population_, as against
+mere territorial extent.
+
+To the reader of to-day it must appear a matter of astonishment that
+the representatives of the working classes of Great Britain should
+have been called upon, at a time within the memory of men still
+living, to advance and advocate political principles so self-evident
+and common-sense as those declared in the Charter, and his wonder must
+be raised to amazement when he is told that the whole governing power
+of Great Britain, the King, the Ministry, the House of Lords, the
+House of Commons, the Tories as a party, the Whigs as a party,
+and--all party divisions aside--the great Middle Class of Englishmen
+set themselves in horrified antagonism to the Charter and its
+advocates, as though the former were the most incendiary document in
+the world and the latter a rabble of radicals gathered from the
+purlieus of the French Revolution.
+
+The reason for the outbreak of the Chartist reform was the fact that
+the Reform Bill of 1832 had proved a signal failure. For six years the
+English Middle Classes had sought by the agency of that act to gain
+their rights, but they had sought in vain. The people now began to
+follow popular leaders, who always arise under such conditions. One of
+these, by the name of Thorn, a bankrupt brewer and half madman, who
+called himself Sir William Courtenay, appeared in Canterbury. He said
+that he was a Knight of Malta and King of Jerusalem--this when he was
+only a knight of malt and a king of shreds and patches. Delusion broke
+out on every hand. One great leader was Feargus O'Connor. Another was
+Thomas Cooper, a poet, and a third was the orator Henry Vincent,
+afterward well known in America.
+
+The agitation for reform spread far and wide. The people seemed to be
+about to rise _en masse_. The powers of British society were shaken
+and alarmed. The authorities put out their hands and the Chartist
+meetings in many places were broken up. The leading spirits were
+seized and thrown into prison for nothing. Three of the agitators were
+sent to the penal colonies, for no other offence than the delivery of
+democratic speeches. For several years the movement was in abeyance,
+but in 1848, in the month of April, the agitation broke out afresh and
+rose to a formidable climax. A great meeting was appointed for the
+Kensington common, and there, on the tenth of the month just named, a
+monster demonstration was held. A petition had meanwhile been drawn
+up, praying for reform, and was _signed by nearly two million
+Englishmen_!
+
+After this the Chartist agitation ebbed away. The movement was said to
+be a failure; but it failed, not because of the political principles
+on which it was founded, but because those principles had in the
+meantime been acknowledged and applied. At least three of the six
+articles of the Chartist charter were soon adopted by Parliament. The
+principle of Manhood Suffrage is virtually a part of the English
+Constitution. The right of voting by Secret Ballot, deposited in a
+ballot-box, has also been acknowledged as a part of the _modus
+operandi_ of all British elections. In like manner the Property
+Qualification formerly imposed on candidates for Parliament, against
+which the Chartists so vehemently and justly declaimed, has long since
+been abolished.
+
+
+THE ABOLITION OF HUMAN BONDAGE.
+
+Certainly no greater deed of philanthropy has been accomplished by
+mankind than the extinction of human servitude. True, that horrible
+relic of antiquity has not yet been wholly obliterated from the world,
+but the nineteenth century has dealt upon it such staggering and fatal
+blows as have driven it from all the high places of civilization and
+made it crouch in obscure corners and unenlightened regions on the
+outskirts of paganism. Slavery has not indeed been extinguished; but
+it is scotched, and must expire. According to the tendency of things,
+the sun in his course at the middle of the twentieth century will
+hardly light the hovel of a single slave!
+
+The opening of the modern era found slavery universally distributed.
+There was perhaps at the middle of the eighteenth century not a
+single non-slave-holding race or nation on the globe! All were alike
+brutalized by the influences and traditions of the ancient system. All
+were familiar with it--aye, they were nursed by it; for it has been
+one of the strange aspects of human life that the children of the free
+have been nursed by the mothers of the enslaved. All races, we repeat,
+were alike poisoned with the venom of the serpent. Thus poisoned were
+France and Germany. Thus poisoned was England; and thus also our
+colonies. Time was, even down to the dawn of the Revolution, when
+every American colony was slave-holding. Time was when the system was
+taught in the schools and preached in the pulpits of all the civilized
+world.
+
+It was about the Revolutionary epoch, that is, the last quarter of the
+eighteenth century, when the conscience of men began to be active on
+the subject of human bondage. We think that the disposition to
+recognize the wickedness and impolity of slavery was a part of the
+general movement which came on in civilization, tending to
+revolutionize not only the political but the social and ethical
+condition of mankind. We know well that in our own country, when our
+political institutions were in process of formation slavery was
+courageously challenged. It was not challenged more audaciously in
+the Northern than in the Southern colonies. Some of the latter, as,
+for example, Georgia, had at the first excluded slavery as a thing
+intolerable to freedom and righteousness. The leading men of the old
+Southern States at the close of the last century nearly all repudiated
+slavery in principle. They admitted it only in practice and because it
+was a part of their inheritance. The patriots, both North and South,
+were averse not only to the extension of the area of bondage, but to
+the existence of it as a fact.
+
+Washington was at heart an anti-slavery man. He wished in his heavy
+but wholly patriotic way as heartily as Lincoln wished that all men
+might enjoy the blessings of freedom. Jefferson was almost radical on
+the question. Though he did not heartily believe in an overruling
+Providence, he felt the need of one when he considered the afflictive
+system of slavery with which his State and country were encumbered. He
+said that considering it he trembled when he remembered that God is
+just.
+
+Meanwhile the unprofitableness of slavery in the Northern colonies had
+co-operated with the conscience of Puritanism to engender a sentiment
+against slavery in that part of the Union. So, although the
+institution was tolerated in the Constitution and even had guarantees
+thrown around it, it was, nevertheless, disfavored in our fundamental
+law. One may readily see how the patriots labored with this portentous
+question. Already in Great Britain an anti-slavery sentiment had
+appeared. There were anti-slavery leaders, statesmen, philosophers and
+philanthropists. By the terms of the Constitution the slave _trade_
+should cease in the year 1808. Sad to reflect that the inventive
+genius of man and the prodigality of nature in her gifts of cotton,
+sugar and rice to the old South should have produced a reaction in
+favor of slavery so great as to fasten it more strongly than ever upon
+our country.
+
+The fact is, that to all human seeming at the middle of our century
+American slavery seemed to be more firmly established than ever
+before. Neither the outcry of the Northern abolitionists nor the
+appeals of Southern patriots such as Henry Clay, availed to check the
+pro-slavery disposition in fully one-half the Union, or to abate the
+covert favor with which the institution was regarded in nearly all the
+other half.
+
+Meanwhile, however, slavery was suffering and expiring in nearly all
+parts of Europe. England began her battle against it even before the
+beginning of the century. The work of the philanthropists, begun as
+far back as 1786-87, when the Quakers, under the leadership of
+Clarkson and Sharpe, began to cry out against the atrocity of human
+bondage, now reached the public authorities, and ministers found it
+necessary to take heed of what the people were saying and doing. Both
+Pitt and Fox became abolitionists before the close of the eighteenth
+century. The first attack was against the slave _trade_. Bills for the
+abolition of this trade were passed in 1793-94 by the House of
+Commons, but were rejected by the Peers. In 1804 another act was
+passed; but this also was rejected by the Lords. So too, the bill of
+1805! The agitation continued during 1806; and in 1807, just after the
+death of Fox, the slave trade _was_ abolished in Great Britain.
+
+The abolitionists went straight ahead, however, to attack slavery
+itself. The Anti-slavery Society was founded. Clarkson and Wilberforce
+and Buxton became the evangels of a new order that was seen far off.
+It was not, however, until the great reform agitation of 1832 that the
+government really took up the question of the abolition of slavery.
+The bill for this purpose was introduced in the House of Commons on
+the twenty-third of April, 1833. The process of abolition was to be
+_gradual_. The masters were to be _compensated_. There were to be
+periods of apprenticeship, after which freedom should supervene.
+Twenty million pounds were to be appropriated from the national
+treasury to pay the expenses of the abolition process.
+
+It was on the seventh of August, 1833, that this bill was adopted by
+the House of Commons. Two weeks afterward the House of Lords assented,
+and on the twenty-eighth of August the royal assent was given. The
+emancipation, however, was set for the first of August, 1834; and this
+is the date from which the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and
+her dependencies may be said to have occurred. In some parts, however,
+the actual process of extinguishing slavery lagged. It was not until
+1843 that the 12,000,000 of slaves under British control in the empire
+were emancipated.
+
+The virtual extinction of human slavery in the present century,
+presents a peculiar ethnical study. Among the Latin races, the French
+were the first to move for emancipation. It appears that the infusion
+of Gallic blood, as well as the large influence of the Frankish
+nations in the production of the modern French, has given to that
+people a bias in favor of liberty. All the other Latin races have
+lagged behind; but, France foreran even Great Britain in the work of
+abolition. Scarcely had the great Revolution of 1789 got under way,
+until an act of abolition conceding freedom to all men without regard
+to race or color was adopted by the National Assembly.
+
+It was on the fifteenth of May, 1791, that this great act was passed.
+One of the darkest aspects of the character of Napoleon I. was the
+favor which he showed to the project of restoring slavery in the
+French colonies. But that project was in vain. The blow of freedom
+once struck produced its everlasting results. Though slavery lingered
+for nearly a half century in some of the French colonies, it survived
+there only because of the revolutions in the home government which
+prevented its final extinction. Acts were passed for the utter
+extirpation of the system during the reign of Louis Philippe, and
+again in the time of the Second Republic.
+
+Meanwhile, the northern nations proceeded with the work of abolition.
+In Sweden slavery ceased in 1847. In the following year Denmark passed
+an Act of Emancipation. But the Netherlands did not follow in the good
+work until the year 1860. The Spaniards and Portuguese have been among
+the last to cling to the system of human servitude. In the outlying
+possessions of Spain, in Spanish America and elsewhere, the
+institution still maintains a precarious existence. In Brazil it was
+not abolished until 1871. In the Mohammedan countries it still exists,
+and may even be said to flourish. In Russia serfdom was abolished in
+1863. He who at that date looked abroad over the world, might see the
+pillars of human bondage shaken, and falling in every part of the
+habitable globe which had been reclaimed by civilization.
+
+In the meantime, Great Britain, in her usual aggressive way, had
+established an anti-slavery propaganda, from which strong influences
+extended in every direction. Her Anti-slavery Society re-established
+itself in the United States. Abolition candidates for the presidency
+began to be heard of and to be voted for at every quadrennial
+election. Such was Birney in 1844. Such (strange to say) was Martin
+Van Buren in 1848. Such four years afterward was John P. Hale, of New
+Hampshire, and such in 1856, as the storm came on, was John C.
+Fremont.
+
+The political history of the United States shows at this epoch an
+astounding growth of anti-slavery sentiment; and this expanding force
+culminated in the election of Lincoln. Great, indeed, was the change
+which had already swept over the landscape of American thought and
+purpose since the despised Birney, in 1844, received only a few
+thousand votes in the whole United States. Now the Rail-splitter had
+come! The tocsin of war sounded. The Union was rent. War with its
+flames of fire and streams of blood devastated the Republic. But the
+bow of promise was set on the dark background of the receding storm.
+American slavery was swept into oblivion, and the end of the third
+quarter of the century saw such a condition established in both the
+New World and the Old, as made the restoration of human bondage
+forever impossible.
+
+Not until the present order of civilization shall be destroyed will
+man be permitted again to hold his fellow-man in servitude. The chain
+that was said "to follow the mother," making all her offspring to be
+slaves; the manacles and fetters with which the weak were bound and
+committed to the mercies of heartless traders; all of the insignia and
+apparatus of the old atrocious system of bondage, have been heaped
+together and cast out with the rubbish and offal of the civilized life
+into the valley of Gehenna. There the whole shall be burned with
+unquenchable fire! Then the smoke, arising for a season, shall be
+swept away, and nothing but a green earth and a blue sky shall remain
+for the emancipated race of man.
+
+
+THE PERIL OF OUR CENTENNIAL YEAR.
+
+Americans are likely to dwell for a long time upon the glories of our
+Centennial of Independence. The year 1876 came and went, and left its
+impress on the world. Our great Exposition at Philadelphia was
+happily devised. We celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of our
+independence, and invited all nations, _including Great Britain_, to
+join us in the festival. The Exposition was successful in a high
+degree. The nation was at its best. The warrior President who had led
+her armies to victory announced the opening and the close. Great
+things were seen. One or two great orations were pronounced, and in
+particular a great Centennial poem was contributed by that gifted son
+of genius, Sidney Lanier, of Georgia. Nor do we refrain from
+repeating, after twenty years, one of his poetic passages:
+
+    "Long as thine Art shall love true love;
+      Long as thy Science truth shall know;
+    Long as thine Eagle harms no Dove;
+      Long as thy Law by law shall grow;
+    Long as thy God is God above,
+      Thy brother every man below,
+    So long, dear Land of all my love,
+      Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow!"
+
+With the autumnal frost the great Exposition was concluded; and with
+that autumnal frost came a peril the like of which our nation had not
+hitherto encountered. The presidential election was held, and ended in
+a disputed presidency. We had agreed since the beginning of the
+century that ours should be a government by party. Against this
+policy Washington had contended stoutly; but after the death of the
+Father of his Country, the policy prevailed--as it has continued to
+prevail more and more to the present day.
+
+In 1876 a Democratic reaction came on against the long-dominant
+Republican party, and Samuel J. Tilden, candidate of the Democracy,
+secured a _popular_ majority. The _electoral_ majority remained in
+dispute. Both parties claimed the victory. The election was so evenly
+balanced in its results--there had been so much irregularity in the
+voting and subsequent electoral proceedings in the States of Florida,
+Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon, and the powers of Congress over
+the votes of such States were so vaguely defined under existing
+legislation--that no certain declaration of the result could be made.
+The public mind was confounded with perplexity and excitement, and
+there began to be heard the threatenings of civil war.
+
+Perhaps the nation did not realize the danger; but the danger was
+present, and threatened to be overwhelming. The Republican party in
+possession of the Government was not willing to lose its advantage,
+and the Democratic party, declaring its majority to be rightful, was
+ready to rise in insurrection. As to the facts in the case, neither
+Samuel J. Tilden nor General R.B. Hayes was clearly elected to the
+presidency. The Democrats had carried two or three States by the
+persuasion of shotguns, and the Republicans with the aid of electoral
+commissions had counted in the electoral votes of a State or two which
+they did not carry at all. The excitement increased with the approach
+of winter, and it was proposed in a leading Democratic journal of the
+West that a hundred thousand Democrats should rise and march unarmed
+on Washington City, there to influence the decision of the disputed
+question.
+
+When Congress convened in December, the whole question of the disputed
+presidency came at once before that body for settlement. The situation
+was seriously complicated by the political complexion of the Senate
+and the House of Representatives. In the former body the Republicans
+had a majority sufficient to control its action, while in the House
+the Democratic majority was still more decisive and equally willful.
+
+At length the necessity of doing _something_ became imperative. The
+great merchants and manufacturers of the country and the boards of
+trade in the principal cities grew clamorous for a peaceable
+adjustment of the difficulty. The spirit of compromise gained ground,
+and it was agreed to refer the disputed election returns to a joint
+high commission, to consist of five members chosen from the United
+States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from
+the Supreme Court.
+
+The judgment of this tribunal was to be final. The commission was
+accordingly constituted. The disputed returns were sent, State by
+State, to the High Court for decision. That body was itself divided
+politically, and _every member decided each question according to his
+politics_. The Republicans had seven votes in the court, the Democrats
+seven votes, and one vote, that of Judge Joseph P. Bradley, was said
+to be independent. But Judge Bradley was a Republican in his political
+antecedents, and whenever a question came to a close issue, he decided
+with his party.
+
+On the second of March, only three days before the time for the
+inauguration, a final decision was reached. The Republican candidates
+were declared elected _by one electoral vote_ over Tilden and
+Hendricks. Mr. Tilden had himself counseled peace and acquiescence.
+The decision was sullenly accepted by the Democrats, and the most
+dangerous political crisis in American history passed harmlessly by
+without violence or bloodshed. No patriot will care to see such a
+crisis come again.
+
+
+THE DOUBLE FETE IN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
+
+The Third Republic of France has passed its twenty-fifth anniversary,
+and the German Empire has just celebrated its semi-jubilee. The French
+held their fête in September of 1895, and on the eighteenth of the
+following January all the Fatherland shouted greetings to the grandson
+of old Wilhelm the Kaiser. The Gaul and the Teuton have thus agreed to
+be happy coincidently; but for very different reasons! The Gaul has
+his Republic and the Teuton his Empire. Side by side on the map lie
+the two great powers, representing in their history and present aspect
+one of the strongest contrasts to be found in human annals.
+
+What the German Empire is we may permit the Emperor himself, in his
+recent anniversary address, to explain. His speech shows that Germany,
+of all civilized nations, has gone furthest in the direction of
+unqualified imperialism. The utterances of Emperor William surpass the
+speeches of the Czar himself, in avowing all the pretensions and
+fictions of monarchy in the Middle Ages. The Hohenzollern potentate
+openly makes the pretence of governing his subjects by rights and
+prerogatives in nowise derived from the people, but wholly derived
+from himself and his grandfather. Why should Germany be an Empire and
+France a Republic? How could such an amazing historical result come
+into the world? The French Republic and the new Empire of Germany were
+not made by generals and kings and politicians in 1870-71. Indeed,
+nothing is made by the strutters who are designated with such titles.
+The two great powers having their centres at Berlin and Paris have
+their roots as deep down as the subsoil of the ages. They grew out of
+antecedents older than the Crusades, older than Charlemagne, older
+than Augustus and the Christ. They came by law--even if the result
+_has_ surprised the expectation of mankind.
+
+When Cæsar made his conquest of Europe, he found the country north of
+the Alps in the possession of two races--both Aryan. These two races
+were as unlike then as they are now. The Gauls west of the Rhine were
+proper material for the reception of Roman rule; but the Germans
+beyond the Rhine were not receptive of any rule but their own. The
+Gallic races became Romanized. Gaul was a part of the Roman Empire and
+reasoning from the facts, we should have expected the Gaulish nations
+to develop into the imperial form.
+
+For like reason we should expect the Teutonic races to develop into
+the greatest democracy of the modern world. Contrary to this double
+expectation, we have a French Republic and a German Empire. In 1870
+the Gallic race became suddenly democratic, and at the same time the
+Germans became the greatest imperialists among civilized mankind! The
+German Empire has arisen where we should have expected a democracy;
+and the French Republic has arisen where we should have expected an
+Empire.
+
+The illogical Empire lies alongside of the illogical Republic. They
+have a line of demarkation which, though drawn on the map, is not
+drawn on the ground. The great antagonistic facts touch each other
+through a long line of territorial extent, but the ethnic diversity
+does not permit political union. The Teuton and the Gaul continue to
+touch, but they are not one, and cannot be. Two neighbors living
+between Verdun and Metz are only a quarter of a mile apart. They
+cultivate their grounds in the same manner, raise the same fruits,
+have vines growing on the two sides of the same trellis. They speak
+the same language, exchange gossip and poultry; but their children do
+not go to the same school! One of them is a French democrat; the
+other, a German imperialist!
+
+The reason for this reversal of expectation, by which the anticipated
+institutions of France are found in Germany and those of Germany in
+France, is this: It seems to be a law of human progress that mankind
+moves forward by reactions against its own preceding conditions; that
+is, Progress disappoints History _by doing the other thing_! The
+French race has done the other thing; and so has the German race! They
+who should have been logically the imperialists of Western Europe are
+the republicans and democrats. They who should have been logically the
+democrats and republicans of Europe--who should have converted
+Germania into the greatest democracy of the world--have accepted
+instead the most absolute empire. The phrase "German _Empire_" is, we
+think, the greatest paradox of modern history; and the phrase "French
+_Republic_" is another like it. But history has decreed it so; and the
+reason is that human progress works out its highest results by doing
+the other thing!
+
+But this philosophical speculation or interpretation does not trouble
+either the French or the Germans. They both seem to rejoice at what
+has come to pass, and do not trouble themselves about the logistics of
+history. They celebrate their quarter centennials, the one for the
+Republic, and the other for the Empire, with profound enthusiasm,
+shouting, _Vive_ for the one and _Hoch_ for the other with an
+impulsive patriotism that has come down to them with the blood of
+their respective races from before the Christian era!
+
+
+
+
+Great Battles.
+
+
+TRAFALGAR.
+
+Lord Byron in his celebrated apostrophe to the ocean could hardly omit
+a reference to the most destructive conflict of naval warfare within
+the present century. In one of his supreme stanzas he reserves
+Trafalgar for the climax:
+
+    "The armaments which thunderstrike the walls
+      Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake
+    And monarchs tremble in their capitals,
+      The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make
+      Their clay creator the vain title take
+    Of lord of thee and arbiter of war,--
+      These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake,
+    They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar
+    Alike the Armada's pride or spoils of Trafalgar."
+
+The battle of Trafalgar, preceding by forty-two days the battle of
+Austerlitz, holds the same relation to British ascendancy on the ocean
+that Napoleon's victory over the Emperors Alexander and Francis held
+to the French ascendancy on Continental Europe. Henceforth Great
+Britain, according to her national hymn, "ruled the wave;" henceforth,
+until after Waterloo, France ruled the land. Up to this date, namely,
+1805, French ambition had reached as far as the dominion of the sea.
+It appears that Napoleon himself had no genius for naval warfare, but
+his ambition included the ocean; coincidently with his accession to
+the Imperial throne a great fleet was prepared and placed under
+command of Admiral Villeneuve for the recovery of the Mediterranean.
+
+This fleet was destined in the first place for a possible invasion of
+England, but fate and Providence had reserved for the armament another
+service. At the same time the British fleet, to the number of
+twenty-seven ships of the line and four frigates, was brought to a
+high stage of proficiency and discipline, and placed under command of
+Lord Horatio Nelson. His second in command was Admiral Collingwood,
+who succeeded him after his death. The French fleet was increased to
+thirty-three ships of the line and five frigates, the addition being
+the Spanish contingent under Admirals Gravina and Alava. The Spanish
+vessels joined Villeneuve from Cadiz about the middle of May. The plan
+of the French commander was to rally a great squadron, cross the
+Atlantic to the West Indies, return as if bearing down on Europe, and
+raise the blockades at Ferrol, Rochefort and Brest.
+
+As soon as it was known, however, that Nelson was abroad, his
+antagonist became wary and all of his movements were marked with
+caution. Meanwhile Lord Nelson sought for the allied-fleet on the
+Mediterranean, but found it not. He then passed through the Straits of
+Gibraltar and sailed for the coast of South America; but before
+reaching his destination he learned that the Spanish fleet had sailed
+for Europe again. Nelson followed, but did not fall in with the enemy.
+Villeneuve, gaining knowledge of the movements of the English admiral,
+and disregarding the instructions of Napoleon, withdrew from Ferrol to
+the south and put in at Cadiz. It was here that Nelson, so to speak,
+brought the allied fleet to bay.
+
+On the southern coast of Spain, between Cadiz and Gibraltar, the Cape
+of Trafalgar projects into the Atlantic. In the autumn Nelson's fleet
+beat southward into this part of the seas, and it was here that the
+battle was fought. The rival commanders were eager for a meeting, and
+each foresaw that the contest was likely to be decisive. Each admiral
+had behind him a long list of naval achievements, and each to his own
+nation was greatly endeared.
+
+Nelson had, on the first of August, 1798, destroyed the French fleet
+in the bay of Aboukir. In 1800 he had been raised to the peerage. In
+1801 he had bombarded Copenhagen; and for that doubtful achievement
+had been made a viscount. One of his arms was gone, and he was
+covered with the scars of battle. Villeneuve had also a well-earned
+reputation. Could he but add to his previous services the defeat of
+Nelson, his fame would be established for all time.
+
+It was on the twenty-first of October, 1805, that the combined
+squadrons of France and Spain on the one side, and the fleet of Great
+Britain on the other, came face to face off the Cape of Trafalgar. The
+rocks of Gibraltar might be seen in the distance. The sea was calm and
+the sky clear. The combatants discerned in advance the greatness of
+the event that was at hand.
+
+The conflict that ensued ranks among the great naval battles of the
+world. Lord Nelson, with all his heroism, was a vain man, capable of
+spectacular display. He clad himself in the insignia of the many
+orders to which he belonged, and might be conspicuously seen from the
+decks of the French ships. In fact, he seemed to court death almost as
+much as he strove for victory. In the beginning of the engagement he
+displayed from his pennon, where it might be read by the whole fleet,
+this signal: "England expects every man to do his duty."
+
+On the display of this signal the British fleet rang with cheers. The
+shouting was heard as far as the opposing Armada. The tradition goes
+that Villeneuve said on hearing the shouts of the British marines:
+"The battle it lost already." The admirals of the allied fleet
+arranged their vessels in parallel lines, so that each ship of the
+rear line should break the space between two of the advanced line.
+This arrangement enabled all the ships to fire at once, and it was the
+purpose of Villeneuve to hold his vessels in this form so that the
+British squadron might gain no advantage from manoeuvring.
+
+Nelson's arrangement, however, was quite different. His plan was to
+attack at two points and break through the Armada, throwing the ships
+into confusion right and left. This brought his own vessels into the
+arrangement of two harrows, each pointing the apex against the
+designated vessels of the opposing squadron. One of the harrows was to
+be led by Collingwood in his ship called the "Royal Sovereign." Nelson
+led his column in his flagship the "Victory." The preliminaries of the
+battle extended to noon, and then the British attack was begun by
+Collingwood, who bore down on the two opposing vessels, the "Santa
+Anna" and the "Fougeux." Nelson also sailed to the attack in the
+"Victory" and broke through the enemy's line between the "Redoubtable"
+and the "Santissima Trinidad." The "Victory" in passing poured
+terrible broad-sides into both vessels.
+
+It seems that both the British admirals in going into battle outsailed
+somewhat their supporting ships; but these soon came into action and
+the battle line of the allied fleet was fatally broken at both points.
+All the vessels were soon engaged, and the rear line of Villeneuve
+gave way as well as the first. Nevertheless, the battle continued
+furiously for about two hours. The "Santissima Trinidad" was at that
+time the largest warship and the most formidable that had ever been
+built. The "Redoubtable" was only second in strength and equipment.
+Five or six others were men-of-war of the heaviest draught and metal.
+The French and Spanish soldiers fought bravely, going into the battle
+with flying streamers and answering shouts.
+
+Nelson, utterly fearless, seems to have had a premonition of his fate.
+He had made a hasty codicil to his will, and entered the struggle to
+conquer or die. Both fates were reserved for him. From the beginning
+of the battle the French and Spanish ships suffered terribly from the
+British fire; but they also inflicted heavy losses on their
+assailants. Here and there a French vessel was shattered and fell out
+of the fight. Nelson was struck with a ball, but refused to go below.
+Again he was hit in the shoulder by a musketeer from the masts of the
+"Redoubtable" and fell to the deck. "They have done for me at last,
+Hardy," said he to Sir Thomas Hardy, captain of the ship. He was
+carried below by the officers, and as he lay bleeding the news was
+brought to him that already _fifteen_ of the enemy's ships had
+surrendered. "That is well," said the dying hero; "but I had bargained
+for twenty." Then his thoughts turned to Lady Hamilton, to whom he was
+devoted. "Take care of Lady Hamilton, Hardy; take care of poor Lady
+Hamilton," said he, as the death dew dampened his brow. He then
+embraced the captain and expired.
+
+The victory of the British fleet was complete. The allies lost
+nineteen ships. Admiral Gravina was killed, and Villeneuve was taken
+prisoner. He never reacted from the mortification of his defeat, but
+lingered until the following year, when he despaired of life and hope
+and committed suicide. Nelson, in the midst of a pageant hitherto
+unsurpassed, was buried in St. Paul's. The battle of Trafalgar passed
+into history as the first and greatest naval conflict of the century.
+
+
+CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ.
+
+The first four years of the present century were a lull before a
+tempest. These years covered on our side of the sea the administration
+of the elder Adams. In Europe they corresponded to the period of the
+transformation of the Consulate into the French Umpire. This change
+was rapidly and easily effected. The star of Napoleon emerged from the
+chaos and the cloud and rose rapidly to the zenith. But the mood of
+the age was war, war. Could Europe in these first years have foreseen
+the awful struggles that were just before, then Europe might well have
+shuddered.
+
+Now it was that the ascendancy of the Corsican brought in a reign of
+violence and blood. Napoleon became the trampler of vineyards. His
+armies made Europe into mire. England--agreeing at Amiens not to
+fight--fought. Pitt, now in the last year of his life, used all of his
+resources to bring about a league against France. He persuaded
+Alexander of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Gustavus of Sweden--all
+easy dupes of a greater than themselves--to make a new coalition. He
+tried to induce Frederick William of Prussia to join his fortunes with
+the rest; but the last-named monarch was for the time restrained by
+the weakness of prudence. The agents of Napoleon held out to the king
+suggestions of the restoration of Hanover to Prussia. But Austria and
+Russia and Sweden pressed forward confidently to overthrow the new
+French Empire. That Empire, they said, should not see the end of the
+first year of its creation!
+
+The Austrians were first in the field. The Russians, under Kutusoff,
+came on into Pomerania from the east. Out of Sweden, with a large
+army, came down Gustavus, the Don Quixote of the north, to crush
+Bernadotte, who held Hanover. Napoleon for his part sprang forth for
+the campaign of Austerlitz, perhaps the most brilliant military
+episode in the history of mankind. With incredible facility he threw
+forward to the Rhine an army of 180,000 men. His policy was--as
+always--to overcome the allies in detail.
+
+On the twenty-fourth of September, the Emperor left Paris. The Empress
+and Talleyrand went with him as far as Strasburg. On the second of
+October, hostilities began at Guntzburg. Four days afterward the
+French army crossed the Danube. On the eighth of the month, Murat won
+the battle of Wertingen, capturing Count Auffenberg, with 2000
+prisoners. On the tenth the French had Augsburg, and on the twelfth,
+Munich. On the fourteenth Soult triumphed at Memingen, capturing a
+corps of 6000 Austrians; and on the same day Ney literally overran the
+territory which was soon to become his Duchy of Elchingen. Napoleon
+out-generaled the main division of the enemy at Ulm. The Austrians,
+under General Mack, 33,000 strong, were cooped up in the town and, on
+the seventeenth of October, forced to capitulate. Eight
+field-marshals and generals, including the Prince Lichtenstein and
+Generals Klenau and Fresnel, were made prisoners. "Soldiers of the
+Grand Army," said Napoleon, "we have finished the campaign in a
+fortnight!"
+
+On the day of the capitulation of Ulm, Massena in Italy drove back the
+army of the Archduke Charles. The Austrians to this date, in a period
+of twenty days, had lost by battle and capture fully fifty thousand
+men! On the twenty-seventh of October, the French army crossed the
+Inn. Saltzburg and Braunau were taken. In Italy, Massena, on the
+thirtieth, won the battle of Caldiero, and took 5000 prisoners. The
+French closed toward the Austrian capital. On the thirteenth of
+November, Napoleon, having obtained possession of the bridges of the
+Danube, entered Vienna. He established himself in the imperial palace
+of Schonbrunn. The Austrian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire--which
+was its shadowy penumbra--seemed to vanish like ghosts before him.
+
+Out of Pomerania into Moravia, to the plain of Olmutz, the great
+Russian army under the Czar and Kutusoff, came roaring. There they
+were united with a heavy division of the Austrians, under the Emperor
+Francis. The latter had fled from his capital, and staked his last
+fortunes on a battle in the field. The allied army was 80,000 strong.
+Napoleon, with 60,000 men, commanded by Soult, Lannes, Murat and
+Bernadotte, advanced rapidly from the direction of Vienna, as far as
+Brunn, and there awaited the onset.
+
+Just beyond this town, at Austerlitz, the French were arranged in a
+semicircle, with the convex front toward the allies, who occupied the
+outer arc on a range of heights. Such was the situation on the night
+of December 1, 1805. The morrow will be the first anniversary of our
+coronation in Notre Dame--a glorious day for battle!
+
+With the morning of the second, Napoleon could scarcely restrain his
+ardor. The enthusiasm of the army knew no bounds. On the night before,
+the Emperor, in his gray coat, had gone the circle of the camps, and
+the soldiers, extemporizing straw torches to light the way, ran before
+him. Looking eagerly through the gray dawn, he saw the enemy badly
+arranged, or moving dangerously in broken masses under the cover of a
+Moravian fog. Presently the fog lifted, and the sun burst out in
+splendor. The onset of the French was irresistible. The allied centre
+was pierced. The Austrian and Russian emperors with their armies were
+sent flying in utter rout and panic from the field. Thirty thousand
+Russians and Austrians were killed, wounded and taken. Alexander
+barely escaped capture. Before sunset the Third Coalition was broken
+into fragments and blown away. At the conference between Napoleon and
+Francis, two days afterward, at the Mill of Sar-Uschitz, some of the
+French officers overheard the father of Maria Louisa lie to her future
+husband, thus: "I promise not to fight you any more."
+
+
+"FRIEDLAND--1807."
+
+Whoever visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, New
+York, is likely to pause before a great historical painting by Jean
+Louis Ernest Meissonier. The picture is entitled "Friedland--1807."
+There goes a critical opinion that, though common fame would have
+Austerlitz to be the greatest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the palm
+ought really to be given to Friedland. At any rate, the martial
+splendor of that day has been caught by the vision and brush of
+Meissonier, and delivered, in what is probably the most splendid
+painting in America, to the immortality of art.
+
+Let us note the great movements that preceded the climax of Friedland.
+In the summer of 1806, the historical conditions in Europe favored a
+general peace. Pitt was dead, and Fox agreed with Napoleon that a
+peace might now be secured by the restoration of Hanover to England.
+Suddenly, however, on the thirteenth of September, 1806, Fox died, and
+by the incoming of Lauderdale the whole complexion was changed.
+Toryism again ran rampant. The Anglo-Russo-Prussian intrigue was
+renewed, and the rash Frederick William sent a peremptory challenge to
+Napoleon to get himself out of Germany.
+
+The Emperor had in truth agreed to withdraw his forces, but the Czar
+Alexander had also agreed to relinquish certain vantage grounds which
+he held--and had not done it. Therefore Napoleon's army corps would
+remain in Germany. Frederick William suddenly declared war, and in a
+month after the death of Fox, Napoleon concentrated in Saxe-Weimar an
+army of a hundred thousand men. Then, on the fourteenth of October,
+1806, was fought the dreadful battle of Jena, in which the Prussians
+lost 12,000 in killed and wounded, and 15,000 prisoners. On the same
+day, Davout fell upon a division of 50,000 under the Duke of Brunswick
+and Frederick William in person, and won another signal victory which
+cost the Germans about ten thousand men.
+
+Prussia was utterly overwhelmed by the disaster. Her fortresses were
+surrendered without resistance, and Napoleon, in less than a
+fortnight, occupied Berlin. On the twenty-first of November, he issued
+from that city his celebrated Berlin decree, declaring the British
+Islands in a state of blockade, and interdicting all correspondence
+and trade with England! The property of British subjects, under a wide
+schedule of liabilities, was declared contraband of war.
+
+Meanwhile the aid promised to Prussia by the Czar had been too slow
+for the lightning that struck at Jena. The oncoming Russians reached
+the Vistula, but were forced back by the victorious French, who took
+possession of Warsaw. There the Emperor established his winter
+quarters, and remained for nearly three months, engaged in the
+preparation of new plans of conquest and new schemes for the
+pacification of Europe.
+
+After Jena, Prussia, though crushed, remained belligerent. Her
+shattered forces drew off to the borders, and were joined by the
+Russians in East Prussia. The campaign of 1807 opened here. On the
+eighth of February, the French army, about 70,000 strong, advanced
+against the allies, commanded by Benningsen and Lestocq. At the town
+of Eylau, about twenty miles from Königsberg, a great but indecisive
+battle was fought, in which each army suffered a loss of nearly
+eighteen thousand men. The Russians and Prussians fell back about four
+miles to Friedland, and both armies were reinforced, the French to
+about eighty thousand, and the allies to approximately the same
+number.
+
+Here for a season the two great camps were pitched against each other.
+The shock of Eylau and the inclemency of the spring, no less than the
+political complications that thickened on every horizon, held back the
+military movements until the beginning of summer. But at length the
+crisis came. On the fourteenth of June was fought the great battle of
+Friedland and the allied army was virtually destroyed. The loss of the
+Russians and Prussians was more than twenty-five thousand men, while
+the French loss was not quite eight thousand. Napoleon commanded in
+person, and his triumph was prodigious.
+
+Let not the visitor to the Metropolitan Museum fail to look long and
+attentively on the picture of the scene which represents the beginning
+of the battle on the side of the French. There on a slight elevation,
+in the wheatfield of June, sitting on his white horse, with his
+triangular hat lifted in silent salutation, surrounded by the princes
+and marshals of his Empire, sits the sardonic somnambulist, while
+before him on the left the Cuirassiers of the Guard, on their
+tremendous horses gathered out of Normandy, plunging at full gallop,
+bearing down through the broken wheat, with buglers in the van and
+sabers flashing high and bearded mouths wide open with yellings that
+resound through the world till now, charge wildly, irresistibly onward
+against the unseen enemy, reckless alike of life and death, but
+choosing rather death if only the marble face but smile!
+
+
+UNDER THE RUSSIAN SNOWS.
+
+The first empire of France was buried between the Niemen and Moscow.
+The funeral was attended by vultures and Cossacks.
+
+It was on the twenty-fourth of June, 1812, that Napoleon began the
+invasion of Russia. The dividing line was the River Niemen. The
+inhabitants fell back before him. He had not advanced far when he
+encountered a new commander, with whom he was unfamiliar. It was
+Field-Marshal Nature. Marshal Nature had an army that the Old Guard
+had never confronted. His herald was Frost, and his aid-de-camp was
+Zero. One of his army corps was Snow. His bellowing artillery was
+charged with Lithuanian tempests. Hail was his grape and shrapnel. The
+Emperor of the French had never studied Marshal Nature's tactics--not
+even in the Alps.
+
+The Russian summer was as midwinter to the soldiers of France and
+Spain and Italy. Some of the invading divisions could hardly advance
+at all. The howling storms made impassable the ungraded roads; the
+1200 guns of the Grand Army sank into the mire. Horse-life and
+man-life fell and perished in the sleet of the mock-summer that raged
+along the watershed between the Dwina and the Dnieper.
+
+The Russians under Kutusoff fell back to Smolensko. There on the
+sixteenth of August they fought and were defeated with a loss of
+nearly twelve thousand men. The way was thus opened as far as the
+Moskwa. At that place on the seventh of September Kutusoff a second
+time gave battle, at the village of Borodino. This was one of the most
+murderous conflicts of modern times. A thousand cannon vomited death
+all day. Under the smoke a quarter of a million of men struggled like
+tigers. At nightfall the French had the field. The defeated Russians
+hung sullenly around the arena where they had left more than 40,000 of
+their dead and wounded. The Frence losses were almost equally
+appalling. "Sire," said Marshal Ney, "we would better withdraw and
+reform." "_Thou_ advise a retreat, Michel?" said the marble head, as
+it turned to the Bulldog of Battles.
+
+Kutusoff abandoned Moscow. The inhabitants receded with him to the
+great plains eastward. On the fifteenth of September, Napoleon entered
+the ancient capital. The streets were as a necropolis. All was
+silence. The conqueror took up his residence in the old palace of the
+Czars. Here he would spend the winter in luxurious quarters. Here he
+would extemporize theatres, and here he would issue edicts as from
+Berlin and Milan. Lo, out of the Bazaar, near the Kremlin, bursts a
+volume of flame! The surrounding region is lighted with the glare.
+Moscow is on fire in a thousand places. The equinoctial gales fan the
+flame. For five days there is the roar of universal combustion. Then
+it subsides. But Moscow is a blackened ruin. Napoleon tries in vain to
+open negotiations with the Czar; but Alexander and Kutusoff will not
+hear. The French are left to enjoy the ashes of a burnt-up Russian
+city.
+
+Already winter was at hand. The snow was falling. The soldier of
+fortune had at last found his destiny. On the nineteenth of October,
+he left Moscow, and the retreat of the Grand Army began toward the
+Niemen. Had the retreat been unimpeded, that army might have made its
+way back to France with comparatively trifling losses. Indeed the fame
+of having burnt the old capital of the Czars might have satisfied the
+conqueror with his expedition. But no sooner did he recede than the
+Cossacks arose on every hand, and assailed the fugitives. The soldiers
+of the West and South dropped and perished by thousands along the
+frozen roads. The ice-darts in their sides were sharper than Russian
+bayonets. A hundred and twenty thousand men rolled back horridly
+across the hostile world. The bridges of the Beresina break down under
+the retreating army, and in the following spring, when the ice-gorges
+go down the river, 12,000 dead Frenchmen shall be washed up from the
+floods!
+
+There is constant battle on flank and rear. All stragglers perish. The
+army dwindles away. It is almost destroyed. Ney brings up the rear
+guard, wasted to a handful. At the passage of the Niemen, soiled with
+dirt, blackened with smoke, without insignia, with only drawn sword,
+and facing backward toward the hated region, the "Bravest of the
+Brave" crosses the bridge. He is the last man to save himself from the
+indescribable horrors of the Campaign of Russia.
+
+The remnants of the Grand Army dragged themselves along until they
+found refuge in Königsberg. Napoleon had gone ahead toward France.
+After Moscow he took a sledge, and sped away across the snow-covered
+wastes of Poland, on his solitary journey to Paris. There is a
+painting of this scene by the Slavic artist Kowalski, which
+represents the three black horses abreast, galloping with all speed
+with the Emperor's sledge across the cheerless world which he
+traversed. He came to his own capital unannounced. None knew of his
+arrival until the next day. At four o'clock in the morning of that
+day, some one entered his office at the Tuileries, and found him with
+his war-map of Europe spread out on the floor before him. He was
+planning another campaign! In doing so, he could hardly forget that
+the Grand Army of his glory was under the Russian snows!
+
+
+WATERLOO.
+
+One battle in this century rises in fame above all other conflicts of
+the ages. It is Waterloo.
+
+It was on the night of the seventeenth of June, 1815, that the British
+and French armies, drawing near each other on the borders of Belgium,
+encamped, the one near the little village of Waterloo and the other at
+La Belle Alliance. They were close together. A modern fieldpiece could
+easily throw a shell from Napoleon's headquarters over La Haie Sainte
+to Mont St. Jean, and far beyond into the forest. During the afternoon
+of the seventeenth, and the greater part of the night, there was a
+heavy fall of rain. On the following morning the ground was muddy.
+The Emperor, viewing the situation, was unwilling to precipitate the
+battle until his artillery might deploy over a dry field.
+
+As to the temper of the Emperor, that was good. Hugo says of him:
+"From the morning his impenetrability had been smiling, and on June
+18, 1815, this profound soul, coated with granite, was radiant. The
+man who had been sombre at Austerlitz was gay at Waterloo. The
+greatest predestined men offer these contradictions; for our joys are
+a shadow and the supreme smile belongs to God.
+
+"'Cæsar laughs, Pompey will weep,' the legionaries of the Fulminatrix
+legion used to say. On this occasion Pompey was not destined to weep,
+but it is certain that Cæsar laughed.
+
+"At one o'clock in the morning, amid the rain and storm, he had
+explored with Bertrand the hills near Rossomme, and was pleased to see
+the long lines of English fires illumining the horizon from
+Frischemont to Braine l'Alleud. It seemed to him as if destiny had
+made an appointment with him on a fixed day and was punctual. He
+stopped his horse and remained for some time motionless, looking at
+the lightning and listening to the thunder. The fatalist was heard to
+cast into the night the mysterious words, '_We are agreed_.' Napoleon
+was mistaken; they no longer agreed."
+
+The arena of Waterloo is an undulating plain. Strategically it has the
+shape of an immense harrow. The clevis is on the height called Mont
+St. Jean, where Wellington was posted with the British army. Behind
+that is the village of Waterloo. The right leg of the harrow
+terminates at the hamlet of La Belle Alliance. The left leg is the
+road from Brussels to Nivelles. The cross-bar intersects the right leg
+at La Haie Sainte. The right leg is the highway from Brussels to
+Charleroi. The intersection of the bar with the left leg is near the
+old stone chateau of Hougomont. The battle was fought on the line of
+the cross-bar and in the triangle between it and the clevis.
+
+The conflict began just before noon. The armies engaged were of equal
+strength, numbering about 80,000 men on each side. Napoleon was
+superior in artillery, but Wellington's soldiers had seen longer
+service in the field. They were his veterans from the Peninsular War,
+perhaps the stubbornest fighters in Europe. Napoleon's first plan was
+to double back the allied left on the centre. This involved the
+capture of La Haie Sainte, and, as a strategic corollary, the taking
+of Hougomont. The latter place was first attacked. The field and wood
+were carried, but the chateau was held in the midst of horrid carnage
+by the British.
+
+Early in the afternoon a Prussian division under Billow, about 10,000
+strong, came on the field, and Napoleon had to withdraw a division
+from his centre to repel the oncoming Germans. For two or three hours,
+in the area between La Haie Sainte and Hougomont, the battle raged,
+the lines swaying with uncertain fortune back and forth. La Haie
+Sainte was taken and held by Ney. On the whole, the British lines
+receded. Wellington's attempt to retake La Haie Sainte ended in a
+repulse. Ney, on the counter charge, called on Napoleon for
+reinforcements, and the latter at that moment, changing his plan of
+battle, determined to make the principal charge on the British centre,
+saying, however, "It is an hour too soon." The support which he sent
+to Ney was not as heavy as it should have been, but the Marshal
+concluded that the crisis was at hand, and Napoleon sought to support
+him with Milhaud's cuirassiers and a division of the Middle Guard.
+Under this counter charge the British lines reeled and staggered, but
+still clung desperately to their position. They gave a little, and
+then hung fast and could be moved no farther. In another part of the
+field Durutte carried the allied position of Papelotte, and Lobau
+routed Bülow from Planchenois. At half-past four everything seemed to
+portend disaster to the allies and victory to the French.
+
+If the tragedy of Waterloo had been left at that hour to work out its
+own results as between France and England it would appear that the
+latter must have gone to the wall; but destiny had prepared another
+end for the conflict. Waterloo was a point of concentration. Several
+tides had set thither, and some of them had already arrived and broken
+on the rocks. Other tides were rolling in. The British wave had been
+first, and this had now been rolled back by the tide of France. A
+German wave was coming, however, and another French billow, either or
+both of which might break at any moment.
+
+On the morning of June 18, at the little town of Wavre, fifteen miles
+southeast of Brussels and about eight or ten miles from Waterloo, a
+battle had been fought between the French contingent under Marshal
+Grouchy and the Prussian division under Thielmann, who commanded the
+left wing of Marshal Blücher's army. That commander had a force of
+fully forty thousand men under him, and was on his way to join his
+forces with those of Wellington on the plateau of Mont St. Jean.
+Grouchy had at this time between thirty and forty thousand men, and
+was under orders from Napoleon to keep in touch with his right wing,
+watching the Prussians and joining himself to the main army according
+to the emergency.
+
+These two divisions--Blücher's and Grouchy's--were _sliding along_
+toward Waterloo, and on the afternoon of the eighteenth it became one
+of the great questions in the history of this century which would
+first arrive on the field. Napoleon believed that Grouchy was at hand.
+Wellington in his desperation breathed out the wish that either night
+or Blücher would come. The ambiguous result of the principal conflict
+made it more than ever desirable to both of the commanders to gain
+their reinforcements, each before the other. The event showed that the
+arrival of Bülow's contingent was really the signal for the oncoming
+of the whole Prussian army. The French Emperor, however, remained
+confident, and at half-after four he felt warranted in sending a
+preliminary despatch of victory to Paris.
+
+Just at this juncture, however, an uproar was witnessed far to the
+right. The woods seemed to open, and the banners of Blücher shot up in
+the horizon. Grouchy was _not_ on his rear or flank! Napoleon saw at a
+glance that it was then or never. His sun of Austerlitz hung low in
+the west. The British centre must be broken, or the empire which he
+had builded with his genius must pass away like a phantom. He called
+out four battalions of the Middle and six of the Old Guard. In the
+last fifteen years that Guard had been thrown a hundred times on the
+enemies of France, and never yet repulsed. It deemed itself
+invincible.
+
+At seven o'clock, just as the June sun was sinking to the horizon, the
+bugles sounded and the finest body of horsemen in Europe started to
+its doom on the squares of Wellington. The grim horsemen rode to their
+fate like heroes. The charge rolled on like an avalanche. It plunged
+into the sunken road of O'Hain. It seemed to roll over. It rose from
+the low grounds and broke on the British squares. They reeled under
+the shock, then reformed and stood fast. Around and around those
+immovable lines the soldiers of the Empire beat and beat in vain. It
+was the war of races at its climax. It was the final death-grip of the
+Gaul and the Teuton. The Old Guard recoiled. The wild cry of "_La
+Garde recule_" was heard above the roar of battle. The crisis of the
+Modern Era broke in blood and smoke, and the past was suddenly
+victorious. The Guard was broken into flying squadrons. Ruin came with
+the counter charge of the British. Ney, glorious in his despair,
+sought to stay the tide. For an hour longer he was a spectacle to gods
+and men. Five horses had been killed under him. He was on foot. He was
+hatless. He clutched the hilt of a broken sword. He was covered with
+dust and blood. But his grim face was set against the victorious
+enemy in the hopeless and heroic struggle to rally his shattered
+columns.
+
+Meanwhile the Prussians rushed in from the right. Wellington's Guards
+rose and charged. Havoc came down with the darkness. A single regiment
+of the Old Guard was formed by Napoleon into a last square around
+which to rally the fugitives. The Emperor stood in the midst and
+declared his purpose to die with them. Marshal Soult forced him out of
+the melee, and the famous square, commanded by Cambronne--flinging his
+profane objurgation into the teeth of the English--perished with the
+wild cry of "_Vive l'Empereur!_"
+
+Hugo says that the panic of the French admits of an explanation; that
+the disappearance of the great man was necessary for the advent of a
+great age; that in the battle of Waterloo there was more than a storm,
+that is, the bursting of a meteor. "At nightfall," he continues,
+"Bernard and Bertrand seized by the skirt of his coat in a field near
+Genappe a haggard, thoughtful, gloomy man, who, carried so far by the
+current of the rout, had just dismounted, passed the bridle over his
+arm, and was now with wandering eye returning alone to Waterloo. It
+was Napoleon, the immense somnambulist of a shattered dream!"
+
+On the spot where French patriotism afterward planted the bronze lion
+to commemorate forever the extinction of the Old Guard of the French
+Empire, and of Napoleon the Great, the traveler from strange lands
+pauses, at the distance of eighty years from the horrible cataclysm,
+and reflects with wonder how within the memory of living men human
+nature could have been raised by the passion of battle to such sublime
+heroism as that displayed in these wheatfields and orchards where the
+Old Guard of France sank into oblivion, but rose to immortal fame.
+
+
+SEBASTOPOL.
+
+In the fall of 1852 Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince President of the
+French Republic, about to become the French Empire, was invited to a
+banquet by the Chamber of Commerce in Bordeaux. He was on his
+triumphal tour through the South of France. At the banquet he spoke,
+saying: "I accept with eagerness the opportunity afforded me by the
+Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce for thanking your great city for its
+cordial reception.... At present the nation surrounds me with its
+sympathies.... To promote the welfare of the country, it is not
+necessary to apply new systems, but the chief point above all is to
+produce confidence in the present and security for the future. For
+these reasons it seems France desires a return to the Empire. There is
+one objection to which I must reply. Certain minds seem to entertain a
+dread of war; certain persons say the Empire is only war. But I say
+_the Empire is peace_."
+
+The last four words of this extract became the motto of the Second
+Empire. Everywhere the Prince President's saying was blown to the
+world. "The Empire is peace" was published in the newspapers, echoed
+on the stage, and preached from the pulpits.
+
+But the Empire was _not_ peace. Just at this time Tennyson wrote his
+poem against France, as follows:
+
+    "There is a sound of thunder afar,
+      Storm in the South that darkens the day--
+    Storm of battle and thunder of war;
+      Well if it do not roll our way!
+    Form, form; riflemen, form!
+    Ready, be ready to meet the storm!"
+
+In less than a year the storm broke. It broke in Eastern Europe. Of
+the personal forces that brought the breaking, the two principal were
+the Czar Nicholas and the Emperor Louis Napoleon. In 1853 the Czar
+demanded of the Sultan certain guarantees of the rights of the Greek
+Christians in the Turkish provinces. This was refused, and the
+Crimean War broke out on the Danube. The first power in Western Europe
+to support the Sultan was France, while England and Sardinia came hard
+after. There was an alliance of England and France in support of the
+Turkish cause. In the bottom of the difficulty lay this question:
+Whether Russia might now move forward, gain control of the Black Sea,
+overawe the Porte, force her way through the Sea of Marmora into the
+Mediterranean, and thus rectify the mistake of Peter the Great in
+building his capital on the Gulf of Finland. All this and much more
+was called _The Eastern Question_.
+
+The coast of the Black Sea became the seat of the war that ensued. The
+Russians posted themselves strongly in the Crimea. That peninsula was
+commanded by the famous fortress of Sebastopol, situated at the
+southwestern extremity. On the twenty-fifth of September, 1854, the
+heights of Balaklava, lying south of the fortress, were seized by a
+British division under command of Lord Raglan. In this way the
+Russians were besieged; for the allied fleets had made their way into
+the Black Sea, and the land side of Sebastopol was commanded by
+Balaklava.
+
+The siege that ensued lasted for nearly eleven months, and was one of
+the most memorable of modern times. On two occasions the Russians
+sallied forth and gave battle. The first conflict of this kind was on
+the night of the twenty-fifth of October, 1854, at Balaklava. The
+Russian attack on the English and Turks was at first successful, and
+four redoubts were carried by the assailants. At the crisis of the
+battle, however, the British Highlanders came into action, and the
+Russians were repulsed. The latter did not attempt to renew the
+attack, but fell back into their intrenchments. It was at this
+juncture that the famous incident occurred of the Charge of the Light
+Brigade, which was immortalized by Tennyson in his poem.
+
+A few days after the battle of Balaklava occurred another hard
+conflict at the village of Inkerman, at the head of the harbor of
+Sebastopol. On the fifth of November, 1854, a strong force of Russians
+descended from the heights, and were met by the allies on the slope
+opposite the ruins of an ancient town, which occupied the site in the
+times of Strabo. A severe battle ensued, in which the English and
+French were victorious. Many other sorties were made from the
+fortress, but were designed rather to delay the siege than with any
+serious hope of breaking the investment. Sometimes the conflicts,
+though desultory, were severe, taking the proportions of regular
+battles. But nothing decisive was effected, until winter closed on
+the scene, and brought upon both the besiegers and the besieged the
+greatest hardships.
+
+The sufferings of the allies, so far away from the source of supplies,
+were at times beyond description. It is doubtful whether any other
+siege of modern times has entailed such cruel privations upon a
+civilized soldiery. At times the combined havoc of hunger, disease and
+cold was seen in its worst work in the allied camps. The genius of
+Elizabeth Butler has seized upon the morning "Roll Call," in the
+Crimean snows of 1855, as the subject of a great painting in which to
+depict the excess of human suffering and devotion--the acme of English
+heroism in a foreign land.
+
+Meanwhile, the allied lines around Sebastopol were considerably
+contracted, and several serious assaults were made on the Russian
+works. On the twenty-third of February the French in front of the
+bastion, called the Malakhoff, assaulted that stronghold with great
+valor, but were unsuccessful. On the eighteenth of the following June
+an attempt was made to carry the Redan, a strong redoubt at the other
+extreme of the Russian defences, but the assailants were again
+repulsed. Then, on the sixteenth of August, followed the bloody battle
+of Tehernaya, in which the Russians made a final effort to raise the
+siege. With a force of 50,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry they threw
+themselves on the allied position, but were beaten back with great
+slaughter.
+
+In the meantime, the trenches of the allies had been drawn so near the
+Russian works that there was a fair prospect of carrying the bastions
+by another assault. A terrible bombardment was begun on the fifth, and
+continued to the eighth of September, when both the Redan and the
+Malakhoff were taken by storm. But the struggle was desperate, and the
+losses on both sides immense. The Russians blew up their
+fortifications on the south side of the harbor, and retreated across
+the bay. Nor did they afterward make any serious attempt to regain the
+stronghold which the allies had wrested from them. The victors for
+their part proceeded to destroy the docks, arsenals and shipyards of
+Sebastopol, and, as far as possible, to prevent the future occupancy
+of the place by the Russians as a seat of commerce and war.
+
+The siege and capture of Sebastopol virtually ended the contest,
+though the war lagged during the greater part of the ensuing year. On
+the second of March, 1855, the Czar Nicholas died, and Alexander II.
+came to the throne, predisposed to peace. It was not, however, until
+the thirtieth of March, 1856, that the Treaty of Paris was concluded,
+in which Russia was obliged to yield to the allied powers, among which
+France held the first place.
+
+The story of the Crimean War, and of the siege of Sebastopol in
+particular, has passed into history as one of the great events, of the
+century. The struggles at Balaklava, on the river Alma, at Inkerman,
+and the storming of the Redan and the Malakhoff became the subjects of
+great historical paintings, of poems and of songs, the echoes of which
+are heard to the present day.
+
+
+SADOWA.
+
+From a military point of view, nothing in this century has been more
+brilliantly successful than the campaign of Prussia into Bohemia
+against the Austrians, culminating on the sixth of July, 1866, in the
+great conflict called the battle of Sadowa or Königgrätz--the one or
+the other from the two towns near which it was fought. The historical
+painter, Wilhelm Camphausen, of the School of Düsseldorf, has left
+among the art trophies of the world a painting of this battle which is
+as true to the field and the combatants as anything which we recall
+from the sublime leaves of historical art.
+
+The scene represented is the triumphant conclusion of the battle. The
+field is wide and stormy. In the centre, riding at full gallop with
+his staff, is King William. Already he is receiving the cheers and
+salutations of victory. By his side are seen the stalwart figures of
+Bismarck, Von Roon, Von Moltke, the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick
+Charles, and many others destined in the ensuing ten years to rise to
+the heights of military fame. To the right of the group of commanders
+charges the column of the Uhlans. The Austrians before are broken, and
+falling into rout. Far to the left and in the distance may be seen the
+half-obscured wrecks of battle.
+
+This conflict proved to be the Waterloo of Austria. It was the climax
+of the Seven Weeks' War. Already the Germans, under the leadership of
+Prussia, were making haste toward empire. The activity and energy
+displayed by the Prussian Government at this juncture were prodigious.
+It was like the days of Frederick the Great come again. The trouble
+with Austria had arisen about the claims of the Duke of Augustenburg
+to the government of Holstein. Bismarck desired that that duchy should
+be disposed of in one manner, while Austria was determined on another.
+
+The German States were drawn into this controversy, and the support of
+Italy was sought by each of the contestants. Prussia held out to
+Italy the temptation of recovering Venice, as the reward of her
+entrance into a Prusso-Italian alliance. This bait was sufficient. The
+smaller German powers, with the exception of Oldenburg, Mecklenburg,
+the Saxon States, and three Free Cities, took their stand with
+Austria, and the German Diet approved of the Austrian demand. It
+looked for the time as though Prussia, with the exception of the aid
+of Italy, was to be left naked to all the winds of hostility. The
+event showed, however, that that great power was now in her element.
+She declared the action of the German Diet to be not only a menace,
+but an act of overt hostilities. This was followed by an immediate
+declaration of war against a foe that had nearly three times her
+numerical strength.
+
+On the fifteenth of June, 1866, King William called upon Saxony,
+Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Nassau to remain neutral in the impending
+conflict, and gave them _twelve hours_ in which to decide! Receiving
+no answer, he ordered the Prussians out of Holstein to seize Hanover.
+This work was accomplished in two days. In another two days
+Hesse-Cassel was occupied by an army from the Rhine, while at the same
+time a third division of the Prussian forces was thrown into Dresden
+and Leipsic. On the twenty-seventh of the month, a battle was fought
+with the Hanoverians, in which the latter were at first successful,
+but were soon overpowered and compelled to surrender. George V., King
+of Hanover, fled for refuge to Vienna.
+
+Within two weeks the field in the South was cleared, and the Prussian
+army was turned upon Austria. King William's forces numbered 260,000
+men. They were commanded by the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick
+Charles, Von Moltke, Von Roon and General Bittenfeld. The King in
+person and Bismarck were present with the advance. The impact was more
+than Austria could stand. On the twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth of
+June, Frederick Charles defeated the Austrian advance in four
+indecisive engagements. Count Clam-Gallas, the Austrian general, was
+obliged to fall back on the main body for support.
+
+In these same days the Crown Prince gained several preliminary
+successes over the principal Austrian army under Benedek. Then, on the
+river Bistritz, on the sixth of July, came the great battle of Sadowa.
+The opposing commanders in the beginning of the engagement were
+Frederick Charles and Benedek. The battle began at eight in the
+morning, and raged with the utmost fury until two in the afternoon.
+Thus far the Prussians had gained but little advantage; but at that
+hour the powerful division of the Crown Prince, which, like that of
+Blücher at Waterloo, had been delayed by recent rains, appeared on the
+Austrian right. The wing of Benedek's army was soon turned. Bittenfeld
+then broke the left, and under a general advance of the Prussian lines
+the Austrian centre gave way in confusion. The field was quickly
+swept. The overthrow of the Austrian army became a ruinous rout, and
+the out-flashing sun of evening looked upon a demoralized and flying
+host, scattering in all directions before the victorious charges of
+the Prussian cavalry.
+
+The overwhelming victory of the Prussians was not without its rational
+causes. Indeed the antecedents of victory may always be found if all
+the facts of battle are known and analyzed. It remained for the battle
+of Sadowa to demonstrate practically the superiority of the
+needle-gun. This arm had been adopted by the Prussian government and
+was now for the first time on a great scale brought to the crucial
+test. Hitherto the old plan of muzzle-loading had been followed by all
+the nations of Europe and America. In our country the Civil War had
+come almost to its climax before breech-loading was generally
+introduced. Austria had continued to use the old muzzle-loading
+muskets. It seems surprising that nations, of whom intelligence and
+self-interest may well be predicated, should continue in such a matter
+as war to employ inefficient weaponry long after a superior arm has
+been invented.
+
+If one might have looked into the gunshop of M. Pauli at Paris in the
+year 1814, he might have seen a gunsmith, twenty-seven years of age,
+plying his trade under the patronage of Napoleon the Great. That
+gunsmith was Johann Nicholas Von. Dreyse, of Sömmerda, who presently
+became an inventor as well as a smith, and in 1824, having returned to
+his own country, he took a patent for a new percussion method in
+musketry. Three years afterward he invented a needle-gun, retaining
+the muzzle-loading method. He continued his experimentation until
+1836, when he made and patented the first breech-loading needle-gun
+complete. This was done under the patronage of the Prussian
+government. It was not until 1841, however, that this arm began to be
+supplied for Prussian troops, and it was twenty-five years after that
+date before the general adoption of this arm contributed to the rout
+of the Austrians at Sadowa.
+
+The Prussians being armed with needle-guns, were enabled to get the
+double advantage of rapid firing by loading in a chamber at the
+breech of the piece, and the equally great advantage of a long range
+and most deadly missile; for in the cartridge of this gun the needle
+runs through the charge, firing it first at the front of the chamber,
+thus securing the whole force of the explosive, which burns backward
+in the enclosed space and expends itself entirely on the projectile.
+Those breech-loading pieces which fire the cartridge by percussion
+against its back end have the disadvantage of the charge burning
+forward, and thus wasting itself partly in the air after the bullet
+has left the muzzle. This difficulty, however, has been overcome in
+recent gunnery, and the needle-gun such as it was in the hands of King
+William's soldiers at Sadowa, must now be regarded as a clumsy and
+obsolete weapon.
+
+The battle of Sadowa was to Francis Joseph the handwriting on the
+wall; but he made vain exertions to save his tottering fabric. Now it
+was that the shadow of a great hand was seen behind the conflict. It
+was the hand of Bismarck. His scheme was the unification of Germany.
+The NORTH GERMAN UNION was formed on the basis of Protestantism and
+the unity of the German race. Already the Empire might be seen in the
+distance.
+
+
+CAPTURE OF MEXICO.
+
+Whatever may be said of the justice of our war with Mexico, no
+criticism can be offered as to the brilliancy of the result. The
+campaign of General Scott against the ancient capital of the Aztecs,
+was almost spectacular; certainly it was heroic.
+
+On the ninth of March, 1847, the General, then nearly sixty-one years
+of age, arrived at Vera Cruz, with an army of 12,000 men. That city
+was taken in about a week, and the way was opened from the coast to
+the capital. The advance began on the eighth of April, and ten days
+afterward the rocky pass of Cerro Gordo was carried by assault. Santa
+Anna barely escaped with his life, leaving behind 3000 prisoners, his
+chest of private papers, and his _wooden leg!_
+
+On the twenty-second of the same month, the strong castle of Perote,
+crowning a peak of the Cordilleras, was taken without resistance. Then
+the sacred city of Puebla was captured. On the seventh of August,
+Scott, with his reduced forces, began his march over the crest of the
+mountains against the city of Mexico. The American army, sweeping over
+the heights, looked down on the valley. Never before had a soldiery in
+a foreign land beheld a grander scene Clear to the horizon stretched
+a living landscape of green fields, villages, and lakes--a picture too
+beautiful to be marred with the dreadful enginery of war.
+
+The American army advanced by the way of Ayotla. The route was the
+great national road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. The last fifteen miles
+of the way was occupied with fortifications, both natural and
+artificial, and it seemed impossible to advance directly to the gates
+of the city. The army was accordingly brought around Lake Chalco, and
+thence westward to San Augustine. This place is ten miles from the
+capital. The approach now lay along causeways, across marshes and the
+beds of bygone lakes. At the further end of each causeway, the
+Mexicans had built massive gates. There were almost inaccessible
+positions at Contreras, San Antonio and Molino del Rey. Further on
+toward the city lay the powerful bulwarks of Churubusco and
+Chapultepec. The latter was of great strength, and seemed impregnable.
+These various outposts were held by Santa Anna with a force of fully
+thirty thousand Mexicans.
+
+The first assaults of the Americans were made on the nineteenth of
+August, by Generals Pillow and Twiggs. The line of communications
+between Contreras and Santa Anna's army was cut, and in the darkness
+of the following night an assault was made by General Persifer F.
+Smith, who about sunrise carried the place and drove the garrison
+pell-mell. This was the _first_ victory of the memorable twentieth of
+August.
+
+A few hours later, General Worth compelled the evacuation of San
+Antonio. This was the _second_ victory. About the same time, General
+Pillow advanced on Churubusco, and carried one of the heights. The
+position was taken by storm, and the enemy scattered like chaff. This
+was the _third_ triumph. The division of General Twiggs added a
+_fourth_ victory by storming and holding another height of Churubusco,
+while the _fifth_ and last was achieved by General Shields and Pierce,
+who drove back an army of reinforcements under Santa Anna. The
+Mexicans were thus forced back into the fortifications of Chapultepec.
+
+On the following morning, the alarm and treachery of the Mexican
+authorities were both strongly exhibited. A deputation came out to
+negotiate; but the intent was merely to gain time for strengthening
+the defences. The terms proposed by the Mexicans were preposterous
+when viewed in the light of the situation. General Scott, who did not
+consider his army vanquished, rejected the proposals with scorn. He,
+however, rested his men until the seventh of September before
+renewing hostilities. On the morning of the eighth, General Worth was
+thrown forward to take Molino del Rey and Casa de Mata, which were the
+western defences of Chapultepec. These places were defended by about
+fourteen thousand Mexicans; but the Americans, after losing a fourth
+of their number in the desperate onset, were again victorious. The
+batteries were now turned on Chapultepec itself, and on the thirteenth
+of September that frowning citadel was carried by storm. This exploit
+opened an avenue into the city. Through the San Cosine and Belen gates
+the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at nightfall the soldiers
+of the Union were in the suburbs of Mexico.
+
+During the night, Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled
+from the city, but not until they had turned loose from the prisons
+2000 convicts, to fire upon the American army. On the following
+morning, before day-dawn, a deputation came forth from the city to beg
+for mercy. This time the messengers were in earnest; but General
+Scott, wearied with trifling, turned them away with disgust.
+"_Forward!_" was the order that rang along the American lines at
+sunrise. The war-worn regiments swept into the beautiful streets of
+the famous city, and at seven o'clock the flag of the United States
+floated over the halls of the Montezumas. It was the triumphant
+ending of one of the most brilliant and striking campaigns of modern
+history.
+
+The American army, as compared with the hosts of Mexico, had been but
+a handful. The small force which had left Vera Cruz on the march to
+the capital had lost considerably by battle and disease. Many
+detachments had been posted _en route_ to hold the line of
+communications, and for garrison duty in places taken from the enemy.
+The army had thus dwindled until, after the battles of Churubusco and
+Chapultepec, _fewer than six thousand men_ were left to enter and hold
+the capital.
+
+The invasion had been remarkable in all its particulars. The obstacles
+which had to be overcome seemed insurmountable. There were walled
+cities to be taken, fortified mountain passes to be carried by storm,
+and frowning castles with cannon on the battlements to be assaulted by
+regiments whose valor and impetuosity were their only protection and
+warrant of victory. Yet the campaign was never seriously impeded. No
+foot of ground once taken from the Mexicans was yielded by false
+tactics or lost by battle.
+
+The army which accomplished this marvel, penetrating a far-distant and
+densely peopled country, held by a proud race, claiming to be the
+descendants of Cortes and the Spanish heroes of the sixteenth
+century, and denouncing at the outset the American soldiers as
+"barbarians of the North," was, in large part, an army of
+volunteers--a citizen soldiery--which had risen from the States of the
+Union and marched to the Mexican border under the Union flag.
+
+
+VICKSBURG.
+
+The story goes that on a certain occasion some friends of General
+Grant, anxious to make him talk about himself--something he would
+hardly ever do--said: "General, at what time in your military career
+did you perceive that you were the coming man--that you were to have
+the responsibility and fame of the command-in-chief and end the war?"
+For little while the General smoked on, and then said, "_After
+Vicksburg!_"
+
+Certain it is that the star of Grant, long obscured and struggling
+through storm and darkness, never emerged into clear light, rising in
+the ascendant, until after the capture of the stronghold of the
+Confederates on the Mississippi. After that it rose, and rose to the
+zenith.
+
+The position of Vicksburg is hard to understand. The river at this
+place makes a bend to the north and then turns south again, leaving a
+delta, or peninsula, on the Louisiana side. Vicksburg occupies a kind
+of shoulder on the Mississippi side. The site is commanding. The river
+flows by the bluffs, as if to acknowledge its subjection to them. From
+the beginning of the war the Confederate authorities recognized the
+vast importance of holding this key to the great inland artery, and
+the Federal Government saw the necessity of clutching it from the
+enemy.
+
+The mouth of the Mississippi was soon regained by the Government, so
+that there was no serious obstruction as far north as where the
+northern border of Louisiana crosses the river. From the north the
+Federal fleets and land forces made their way along the Tennessee
+border, and then the Arkansas border; but in the middle, between the
+twenty-second and thirty-third parallels, the Confederates got a
+strong grip on the Father of Waters, and would not relinquish their
+hold. Jackson, the capital of the State, was in their power also, and
+from Jackson eastward the great thoroughfare extended into Alabama,
+and thence expanded in its connections into all the Confederacy. From
+Jackson to Vicksburg reached the same line of communications, so that
+here, at Vicksburg, the Confederate power, having its seat in Richmond
+and its energy in the field, reached directly to the Mississippi
+river, and laid upon that stream a band of iron which the Union must
+break in order to pass.
+
+Such was the situation at the beginning of 1863. General Grant, who
+had been under a cloud since Shiloh, had gradually regained his
+command, and to him fell the task of breaking the Confederate hold on
+the great river. He has himself in his _Memoirs_ told the story of the
+Vicksburg campaign. He managed, by herculean exertions, to get his
+forces below Vicksburg, and then began his campaign from Grand Gulf
+inland toward the line of communication between Jackson and Vicksburg.
+It was some time before the Confederates took the alarm. When they did
+become alarmed about Grant's movements, General J.E. Johnston, who
+commanded at Jackson, and General J.C. Pemberton, who was in command
+at Vicksburg; made the most unwearied efforts to keep open the line of
+communications upon which the safety of Jackson and the success of
+Pemberton depended.
+
+But Grant pressed on in a northwesterly direction until he came upon
+Pemberton in a position which he had chosen at Champion's Hill. Here,
+without doubt, was fought one of the critical battles of the Union
+war. If General Pemberton had been successful, that success would seem
+to have portended the end of Grant's military career. But a different
+fate was reserved for the combatants. Grant's army was strong, and had
+become seasoned by hardship into the veteran condition. His under
+officers--Logan, McPherson, Hovey, McClernand and A.J. Smith--were in
+full spirit of battle. The engagement was severely contested. The
+Union army, actually engaged, numbered 15,000, and Pemberton's forces
+were about equal in number; but the latter were disastrously defeated.
+The losses were excessive in proportion to the numbers engaged.
+
+The Confederates now fell back to Big Black river. Their line of
+communication with Jackson was cut. A second battle was fought at Big
+Black River, and then, on the eighteenth of May, the victorious Union
+army surrounded Vicksburg, and the siege was begun. The siege lasted
+forty-seven days, and was marked by heroic resistance on the one side
+and heroic pertinacity on the other, to the degree of making it one of
+the memorable events in the military annals of the world. Gradually
+the Union lines were narrowed around the doomed town. Ever nearer and
+nearer the lines of riflepits were drawn. Day by day the resources of
+the Confederates were reduced. But their defences were strong, and
+their courage for a long time unabated.
+
+General Pemberton hoped and expected that an attack on Grant's rear
+would be made in such force as to loosen his grip, and to enable
+the besieged to rise against the besiegers and break through. The
+Confederates, however, had not sufficient forces for such an
+enterprise. General Lee, in the East, had now undertaken the
+campaign of Gettysburg, and the Confederacy was already strained
+in every nerve. General Grant had the way open for supplies and
+re-enforcements. The siege was pressed with the utmost vigor, and
+Pemberton was left to his fate.
+
+Meanwhile, however, two unsuccessful assaults were made on the
+Confederate works. The first of these occurred on the day after the
+investment was completed. It was unsuccessful. The Union army was
+flung back from the impregnable defences in the rear of Vicksburg, and
+great losses were inflicted on them. Grant, however, was undismayed,
+and, still believing that the enemy's line might be broken by assault,
+renewed the attempt in a gallant attack on the twenty-second of May. A
+furious cannonade was kept up for several hours, and then the
+divisions of Sherman, McPherson and McClernand were thrown forward
+upon the earthworks of the enemy.
+
+It was here that General McClernand reported to the commander that he
+had gained the Confederate intrenchments. General Grant says: "I
+occupied a position from which I thought I could see as well as he
+what took place in his front; and I did not see the success he
+reported. But his request for reinforcements being repeated, I could
+not ignore it, and sent him Quinby's division. Sherman and McPherson
+were both ordered to renew their assaults in favor of McClernand. This
+last attack only served to increase our casualties, without giving any
+benefit whatever." In these attacks large numbers of the Federal
+soldiers had got into the low ground intervening, under the enemy's
+fire, and had to remain in that position until darkness enabled them
+to retire. The Union losses were very heavy, and General Grant, years
+afterward, in composing his _Memoirs_, referred to this assault and to
+that at Cold Harbor as the two conspicuous mistakes of his military
+career.
+
+Now it was that the regular siege of Vicksburg was undertaken. Toward
+the latter part of June, the Confederates, both soldiers and citizens,
+began to suffer. Houses became untenable. The people sought what
+refuge they might find. Some actually burrowed in the earth. The
+garrison was placed on short rations, and then a condition of
+starvation ensued. Pemberton held out with a resolution worthy of a
+better fate. But at length human endurance could go no further. On
+the fourth of July the white flag was hoisted from the Confederate
+works, announcing the end. Generals Grant and Pemberton, with three or
+four attendants each, met between the lines, and the terms of
+capitulation were quickly named and accepted. Vicksburg was
+surrendered. General Pemberton and all his forces, 30,000 strong,
+became prisoners of war.
+
+This was the greatest force ever surrendered in America, though it was
+only about one-sixth of that of Marshal Bazaine and his army at Metz
+seven years afterward. Thousands of small arms, hundreds of cannon,
+and all the remaining ammunition and stores of the Confederates were
+the other fruits of this great Union victory, by which the prospect of
+ultimate success to the Confederacy was either destroyed or long
+postponed, and by which in particular the great central river of the
+United States was permitted once more to flow unvexed from the
+confluence of the Missouri to the Gulf.
+
+
+GETTYSBURG.
+
+The battle of Gettysburg is properly included among the great battles
+of the world. It was the greatest conflict that has thus far occurred
+in America. The losses relative to the numbers engaged were not as
+great as those at Antietam, Spottsylvania, and a few other bloody
+struggles of our war; but in the aggregate the losses were greatest.
+Gettysburg was in truth the high tide of the American Civil War. Never
+before and never afterward was there a crisis such as that which broke
+in the dreadful struggle for the mastery of Cemetery Ridge.
+
+The invasion of the Northern States by General Lee had been undertaken
+at the close of the previous summer. That invasion had ended
+disastrously at the battle of Antietam. Once more the Confederate
+commander would make the trial. So well had he been able to beat back
+every invasion of Virginia by the Union forces that he now thought to
+end the war by turning its tide of devastation into Pennsylvania.
+
+Doubtless Lee realized that he was placing everything upon the cast of
+a die. He undertook the campaign with a measure of confidence. He,
+almost as much as Grant, was a taciturn man, not much given to
+revelations of his purposes and hopes. No doubt he was somewhat
+surprised at the successful rising of the Union forces against him.
+Besides the Army of the Potomac, Pennsylvania seemed to rise for the
+emergency.
+
+It has not generally been observed that before the great battle
+General Meade was in a position seriously to threaten the Confederate
+rear. Armies in the field rarely meet each other at the place and time
+expected. There is always something obscure and uncertain in the
+oncoming of the actual conflict. The fact is that General Lee was
+receding somewhat at the time of the crisis. Then it was that he
+determined to fight a great battle, and if successful then march on
+Washington. Should he not be successful, he would keep a way open by
+direct route for retreat into Virginia.
+
+By the first of July, 1863, a situation had been prepared which
+signified a decisive battle with far-reaching consequences to the one
+side or the other, accordingly as victory should incline to this or to
+that. By this date General Reynolds, who commanded the advance line of
+the Union army, met the corresponding line of the Confederates at the
+village of Gettysburg, and the rest followed as if by logical
+necessity.
+
+On July 1 and 2, the great body of the Union and Confederate armies
+came up to the position where battle had already begun between the
+advance divisions and the pressure of the one side upon the other
+became greater and greater with each hour. At the first the
+Confederate impact was strongest. General Reynolds was killed.
+Reinforcements were hurried up on both sides. General Howard, who
+succeeded Reynolds, selected Cemetery Hill, south of the town of
+Gettysburg, and there established the Union line.
+
+General Meade arrived on the field on the afternoon of the first, and
+the two armies were thrown rapidly into position. That of the Federals
+extended in the form of a fishhook from Little Round Top by way of
+Round Top and along Cemetery Ridge through the cemetery itself, by the
+way of the gate, and then bending to the right, formed the bowl of the
+hook, which extended around as far as Culp's Hill and Wolf Creek. The
+ground was elevated and the convexity was toward the enemy.
+
+By nightfall of the first, both armies were in state of readiness for
+the conflict. The Union army was on the defensive. It was sufficient
+that it should hold its ground and repel all assault. The Confederates
+must advance and carry the Federal position in order to succeed. How
+this should be done was not agreed on by the Confederate commanders.
+General Lee formed a plan of direct assault; but General Longstreet
+was of opinion that a movement of the army to the Union left flank
+would be preferable, and that by that method the flank might be turned
+and the position of Meade carried with less loss and much less hazard.
+
+Longstreet, however, did not oppose the views of his commander to the
+extent of thwarting his purpose or weakening the plan adopted. On the
+second of July the battle began in earnest about noon. The
+Confederates advanced against the Union centre and left, and at a
+later hour a strenuous and partly successful attack was made on the
+Federal right. But complete success was not attained by Lee in any
+part of the field. About sundown the Confederates gained considerable
+advantage against Slocum, who held the line along Wolf Hill and Rock
+Creek; and on the Union left a terrible struggle occurred for the
+possession of Great and Little Round Top. In this part of the field
+the fighting continued until six o'clock in the evening; but the
+critical positions still remained in the hands of the Federals.
+
+In the centre the contest was waged for the mastery of Cemetery Hill,
+which was the key to the Union position. Here were planted batteries
+with an aggregate of eighty guns, and here, though the assaults of the
+Confederates were desperate and long continued, the integrity of the
+Federal line was preserved till nightfall. The fighting along a front
+of nearly five miles in extent continued in a desultory manner until
+about ten o'clock on the July night, when the firing for the most part
+ceased, leaving the two armies in virtually the same position which
+they had occupied the day before.
+
+This signified, however, that thus far the advantage was on the Union
+side; for on that side the battle was defensive. The Confederate army
+had come to a wall, and must break through or suffer defeat. The
+burden of attack rested on the Confederate side; but General Lee did
+not flinch from the necessity. In the darkness of night both he and
+the Union commanders made strenuous preparations for the renewal of
+the struggle on the morrow.
+
+On the morning of the third both armies seemed loath to begin the
+conflict. This phenomenon is nearly always witnessed in the case of
+really critical battles. It was so at Waterloo, and so at Gettysburg.
+It seems that in such crises the commanders, well aware of what is to
+come, wait awhile, as though each would permit the other to strike
+first. As a matter of fact, the topmost crest of the Civil War had now
+been reached; and from this hour the one cause or the other must
+decline to the end.
+
+The whole forenoon of the third of July was spent in preparations.
+There was but little fighting, and that little was desultory. At
+midday there seemed to be a lull along the whole line. Just afterward,
+however, General Lee opened from Seminary Ridge with about one hundred
+guns, directing his fire against the Union centre on Cemetery Hill.
+There the counter position was occupied by the American artillery of
+about equal strength, under command of General Hunt. The cannonade
+burst out at one o'clock with terrific roar. Nothing like it had ever
+before been seen or heard in the New World. Nothing like it, we
+believe, had ever up to that time been witnessed in Europe. Certainly
+there was no such cannonade at Waterloo. For about an hour and a half
+this tremendous vomit of shot and shell continued. It was the hope of
+General Lee to pound the Union batteries to pieces, and then, while
+horror and death were still supreme in the Union centre, to thrust
+forward an overwhelming mass of his best infantry into the gap, cut
+Meade's army in two, plant the Confederate banner on the crest of the
+Union battle line, and virtually then and there achieve the
+independence of the Confederate States.
+
+It seems that an action of General Hunt, about half-past two,
+flattered Lee with the belief that he had succeeded. Hunt adopted the
+plan of drawing back his batteries over the crest of the hill, for the
+double purpose of cooling his guns that were becoming overheated and
+of saving his supply of ammunition, that was running low. The Union
+fire accordingly slackened and almost ceased for a while. Nor was Lee
+able to discover from his position but what his batteries under
+General Alexander had prevailed. It looked for the moment as though
+the battle were lost to Meade, and that victory was in the clutch of
+his antagonist.
+
+Already a Confederate charge of infantry had been prepared. About
+18,000 men, in three divisions, under Armistead, Garnett and
+Pettigrew, and led by General George E. Pickett, of Virginia, had been
+got into readiness for the crisis which had now arrived. Longstreet
+was the corps commander, and through him the order for the charge
+should be given. General Lee had himself made the order, but
+Longstreet seeing, as he believed the inevitable, hesitated and turned
+aside. It was not a refusal to send an army to destruction, but the
+natural hesitation of a really great commander to do what he believed
+was fatal to the Confederate cause. Pickett, however, gave his
+salutation to Longstreet, and presently said: "Sir, I am going to move
+forward!"
+
+Then began the most memorable charge ever witnessed in America. The
+Confederate column was three-fourths of a mile in length. It was
+directed against the Union centre, where it was supposed the
+Confederate fire had done its work. What ensued was the finest
+military spectacle that had been seen in the world since the charge of
+the Old Guard at Waterloo; and the results were alike! The brave men
+who made the onset were mowed down as they crossed rapidly the
+intervening space. Hunt's batteries were quickly run back to their
+position, and began to discharge their deadly contents against the
+head of the oncoming column. That column veered somewhat to the right
+as it came. The line staggered, but pressed on. It came within the
+range of the Union musketry. Gaps opened here and there. Armistead,
+who led the advance, saw his forces sink to the earth; but he did not
+waver. Nearer and nearer the column came to the Union line. It
+_struck_ the Union line. There was a momentary melee among the guns,
+and then all was over. Hancock's infantry rose with flash on flash
+from among the rocks by which they were partially protected. The
+Confederates were scattered in broken groups. Retreat was well-nigh
+impossible. The impact of the charge was utterly broken, and the
+Confederate line was blown into rout and ruin. Victory hovered over
+the National army. The Confederate forces staggered away under the
+blow of defeat. Night came down on a broken and virtually hopeless
+cause. The field was covered with the dead and dying. Two thousand
+eight hundred and thirty-four Union soldiers had been killed outright;
+13,709 were wounded, and 6643 were missing, making a total of 23,186
+men. The Confederate loss was never definitely ascertained, but was
+greatly in excess of that of the Federals. The best estimate has been
+fixed at 31,621. The grand total of losses in those fatal three days
+thus reached the enormous aggregate of 54,807!
+
+
+SPOTTSYLVANIA.
+
+A losing cause never showed a braver front than the Confederacy put on
+in the Wilderness. It was a front of iron. A man weaker than Grant
+would have quailed before it. It was virtually the same old rim of
+fire and death that had confronted McClellan, that had consumed Pope,
+that almost destroyed both Hooker and Burnside. Either the Union army
+must go through this barrier of flame and destruction and scatter it
+like brands of fire to right and left, or else the Union could never
+be rebuilded on the foundation of victory.
+
+There was much discussion--and some doubt--in the spring of 1864
+whether the Silent Man of Galena, now made Commander-in-chief of the
+Union armies, could pursue his military destiny to a great fame with
+Robert E. Lee for his antagonist. This talk was bruited abroad; Grant
+himself heard it, and had to consider what not a few people were
+saying, namely, that he had had before him in the West as leaders of
+the enemy only such men as Buckner and Beauregard and Pemberton; now
+he must stand up face to face with "Old Bobby Lee" and take the blows
+of the great Virginian against whom neither strategy nor force had
+hitherto prevailed.
+
+The Man of Galena did not quail. Neither did he doubt. His pictures of
+this epoch show him with mouth more close shut than ever; but
+otherwise there was no sign. Lee for his part knew that another foeman
+was now come, and if we mistake not he divined that the end of the
+Confederacy, involving the end of his own military career, was not far
+ahead. It is to the credit of his genius that he did not weaken under
+such a situation and despair ere the ordeal came upon him; but on the
+contrary, he planted himself in the Wilderness and awaited the coming
+of the storm.
+
+Let the world know that Grant in entering upon his great campaign, in
+the first days of May, 1864, had to do so against the greatest
+disadvantages. The country south of the Rappahannock was against him.
+The fact of Lee's acting ever on the defensive was against him. The
+woods and the rivers were against him. All Virginia, from the Rapidan
+to Richmond, was a rifle-pit and an earthwork. The Confederates knew
+every hill and ravine as though they were the orchard and the fishing
+creek of their own homes. The battlefield was theirs, to begin with;
+it must be taken from them or remain theirs forever. To take a
+battlefield of their own from Virginians has never been a pleasing
+task to those who did it--or more frequently tried to do it and did
+not!
+
+It remained for Grant and his tremendous Union army to undertake this
+herculean task. He moved into the Wilderness and fought a two-days'
+battle of the greatest severity. The contest of the fifth and sixth of
+May were murderous in character. The National losses in these two days
+in killed, wounded and missing were not less than 14,000; those of the
+Confederates were almost as great. In this struggle General Alexander
+Hays was killed; Generals Getty, Baxter and McAlister were wounded,
+and scores of under-officers, with thousands of brave men, lost their
+lives or limbs. Now it was that Lee is reported to have said to his
+officers, with a serious look on his iron face: "Gentlemen, at last
+the Army of the Potomac has a head."
+
+On the seventh of May there was not much fighting. It is said that in
+the lull Grant's leading commanders thought he would recede, as his
+predecessors had done, and that not a few of them gave it as their
+opinion that he should do so. It is said that when coming to the
+Chancellorsville House, he gave the command, "Forward, by the left
+flank," thus demonstrating his purpose, as he said four days afterward
+in his despatch to the government, "to fight it out on that line if
+it took all summer," the soldiers gave a sigh of relief, and many
+began to sing at the prospect of no more retreating. General Sherman
+has recorded his belief that at this juncture Grant best displayed his
+greatness.
+
+With the movement which we have just mentioned, the next stage in the
+campaign would bring both the Union and the Confederate armies to
+Spottsylvania Courthouse. The distance that each had to march to that
+point was about the same. It was at this juncture that the woods in
+which the two armies were moving, Grant to the left and Lee to the
+right, took fire and were burned. When the Union advance came in sight
+of Spottsylvania, Warren, who commanded, found that the place had been
+already occupied by the vigilant enemy. Hancock did not arrive in time
+to make an immediate attack, and Longstreet's corps was able to get
+into position before the pressure of the Union advance could be felt.
+
+At this juncture Sheridan, in command of the Federal cavalry, was cut
+loose from the Union army and sent whirling with irresistible speed
+and momentum entirely around the rear of the Confederate army,
+destroying railroads, cutting communication, burning trains and
+liberating prisoners, as far as the very suburbs of Richmond.
+
+The main divisions of the Union army came into position before
+Spottsylvania. Hancock had the right wing, and upon his left rested
+Warren. Sedgwick's corps was next in order, while Burnside held the
+left. Just as the commanders were forming their lines and some men at
+a Union battery seemed to shrink from the Confederate sharpshooters,
+Sedgwick went forward to encourage them, saying, "Men, they couldn't
+hit an elephant at that distance." But the next instant he himself
+fell dead! His command of the Sixth Corps was transferred to General
+Wright.
+
+It now remained for Hancock on the extreme right to attack the
+Confederate left. This was done by Barlow's division, but without
+success. This attack and repulse was the real beginning of the battle
+of Spottsylvania. The Confederates in front were strongly intrenched,
+but near the northernmost point of their works what was thought to be
+a weak point in the line was discovered. This point was what is known
+as a _salient_. The position, however, was in the thick woods, or was
+at any rate concealed by the woods and ravines in front.
+
+As soon as the position was discovered and its nature known, a large
+part of Wright's corps was sent against it. The attack was successful.
+The line was carried, and about a thousand men captured in the
+assault. But the reinforcements were not up promptly, and the
+assailants were driven back. A second assault ended in the same way.
+This fighting was on the evening of the tenth of May. The battle
+continued into the night, and the event hung dubious.
+
+On the eleventh there was a heavy rain, but during that day General
+Grant, who placed great confidence in General Hancock and his corps,
+moved that brilliant officer to the point of attack before the
+_salient_. With the early light on the morning of the twelfth, Hancock
+sprang forward to the assault. So sudden and powerful was the charge
+that one-half of the distance had been traversed before the enemy knew
+what was coming. Then the storm burst wildly. The yell arose from one
+side, and the cheer from the other. Hancock's men in great force and
+with invincible courage sprang upon the breast-works, clubbed their
+guns, or went over bayonet foremost. They were met on the other side
+in like manner. The melee that ensued was perhaps the most dreadful
+hand-to-hand conflict of the war. The impetus of the Union attack was
+irresistible. Great numbers were killed on both sides, and the
+Confederates were overpowered.
+
+General Edward Johnson and his division of about four thousand men
+were captured in the angle. General Stuart was also taken. He and
+Hancock had been friends in their student days at West Point. The
+story goes that Hancock, recognizing his prisoner, said, "How are
+you, Stuart?" and offered his hand. The hot Confederate answered, "I
+am _General_ Stuart of the Confederate army, and under the
+circumstances I decline to take your hand." Hancock answered, "Under
+any other circumstances I should not have offered it!"
+
+But there was no time for bantering. The very earth round about was in
+the chaos of roaring battle. Hancock had taken twenty guns with their
+horses, and about thirty battle flags. It was a tremendous capture, if
+he could hold his ground. No officer of the Union army ever showed to
+better advantage. The world may well forgive the touch of vanity and
+bluster in the undaunted Hancock, as he sent this despatch to Grant:
+"I have used up Johnson and am going into Hill." He found, however,
+that he should have terrible work even to keep the gain that he had
+made.
+
+Lee no sooner perceived what was done than he threw heavy masses upon
+the position to retake it from the captors. Hancock was now on the
+wrong side of the angle! The Confederates came on during the day in
+five successive charges, the like of which for valor was hardly ever
+witnessed. The contested ground was literally piled with dead. There
+was hand-to-hand fighting. Men bayoneted each other through the
+crevices of the logs that had been piled up for defences. The storm
+of battle swept back and forth until the salient gained that name of
+"Death Angle" by which it will ever be known. The place became then
+and there the bloodiest spot that ever was washed with human life in
+America. The bushes and trees round about were literally shot away. At
+one point an oak tree, more than eighteen inches in diameter, was
+completely eaten off at the man-level by the bullet storm that beat
+against it. That tree in its fall crushed several men of a South
+Carolina regiment who still stood and fought in the death harvest that
+was going on.
+
+The counter assaults of the Confederates, however, were in vain. They
+inflicted terrible losses, and were themselves mowed down by
+thousands; but they could not and did not retake the angle. Hancock
+and his heroes could not be dislodged. The battle of Spottsylvania
+died away with the night into sullen and awful silence, which was
+broken only by the groans of thousands of wounded men who could not be
+recovered from the bloody earth on which they had fallen. The
+antagonists lay crouching like lions, only a lion's spring apart, and
+neither would suffer the other, even for the sake of their common
+American humanity, to recover his dead.
+
+In the retrospect it seems marvelous that within the memories of men
+now living and not yet old, so awful a struggle as that of the Death
+Angle in the Wilderness could have taken place between men of the same
+race and language, born under the flag of the same Republic, and
+cherishing the same sentiments and traditions and hopes.
+
+
+APPOMATTOX.
+
+Appomattox was not a battle, but the end of battles. Fondly do we hope
+that never again shall Americans lift against Americans the avenging
+hand in such a strife! Here at a little court-house, twenty-five miles
+east of Lynchburg, on the ninth of April, 1865, the great tragedy of
+our civil war was brought to a happy end. Here General Robert E. Lee,
+with the broken fragments of his Army of Northern Virginia, was
+brought by the inexorable logic of war to the end of that career which
+he had so bravely followed through four years of battle, much of which
+had shown him to be one of the great commanders of the century.
+
+The story of the downfall of the Confederacy has been many times
+repeated. It has entered into our literature, and is known by heart
+wherever the history of the war is read. Generally, however, this
+story has been told as if the narrator approached the event from the
+Union side. We have the pursuit of General Lee from Petersburg
+westward, almost to the spurs of the Alleghanies. We follow in the
+wake. We see the unwearied efforts of the victorious host to close
+around the retreating army which has so long been the bulwark of the
+Confederacy. We hear the summons to surrender, and the answer of "_Not
+yet_;" but within a day that answer is reversed, and the stern wills
+of Lee and his fellow-commanders yield to the inexorable law of the
+strongest.
+
+Only recently, however, the story has been told with great spirit from
+the Confederate side, by General John B. Gordon, who was at that time
+at the right hand of his commander-in-chief, and who stood by him to
+the last hour. General Gordon's account of the final struggle of the
+Confederate army and of the surrender is so graphic, so full of
+spirit, so warmed with the animation and devotion of a great soldier,
+that we here repeat his account of
+
+THE DEATH STRUGGLE.
+
+We always retreated in good order, though always under fire. As we
+retreated we would wheel and fire, or repel a rush, and then stagger
+on to the next hilltop, or vantage ground, where a new fight would be
+made. And so on through the entire day. At night my men had no rest.
+We marched through the night in order to get a little respite from
+fighting. All night long I would see my poor fellows hobbling along,
+prying wagons or artillery out of the mud, and supplementing the work
+of our broken-down horses. At dawn, though, they would be in line
+ready for battle, and they would fight with the steadiness and valor
+of the Old Guard.
+
+This lasted until the night of the seventh of April. The retreat of
+Lee's army was lit up with the fire and flash of battle, in which my
+brave men moved about like demigods for five days and nights. Then we
+were sent to the front for a rest, and Longstreet was ordered to cover
+the retreating army. On the evening of the eighth, when I had reached
+the front, my scout George brought me two men in Confederate uniform,
+who, he said, he believed to be the enemy, as he had seen them
+counting our men as they filed past. I had the men brought to my
+campfire, and examined them. They made a plausible defence, but George
+was positive they were spies, and I ordered them searched. He failed
+to find anything, when I ordered him to examine their boots. In the
+bottom of one of the boots I found an order from General Grant to
+General Ord, telling him to move by forced marches toward Lynchburg
+and cut off General Lee's retreat. The men then confessed that they
+were spies, and belonged to General Sheridan. They stated that they
+knew that the penalty of their course was death, but asked that I
+should not kill them, as the war could only last a few days longer,
+anyhow. I kept them prisoners, and turned them over to General
+Sheridan after the surrender. I at once sent the information to
+General Lee, and a short time afterward received orders to go to his
+headquarters. That night was held Lee's last council of war. There
+were present General Lee, General Fitzhugh Lee, as head of the
+cavalry, and Pendleton, as chief of the artillery, and myself. General
+Longstreet was, I think, too busily engaged to attend.
+
+General Lee then exhibited to us the correspondence he had had with
+General Grant that day, and asked our opinion of the situation. It
+seemed that surrender was inevitable. The only chance of escape was
+that I could cut a way for the army through the lines in front of me.
+General Lee asked me if I could do this. I replied that I did not know
+what forces were in front of me; that if General Ord had not
+arrived--as we thought then he had not--with his heavy masses of
+infantry, I could cut through. I guaranteed that my men would cut a
+way through all the cavalry that could be massed in front of them.
+The council finally dissolved with the understanding that the army
+should be surrendered if I discovered the next morning, after feeling
+the enemy's line, that the infantry had arrived in such force that I
+could not cut my way through.
+
+My men were drawn up in the little town of Appomattox that night. I
+still had about four thousand men under me, as the army had been
+divided into two commands and given to General Longstreet and myself.
+Early on the morning of the ninth I prepared for the assault upon the
+enemy's line, and began the last fighting done in Virginia. My men
+rushed forward gamely and broke the line of the enemy and captured two
+pieces of artillery. I was still unable to tell what I was fighting; I
+did not know whether I was striking infantry or dismounted cavalry. I
+only know that my men were driving them back, and were getting further
+and further through. Just then I had a message from General Lee,
+telling me a flag of truce was in existence, leaving it to my
+discretion as to what course to pursue. My men were still pushing
+their way on. I sent at once to hear from General Longstreet, feeling
+that, if he was marching toward me, we might still cut through and
+carry the army forward. I learned that he was about two miles off,
+with his face just opposite from mine, fighting for his life. I thus
+saw that the case was hopeless. The further each of us drove the enemy
+the further we drifted apart, and the more exposed we left our wagon
+trains and artillery, which were parked between us. Every line either
+of us broke only opened the gap the wider. I saw plainly that the
+Federals would soon rush in between us, and then there would have been
+no army. I, therefore, determined to send a flag of truce. I called
+Colonel Peyton of my staff to me, and told him that I wanted him to
+carry a flag of truce forward. He replied:
+
+"General, I have no flag of truce."
+
+I told him to get one. He replied:
+
+"General, we have no flag of truce in our command."
+
+Then said I, "Get your handkerchief, put it on a stick, and go
+forward."
+
+"I have no handkerchief, General,"
+
+"Then borrow one and go forward with it."
+
+He tried, and reported to me that there was no handkerchief in my
+staff.
+
+"Then, Colonel, use your shirt."
+
+"You see, General, that we all have on flannel shirts."
+
+At last, I believe, we found a man who had a white shirt. He gave it
+to us, and I tore off the back and tail, and, tying this to a stick,
+Colonel Peyton went out toward the enemy's lines. I instructed him
+simply to say to General Sheridan that General Lee had written to me
+that a flag of truce had been sent from his and Grant's headquarters,
+and that he could act as he thought best on this information. In a few
+moments he came back with some one representing General Sheridan. This
+officer said:
+
+"General Sheridan requested me to present his compliments to you, and
+to demand the unconditional surrender of your army."
+
+"Major, you will please return my compliments to General Sheridan, and
+say that I will not surrender."
+
+"But, General, he will annihilate you."
+
+"I am perfectly well aware of my situation. I simply gave General
+Sheridan some information on which he may or may not desire to act."
+
+He went back to his lines, and in a short time General Sheridan came
+forward on an immense horse, and attended by a very large staff. Just
+here an incident occurred that came near having a serious ending. As
+General Sheridan was approaching I noticed one of my sharpshooters
+drawing his rifle down upon him. I at once called to him: "Put down
+your gun, sir; this is a flag of truce." But he simply settled it to
+his shoulder and was drawing a bead on Sheridan, when I leaned forward
+and jerked his gun. He struggled with me, but I finally raised it. I
+then loosed it, and he started to aim again. I caught it again, when
+he turned his stern, white face, all broken with grief and streaming
+with tears, up to me, and said: "Well, General, then let him keep on
+his own side."
+
+The fighting had continued up to this point. Indeed, after the flag of
+truce, a regiment of my men, who had been fighting their way through
+toward where we were, and who did not know of a flag of truce, fired
+into some of Sheridan's cavalry. This was speedily stopped, however. I
+showed General Sheridan General Lee's note, and he determined to await
+events. He dismounted, and I did the same. Then, for the first time,
+the men seemed to understand what it all meant, and then the poor
+fellows broke down. The men cried like children. Worn, starved and
+bleeding as they were, they would rather have died than have
+surrendered. At one word from me they would have hurled themselves on
+the enemy, and have cut their way through or have fallen to a man with
+their guns in their hands. But I could not permit it. The great drama
+had been played to its end. But men are seldom permitted to look upon
+such a scene as the one presented here. That these men should have
+wept at surrendering so unequal a fight, at being taken out of this
+constant carnage and storm, at being sent back to their families; that
+they should have wept at having their starved and wasted forms lifted
+out of the jaws of death and placed once more before their
+hearthstones, was an exhibition of fortitude and patriotism that might
+set an example for all time.
+
+
+SEDAN.
+
+BY VICTOR HUGO.
+
+The Second Empire of the French was pounded to powder in a bowl. This
+is literal, not figurative. To attempt to describe Sedan after Victor
+Hugo has described it for all mankind were a work futile and foolish.
+To Hugo we concede the palm among all writers, ancient and modern, as
+a delineator of battle. His description of the battle of Waterloo will
+outlast the tumulus and the lion which French patriotism has reared on
+the square where the last of the Old Guard perished. His description,
+though not elaborate, is equally graphic and final. He was returning,
+in September, 1871, from his fourth exile. He had been in Belgium in
+banishment for about eighteen years. It is in the "History of a Crime"
+that he tells the story. He says that he was re-entering France by the
+Luxembourg frontier, and had fallen asleep in the coach. Suddenly the
+jolt of the train coming to a standstill awoke him. One of the
+passengers said: "What place is this?" Another answered "Sedan." With
+a shudder, Hugo looked around. He says that to his mind and vision, as
+he gazed out, the paradise was a tomb. Before substituting his words
+for our own, we note only that nearly thirteen months had elapsed
+since Louis Napoleon and his 90,000 men had here been brayed in a
+mortar. Hugo's description of the scene and the event continues as
+follows:
+
+The valley was circular and hollow, like the bottom of a crater; the
+winding river resembled a serpent; the hills high, ranged one behind
+the other, surrounded this mysterious spot like a triple line of
+inexorable walls; once there, there is no means of exit. It reminded
+me of the amphitheatres. An indescribable, disquieting vegetation,
+which seemed to be an extension of the Black Forest, overran all the
+heights, and lost itself in the horizon like a huge impenetrable
+snare; the sun shone, the birds sang, carters passed by whistling;
+sheep, lambs and pigeons were scattered about; leaves quivered and
+rustled; the grass, a densely thick grass, was full of flowers. It was
+appalling.
+
+I seemed to see waving over this valley the flashing of the avenging
+angel's sword.
+
+This word "Sedan" had been like a veil abruptly torn aside. The
+landscape had become suddenly filled with tragedy. Those shapeless
+eyes which the bark of trees delineates on the trunks were gazing--at
+what? At something terrible and lost to view.
+
+In truth, that was the place! And at the moment when I was passing by,
+thirteen months all but a few days had elapsed. That was the place
+where the monstrous enterprise of the second of December had burst
+asunder. A fearful shipwreck!
+
+The gloomy pathways of Fate cannot be studied without profound anguish
+of heart.
+
+On the thirty-first of August, 1870, an army was reassembled, and was,
+as it were, massed together under the walls of Sedan, in a place
+called the Givonne Valley. This army was a French army--twenty-nine
+brigades, fifteen divisions, four army corps--90,000 men. This army
+was in this place without anyone being able to divine the reason;
+without order, without an object, scattered about--a species of heap
+of men thrown down there as though with the view of being seized by
+some huge hand.
+
+This army either did not entertain, or appeared not to entertain, for
+the moment any immediate uneasiness. They knew, or at least they
+thought they knew, that the enemy was a long way off. On calculating
+the stages at four leagues daily, it was three days' march distant.
+Nevertheless, toward evening the leaders took some wise strategic
+precautions; they protected the army, which rested in the rear on
+Sedan and the Meuse, by two battle fronts, one composed of the Seventh
+Corps, and extending from Floing to Givonne, the other composed of the
+Twelfth Corps, extending from Givonne to Bazeilles; a triangle of
+which the Meuse formed the hypothenuse. The Twelfth Corps, formed of
+the three divisions of Lacretelle, Lartigue and Wolff, ranged on the
+right, with the artillery between the brigades, formed a veritable
+barrier, having Bazeilles and Givonne at each end, and Digny in its
+centre; the two divisions of Petit and Lheritier massed in the rear
+upon two lines supported this barrier. General Lebrun commanded the
+Twelfth Corps. The Seventh Corps, commanded by General Douay, only
+possessed two divisions--Dumont's division and Gilbert's division--and
+formed the other battle front, covering the army of Givonne to Floing
+on the side of Illy; this battle front was comparatively weak, too
+open on the side of Givonne, and only protected on the side of the
+Meuse by two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains, and by
+Guyomar's brigade, resting in squares on Floing. Within this triangle
+were encamped the Fifth Corps, commanded by General Wimpfen, and the
+First Corps, commanded by General Ducrot. Michel's cavalry division
+covered the First Corps on the side of Digny; the Fifth supported
+itself upon Sedan. Four divisions, each disposed upon two lines--the
+divisions of Lheritier, Grandchamp, Goze and Conseil-Dumenil--formed a
+sort of horseshoe, turned toward Sedan, and uniting the first battle
+front with the second. The cavalry division of Ameil and the brigade
+of Fontanges served as a reserve for these four divisions. The whole
+of the artillery was upon the two battle fronts. Two portions of the
+army were in confusion, one to the right of Sedan beyond Balan, the
+other to the left of Sedan, on this side of Iges. Beyond Balan were
+the division of Vassoigne and the brigade of Reboul, on this side of
+Iges were the two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains.
+
+These arrangements indicated a profound feeling of security. In the
+first place, the Emperor Napoleon III. would not have come there if he
+had not been perfectly tranquil. This Givonne Valley is what Napoleon
+I. called a "wash-hand basin." There could not have been a more
+complete enclosure. An army is so much at home there that it is too
+much so; it runs the risk of no longer being able to get out. This
+disquieted some brave and prudent leaders, such as Wimpfen, but they
+were not listened to. If absolutely necessary, said the people of the
+imperial circle, they could always be sure of being able to reach
+Mezieres, and at the worst the Belgian frontier. Was it, however,
+needful to provide for such extreme eventualities? In certain cases
+foresight is almost an offence. They were all of one mind, therefore,
+to be at their ease.
+
+If they had been uneasy they would have cut the bridges of the Meuse,
+but they did not even think of it. To what purpose? The enemy was a
+long way off. The Emperor, who evidently was well informed, affirmed
+it.
+
+The army bivouacked somewhat in confusion, as we have said, and slept
+peaceably throughout this night of August 31, having, whatever might
+happen, or believing that they had, the retreat upon Mezieres open
+behind it. They disdained to take the most ordinary precautions, they
+made no cavalry reconnoissances, they did not even place outposts. A
+German military writer has stated this. Fourteen leagues at least
+separated them from the German army, three days' march; they did not
+exactly know where it was; they believed it scattered, possessing
+little unity, badly informed, led somewhat at random upon several
+points at once, incapable of a movement converging upon one single
+point, like Sedan; they believed that the Crown Prince of Saxony was
+marching on Chalons, and that the Crown Prince of Prussia was marching
+on Metz; they were ignorant of everything appertaining to this army,
+its leaders, its plan, its armament, its effective force. Was it still
+following the strategy of Gustavus Adolphus? Was it still following
+the tactics of Frederick II.? No one knew. They felt sure of being at
+Berlin in a few weeks. What nonsense! The Prussian army! They talked
+of this war as of a dream, and of this army as of a phantom....
+
+The masterful description of the great novelist and poet then
+continues in a narrative of the attack and catastrophe:
+
+Bazeilles takes fire, Givonne takes fire, Floing takes fire; the
+battle begins with a furnace. The whole horizon is aflame. The French
+camp is in this crater, stupefied, affrighted, starting up from
+sleeping--a funereal swarming. A circle of thunder surrounds the army.
+They are encircled by annihilation. This mighty slaughter is carried
+on on all sides simultaneously. The French resist and they are
+terrible, having nothing left but despair. Our cannon, almost all
+old-fashioned and of short range, are at once dismounted by the
+fearful and exact aim of the Prussians. The density of the rain of
+shells upon the valley is so great that "the earth is completely
+furrowed," says an eye-witness, "as though by a rake." How many
+cannon? Eleven hundred at least. Twelve German batteries upon La
+Moncelle alone; the Third and Fourth _Abtheilung_, an awe-striking
+artillery, upon the crests of Givonne, with the Second Horse Battery
+in reserve; opposite Digny ten Saxon and two Wurtemburg batteries; the
+curtain of trees of the wood to the north of Villers-Cernay masks the
+mounted _Abtheilung_, which is there with the third Heavy Artillery in
+reserve, and from the gloomy copse issues a formidable fire; the
+twenty-four pieces of the First Heavy Artillery are ranged in the
+glade skirting the road from La Moncelle to La Chapelle; the battery
+of the Royal Guard sets fire to the Garenne Wood; the shells and the
+balls riddle Suchy, Francheval, Fouro-Saint-Remy, and the valley
+between Heibes and Givonne; and the third and fourth rank of cannon
+extend without break of continuity as far as the Calvary of Illy, the
+extreme point of the horizon. The German soldiers, seated or lying
+before the batteries, watch the artillery at work. The French soldiers
+fall and die. Amongst the bodies which cover the plain there is one,
+the body of an officer, on which they will find, after the battle, a
+sealed note containing this order, signed Napoleon: "To-day, September
+1, rest for the whole army."
+
+The gallant Thirty-fifth of the Line almost entirely disappears under
+the overwhelming shower of shells; the brave Marine Infantry holds at
+bay for a moment the Saxons, joined by the Bavarians, but outflanked
+on every side draws back; all the admirable cavalry of the
+Margueritte division hurled against the German infantry halts and
+sinks down midway, "annihilated," says the Prussian report, "by
+well-aimed and cool firing." This field of carnage has three outlets,
+all three barred: the Bouillon road by the Prussian Guard, the
+Carignan road by the Bavarians, the Mezieres road by the
+Wurtemburgers. The French have not thought of barricading the railway
+viaduct; three German battalions have occupied it during the night.
+Two isolated houses on the Balan road could be made the pivot of a
+long resistance, but the Germans are there. The wood from Monvilliers
+to Bazeilles, but the French have been forestalled; they find the
+Bavarians cutting the underwood with their billhooks. The German army
+moves in one piece, in one absolute unity; the Crown Prince of Saxony
+is on the height of Mairy, whence he surveys the whole action; the
+command oscillates in the French army; at the beginning of the battle,
+at a quarter to six, MacMahon is wounded by the bursting of a shell;
+at seven o'clock Ducrot replaces him; at ten o'clock Wimpfen replaces
+Ducrot. Every instant the wall of fire is drawing closer in, the roll
+of the thunder is continuous, a dismal pulverization of 90,000 men!
+Never before has anything equal to this been seen; never before has an
+army been overwhelmed beneath such a downpour of lead and iron! At
+one o'clock all is lost! The regiments fly helter-skelter into Sedan!
+But Sedan begins to burn, Dijonval burns, the ambulances burn, there
+is nothing now possible but to cut their way out. Wimpfen, brave and
+resolute, proposes this to the Emperor. The Third Zouaves, desperate,
+have set the example. Cut off from the rest of the army, they have
+forced a passage and have reached Belgium. A flight of lions!
+
+Suddenly, above the disaster, above the huge pile of dead and dying,
+above all this unfortunate heroism, appears disgrace. The white flag
+is hoisted.
+
+
+BAZAINE AND METZ.
+
+A letter of Count Von Moltke has recently been published, showing that
+the question of the conquest of France was under consideration by the
+Count and Bismarck as early as August of 1866. It is demonstrated that
+these two powerful spirits were already preparing, aye, had already
+prepared, to trip the Emperor Louis Napoleon, throwing him and his
+Empire into a common ruin. The letter also proves that the plan of the
+North-German Confederation, under the leadership of Prussia, with
+German unity and a German Empire just beyond, was already clearly in
+mind by the far-sighted leaders who surrounded King William in 1866.
+Count Von Moltke shows that it was possible and practicable _at that
+date_, and within a period of two or three weeks, to throw upon the
+French border so tremendous an army that resistance would be
+impossible. The antecedents of the Franco-Prussian War had been
+clearly thought out by the German masters at a time when Louis
+Napoleon was still tinkering with his quixotical Empire in Mexico.
+
+When the war between France and Germany actually broke out, four years
+later. Germany was prepared, and France was unprepared for the
+conflict. Louis Napoleon did not know that Germany was prepared. He
+actually thought that he could break into the German borders, fight
+his way victoriously to the capital, make his headquarters in Berlin,
+and dictate a peace in the manner of his uncle. It was the most
+fallacious dream that a really astute man ever indulged in. From the
+first day of actual contact with the Germans, the dream of the Emperor
+began to be dissipated. Within five days (August 14-18, 1870,) three
+murderous battles were fought on French soil, the first at Courcelles,
+the next at Vionville, and the third at Gravelotte. In all of these
+the French fought bravely, and in all were defeated disastrously,
+with tremendous losses.
+
+By these great victories, the Germans were able to separate the two
+divisions of the French army. The northern division, under command of
+the Emperor and MacMahon, began to recede toward Sedan, while the more
+powerful army, under Marshal Bazaine, numbering 173,000 men, was
+forced somewhat to the south, and pressed by the division of Prince
+Frederick Charles, until the French, in an evil day, entered the
+fortified town of Metz, and suffered themselves to be helplessly
+cooped up. There was perhaps never another great army so safely and
+hopelessly disposed of!
+
+Metz, after Antwerp, is the strongest fortress in Europe. It is
+situated at the junction of the rivers Seille and Moselle. It is the
+capital of the province of Lorraine, destined to be lost by France and
+gained by Germany in the struggle that was now on. The place was of
+great historical importance. Here the Roman invaders had established
+themselves in the time of the conquest of Gaul. It was called by the
+conquerors, first Mediomatrica, and afterward Divodurum. Its
+importance, on the very crest of the watershed between the Teutonic
+and Gallic races, was noted in the early years of our era, and to the
+present day that importance continues for the same reason as of old.
+Metz is on the line of a conflict of races which has not yet, after so
+many centuries, been finally decided.
+
+The position is one of great strategic importance. But such were the
+military conditions at the end of August, 1870, that to occupy Metz
+with one of the greatest armies of modern times was the most serious
+disaster that could befall the French cause. Bazaine's army was
+needed, not in a fortified town, but _in the field_. It was a
+tremendous force. The army that Prince Frederick Charles locked up in
+Metz could have marched from Parthia to Spain against the resistance
+of the whole Roman Empire, at the high noon of that imperial power! It
+could have marched from end to end of the Southern Confederacy in the
+palmiest day of that Confederacy, and could not have been seriously
+impeded! And yet this tremendous force was pent up and shut in, as if
+under seal, while King William and the Crown Prince and Bismarck and
+Von Moltke hunted down the French Emperor and his remaining forces,
+brought them to bay, and compelled a surrender.
+
+This was accomplished by the first of September. The Empire of
+Napoleon went to pieces. The Third Republic was instituted. The
+Empress fled with the Prince Imperial to England, while her humbled
+lord was established by his captors at the castle of Wilhelmshohe.
+Republican France found herself in possession of a political chaos
+which could hardly be stilled. She also found herself in possession of
+a splendid army of more than one hundred and seventy thousand men shut
+up helplessly in Metz. The situation was highly dramatic. The Republic
+said that Bazaine should break out, but the Marshal said that he could
+not. What he said was true. The Germans held him fast. But the
+Republic believed, as it still believes, that Bazaine, loyal to the
+fallen Emperor rather than to his country, wished to handle his army
+in such a manner as should compel the restoration of the Empire, under
+the auspices of the German conquerors.
+
+This idea was hateful above all things to the French Republicans.
+September wore away, and more than half of October; but still the
+siege of Metz was not concluded. Vainly did the new Republic of France
+strive to extricate herself. Vainly did she raise new armies. Vainly
+did she look for the escape of Bazaine. Finally, on the twenty-seventh
+of October, that commander surrendered Metz and his army to the
+Germans. It was the most tremendous capitulation known in history.
+Never before was so powerful an army surrendered to an enemy. The
+actual number of French soldiers covered by the capitulation was
+fully one hundred and seventy thousand! The prostration of France was
+complete, and her humiliation extreme.
+
+Bazaine became the Black Beast of the public imagination. A tribunal
+was organized at Paris, under the presidency of the Duc d'Aumale, son
+of Louis Philippe--the same who with the Prince de Joinville had been
+on McClellan's staff during the peninsular campaign in our Civil War.
+Before this court Bazaine was haled as a traitor to his country. He
+was tried, convicted and condemned to degradation and death. It was
+only by the most strenuous efforts in his behalf that a commutation of
+the sentence to imprisonment for twenty years was obtained.
+
+The Marshal was accordingly incarcerated in a prison at Cannes,
+whither he was sent in December of 1873, and from which he effected
+his escape in the following August. He succeeded in making his way to
+Madrid, and took up his residence there. He sought assiduously by
+writings and argument and appeal to reverse the judgment of his
+countrymen and of the world with regard to the justice of his
+sentence; but he could not succeed. It is probably true that the
+greatest surrender of military forces known in the history of the
+world was brought about by the preference of the commanding general of
+the conquered army for an Emperor who was already dethroned, as
+against a true devotion to his country. There was also in the case a
+measure of incapacity. Bazaine was no match as a military commander
+for the powerful genius of Von Moltke and the persistency of Frederick
+Charles and the more than two hundred thousand resolute Germans who
+surrounded him, and brought him and his army to irretrievable ruin.
+
+
+
+
+Astronomical Vistas.
+
+
+THE CENTURY OF ASTEROIDS.
+
+The nineteenth century may be called the Age of the Asteroids. It was
+on _the first night_ of this century that the first asteroid was
+discovered! Through all the former ages, no man on the earth had had
+definite knowledge of the existence of such a body. It was reserved
+for Guiseppe Piazzi, an Italian astronomer at Palermo, to make known
+by actual observation the first member of the planetoid group. If
+human history had the slightest regard for the calendars of
+mankind--if the eternal verities depended in any measure on the
+almanac or the division of time into this age or that--we might look
+with wonder on the remarkable coincidence which made the discovery of
+the first asteroid to happen in the first evening twilight of the
+first day of the nineteenth century!
+
+At the close of the eighteenth century, mankind were acquainted with
+all the major planets except Neptune. Uranus, the last of the group,
+was discovered by the Elder Herschel, on the night of the thirteenth
+of March, 1781. True, this planet had been seen on twenty different
+occasions, by other observers; but its character had not been
+revealed. Sir William called his new world Georgium Sidus, that is,
+the George Star, in honor of the King of England. The world, however,
+had too much intelligence to allow the transfer of the name of George
+III. from earth to heaven. Such nomenclature would have been unpopular
+in America! The name of the king was happily destined to remain a part
+of terrestrial history!
+
+For a while it was insisted by astronomers and the world at large that
+the new globe, then supposed to bound the solar system on its outer
+circumference, should be called Herschel, in honor of its discoverer.
+But the old system of naming the planets after the deities of
+classical and pagan mythology prevailed; and to the names of Mercury,
+Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, was now added the name Uranus, that is,
+in the language of the Greeks, _Heaven_.
+
+Piazzi, scanning the zodiac from his observatory in Palermo, in the
+early hours of that first night of the century, noticed a hitherto
+unobserved star, which under higher power proved to be a planet. It
+presented a small irregular disc, and a few additional observations
+showed that it was progressing in the usual manner from west to east.
+For some time such a revelation had been expected; but the result did
+not answer to expectation in one particular; for the new body seemed
+to be too insignificant to be called a world. It appeared rather to be
+a great planetary boulder, as if our Mount Shasta had been wrenched
+from the earth and flung into space. Investigation showed that the new
+body was more than a hundred miles in diameter; but this, according to
+planetary estimation, is only the measurement of a clod.
+
+There had been, as we say, expectation of a discovery in the region
+where the first asteroid was found. Kepler had declared his belief
+that in this region of space a new world might be discovered.
+Following this suggestion, the German astronomer Olbers, of Bremen,
+had formed an association of twenty-four observers in different parts
+of Europe, who should divide among themselves the zodiacal band, and
+begin a system of independent scrutiny, either to verify or disprove
+Kepler's hypothesis.
+
+There was another reason also of no small influence tending to the
+same end. Johann Elert Bode, another German astronomer, born in 1747
+and living to 1826, had propounded a mathematical formula known as
+Bode's Law, which led those who accepted it to the belief that a
+planet would be found in what is now known as the asteroidal space.
+Bode's Law, so-called, seems to be no real law of planetary
+distribution; and yet the coincidences which are found under the
+application of the law are such as to arouse our interest if not to
+produce a conviction of the truth of the principle involved. Here,
+then, is the mathematical formula, which is known as Bode's Law:
+
+Write from left to right a row of 4's and under these, beginning with
+the second 4, place a geometrical series beginning with 3 and
+increasing by the ratio of 2; add the two columns together, and we
+have a series running 4, 7, 10, etc.; and this row of results has an
+astonishing coincidence, or approximate coincidence with the relative
+distances of the planets from the sun--thus:
+
+   4  4  4   4   4   4    4   4    4
+      3  6  12  24  48   96 192  384
+  -- -- --  --  --  --  --- ---  ---
+   4  7 10  16  28  52  100 196  388
+
+The near agreement of this row of results with the row containing the
+_actual_ relative distances of the planets from the sun may well
+astonish, not only the astronomer, but the common reader. Those
+distances--making 10 to represent the distance of the earth--are as
+follows:
+
+Mercury, 3.9; Venus, 7.2; Earth, 10; Mars, 15.2; Asteroids, 27.4;
+Jupiter, 52; Saturn, 95.4; Uranus, 192; Neptune, 300.
+
+In addition to Kepler's prediction and the indications of Bode's Law,
+there was a _general_ reason for thinking that a planetary body of
+some kind should occupy the space between the orbits of Mars and
+Jupiter. The mean distance of Mars from the sun is about 141,500,000
+miles; that of Jupiter, is about 483,000,000 miles. The distance from
+one orbit to the other is therefore about 341,500,000 miles. Conceive
+of an infinite sheet of tin. Mark thereon a centre for the sun.
+Measure out a hundred and forty millions of miles, and with that
+radius strike a circle. From the same centre measure out four hundred
+and eighty-three millions of miles, and with that radius strike a
+circle. Cut out the sheet between the two circles, and the vast space
+left void will indicate the vacant area in the mighty disc of our
+solar system. That this space should be occupied with _something_
+accords with the plan of nature and the skill of the Builder.
+
+So Olbers and his twenty-three associates began, in the last decade of
+the eighteenth century, to search diligently for the verification of
+Kepler's prediction and the fulfillment of Bode's Law. Oddly enough,
+Piazzi was not one of the twenty-four astronomers who had agreed to
+find the new world. He was exploring the heavens on his own account,
+and in doing so, he found what the others had failed to find, that is,
+the first asteroid.
+
+The body discovered answered so little to the hopes of the
+astronomical fraternity that they immediately said within themselves:
+"This is not he; we seek another." So they continued the search, and
+in a little more than a year Olbers himself was rewarded with the
+discovery of the second of the planetoid group. On the twenty-eighth
+of March, 1802, he made his discovery from an upper chamber of his
+dwelling in Bremen, where he had his telescope. On the night in
+question he was scanning the northern part of the constellation of
+Virgo, when the sought-for object was found. This body, like the first
+of its kind, was very small, and was found to be moving from west to
+east in nearly the same orbit as its predecessor.
+
+Here then was something wonderful. Olbers at once advanced the
+hypothesis that probably the two bodies thus discovered were fragments
+of what had been a large planet moving in its orbit through this part
+of the heavens. If so there might be--and probably were--others of
+like kind. The search was at once renewed, and on the night of the
+first of September, 1804, the third of the asteroid group was found by
+the astronomer Hardy, of Bremen. The belief that a large planet had
+been disrupted in this region was strengthened, and astronomers
+continued their exploration; but two years and a half elapsed before
+another asteroid was found. On the evening of March 29, 1807, the
+diligence of Olbers was rewarded with the discovery of the fourth of
+the group, which like its predecessors, was so small and irregular in
+character as still further to favor the fragmentary theory.
+
+How shall we name the asteroids? Piazzi fell back upon pagan mythology
+for the name of his little world, and called it Ceres, from the Roman
+goddess of corn. Olbers named the second asteroid Pallas; the third
+was called Juno--whose rank in the Greek and Roman pantheon might have
+suggested one of the major planets as her representative in the skies;
+and the fourth was called Vesta, from the Roman divinity of the
+hearthstone.
+
+Here then there was a pause. Though the zodiac continued to be swept
+by many observers, a period of more than thirty-eight years went by
+before the fifth asteroid was found. The cycle of these discoveries
+strikingly illustrates the general movement of scientific progress.
+First there is a new departure; then a lull, and then a resumption of
+exploration and a finding more fertile than ever. It was on the night
+of the eighth of December, 1845, that the German astronomer Hencke
+discovered the fifth asteroid and named it Astræa. After a year and a
+half, namely, on the night of the first of July, 1847, the same
+observer discovered the sixth member of the group, and to this was
+given the name Hebe. On the thirteenth of August in the same year the
+astronomer Hind found the seventh asteroid, and named it Iris. On the
+eighteenth of October following he found the eighth, and this was
+called Flora. Then on the twenty-fifth of April, 1848, came the
+discovery of Metis, by Graham. Nearly a year later the Italian De
+Gasparis found the tenth member of the system, that is, Hygeia. De
+Gasparis soon discovered the eleventh body, which was called
+Parthenope. This was on the eleventh of May, 1850.
+
+Two other asteroids were found in this year; and two in 1851. In the
+following year _nine_ were discovered; and so on from year to year
+down to the present date. Some years have been fruitful in such finds,
+while others have been comparatively barren. In a number of the years,
+only a single asteroid has been added to the list; but in others whole
+groups have been found. Thus in 1861 twelve were discovered; in 1868,
+twelve; in 1875, _seventeen_; in 1890, fourteen. Not a single year
+since 1846 has passed without the addition of at least one known
+asteroid to the list.
+
+But while the number has thus increased to an aggregate at the close
+of 1890 of three hundred and one, many of the tiny wanderers have
+escaped. Some have been rediscovered; and it is possible that some
+have been twice or even three times found and named. The whole family
+perhaps numbers not only hundreds, but thousands; and it can hardly be
+doubted that only the more conspicuous members of the group have ever
+yet been seen by mortal eye.
+
+A considerable space about the centre of the planetary zone between
+Mars and Jupiter is occupied with these multitudinous pigmy worlds
+that follow the one the other in endless flight around the sun. It is
+a sort of planetary shower; and it can hardly be doubted that the
+bodies constituting the flight are graded down in size from larger to
+smaller and still smaller until the fragments are mere blocks and bits
+of world-dust floating in space. Possibly there may be enough of such
+matter to constitute a sort of planetary band that may illumine a
+little (as seen from a distance) the zone where it circulates.
+
+As to the origin of this seemingly fragmentary matter, we know
+nothing, and conjectures are of little use in scientific exposition.
+It may be true that a large planet once occupied the asteroidal space,
+and that the same has been rent by some violence into thousands of
+fragments. It may be observed that the period of rotation of the
+inferior planets corresponds in general with that of our earth, while
+the corresponding period of the superior or outside planets is less
+than one-half as great. The forces which produced this difference in
+the period of rotation may have contended for the mastery in that part
+of our solar system where the asteroids are found; and the disruption
+may have resulted from such conflict of forces.
+
+Or again, it may be that a large planet is now in process of formation
+in the asteroidal space. Possibly one of the greater fragments may
+gain in mass by attracting to itself the nearer fragments, and thus
+continue to wax until it shall have swept clean the whole pathway of
+the planetary matter, except such small fragments as may after æons of
+time continue to fall upon the master body, as our meteorites now at
+intervals rush into our atmosphere and sometimes reach the earth.
+
+Some astronomers have given and are still giving their almost
+undivided attention to asteroidal investigation. The discoveries have
+been mostly made by a few principal explorers. The astronomer, Palisa,
+from the observatory of Pola and that of Vienna, has found no fewer
+than seventy-five of the whole group. The observer, Peters, at
+Clinton, New York, has found forty-eight asteroids; Luther, of
+Düsseldorf, twenty-four; Watson, of Ann Arbor, twenty-two; Borrelly,
+of Marseilles, fifteen; Goldschmidt, of Paris, fourteen, and Charlois,
+of Nice, fourteen. The English astronomers have found only a few.
+Among such, Hind of London, who has-discovered ten asteroids, is the
+leader.
+
+The Italian, German and American astronomers are first in the interest
+and success which they have shown in this branch of sky-lore. Their
+investigations have made us acquainted with the dim group of little
+worlds performing their unknown part in the vast space between the
+Warrior planet and Jove.
+
+
+THE STORY OF NEPTUNE.
+
+The discovery of the planet Neptune by Dr. Galle on the twenty-third
+of September, 1846, was one of the most important events in the
+intellectual history of this century. Certainly it was no small thing
+to find a new world. Discoverers on the surface of our globe are
+immortalized by finding new lands in unknown regions. What, therefore,
+should be the fame of him who finds a new world in the depths of
+space? Perhaps the discoverer of an asteroid or planetary moon may
+not claim, in the present advanced stage of human knowledge, to rank
+among the flying evangels of history; but he who found the great
+planet third in rank among the worlds of the solar system, a world
+having a mass nearly seventeen times as great as that of our own, may
+well be regarded as one of the immortals.
+
+We have referred the discovery of Neptune to Dr. Johann Gottfried
+Galle, the German astronomer and Professor of Natural Sciences at
+Berlin. But this Dr. Galle was only the _eye_ with which the discovery
+was made. He was a good eye; but the eye, however clear, is only an
+organ of something greater than the eye, and that something in this
+case consisted of two parts. The first part was Urbain Jean Joseph
+Leverrier, the French astronomer, of the Paris Observatory. The other
+part was Professor John Couch Adams, the astronomer of the University
+at Cambridge, England. These two were the thinkers; that is, they
+were, as it were, jointly the great mind of the age, of which Galle
+was the eye.
+
+In getting a clear notion of the discovery of Neptune, several other
+personages are to be considered. One of these is the astronomer Alexis
+Bouvart, of France, who was born in Haute Savoie, in 1767, and died
+in June of 1843, three years before Neptune was found. Another
+personage was his nephew, the astronomer E. Bouvart, and a third was
+the noted Prussian, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, Director of the
+Observatory at Königsberg, who was born in 1784, and died on the
+seventeenth of March, 1846, only six months before the discovery of
+our outer planet.
+
+Still another character to be commemorated is the English astronomer
+Professor James Challis, Plumian Professor and Director of the
+Observatory at Cambridge, England. This contributor to the great event
+was born in 1803, and died at Cambridge on the third of December,
+1882. Still another, not to be disregarded, is Dr. T.J. Hussey, of
+Hayes, England, whose mind seems to have been one of the first to
+anticipate the existence of an ultra-Uranian planet. And still again,
+the English astronomer royal, Sir G.B. Airy must be mentioned as a
+contributor to the final result; but he is to be regarded rather as a
+contributor by negation. The great actors in the thing done were
+Leverrier, Adams and Galle. English authors contend strongly for
+placing the names in this order: Adams, Leverrier and Galle.
+
+Suffice it to say that when Uranus was discovered by the elder
+Herschel in 1781, that world was supposed to be the outside planet of
+our system. Hitherto the splendid Saturn had marked the uttermost
+excursion of astronomical knowledge as it respected our solar group.
+For about a quarter of a century after Herschel's discovery the world
+rested upon it as a finality. The orbit of Uranus was thought to
+circumscribe the whole. But in the meantime, observations of this
+orbit led to the knowledge that it did not conform in all respects to
+astronomical and mathematical conditions. The orbit showed
+irregularities, disturbances, perturbations, that could not be
+accounted for when all of the known mathematical calculations were
+applied thereto. Uranus was seen to get out of his path. At times he
+would lag a little, and then at other times appear to be accelerated.
+Each year, when the earth would swing around on the Uranian side of
+the sun, the observations were renewed, but always with the result
+that the planet did not seem to conform perfectly to the conditions of
+his orbit. What could be the cause of this seeming disregard of
+mathematical laws?
+
+Astronomers could not accept the supposition that there was any actual
+violation of the known conditions of gravitation. Certainly Uranus was
+following his orbit under the centripetal and centrifugal laws in the
+same manner as the other planets. There must, therefore, be some
+undiscovered disturbing cause. It had already been noted that in the
+case of the infra-Uranian planets they were swayed somewhat from their
+paths by the mutual influence of one upon the other. This was
+noticeable in particular in the movements of Jupiter, Saturn and
+Uranus. When Saturn, for instance, would be on the same side of the
+sun with Jupiter, it might be noted that the latter was drawn outward
+and the former inward from their prescribed curves. The perturbation
+was greatest when the planets were nearest, together. In like manner
+Uranus did obeisance to both his huge neighbors on the sun's side of
+his orbit. He, too, veered toward them as he passed, and they in turn
+recognized the courtesy by going out of their orbits as they passed.
+What, therefore, should be said of the outswinging movement of Uranus
+from his orbit in that part of his course where no disturbing
+influence was known to exist? Certainly _something_ must be in that
+quarter of space to occasion the perturbation. What was it?
+
+It would appear that the elder Bouvart, the French astronomer referred
+to above, was the first to suggest that the disturbances in the orbit
+of Uranus, throwing that planet from his pathway outward, might be and
+probably were to be explained by the presence in outer space of an
+unknown ultra-Uranian planet. Bouvart prepared tables to show the
+perturbations in question, and declared his opinion that they were
+caused by an unknown planet beyond. No observer, however, undertook to
+verify this suggestion or to disprove it. Nor did Bouvart go so far as
+to indicate the particular part of the heavens which should be
+explored in order to find the undiscovered world. His tables, however,
+do show from the perturbations of the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn and
+Uranus that the same are caused by the mutual influence of the planets
+upon one another.
+
+It seems to have remained for Dr. T.J. Hussey, of Hayes, England, to
+suggest the actual discovery of the unknown planet by following the
+clew of the disturbance produced by its presence in a certain field of
+space. Dr. Hussey, in 1834, wrote to Sir George Biddell Airy,
+astronomer royal at Greenwich, suggesting that the perturbation of the
+orbit of Uranus might be used as the clew for the discovery of the
+planet beyond. But Sir George was one of those safe, conservative
+scholars who scorn to follow the suggestions of genius, preferring
+rather to explore only what is known already. He said in answer that
+he doubted if the irregularity in the Uranian orbit was in such a
+state of demonstration as to give any hope of the discovery of the
+disturbing cause. He doubted even that there was such irregularity in
+the Uranian orbit. He was of opinion that the observers had been
+mistaken in the alleged detection of perturbations. So the Greenwich
+observatory was not used on the line of exploration suggested by
+Hussey.
+
+Three years afterward, and again in 1842, Sir George received letters
+from the younger Bouvart, again suggesting the possibility and
+probability of discovering the ultra-Uranian planet. These hints were
+strengthened by a letter from Bessel, of Königsberg. But Sir George B.
+Airy refused to be led in the direction of so great a possibility.
+
+It was in 1844 that Professor James Challis, of the Cambridge
+observatory, appealed to Sir George for the privilege of using or
+examining the recorded observations made at Greenwich of the movements
+of Uranus, saying that he wished these tables for a young friend of
+his, Mr. John C. Adams, of Cambridge, who had but recently taken his
+degree in mathematics. Adams was at that date only twenty-five years
+of age. The royal astronomer granted the request, and for about a year
+Adams was engaged in making his calculations. These were completed,
+and in September of 1845, Challis informed Sir George Airy that
+according to the calculations of Adams the perturbations of Uranus
+were due to the influence of an unknown planet beyond.
+
+The young mathematician indicated in his conclusions at what point in
+the heavens the ultra-Uranian world was then traveling, and where it
+might be found. But even these mathematical demonstrations did not
+suffice to influence Sir George in his opinions. He was an Englishman!
+He refused or neglected to take the necessary steps either to verify
+or to disprove the conclusions of Adams. He held in hand the
+mathematical computations of that genius from October of 1845 to June
+of the following year, when the astronomer Leverrier, of Paris,
+published to the world his own tables of computation, proving that the
+disturbances in the orbit of Uranus were due to the influence of a
+planet beyond, and indicating the place where it might be found. There
+was a close agreement between the point indicated by him and that
+already designated by Adams.
+
+It seems that this French publication at last aroused Sir George Airy,
+who now admitted that the calculations of Adams might be correct in
+form and deduction. He accordingly sent word to Professor Challis to
+begin a search for the unknown orb. The latter did begin the work of
+exploration, and presently saw the planet. But he failed to recognize
+it! There it was; but the observer passed it over as a fixed star. As
+for Leverrier, he sent his calculations to Dr. Galle, of Berlin; and
+that great observer began his search. On the night of the twenty-third
+of September, 1846, he not only _saw_ but _caught_ the far-off world.
+There it was, disc and all; and a few additional observations
+confirmed the discovery.
+
+Hereupon Sir George Airy broke out with a claim that the discovery
+belonged to Adams. He was able to show that Adams had anticipated
+Leverrier by a few months in his calculations; but the French scholars
+were able to carry the day by showing that Adams' work had been void
+of results. The world went with the French claim. Adams was left to
+enjoy the fame of merit among the learned classes, but the great
+public fixed upon Leverrier as the genius who did the work, and Dr.
+Galle as his eye.
+
+Several remarkable things followed in the train. It was soon
+discovered that both Leverrier and Adams had been favored by chance in
+indicating the field of space where Uranus was found. They had both
+proceeded upon the principle expressed in Bode's Law. This law
+indicated the place of Neptune as 38.8 times the distance of the earth
+from the sun. A verification of the result showed that the new-found
+planet was actually only thirty times as far as the earth from the
+sun. In the case of all the other planets, their distances had been
+remarkably co-incident with the results reached by Bode's Law; but
+Uranus seemed to break that law, or at least to bend it to the point
+of breaking--a result which has never to this day been explained.
+
+It chanced, however, that at the time when the predictions of
+Leverrier and Adams were sent, the one sent to Galle and the other to
+Challis, Uranus and the earth and the sun were in such relations that
+the departure of the orbit of Uranus from the place indicated by
+Bode's Law did not seriously displace the planet from the position
+which it should theoretically occupy. Thus, after a little searching,
+Challis found the new world, and knew it not; Galle found it and knew
+it, and tethered it to the planetary system, making it fast in the
+recorded knowledge of mankind.
+
+While Daniel O'Connell, the greatest Irishman of the present century,
+despairing of the cause of his country, lay dying in Genoa, and while
+Zachary Taylor, at the head of a handful of American soldiers was
+cooping up the Mexican army in the old town of Monterey, a new world,
+37,000 miles in diameter and seventeen times as great in mass as the
+little world on which we dwell, was found slowly and sublimely making
+its way around the well nigh inconceivable periphery of the solar
+system!
+
+
+EVOLUTION OF THE TELESCOPE.
+
+The development of telescopic power within the present century is one
+of the most striking examples of intellectual progress and mastery in
+the history of mankind. The first day of the century found us, not,
+indeed, where we were left by Galileo and Copernicus in the knowledge
+of the skies and in our ability to penetrate their depths, but it did
+find us advanced by only moderate stages from the sky-lore of the
+past.
+
+The after half of the eighteenth century presents a history of
+astronomical investigation and deduction which confirmed and amplified
+the preceding knowledge; but that period did not greatly widen the
+field of observation. If the sphere of space which had been explored
+on the first day of January, 1801, could be compared with that which
+is now known and explored by our astronomers, the one sphere would be
+to the other even as an apple to the earth.
+
+It is difficult to apprehend the tremendous strides which we have made
+in the production of telescopes and the consequent increase in our
+sweep of the heavens. It was only in 1774 that the elder Herschel
+began his work in the construction of reflecting telescopes. These he
+gradually increased in size, until near the close of the century, when
+he produced an instrument which magnified two hundred and twenty-seven
+diameters. In the course of his career he built two hundred
+telescopes, having a seven-foot focus; 150 of ten feet and about
+eighty of twenty feet each.
+
+With these instruments the astronomical work in the last quarter of
+the eighteenth century was mostly performed. The study of the heavens
+at this epoch began to reach out from the planetary system to the
+fixed stars. In this work Herschel led the way. The planet Uranus at
+first bore the name of Herschel, from its discoverer. Sir John
+Herschel, son of Sir William, was born in 1792. All of his
+astronomical work was accomplished in our century. Following the line
+of his father, he used the reflecting telescope, and it was an
+instrument of this kind that he took to his observatory at the Cape of
+Good Hope. Lord Rosse was born in the year 1800. Under his auspices
+the reflecting telescope reached its maximum of power and usefulness.
+His great reflector, built in his own grounds at Birr Castle, Ireland,
+was finished in 1844. This instrument was the marvel of that epoch. It
+had a focal distance of fifty-three feet, and an aperture of six feet.
+With this great telescope its master reached out into the region of
+the nebulæ, and began the real work of exploring the sidereal heavens.
+
+In the reflecting telescope, however, there are necessary limitations.
+Before the middle of this century, it was known that the future of
+astronomy depended upon the refracting lens, and not on the speculum.
+The latter, in the hands of the two Herschels and Rosse, had reached
+its utmost limits--as is shown by the fact that to this day the Rosse
+telescope is the largest of its kind in the world.
+
+Meanwhile the production of refracting telescopes made but slow
+progress. As late as 1836 the largest instrument of this kind in the
+world was the eleven-inch telescope of the observatory at Munich. The
+next in importance was a nine and a half-inch instrument at Dorpat, in
+Russia. This was the telescope through which the astronomer Struve
+made his earlier studies and discoveries. His field of observation was
+for the most part the fixed and double stars. At this time the largest
+instrument in the United States was the five-inch refractor of Yale
+College. Soon afterward, namely, in 1840, the observatory at
+Philadelphia was supplied with a six-inch refracting telescope from
+Munich.
+
+German makers were now in the lead, and it was not long until a Munich
+instrument having a lens of eleven inches diameter was imported for
+the Mitchell Observatory on Mount Adams, overlooking Cincinnati. About
+the same time a similar instrument of nine and a half inches aperture
+was imported for the National Observatory at Washington. To this
+period also belongs the construction of the Cambridge Observatory,
+with its fifteen-inch refracting telescope. Another of the same size
+was produced for the Royal Observatory at Pulkova, Russia. This was in
+1839; and that instrument and the telescope at Cambridge were then the
+largest of their kind in the world.
+
+The history of the telescope-making in America properly begins with
+Alvan Clark, Sr., of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. It was in 1846 that
+he produced his first telescope. Of this he made the lens, and such
+was the excellence of his work that he soon became famous, to the
+degree that the importation of foreign telescopes virtually ceased in
+the United States. Nor was it long until foreign orders began to
+arrive for the refracting lenses of Alvan Clark & Sons. The fame of
+this firm went out through all the world, and by the beginning of the
+last quarter of the century the Clark instruments were regarded as the
+finest ever produced.
+
+We cannot here refer to more than a few of the principal products of
+Clark & Sons. Gradually they extended the width of their lenses,
+gaining with each increase of diameter a rapidly increasing power of
+penetration. At last they produced for the Royal Observatory of
+Pulkova a twenty-seven-inch objective, which was, down to the early
+eighties, the master work of its kind in the world. It was in the
+grinding and polishing of their lenses that the Clarks surpassed all
+men. In the production of the glass castings for the lenses, the
+French have remained the masters. At the glass foundry of Mantois, of
+Paris, the finest and largest discs ever produced in the world are
+cast. But after the castings are made they are sent to America, to be
+made into those wonderful objectives which constitute the glory of the
+apparatus upon which the New Astronomy relies for its achievements.
+
+It was in the year 1887 that the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton,
+of the Coast Range in Southern California, was completed. The lens of
+this instrument is thirty-six inches in diameter. Nor will the reader
+without reflection readily realize the enormous stride which was made
+in telescopy when the makers advanced from the twenty-seven-inch to
+the thirty-six-inch objective. Lenses are to each other in their power
+of collecting light and penetrating apace as the squares of their
+diameters, and in the extent of space explored as the cubes of their
+diameters.
+
+The objective of the Pulkova instrument is to that of the Lick
+Observatory as 3 is to 4. The squares are as 9 is to 16, and the cubes
+are as 27 is to 64. This signifies that the depth of space penetrated
+by the Lick instrument is to that of its predecessor as 16 is to 9,
+and that the astronomical sphere resolved by the former is to the
+sphere resolved by the latter as 64 is to 27--that is, the Lick
+instrument at one bound revealed a universe _more than twice as great_
+as all that was known before! The human mind at this one bound found
+opportunity to explore and to know a sidereal sphere more than twice
+as extensive as had ever been previously penetrated by the gaze of
+man.
+
+Nor is this all. The ambition of American astronomers and American
+philanthropists has not been content with even the prodigious
+achievement of the Lick telescope. In recent years an observatory has
+been projected in connection with the University of Chicago, which has
+come almost to completion, and which will bear by far the largest
+telescopic instrument in the world. The site selected for the
+observatory is seventy-five miles from the city, on the northern shore
+of Lake Geneva. There is a high ground here, rising sufficiently into
+a clear atmosphere, nearly two hundred feet above the level of the
+lake.
+
+The observatory and the great telescope which constitutes its central
+fact are to bear the name of the donor, Mr. Yerkes, of Chicago, who
+has contributed the means for rearing this magnificent adjunct of the
+University. The enterprise contemplated from the first the
+construction of the most powerful telescope ever known. The
+manufacture of the objective, upon which everything depends, was
+assigned to Mr. Alvan G. Clark, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, who
+is the only living representative of the old firm of Alvan Clark &
+Sons.
+
+Alvan G. Clark has inherited much of the genius of his father, though
+it is said that in making the lens of the Lick Observatory the father
+had to be called from his retirement to superintend personally some of
+the more delicate parts of the finishing before which task his sons
+had quailed. But the younger Clark readily agreed to make the Geneva
+lens, under the order of Yerkes, and to produce a perfect objective
+_forty inches in diameter_! This important work, so critical--almost
+impossible--has been successfully accomplished.
+
+The making and the mounting of the Yerkes telescope have been assigned
+to Warner & Swasey, of Cleveland, Ohio, who are recognized as the best
+telescope builders in America. The great observatory is approaching
+completion. The instrument itself has been finished, examined,
+accepted by a committee of experts, and declared to fulfill all of the
+conditions of the agreement between the founder and the makers. Thus,
+just north of the boundary line between Illinois and Wisconsin, the
+greatest telescope of the world has been lifted to its dome and
+pointed to the heavens.
+
+The formal opening of the observatory is promised for the summer
+months of 1896. The human mind by this agency has made another stride
+into the depths of infinite space. Another universe is presently to be
+penetrated and revealed. A hollow sphere of space outside of the
+sphere already known is to be added to the already unthinkable
+universe which we inhabit. Every part of the immense observatory and
+of the telescope is of American production, with the single important
+exception of the cast glass disc from which the two principal lenses,
+the one double convex and the other plano-concave, are produced. These
+were cast by Mantois, of Paris, whose superiority to the American
+manufacturers of optical glass is recognized.
+
+It is estimated that the Yerkes telescope will gather three times as
+much light as the twenty-three-inch instrument of the Princeton
+Observatory. It surpasses in the same respect the twenty-six-inch
+telescope at the National Observatory in the ratio of two and
+three-eighths to one. It is in the same particular one and four-fifth
+times as powerful as the instrument of the Royal Russian Observatory
+at Pulkova; and it surpasses the great Lick instrument by twenty-three
+per cent.
+
+What the practical results of the study of the skies through this
+monster instrument will be none may predict. Theoretically it is
+capable of bringing the moon to an apparent distance of sixty miles.
+Under favorable circumstances the observer will be able to note the
+characteristics of the lunar landscape with more distinctness than a
+good natural eye can discern the outlines and character of the summit
+of Pike's Peak from Denver. The instrument has sufficient power to
+reveal on the lunar disc any object five hundred feet square. Such a
+thing as a village or even a great single building would be plainly
+discernible.
+
+Professor C.A. Young has recently pointed out the fact that the Yerkes
+telescope, if it meets expectation, will show on the moon's surface
+with much distinctness any such object as the Capitol at Washington.
+It is complained that in America wealth is selfish and self-centred;
+that the millionaire cares only for himself and the increase of his
+already exorbitant estate. The ambition of such men as Lick of San
+Jose and Yerkes of Chicago, seems to ameliorate the severe judgment of
+mankind respecting the holders of the wealth of the world, and even to
+transform them from their popular character of enemies and misers into
+philanthropists and benefactors.
+
+
+THE NEW ASTRONOMY.
+
+This century has been conspicuous above all centuries for new things.
+Man has grown into new relations with both nature and thought. He has
+interpreted nearly everything into new phraseology and new forms of
+belief. The scientific world has been revolutionized. Nothing remains
+in its old expression. Chemistry has been phrased anew. The laws of
+heat, light and electricity have been either revised or discovered
+wholly out of the unknown. The concept of universal nature has been so
+translated and reborn that a philosopher coming again out of the
+eighteenth century would fail to understand the thought and speech of
+even the common man.
+
+In no other particular has the change been more marked than with
+respect to the general theory of the planetary and stellar worlds. A
+New Astronomy has come and taken the place of the old. The very
+rudiments of the science have to be learned as it were in a new
+language, and under the laws and theories of a new philosophy. Nature
+is considered from other points of view, and the general course of
+nature is conceived in a manner wholly different from the beliefs of
+the past.
+
+In a preceding study we have explained the general notion of planetary
+formation according to the views of the last century. The New
+Astronomy presents another theory. Beginning with virtually the same
+notion of the original condition of our world and sun cluster, the new
+view departs widely as to the processes by which the planets were
+formed, and extends much further with respect to the first condition
+and ultimate destiny of our earth. The New Astronomy, like the old,
+begins with a nebular hypothesis. It imagines the matter now composing
+the solar group to have been originally dispersed through the space
+occupied by our system, and to have been in a state of attenuation
+under the influence of high heat. Out of this condition of diffusion
+the solar system has been evolved. The idea is a creation by the
+process of evolution; it is evolution applied to the planets. More
+particularly, the hypothesis is that the worlds of our planetary
+system grew into their present state through a series of stages and
+slow developments extending over æons of time.
+
+This is the notion of world-growth substituted for that of
+world-production en masse by the action of centrifugal force and
+discharge from the solar equator. The New Astronomy proposes in this
+respect two points of remarkable difference from the view formerly
+entertained. The first relates to the fixing of the planetary orbits,
+and the other to the process by which the planets have reached their
+present mass and character. The old theory would place a given world
+in its pathway around the sun by a spiral flinging off from the
+central body, and would allow that the aggregate mass of the globe so
+produced was fixed once for all at the beginning. The new theory
+supposes that a given planetary orbit, as for instance that of the
+earth, was marked in the nebula of our system before the system
+existed--that is, that our orbit had its place in the beginning just
+as it has now; that the orbit was not determined by solar revolution
+and centrifugal action, but that it was mathematically existent in the
+nebular sheet out of which the solar system was produced.
+
+Other lines existed in the same sheet of matter. One of these lines or
+pathways was destined for the orbit of Mercury; another for the orbit
+of Venus. One was for the pathway of Mars; another for the belt of
+the asteroids; another for Jupiter; another for Saturn, and still two
+others, far off on the rim, for Uranus and Neptune. The theory
+continues that such are the laws of matter that these orbital lines
+_must_ exist in a disc of fire mist such as that out of which our
+solar universe has been produced. The New Astronomy holds firmly to
+the notion that the orbits of the planets are as much a part of the
+system as the planets themselves, and that both orbit and planet exist
+in virtue of the deep-down mathematical formulæ on which the whole
+material universe is constructed.
+
+Secondly, the New Astronomy differs from the old by a whole horizon in
+the notion of world-production. About the middle of the century the
+theory began to be advanced that the worlds _grew_ by accretion of
+matter; that they grew in the very paths which they now occupy; that
+they began to be with a small aggregation of matter rushing together
+in the line or orbit which the coming planet was to pursue. The
+planetary matter was already revolving in this orbit and in the
+surrounding spaces. It was already floating along in a nebulous
+superheated form capable of condensation by the loss of heat, but in
+particular capable of growth and development by the fall of
+surrounding matter upon the forming globe. We must remember that in
+the primordial state the elements of a planet, as for instance our
+earth, were mixed together and held in a state of tenuity ranging all
+the way from solid to highly vaporized forms, and that these elements
+subsequently and by slow adjustment got themselves into something
+approximating their present state.
+
+The New Astronomy contemplates a period when each of the planets was a
+germinal nucleus of matter around which other matter was precipitated,
+thus producing a kind of world-growth or accretion. Thus, for
+instance, our earth may be considered at a time when its entire mass
+would not, according to our measurement, have weighed a hundred
+pounds! It consisted of a nucleus around which extended, through a
+great space, a mass of attenuated planetary matter. The nucleus once
+formed the matter adjacent would precipitate itself by gravitation
+upon the surface of the incipient world. The precipitation would
+proceed as heat was given off into space. It was virtually a process
+of condensation; but the result appeared like growth.
+
+To the senses a planet would seem to be forming itself by accretion;
+and so, indeed, in one sense it was; for the mass constantly
+increased. As the nucleus sped on in the prescribed pathway, it drew
+to itself the surrounding matter, leaving behind it an open channel.
+The orbit was thus cleared of the matter, which was at first merely
+nebular, and afterward both nebular and fragmentary. The growth at the
+first was rapid. With each revolution a larger band of space was swept
+clear of its material. With each passage of the forming globe the
+matter from the adjacent spaces would rush down upon its surface, and
+as the mass of the planet increased the process would be stimulated;
+for gravitation is proportional to the mass. At length a great tubular
+space would be formed, having the orbit of the earth for its centre,
+and in this space the matter was all swept up. The tube enlarged with
+each revolution, until an open way was cut through the nebular disc,
+and then from the one side toward Venus and from the other side toward
+Mars the space widened and widened, until the globe took approximately
+by growth its present mass of matter. The nebulous material was drawn
+out of the inter-planetary space where it was floating, and the shower
+of star dust on the surface of the earth became thinner and less
+frequent. In some parts of the orbit bands or patches of this material
+existed, and the earth in passing through such hands drew down upon
+itself the flying fragments of such matter as it continues to do to
+the present day. What are meteoric displays but the residue of the
+primordial showers by which the world was formed?
+
+All this work, according to the New Astronomy, took place while our
+globe was still in a superheated condition. The mass of it had not yet
+settled into permanent form. The water had not yet become water; it
+was steam. The metals had not yet become metals; they were rather the
+vapor of metals. At length they were the liquids of metals, and at
+last the solids. So, also, the rocks were transformed from the
+vaporous through the liquid into the solid form--all this while the
+globe was in process of condensation. It grew smaller in mathematical
+measurements at the same time that it grew heavier by the accretion of
+matter. At last the surface was formed, and in time that surface was
+sufficiently cooled to allow the vapors around it to condense into
+seas and oceans and rivers. There were ages of superficial
+softness--vast epochs of mud--in which the living beings that had now
+appeared wallowed and sprawled.
+
+We cannot trace the world-growth through all its stages but can only
+indicate them as it were in a sketch. The more important thing to be
+noted is the relation of our planet in process of formation to the
+great fact called life. Here the New Astronomy comes in again to
+indicate, theoretically at least, the philosophy of planetary
+evolution. Each planet seems to pass through a vast almost
+inconceivable period in which its condition renders life on its
+surface or in its structure impossible. Heat is at once the favoring
+and the prohibitory condition of life. Without heat life cannot exist;
+with too great heat life cannot exist. With an intermediate and
+moderate degree of heat many forms of animate and inanimate existence
+may be promoted.
+
+These facts tend to show that every world has in its career an
+intermediate period which may be called the epoch of life. Before the
+epoch of life begins there is in the given world no such form of
+existence. There is matter only. Then at a certain stage the epoch of
+life begins. The epoch of life continues for a vast indeterminate
+period. No doubt in some of the worlds an epoch of life has been
+provided ten times as great, possibly a thousand times as great, as in
+other planets. After the epoch of life begins only certain forms of
+existence are for a while possible. Then other and higher forms
+succeed them, and then still higher. Thus the process continues until
+the highest--that is, the conscious and moral form of existence
+becomes possible, and that highest, that conscious, that moral form of
+being is ourselves.
+
+This is not all. The epoch of life seems to be terminable at the
+further extreme by a planetary condition in which life is no longer
+possible. The New Astronomy indicates the coming of a condition in all
+the worlds when life must disappear therefrom and be succeeded by a
+lifeless state of worldhood. This may be called the epoch of
+death--that is, of world-death. It seems to be almost established by
+investigation and right reason that worlds die. They reach a stage in
+which they are lifeless. They cool down until the waters and gases
+that are on the surface and above the surface recede more and more
+into the surface and then into the interior, until they wholly
+disappear. Cold takes the throne of nature. Universal aridity
+supervenes, and all forms of vegetable and animate existence go away
+to return no more. They dwindle and expire. The conditions that have
+come are virtually conditions of death.
+
+Whether the universe contains within itself, under the Almighty
+supervision, certain arrangements and laws by which the dead world can
+be again cast into the crucible and regenerated by liberation through
+the action of heat into its primordial state once more and go the same
+tremendous round of planet life, we know not. The conception of such a
+process, even the dream or vague possibility of it, is sufficiently
+sublime and fills the mind with a great delight in contemplating the
+possible cycles through which the material universe is passing.
+
+At any rate, we may contemplate the three great stages of world-life
+with which we are already acquainted--that is, the birth stage, the
+epoch of life and the epoch of death. There is a birth, as also a life
+and a death of planets. Richard A. Proctor, of great fame, on one of
+his last tours of instructive lecturing among our people, had for his
+subject the "Birth and Death of Worlds." The theme was not dissimilar
+to that which has been here presented in outline. The birth, the life
+and the death of worlds! Such is a summary of that almost infinite
+history through which our earth is passing--the history which the
+globe is _making_ on its way from its nebulous to its final state.
+
+Such, if we mistake not, is the story epitomized--the life history in
+brief--of all the worlds of space. They have each in its order and
+kind, an epoch of the beginning, then an epoch of growth and
+evolution, then an epoch of life--toward which all the preceding
+planet history seems to tend--and finally an epoch of death which
+must, in the course of infinite time, swallow from sight each planet
+in its turn, or at least reduce each from that condition in which it
+is an arena of animated existence into that state where it is a
+frozen and desert clod, still following its wonted path through space,
+still shining with a cold but cheerful face, _like our moon_, upon the
+silent abysses of the universe.
+
+
+WHAT THE WORLDS ARE MADE OF.
+
+The present century was already well advanced before there was any
+solid ground for the belief that the worlds of space are made of
+analogous or identical materials. It was only with the invention of
+the spectroscope and the analysis of light that the material identity
+of universal nature was proved by methods which could not be doubted.
+The proof came by the spectroscope.
+
+This little instrument, though not famed as is its lordly kinsman the
+telescope, or even regarded with the popular favor of the microscope,
+has nevertheless carried us as far, and, we were about to say, taught
+us as much, as either of the others. It is one thing to see the worlds
+afar, to note them visibly, to describe their outlines, to measure
+their mass and determine their motions. It is another thing to know
+their constitution, the substances of which they are composed, the
+material condition in which they exist and the state of their progress
+in worldhood. The latter work is the task of the spectroscope; and
+right well has it accomplished its mission.
+
+The solar spectrum has been known from the earliest ages. When the
+sun-bow was set on the background of cloud over the diluvial floods,
+the living beings of that age saw a spectrum--the glorious spectrum of
+rain and shine. Wherever the rays of light have been diffracted under
+given conditions by the agency of water drops, prism of glass or other
+such transparent medium, and the ray has fallen on a suitable screen,
+lo! there has been the beautiful spectrum of light.
+
+The artificial, intentional production of this phenomenon of light has
+long been known, and both novice and scientist have tested and
+improved the methods of getting given results. The child's soap-bubble
+shows it in miniature splendor. The pressure of one wet pane of glass
+against another reveals it. The breakage of nearly all crystalline
+substances brings something of the colored effects of light; but the
+triangular prism of glass, suitably prepared, best of all displays the
+analysis of the sun-beam into the colors of which it is composed.
+
+The spectroscope is the improved instrument by which the diffracting
+prism is best employed in producing the spectrum. The reader no doubt
+has seen a spectroscope, and has observed its beautiful work. In this
+place we pass, however, from the instrument of production to the
+spectrum, or analyzed result, as the same is shown on a screen. There
+the pencil of white light falling from the sun is spread out in the
+manner of a fan, presenting on the screen the following arrangement of
+colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
+
+This order of colors, beginning with red, starts from that side of the
+spectrum which is least bent from the right line in which the white
+ray was traveling. The violet rays are most bent. The red rays are
+thus said to be at the _lower_ edge of the prism, and the violet rays
+at the _upper_ edge. Below the red rays there are now known to be
+certain invisible rays, as of heat and electricity. Above the violet
+rays are other invisible rays, such as the actinic influence. In fact,
+the spectrum, beginning invisibly, passes by way of the visible rays
+to the invisible again. Nor can any scientist in the world say at the
+present time _how much_ is really included in the spread-out fan of
+analyzed sunlight.
+
+Thus much scientists have known for some time. Certain other facts,
+however, in connection with the solar spectrum are of greater
+importance than are its more sensible phenomena. It was in the year
+1802 that the English physicist, William Hyde Wollaston, discovered
+that the solar spectrum is crossed with a large number of _dark
+lines_. He it was who first mapped these lines and showed their
+relative position. He it was also who discovered the existence of
+invisible rays above the violet. Twelve years afterward Joseph von
+Fraunhofer, of Munich, a German optician of remarkable talents, took
+up the examination of the Wollaston lines, and by his success in the
+investigation succeeded in attracting the attention of the world.
+
+This second stage in scientific discovery is generally that which
+receives the plaudits of mankind. It was so in the case of Fraunhofer.
+His name was given to the dark lines in the solar spectrum, and the
+nomenclature is retained to the present time. They are called the
+"Fraunhofer lines." It was soon discovered that the lines in question
+as produced in the spectrum are due to the presence of gases in the
+producing flame or source of light. It was also discovered that each
+substance in, the process of combustion yields its own line or set of
+lines. These appear at regular intervals in the spectrum. When several
+substances are consumed at the same time; the lines of each appear in
+the spectrum. The result is a _system_ of lines, becoming more and
+more complex as the number of elements in the consuming materials is
+increased.
+
+The lines in a narrow spectrum fall so closely together that they
+cannot be critically examined; but when more than one prism is used
+and the spectrum by this means spread out widely, the dark lines are
+made to stand apart. They are then found to number many thousands. We
+speak now of the analysis of sunlight. Experimentation was naturally
+turned, however, to terrestrial gases and solids on fire, and it was
+found that these also produce like series of dark lines in the
+spectrum. Or when the substances are consumed _as solids_, then the
+spectral effects are reversed, and the lines that would be dark lines
+in the luminous colored spectrum become themselves luminous lines on
+the screen; but these lines hold the same relation in mathematical
+measurement, etc., as do the _dark_ lines in the colored spectrum.
+
+Skillful spectroscopists succeeded in detecting and delineating the
+lines that were peculiar to each substance. By burning such substances
+in flame, they were able to produce the lines, and thus verify
+results. By such experimentation the various lines present in the
+solar spectrum were separated from the complex result, and the
+conclusion was reached that in the burning surface of the sun certain
+substances _well known on earth are present_; for the lines of those
+substances are shown in the spectrum.
+
+No other known substances would produce the given lines. The
+conclusion is overwhelming that the substances in question are present
+in a gaseous condition in the burning flames of the sun. Down to the
+present time the examination of the sun's atmosphere has shown the
+existence therein of thirty-six known elements. These include sodium,
+potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, cobalt, silver, lead,
+tin, zinc, titanium, aluminium, chromium, silicon, carbon, hydrogen
+and several others.
+
+It was thus established that in the constitution of the sun many of
+the well-known elements of the earth are present. There could be no
+mistake about it. An identity of lines in such a case proved beyond
+dispute the identity of the substance from which such lines are
+derived. The existence of common materials in the central sphere of
+our system and in _one_ of his attendant orbs--our own--could not be
+doubted. The discovery of such a fact led by immediate inference to
+the expectation and belief that the _other_ planets were of like
+constitution, or in a word, that the whole solar system was
+essentially composed of identical materials.
+
+As the inquiry proceeded, it was found, however, that the agreement
+in the lines of different spectra was not perfect. Lines would be
+found in the spectrum derived from one source that were not present in
+a spectrum derived from another source. Materials were therefore
+suggested as present in one body that were not present in another.
+Still further inquiry confirmed the belief that while there is a
+general uniformity in the materials of our solar system, the identity
+is not complete in all. An element is found in one part that may not
+be found in another. Hydrogen shows its line in the spectrum derived
+from every heavenly body that has been investigated; but not so
+aluminium or cobalt. Sodium, that is, the salt-producing base, is
+discovered everywhere, but not nickel or arsenium. The result, in a
+word, shows a certain variability in the distribution of solar and
+planetary matter, but a general identity of most.
+
+The question next presented itself as to the character of the luminous
+bodies _beyond_ the solar system. Of what kind of matter are the
+comets? Of what kind are the fixed stars? Of what kind are the nebulæ?
+Could the spectroscope be used in determining also the character of
+the materials in those orbs that we see shining in the depths of
+space? The instrument was turned in answer to these questions to the
+sidereal heavens. No other branch of science has been prosecuted in
+the after half of this century with more zeal and success than has the
+spectroscopic analysis of the fixed stars. These are known by the
+telescope to have the character of suns. The most general fact of the
+visible heavens is the plentiful distribution of suns. They sparkle
+everywhere as the so-called fixed stars. To them the telescope has
+been virtually turned in vain. We say in vain because no single fixed
+star has, we believe, ever been made by aid of the telescope to show a
+disc.
+
+On turning the telescope to a fixed star, its brightness, its
+brilliancy, increases according to the power of the instrument. Coming
+into the field of one of these great suns of space, the telescope
+shows a miraculous dawn spreading and blazing into a glorious sunrise,
+and a sun itself flaming like infinite majesty on the sight; but there
+is no disc--nothing but a blaze of glory. Thus in a sense the
+telescope has worked in vain on the visible heavens. But not so the
+spectroscope. The latter has done its glorious work. Turning to a
+given fixed star, it shows that the tremendous combustion going on
+therein is virtually the same as that in our own sun. There, too, is
+flaming hydrogen, and there is carbon and oxygen and iron and sodium
+and potassium and many other of the leading elements of what we thus
+know to be universal nature. The suns are all akin; they are
+cousins-german. They are of the same family--they and their progeny.
+They were born of the same universal fact. They are of the same
+Father! They are builded on the same plan, and they have a common
+destiny. Aye, more, the nebulæ that float far off, swanlike, in the
+infinitudes, are of the same family. The nebulæ may be regarded as the
+mothers of universes. It is out of their bosoms that the life and
+substance of all suns and worlds are drawn! And these, too, are
+composed of the common matter of universal nature. It is the same
+matter that we eat and drink. It is the same that we breathe. It is
+the same that we see aflame in our lamps and grates. It is the same
+that is borne to us in the fragrance of flowers planted on the graves
+of our dead. It is the common hydrogen and carbon and oxygen and
+nitrogen of our earth and its envelope. It is the soda of our bread;
+the potassa of our ashes; the phosphorus of our bones and brain!
+Indeed, the universe throughout is of one form and one substance, and
+there is one Father over all. Sooner or later the concepts of science
+and of religion will come together; and the small agitations and
+conflicts of human thought and hope will pass away in a sublime unity
+of human faith.
+
+
+
+
+Progress in Discovery and Invention.
+
+
+THE FIRST STEAMBOAT AND ITS MAKER.
+
+On the night of the second of July, 1798, a man at a little old tavern
+in Bardstown, Kentucky, committed suicide. If ever there was a
+justifiable case of self-destruction, it was this. No human being is
+permitted to take his own life, but there are instances in which the
+burden of existence becomes well-nigh intolerable. In the case just
+mentioned, the man went to his room and took poison. He was a little
+more than fifty-five years of age, but was prematurely old from the
+hardships to which he had been subjected. He had not a penny. His
+clothes were worn out. A dirty shirt, made of coarse materials, was
+seen through the rags of his coat. His face was haggard, wrinkled,
+written all over with despair, the lines of which not even the
+goodness of death was able to dispel.
+
+The man had seen the Old World and the New, but had never seen
+happiness. He had followed his forlorn destiny from his native town
+of South Windsor, Connecticut, where he was born on the twenty-first
+of January, 1743. His body was buried in the graveyard of Bardstown,
+then a frontier village. No one contributed a stone to mark the
+grave. Nor has that duty ever been performed. The spot became
+undistinguishable as time went by, and we believe that there is not a
+man in the world who can point out the place where the body of John
+Fitch was buried. The grave of the inventor of the steamboat, hidden
+away, more obscurely than that of Jean Valjean in the cemetery of
+Père-Lachaise, will keep the heroic bones to the last day, when all
+sepulchres of earth shall set free their occupants and the great sea's
+wash cast up its dead!
+
+The life of John Fitch is, we are confident, the saddest chapter in
+human biography. The soul of the man seems from the first to have gone
+forth darkly voyaging, like Poe's raven,
+
+                               --"Whom unmerciful disaster
+    Followed fast and followed faster, till his song one burden bore,
+    Till the dirges of his hope the melancholy burden bore,--
+    Of 'Nevermore--nevermore!'"
+
+Certainly it was nevermore with him. His early years were made
+miserable by ill-treatment and abuse. His father, a close-fisted
+farmer and an elder brother of the same character, converted the
+boyhood life of John Fitch into a long day of grief and humiliation
+and a long night of gloomy dreams. Then at length came an ill-advised
+and ill-starred marriage, which broke under him and left him to wander
+forth in desolation.
+
+He went first from Connecticut to Trenton, N.J., and there in his
+twenty-sixth year began to ply the humble trade of watch-maker. Then
+he became a gunsmith, making arms for the patriots of Seventy-six,
+until what time the British destroyed his shop. Then he was a soldier.
+He suffered the horrors of Valley Forge; and before the conclusion of
+the peace he went abroad in the country as a tinker of clocks and
+watches. His peculiarity of manner and his mendicant character made
+him the butt of neighborhoods. In 1780 he was sent as a
+deputy-surveyor from Virginia into Kentucky, and after nearly two
+years spent in the country between the Kentucky and Green rivers, he
+went back to Philadelphia. On a second journey to the West his party
+was assailed by the Indians at the mouth of the Muskingum, and most
+were killed. But he was taken captive, and remained with the red men
+for nearly a year. But he escaped at last, and got back to a
+Pennsylvania settlement.
+
+Fitch next lived for a year or two in and did approve of the
+invention, he withheld any public endorsement of it.
+
+Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got
+the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation,
+he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the
+work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions
+on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a
+small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the
+means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden.
+The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive
+right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for
+purposes of steam navigation.
+
+Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was
+forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars,
+or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and
+the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and
+Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of
+eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling.
+
+He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August,
+1787, and did approve of the invention, he withheld any public
+endorsement of it.
+
+Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got
+the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation,
+he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the
+work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions
+on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a
+small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the
+means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden.
+The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive
+right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for
+purposes of steam navigation.
+
+Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was
+forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars,
+or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and
+the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and
+Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of
+eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling.
+
+He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August,
+1787, would have witnessed a memorable thing. The Convention for the
+framing of a Constitution for the United States of America was in
+session. For some time the body had been wearing itself into
+exhaustion over this question and that question which seemed
+impossible of solution. On the day referred to, the convention, on
+invitation, adjourned, and the members, including the Father of his
+country, who was President, went down to the water's edge to see a
+sight. There Fitch's steamboat was to make its trial trip, and there
+the trial trip was made, with entire success.
+
+They who were building the ship of state could but applaud the
+performance of the little steamer that sped away toward Burlington.
+But the applause was of that kind which the wise and conservative folk
+always give to the astonishing thing done by genius. The wise and
+conservative folk look on and smile and praise, but do not commit
+themselves. Most dangerous it is for a politician to commit himself to
+a beneficial enterprise; for the people might oppose it!
+
+The facts here referred to are fully attested in indisputable records.
+There are files of Philadelphia newspapers which contain accounts of
+Fitch's boat. A line of travel and traffic was established between
+Philadelphia and Burlington. There was also a steam ferryboat on the
+Delaware. A second boat, called the "Perseverance," was designed for
+the waters of the Mississippi; but this craft was wrecked by a storm,
+and then the patent under which the Ohio river and its confluent
+waters were granted, expired, and the enterprise had to be abandoned.
+On the fourth of September, 1790, the following advertisement of the
+"Pennsylvania Packet" appeared in a Philadelphia paper:
+
+"The Steamboat will set out this morning, at eleven o'clock, for
+Messrs. Gray's Garden, at a quarter of a dollar for each passenger
+thither. It will afterwards ply between Gray's and middle ferry, at
+11d each passenger. To-morrow morning, Sunday, it will set off for
+Burlington at eight o'clock, to return in the afternoon."
+
+This Pennsylvania Packet continued to ply the Delaware for about three
+years. The mechanical construction of the boat was not perfect; and
+shortly after the date to which the above advertisement refers the
+little steamer was ruined by an accident. The story is told by Thomas
+P. Cope, in the seventh volume of Hazard's _Register_. He says: "I
+often witnessed the performance of the boat in 1788-89-90. It was
+propelled by paddles in the stern, and was constantly getting out of
+order. I saw it when it was returning from a trip to Burlington, from
+whence it was said to have arrived in little more than two hours.
+When coming to off Kensington, some part of the machinery broke, and I
+never saw it in motion afterward. I believe it was his [Fitch's] last
+effort. He had, up to that period, been patronized by a few
+stout-hearted individuals, who had subscribed a small capital, in
+shares, I think, of six pounds Pennsylvania currency; but this last
+disaster so staggered their faith and unstrung their nerves, that they
+never again had the hardihood to make other contributions. Indeed,
+they already rendered themselves the subjects of ridicule and derision
+for their temerity and presumption in giving countenance to this wild
+projector and visionary madman. The company thereupon gave up the
+ghost, the boat went to pieces, and Fitch became bankrupt and
+brokenhearted. Often have I seen him stalking about like a troubled
+spectre, with downcast eye and lowering countenance, his coarse,
+soiled linen peeping through the elbows of a tattered garment."
+
+With the breakdown of his enterprise, John Fitch went forth penniless
+into the world. The patent which he received from the United States in
+1791, was of small use. How little can a pauper avail himself of a
+privilege! Presently his patent was burned up, and a year afterward,
+namely in 1793, he went to France. There he would--according to his
+dream--find patronage and fame; but on his arrival in the French
+capital he found the Reign of Terror just beginning its work. It was
+not likely that the Revolutionary Tribunal would give heed to an
+American dreamer and his proposition to propel by steam a boat on the
+Seine. However, Fitch went to L'Orient and deposited the plans and
+specifications of his invention with the American consul. Then he
+departed for London.
+
+In the following year a man by the name of Robert Fulton took up his
+residence with the family of Joel Barlow, in Paris. There he devoted
+himself to his art, which was that of a painter. Whoever had passed by
+the corner of Second and Walnut streets, in Philadelphia while Fitch
+was constructing his first steamboat, might have seen a little sign
+carrying these words: "Robert Fulton, Miniature Painter." But now,
+after nearly ten years, he was painting a panorama in France. While
+thus engaged, the American consul at L'Orient showed to Fulton Fitch's
+drawings and specifications for a steamboat. More than this, _he
+loaned them to him, and he kept them for several months_.
+
+A thrifty man was Robert Fulton; discerning, prudent and capable!
+Meanwhile, poor Fitch, in 1794, returned to America. On the ship he
+worked his way as one of the hands. Getting again to New York he
+determined to make his way into that region of country where he had
+been a surveyor in 1780. He accordingly set out from New York for
+Kentucky, but not till he had invented, or rather constructed, a
+steamboat, which was driven by _a screw propeller_! This, in 1796, he
+launched on the Collect Pond, in what is now Lower New York. The boat
+was successful as an experiment; but the people who saw it looked upon
+its operation and upon the thing itself as the product of a crazy
+man's brain.
+
+He who now passes along the streets of the metropolis will come upon a
+vendor of toys, who will drop upon the pavement an artificial
+miniature tortoise, rabbit, rat, or what not, well wound up; and the
+creature will begin to crawl, or dance, or jump, or run, according to
+its nature. The busy, conservative man smiles a superior smile, and
+passes on. It was in such mood that the old New Yorker of 1796
+witnessed the going of Fitch's little screw propeller on the Pond. It
+was a toy of the water.
+
+After this the poor spectre left for the West. The spring of 1798
+found him at Bardstown, with the model of a little three-foot
+steamboat, which he launched on a neighboring stream. There he still
+told his neighbors that the time would come when all rivers and seas
+would be thus navigated. But they heeded not. The spectre became more
+spectral. At last, about the beginning of July, in the year just
+named, he gave up the battle, crept into his room at the little old
+tavern, took his poison, and fell into the final sleep.
+
+We shall conclude this sketch of him and his work with one of his own
+sorrowful prophecies: "The day will come," said he in a letter, "when
+some more powerful man will get fame and riches from _my_ invention;
+but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of
+attention." Than this there is, we think, hardly a more pathetic
+passage in the history of the sons of men!
+
+
+TELEGRAPHING BEFORE MORSE.
+
+There is a great fallacy in the judgment of mankind about the method
+of the coming of new things. People imagine that new things come all
+at once, but they do not. Nothing comes all at once; that is, no
+thing. In the facts of the natural world, that is, among visible
+phenomena of the landscape, the judgment of people is soon corrected.
+There it is seen that everything grows. The growth is sometimes slow
+and sometimes rapid; but everything comes gradually out of its
+antecedents. No tree or shrub or flower ever came immediately. No
+living creature on the face of the earth begins by instantaneous
+apparition. The chick gets out of its shell presently, but even that
+takes time. Every living thing comes on by degrees from a germ, and
+the germ is generally microscopic! Nature is, indeed, a marvel!
+
+The facts of human life, whether tangible or intangible, have this
+same method. For example, there has not been an invention known to
+mankind that has not come on in the manner of growth. The antecedents
+of it work on and on in a tentative way, producing first this trial
+result and then that, always approaching the true thing; and even the
+true thing when it comes is not perfect. It is made perfect afterward.
+There was never an instantaneous invention, and there was never a
+complete one! It is doubtful whether there is at the present time a
+single complete, that is perfect or perfected, invention in the world.
+They are all of partial development. They show in their history their
+origin, their growth, their gradual approximation to the perfect form.
+
+All of the marvelous contrivances which, fill the arena of our
+civilization, making it first vital and then vocal, have come by the
+evolutionary process. Every one of them has a history which is more
+and more obscure as we follow it backward to its source. In every
+case, however, there comes a time when a given discovery, manifesting
+itself in a given invention, takes a sort of spectacular character,
+and it is then rather suddenly revealed to the consciousness of
+mankind.
+
+Of this general law the telegraph affords a conspicuous example. The
+whole world knows the story of the telegraph of Morse. It was in 1844
+that the work of this great inventor was publicly demonstrated to the
+world. Then it was that the electro-magnetic telegraph in its first
+rude estate began to be used in the transmission of messages and other
+written information.
+
+It has come to pass that "telegraph" means virtually _electric_
+telegraph. The people of to-day seem to have forgotten that the
+telegraph is not necessarily dependent on the electrical current. They
+have forgotten that back of the Morse invention other means had been
+employed of transmitting information at a distance. They have
+forgotten that it was by the most gradual and tedious process that the
+old telegraphic methods were evolved into the new. Note with wonder
+how this great invention began, and through what stages it passed to
+completion.
+
+There is a natural telegraphy. Whoever stands in an open place and
+calls aloud to his fellow mortal at a distance _telegraphs_ to him. At
+least he telephones to him; that is, _sounds_ to him at a distance.
+The air is the medium, the vocal cords in vibration the source of the
+utterance, and the ear of the one at a distance the audiphonic
+receiver. This sort of telegraphy is original and natural with human
+beings, and it is common to them and the lower animals. All the
+creatures that have vocality use this method. It were hard to say how
+humble is the creeping thing that does not rasp out some kind of a
+message to its fellow insect. Some, like the fireflies, do their
+telegraphing with a lantern which they carry. The very crickets are
+expert in telegraphy, or telephony, which is ultimately the same
+thing.
+
+After transmitted sound the next thing is the visible signal, and this
+has been employed by human beings from the earliest ages in
+transmitting information to a distance. It is a method which will
+perhaps never be wholly abandoned. Observe the surveyors running a
+trial line. Far off is the chain bearer and here is the theodolite.
+The man with the standard watches for the signal of the man with the
+instrument. The language is _seen_ and the message understood, though
+no word is spoken. Here the sunlight is the wire, and the visible
+motion of the hands and arms the letters and words of the message.
+
+The ancients were great users of this method. They employed it in both
+peace and war. They occupied heights and showed signals at great
+distances. The better vision of those days made it possible to catch a
+signal, though far off, and to transmit it to some other station,
+likewise far away. In this manner bright objects were waved by day and
+torches by night. In times of invasion such a method of spreading
+information has been used down to the present age. Nor may we fail to
+note the improved apparatus for this kind of signaling now employed in
+military operations. The soldiers on our frontiers in Arizona, New
+Mexico, and through the mountainous regions further north, are able to
+signal with a true telegraphic language to stations nearly a hundred
+miles away.
+
+Considerable progress was made in telegraphy in the after part of the
+eighteenth century. This progress related to the transmission of
+visible messages through the air. In the time of the French Revolution
+such contrivance occupied the attention of military commanders and of
+governing powers. A certain noted engineer named Chappe invented at
+this epoch a telegraph that might be properly called successful.
+Chappe was the son of the distinguished French astronomer, Jean Chappe
+d'Auteroche, who died at San Lucar, California, in 1769. This elder
+Chappe had previously made a journey into Siberia, and had seen from
+that station the transit of Venus in 1761. Hoping to observe the
+recurring transit, eight years afterward, he went to the coast of our
+then almost unknown California, but died there as stated above.
+
+The younger Chappe, being anxious to serve the Revolution, invented
+his telegraph; but in doing so he subjected himself to the suspicions
+of the more ignorant, and on one notable occasion was brought into a
+strait place--both he and his invention. The story of this affair is
+given by Carlyle in the second volume of his "French Revolution." One
+knows not whether to smile or weep over the graphic account which the
+crabbed philosopher gives of Chappe and his work in the following
+extract:
+
+"What, for example," says he, "is this that Engineer Chappe is doing
+in the Park of Vincennes? In the Park of Vincennes; and onward, they
+say, in the Park of Lepelletier Saint-Fargeau, the assassinated
+deputy; and still onward to the Heights of Ecouen and farther, he has
+scaffolding set up, has posts driven in; wooden arms with elbow-joints
+are jerking and fugling in the air, in the most rapid mysterious
+manner! Citoyens ran up, suspicious. Yes, O Citoyens, we are
+signaling; it is a device, this, worthy of the Republic; a thing for
+what we will call far-writing without the aid of postbags; in Greek it
+shall be named Telegraph. '_Telégraphê sacre_,' answers Citoyenism.
+For writing to Traitors, to Austria?--and tears it down, Chappe had to
+escape and get a new legislative Decree. Nevertheless he has
+accomplished it, the indefatigable Chappe; this his Far-writer, with
+its wooden arms and elbow-joints, can intelligibly signal; and lines
+of them are set up, to the North Frontiers and elsewhither. On an
+Autumn evening of the Year Two, Far-writer having just written that
+Condè Town has surrendered to us, we send from the Tuileries
+Convention-Hall this response in the shape of a Decree: 'The name of
+Condè is changed to _Nord-Libre_ (North Free). The Army of the North
+ceases not to merit well of the country.' To the admiration of men!
+For lo! in some half-hour, while the Convention yet debates, there
+arrives this new answer: 'I inform thee (_Je t'annonce_), Citizen
+President, that the Decree of Convention, ordering change of the name
+Condè into North Free; and the other, declaring that the Army of the
+North ceases not to merit well of the country, are transmitted and
+acknowledged by Telegraph. I have instructed my Officer at Lille to
+forward them to North Free by express.' Signed, Chappe."
+
+This successful telegraph of Engineer Chappe was not an electric
+telegraph, but a sunlight telegraph. Is it in reality any more
+wonderful to use the electrical wave in the transmission of
+intelligible symbols than to use a wave of light? Such seems to have
+been the opinion of mankind; and the coming of the electric telegraph
+was long postponed. The invention was made by slow approaches. In our
+country the notion has prevailed that Morse did all--that others did
+nothing; but this notion is very erroneous.
+
+We are not to suppose that the Chappe method of telegraphing became
+extinct after its first successful work. Other references to what we
+_suppose_ to be the same instrument are found in the literature of the
+age. The wonder is that more was not written and more accomplished by
+the agency of Chappe's invention. In the fall of the year 1800,
+General Bonaparte, who had been in Egypt and the East, returned to
+Europe and landed at Frejus on his way to Paris, with the dream of
+universal dominion in his head. In the first volume of the _Memoirs of
+Napoleon Bonaparte_, his secretary M. de Bourrienne, writing of the
+return to France says:
+
+"We arrived in Paris on the 24th Vendemiaire (the sixteenth of
+October). As yet he (Napoleon) knew nothing of what was going on; for
+he had seen neither his wife nor his brothers, who were looking for
+him on the Burgundy Road. The news of our landing at Frejus had
+reached Paris _by a_ _telegraphic despatch_. Madame Bonaparte, who
+was dining with M. Gohier when that despatch was communicated to him,
+as President of the Directory, immediately set off to meet her
+husband," etc. We should be glad to know in what particular form that
+"telegraphic despatch" was delivered! But such are Bourrienne's words!
+
+To the American reader the name of Karl Friedrich Gauss may have an
+unfamiliar sound. Gauss was already a youth of fourteen when Morse was
+born, though the latter outlived the German mathematician by seventeen
+years. Gauss was a professor of Mathematics at Göttingen, where he
+passed nearly the whole of his life. In the early part of the century
+he distinguished himself in astronomy and in other branches of
+physical science. He then became interested in magnetic and electrical
+phenomena, and in 1833, with the assistance of Wilhelm Eduard Weber,
+one of his fellow-professors, who died in 1891, he erected at
+Göttingen a magnetic observatory. There he began to experiment with
+the subtle agent which was soon to be placed at the service of
+mankind.
+
+The observatory was constructed without the use of iron, in order that
+the magnetic phenomena might be studied under favorable conditions.
+Humboldt and Arago had previously constructed laboratories without
+using iron--for iron is the great disturber--and from them Gauss
+obtained his hint. Weber was also expert in the management of
+magneto-electrical currents. Gauss, with the aid of his co-worker,
+constructed a line of telegraph, and sent signals by the agency of the
+magnetic current to a neighboring town. This was nearly ten years
+before Morse had fully succeeded in like experimentation.
+
+It appears that the German scientists regarded their telegraph as
+simply the tangible expression or apparatus to illustrate scientific
+facts and principles. It was for this reason, we presume, that no
+further headway was made at Göttingen in the development of
+telegraphy. It was also for the additional reason that men rarely or
+never accept what is really the first demonstration and
+exemplification of a new departure in scientific knowledge. Such is
+the timidity of the human mind--such its conservative attachment to
+the known thing and to the old method as against the new--that it
+prefers to stay in the tumble-down ruin of bygone opinions and
+practices, rather than go up and inhabit the splendid but unfamiliar
+temple of the future.
+
+Gauss and Weber were left with their scientific discovery; and,
+indeed, Morse in the New World of practicality and quick adaptations,
+was about to be rejected and cast out. The sorrows through which he
+passed need not here be recounted. They are sufficiently sad and
+sufficiently humiliating. His unavailing appeals to the American
+Congress are happily hidden in the rubbish of history, and are
+somewhat dimmed by the intervention of more than half a century. But
+his humiliation was extreme. Smart Congressmen, partisans, the
+ignorant flotsam of conventions and intrigues, heard the philosopher
+with contempt. A few heard him with sympathy; and the opinion in his
+favor grew, as if by the pressure of shame, until he was finally
+supported, and in a midnight hour of an expiring session of Congress,
+or rather in the early morning of the fourth of March, 1843, the
+munificent appropriation of $30,000 was placed at his disposal for the
+construction of an experimental line between Washington and Baltimore.
+
+The one thing was done. A new era of instantaneous communication
+between men and communities at a distance the one from the other was
+opened--an era which has proved to be an era of light and knowledge.
+Nor may we conclude this sketch without noting the fact that, not a
+few of the members of the House of Representatives who voted the
+pittance for the construction of the first line of actual working
+telegraph in the world, went home to their constituents and were
+ignominiously beaten for re-election--this this for the slight
+service which they had rendered to their country and the human race!
+
+When in New York City, turn thou to the west out of Fifth avenue into
+Twenty-second street, to the distance of, perhaps, ten rods, and there
+on a little marble slab set in the wall of a house on the north side
+of the street, read this curious epitaph:
+
+"In this house lived Professor S.F.B, Morse for thirty years and
+died!"
+
+
+THE NEW LIGHT OF MEN.
+
+By the law of nature our existence is divided between daylight and
+darkness. There is evermore the alternate baptism into dawn and night.
+The division of life is not perfect between sunshine and shadow; for
+the sunshine bends around the world on both horizons, and lengthens
+the hemisphere of day by a considerable rim of twilight. To this
+reduction of the darkness we must add moonshine and starlight. But we
+must also subtract the influence of the clouds and other incidental
+conditions of obscuration. After these corrections are made, there is
+for mankind a great band of deep night, wherein no man can work.
+Whoever goes forth at some noon of night, when the sky is wrapped with
+clouds, must realize the utter dependence of our kind upon the light.
+How great is the blessing of that sublime and beautiful fact which the
+blind Milton apostrophizes in the beginning of the Third Book of
+_Paradise Lost_:
+
+    "Hail, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born!
+    Or of Eternal coëternal beam,
+    May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,
+    And never but in unapproached light
+    Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
+    Bright effluence of bright essence increate!
+    Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream,
+    Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
+    Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice
+    Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
+    The rising world of waters dark and deep,
+    Won from the void and formless infinite."
+
+How then shall man overcome the darkness? It is one of the problems of
+his existence. He is obliged with each recurring sunset of his life to
+enter the tunnel of inky darkness and make his way through as best he
+may to the morning. What kind of lantern shall he carry as he gropes?
+
+The evolution of artificial light and of the means of producing it
+constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the history of our
+race. Primeval man knew fire. He learned in some way how to kindle
+fire. The lowest barbarian may be defined as a fire-producing animal.
+The cave men of ancient Europe kindled fires in their dark caverns.
+The lake dwellers had fires, both on shore and in their huts over the
+water. Wherever there was a fire there was artificial light. The
+primitive barbarian walked around the embers of his fire and saw his
+shadow stretching out into the gloom of the surrounding night.
+
+With the slow oncoming of a better estate, the early philosophers of
+mankind invented lamps. Very rude indeed were the first products in
+this kind of art. Note the character of the lamps that have survived
+to us from the age of stone. Still they are capable of holding oil and
+retaining a wick. Further on we have lamps from the age of bronze, and
+at last from the age of iron. Polite antiquity had its silver lamps,
+its copper lamps, and in a few instances its lamps of gold. The
+palaces of kings were sometimes lighted from golden reservoirs of oil.
+Such may be seen among the relics preserved to us from the
+civilizations of Western Asia. The palace of Priam, if we mistake not,
+had lamps of gold.
+
+The Great Greeks were the makers of beautiful lamps. In the age of the
+Grecian ascendancy the streets of Athens and of some other Hellenic
+cities were lighted by night. The material of such illumination was
+oil derived either from animals or from vegetable products, such as
+the olive. In the forms of Greek lamps we have an example of artistic
+beauty not surpassed or equaled in modern time; but the mechanical
+contrivance for producing the light was poor and clumsy.
+
+Rome lighted herself artificially. She had her lamps and her torches
+and her chandeliers, as we see in the relics of Herculaneum and
+Pompeii. A Roman procession by night was not wanting in brilliancy and
+picturesqueness. The quality of the light, however was poor, and there
+was always a cloud of smoke as well as of dust hovering about Roman
+processions and triumphs.
+
+The earlier Middle Ages improved not at all; but with the Renaissance
+there was an added elegance in the apparatus of illumination.
+Chandeliers were made in Italy, notably in Venice, that might rival in
+their elegance anything of the present age. The art of such products
+was superior; but the old barbaric clumsiness was perpetuated in the
+mechanical part. With the rise of scientific investigation under the
+influence of inductive philosophy, all kinds of contrivances for the
+production of artificial light were improved. The ingenuity of man was
+now turned to the mechanical part, and one invention followed another
+with a constant development in the power of illumination.
+
+We can but remember, however, that until the present age many of the
+old forms of illuminating apparatus have been retained. In the ruder
+communities such things may still be seen. Civilization in its
+progress from east to west across our continent followed a tallow
+candle. The light of it was seen by night through the window of the
+pioneer's cabin. The old forms of hanging lamps have hardly yet
+disappeared from the advance posts of the marching column. But
+meanwhile, other agencies have been discovered, and other forms of
+apparatus invented, until the branch of knowledge relating to
+illumination has become both a science and an art.
+
+Within the memories of men still living, a great transformation has
+occurred. Animal oils have virtually ceased to be employed as the
+sources of light. The vegetable world is hardly any longer drawn upon
+for its products. Already before the discovery of petroleum and its
+multifarious uses the invention by chemical methods of illuminating
+materials had begun. Many kinds of burning fluid had been introduced.
+The reign of these was short-lived; coal oil came in at the door and
+they flew out at the window. Great was the advantage which seemed to
+come to mankind from the use of kerosene lamps. Those very forms of
+illumination which are now regarded as crude in character and odious
+in use were only a generation ago hailed with delight because of their
+superiority to the former agents of illumination. Thus much may
+suffice for all that precedes the coming of the New Light of men. The
+new light flashes from the electrical glow. The application of
+electricity to purposes of illumination marks an era in human
+progress. The electrical light is, we think, high up among the most
+valuable and striking stages of civilized life in the nineteenth
+century. It is best calculated to affect favorably the welfare of the
+people, especially in great cities. The illumination of a city by
+night, making its streets to be lighted as if by day, is a more
+interesting and important fact in human history than any political
+conflict or mere change of rulers.
+
+About the beginning of the eighth decade of this century the project
+of introducing the electric light for general purposes of illumination
+began to be agitated. It was at once perceived that the advantages of
+such lighting were as many as they were obvious. The light is so
+powerful as to render practicable the performance of many mechanical
+operations as easily by night as by day. Again, the danger of fire
+from illuminating sources is almost wholly obviated by the new system.
+The ease and expedition of all kinds of night employment are greatly
+enhanced. A given amount of illumination can be produced much more
+cheaply by electricity than by any means of gas lighting or ordinary
+combustion. Among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of
+electric lighting was the philosopher Gramme, of Paris. In the early
+part of 1875 he successfully lighted his laboratory by means of
+electricity. Soon afterward the foundry of Ducommun & Co., of
+Mulhouse, was similarly lighted. In the course of the following year
+the apparatus for lighting, by means of carbon candles was introduced
+into many of the principal factories of France and other leading
+countries of Europe. It may prove of interest in this connection to
+sketch briefly the principal features of the electric light system,
+and to trace the development of that system in our own and other
+countries.
+
+Lighting by electricity is accomplished in several ways. In general,
+however, the principle by which the result is accomplished is one, and
+depends upon the resistance which the electrical current meets in its
+transmission through various substances. There are no perfect
+conductors of electricity. In proportion as the non-conductive quality
+is prevalent in a substance, especially in a metal, the resistance to
+the passage of electricity is pronounced, and the consequent
+disturbance among the molecular particles of the substance is great.
+Whenever such resistance is encounted in a circuit, the electricity is
+converted into heat, and when the resistance is great, the heat is, in
+turn, converted into light, or rather the heat becomes phenomenal in
+light; that is, the substance which offers the resistance glows with
+the transformed energy of the impeded current. Upon this simple
+principle all the apparatus for the production of electric light is
+produced.
+
+Among the metallic substances, the one best adapted by its low
+conductivity to such resistance and transformation of force, is
+platinum. The high degree of heat necessary to fuse this metal adds to
+its usefulness and availability for the purpose indicated. When an
+electrical current is forced along a platinum wire too small to
+transmit the entire volume, it becomes at once heated--first to a red,
+and then to a white glow--and is thus made to send forth a radiance
+like that of the sun. Of the non-metallic elements which offer similar
+resistance, the best is carbon. The infusibility of this substance
+renders it greatly superior to platinum for purposes of the electric
+light.
+
+Near the beginning of the present century it was discovered by Sir
+Humphry Davy that carbon points may be rendered incandescent by means
+of a powerful electrical current. The discovery was fully developed in
+the year 1809, while the philosopher just referred to was
+experimenting with the great battery of the Royal Institution of
+London. He observed--rather by accident than by design or previous
+anticipation--that a strong volume of electricity passing between two
+bits of wood charcoal produces tremendous heat, and a light like that
+of the sun. It appears, however, that Davy at first regarded the
+phenomenon rather in the nature of an interesting display of force
+than as a suggestion of the possibility of turning night into day.
+
+For nearly three-quarters of a century the discovery made by Sir
+Humphrey lay dormant among the great mass of scientific facts revealed
+in the laboratory. In the course of time, however, the nature of the
+new fact began to be apprehended. The electric lamp in many forms was
+proposed and tried. The scientists, Niardet, Wilde, Brush, Fuller, and
+many others of less note, busied themselves with the work of
+invention. Especially did Gramme and Siemens devote their scientific
+genius to the work of turning to good account the knowledge now fully
+possessed of the transformability of the electric current into light.
+
+The experiments of the last named two distinguished inventors brought
+us to the dawn of the new era in artificial lighting. The Russian
+philosopher, Jablokhkoff, carried the work still further by the
+practical introduction of the carbon candle. Other scientists--Carre,
+Foucault, Serrin, Rapieff, and Werdermann--had, at an earlier or later
+day, thrown much additional information into the common stock of
+knowledge relative to the illuminating possibilities of electricity.
+Finally, the accumulated materials of science fell into the hands of
+that untutored but remarkably radical inventor, Thomas A. Edison, who
+gave himself with the utmost zeal to the work of removing the
+remaining difficulties in the problem.
+
+Edison began his investigations in this line of invention in September
+of 1878, and in December of the following year gave to the public his
+first formal statement of results. After many experiments with
+platinum, he abandoned that material in favor of the carbon-arc _in
+vacuo_. The latter is, indeed, the essential feature of the Edison
+light. A small semicircle, or horseshoe, of some substance, such as a
+filament of bamboo reduced to the form of pure carbon, the two ends
+being attached to the poles of the generating-machine, or dynamo, as
+the engine is popularly called, is enclosed in a glass bulb, from
+which the air has been carefully drawn, and is rendered incandescent
+by the passage of an electric current. The other important features of
+Edison's discovery relate to the divisibility of the current, and its
+control and regulation in volume by the operator. These matters were
+fully mastered in the Edison invention, and the apparatus rendered as
+completely subject to management as are the other varieties of
+illuminating agencies.
+
+It were vain to speculate upon the future of electric lighting. The
+question of artificial illumination has had much to do with the
+progress of the human race, particularly when aggregated into cities.
+Doubtless the old systems of lighting are destined in time to give
+place altogether to the splendors of the electric glow. The general
+effect of the change upon society must be as marked as it is salutary.
+Darkness, the enemy of good government and morality in great cities,
+will, in great measure, be dispelled by the beneficent agent, over
+which the genius of Davy, Gramme, Brush, Edison, and a host of other
+explorers in the new continents of science has so completely
+triumphed. The ease, happiness, comfort, and welfare of mankind must
+be vastly multiplied, and the future must be reminded, in the glow
+that dispels the night, of that splendid fact that the progress of
+civilization depends, in a large measure, upon a knowledge of Nature's
+laws, and the diffusion of that knowledge among the people.
+
+
+THE TELEPHONE.
+
+Perhaps no other great invention of man has been within so short a
+period so widely distributed as the telephone. The use of the
+instrument is already co-extensive with civilization. The cost at
+which the instruments are furnished is still so considerable that the
+poor of the world are not able to avail themselves of the invention;
+but in the so-called upper circles of society the use of the telephone
+is virtually universal. It has made its way from the city to the town,
+from the town to the village, from the village to the hamlet, and even
+to the country-side where the millions dwell.
+
+The telephone came by a speedy revelation. It was born of that intense
+scientific activity which is the peculiarity of our age. The
+antecedent knowledge out of which it sprang had existed in various
+forms for a long time. The laws of acoustics were among the first to
+be investigated after a true physical science began to be taught. The
+phenomena of sound are so universal and experimentation in sound
+production so easy, that the governing laws were readily discovered.
+
+Acoustics, we think, foreran somewhat the science of heat, as the
+science of heat preceded that of light. Electricity came last. The
+telephone is an instrument belonging not wholly, not chiefly, but only
+in part, to acoustics. It owes its existence to magnetic induction and
+electrical transmission as much as to the mere action of sound. One
+foot of the instrument, so to speak, is acoustics, and the other foot
+electricity. The telephone philosophically considered is an instrument
+for the conversion of a sound-wave into electrical motion, and its
+reconversion into sound at a distance. The sound is, as it were,
+committed to the electrical current and is thus sent to the end of the
+journey, and there discharged with its message. The possibility of
+this result lies first of all in the fact of electrical transmission
+by wire, and in the second place to the mounting of a sound-rider on
+the electrical saddle for an instantaneous journey with important
+despatches!
+
+New results in scientific progress generally seem marvelous. The
+unfamiliar and unexpected thing is always a marvel; but scientifically
+considered, the telephone does not seem so surprising as at first
+view. The atmosphere is a conductor of sound. It is the natural agent
+of transmission, and so far as the natural man is concerned, it is his
+only agent for the transmission of oral utterance. If the unlearned
+man have his attention called to the surprising fact of hearing his
+fellow-man call out to him across a field or from far off on the
+prairie, he does not think it marvelous, but only natural. Yet how
+strange it is that one human being can speak to another through the
+intervening space!
+
+It is strange that one should see another at a distance; but seeing
+and hearing at distances are natural functions of living creatures.
+The sunlight is for one sense and the sound-wave is for the other. The
+sound-wave travels on the atmosphere, and preserves its integrity. A
+given sound is produced, and the same sound is heard by some ear at a
+distance. All the people of the world are telephoning to one another;
+for oral speech leaping from the vocal organs of one human being to
+the ear of another is always telephonic. It is only when this
+phenomenon of speech at a distance is taken from the soft wings of the
+air, confined to a wire, and made to fly along the slender thread and
+deliver itself afar in a manner to which the world has hitherto been a
+stranger that the thing done and the apparatus by which it is done
+seem miraculous. Indeed it is a miracle; for _miraculum_ signifies
+wonderful.
+
+The history of the invention of the telephone is easily apprehended.
+The scientific principles on which it depends may be understood
+without difficulty. There is, however, about the instrument and its
+action something that is well nigh unbelievable. It is essentially a
+thing contrary to universal experience, if not positively
+inconceivable, that the slight phenomenon of the human voice should
+be, so to speak, _picked up_ by a physical contrivance, carried a
+thousand miles through a thread of wire not a quarter of an inch in
+diameter, and delivered in its integrity to the sense of another
+waiting to receive it! At all events, the history of the telephone,
+belonging so distinctly to our own age, will stand as a reminder to
+after times of the great stride which the human race made in inventive
+skill and scientific progress in the last quarter of the nineteenth
+century.
+
+The telephone, like many similar instruments, was the work of several
+ingenious minds directed at nearly the same time to the same problem.
+The solution, however, must be accredited first of all to Elisha P.
+Gray, of Chicago, and Alexander Graham Bell, of the Massachusetts
+Institute of Technology. It should be mentioned, however, that Amos E.
+Dolbear, of Tufts College, Massachusetts, and Thomas A. Edison, of
+Menlo Park, New Jersey, likewise succeeded in solving the difficulty
+in the way of telephonic communication, and in answering practically
+several of the minor questions that hindered at first the complete
+success of the invention. The telephone is an instrument for the
+reproduction of sounds, particularly the sounds of the human voice, by
+the agency of electrical conduction at long distances from the origin
+of the vocal disturbance. Or it may be defined as an instrument for
+the _transmission_ of the sounds referred to by the agencies
+described. Indeed it were hard to say whether in a telephonic message
+we receive a _reproduced_ sound or a _transmitted_ sound. On the
+whole, it is more proper to speak of a reproduction of the original
+sound by transmission of the waves in which that sound is first
+written.
+
+It is now well known that the phenomenon called sound consists of a
+wave agitation communicated through the particles of some medium to
+the organ of hearing. Every particular sound has its own physical
+equivalent in the system of waves in which it is written. The only
+thing, therefore, that is necessary in order to carry a sound in its
+integrity to any distance, is to transmit its physical equivalent, and
+to redeliver that equivalent to some organ of hearing capable of
+receiving it.
+
+Upon these principles the telephone was produced--created. Every sound
+which falls by impact upon the sheet-iron disk of the instrument
+communicates thereto a sort of tremor. This tremor causes the disk to
+approach and recede from the magnetic pole placed just behind the
+diaphragm. A current of electricity is thus induced, pulsates along
+the wire to the other end, and is delivered to the metallic disk of
+the second instrument, many miles away, just as it was produced in the
+first. The ear of the hearer receives from the second instrument the
+exact physical equivalent of the sound, or sounds, which were
+delivered against the disk of the first instrument, and thus the
+utterance is received at a distance just as it was given forth.
+
+As already said, the invention of the telephone stands chiefly to the
+credit of Professors Gray and Bell. It should be recorded that as
+early as 1837, the philosopher Page succeeded, by means of
+electro-magnetism, in transmitting _musical_ tones to a distance. It
+was not, however, until 1877 that Professer Bell, in a public lecture
+given at Salem, Mass., astonished his audience, and the whole country
+as well, by receiving and transmitting _vocal_ messages from Boston,
+twenty miles away. Incredulity had no more a place as it respected the
+feasibility of talking to persons at a distance. The experiments of
+Gray at Chicago, a few days later in the same month, were equally
+successful. Messages were distinctly delivered between that city and
+Milwaukee, a distance of eighty-five miles, nor could it be longer
+doubted that a new era in the means of communication had come.
+
+The Bell telephone, with its many modifications and improvements, has
+come into rapid use. Within reasonable limits of distance, the new
+method of transmitting intelligence by direct vocal utterance, has
+taken the place of all slower and less convenient means of
+intercommunication. The appearance of the simple instrument has been
+one of the many harbingers of the oncoming better time, when the
+interchange of thought and sentiment between man and man, community
+and community, nation and nation, and race and race shall be the
+preliminary of universal peace in the world and of the good-fellowship
+of mankind.
+
+Every such fact as the invention of the telephone, produces a complex
+and almost indescribable result in human society. This result has in
+it, in the first place, a change in the manners and method of the
+individual There is also a change in his sentiments. He whose work in
+life, whatever it may be, is accomplished in touch with the telephone
+will realize that he is in touch with the whole world. This intimacy
+reaches, first, his neighbors and friends. He seems to live henceforth
+in their presence, and in communication with them.
+
+The isolation of the individual life is virtually obliterated by such
+an agency. Solitude disappears before it; for he whose ear is within
+hearing of his instrument, knows not at what moment any one of many
+thousands of people may speak to him. He knows not at what moment
+intelligence of an ever-varying kind may be spoken to him from his own
+community or out of the depths of distance. The mind is thus
+affiliated with an enlarged and ever-present society. These
+considerations do not relate to mere matters of convenience and
+quickness and advantage and safety, but to the larger question of the
+aggregate effect upon the individual.
+
+The effect on the community is of like kind. The community is no
+longer so segregated as it was before. The community is in touch with
+other communities of like character. The conflagration in one town is
+felt in the neighboring towns, if it is not seen. The epidemic of the
+one is the epidemic of many. The sensation of the one community
+diffuses itself instantly into several. The effect is in the
+intellectual life like that of a wave produced on the lake by the
+casting in of a stone. The wave widens and recedes. It may be
+obstructed or unobstructed in its progress. If obstructed, the
+obstructions may be removed. Then the motion of the wave will become
+free and regular. So also on the tide of public thought. The telephone
+is an agency _for removing mental obstructions_, and for the regular
+diffusion of a common thought.
+
+All this, however, is attended with draw-backs. One of these is the
+breaking in on the privacy and seclusion of the individual life.
+Individuality suffers under scientific progress. Great thinking is
+accomplished best in solitude. Emerson has forcibly pointed out the
+advantages which arise in the intellectual life from its isolation and
+seclusion--from its free and uninterrupted communion with itself.
+
+The convenience--the physical convenience--of life is vastly augmented
+by such a contrivance as the telephone. Time is saved and trouble
+obviated. But at the same time the necessity for bodily exercise is
+reduced, and the overgrowth of brain at the expense of body encouraged.
+The fact is that the invention of the telephone and its general use,
+while it has added very greatly to the comfort of life, while it has
+promoted ease and diffused a social sense that needed stimulation and
+development, has at the same time brought in conditions that are not
+wholly favorable to human welfare. More largely still, the truth is
+that the telephone, like every other symbol and agency of progress,
+has brought _enlarged responsibilities._
+
+No man, no community, no people or nation can gain an increase of
+power without accepting the accompanying increase of responsibility.
+The moral nature of man is thus involved. Every forward stride of
+scientific invention places upon the life of man, including his bodily
+activity, his mental moods and his spiritual and moral powers, an
+added stress of duty, of energy, and of rectitude in conduct from
+which he may not shrink if he would be the gainer rather than the
+loser. Each discovery and each improved method of employing the
+beneficent forces of the natural world, brings with it a strain upon
+the moral nature of man which, if he stand it, well; but if he stand
+it not, then it shall go ill with him.
+
+
+THE MACHINE THAT "TALKS BACK."
+
+The invention for making nature give an intelligent response may well
+be regarded with wondering interest. The odd, we might say humorous,
+feature of the invention is that nature, being as it were cornered and
+compelled to respond, will answer nothing except _to repeat what is
+said in her ear!_ The phonograph may be defined as a mechanical
+parrot. Unlike the living bird, however, it never makes answers
+malapropos. It never deviates from the original text. The distrust
+which has been justly cherished against the talking bird on account of
+his originality can never be reasonably directed against the
+phonograph!
+
+The possibility of writing sound has been recognized for a century
+past. Since the discovery of the vibratory character of sound, the
+physicist has seen the feasibility of recording the vibration. Nature
+herself has given many hints along this line of experimentation. Long
+ago it was seen that the writing sand sprinkled on the sounding board
+of the piano would under the influence of a chord struck from the keys
+arrange itself in geometrical figures. It was also seen that a discord
+sounded from the key-board would break the figures into chaos and
+confusion. Were not these phenomena sufficient to suggest that sound
+might be written in intelligible characters?
+
+The mind, however, moves slowly from the old to the new. The former
+concept of physical facts and the laws which govern them is not
+readily given up. A great discovery in physical science seems to
+disturb the foundations of nature. It does not really do so; the
+disturbance is not in nature, but in the mind. No endeavor of man, no
+advance of his from some old bivouac to a new camping-ground, affects
+in the least the order of the world. The change, we repeat, is in the
+man, and in the race to which he belongs.
+
+Long and tedious has been the process of getting thought into a
+recorded form. The first method of expressing thought was oral. Long
+before any other method of holding ideas and delivering them to others
+was devised or imagined, speech came. Speech is oral. It is made of
+sound. Oral utterance is no doubt as old as the race itself. It began
+with the first coming of our kind into this sphere. Indeed we now know
+that the rudiments of speech exist in the faculties of the lower
+animals. The studies of Professor Garner have shown conclusively that
+the humble simian folk of the African forest have a speech or
+language. Of this the professor himself has become a student, and he
+claims to have learned at least sixty words of the vocabulary!
+
+Strange it is to note the course which linguistic development has
+taken. At the first, there was a _spoken_ language only. The next
+stage was to get this spoken language recorded, not in _audible_, but
+in _visible_ symbols. Why should it have been so easy and apparently
+natural for the old races to invent a visible form of speech-writing
+rather than an audible form? Why should the ancients have fallen back
+on the eye rather than the ear as the sense to be instructed? Why
+should sight-writing have been invented thousands of years ago, and
+sound-writing postponed until the present day?
+
+In any event, such has been the history of recorded language. The
+early races began as the mother begins with her children; that is,
+with oral speech. But at a certain stage this method was abandoned,
+and teachers came with pictorial symbols of words. They invented
+visible characters to signify words, syllables, sounds. Thus came
+alphabetical writing, syllabic writing, verbal writing, into the
+world. Ever afterward the children of men learned speech first from
+their parents, by oral utterance; but afterward by means of the
+pictorial signs in which human language was recorded.
+
+This method became habitual. The eye was made to be the servant of the
+intellect in learning nearly all that was to be gained from the wisdom
+of the past. It was by the tedious way of crooked marks signifying
+words that ideas were henceforth gleaned out of human lore by all who
+would learn aught from the recorded wisdom of mankind. And yet there
+never was anything essentially absurd or insurmountable in the
+invention of a method of recording speech in audible instead of
+visible symbols.
+
+The phonograph came swiftly after the telephone. The new instrument is
+in a sense the complement of its predecessor. Both inventions are
+based upon the same principle in science. The discovery that every
+sound has its physical equivalent in a wave or agitation which affects
+the particles of matter composing the material through which the sound
+is transmitted led almost inevitably to the other discovery of
+_catching_ and _retaining_ that physical equivalent or wave in the
+surface of some body, and to the reproduction of the original sound
+therefrom.
+
+Such is the fundamental principle of the interesting but, thus far,
+little useful instrument known as the phonograph. The same was
+invented by Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, in the year 1877. The
+instrument differs considerably in structure and purpose from the
+_Vibrograph_ and _Phonautograph_ which preceded it. The latter two
+instruments were made simply to _write_ sound vibrations; the former,
+to reproduce _audibly_ the sounds themselves.
+
+The phonograph consists of three principal parts,--the sender or
+funnel-shaped tube, with its open mouth-piece standing toward the
+operator; the diaphragm and stylus connected therewith, which receives
+the sound spoken into the tube; and thirdly, the revolving cylinder,
+with its sheet-coating of tin-foil laid over the surface of a spiral
+groove to receive the indentations of the point of the stylus. The
+mode of operation is very simple. The cylinder is revolved; and the
+point of the stylus, when there is no sound agitation in the funnel or
+mouth-piece, makes a smooth, continuous depression in the tin-foil
+over the spiral groove. But when any sound is thrown into the
+mouth-piece the iron disk or diaphragm is agitated; this agitation is
+carried through the stylus and written in irregular marks, dots, and
+peculiar figures in the tin-foil over the groove.
+
+When the utterance which is to be reproduced has been completed, the
+instrument is stopped, the stylus thrown back from the groove, and the
+cylinder revolved backward to the place of starting. The stylus is
+then returned to its place in the groove, and the cylinder is revolved
+forward at the same rate of rapidity as before. As the point of the
+stylus plays up and down in the indentations and through the figures
+in the tin-foil, produced by its own previous agitation, a quiver
+exactly equivalent to that which was produced by the utterance in the
+mouth-piece is thrown into the air. This agitation is of course the
+exact physical equivalent of the original sound, or, more properly,
+_is_ the sound itself. Thus it is that the phonograph is made to talk,
+to sing, to cry; to utter, in short, any sound sufficiently powerful
+to produce a perceptible tremor in the mouth-piece and diaphragm of
+the instrument.
+
+Much progress has been made toward the utilization of the phonograph
+as a practical addition to the civilizing apparatus of our time. It
+may be said, indeed, that all the difficulties in the way of such a
+result have been removed. Mr. Edison has carried forward his work to
+such a degree of perfection that the instrument may be practically
+employed in correspondence and literary composition. The problem has
+been to _stereotype_, so to speak, the tin-foil record of what has
+been uttered in the mouth-piece, and thus to preserve in a permanent
+form the potency of vanished sounds. Nor does it require a great
+stretch of the imagination to see in the invention of the phonograph
+one of the greatest achievements of the age--a discovery, indeed,
+which may possibly revolutionize the whole method of learning.
+
+It would seem clear that nature has intended the _ear_, rather than
+the eye, to be the organ of education. It is manifestly against the
+fitness of things that the eyes of all mankind should be strained,
+weakened, permanently injured in childhood, with the unnatural tasks
+which are imposed upon the delicate organ. It would seem to be more in
+accordance with the nature and capacities of man, and the general
+character of the external world, to reserve the eye for the
+discernment and appreciation of beauty, and to impose upon the ear
+the tedious and hard tasks of education.
+
+The phonograph makes it possible to read by the ear instead of by the
+eye, and it is not beyond the range of probability that the book of
+the future, near or remote, will be written in phonographic plates and
+made to reveal its story directly to the waiting ear, rather than
+through the secondary medium of print to the enfeebled and tired eye
+of the reader.
+
+We hardly venture on prophecy; but we think that he who returns to
+this scene of human activity at the close of the twentieth century
+will find that sound has been substituted for sight in nearly
+everything that relates to recorded information, to learning, and to
+educational work. By that means the organ of hearing will be restored
+to its rightful office. Enlightenment and instruction of all kinds
+will be given by means of phonographic books. The sound-wave will, in
+a word, be substituted for the light-wave as the vehicle of all our
+best information and intercourse. The ear will have habitually taken
+the place of the eye in the principal offices of interest and
+information.
+
+The unnatural method of the book--the visible book instead of the
+audible book--will then be done away. Nature, who instructs the child
+by sound, will continue to teach the man in the same manner. All
+mothers, from the mother bird to the mother woman, begin the teaching
+of their offspring by sound, by utterance. The mother bird continues
+in this manner; but the mother woman is presently supplanted by a
+teacher who comes in with a printed book filled with crooked marks,
+and would have it that learning must be _thus_ acquired. Instead of
+continuing the natural process of instruction to the complete
+development and information of the mind, an abnormal method has been
+adopted by mankind with many hurtful consequences.
+
+The youth at a certain age is led into the world of science, and there
+dismissed from the mother-method, to acquire, if he can, the painful
+and tedious use of meaningless hieroglyphics. There he must study with
+the eye, learning as best he may the significance of the crooked signs
+which can at the most signify no more than words. How much of human
+energy and life and thought have been thus wasted in the instruction
+of the mind by characters and symbols. The eyes of mankind have, as we
+said, been dimmed and shadowed, and at the same time the faculties
+have been overheated and the equipose of perception and memory
+seriously disturbed by this unnatural process of learning.
+
+Human beings begin the acquirement of knowledge with words, and they
+end with words; but an unnatural civilization has taught man to walk
+the greater part of his intellectual journey by means of arbitrary
+systems of writing and printing. When the next Columbian Year arrives
+we shall see him untaught (a hard thing withal) and retaught on
+nature's plan of learning. Nature teaches language by sound only.
+Artificiality writes a scrawl. Nature's book is a book of words. Man's
+book is as yet a book of signs and symbols. Nature's book utters
+itself to the ear, and man's book blinds the eyes and overheats the
+imagination. Nature's method is to teach by the ear, and to reserve
+the sight for the discovery and enjoyment of beauty.
+
+The sound-book in some form is coming; and with that the intellectual
+repose of mankind will begin to be restored. The use of the eye for
+the offices of education instead of the stronger ear, has, we think,
+impaired, if it has not destroyed, the equilibrium of the human mind.
+That equilibrium must be restored. The mental diseases and unrest of
+our race are largely attributable to the over-excitement of the
+faculties through ages of too much seeing.
+
+The Age of Hearing is, we think, to be ushered in with the twentieth
+century. The coming of that age will tend to restore the mental
+balance of mankind. Memory, now almost obliterated, will come again.
+The over-heated perceptions will cool. The imagination will become
+calm, and the eye itself will recover, we hope, from the injuries, of
+overstrain, and will regain its power and lustre. Man will see once
+more as the eagle sees, and will learn Shakespeare by heart. He will
+remember all knowledge, and will again be able to see, as of old, from
+Sicily to Carthage!
+
+
+THE EVOLUTION OF THE DYNAMO.
+
+BY PROFESSOR JOSEPH P. NAYLOR, A.M.
+
+It is difficult to estimate the influence in modifying and shaping the
+nineteenth century civilization that has resulted from the discovery
+of the dynamo and the production of heavy currents of electricity.
+That it has had great influence is evident without question. The arc
+light for out-of-doors lighting and the incandescent lamp for inside
+has modified all our previous ideas of illumination. Effects in light
+are now produced daily that were beyond imagination twenty years
+since. The trolley and the electromoter have largely solved the
+problem of rapid transit through our crowded cities. Thus larger
+business facilities, suburban homes and cheaper living, cleanliness
+and better sanitary conditions are electrical results.
+
+The transmission of energy by the electric current from a central
+plant makes possible many small industries that could not exist
+without it, and gives employment and happiness to hundreds. The art of
+Electro-metallurgy seems but the development of months: yet it already
+employs millions of capital and is adding thousands daily to the
+world's wealth. Steam and wind and tide contribute to the work. Even
+Niagara is being touched by the spirit of the time and sends her
+wasting energy thrilling through the electric wires to turn the wheels
+of many busy factories. It is perhaps not the least remarkable fact in
+connection with this work that it is largely the product of the last
+thirty years, and that it had its very beginning less than seventy
+years since. Edison and Thompson and Brush are honorable household
+names; yet they are still living to produce even greater electric
+marvels. In fact, so rapid and brilliant has been the development that
+in the brilliancy some of the pioneers in the work have been almost
+forgotten, except by the specialist and the student, and it is no
+small part of this sketch to do them honor. The tiny spark of Faraday
+may be lost in the brilliancy of the million-candle-power
+search-light, yet the brilliancy of the search-light but enhances the
+wonder of the discovery of the spark.
+
+The discovery of electro-magnetic induction marked the beginning of a
+new era; for in it lay all the possibilities of the future of
+electrical science. Michael Faraday, the third son of a poor English
+blacksmith, was born at Newington, Surrey, England, September 3, 1791.
+His father's health was never the best, and due to the resulting
+straitened circumstances his early education consisted of the merest
+rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. His early life was, no
+doubt, largely spent in the street; but at thirteen he became errand
+boy to a book-seller of London. About a year later he was apprenticed
+to a book binder, with whom he served seven years, learning the trade.
+
+It was while an apprentice that Faraday began reading scientific
+articles on chemistry and physics in the books he was set to bind. He
+also tried to repeat the experiments of which he read. And more, he
+pondered over them long and earnestly, until he saw clearly the
+principles involved in them. It was in these early days of
+experimenting and self-education that the desire to become a
+philosopher was implanted in his mind. He embraced every chance for
+scientific study and caught every opportunity for intellectual
+self-improvement. In the last year of his apprenticeship he was
+enabled through the kindness of a customer at his master's shop, to
+attend a course of four lectures on chemistry, given by Sir Humphry
+Davy at the Royal Institution. This marked the turning point in his
+life. He made careful notes of the lecture, and afterward transcribed
+them neatly into a book and illustrated them with drawings of the
+apparatus used.
+
+After completing his apprenticeship, Faraday began life as a
+journeyman bookbinder. He had, however, as he says, "no taste for
+trade." His love of science became a consuming desire that he sought
+in every way to gratify. Inspired by his longing for scientific
+pursuits, he sent his lecture notes to Sir Humphry Davy, with the
+request that if opportunity offered he would give him employment at
+the Royal Institution. Davy was favorably impressed with the lecture
+report, and sent a kindly reply to the young philosopher. Shortly
+after this a vacancy did happen to occur at the Institution, and upon
+the recommendation of Davy, Faraday was elected to the place. Thus, in
+1813, in the humble capacity of an assistant charged with the simple
+duty of dusting and caring for the apparatus, Michael Faraday began
+the life that was destined to make him the first scientist of the
+world and to bring honor to the Institution which had given him his
+opportunity.
+
+There is inspiration and encouragement to be found in reading the
+story of Faraday's success. He has been called a genius; but his
+genius seems to have largely consisted in persistent industry and the
+habit acquired in those early days of thinking over his experiments
+and reading until he had a clear perception of all there was in them.
+He lived in his work, and loved it. In the fifty busy years that
+followed his installment at the Royal Institution he digged deep into
+nature's secrets, and gave the world many brilliant gems as evidence
+of his industry. But of all his discoveries, _electro-magnetic
+induction_ is the crowning masterpiece and that for which the world
+stands most his debtor.
+
+The principle of conservation of energy, now so well known and
+universally accepted, was then but a vague guess in the minds of the
+more advanced in science. Faraday was among the first to accept the
+new doctrine, and many of his brilliant discoveries were made in his
+effort to prove the truth of these important generalizations. He was
+acquainted with Sturgeon's method of making magnets by sending a
+current of electricity through a wire wound around a bar of iron; and
+he reasoned, if electricity will make a magnet, a magnet ought to make
+electricity. As early as 1821 his note book contains this suggestion:
+"Convert magnetism into electricity." Again and again he attacked the
+problem; but it was not until the autumn of 1831 that his efforts to
+solve it were successful. Then in a series of experiments that have
+scarcely ever been equaled in brilliancy and originality, he gave to
+the world the principle on which is based the wonderful development of
+modern electrical science.
+
+The principle is briefly stated. The space, around a wire carrying an
+electric current, or in the neighborhood of a magnet, has a directive
+effect upon a magnetic needle, and is hence called a magnetic field.
+Now if a conductor, or coil of wire, be placed in the field across the
+direction of a magnetic needle, and the field be varied either by
+varying the current or moving the magnet, a current will be developed
+in the conductor. It is impossible at this distance to appreciate the
+interest excited by the announcement of this principle, not only among
+scientists, but also among inventors and those who saw practical
+possibilities for the future; and probably no one more fully
+appreciated its value than Faraday himself. Yet he made no effort to
+develop it further, or even to protect his interest by a patent, as is
+common in these days. He was eminently a scientist, and this was his
+free gift to the world. He said: "I have rather been desirous of
+discovering new facts and relations than of exalting those already
+obtained, being assured the latter would find their full development
+hereafter."
+
+Among the first to attempt successfully to exalt the new discovery was
+Pixii, an instrument maker of Paris, in 1832. He wound two coils of
+very fine insulated wire upon the ends of a piece of soft iron, bent
+in a horseshoe form. A permanent horseshoe magnet was then placed with
+poles very close to the ends of the iron in the coils. The field so
+produced was then rapidly varied by revolving the magnet on an axis
+parallel to its length. The soft iron cores of the coils became
+strongly magnetized as the poles of the revolving magnet came opposite
+to them; and their polarity was reversed at each half-revolution of
+the magnet. By this plan currents of considerable intensity and
+alternating in direction at each revolution were induced in the coil.
+
+The ends of the coil were next connected to the external circuit
+through a "commutator." This is a device which is arranged to convert
+the alternating current of the coils into a current of one direction
+in the external circuit, and which in some form is found on all
+direct-current dynamos. Joseph Saxton, an American, improved upon
+Pixii's machine by rotating the coils, or armature as it is called,
+and making the heavier magnet stationary. The essential points of
+construction being worked out, improvements followed rapidly. Dr.
+Werner Siemans, of Berlin, introduced an important modification by
+making the revolving armature of a cylinder of soft iron, having a
+groove cut throughout its length on opposite sides. In these grooves a
+wire was wound and the armature was rotated on its axis between the
+poles of several magnets.
+
+In all the earlier machines permanent magnets of steel were used. The
+next important step was to use electro-magnets of soft iron, excited
+by a current flowing through many turns of wire wound around the legs
+of the magnet. These could be made much more strongly magnetic than
+the permanent magnets. The exciting current was at first obtained from
+a small permanent magneto machine; but it was afterward found that the
+machine could be made self-exciting. Soft-iron electro-magnets, after
+being once magnetized, remain slightly magnetic. This will produce a
+weak current in the revolving armature which is turned into the magnet
+coils. The magnets are thus further magnetized, and again react upon
+the armature with greater intensity. In this way a _strong_ current is
+rapidly built up, and after wholly or in part passing around the
+magnet coils to sustain its magnetism, can be carried out into the
+circuit to serve the great variety of purposes to which it is now put.
+
+The essential points in the evolution of the dynamo can here be
+sketched only in broadest outline. Even to catalogue in detail, the
+improvements of Edison and Brush, Gramme and Wheatstone, and a host of
+others who have contributed to the work, would require a volume. One
+fact, however, should ever be kept in mind: Whatever may be the extent
+of the superstructure of electrical science, it is all built upon the
+foundation of electro-magnetic induction laid by Michael Faraday. The
+little "magnetic spark" he first produced, and the trembling of his
+galvanometer-needle, were but signals of the birth of the giant of the
+century.
+
+These are the days of electricity and steel, and a fitting part of the
+intense age in which they exist. That we have as yet seen but a
+partial development of the possibilities of the electrical discovery,
+no one can doubt. The rush of the trolley car, and the blinding flash
+of the electric light, are but challenges thrown out to the future for
+even greater achievements. That they will come no one will question;
+but where is the daring prophet who will hazard a guess as to what
+they will be?
+
+
+THE UNKNOWN RAY AND ENTOGRAPHY.
+
+It is difficult to name the unknown. In the ancient world all the
+unknown was included in the idea of God. It remained for the
+evangelist to declare that God is a _spirit_--thus separating the
+natural forces of the material world from the Supreme Power who is
+from eternity.
+
+This century has been the epoch of investigation into the nature of
+the imponderable forces. Sound and light and heat have been known as
+the principal agents of sensation since the first ages of man-life on
+the earth; but their nature has not been well understood until within
+the memories of men still living. Electricity was also vaguely
+known--but very indistinctly--from ancient times. It has remained for
+the scientific investigators of our age to enter into the secret parts
+of nature and lay bare to the understanding many of the hitherto
+unknown facts relating to the imponderable agents.
+
+The laws of heat, of acoustics, of light, have been clearly arranged
+and taught; but they have not been placed beyond the reach of new
+interpretation and possibly not beyond the reach of complete
+revolution and reconstruction. That which has been accepted as
+definitely known with regard to these agents has now to be reviewed,
+and possibly to be learned over again from first principles.
+
+As to electricity in its various forms and manifestations, that
+sublime and powerful agent began to be better known just before the
+middle of the century. Since that time there has been almost constant
+progress in the science of this great force, until at the present time
+it is handled, controlled and understood in its phenomena almost as
+easily as water is poured into a vessel, air compressed under a
+piston, or hydrogen made to inflate a balloon.
+
+It has remained, however, for the last half decade of the great
+century to come upon and investigate a hitherto unknown force in
+nature. Certain it is that the new force exists, that it is
+everywhere, that it is a part of the profound agency by which life is
+administered, that its control is possible, and that its probable
+applications are as wonderful--perhaps more wonderful--than anything
+ever hitherto discovered by scientific investigation.
+
+It is not unlikely that since the day, or evening, on which Galileo,
+with his little extemporized telescope, out in the garden of the
+Quirinal, at Rome, compelled bigotry to behold the shining horns of
+the crescent Venus, thus opening as if by compulsion the sublime
+vista of the heavens and bringing in a new concept of the planetary
+and stellar worlds,--no such other discovery as that of the so-called
+Röntgen rays has been made. The results which seem likely to flow from
+this marvelous revelation surpass the human imagination. Let us try in
+a few words to realize the discovery, and define what it is.
+
+It was on the eighth of November, 1895, that Dr. William Konrad
+Röntgen, of Würzburg, made the discovery which seems likely to
+contribute so much to our knowledge of the mysterious processes of
+nature. On that day Dr. Röntgen was working with a Crookes tube in his
+laboratory. This piece of apparatus is well known to students and
+partly known to general readers. It consists of a glass cylinder,
+elongated into tubular form, and hermetically closed at the ends. When
+the tube is made, the air is exhausted as nearly as possible from it,
+and the ends are sealed over a vacuum as perfect as science is able to
+produce. Through the two ends, bits of platinum wire are passed at the
+time of sealing, so that they project a little within and without. The
+interior of the tube is thus a vacuum into which at the two ends
+platinum wires extend. Electrical communication with outside apparatus
+is thus supplied.
+
+It has long been known that on the discharge of an electrical current
+into this kind of vacuum peculiar and interesting phenomena are
+produced. The platinum wires at the two ends are connected with the
+positive and negative wires or terminals of an induction coil. When
+this is done, the electrical current discharged into the vacuum seems
+to flash out around the inner surfaces of the tube, in the form of
+light. There are brilliant coruscations from one end to the other of
+the tube. The tips of the platinum wire constituting the inner poles
+glow and seem to flame. That pole which is connected with the positive
+side of the battery is called the _anode_, or _upper_ pole, and that
+which is connected with the negative, or receptive, side of the
+battery, is called the _cathode_, or lower pole. It was in his
+experimentation with this apparatus, and in particular in noticing the
+results at the cathode or lower end of the tube, that Professor
+Röntgen made his famous discovery. It was for this reason that the
+name of "cathode rays" has been given to the new radiant force; but
+Dr. Röntgen himself called the phenomena the X, or unknown, rays.
+
+In the experimentation referred to, Röntgen had covered the glass tube
+at the end with a shield of black cardboard. This rendered the glow at
+the cathode pole completely invisible. It chanced that a piece of
+paper treated with platino-barium cyanide for photographic uses was on
+a bench near by. Notwithstanding the fact that the tube was covered
+with an opaque shield, so that no _light_ could be transmitted,
+Professor Röntgen noticed that changes in the barium paper were taking
+place, _as though_ it were exposed to the action of light! Black lines
+appeared on the paper, showing that the surface was undergoing
+chemical change from the action of some invisible and hitherto unknown
+force!
+
+This was the moment of discovery. The philosopher began experimenting.
+He repeated what had been accidentally done and was immediately
+convinced that a force, or, as it were, invisible rays were streaming
+from the cathode pole of the tube through the glass, and through a
+substance absolutely opaque, and that these rays were performing their
+work at a distance on the surface of paper that was ordinarily
+sensitive only to the action of light.
+
+Certain it was that _something_ was doing this work. Certain it was
+that it was _not light_. Highly probable it was that it was not any
+form of _electricity_, for glass is impermeable to the electrical
+current. Certain it was that it was _not sound_, for there was no
+noise or atmospheric agitation to produce such a result. In a word, it
+was demonstrated then and there that a hitherto unknown, subtle and
+powerful agent had been discovered, the applications of which might be
+of almost infinite range and interest.
+
+Professor Röntgen soon announced his discovery to the Physico-Medical
+Society of Würzburg. It was at the December meeting of this body that
+the new stage in human progress was declared. The news was soon
+flashed all over the world, and scientific men in every civilized
+country began at once to experiment with the cathode light--if light
+that might be called that lighted nothing.
+
+In Röntgen's announcement he stated that there had been by the
+scientists Hertz and Lenard, in 1894, certain antecedent discoveries
+from which his own might in some sense be deduced. There was, however,
+a great difference between the discovery made by Röntgen and anything
+that had preceded it. His stage of progress in knowledge was this,
+that during the discharge of _one_ kind of rays of force from the
+cathode pole in a Crookes tube _another kind_ of rays are set free,
+which differ totally in their nature and effects from anything
+hitherto known. It is this fact which has indissolubly connected the
+name of Konrad Röntgen with that great bound in scientific knowledge
+which seems likely to modify nearly all the other scientific knowledge
+of mankind.
+
+Everywhere, in the first months of 1896, the experimenters went to
+work to verify and apply the discovery of the German philosopher. It
+was at once discerned that the new force, since it would freely
+traverse opaque bodies and produce afterward chemical changes on
+sensitized surfaces similar to those ordinarily produced _by_ light,
+might be used for delineating (we can hardly say _photo_ graphing) the
+interior outlines and structure of opaque bodies!
+
+On this line of experimentation the work at once began, and with
+remarkable success. Röntgen himself was the first man in the world to
+obtain, as _if_ by photography, the invisible outline of objects
+through opaque materials. He soon obtained a delineation of the bones
+of a living hand through the flesh, which was only dimly traced in the
+resulting picture. In like manner coins were delineated through the
+leather of pocketbooks. Other objects were pictured through
+intervening plates of metal or boards of wood. The possibility of
+discovering the visible character of invisible things, and even _of
+seeing directly through_ opaque materials into parts where neither
+light nor electricity can penetrate, was fully shown.
+
+The work of picture taking in the interior of bodies and through
+opaque materials was quickly taken up by philosophers in England,
+France and the United States. Almost everywhere the physical
+laboratories witnessed daily this form of experimentation. Swinton, of
+London; Robb, of Trinity College, Dublin; Morton, of New York; Wright,
+of Yale University, and in particular Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park,
+attacked the new problem with scientific zeal, and with startling
+results. It remained for Edison to discover that the new force acted
+in some respects in the manner of _sound_ rather than in the manner of
+_light_. Thus, for example, he showed that the invisible rays not only
+_pass through_ substances that are opaque to light and non-conductors
+of electricity, but that the invisible rays _run around the edges and
+sides_ of plates, then proceeding on their way somewhat in the manner
+of sound. A sound made on one side of a metallic plate is heard on the
+other side _partly_ by transmission through the plate, and _partly_ by
+going around the edges, by atmospheric transmission. The new force
+rays act in this manner, and Edison is said to have procured pictures
+by means of the invisible agent while it was _going around the corner
+_ of an opaque obstruction!
+
+The pre-eminence of Thomas A. Edison as a scientific explorer and
+inventor depends upon a quality of mind which enables him more easily
+than others--more distinctly than any others--to see the touch of each
+new discovery with existing conditions, and the application of it to
+the problems of life. Edison catches the premonitory spark struck in
+the darkness by some other master's hammer, and with that kindles a
+conflagration. Though not the discoverer of the Röntgen ray, he was
+able, as it would appear, to understand that discovery better even
+than the discoverer. He almost immediately applied the new increment
+of knowledge more successfully, we think, than any contemporary
+scientist. His experimentation led him directly to the discovery of
+the important fact that no photographic apparatus of any kind is
+needed to enable an observer to use the X-rays in the delineation or
+inspection of objects through opaque substances. He said within
+himself: "Why not pass the X-rays through the object to be inspected
+and then convert them into visibility, as if by fluorescence."
+
+This scientific question Edison almost immediately solved.
+Fluorescence is a property which some transparent bodies have of
+producing, either on their surface or within their substance, light
+different in color from that of its origin. This happens, for example,
+when _green_ crystals of fluor spar afford _blue_ reflections of
+light. Glass may be rendered fluorescent, as is seen in the Geisler
+and Crookes tubes. Edison conceived the project of using this
+phenomenon to get back the invisible rays into visibility.
+
+The substance which he employed was the tungstate of calcium. Taking
+crystals of this chemical compound, he spread the same over a cloth or
+paper screen, and used that screen to catch and convert the invisible
+images carried against it by the X-rays. To his surprise, his
+experiment was completely successful. All that is needed in this case
+is the cathode light, the object to be examined (as for instance the
+hand), and the screen treated with tungstate of calcium. The observer
+looks through the screen, or into it, and sees _with the unaided eye_
+the invisible interior parts of the object examined, held between the
+screen and the cathode light. The invisible rays take the image of the
+interior parts of an opaque object, and carry that image to the
+screen, where it is reconverted into visibility and delivered to the
+eye of the observer, without the aid of any instrument at all! It is
+on this simple principle that Edison has invented his surgical and
+physiological lamp. The announcement is that with this lamp the
+surgeon may look through the calcium tungstate screen and examine, for
+example, the fractured bones of the hand, and set them perfectly by
+actual inspection of the parts with his eye!
+
+What then _is_ the cathode ray? At the present time its nature is not
+understood. That it is a form or mode of motion goes with the
+saying--unless it should be presently shown that all the imponderable
+forces are really _material_ in their nature; that is, that they are
+an inconceivably fine and attenuated form of matter in varying
+manifestations.
+
+The cathode rays are not light. They are not sound. They are not
+electricity or magnetism. They are not heat. They are not any of the
+known forms of force. They seem to be a new transformation of some one
+or more of the known agents. It has long been observed that _motion_
+is accompanied with _sound_, and that motion also, if increased,
+becomes manifest in _heat_. It is known that heat is convertible into
+light, and light into electricity.
+
+It is possible that at the bottom of all these phenomena lies the
+force of gravitation. This force is absolute and universal. All the
+others are partial and limited. All the others, even the newly
+discovered cathode rays, are subject to obstruction by certain forms
+of matter; that is, to them certain forms of matter are opaque. But
+gravitation knows no opacity in the universe. No atom of matter is
+exempt from its sway. It streams through all obstructive media as
+though such media did not exist. It would appear that heat, light,
+electricity, sound, the cathode rays, and all other forms of force in
+nature are probably variations, and as it were limited expressions and
+manifestations, of _the one supreme force_ that supports the
+constitution of the physical universe; and that one supreme force is
+_gravitation_!
+
+
+
+
+Stages in Biological Inquiry.
+
+
+THE NEW INOCULATION.
+
+Any account of the scientific progress of this century which omits the
+name of Louis Pasteur would be lamentably incomplete. In that part of
+science which relates strictly to human life and the means of
+preserving it, the work of this great man must be placed in the first
+rank. Indeed, we believe that no other stride in biological
+investigation from the beginning of time has been so great in its
+immediate and prospective results as has been the increment
+contributed by Pasteur and his contemporary Koch. The success of these
+two experimental philosophers grew out of the substitution of a new
+theory for one that had hitherto prevailed respecting some of the
+fundamental processes in living matter.
+
+Up to about the close of the third quarter of this century, the belief
+continued to prevail in the possibility of the propagation and
+production of germ life without other germ life to precede it. It was
+held that fermentation is not dependent upon living organisms, and
+that fermentation may be excited in substances from which all living
+germs have been excluded. This belief led to the theory of
+_abiogenesis_ so-called--a term signifying the production of life
+without life to begin with.
+
+The question involved in this theory was hotly debated by philosophers
+and scientists in the Sixties and Seventies. The first great work of
+Pasteur in biological investigation was his successful demonstration
+of the impossibility of spontaneous generation. About 1870, he became
+a careful experimenter with the phenomena of fermentation. As his work
+proceeded, he was more convinced that fermentation can never occur in
+the absence and exclusion of living germs; and this view of the
+deep-down processes in living matter has now been accepted as correct.
+
+The next stage in the work of Pasteur was the discovery that certain
+substances, such as glycerine, are products of fermentation. From this
+foundation firmly established he passed on to consider the phenomena
+of disease. He had been, in the first place, a teacher in a normal
+school at Paris. In 1863, when he was thirty-nine years of age, he was
+a professor of geology. Afterward he had a chair of chemistry at the
+Sorbonne. In 1856 we find him experimenting with light, and after that
+he turned to biological investigations. This led him to the results
+mentioned above, and presently to the discovery that the contagious
+and infectious diseases with which men and the lower animals are
+affected are in general the results of processes in the system that
+are nearly analagous to fermentation, and that such diseases are
+therefore traceable ultimately to the existence of living germs.
+
+This view of the case brought Pasteur to a large and general
+investigation of bacteria. The bacterium may be defined as a
+microscopic vegetable organism; or it may be called an _animal_
+organism; for in the deep-down life of germs there is not much
+difference between vegetable and animal--perhaps no difference at all.
+The bacterium is generally a jointed rod-like filament of living
+matter, and its native world seems to be any putrefying organic
+substance.
+
+Bacteria are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are widely
+diffused in the natural world, existing independently and also in a
+parasitical way, in connection with larger forms of organic life. They
+multiply with the greatest rapidity. On the whole, the bacterium
+fulfills its vital offices in two ways, or with two results; first,
+_fermentation_, and secondly, _disease_.
+
+To this field of inquiry Pasteur devoted himself with the greatest
+assiduity. He began to investigate the diseased tissue of animals, and
+was rewarded with the discovery of the germs from which the disease
+had come. It was found that the bacteria of one disease are different
+from those of another disease, or in a word that the microscopic
+organisms which produce morbid conditions in animals are
+differentiated into genera and species and varieties, in the same
+manner as are the animals, birds and fishes, of the world. A new realm
+of life invisible save by the aid of the microscope, began to be
+explored, and practical results began to follow.
+
+Pasteur at length announced his ability to _produce_ infectious
+diseases by inoculation; and of this his proofs and demonstrations,
+were complete. In the next place he announced his ability to
+_counteract_ the ravages, of certain classes of diseases (those called
+zymotic) by inoculating the animal suffering therefrom with what he
+called an "attenuated" or "domesticated" virus of the given disease.
+
+The matter first came to a practical issue by the inoculation of well
+animals with the attenuated virus. The animals so treated became
+_immune_; that is, exempt from the infection of the given disease.
+Pasteur gave public demonstrations in the fields near Paris, using the
+disease called splenic fever, and sheep as the subjects of his
+experimentation. The whole civilized world was astonished with the
+results. The tests were conducted in such a way as to preclude the
+possibility of error. It was shown, in a word, that by the simple
+process of inoculating well animals with the modified poison the
+infectious disease might be avoided.
+
+It were long to tell the story of the experimentation and discovery
+that now followed. The last quarter of the century has been fruitful
+in the greatest results. The bacilli of one disease after another have
+been discovered, and the means have been invented of defending the
+larger animal life from the ravages of microscopic organisms.
+
+But what is an "attenuated" virus? Pasteur and other scientists have
+shown that by the inoculation of suitable material, such as a piece of
+flesh, with the poison of a given disease, the bacteria on which that
+disease depends rapidly multiply and diffuse themselves through the
+substance. If poison be taken from the _first_ body of infected
+material and carried to _another_, that other becomes infected; and
+from that the third; from the third the fourth, and so on to the tenth
+generation.
+
+It was noticed, however, that with each transference of the virus to a
+new organic body the bacilli were modified somewhat in form and
+activity. They became, so to speak, less savage. The bacterium which
+at the beginning had been for its savagery a wolf, became in the
+second body a cur; then a hound; then a spaniel; and then a
+diminutive lapdog! The bacteria were thus said to be "domesticated;"
+for the process was similar to the domestication of wild animals into
+tame. The virus was said to be "attenuated;" that is, made thin or
+fine; that is, its poisonous and death-dealing quality, was so reduced
+as to make it comparatively innocuous.
+
+If after the process of attenuation was complete--if after the
+bacteria were once thoroughly domesticated and the poison produced by
+them be then introduced into a well subject, that subject would indeed
+become diseased, but so mildly diseased as scarcely to be diseased at
+all. In such a case the result was of a kind to be called in popular
+language a mere "touch" of the disease. In such case the severe
+ravages of the malady would be prevented; but the subject would be
+rendered incapable of taking the disease a second time.
+
+On this line of fact and theory Pasteur successfully pressed his work.
+One disease after another was investigated. It was demonstrated in the
+case of both the lower animals and men that a large number of maladies
+and plagues might be completely disarmed of their terrors by the
+process of inoculation. The name of Pasteur became more and more
+famous. The celebrated Pasteur Institute was founded at Paris, under
+the patronage of the French Government, and in some sense under the
+patronage of the whole world. To this establishment diseased subjects
+were taken for treatment, and here experimentation was carried on over
+a wide range of facts.
+
+The value of the results attained can hardly be overestimated. The
+fear which mankind have long entertained on account of plagues and
+epidemics, and the loss which the animal industries of the world have
+sustained, were largely abated. As yet the use of the Pasteur methods
+for the prevention and cure of disease is by no means universal; but
+the knowledge which has come of his investigations and of the results
+of them has diffused itself among all civilized nations, and the
+hygienic condition of almost every community has been most favorably
+affected by the new knowledge which we possess of bacteria and of the
+means of destroying them.
+
+Pasteur, whose recent death has been mourned by the best part of
+mankind, was an explorer and forerunner. His industry in his chosen
+field of investigation was prodigious. When he was already nearly
+seventy years of age, he undertook the investigation of hydrophobia,
+with the purpose of discovering, if he might, the germ of that dreaded
+disease, thus preparing a method for inoculation against it.
+
+Hydrophobia is one of the most subtle diseases ever known. So obscure
+and uncertain are its phenomena that many able men have been led to
+doubt the _existence_ of such a disease! The mythological origin of
+the malady in the supposed influence of a dog-star seemed to
+strengthen the view that hydrophobia, as a specific disease, does not
+exist. It is undeniably true that the great majority of the cases of
+so-called rabies are pure myths. Under investigation they melt away
+into nothing but alarm and fiction. However, there appeared to be a
+residue of actual hydrophobia, though the disease as tested by its
+name exists in fancy rather than fact.
+
+In any event, Pasteur began to investigate hydrophobia, and at length
+discovered the bacilli which produce it. At least he found in animals
+affected with rabies, notably in the spinal marrow of such animals,
+minute living organisms, having the form of thread-like animalculæ,
+with heads at one end. The microscope showed also among these
+thread-like bodies other organisms that were like small circular black
+specks, or disks.
+
+The next step in the work was to test the result by inoculating a well
+animal with these bodies. Pasteur selected rabbits for his
+experimentation. When the experiment was made, the inoculated rabbit
+was presently attacked with the disease, and soon died in spasms. The
+repetition of the experiment was attended with like results.
+
+The philosopher next tried his established method of domesticating, or
+attenuating, the poison. The spinal cord of a rabid dog was obtained,
+and with this the first rabbit was inoculated. In about two weeks it
+took hydrophobia. Hereupon the spinal cord was extracted, and the
+second rabbit was inoculated; then the third; then the fourth, and so
+on. It was observed, however, that at each stage the intensity of the
+disease was in this way strangely increased; but the period of
+inoculation became shorter and shorter.
+
+It was next found that by preserving the spinal cords of the animals
+that had died of the disease--by preserving them in dry tubes--the
+poison gradually lost its power. At last the virus seemed to die
+altogether. Then the experiment of inoculating against the disease was
+begun. A dog was first inoculated with dead virus. No result followed.
+Then he was inoculated with stale virus, and then with other virus not
+so stale. It was found that by continuing this process the animal
+might be rendered wholly insusceptible to the disease.
+
+The next step was the human stage of experimentation. It was in July
+of 1885 that Pasteur first employed his method on a human subject. A
+boy had been bitten and lacerated by a rabid dog. The inoculation was
+thought to prove successful. Soon afterward some bitten children were
+taken from the United States to Paris, and were treated against the
+expected appearance of hydrophobia. Others came from different parts
+of the continent. Within fourteen months more than two thousand five
+hundred subjects were treated, and it is claimed that the mortality
+from hydrophobia was reduced to a small per cent of what it had been
+before.
+
+It should be said, however, that neither have the results arrived at
+by Pasteur respecting the character of rabies been so clear, nor have
+his experiments on subjects supposed to be poisoned with the disease
+been so successful as in the case of other maladies. It remains,
+nevertheless, to award to Louis Pasteur _the first rank_ among the
+bacteriologists of our day, as well as a first place among the
+philanthropists of the century. Only Robert Koch, of Germany, is to be
+classed in the same list with him.
+
+
+KOCH'S BATTLE WITH THE INVISIBLE ENEMY.
+
+There was a great _negative_ reason for the success of the World's
+Columbian Exposition. The cholera did NOT come! It is quite
+true that there is no _if_ in history; but IF the cholera had
+come, IF the plague had broken out in our imperial Chicago,
+what would have become of the Columbian Exposition? Certainly the Man
+of Genoa would have had to seek elsewhere for a great international
+gathering in his honor.
+
+The cholera did not arrive, although it was expected. The antecedent
+conditions of its coming were all present; but it came not. The
+American millions discerned that the dreaded plague was at bay; a
+feeling of security and confidence prevailed; the summer of 1893 went
+by, and not a single case of Asiatic cholera appeared west of the
+Alleghenies. We are not sure that a single case appeared on the
+mainland of North America. And why not?
+
+It was because the increasing knowledge of mankind, reinforced with
+philanthropy and courage, had drawn a line north and south across
+Western Europe, and had said, _Thus far and no farther_. Indeed, there
+were several lines drawn. The movement of cholera westward from the
+Orient began to be obstructed even before it reached Germany. It was
+obstructed in Italy. It was obstructed seriously on the meridian of
+the Rhine. It was obstructed almost finally at the meridian of London.
+It was completely and gloriously obstructed at the harbor of New York.
+
+Civilization has never appeared to a better advantage than in the
+building of her defences against the westward invasion of cholera.
+There have been times within two decades of the present when in the
+countries east of the Red Sea 3000 people have died daily of the
+Asiatic plague. Egypt has been ravaged. The ports of the Mediterranean
+have been successfully invaded. Commerce, reckless of everything
+except her own interests, has taken the infection on shipboard, and
+sailed with it to foreign lands, as though it were a precious cargo!
+Importers, anxious for merchandise, have stood ready to receive the
+plague, and plant it without regard to consequences. But in the midst
+of all this, a new power has arisen in the world, and standing with
+face to the east, has drawn a sword, before the circle of which even
+the spectral shadow of cholera has quailed and gone back! Humanity
+might well break out in rhapsody and jubilee over this great victory.
+
+Among the personal agencies by which cholera has been excluded from
+Europe and America, first and greatest is Dr. Robert Koch, of Berlin.
+He, more than any other one man, has contributed to the glorious
+exemption. Dr. Koch, now by the favor of his Emperor, Baron Koch, is
+one of those heroic spirits who go before the human race exploring the
+route, casting up a highway and gathering out the stones. Thus shall
+the feet of the oncoming millions be not bruised and their shouts of
+joy be not turned to lamentation.
+
+Robert Koch was born at Klausthal, in the Hartz mountains, on the
+eleventh of December, 1843. He is a German of the Germans. In his
+youth he was a student of medicine at Göttingen, where at the age of
+twenty-three he took his first degree. He was by nature and from his
+boyhood a devotee of science. For about ten years he practiced his
+profession, but continued his studies with indefatigable zeal. The
+investigations of Pasteur had already filled Europe with applause when
+Koch, following on the same lines of scientific exploration, began to
+enlarge the borders of knowledge. He became a bacteriologist of the
+first rank. He began to investigate the causes and nature of
+contagion; but as late as 1876 his name was still unknown in the
+cyclopædias.
+
+Koch was twenty-one years the junior of Pasteur; but his enthusiasm
+and genius now bore him rapidly to a fame as great as that of his
+predecessor. His first remarkable achievement was a demonstration of
+the cause and cure of splenic fever in cattle. He showed, just as
+Pasteur had done in similar cases, that the plague in question was due
+to the specific poison of a bacterium, and that the disease might be
+cured by inoculation against it. This he proceeded to do, and the
+demonstration and good work brought him to the attention of the old
+Emperor. Dr. Koch was made a member of the Imperial Board of Health in
+Berlin.
+
+A greater discovery was already at the door. Dr. Koch began a careful
+investigation into the nature of consumption. His discovery of the
+germ of splenic fever, and that of chicken cholera, as well as the
+general results in this direction in other laboratories of Europe, led
+him to the conjecture that consumption also is a zymotic or bacterial
+disease. His inquiry into this subject began in 1879, and extended to
+March of 1882. On that day, in a paper before the Physiological
+Society of Berlin, he announced the discovery of the _tubercle
+bacillus_. He was able to demonstrate the existence of the germ of
+consumption, and to describe its methods of life, as well as the
+character of his ravages.
+
+Here then at last was laid bare the true origin of the most fatal
+disease which has ever afflicted mankind. He who has not informed
+himself with respect to the almost universal prevalence of consumption
+among the nations of the earth, or taken note of the mortality from
+that dreaded enemy, by which nearly one-sixth of the human race sooner
+or later perishes, will not have realized the awful character of this
+enemy. To attack such a foe, to force him into a corner, even as
+Siegfried did the Grendel in his cavern, was an achievement of which
+the greatest of mankind might well be proud.
+
+The discovery of the bacillus of consumption by no means assured the
+cure of the disease; but it foretokened the time when a cure would be
+found. This prophecy, though it has not yet been clearly fulfilled,
+is, in the closing years of the century, in process of fulfillment.
+The enemy does not readily yield; but such has been the gain in the
+contest that already within the last twenty years the mortality from
+consumption of the lungs has fallen off more than forty per cent! Much
+of this gain has been made by the reviving confidence of human beings
+that sooner or later tuberculosis would be destroyed. Hygiene has done
+its part; and other circumstances have conduced to the same result.
+Though neither Dr. Koch nor any other man living has been able as yet
+positively to meet and vanquish consumption in open battle, yet the
+goblin has in a measure been robbed of his terrors. He is no longer
+boastful and victorious over the human race.
+
+After the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, the fame of Robert Koch
+became world-wide. In the following year he was made a privy
+councilor, and was placed in charge of an expedition organized by the
+German government to go into Egypt and India for the investigation of
+the causes of Asiatic cholera. The expedition was engaged in this work
+for nearly a year. Koch pursued his usual careful method of scientific
+experimentation. He exposed himself to the contagion of cholera, but
+his science and fine constitution stood him well in hand, and he
+returned unharmed.
+
+It was in May of 1884 that he was able to announce the discovery of
+the _coma bacillus_, that is, the bacterium of cholera. Here, again he
+had the enemy at bay. For long ages the Asiatic plague had ravaged the
+countries of the East with little hindrance to its spread or fatality.
+The disease would appear as an epidemic at intervals and sweep all
+before it. The wave of death would roll on westward from country to
+country, until it would subside, as if by exhaustion, in the far west.
+Two or three times within the century cholera had been fatally
+scattered through American cities. It had spread westward along the
+rivers of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and into country
+districts, where villages and hamlets were decimated.
+
+The discovery of Koch was a virtual proclamation that this ruin of
+mankind from the Asiatic plague should cease. The knowledge that the
+disease was due to a living bacterium, that without the germ and the
+spread of the germ the plague could not exist, was a virtual
+announcement that in the civilized countries it should _not_ any
+longer exist.
+
+The discoverer was now set high in the estimation of mankind. Imperial
+Germany best of all countries rewards its benefactors. France is
+fascinated with adventure; Great Britain with slaughter; America with
+bare political battles; but Germany sees the true thing, and rewards
+it. Koch was immediately placed beyond want by his government, and
+titles and honors came without stint.
+
+The Empire would fain have such a man at the seat of power. Dr. Koch
+was, in 1885, made a professor in the University of Berlin. The new
+chair of Hygiene was created for him, and he was made Director of the
+Hygienic Institute. It was in this capacity that armed with influence
+and authority and having the resources of the government virtually at
+his disposal, he directed in the great scientific work by which a
+bulwark against cholera was drawn almost literally across Europe, and
+was defended as if with the mounted soldiery of science and humanity.
+True enough, cholera managed to plant itself in Italy in 1886, and in
+Hamburg in 1892, and the plague was scattered into several German
+towns. But it came to Hamburg by water, not by land. It did there
+during the summer a dreadful work, but the battle was the Waterloo of
+the enemy. Not again while the present order continues will it be
+possible for the dreaded epidemic to get the mastery of a great German
+city.
+
+It was to be anticipated that Dr. Koch's discovery of the tubercle
+bacillus would lead him on to the discovery of a cure for
+tuberculosis. Very naturally his thought on this subject was borne in
+the direction of inoculation. That method had been used by Pasteur and
+by himself in the case of other infectious diseases. Why should it not
+be employed in consumption? If the "domestication," so-called, of the
+virus of splenic fever and the use of the modified poison as an
+antiseptic preventive of the disease was successful, as it had been
+proved to be, why should this not be done with the attenuated virus of
+consumption?
+
+The last five years of the ninth decade were spent by Dr. Koch in
+experimentation on this subject. He found that the tubercular poison
+might be treated in the same manner as the poison of other infectious
+diseases. He experimented with methods for domesticating the bacillus
+of consumption, and reached successful results. On the fourteenth of
+November, 1890, he published in a German medical magazine at Berlin a
+communication on a possible remedy for tuberculosis. He had prepared a
+sort of lymph suitable for hypodermic injection, and with this had
+experimented on a form of _external_ tuberculosis called lupus. This
+disease is a consumption of the skin and adjacent tissues. It is a
+malady almost as dreadful as consumption of the lungs, but is by no
+means frequent in its occurrence. It is found only at rare intervals
+by the medical practitioner.
+
+Dr. Koch had demonstrated that lupus is a true tuberculosis--that the
+germ which produces it is the same bacillus which produces consumption
+of the lungs. He accordingly directed his effort to cases of lupus,
+treating the patients with hypodermic injections which he had prepared
+from the modified form of the tubercular poison. He was successful in
+the treatment, and was able to announce, to the joy of the world, that
+he had discovered a cure for lupus; and the announcement went so far
+as to express a belief in the salutary character of the remedy in the
+treatment of consumption of the lungs.
+
+Dr. Koch, however, with the usual caution of the true men of science,
+did not announce his tuberculin, or lymph, as a cure for pulmonary
+consumption. He did not even declare that it was positively a remedy
+for the other forms of tuberculosis, but did announce his cure of
+cases of lupus by the agent which he had prepared. The world, after
+its manner, leaped at conclusions, and the newspapers of two
+continents, in their usual office of disseminating ignorance,
+trumpeted Koch's discovery as the end of tubercular consumption.
+
+In January of 1891, Dr. Koch published to the world the composition of
+his remedy. It consists of a glycerine extract prepared by the
+cultivation of tubercle bacilli. The lymph contains, as it were, the
+poisonous matter resulting from the life and activity of the tubercle
+bacterium. The fluid is used by hypodermic injection, and when so
+administered produces both a general and local reaction. The system is
+powerfully affected. A sense of weariness comes on. The breathing is
+labored. Nausea ensues; and a fever supervenes which lasts for twelve
+or fifteen hours. It is now known that the action of the remedy is not
+directly against the tubercle bacilli, but rather against the affected
+tissue in which they exist. This tissue is destroyed and thrown off by
+the agency of the lymph; being destroyed, it is eliminated and cast
+out, carrying with it the bacteria on which the disease depends.
+
+The results which have followed the administration of Koch's lymph for
+consumption of the lungs have not met the expectation of the public;
+but something has been accomplished. Ignorant enthusiasm has meanwhile
+subsided, and scientific men in both Europe and America are pressing
+the inquiry in a way which promises in due time the happiest results.
+
+
+ACHIEVEMENTS IN SURGERY.
+
+It will not do to disparage the work of the ancients. The old world,
+long since fallen below the horizon of the past, had races of men and
+individuals who might well be compared with the greatest of to-day. In
+a general way, the ancients were great as thinkers and weak as
+scientists. They were great in the fine arts and weak in the practical
+arts. This is true of the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the
+Romans, even of the Aztecs and the Peruvians.
+
+The art work of these old peoples, whether in sculpture, painting or
+poetry, surpassed, if it did not eclipse, corresponding periods of
+modern times. In some of the practical arts the old races were
+proficient. In architecture, which combines the æsthetic and
+practical elements, the man of antiquity was at least the equal of the
+man of the present. In one particular art--a sort of humanitarian
+profession based on natural science and directed to the preservation
+of life--the ancients had a measure of proficiency. This art was
+surgery. The surgeon was even from the beginning, and he will no doubt
+be even to the end.
+
+The great advance which has been made in surgical science and practice
+is shown in two ways: first, in a great increase of courage, by which
+the surgeon has been led on to the performance of operations that were
+hitherto considered rash, audacious or impossible; and secondly, by
+the immunity which the surgeon has gained in the treatment of wounds
+through the increased knowledge he possesses of putrefaction and the
+means of preventing it. It were hard to say whether the surgeon's
+increase of skill and courage in performing operations has equalled
+his increased skill in the after treatment of wounds.
+
+These improvements have all proceeded from scientific investigation.
+They have come of the application of scientific methods to the
+treatment of surgical diseases. With the investigations of Pasteur and
+the development of the science of bacteriology, it was seen at a
+glance how large an influence such investigation must have in the
+work of the surgeon. The publication of Tyndall's "Essays on the
+Floating Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection,"
+in 1881, gave a great impulse to the new practice; but that practice
+had been already confirmed by the great and original work of Sir
+Joseph Lister, an English surgeon who as early as 1860 had introduced
+the antiseptic method of bandaging.
+
+It is within the last forty years that the greatest marvels of modern
+surgery have been performed. It would seem that no part of the human
+body is now beyond the reach of surgical remedy. Almost every year has
+witnessed some new and daring invasion of the fortress of life with a
+view to saving it. Old opinions with respect to what parts of the
+human economy are really vital have been abolished; and a new concept
+of the relation of life to organism has prevailed.
+
+Until recently it was supposed that the peritoneal cavity and the
+organs contained therein, such as the stomach, the liver, the bowels,
+etc., could not be entered by the surgeon without the certain result
+of death. To do so at the present time is the daily experience in
+almost every great hospital. The complexity of civilization has
+inflicted all manner of hurts on the human body, and the malignity of
+disease has spared no part. It was supposed that the cranial cavity
+could not be entered or repaired without producing fatal results. It
+was taken for granted that certain organs could not be touched, much
+less treated capitally, without destroying the subject's life. But one
+exploration has followed another and one successful adventure has been
+succeeded by another still more successful until the surgeon's work is
+at the present time performed within a sphere that was until recently
+supposed to be entirely beyond his reach.
+
+As to the liver, that great organ is freely examined and is treated
+surgically with considerable freedom. This is true also of the
+stomach, which until recently was supposed to be entirely beyond the
+surgeon's touch. Within the last two decades sections of the stomach
+have been made and parts of the organ removed. Not a few cases are
+recorded in which subjects have fully recovered after the removal of a
+part of the stomach. Sections of the intestinal canal have also been
+made with entire success. Several inches of that organ have in some
+cases been entirely removed, with the result of recovery! The spleen
+has been many times removed; but it has been recently noted that a
+decline in health and probably death at a not distant date generally
+follow this operation.
+
+The disease called appendicitis has either in our times become
+wonderfully frequent or else the improved methods of diagnosis have
+made us acquainted with what has long been one of the principal
+maladies of mankind. The _appendix vermiformis_ seems to be a useless
+remnant of anatomical structure transmitted to us from a lower animal
+condition. At least such is the interpretation which scientists
+generally give to this hurtful and dangerous tube-like blind channel
+in connection with the bowels. That it becomes easily inflamed and is
+the occasion of great loss of life can not be doubted. Its removal by
+surgical operation is now regarded as a simple process which even the
+unlearned surgeon, if he be careful and talented, may safely perform.
+The surgical treatment of appendicitis has become so common as to
+attract little or no notice from the profession. Even the country
+neighborhood no longer regards such a piece of surgery as sensational.
+
+The use of surgical means in the cure, that is the removal, of tumors,
+both external and internal, has been greatly extended and perfected.
+The surgeon now carries a quick eye for the tumor and a quick remedy
+for it. In nearly all cases in which it has not become constitutional
+he effects a speedy cure with the knife. The cancerous part is cut
+away. It has been observed that as the recent mortality from
+consumption has decreased cancerous diseases have become more
+frequently fatal. Whether or not there be anything vicarious in the
+action of these two great maladies we know not; but statistics show
+that since the beginning of Pasteur's discoveries the one disease has
+diminished and the other increased in almost a corresponding ratio.
+Meanwhile, however, surgery has opposed itself not only to cancers but
+to all kinds of tumors, until danger from these sores has been greatly
+lessened. The removal of internal tumors such as the ovarian, is no
+longer, except in complicated and neglected cases, a matter of serious
+import. Such work is performed in almost every country town, and the
+amount of human life thus rescued from impending death is very great.
+The work of lithotomy is not any longer regarded with the dread which
+formerly attended it. In fact, every kind of disease and injury which
+in its own nature is subject to surgical remedy has been disarmed of
+its terror. The eye and the ear and all of the more delicate organs
+have become subject to repair and amendment to a degree that may well
+excite wonder and gratify philanthropy.
+
+But it is not only in the actual processes of surgery that this great
+improvement in human art may be noted. The treatment of wounds with
+respect to their cure by preserving them from bacterial and other
+poisons has been so greatly improved that it is now regarded almost as
+a crime to permit suppuration and other horrible processes which were
+formerly supposed to be the necessary concomitants of healing. The
+hospital, whether military or civil, was formerly a scene that might
+well horrify and make sick a visitant. It was putrefaction everywhere.
+It was stench and poisonous effluvia. The conditions were such as to
+make sick if not destroy even those who were well. How then could the
+injured sufferers escape?
+
+It is one of the crowning glories of our time that no such scene now
+exists in any civilized country. No such will ever exist again, unless
+science should lose its grip on the human mind and the civilized life
+subside into barbarism. The surgeon would now be held in ill-repute
+that should permit to any considerable degree the processes of
+putrefaction to take place in a wound of which he has had the care.
+The introduction of antiseptic and aseptic methods has made him a
+master in this respect. The skillful surgeon bids defiance to the
+microbes that hover in swarming millions ravenous for admission to
+every hurt done to the human body. To them a wound is a festival. To
+them a sore is a royal banquet to which through the invisible realm a
+proclamation goes forth, "Come ye! Come to the banquet which death is
+preparing out of life!" All this the modern surgeon disappoints with a
+smile and a wave of his hand. The invisible swarms of invading
+animalculæ are swept back. Not a single bacterium can any longer enter
+the most inviting wound while the surgeon stands ready with drawn
+sword to defend the portals of life.
+
+
+
+
+Great Religious Movements.
+
+
+DEFENCE ON NEW LINES.
+
+In a period so intensely active and progressive as the nineteenth
+century has been, in politics, science and literature, it would have
+been surprising if the church had remained inert, wrapped like a mummy
+in the cerements of the past. At the beginning of the century, there
+were voices on all hands loudly proclaiming that it was dead; that it
+was antiquated and obsolete; that it had lost touch with the life of
+the time, that it was a relic of exploded superstition; and as a great
+writer said, had fallen into a godless mechanical condition, standing
+as the lifeless form of a church, a mere case of theories, like the
+carcass of a once swift camel, left withering in the thirst of the
+universal desert. That in certain circles there was ground for such
+reproach is sufficiently proved. Materialism had crept into its
+colleges, sapping away their spiritual life and driving young men
+either into Atheism or into the Roman Catholic Communion. Such
+activity as it had, was in the evangelical circles only The common
+people still listened eagerly to Wesley's successors and were
+intensely in earnest in the Christian life and work. It was at the top
+that the tree was dying, where the currents of the philosophy of
+Voltaire struck the branches, and where Hume's scorching radicalism
+blighted its leaves. In the universities, and the clubs, not in the
+workshops, was religion scorned and contemned.
+
+There was soon, however, to be a quickening of the dry bones. The
+spirit of the time--the zeit-geist--began to move in the Church. It
+was the spirit of investigation, of scientific inquiry, of rigorous
+test. The older preachers and religious authorities still droned about
+the duty of defending the faith "once for all" delivered to the
+saints. In spite of their protests, the younger men would go down into
+the crypt of the Church, and examine the foundations of the building.
+They could not be kept back by authoritative assurances that the
+stones were sound, and were well and truly laid. The hysterical
+protests against the irreverence of examination fell on deaf ears. The
+answer was the simple insistance on investigation. The very reluctance
+to permit it was an indication that it would not bear investigation.
+
+At the opening of the century, this idea, expressed in varying forms,
+was rapidly becoming prevalent. The citadel of the Church was
+assaulted, by some with ferocity, and by others with scorn and
+contempt. The defence was on the old lines of denunciation of the
+wickedness of the assailants, of vituperative epithets, and of the
+assumption of special and divine illumination. The issue of the
+conflict would not have been doubtful, had it been continued with
+these tactics. The Church would have been relegated to the limbo of
+superstition and the hide-bound pedantry of ecclesiasticism, if new
+defenders on new principles had not entered the lists. Reinforcement
+came from a band of philosophic thinkers of whom Wordsworth and
+Coleridge were the pioneers. The influence of both these men was
+underestimated at the time. They appeared weak and ineffective, but
+the ideas to which they gave expression, entered the minds of stronger
+men, who applied them with more vigorous force. The Church, Coleridge
+declared, as Carlyle interprets him, was not dead, but tragically,
+asleep only. It might be aroused and might again become useful, if
+only the right paths were opened. Coleridge could not open the paths,
+he could but vaguely show the depth and volume of the forces pent up
+in the Church; but he insisted that they were there, that eternal
+truth was in Christianity, and that out of it must come the light and
+life of the world. As his little band of hearers listened to him, they
+saw the first faint gleams of the light which was to illumine the
+world and make the darkness and degradation of the materialistic
+philosophy an impossibility to the devout mind. Thus he stood at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, as Erasmus stood at the beginning
+of the sixteenth, perceiving and proclaiming the existence of truths
+which others were to apply to the needs of the time.
+
+To ascertain precisely in what form the forces of Christianity existed
+and how they might be applied to nineteenth century life, became early
+in the nineteenth century the problem on which the best thought of the
+time was concentrated. Coleridge's unshaken conviction that it was
+solvable, inspired many with courage. Whately, Arnold, Schleiermacher,
+Bunsen, Ewald, Newman, Hare, Milman, Thirlwall and many others,
+approached it from different directions. The spirit of scientific
+investigation that was in the air was applied with reverent hands, but
+with unsparing resolve to ascertain the exact truth. The investigation
+was no longer confined to dogma; a proof text from the Bible was no
+longer sufficient to close a controversy. The Bible itself must be
+subjected to investigation. This was indeed going to the foundations.
+There was a wild outcry against rationalism and iconoclasm, but the
+search for truth and fact went on. As in a siege, the garrison must
+sometimes destroy with their own hands outworks which cannot be
+successfully defended, and may be made a vantage ground for the enemy,
+so the defenders of Christianity set themselves to the task of finding
+out how much of the current theology was credible and tenable, and how
+much might wisely be abandoned, to insure the safety of the remainder.
+The discoveries of Geology, Astronomy and of Biology could not be
+denied, yet their testimony was contrary to Christian doctrine. "The
+world was made in six natural days," said the old Christian preacher.
+"The world was thousands of years in the making," said the geologist.
+The preacher appealed to his Bible, the geologist appealed to the
+rocks. The issue was fairly joined, and in the early years of the
+century it seemed as if there was no alternative but that of believing
+the Bible and denying science, or believing science and giving up the
+Bible; it seemed impossible to believe both. When the scientific
+theologian ventured to suggest that the word "day," might mean age, or
+period, there was another outcry that the Bible was being surrendered
+to the enemy. But it was realized that the message of the Bible to the
+world was not scientific, and that its usefulness was not impaired by
+the suggested mode of understanding its record of creation; and
+gradually the surrender was accepted. It is true that to this day
+there are some who will not accept it, as there is at least one
+preacher who insists, on the authority of the Bible, that "the sun do
+move," but the number diminishes in every generation. A beginning was
+made in attaining the true view of the Bible which led further and has
+not yet reached its limits. Having admitted that the Bible was not
+given to teach science the Church has to decide whether it can admit
+the theory of evolution and whether its records of history are
+authoritative. These questions are so fundamental that the strife of
+Calvinism and Arminianism and the question of the double procession of
+the Holy Spirit, which seemed vital to our fathers have faded into
+relative insignificance.
+
+EVANGELICAL ACTIVITY.
+
+While these storms were agitating the upper air, and the thunderous
+echoes reverberated through the mountains, the work on the plain went
+rapidly forward. However the scholars and the theologians might decide
+the questions at issue between them, the working forces were
+profoundly convinced that the Gospel was the great need of the world,
+and they put out new energy and applied all the powers of the mind to
+devising new methods for its propagation. The increased facilities of
+travel, the improved means of communication and, above all, the power
+of the printing-press, were all seized and harnessed to service in the
+dissemination of the Gospel. No characteristic of this century is so
+prominent as this intense activity and aggressive energy. From every
+secular movement, the church has taken suggestions for its own
+advancement. Trade-unionism has suggested Christian Endeavor and the
+Evangelical Alliance; the public school system has developed the
+International Lesson system in the Sunday School; the political
+convention has taught the advantages of great religious conferences;
+the principles of military organization have been utilized in the
+Salvation Army. If in some circles religion seems to have been a fight
+over doctrines and theories, in others it has seemed a ceaseless,
+untiring struggle for converts. In no century since the first century
+of the Christian era has the zeal of propagation, with no element of
+proselytism in it, taken so strong a hold of the followers of Christ.
+To translate the Bible into every tongue, to carry the Gospel message
+to every people, and to evangelize the masses at home, prodigious
+efforts have been put forth, and enormous sums of money have been
+expended. Mental activity, uncompromising veracity, indefatigable
+energy, have characterized the Church through the century, and its
+closing years show no abatement in any of these characteristics. A
+brief sketch of some of the more prominent of these developments can
+render the fact only more, obvious.
+
+
+BIBLE REVISION.
+
+One of the most important events of the century to the English
+speaking world is the Revision of the Bible. Its full effect is not
+yet felt, as the book which was the product of the Revisers' labors is
+but slowly winning its way into use in the Church and the home. Like
+its predecessor, the Authorized Version now in general use, it has to
+encounter the prejudice which comes from long familiarity with the
+book in use and from the veneration for the phraseology in which the
+precious truths, are expressed. Yet from the beginning of the century
+the need of an improved translation was felt and several persons,
+undertook to supply it, but with very objectionable results. The
+principal bases of the need were serious. One was that many words and
+phrases have in the nineteenth century a meaning entirely different
+from the one they had in the early part of the seventeenth century
+when the Authorized Version was issued. One case in point is Mark vi.
+22, in which Salome asks that the head of John the Baptist be given
+her "by and by in a charger." In 1611 the expression by and by meant
+immediately or forthwith, and was a correct translation, while with us
+it means a somewhat indefinite future and is therefore an incorrect
+translation. With the noun, too, the meaning has changed. Our idea of
+a charger is of a war-horse, not of a dish, which the original
+conveys. A second reason for the revision was that there were in the
+libraries in this century several manuscripts of the original, much
+older than those to which the translators of the Authorized Version
+had access when they undertook their work. A third reason was that a
+notable advance had been made in scholarship in the interval, and
+learned men were much better acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek
+idiom than were any of the scholars of the King James period. For
+these three, among other reasons, a revision was necessary, that the
+unlearned reader might have, as nearly as was possible, the exact
+equivalent in English of the words of the Bible writers. The project,
+after being widely discussed for several years, finally took shape in
+England in 1870, when the Convocation of Canterbury appointed two
+committees to undertake the work. The ablest scholars in Hebrew and
+Greek literature in the country were assigned to the committees, of
+which one was engaged on the Old, and the other on the New Testament.
+They were empowered to call to their aid similar committees in
+America, who might work simultaneously with them. Stringent
+instructions were given to them to avoid making changes where they
+were not clearly needed for the accuracy of translation, and to
+preserve the idiom of the Authorized Version. Only with these
+safeguards and with not a little reluctance, the commission was
+issued. One hundred and one scholars on both sides of the Atlantic
+took part in the work. The committees commenced their labors early in
+1871. On May 17, 1881, the Revised New Testament was issued, and on
+May 21, 1885, the Revised Old Testament was in the hands of the
+public. All that scholarship, strenuous labor and exhaustive research
+could do to give a faithful translation had been done within the
+somewhat narrow and conservative limits under which the revisers were
+commissioned.
+
+
+BIBLES BY THE MILLION.
+
+With this improvement, there was at the same time a marked impetus in
+Bible circulation. The nineteenth century has been eminently a
+Bible-reading and a Bible-studying period. In no previous century have
+efforts on so gigantic a scale been made to put the Book in the hands
+of every one who could read it. The price was brought so low by the
+decrease in the cost of production, that the very poorest could
+possess a copy. The British and Foreign Bible Society, founded in
+1804, and the American Bible Society, founded in 1816, have largely
+contributed to this result. Both societies were organized to issue the
+Bible without note or comment, and both have faithfully labored to
+promote its circulation. In spite of all that has been said against
+the Book and in spite of the fact that so large a number of persons
+must have been supplied, the circulation has increased from year to
+year. In the year ending March, 1896, the American Society alone
+issued 1,750,000 copies, and the British two and a half million.
+During its existence the American Society has sent out over sixty-one
+million copies and the British Society over one hundred and forty
+millions. The work of translation has kept pace with the demand. At
+the beginning of the century the Bible had been translated, in whole
+or in part, into thirty-eight languages. It is now translated into
+three hundred and eighty-one, and translators are engaged on nearly a
+hundred others. Nor must it be supposed that the supply was in excess
+of the demand. There is abundant evidence of the desire of the public
+to possess the Word of God. One fact alone is a conspicuous proof of
+this demand. In 1892 the proprietor of the _Christian Herald_ of New
+York offered an Oxford Teacher's Bible as a premium with his journal.
+The offer was accepted with such avidity that edition after edition
+was exhausted, and it has been renewed every year since with increased
+demand. Through this journal alone, by this means, over three hundred
+and two thousand copies have been put into the hands of the people
+during the past five years.
+
+With the increase in the circulation of the Word of God there has been
+a costly and thorough effort to gain new light on its pages. Never
+before have labor and money been expended so lavishly in endeavors to
+learn from exploration and research, historical facts which would
+contribute to an intelligent understanding of its history and
+literature. In 1865 a society called the Palestine Exploration Society
+was organized for the special purpose of thoroughly examining the Holy
+Land, investigating and identifying ancient sites and making exact
+maps of the country. In twenty-seven years the society, though working
+with the utmost economy, expended $425,000. The result of its labors
+has been to let a flood of light on the ancient places and the ancient
+customs of its people, explaining many allusions in the sacred
+history, poetry and prophecy that were previously dark. The Egypt
+Exploration Fund has also added materially to our knowledge of that
+country which is associated with the early history of the Chosen
+People. But the most valuable aid to Bible study came from the
+discovery of the Assyrian Royal Library, a series of clay tablets and
+cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were deciphered by
+Mr. George Smith of the British Museum. From these and from the
+records on the monuments of Egypt historical information has been
+derived of inestimable value in the study of the Bible.
+
+
+A GREAT MISSIONARY ERA.
+
+One of the most prominent characteristics of the Church of Christ in
+this century has been its phenomenal missionary activity. Its zeal in
+this cause, the devotion and courage of its missionaries and the
+amount of money expended have had no parallel in the previous history
+of the Church. Already a beginning had been made when the century
+dawned. In 1701 King William III. of England had granted a charter to
+the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In
+1714 Frederick IV. of Denmark established a College of Missions and
+two Danish missionaries were laboring in India. In 1721 the famous
+Danish missionary, Hans Egede, began a work in Greenland. In 1732 the
+Moravian missionaries, Dober and Nitschmann, went to St. Thomas, and
+in the following year the Moravian Church sent missionaries to
+Labrador, the West Indies, South America, South Africa and India. But
+it was not until the last decade of the eighteenth century that the
+spirit which was to distinguish the next century really manifested
+itself. In 1792 the devotion and consecration of William Carey led to
+the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society, and in the following
+year he sailed for India as its first missionary.
+
+In 1795 the London Missionary Society was organized, a missionary ship
+was purchased and the first band of missionaries sailed for the South
+Sea Islands. Two years later, another party sailed for South Africa,
+among whom were the veterans, Vanderkemp and Kitchener. Two Scottish
+societies were founded in 1796 and a Dutch Society in 1797. In the
+closing year of the century the famous Church Missionary Society was
+formed in the Church of England. Thus the nineteenth century opened
+with organizations for work in existence and pioneers few in number,
+but intensely in earnest in several fields of labor.
+
+The first quarter of the century witnessed the advent of new agencies,
+as well as a multiplication of forces. The American Board of
+Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in 1810, the English
+Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1814, the American Baptist in 1814, the
+American Methodist in 1819, the American Protestant Episcopal in 1820,
+and the Berlin and Paris Missionary Societies in 1824. Thus, in the
+comparatively short space of thirty-two years, thirteen societies had
+been organized by the various denominations here and in Europe, each
+of which was destined to grow to proportions little contemplated by
+their founders. Since that time the great China Inland Mission and
+other undenominational societies have been founded and are sending out
+men and women in large numbers to the heathen world. Besides these,
+there have been societies of special workers which have done valuable
+service in aiding the missionary societies, such as the medical
+missionaries, the Zenana Missionaries and the university and students'
+volunteer movements. Statistics recently compiled show that the number
+of central stations in heathen lands occupied by Protestant
+missionaries in 1896 was 5055, with out-stations to the number of
+17,813. There are now thirty-seven missionary societies in this
+country alone which have sent out 3512 missionaries. A library of
+volumes would be needed to give even a sketch of the results of the
+labors of these devoted men and women. The Church holds their names in
+holy reverence. Many of them have attained the crown of martyrdom, and
+a still greater number have fallen victims to the severities of
+uncongenial climates. Every heathen land has now associated with it
+the name of valiant soldiers of the Cross, who have given their lives
+to add it to their Master's, kingdom. In India among many others,
+there have been Carey, Duff, Martyn, Marshman and Ward. In China,
+Morrison, Milne, Taylor, John Talmage and Griffith John. In Africa,
+Moffat, Livingstone, Hannington and Vanderkemp. In the South Seas,
+Williams, Logan and Paton, while Judson of Burmah and a host of noble
+men and women in every clime, have toiled and suffered, not counting
+their lives dear unto them, that they might preach to the heathen the
+unsearchable riches of Christ.
+
+
+PREACHING TO HEATHEN AT HOME.
+
+The zeal for the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen, has been
+paralleled by the efforts put forth for the evangelization of the
+people in nominally Christian lands. In this enterprise the front rank
+on both sides of the Atlantic has been occupied by the Methodist
+Church. Its system of itinerary, relieving its ministers in part from
+exhausting study, and so giving them time and opportunity for pastoral
+work and aggressive evangelistic effort, its welcome of lay assistance
+in pulpit service and its system of drill and inspection in the
+class-meeting, have all combined to develop its working resources and
+increase its aggressive power. The fact that there are now in the
+world over thirty million Methodists of various kinds, makes it
+difficult to realize that when the century began, John Wesley had been
+dead only nine years. This century consequently has witnessed the
+growth and development of that mighty organization from the seed sown
+by that one consecrated man and his helpers. It is doubtful whether in
+politics or society there is any fact of the century so remarkable as
+this. The Church Wesley founded has split into sections in this land
+and in England, but the divisions are one at heart, and the name of
+Methodist is the common precious possession of them all. A great
+writer has contended with much force that the world at this day knows
+no such unifier of nationalities and societies as the Methodist
+Church. When the young man leaves the parental roof of a Methodist
+family for some distant city, or some foreign land, the pangs of
+anxiety are alleviated by the knowledge that wherever he may be, there
+will be some Methodist Church where he will find friends, and some
+Methodist class-leader who will look after his most important
+interests. The magnificent Methodist organization, unequalled outside
+the Roman Catholic Church, has developed within the century, and its
+aggressive forces have been felt throughout Christendom. All the
+denominations have received an impetus from its abundant energy and
+each in its measure has caught the contagion of its activities. In
+country districts, in the great cities and in foreign lands, its
+representatives, loyal to their Church and the principles of its
+founder, are pressing forward in self-denial and apostolic fervor
+foremost everywhere in the van of the Christian army.
+
+Kindred with the Methodist in its enthusiasm and still more highly
+organized, is the youngest of all the religious organizations--the
+Salvation Army. In its origin, a daughter of the Methodist Church,
+with a strong resemblance in spirit and purpose and methods to its
+mother, the Salvation Army has a mission peculiarly its own. It too
+has grown with a rapidity unexampled in the religious history of other
+centuries. More than one quarter of the century had passed when
+William Booth first saw the light, more than half the century had
+passed before he had begun to give his life to his Master's service.
+From 1857 to 1859 he was simply a Methodist minister, at an
+unimportant town, appointed by his conference, sparsely paid, and
+certain to be removed to another sphere at the end of his term. In
+1865, he and his devoted wife resigned home and income and dependence
+on conference for support, and went to London. They settled in the
+poorest and most degraded district of the city, and began to preach in
+tents, in cellars, in deserted saloons, under railroad arches, in
+factories and in any place which could be had for nothing, or at a low
+rental. The people gathered in multitudes wherever Mr. Booth and his
+wife preached, veritable heathen, many of them, who knew nothing of
+the Bible and had never attended a religious service in their lives.
+Converts were numerous and they were required to testify to the change
+in their souls and their lives and to become missionaries in their
+turn. In 1870 an old market was purchased in the densest centre of
+poverty in London and was made the headquarters of the Mission. Bands
+of men and women were sent out to hold meetings, sing hymns and "give
+their testimony" in the open-air, in saloons, or any resort where an
+audience could be gathered. These bands were busy every night in a
+hundred wretched districts of the great city, and at every stand,
+some poor forlorn creatures would be gathered in and encouraged to
+begin a new life in faith in Christ. Some method of organization
+became necessary, and was eventually devised. The perfect obedience
+and confidence manifested everywhere to the man who directed the
+movement, and the entire dependence of every worker on him for
+guidance and support, may have suggested the military system. However
+that may be, the military organization was adopted, and a perfect
+system framed with the aid of Railton Smith, and a few other clever
+organizers who were attracted to Mr. Booth's side by the novelty of
+his methods, and his marvelous success. In the spring of 1878, the
+plans were all matured and the new movement became a compact and
+powerful religious force. Since that time it has spread throughout
+England, into several European lands, to the United States, and
+Canada, to India, Australia and South Africa. Its autocratic character
+has been steadfastly maintained. General Booth has retained absolute
+control of every officer in his service and has the management of the
+enormous income of the army. Occasionally there has been mutiny which
+has been overcome by tact or prompt discipline, and not until this
+year (1896), when General Booth's son, Ballington, who was his
+representative in the United States, resigned rather than be removed
+from his command, has there been any formidable defiance of the
+supreme and despotic government of the world-wide organization. The
+methods of the Army are unconventional and are shocking to staid,
+respectable members of churches, but criticism is out of place in any
+method which will redeem the masses in the numbers won by the
+Salvation Army.
+
+CHURCHES DRAWING TOGETHER.
+
+A notable characteristic of the religious life of the century,
+especially in the latter half of it, has been a desire manifested in
+various quarters, and in different ways, for union among the
+denominations. That organic union could be attained, no practical man
+could hope. Uniformity could not be expected, even if it could be
+proved to be desirable, but friendly association was possible, and
+there were many who contended that there ought to be a recognition of
+brotherhood and comradeship, which might issue in some attempt at
+co-operation. This was the conviction of many prominent preachers and
+laymen on both sides of the Atlantic, early in the century. And truly
+the condition of the world and of society was of a character to force
+such a conviction on the minds of intelligent men. Infidelity was
+rampant, and intemperance, gambling, unchastity, and other forms of
+vice were practiced with unblushing effrontery. On the other side, the
+churches, which should have been waging war on all ungodliness, were
+fighting each other, contending about the questions on which they
+differed, and exhausting their strength in internecine conflict. Was
+it not time, men were asking, that the forces that were on the side of
+godliness united in opposition to evil? After long discussion, and
+some opposition, this feeling took practical shape in the Evangelical
+Alliance. At a meeting held in London in 1846 eight hundred
+representatives of fifty denominations were assembled. It was found
+that however widely they differed on questions of doctrine and church
+government, there was practical agreement on a large number of vital
+subjects, such as the need of religious education, the observance of
+the Lord's Day, and the evil influence of infidelity. An organization
+was effected, on the principles of federation, to secure united action
+on subjects on which all were agreed, and this organization has been
+maintained to the present time. Branches have been formed in
+twenty-seven different lands, each dealing with matters peculiarly
+affecting the community in which it operates, and by correspondence,
+and periodical international conferences, keeping in touch with each
+other. Its usefulness has been proved in the success of its efforts to
+secure tolerance in several lands, where men were being persecuted for
+conscience' sake, though much still remains to be done on this line.
+Perhaps the most conspicuous result of its work is the general
+observance throughout Christendom of the first complete week of every
+year as a week of prayer. The proposal for such an observance was made
+in 1858. Since that time the Alliance has issued every year a list of
+subjects which are common objects of desire to all Evangelical
+Christians. On each day of the week, prayer is now offered in every
+land for the special blessing which is suggested as the topic for the
+day.
+
+From the same spirit of Christian brotherhood which took shape in the
+Evangelical Alliance, came at later dates other movements which are
+yet in their infancy. One of these is the Reunion Conference which
+meets annually at Grindelwald in Switzerland. Its object is to find a
+basis for organic union of the Protestant Episcopal Church with
+Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and other evangelical
+denominations. The meetings have been hitherto remarkably harmonious,
+and suggestions of mutual concessions have been made which have been
+favorably considered. A less ambitious, and therefore more hopeful
+movement of like spirit, is that of the Municipal or Civic Church.
+Its aim is the organization of a federative council of the churches of
+a city, or of sections of a city, for united effort in social reform,
+benevolent enterprise and Christian government. It proposes to
+substitute local co-operation for the existing union on denominational
+lines, or to add the one to the other. It would unite the Methodist,
+Baptist, Congregational and other churches in a city, or district, in
+a movement to restrict the increase of saloons, to insist on the
+enforcement of laws against immorality and to promote the moral and
+spiritual welfare of the community. The united voice of the Christians
+of a city uttered by a council, in which all are represented, would
+unquestionably exercise an influence more potent than is now exerted
+by separate action. To these movements must be added another which has
+been launched under the name of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity.
+This is a fraternity of members of churches and members of no church,
+who yet accept Christ as their leader and obey the two cardinal
+precepts of Christianity--love to God and love to man. Its object is
+to promote brotherly feeling among Christians and a sense of
+comradeship among men of different creeds. All these movements are an
+indication of the spirit of the time. As one of the leaders has said,
+their aim is not so much to remove the fences which divide the
+denominations, as to lower them sufficiently to enable those who are
+within them to shake hands over them. In no previous century since the
+disintegrating tendency began to manifest itself, has this spirit of
+brotherly recognition of essential unity been so general, or has taken
+a shape so hopeful of practical beneficence.
+
+
+ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES.
+
+Effective influence to the same end has been set in motion,
+incidentally, by an organization which was originated for a different
+purpose. This is the Christian Endeavor Society, which is one of the
+latest of the important religious movements of the century. It was
+primarily designed to promote spiritual development among young
+people. It had its birth in 1881 in a Congregational Church at
+Portland, Me. Dr. Francis E. Clark, the pastor of the church, had a
+number of young people around him who had recently made public
+profession of faith in Christ and pledged themselves to His service.
+Precisely what that implied, may not have been definitely understood
+by any of them. As every pastor is aware, the period immediately
+following such a profession is a critical time in the life of every
+young convert. In the college or the office, or the store, the youth
+comes in contact with people who have made no profession of the kind,
+and he is apt to ask himself, and to be asked, in what way he differs
+from them. The early enthusiasm of his new relation to the Church is
+liable to decline, and he may become doubtful whether any radical
+change has taken place in him. He does not realize that he is at the
+beginning of a period of growth, a gradual process, which is to be
+lifelong. Taking his conception of personal religion from the sermons
+he has heard and the appeals that have been made to him, he has a
+tendency to regard conversion as an experience complete and final, an
+occult mysterious transformation, effected in a moment and concluded.
+Disappointment is inevitable, and when non-Christian influences are
+Strong, there is a probability of his drifting into indifference. Dr.
+Clark was aware of this fact, as other pastors were, by sad
+experience, and he sought means to remedy it. Some plan was needed
+which would help the young convert and teach him how to apply his
+religion to his daily life, to make it an active influence, instead of
+a past experience. The plan Dr. Clark adopted was of an association of
+young people in his Church, who should meet weekly for prayer and
+mutual encouragement and helpfulness, with so much of an aggressive
+quality as to exert an influence over young people outside its
+membership. The plan succeeded. The religious force in the soul, so
+liable to become latent, became active, and the young converts made
+rapid progress. Dr. Clark explained his experiment to other pastors,
+who tried it with like results. The remedy for a widespread defect was
+found. It was adopted on all hands and by all evangelical
+denominations. It spread from church to church, from town to town and
+into foreign lands. Annual conventions of these Christian Endeavor
+Societies were held, at which forty or fifty thousand young people,
+representing societies in all sections of the country with an
+aggregate membership of about two million souls, were present to
+recount their experience and pledge themselves anew to the service.
+The basis of their association was made so broad that Christians of
+every denomination could heartily unite in its profession of faith.
+Thus, in addition to the primary design, a basis of Christian
+inter-denominational union was incidentally discovered, and the
+Methodist and the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist and Episcopalian
+found themselves united in a common bond for a common purpose. The
+movement in these present years shows no signs of decrease, but is
+still growing in numbers, power and influence, and promises to be one
+of the most potent factors of religious life which springing up in
+this century will go on to influence the next.
+
+The idea of association and combination in religious life, of which
+Christian Endeavor is the most extensive illustration, has been
+embodied during the century in other forms. Springing directly from
+the Christian Endeavor Society, are the Epworth League in the
+Methodist Church, and the Baptist Young People's Union in the Baptist
+communion. The two organizations are practically identical in
+principle and purpose with the Christian Endeavor Society and differ
+from it only in the absence of the inter-denominational character. The
+heads of the Methodist Church apprehended danger to their young people
+in their being members of a society not under direct Methodist control
+and feared that they might eventually be lost to Methodism. The
+Baptists, on the other hand, were not concerned on the question of
+control, but feared that the association of their young people with
+the young people of other churches might lead them to think lightly of
+the peculiar rite which separates them from other denominations, and
+to diminish its importance in their esteem. Both denominations
+therefore organized societies of the same kind, to keep their young
+people within the denominational fold.
+
+Another organization which has attained large membership and has
+become international, is that of the King's Daughters. As its name
+indicates, it was primarily intended for women, though as it extended,
+it added as an adjunct a membership for men as King's Sons. It also
+was inter-denominational in character, and its objects were more
+directly identified with the philanthropic side of the religious life
+than were those of the societies previously mentioned. It originated
+in a meeting of ten ladies, held in New York, in 1886, at which plans
+were discussed for aiding the poor, the unfortunate and the distressed
+in mind, body or soul. They were all Christian ladies who recognized
+the duty of ministering in Christ's name to those who were in need and
+so fulfilling His injunction of kindly service. The plan finally
+adopted was to organize circles of ten members each, who should be
+pledged to use their opportunities, as far as they were able, for
+Christian ministration. Each member agreed to wear, as a badge of the
+Order, a small silver Maltese Cross, bearing the initials, I.H.N.,
+representing the motto, "In His Name." Every circle was to be left
+free to apply the principle of service as it saw fit, or as special
+circumstances might suggest, and all the circles to be under the
+direction and limited control of a central council. The plan,
+subsequently modified as experience suggested, was widely adopted. The
+circles have worked in a variety of ways, visiting hospitals and
+prisons, making garments for the poor, raising funds for the needy,
+aiding the churches and rendering service in various ways in which
+kindly Christian women are so effective.
+
+Still another form of combination in Christian work has distinguished
+this century. In 1844 George Williams, a London dry goods merchant
+employing a large number of young men, made an effort to provide them
+with a species of Christian club. His own experience as a young man
+fresh from a country home, suddenly inducted into the temptations of
+city life, suggested to him the kind of help such young men needed. A
+Christian friend in a great city to help a new-comer, to find him
+wholesome amusement in the evenings, and to put him on his guard
+against the pitfalls that were set for his unwary feet, might, Mr.
+Williams was convinced, save many a young man from ruin. To provide
+them with such friends and to furnish a place of meeting for reading,
+converse and amusement, was the problem the kindly Christian man
+attempted to solve. Out of his effort grew the institution we know as
+the Young Men's Christian Association, which has its mission in
+nearly every large town in this country and in England. The young man
+of this century can go into no considerable town without finding a
+commodious hall, with well-equipped library and reading-room,
+generally with a gymnasium attached, and with a host of young men
+ready to make his acquaintance and surround him with Christian
+influences. In many towns, the institution has developed from the
+purely religious enterprise into a many-sided effort to give practical
+educational training and to attract young men to it by the help it
+renders them in secular pursuits. The institution as it now exists,
+must be counted as one of the most beneficent in its far-reaching
+influence that the century has produced.
+
+
+HUMANITARIAN WORK.
+
+Kindred in spirit, but differing essentially in operation, is the
+institution, peculiarly a product of nineteenth century religion,
+which we know as the Social or College Settlement. Though it does not
+claim a distinctively religious character, its principles are so
+thoroughly identical with Christianity, that no survey of the
+religious life of the century would be complete without a recognition
+of it. It is the spirit that brought the Founder of Christianity to
+the earth, to live a lowly life among men, which inspires the Social
+Settlement. It is generally an unostentatious house in some crowded
+neighborhood, where the people are poor and life is hard. In the house
+are a number of college-bred men, or women, who come in relays and
+live there for a week or a month or longer. They do no missionary
+work, do not preach, or denounce, or instruct their neighbors, but
+they live among them a cleanly, helpful, friendly life, welcoming them
+cordially as visitors, advising them if advice is sought, rendering
+help in difficulties and being neighborly in the best sense of the
+word. There are concerts in the house, exhibitions of pictures,
+children's parties and amusements of various kinds to which all the
+neighbors are welcome. Charity is no part of the Settlement's
+programme. It does not give, but it extends a brotherly hand, and in a
+spirit of friendship and equality seeks to do a brother's part in
+brightening lowly lives. Hundreds of such institutions are in
+operation on both sides the Atlantic. To the credit of this century be
+it said that it has seen in these institutions the Parable of the Good
+Samaritan made a living fact in intelligent organization.
+
+Tending directly toward the same object, is the religious enterprise
+now commonly known as the Institutional Church. It is a distinct gain
+to the church if the people in its vicinity discover that it is
+anxious to help them to a better and happier life in this world, as
+well as guiding them to happiness in the next. The Divine Founder of
+Christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need
+saving, as well as souls, and some of His followers are following His
+example. Their churches do not stand closed and silent from Sunday to
+Sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of
+practical helpfulness. Temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing
+meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of
+helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their
+home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are
+finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual
+contact with them and devising means to supply them. The critics say
+this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among
+the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in
+their welfare.
+
+
+THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
+
+Of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most
+extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be
+mentioned. Though this century did not see the birth of the Sunday
+School, it has witnessed its wonderful development. In June, 1784,
+Robert Raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the
+religious instruction of children on the Lord's Day, and before the
+close of the year, John Wesley wrote that he found Sunday Schools
+springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight:
+"Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who
+knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians?"
+Within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into
+the Sunday Schools. So much had already been done before the beginning
+of the century. But even then men did not realize whereunto the
+movement was destined to grow. Probably no enterprise has really
+exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the
+time. Children have entered the schools, passed through their grades,
+have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have
+followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves
+to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the Sunday
+School was unknown. The organization of Sunday School Unions, the
+introduction of the International Lesson System, and the City, State
+and National Conventions are all the developments of this century. The
+thought that a million and a half of Sunday School teachers are now
+engaged in every clime, Sunday by Sunday, in teaching the children and
+young people the truths of Christianity is enough to fill the mind of
+the Christian with thankfulness and hope.
+
+
+PULPIT AND PRESS.
+
+It would be beyond the scope of an article of this character to
+attempt to recall the names of the eminent preachers of the century.
+It has been singularly rich in men of eloquence, depth of thought and
+high culture. A few, however, are distinguished among the noble army
+by the phenomenal character of their work. Of these probably no name
+is so widely known as that of Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D. One of the
+most remarkable phenomena of the religious world in this century, is
+the fact that every week one preacher should address an audience
+numbered by millions. The fact is unprecedented. Of all classes of
+readers, the number of those who read sermons is considered the
+smallest, yet this century has produced a preacher whose sermons
+command a public larger than that of a fascinating novelist. For
+thirty years the newspapers have been publishing Dr. Talmage's sermons
+in every city of his own land, in every English-speaking land and in
+many foreign lands where they are translated for publication. It is a
+significant fact, which should gratify every Christian, that the man
+whose words reach regularly and surely the largest audience in the
+world should be a preacher of the Gospel.
+
+To no man in any walk of life, whether politician, editor or author,
+has the opportunity of impressing his thoughts on his generation that
+Dr. Talmage enjoys been given in such fulness. Next in extent of
+influence, and with a like faculty of reaching immense and widely
+scattered masses of people, was the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a
+preacher of singularly homely power, Calvinistic in theology,
+epigrammatic in style, and with an earnest evangelical spirit which
+had a powerful influence on both hearers and readers. His sermons,
+like those of Dr. Talmage, were read in every land and were
+instrumental in conversions wherever they went. Strongly resembling
+Mr. Spurgeon in his strong evangelicalism, as well as in homely
+eloquence, is Mr. D.L. Moody. During this century probably no man has
+addressed so large a number of people. In this country and in England
+such audiences have thronged the buildings in which he preached as no
+other orator has ever addressed on religious subjects, and the
+influence of his words is demonstrated by the thousands who through
+his appeals have been led to Christ.
+
+We are nearing the end of the century. Looking back over the events in
+the religious world which have marked its history, one characteristic
+is prominent above all others. It is the operation of the force to
+which an eminent writer has given the name of "spiritual dynamics."
+The world does not need a dogma, or a creed, so much as it needs
+power. It needs power to live right, to do right, to love God and man,
+to pity the fallen, to relieve the needy, the power of being good, of
+leading a spiritual life. This power it finds in Christ and the whole
+tendency of the religious life of the century is to get back to him.
+Conduct rather than creed, love rather than theology, have been the
+watchwords of the church. The spirit of Christ, His teachings, His
+character, His example, are the centre of attraction which holds His
+church together and endues it with the power which shall yet subdue
+the world.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH
+CENTURY***
+
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century, by
+Various, Edited by John Clark Ridpath</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century</p>
+<p>       Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World</p>
+<p>Author: Various</p>
+<p>Editor: John Clark Ridpath</p>
+<p>Release Date: May 14, 2005  [eBook #15824]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Richard J. Shiffer,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="title2">NOTABLE EVENTS</p>
+<p class="title4">OF THE</p>
+<p class="title2">NINETEENTH CENTURY.</p>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<p class="title3">
+Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the<br />
+Progress of the World,</p>
+<p class="title4">IN A SERIES OF SHORT STUDIES.</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/p001-sm.png" width="400" height="292" alt="[Illustration]"  />
+</div>
+<p class="fm2">Compiled and Edited</p>
+<p class="fm3">By <span class="smcap">John Clark Ridpath.</span></p>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<p class="fm2">PUBLISHED BY</p>
+<p class="fm3">THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,</p>
+<p class="fm2"><span class="smcap">Louis Klopsch</span>, Proprietor,</p>
+<p class="fm2">BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK.</p>
+<p class="fm2">1896</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" id="page2"></a>[pg 2]</span></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr  />
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>This little volume constitutes one number of the Christian Herald
+Library series for 1896-97. The title indicates the scope and purpose
+of the work. Of heavy reading the reader of to-day no doubt has a
+sufficiency. Of light reading, that straw-and-chaff literature that
+fills the air until the senses are confused with the whirlwind and
+dust of it, he has a sufficiency also. Of that intermediate kind of
+reading which is neither so heavy with erudition as to weigh us down
+nor so light with the flying folly of prejudice as to make us
+distracted with its dust, there is perhaps too little. The thoughtful
+and improving passage for the unoccupied half hour of him who hurries
+through these closing years of the century does not abound, but is
+rather wanting in the intellectual provision of the age.</p>
+
+<p>Let this volume serve to supply, in part at least, the want for brief
+readings on important subjects. Herein a number of topics have been
+chosen from the progress of the century and made the subjects of as
+many brief studies that may be realized in a few minutes' reading and
+remembered for long. Certainly there is no attempt to make these short
+stories exhaustive, but only to make <span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span>them hintful of larger readings
+and more thoughtful and patient inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>The Editor is fully aware of the very large circulation and wide
+reading to which this little volume will soon be subjected. For this
+reason he has taken proper pains to make the work of such merit as may
+justly recommend it to the thoughtful as well as the transient and
+unthoughtful reader. It cannot, we think, prove to be a wholly
+profitless task to offer these different studies, gathered from the
+highways and byways of the great century, to the thousands of good and
+busy people into whose hands the volume will fall. To all such the
+Editor hopes that it may carry a measure of profit as well as a
+message of peace.</p>
+
+<p class="right">J.C.R.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<p class="center">
+[All articles not otherwise designated are by the Editor.]
+<br />
+</p>
+<p class="heading">CRISES IN CIVIL SOCIETY.</p>
+
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>Brumaire&mdash;The Overthrow Of The French Directory,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page9">9</a></span></li>
+<li>How the Son of Equality Became King of France,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page14">14</a></span></li>
+<li>The Coup d'Etat of 1851,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page19">19</a></span></li>
+<li>The Chartist Agitation in England,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page23">23</a></span></li>
+<li>The Abolition of Human Bondage,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page27">27</a></span></li>
+<li>The Peril of Our Centennial Year,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page35">35</a></span></li>
+<li>The Double F&ecirc;te in France and Germany,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page40">40</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="heading">GREAT BATTLES.</p>
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>Trafalgar,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page44">44</a></span></li>
+<li>Campaign of Austerlitz,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page50">50</a></span></li>
+<li>"Friedland&mdash;1807",<span class="tocright"><a href="#page55">55</a></span></li>
+<li>Under the Russian Snows,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page59">59</a></span></li>
+<li>Waterloo,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page63">63</a></span></li>
+<li>Sebastopol,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page71">71</a></span></li>
+<li>Sadowa,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page77">77</a></span></li>
+<li>Capture of Mexico,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page84">84</a></span></li>
+<li>Vicksburg,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page89">89</a></span></li>
+<li>Gettysburg,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page95">95</a></span></li>
+<li>Spottsylvania,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page104">104</a></span></li>
+<li>Appomattox,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page112">112</a></span></li>
+<li>Sedan, by Victor Hugo,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page118">118</a></span></li>
+<li>Bazaine and Metz,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page129">129</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="heading">ASTRONOMICAL VISTAS.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span></p>
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>The Century of the Asteroids,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page136">136</a></span></li>
+<li>The Story of Neptune,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page146">146</a></span></li>
+<li>Evolution of the Telescope,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page156">156</a></span></li>
+<li>The New Astronomy,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page165">165</a></span></li>
+<li>What the Worlds Are Made Of,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page175">175</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="heading">PROGRESS IN DISCOVERY AND INVENTION.</p>
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>The First Steamboat and its Maker,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page184">184</a></span></li>
+<li>Telegraphing before Morse,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page196">196</a></span></li>
+<li>The New Light of Men,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page205">205</a></span></li>
+<li>The Telephone,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page216">216</a></span></li>
+<li>The Machine That Talks Back,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page225">225</a></span></li>
+<li>Evolution of the Dynamo, by Professor Joseph P. Naylor,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page235">235</a></span></li>
+<li>The Unknown Ray and Entography,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page244">244</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="heading">STAGES IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY.</p>
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>The New Inoculation,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page256">256</a></span></li>
+<li>Koch's Battle with the Invisible Enemy,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page266">266</a></span></li>
+<li>Achievements in Surgery,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page276">276</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="heading">GREAT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span><br />
+<span class="smaller">BY B.J. FERNIE, PH.D.</span></p>
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>Defence on New Lines,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page284">284</a></span></li>
+<li>Evangelical Activity,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page289">289</a></span></li>
+<li>Bible Revision,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page291">291</a></span></li>
+<li>Bibles by the Million,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page293">293</a></span></li>
+<li>A Great Missionary Era,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page296">296</a></span></li>
+<li>Preaching to Heathen at Home,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page299">299</a></span></li>
+<li>Churches Drawing Together,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page304">304</a></span></li>
+<li>Organized Activities,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page308">308</a></span></li>
+<li>Humanitarian Work,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page314">314</a></span></li>
+<li>The Sunday School,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page316">316</a></span></li>
+<li>Pulpit and Press,<span class="tocright"><a href="#page318">318</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span>
+<br />
+</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span></p>
+
+<h1><a name="Notable_Events_of_the_Nineteenth_Century" id="Notable_Events_of_the_Nineteenth_Century"></a>Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century.</h1>
+<hr  />
+<h2>Crises in Civil Society.</h2>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>BRUMAIRE.</h3>
+
+<p class="heading">THE OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH DIRECTORY.</p>
+
+<p>The eighteenth century went out with the French Directory, and the
+nineteenth came in with the Consulate. The coincidence of dates is not
+exact by a year and a month and twenty-one days. But history does not
+pay much attention to almanacs. In general our century arose with the
+French Consulate. The Consulate was the most conspicuous political
+fact of Europe in the year 1801; and the Consulate came in with
+<i>Brumaire</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Brumaire" is one of the extraordinary names invented by the
+French Revolutionists. The word, according to Carlyle, means
+<i>Fogarious</i>&mdash;that is, Fog month. In the French Republican calendar,
+devised by the astronomer Romme, in 1792, Brumaire <span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span>began on the
+twenty-second day of October and ended on the twentieth day of
+November. It remained for Brumaire, and the eighteenth day of
+Brumaire, of the year VIII, to extinguish the plural executive which
+the French democrats had created under the name of a <i>Directory</i>, and
+to substitute therefor the One Man that was coming.</p>
+
+<p>The Directory was a Council of Five. It was a sort of five-headed
+presidency; and each head was the head of a Jacobin. One of the heads
+was called Barras. One was called Carnot. Another was called
+Barthelemy. Another was Roger Ducos; another was the Abb&eacute; Sieyes. That
+was the greatest head of them all. The heads were much mixed, though
+the body was one. In such a body cross counsels were always uppermost,
+and there was a want of decision and force in the government.</p>
+
+<p>This condition of the Executive Department led to the deplorable
+reverses which overtook the French armies during the absence of
+General Bonaparte in Egypt. Thiers says that the Directorial Republic
+exhibited at this time a scene of distressing confusion. He adds: "The
+Directory gave up guillotining; it only transported. It ceased to
+force people to take assignats upon pain of death; but it paid nobody.
+Our soldiers, without arms and without <span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span>bread, were beaten instead of
+being victorious."</p>
+
+<p>The ambition of Napoleon found in this situation a fitting
+opportunity. The legislative branch of the government consisted of a
+Senate, or Council of Ancients, and a Council of Five Hundred. The
+latter constituted the popular branch. Of this body Lucien Bonaparte,
+brother of the general, was president. Hardly had Napoleon arrived in
+the capital on his return from Egypt when a conspiracy was formed by
+him with Sieyes, Lucien and others of revolutionary disposition, to do
+away by a <i>coup</i> with the too democratic system, and to replace it
+with a stronger and more centralized order. The Council of Ancients
+was to be brought around by the influence of Sieyes. To Lucien
+Bonaparte the more difficult task was assigned of controlling and
+revolutionizing the Assembly. As for Napoleon, Sieyes procured for him
+the command of the military forces of Paris; and by another decree the
+sittings of the two legislative bodies were transferred to St. Cloud.</p>
+
+<p>The eighteenth Brumaire of the Year VIII, corresponding to the ninth
+of November, 1799, was fixed as the day for the revolution. By that
+date soldiers to the number of 10,000 men had been collected in the
+gardens of the Tuileries. There they were <span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span>reviewed by General
+Bonaparte and the leading officers of his command. He read to the
+soldiers the decree which had just been issued under the authority of
+the Council of the Ancients. This included the order for the removal
+of the legislative body to St. Cloud, and for his own command. He was
+entrusted with the execution of the order of the Council, and all of
+the military forces in Paris were put at his disposal. In these hours
+of the day there were all manner of preparation. That a conspiracy
+existed was manifest to everybody. That General Bonaparte was reaching
+for the supreme authority could hardly be doubted. His secretary thus
+writes of him on the morning of the great day.</p>
+
+<p>"I was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the
+eighteenth Brumaire, and, on my arrival, I found a great number of
+generals and officers assembled. I entered Bonaparte's chamber, and
+found him already up&mdash;a thing rather unusual with him. At this moment
+he was as calm as on the approach of a battle. In a few moments Joseph
+and Bernadotte arrived. I was surprised to see Bernadotte in plain
+clothes, and I stepped up to him and said in a low voice: 'General,
+everyone here except you and I is in uniform.' 'Why should I be in
+uniform?' said he. Bonaparte, turning quickly to him, said: 'How <span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span>is
+this? You are not in uniform.' 'I never am on a morning when I am not
+on duty,' replied Bernadotte. 'You will be on duty presently,' said
+the general!"</p>
+
+<p>To Napoleon the crisis was an epoch of fate. The first thing was to be
+the resignation of Sieyes, Barras and Ducos, which&mdash;coming suddenly on
+the appointed morning&mdash;broke up the Directory. Bonaparte then put out
+his hand as commander of the troops. Too late the Republicans of the
+Council of Five Hundred felt the earthquake swelling under their feet.
+Napoleon appeared at the bar of the Assembly, and attempted a rambling
+and incoherent justification for what was going on. A motion was made
+to outlaw him; but the soldiers rushed in, and the refractory members
+were seized and expelled. A few who were in the revolution remained,
+and to the number of fifty voted a decree making Sieyes, Bonaparte and
+Ducos provisional <i>Consuls</i>, thus conferring on them the supreme
+executive power of the State. By nightfall the business was
+accomplished, and the man of Ajaccio slept in the palace of the
+Tuileries. He had said to his secretary, Bourriene, on that morning,
+"We shall sleep to-night in the Tuileries&mdash;or in prison."</p>
+
+<p>The new order was immediately made organic. There could be no question
+when Three Consuls were appointed and Bonaparte <span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span>one of the number,
+which of the three would be <i>First</i> Consul. He would be that himself;
+the other two might be the ciphers which should make his unit 100. The
+new system was defined as the "Provisionary Consulate;" but this form
+was only transitional. The managers of the <i>coup</i> went rapidly forward
+to make it permanent. The Constitution of the Year III gave place
+quickly to the Constitution of the Year VIII, which provided for an
+executive government, under the name of the <span class="smcap">Consulate</span>.
+Nominally the Consulate was to be an executive committee of three, but
+really an executive committee of <i>one</i>&mdash;with two associates. The three
+men chosen were Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean Jacques Cambaceres and
+Charles Francois Lebrun. On Christmas day, 1799, Napoleon was made
+<span class="smcap">First Consul</span>; and that signified the beginning of a new
+order, destined to endure for sixteen and a half years, and to end at
+Waterloo. The old century was dying and the new was ready to arise out
+of its ashes.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<h3>HOW THE SON OF EQUALITY BECAME KING OF FRANCE.</h3>
+
+<p>The French Revolution spared not anything that stood in its way. The
+royal houses were in its way, and they went down <span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span>before the blast.
+Thus did the House of Bourbon, and thus did also the House of Orleans.
+The latter branch, however, sought by its living representatives to
+compromise with the storm. The Orleans princes have always had a touch
+of liberalism to which the members of the Bourbon branch were
+strangers.</p>
+
+<p>At the outbreak of the Revolution, Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of
+Orleans, fraternized with the popular party, threw away his princely
+title and named himself Philippe Egalit&eacute;; that is, as we should say,
+Mr. <i>Equality</i> Philip. In this character he participated in the
+National Assembly until he fell under distrust, and in despite of his
+defence and protestations&mdash;in spite of the fact that he had voted for
+the death of his cousin the king&mdash;was seized, condemned and
+guillotined.</p>
+
+<p>This Equality Philip left as his representative in the world a son who
+was twenty years old when his father was executed. The son was that
+Louis Philippe who, under his surname of <i>Roi Citoyen</i>, or "Citizen
+King," was destined after extraordinary vicissitudes to hold the
+sceptre of France for eighteen years. Young Louis Philippe was a
+soldier in the republican armies. That might well have saved him from
+persecution; but his princely blood could not be excused. He was by
+birth the Duke of Valois, and by <span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span>succession the Duke of Chartres. As
+a boy, eight years of age, he had received for his governess the
+celebrated Madame de Genlis, who remained faithful to him in all his
+misfortunes. At eighteen he became a dragoon in the Vendome Regiment,
+and in 1792 he fought valiantly under Kellermann and Dumouriez at
+Valmy and Jemappes. Then followed the treason, or defection, of
+Dumouriez; but young Louis remained with the army for two years
+longer, when, being proscribed, he went into exile, finding refuge
+with other suspected officers and many refugees in Switzerland.</p>
+
+<p>Thither Dumouriez himself had gone. Of the flight of young Louis,
+Carlyle says: "Brave young Egalit&eacute; reaches Switzerland and the Genlis
+Cottage; with a strong crabstick in his hand, a strong heart in his
+body: his Princedom is now reduced to <i>that</i> Egalit&eacute; the father sat
+playing whist, in his Palais Egalit&eacute;, at Paris, on the sixth day of
+this same month of April, when a catchpole entered. Citoyen Egalit&eacute; is
+wanted at the Convention Committee!" What the committee wanted with
+Equality Philip and what they did with him has been stated above.</p>
+
+<p>Consider then that the Napoleonic era has at last set in blood.
+Consider that the Restoration, with the reigns of Louis XVIII. and
+Charles X., has gone by. Consider <span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span>that the "Three Days of July,"
+1830, have witnessed a bloodless revolution in Paris, in which the
+House of Bourbon was finally overthrown and blown away. On the second
+of August, Charles X. gave over the hopeless struggle and abdicated in
+favor of his son. But the Chamber of Deputies and the people of France
+had now wearied of Bourbonism in <i>all</i> of its forms, and the nation
+was determined to have a king of its own choosing.</p>
+
+<p>The Chamber set about the work of selecting a new ruler for France. At
+this juncture, Thiers and Mignet again asserted their strength and
+influence by nominating for the throne Louis Philippe, Duke of
+Orleans, representative of what is known as the Younger Branch of the
+Bourbon dynasty. The prince himself was not loath to present himself
+at the crisis, and to offer his services to the nation. In so doing,
+he was favored greatly by his character and antecedents. At the first,
+the Chamber voted to place him at the head of the kingdom with the
+title of <i>Lieutenant-General</i>. The prince accepted his election, met
+the Chamber of Deputies and members of the Provisional Government at
+the Hotel de Ville, and there solemnly pledged himself to the most
+liberal principles of administration. His accession to power in his
+military relations was hailed with great delight by the Parisians, who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span>waved the tri-color flag before him as he came, and shouted to their
+heart's content.</p>
+
+<p>At this stage of the revolution the representatives of the overthrown
+House and of the Old Royalty sought assiduously to obtain from Louis
+Philippe a recognition of the young Count de Chambord, under the title
+of Henry V. But the Duke of Orleans was too wily a politician to be
+caught in such a snare. He at first suppressed that part of the letter
+of abdication signed by Charles and Angoul&ecirc;me in which reference was
+made to the succession of the Duke of Berry's son; but a knowledge of
+that clause was presently disseminated in the city, and the tumult
+broke out anew.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was that a great mob, rolling out of Paris in the direction of
+the Hotel Rambouillet, gave the signal of flight to Charles and those
+who had adhered to the toppling fortunes of his house. The Chamber of
+Deputies proceeded quickly to undo the despotic acts of the late king,
+and then elected Louis Philippe king, not of <i>France</i>, but of the
+<i>French</i>. The new sovereign received 219 out of 252 votes in the
+Deputies. His elevation to power was one of the most striking examples
+of personal vicissitudes which has ever been afforded by the princes
+and rulers of modern times.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE COUP D'ETAT OF 1851.</h3>
+
+<p>With the overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848, what is known as the
+Second Republic, was established in France. On the tenth of December,
+in that year, a president was elected in the American manner for a
+term of four years. To the astonishment of the whole world, the man so
+elected was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who had since the downfall of
+Napoleon been prisoner, exile and adventurer by turns. In the course
+of President Louis Napoleon's administration, matters came to such a
+pass between him and the National Assembly that one or the other must
+go to the wall.</p>
+
+<p>In the early winter of 1851, a crisis came on which broke in a
+marvelous manner in the event called the Coup d'Etat. The President
+made up his mind to conquer the Assembly by force. He planned what is
+known in modern history by pre-eminence the stroke. He, and those whom
+he trusted, made their arrangements secretly, silently, that the
+"stroke" should fall on the night of the second of December. On that
+evening the President held a gay reception in the palace of the
+Elysee, and after his guests had retired, the scheme was perfected for
+immediate execution.</p>
+
+<p>During the night seventy-eight of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span>leading members of the
+Opposition were seized at their own houses and taken to prison. The
+representatives of the people were hurried through the streets, and
+suddenly immured where their voices could be no longer heard. At the
+same time a strong force of soldiers was stationed near the Tuileries.
+The offices of the liberal newspapers were seized and closed, and the
+Government printing presses were employed all night in printing the
+proclamation with which the walls of the city were covered before
+morning. With the coming of daylight, Paris awoke and read:</p>
+
+<ol>
+<li>The National Assembly is dissolved;</li>
+<li>Universal suffrage is re-established;</li>
+<li>The Elective Colleges are summoned to meet on December 21;</li>
+<li>Paris is in a state of siege.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>By the side of this proclamation was posted the President's address to
+the people. He proposed the election of a president for ten years. He
+referred the army to the neglect which it had received at the hands of
+former governments, and promised that the soldiery of France should
+rewin its ancient renown.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as those members of the Assembly who had not been arrested
+could realize the thing which was done, they ran together and
+attempted to stay the tide of revolution by passing a vote deposing
+the President <span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span>from office. But the effort was futile. A republican
+insurrection, under the leadership of Victor Hugo and a few other
+distinguished Liberals, broke out in the city. But there was in the
+nature of the case no concert of action, no resources behind the
+insurrection, and no military leadership. General Canrobert,
+Commandant of the Guards, soon put down the revolt in blood. Order was
+speedily restored throughout Paris, and the victory of the President
+was complete. It only remained to submit his usurpation to the
+judgment of the people, and the decision in that case could, under
+existing conditions, hardly be a matter of doubt.</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with the President's proclamation, a popular election
+was held throughout France, on the twentieth and twenty-first of
+December, at which the Coup d'Etat was signally vindicated. Louis
+Napoleon was triumphantly elected President, for a period of ten
+years. Out of eight millions of votes, fewer than one million were
+cast against him. He immediately entered upon office, backed by this
+tremendous majority, and became Dictator of France. In January of
+1852, sharp on the heels of the revolution which he had effected, he
+promulgated a new constitution. The instrument was based upon that of
+1789, and possessed but few clauses to which <span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span>any right-minded lover
+of free institutions could object. On the twenty-eighth of March,
+Napoleon resigned the dictatorship, which he had held since the Coup
+d'Etat, and resumed the office of President of the Republic.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long, however, until the <i>After That</i> began to appear.
+Already in the summer and autumn of 1852 it became evident that the
+<i>Empire</i> was to be re-established. In the season of the vintage the
+President made a tour of the country, and was received with cries of
+<i>Vive L'Empereur</i>! In his addresses, particularly in that which he
+delivered at Bordeaux, the sentiment of Empire was cautiously offered
+to the people. The consummation was soon reached. On the seventh of
+November, 1852, a vote was passed by the French Senate for the
+re-establishment of the imperial order, and for the submission of the
+proposed measure to a popular vote.</p>
+
+<p>The event showed conclusively that the French nation, as then
+constituted, was Bonapartist to the core. Louis Napoleon was almost
+unanimously elected to the imperial dignity. Of the eight millions of
+suffrages of France, only a few scattering thousands were recorded in
+the negative. Thus, in a blaze of glory that might well have satisfied
+the ambition of the First Bonaparte, did he, who, only twelve years
+before at Boulogne, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span>had tried most ridiculously to excite a paltry
+rebellion by the display of a pet-eagle to his followers, mount the
+Imperial throne of France with the title of Napoleon III.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE CHARTIST AGITATION IN ENGLAND.</h3>
+
+<p>One of the most important political movements of the present century
+was the Chartist agitation in Great Britain. This agitation began in
+1838. It was an effort of the under man in England to gain his rights.
+In the retrospect, it seems to us astonishing that such rights as
+those that were then claimed by the common people of England should
+ever have been denied to the citizens of any free country. The period
+covered by the excitement was about ten years in duration, and during
+that period great and salutary reforms were effected, but they were
+not thorough, and to this day the under man in Great Britain is mocked
+with the <i>semblance</i> of political liberty, the <i>substance</i> of which he
+does not enjoy; the same is true in America.</p>
+
+<p>The name <i>Chartist</i> arose from an article called the "People's
+Charter," which was prepared by the famous Daniel O'Connell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> The
+document contained six propositions, follows:</p>
+
+<p>(1) We demand Universal Suffrage&mdash;by which was meant rather Manhood
+Suffrage than what is now known as universal suffrage, meaning the
+ballot in the hands of both sexes. This the Chartists did not demand.</p>
+
+<p>(2) We demand an Annual Parliament&mdash;by which was meant the election of
+a new House of Commons each year by the people.</p>
+
+<p>(3) We demand the right to Vote by Ballot&mdash;by which was meant the
+right of the people to employ a <i>secret</i> ballot at the elections
+instead of the method <i>viva voce</i>.</p>
+
+<p>(4) We demand the abolition of the Property Qualification now
+requisite as a condition of eligibility to Membership in the House of
+Commons.</p>
+
+<p>(5) We demand that the Members of Parliament shall be paid a salary
+for their services.</p>
+
+<p>(6) We demand the Division of the Country into Equal Electoral
+Districts&mdash;by which was meant an equality of <i>population</i>, as against
+mere territorial extent.</p>
+
+<p>To the reader of to-day it must appear a matter of astonishment that
+the representatives of the working classes of Great Britain should
+have been called upon, at a time within the memory of men still
+living, to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span>advance and advocate political principles so self-evident
+and common-sense as those declared in the Charter, and his wonder must
+be raised to amazement when he is told that the whole governing power
+of Great Britain, the King, the Ministry, the House of Lords, the
+House of Commons, the Tories as a party, the Whigs as a party,
+and&mdash;all party divisions aside&mdash;the great Middle Class of Englishmen
+set themselves in horrified antagonism to the Charter and its
+advocates, as though the former were the most incendiary document in
+the world and the latter a rabble of radicals gathered from the
+purlieus of the French Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>The reason for the outbreak of the Chartist reform was the fact that
+the Reform Bill of 1832 had proved a signal failure. For six years the
+English Middle Classes had sought by the agency of that act to gain
+their rights, but they had sought in vain. The people now began to
+follow popular leaders, who always arise under such conditions. One of
+these, by the name of Thorn, a bankrupt brewer and half madman, who
+called himself Sir William Courtenay, appeared in Canterbury. He said
+that he was a Knight of Malta and King of Jerusalem&mdash;this when he was
+only a knight of malt and a king of shreds and patches. Delusion broke
+out on every hand. One great leader was Feargus O'Connor. Another was
+Thomas Cooper, a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span>poet, and a third was the orator Henry Vincent,
+afterward well known in America.</p>
+
+<p>The agitation for reform spread far and wide. The people seemed to be
+about to rise <i>en masse</i>. The powers of British society were shaken
+and alarmed. The authorities put out their hands and the Chartist
+meetings in many places were broken up. The leading spirits were
+seized and thrown into prison for nothing. Three of the agitators were
+sent to the penal colonies, for no other offence than the delivery of
+democratic speeches. For several years the movement was in abeyance,
+but in 1848, in the month of April, the agitation broke out afresh and
+rose to a formidable climax. A great meeting was appointed for the
+Kensington common, and there, on the tenth of the month just named, a
+monster demonstration was held. A petition had meanwhile been drawn
+up, praying for reform, and was <i>signed by nearly two million
+Englishmen</i>!</p>
+
+<p>After this the Chartist agitation ebbed away. The movement was said to
+be a failure; but it failed, not because of the political principles
+on which it was founded, but because those principles had in the
+meantime been acknowledged and applied. At least three of the six
+articles of the Chartist charter were soon adopted by Parliament. The
+principle of Manhood Suffrage is virtually a part of the English
+Constitution. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span>right of voting by Secret Ballot, deposited in a
+ballot-box, has also been acknowledged as a part of the <i>modus
+operandi</i> of all British elections. In like manner the Property
+Qualification formerly imposed on candidates for Parliament, against
+which the Chartists so vehemently and justly declaimed, has long since
+been abolished.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<h3>THE ABOLITION OF HUMAN BONDAGE.</h3>
+
+<p>Certainly no greater deed of philanthropy has been accomplished by
+mankind than the extinction of human servitude. True, that horrible
+relic of antiquity has not yet been wholly obliterated from the world,
+but the nineteenth century has dealt upon it such staggering and fatal
+blows as have driven it from all the high places of civilization and
+made it crouch in obscure corners and unenlightened regions on the
+outskirts of paganism. Slavery has not indeed been extinguished; but
+it is scotched, and must expire. According to the tendency of things,
+the sun in his course at the middle of the twentieth century will
+hardly light the hovel of a single slave!</p>
+
+<p>The opening of the modern era found slavery universally distributed.
+There was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span>perhaps at the middle of the eighteenth century not a
+single non-slave-holding race or nation on the globe! All were alike
+brutalized by the influences and traditions of the ancient system. All
+were familiar with it&mdash;aye, they were nursed by it; for it has been
+one of the strange aspects of human life that the children of the free
+have been nursed by the mothers of the enslaved. All races, we repeat,
+were alike poisoned with the venom of the serpent. Thus poisoned were
+France and Germany. Thus poisoned was England; and thus also our
+colonies. Time was, even down to the dawn of the Revolution, when
+every American colony was slave-holding. Time was when the system was
+taught in the schools and preached in the pulpits of all the civilized
+world.</p>
+
+<p>It was about the Revolutionary epoch, that is, the last quarter of the
+eighteenth century, when the conscience of men began to be active on
+the subject of human bondage. We think that the disposition to
+recognize the wickedness and impolity of slavery was a part of the
+general movement which came on in civilization, tending to
+revolutionize not only the political but the social and ethical
+condition of mankind. We know well that in our own country, when our
+political institutions were in process of formation slavery was
+courageously <span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span>challenged. It was not challenged more audaciously in
+the Northern than in the Southern colonies. Some of the latter, as,
+for example, Georgia, had at the first excluded slavery as a thing
+intolerable to freedom and righteousness. The leading men of the old
+Southern States at the close of the last century nearly all repudiated
+slavery in principle. They admitted it only in practice and because it
+was a part of their inheritance. The patriots, both North and South,
+were averse not only to the extension of the area of bondage, but to
+the existence of it as a fact.</p>
+
+<p>Washington was at heart an anti-slavery man. He wished in his heavy
+but wholly patriotic way as heartily as Lincoln wished that all men
+might enjoy the blessings of freedom. Jefferson was almost radical on
+the question. Though he did not heartily believe in an overruling
+Providence, he felt the need of one when he considered the afflictive
+system of slavery with which his State and country were encumbered. He
+said that considering it he trembled when he remembered that God is
+just.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the unprofitableness of slavery in the Northern colonies had
+co-operated with the conscience of Puritanism to engender a sentiment
+against slavery in that part of the Union. So, although the
+institution was tolerated in the Constitution and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span>even had guarantees
+thrown around it, it was, nevertheless, disfavored in our fundamental
+law. One may readily see how the patriots labored with this portentous
+question. Already in Great Britain an anti-slavery sentiment had
+appeared. There were anti-slavery leaders, statesmen, philosophers and
+philanthropists. By the terms of the Constitution the slave <i>trade</i>
+should cease in the year 1808. Sad to reflect that the inventive
+genius of man and the prodigality of nature in her gifts of cotton,
+sugar and rice to the old South should have produced a reaction in
+favor of slavery so great as to fasten it more strongly than ever upon
+our country.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, that to all human seeming at the middle of our century
+American slavery seemed to be more firmly established than ever
+before. Neither the outcry of the Northern abolitionists nor the
+appeals of Southern patriots such as Henry Clay, availed to check the
+pro-slavery disposition in fully one-half the Union, or to abate the
+covert favor with which the institution was regarded in nearly all the
+other half.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, however, slavery was suffering and expiring in nearly all
+parts of Europe. England began her battle against it even before the
+beginning of the century. The work of the philanthropists, begun as
+far back as 1786-87, when the Quakers, under the leadership of
+Clarkson and Sharpe, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span>began to cry out against the atrocity of human
+bondage, now reached the public authorities, and ministers found it
+necessary to take heed of what the people were saying and doing. Both
+Pitt and Fox became abolitionists before the close of the eighteenth
+century. The first attack was against the slave <i>trade</i>. Bills for the
+abolition of this trade were passed in 1793-94 by the House of
+Commons, but were rejected by the Peers. In 1804 another act was
+passed; but this also was rejected by the Lords. So too, the bill of
+1805! The agitation continued during 1806; and in 1807, just after the
+death of Fox, the slave trade <i>was</i> abolished in Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>The abolitionists went straight ahead, however, to attack slavery
+itself. The Anti-slavery Society was founded. Clarkson and Wilberforce
+and Buxton became the evangels of a new order that was seen far off.
+It was not, however, until the great reform agitation of 1832 that the
+government really took up the question of the abolition of slavery.
+The bill for this purpose was introduced in the House of Commons on
+the twenty-third of April, 1833. The process of abolition was to be
+<i>gradual</i>. The masters were to be <i>compensated</i>. There were to be
+periods of apprenticeship, after which freedom should supervene.
+Twenty million pounds were to be appropriated from the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span>national
+treasury to pay the expenses of the abolition process.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the seventh of August, 1833, that this bill was adopted by
+the House of Commons. Two weeks afterward the House of Lords assented,
+and on the twenty-eighth of August the royal assent was given. The
+emancipation, however, was set for the first of August, 1834; and this
+is the date from which the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and
+her dependencies may be said to have occurred. In some parts, however,
+the actual process of extinguishing slavery lagged. It was not until
+1843 that the 12,000,000 of slaves under British control in the empire
+were emancipated.</p>
+
+<p>The virtual extinction of human slavery in the present century,
+presents a peculiar ethnical study. Among the Latin races, the French
+were the first to move for emancipation. It appears that the infusion
+of Gallic blood, as well as the large influence of the Frankish
+nations in the production of the modern French, has given to that
+people a bias in favor of liberty. All the other Latin races have
+lagged behind; but, France foreran even Great Britain in the work of
+abolition. Scarcely had the great Revolution of 1789 got under way,
+until an act of abolition conceding freedom to all men without regard
+to race or color was adopted by the National Assembly.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span></p>
+
+<p>It was on the fifteenth of May, 1791, that this great act was passed.
+One of the darkest aspects of the character of Napoleon I. was the
+favor which he showed to the project of restoring slavery in the
+French colonies. But that project was in vain. The blow of freedom
+once struck produced its everlasting results. Though slavery lingered
+for nearly a half century in some of the French colonies, it survived
+there only because of the revolutions in the home government which
+prevented its final extinction. Acts were passed for the utter
+extirpation of the system during the reign of Louis Philippe, and
+again in the time of the Second Republic.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the northern nations proceeded with the work of abolition.
+In Sweden slavery ceased in 1847. In the following year Denmark passed
+an Act of Emancipation. But the Netherlands did not follow in the good
+work until the year 1860. The Spaniards and Portuguese have been among
+the last to cling to the system of human servitude. In the outlying
+possessions of Spain, in Spanish America and elsewhere, the
+institution still maintains a precarious existence. In Brazil it was
+not abolished until 1871. In the Mohammedan countries it still exists,
+and may even be said to flourish. In Russia serfdom was abolished in
+1863. He who at that date looked abroad <span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span>over the world, might see the
+pillars of human bondage shaken, and falling in every part of the
+habitable globe which had been reclaimed by civilization.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, Great Britain, in her usual aggressive way, had
+established an anti-slavery propaganda, from which strong influences
+extended in every direction. Her Anti-slavery Society re-established
+itself in the United States. Abolition candidates for the presidency
+began to be heard of and to be voted for at every quadrennial
+election. Such was Birney in 1844. Such (strange to say) was Martin
+Van Buren in 1848. Such four years afterward was John P. Hale, of New
+Hampshire, and such in 1856, as the storm came on, was John C.
+Fremont.</p>
+
+<p>The political history of the United States shows at this epoch an
+astounding growth of anti-slavery sentiment; and this expanding force
+culminated in the election of Lincoln. Great, indeed, was the change
+which had already swept over the landscape of American thought and
+purpose since the despised Birney, in 1844, received only a few
+thousand votes in the whole United States. Now the Rail-splitter had
+come! The tocsin of war sounded. The Union was rent. War with its
+flames of fire and streams of blood devastated the Republic. But the
+bow of promise was set on the dark background of the receding storm.
+American slavery was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span>swept into oblivion, and the end of the third
+quarter of the century saw such a condition established in both the
+New World and the Old, as made the restoration of human bondage
+forever impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Not until the present order of civilization shall be destroyed will
+man be permitted again to hold his fellow-man in servitude. The chain
+that was said "to follow the mother," making all her offspring to be
+slaves; the manacles and fetters with which the weak were bound and
+committed to the mercies of heartless traders; all of the insignia and
+apparatus of the old atrocious system of bondage, have been heaped
+together and cast out with the rubbish and offal of the civilized life
+into the valley of Gehenna. There the whole shall be burned with
+unquenchable fire! Then the smoke, arising for a season, shall be
+swept away, and nothing but a green earth and a blue sky shall remain
+for the emancipated race of man.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<h3>THE PERIL OF OUR CENTENNIAL YEAR.</h3>
+
+<p>Americans are likely to dwell for a long time upon the glories of our
+Centennial of Independence. The year 1876 came and went, and left its
+impress on the world.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> Our great Exposition at Philadelphia was
+happily devised. We celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of our
+independence, and invited all nations, <i>including Great Britain</i>, to
+join us in the festival. The Exposition was successful in a high
+degree. The nation was at its best. The warrior President who had led
+her armies to victory announced the opening and the close. Great
+things were seen. One or two great orations were pronounced, and in
+particular a great Centennial poem was contributed by that gifted son
+of genius, Sidney Lanier, of Georgia. Nor do we refrain from
+repeating, after twenty years, one of his poetic passages:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Long as thine Art shall love true love;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Long as thy Science truth shall know;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Long as thine Eagle harms no Dove;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Long as thy Law by law shall grow;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Long as thy God is God above,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thy brother every man below,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So long, dear Land of all my love,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>With the autumnal frost the great Exposition was concluded; and with
+that autumnal frost came a peril the like of which our nation had not
+hitherto encountered. The presidential election was held, and ended in
+a disputed presidency. We had agreed since the beginning of the
+century that ours should be a government by party.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> Against this
+policy Washington had contended stoutly; but after the death of the
+Father of his Country, the policy prevailed&mdash;as it has continued to
+prevail more and more to the present day.</p>
+
+<p>In 1876 a Democratic reaction came on against the long-dominant
+Republican party, and Samuel J. Tilden, candidate of the Democracy,
+secured a <i>popular</i> majority. The <i>electoral</i> majority remained in
+dispute. Both parties claimed the victory. The election was so evenly
+balanced in its results&mdash;there had been so much irregularity in the
+voting and subsequent electoral proceedings in the States of Florida,
+Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon, and the powers of Congress over
+the votes of such States were so vaguely defined under existing
+legislation&mdash;that no certain declaration of the result could be made.
+The public mind was confounded with perplexity and excitement, and
+there began to be heard the threatenings of civil war.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the nation did not realize the danger; but the danger was
+present, and threatened to be overwhelming. The Republican party in
+possession of the Government was not willing to lose its advantage,
+and the Democratic party, declaring its majority to be rightful, was
+ready to rise in insurrection. As to the facts in the case, neither
+Samuel J. Tilden nor General R.B.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> Hayes was clearly elected to the
+presidency. The Democrats had carried two or three States by the
+persuasion of shotguns, and the Republicans with the aid of electoral
+commissions had counted in the electoral votes of a State or two which
+they did not carry at all. The excitement increased with the approach
+of winter, and it was proposed in a leading Democratic journal of the
+West that a hundred thousand Democrats should rise and march unarmed
+on Washington City, there to influence the decision of the disputed
+question.</p>
+
+<p>When Congress convened in December, the whole question of the disputed
+presidency came at once before that body for settlement. The situation
+was seriously complicated by the political complexion of the Senate
+and the House of Representatives. In the former body the Republicans
+had a majority sufficient to control its action, while in the House
+the Democratic majority was still more decisive and equally willful.</p>
+
+<p>At length the necessity of doing <i>something</i> became imperative. The
+great merchants and manufacturers of the country and the boards of
+trade in the principal cities grew clamorous for a peaceable
+adjustment of the difficulty. The spirit of compromise gained ground,
+and it was agreed to refer the disputed election returns to a joint
+high commission, to consist of five <span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span>members chosen from the United
+States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from
+the Supreme Court.</p>
+
+<p>The judgment of this tribunal was to be final. The commission was
+accordingly constituted. The disputed returns were sent, State by
+State, to the High Court for decision. That body was itself divided
+politically, and <i>every member decided each question according to his
+politics</i>. The Republicans had seven votes in the court, the Democrats
+seven votes, and one vote, that of Judge Joseph P. Bradley, was said
+to be independent. But Judge Bradley was a Republican in his political
+antecedents, and whenever a question came to a close issue, he decided
+with his party.</p>
+
+<p>On the second of March, only three days before the time for the
+inauguration, a final decision was reached. The Republican candidates
+were declared elected <i>by one electoral vote</i> over Tilden and
+Hendricks. Mr. Tilden had himself counseled peace and acquiescence.
+The decision was sullenly accepted by the Democrats, and the most
+dangerous political crisis in American history passed harmlessly by
+without violence or bloodshed. No patriot will care to see such a
+crisis come again.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<h3>THE DOUBLE FETE IN FRANCE AND GERMANY.</h3>
+
+<p>The Third Republic of France has passed its twenty-fifth anniversary,
+and the German Empire has just celebrated its semi-jubilee. The French
+held their f&ecirc;te in September of 1895, and on the eighteenth of the
+following January all the Fatherland shouted greetings to the grandson
+of old Wilhelm the Kaiser. The Gaul and the Teuton have thus agreed to
+be happy coincidently; but for very different reasons! The Gaul has
+his Republic and the Teuton his Empire. Side by side on the map lie
+the two great powers, representing in their history and present aspect
+one of the strongest contrasts to be found in human annals.</p>
+
+<p>What the German Empire is we may permit the Emperor himself, in his
+recent anniversary address, to explain. His speech shows that Germany,
+of all civilized nations, has gone furthest in the direction of
+unqualified imperialism. The utterances of Emperor William surpass the
+speeches of the Czar himself, in avowing all the pretensions and
+fictions of monarchy in the Middle Ages. The Hohenzollern potentate
+openly makes the pretence of governing his subjects by rights and
+prerogatives in nowise derived from the people, but wholly derived
+from <span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span>himself and his grandfather. Why should Germany be an Empire and
+France a Republic? How could such an amazing historical result come
+into the world? The French Republic and the new Empire of Germany were
+not made by generals and kings and politicians in 1870-71. Indeed,
+nothing is made by the strutters who are designated with such titles.
+The two great powers having their centres at Berlin and Paris have
+their roots as deep down as the subsoil of the ages. They grew out of
+antecedents older than the Crusades, older than Charlemagne, older
+than Augustus and the Christ. They came by law&mdash;even if the result
+<i>has</i> surprised the expectation of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>When C&aelig;sar made his conquest of Europe, he found the country north of
+the Alps in the possession of two races&mdash;both Aryan. These two races
+were as unlike then as they are now. The Gauls west of the Rhine were
+proper material for the reception of Roman rule; but the Germans
+beyond the Rhine were not receptive of any rule but their own. The
+Gallic races became Romanized. Gaul was a part of the Roman Empire and
+reasoning from the facts, we should have expected the Gaulish nations
+to develop into the imperial form.</p>
+
+<p>For like reason we should expect the Teutonic races to develop into
+the greatest democracy of the modern world. Contrary <span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span>to this double
+expectation, we have a French Republic and a German Empire. In 1870
+the Gallic race became suddenly democratic, and at the same time the
+Germans became the greatest imperialists among civilized mankind! The
+German Empire has arisen where we should have expected a democracy;
+and the French Republic has arisen where we should have expected an
+Empire.</p>
+
+<p>The illogical Empire lies alongside of the illogical Republic. They
+have a line of demarkation which, though drawn on the map, is not
+drawn on the ground. The great antagonistic facts touch each other
+through a long line of territorial extent, but the ethnic diversity
+does not permit political union. The Teuton and the Gaul continue to
+touch, but they are not one, and cannot be. Two neighbors living
+between Verdun and Metz are only a quarter of a mile apart. They
+cultivate their grounds in the same manner, raise the same fruits,
+have vines growing on the two sides of the same trellis. They speak
+the same language, exchange gossip and poultry; but their children do
+not go to the same school! One of them is a French democrat; the
+other, a German imperialist!</p>
+
+<p>The reason for this reversal of expectation, by which the anticipated
+institutions of France are found in Germany and those of Germany in
+France, is this: It seems to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span>be a law of human progress that mankind
+moves forward by reactions against its own preceding conditions; that
+is, Progress disappoints History <i>by doing the other thing</i>! The
+French race has done the other thing; and so has the German race! They
+who should have been logically the imperialists of Western Europe are
+the republicans and democrats. They who should have been logically the
+democrats and republicans of Europe&mdash;who should have converted
+Germania into the greatest democracy of the world&mdash;have accepted
+instead the most absolute empire. The phrase "German <i>Empire</i>" is, we
+think, the greatest paradox of modern history; and the phrase "French
+<i>Republic</i>" is another like it. But history has decreed it so; and the
+reason is that human progress works out its highest results by doing
+the other thing!</p>
+
+<p>But this philosophical speculation or interpretation does not trouble
+either the French or the Germans. They both seem to rejoice at what
+has come to pass, and do not trouble themselves about the logistics of
+history. They celebrate their quarter centennials, the one for the
+Republic, and the other for the Empire, with profound enthusiasm,
+shouting, <i>Vive</i> for the one and <i>Hoch</i> for the other with an
+impulsive patriotism that has come down to them with the blood of
+their respective races from before the Christian era!</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span></p>
+
+<hr />
+<h2>Great Battles.</h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>TRAFALGAR.</h3>
+
+<p>Lord Byron in his celebrated apostrophe to the ocean could hardly omit
+a reference to the most destructive conflict of naval warfare within
+the present century. In one of his supreme stanzas he reserves
+Trafalgar for the climax:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The armaments which thunderstrike the walls<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And monarchs tremble in their capitals,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Their clay creator the vain title take<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of lord of thee and arbiter of war,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Alike the Armada's pride or spoils of Trafalgar."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The battle of Trafalgar, preceding by forty-two days the battle of
+Austerlitz, holds the same relation to British ascendancy on the ocean
+that Napoleon's victory over the Emperors Alexander and Francis held
+to the French ascendancy on Continental Europe. Henceforth Great
+Britain, according to her national hymn, "ruled the wave;" henceforth,
+until after Waterloo, France ruled the land. Up to this date, namely,
+1805,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> French ambition had reached as far as the dominion of the sea.
+It appears that Napoleon himself had no genius for naval warfare, but
+his ambition included the ocean; coincidently with his accession to
+the Imperial throne a great fleet was prepared and placed under
+command of Admiral Villeneuve for the recovery of the Mediterranean.</p>
+
+<p>This fleet was destined in the first place for a possible invasion of
+England, but fate and Providence had reserved for the armament another
+service. At the same time the British fleet, to the number of
+twenty-seven ships of the line and four frigates, was brought to a
+high stage of proficiency and discipline, and placed under command of
+Lord Horatio Nelson. His second in command was Admiral Collingwood,
+who succeeded him after his death. The French fleet was increased to
+thirty-three ships of the line and five frigates, the addition being
+the Spanish contingent under Admirals Gravina and Alava. The Spanish
+vessels joined Villeneuve from Cadiz about the middle of May. The plan
+of the French commander was to rally a great squadron, cross the
+Atlantic to the West Indies, return as if bearing down on Europe, and
+raise the blockades at Ferrol, Rochefort and Brest.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as it was known, however, that Nelson was abroad, his
+antagonist became <span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span>wary and all of his movements were marked with
+caution. Meanwhile Lord Nelson sought for the allied-fleet on the
+Mediterranean, but found it not. He then passed through the Straits of
+Gibraltar and sailed for the coast of South America; but before
+reaching his destination he learned that the Spanish fleet had sailed
+for Europe again. Nelson followed, but did not fall in with the enemy.
+Villeneuve, gaining knowledge of the movements of the English admiral,
+and disregarding the instructions of Napoleon, withdrew from Ferrol to
+the south and put in at Cadiz. It was here that Nelson, so to speak,
+brought the allied fleet to bay.</p>
+
+<p>On the southern coast of Spain, between Cadiz and Gibraltar, the Cape
+of Trafalgar projects into the Atlantic. In the autumn Nelson's fleet
+beat southward into this part of the seas, and it was here that the
+battle was fought. The rival commanders were eager for a meeting, and
+each foresaw that the contest was likely to be decisive. Each admiral
+had behind him a long list of naval achievements, and each to his own
+nation was greatly endeared.</p>
+
+<p>Nelson had, on the first of August, 1798, destroyed the French fleet
+in the bay of Aboukir. In 1800 he had been raised to the peerage. In
+1801 he had bombarded Copenhagen; and for that doubtful achievement
+had been made a viscount. One of his arms was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span>gone, and he was
+covered with the scars of battle. Villeneuve had also a well-earned
+reputation. Could he but add to his previous services the defeat of
+Nelson, his fame would be established for all time.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the twenty-first of October, 1805, that the combined
+squadrons of France and Spain on the one side, and the fleet of Great
+Britain on the other, came face to face off the Cape of Trafalgar. The
+rocks of Gibraltar might be seen in the distance. The sea was calm and
+the sky clear. The combatants discerned in advance the greatness of
+the event that was at hand.</p>
+
+<p>The conflict that ensued ranks among the great naval battles of the
+world. Lord Nelson, with all his heroism, was a vain man, capable of
+spectacular display. He clad himself in the insignia of the many
+orders to which he belonged, and might be conspicuously seen from the
+decks of the French ships. In fact, he seemed to court death almost as
+much as he strove for victory. In the beginning of the engagement he
+displayed from his pennon, where it might be read by the whole fleet,
+this signal: "England expects every man to do his duty."</p>
+
+<p>On the display of this signal the British fleet rang with cheers. The
+shouting was heard as far as the opposing Armada. The tradition goes
+that Villeneuve said on hearing the shouts of the British marines:
+"The <span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span>battle it lost already." The admirals of the allied fleet
+arranged their vessels in parallel lines, so that each ship of the
+rear line should break the space between two of the advanced line.
+This arrangement enabled all the ships to fire at once, and it was the
+purpose of Villeneuve to hold his vessels in this form so that the
+British squadron might gain no advantage from manoeuvring.</p>
+
+<p>Nelson's arrangement, however, was quite different. His plan was to
+attack at two points and break through the Armada, throwing the ships
+into confusion right and left. This brought his own vessels into the
+arrangement of two harrows, each pointing the apex against the
+designated vessels of the opposing squadron. One of the harrows was to
+be led by Collingwood in his ship called the "Royal Sovereign." Nelson
+led his column in his flagship the "Victory." The preliminaries of the
+battle extended to noon, and then the British attack was begun by
+Collingwood, who bore down on the two opposing vessels, the "Santa
+Anna" and the "Fougeux." Nelson also sailed to the attack in the
+"Victory" and broke through the enemy's line between the "Redoubtable"
+and the "Santissima Trinidad." The "Victory" in passing poured
+terrible broad-sides into both vessels.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that both the British admirals in going into battle outsailed
+somewhat their <span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span>supporting ships; but these soon came into action and
+the battle line of the allied fleet was fatally broken at both points.
+All the vessels were soon engaged, and the rear line of Villeneuve
+gave way as well as the first. Nevertheless, the battle continued
+furiously for about two hours. The "Santissima Trinidad" was at that
+time the largest warship and the most formidable that had ever been
+built. The "Redoubtable" was only second in strength and equipment.
+Five or six others were men-of-war of the heaviest draught and metal.
+The French and Spanish soldiers fought bravely, going into the battle
+with flying streamers and answering shouts.</p>
+
+<p>Nelson, utterly fearless, seems to have had a premonition of his fate.
+He had made a hasty codicil to his will, and entered the struggle to
+conquer or die. Both fates were reserved for him. From the beginning
+of the battle the French and Spanish ships suffered terribly from the
+British fire; but they also inflicted heavy losses on their
+assailants. Here and there a French vessel was shattered and fell out
+of the fight. Nelson was struck with a ball, but refused to go below.
+Again he was hit in the shoulder by a musketeer from the masts of the
+"Redoubtable" and fell to the deck. "They have done for me at last,
+Hardy," said he to Sir Thomas Hardy, captain of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50"></a>[pg 50]</span>ship. He was
+carried below by the officers, and as he lay bleeding the news was
+brought to him that already <i>fifteen</i> of the enemy's ships had
+surrendered. "That is well," said the dying hero; "but I had bargained
+for twenty." Then his thoughts turned to Lady Hamilton, to whom he was
+devoted. "Take care of Lady Hamilton, Hardy; take care of poor Lady
+Hamilton," said he, as the death dew dampened his brow. He then
+embraced the captain and expired.</p>
+
+<p>The victory of the British fleet was complete. The allies lost
+nineteen ships. Admiral Gravina was killed, and Villeneuve was taken
+prisoner. He never reacted from the mortification of his defeat, but
+lingered until the following year, when he despaired of life and hope
+and committed suicide. Nelson, in the midst of a pageant hitherto
+unsurpassed, was buried in St. Paul's. The battle of Trafalgar passed
+into history as the first and greatest naval conflict of the century.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ.</h3>
+
+<p>The first four years of the present century were a lull before a
+tempest. These years covered on our side of the sea the administration
+of the elder Adams. In Europe they corresponded to the period of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span>transformation of the Consulate into the French Umpire. This change
+was rapidly and easily effected. The star of Napoleon emerged from the
+chaos and the cloud and rose rapidly to the zenith. But the mood of
+the age was war, war. Could Europe in these first years have foreseen
+the awful struggles that were just before, then Europe might well have
+shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was that the ascendancy of the Corsican brought in a reign of
+violence and blood. Napoleon became the trampler of vineyards. His
+armies made Europe into mire. England&mdash;agreeing at Amiens not to
+fight&mdash;fought. Pitt, now in the last year of his life, used all of his
+resources to bring about a league against France. He persuaded
+Alexander of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Gustavus of Sweden&mdash;all
+easy dupes of a greater than themselves&mdash;to make a new coalition. He
+tried to induce Frederick William of Prussia to join his fortunes with
+the rest; but the last-named monarch was for the time restrained by
+the weakness of prudence. The agents of Napoleon held out to the king
+suggestions of the restoration of Hanover to Prussia. But Austria and
+Russia and Sweden pressed forward confidently to overthrow the new
+French Empire. That Empire, they said, should not see the end of the
+first year of its creation!</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>[pg 52]</span></p>
+
+<p>The Austrians were first in the field. The Russians, under Kutusoff,
+came on into Pomerania from the east. Out of Sweden, with a large
+army, came down Gustavus, the Don Quixote of the north, to crush
+Bernadotte, who held Hanover. Napoleon for his part sprang forth for
+the campaign of Austerlitz, perhaps the most brilliant military
+episode in the history of mankind. With incredible facility he threw
+forward to the Rhine an army of 180,000 men. His policy was&mdash;as
+always&mdash;to overcome the allies in detail.</p>
+
+<p>On the twenty-fourth of September, the Emperor left Paris. The Empress
+and Talleyrand went with him as far as Strasburg. On the second of
+October, hostilities began at Guntzburg. Four days afterward the
+French army crossed the Danube. On the eighth of the month, Murat won
+the battle of Wertingen, capturing Count Auffenberg, with 2000
+prisoners. On the tenth the French had Augsburg, and on the twelfth,
+Munich. On the fourteenth Soult triumphed at Memingen, capturing a
+corps of 6000 Austrians; and on the same day Ney literally overran the
+territory which was soon to become his Duchy of Elchingen. Napoleon
+out-generaled the main division of the enemy at Ulm. The Austrians,
+under General Mack, 33,000 strong, were cooped up in the town and, on
+the seventeenth <span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span>of October, forced to capitulate. Eight
+field-marshals and generals, including the Prince Lichtenstein and
+Generals Klenau and Fresnel, were made prisoners. "Soldiers of the
+Grand Army," said Napoleon, "we have finished the campaign in a
+fortnight!"</p>
+
+<p>On the day of the capitulation of Ulm, Massena in Italy drove back the
+army of the Archduke Charles. The Austrians to this date, in a period
+of twenty days, had lost by battle and capture fully fifty thousand
+men! On the twenty-seventh of October, the French army crossed the
+Inn. Saltzburg and Braunau were taken. In Italy, Massena, on the
+thirtieth, won the battle of Caldiero, and took 5000 prisoners. The
+French closed toward the Austrian capital. On the thirteenth of
+November, Napoleon, having obtained possession of the bridges of the
+Danube, entered Vienna. He established himself in the imperial palace
+of Schonbrunn. The Austrian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire&mdash;which
+was its shadowy penumbra&mdash;seemed to vanish like ghosts before him.</p>
+
+<p>Out of Pomerania into Moravia, to the plain of Olmutz, the great
+Russian army under the Czar and Kutusoff, came roaring. There they
+were united with a heavy division of the Austrians, under the Emperor
+Francis. The latter had fled from his <span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span>capital, and staked his last
+fortunes on a battle in the field. The allied army was 80,000 strong.
+Napoleon, with 60,000 men, commanded by Soult, Lannes, Murat and
+Bernadotte, advanced rapidly from the direction of Vienna, as far as
+Brunn, and there awaited the onset.</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond this town, at Austerlitz, the French were arranged in a
+semicircle, with the convex front toward the allies, who occupied the
+outer arc on a range of heights. Such was the situation on the night
+of December 1, 1805. The morrow will be the first anniversary of our
+coronation in Notre Dame&mdash;a glorious day for battle!</p>
+
+<p>With the morning of the second, Napoleon could scarcely restrain his
+ardor. The enthusiasm of the army knew no bounds. On the night before,
+the Emperor, in his gray coat, had gone the circle of the camps, and
+the soldiers, extemporizing straw torches to light the way, ran before
+him. Looking eagerly through the gray dawn, he saw the enemy badly
+arranged, or moving dangerously in broken masses under the cover of a
+Moravian fog. Presently the fog lifted, and the sun burst out in
+splendor. The onset of the French was irresistible. The allied centre
+was pierced. The Austrian and Russian emperors with their armies were
+sent flying in utter rout and panic from the field. Thirty <span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span>thousand
+Russians and Austrians were killed, wounded and taken. Alexander
+barely escaped capture. Before sunset the Third Coalition was broken
+into fragments and blown away. At the conference between Napoleon and
+Francis, two days afterward, at the Mill of Sar-Uschitz, some of the
+French officers overheard the father of Maria Louisa lie to her future
+husband, thus: "I promise not to fight you any more."</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>"FRIEDLAND&mdash;1807."</h3>
+
+<p>Whoever visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, New
+York, is likely to pause before a great historical painting by Jean
+Louis Ernest Meissonier. The picture is entitled "Friedland&mdash;1807."
+There goes a critical opinion that, though common fame would have
+Austerlitz to be the greatest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the palm
+ought really to be given to Friedland. At any rate, the martial
+splendor of that day has been caught by the vision and brush of
+Meissonier, and delivered, in what is probably the most splendid
+painting in America, to the immortality of art.</p>
+
+<p>Let us note the great movements that preceded the climax of Friedland.
+In the summer of 1806, the historical conditions in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> Europe favored a
+general peace. Pitt was dead, and Fox agreed with Napoleon that a
+peace might now be secured by the restoration of Hanover to England.
+Suddenly, however, on the thirteenth of September, 1806, Fox died, and
+by the incoming of Lauderdale the whole complexion was changed.
+Toryism again ran rampant. The Anglo-Russo-Prussian intrigue was
+renewed, and the rash Frederick William sent a peremptory challenge to
+Napoleon to get himself out of Germany.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor had in truth agreed to withdraw his forces, but the Czar
+Alexander had also agreed to relinquish certain vantage grounds which
+he held&mdash;and had not done it. Therefore Napoleon's army corps would
+remain in Germany. Frederick William suddenly declared war, and in a
+month after the death of Fox, Napoleon concentrated in Saxe-Weimar an
+army of a hundred thousand men. Then, on the fourteenth of October,
+1806, was fought the dreadful battle of Jena, in which the Prussians
+lost 12,000 in killed and wounded, and 15,000 prisoners. On the same
+day, Davout fell upon a division of 50,000 under the Duke of Brunswick
+and Frederick William in person, and won another signal victory which
+cost the Germans about ten thousand men.</p>
+
+<p>Prussia was utterly overwhelmed by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span>disaster. Her fortresses were
+surrendered without resistance, and Napoleon, in less than a
+fortnight, occupied Berlin. On the twenty-first of November, he issued
+from that city his celebrated Berlin decree, declaring the British
+Islands in a state of blockade, and interdicting all correspondence
+and trade with England! The property of British subjects, under a wide
+schedule of liabilities, was declared contraband of war.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the aid promised to Prussia by the Czar had been too slow
+for the lightning that struck at Jena. The oncoming Russians reached
+the Vistula, but were forced back by the victorious French, who took
+possession of Warsaw. There the Emperor established his winter
+quarters, and remained for nearly three months, engaged in the
+preparation of new plans of conquest and new schemes for the
+pacification of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>After Jena, Prussia, though crushed, remained belligerent. Her
+shattered forces drew off to the borders, and were joined by the
+Russians in East Prussia. The campaign of 1807 opened here. On the
+eighth of February, the French army, about 70,000 strong, advanced
+against the allies, commanded by Benningsen and Lestocq. At the town
+of Eylau, about twenty miles from K&ouml;nigsberg, a great but indecisive
+battle was fought, in which each army suffered a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span>loss of nearly
+eighteen thousand men. The Russians and Prussians fell back about four
+miles to Friedland, and both armies were reinforced, the French to
+about eighty thousand, and the allies to approximately the same
+number.</p>
+
+<p>Here for a season the two great camps were pitched against each other.
+The shock of Eylau and the inclemency of the spring, no less than the
+political complications that thickened on every horizon, held back the
+military movements until the beginning of summer. But at length the
+crisis came. On the fourteenth of June was fought the great battle of
+Friedland and the allied army was virtually destroyed. The loss of the
+Russians and Prussians was more than twenty-five thousand men, while
+the French loss was not quite eight thousand. Napoleon commanded in
+person, and his triumph was prodigious.</p>
+
+<p>Let not the visitor to the Metropolitan Museum fail to look long and
+attentively on the picture of the scene which represents the beginning
+of the battle on the side of the French. There on a slight elevation,
+in the wheatfield of June, sitting on his white horse, with his
+triangular hat lifted in silent salutation, surrounded by the princes
+and marshals of his Empire, sits the sardonic somnambulist, while
+before him on the left the Cuirassiers of the Guard, on their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span>tremendous horses gathered out of Normandy, plunging at full gallop,
+bearing down through the broken wheat, with buglers in the van and
+sabers flashing high and bearded mouths wide open with yellings that
+resound through the world till now, charge wildly, irresistibly onward
+against the unseen enemy, reckless alike of life and death, but
+choosing rather death if only the marble face but smile!</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>UNDER THE RUSSIAN SNOWS.</h3>
+
+<p>The first empire of France was buried between the Niemen and Moscow.
+The funeral was attended by vultures and Cossacks.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the twenty-fourth of June, 1812, that Napoleon began the
+invasion of Russia. The dividing line was the River Niemen. The
+inhabitants fell back before him. He had not advanced far when he
+encountered a new commander, with whom he was unfamiliar. It was
+Field-Marshal Nature. Marshal Nature had an army that the Old Guard
+had never confronted. His herald was Frost, and his aid-de-camp was
+Zero. One of his army corps was Snow. His bellowing artillery was
+charged with Lithuanian tempests. Hail was his grape and shrapnel. The
+Emperor of the French had never studied Marshal Nature's tactics&mdash;not
+even in the Alps.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span></p>
+
+<p>The Russian summer was as midwinter to the soldiers of France and
+Spain and Italy. Some of the invading divisions could hardly advance
+at all. The howling storms made impassable the ungraded roads; the
+1200 guns of the Grand Army sank into the mire. Horse-life and
+man-life fell and perished in the sleet of the mock-summer that raged
+along the watershed between the Dwina and the Dnieper.</p>
+
+<p>The Russians under Kutusoff fell back to Smolensko. There on the
+sixteenth of August they fought and were defeated with a loss of
+nearly twelve thousand men. The way was thus opened as far as the
+Moskwa. At that place on the seventh of September Kutusoff a second
+time gave battle, at the village of Borodino. This was one of the most
+murderous conflicts of modern times. A thousand cannon vomited death
+all day. Under the smoke a quarter of a million of men struggled like
+tigers. At nightfall the French had the field. The defeated Russians
+hung sullenly around the arena where they had left more than 40,000 of
+their dead and wounded. The Frence losses were almost equally
+appalling. "Sire," said Marshal Ney, "we would better withdraw and
+reform." "<i>Thou</i> advise a retreat, Michel?" said the marble head, as
+it turned to the Bulldog of Battles.</p>
+
+<p>Kutusoff abandoned Moscow. The inhabitants <span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span>receded with him to the
+great plains eastward. On the fifteenth of September, Napoleon entered
+the ancient capital. The streets were as a necropolis. All was
+silence. The conqueror took up his residence in the old palace of the
+Czars. Here he would spend the winter in luxurious quarters. Here he
+would extemporize theatres, and here he would issue edicts as from
+Berlin and Milan. Lo, out of the Bazaar, near the Kremlin, bursts a
+volume of flame! The surrounding region is lighted with the glare.
+Moscow is on fire in a thousand places. The equinoctial gales fan the
+flame. For five days there is the roar of universal combustion. Then
+it subsides. But Moscow is a blackened ruin. Napoleon tries in vain to
+open negotiations with the Czar; but Alexander and Kutusoff will not
+hear. The French are left to enjoy the ashes of a burnt-up Russian
+city.</p>
+
+<p>Already winter was at hand. The snow was falling. The soldier of
+fortune had at last found his destiny. On the nineteenth of October,
+he left Moscow, and the retreat of the Grand Army began toward the
+Niemen. Had the retreat been unimpeded, that army might have made its
+way back to France with comparatively trifling losses. Indeed the fame
+of having burnt the old capital of the Czars might have satisfied the
+conqueror with his expedition. But no sooner did he <span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span>recede than the
+Cossacks arose on every hand, and assailed the fugitives. The soldiers
+of the West and South dropped and perished by thousands along the
+frozen roads. The ice-darts in their sides were sharper than Russian
+bayonets. A hundred and twenty thousand men rolled back horridly
+across the hostile world. The bridges of the Beresina break down under
+the retreating army, and in the following spring, when the ice-gorges
+go down the river, 12,000 dead Frenchmen shall be washed up from the
+floods!</p>
+
+<p>There is constant battle on flank and rear. All stragglers perish. The
+army dwindles away. It is almost destroyed. Ney brings up the rear
+guard, wasted to a handful. At the passage of the Niemen, soiled with
+dirt, blackened with smoke, without insignia, with only drawn sword,
+and facing backward toward the hated region, the "Bravest of the
+Brave" crosses the bridge. He is the last man to save himself from the
+indescribable horrors of the Campaign of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>The remnants of the Grand Army dragged themselves along until they
+found refuge in K&ouml;nigsberg. Napoleon had gone ahead toward France.
+After Moscow he took a sledge, and sped away across the snow-covered
+wastes of Poland, on his solitary journey to Paris. There is a
+painting of this scene <span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span>by the Slavic artist Kowalski, which
+represents the three black horses abreast, galloping with all speed
+with the Emperor's sledge across the cheerless world which he
+traversed. He came to his own capital unannounced. None knew of his
+arrival until the next day. At four o'clock in the morning of that
+day, some one entered his office at the Tuileries, and found him with
+his war-map of Europe spread out on the floor before him. He was
+planning another campaign! In doing so, he could hardly forget that
+the Grand Army of his glory was under the Russian snows!</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>WATERLOO.</h3>
+
+<p>One battle in this century rises in fame above all other conflicts of
+the ages. It is Waterloo.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the night of the seventeenth of June, 1815, that the British
+and French armies, drawing near each other on the borders of Belgium,
+encamped, the one near the little village of Waterloo and the other at
+La Belle Alliance. They were close together. A modern fieldpiece could
+easily throw a shell from Napoleon's headquarters over La Haie Sainte
+to Mont St. Jean, and far beyond into the forest. During the afternoon
+of the seventeenth, and the greater part of the night, there was a
+heavy fall of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span>rain. On the following morning the ground was muddy.
+The Emperor, viewing the situation, was unwilling to precipitate the
+battle until his artillery might deploy over a dry field.</p>
+
+<p>As to the temper of the Emperor, that was good. Hugo says of him:
+"From the morning his impenetrability had been smiling, and on June
+18, 1815, this profound soul, coated with granite, was radiant. The
+man who had been sombre at Austerlitz was gay at Waterloo. The
+greatest predestined men offer these contradictions; for our joys are
+a shadow and the supreme smile belongs to God.</p>
+
+<p>"'C&aelig;sar laughs, Pompey will weep,' the legionaries of the Fulminatrix
+legion used to say. On this occasion Pompey was not destined to weep,
+but it is certain that C&aelig;sar laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"At one o'clock in the morning, amid the rain and storm, he had
+explored with Bertrand the hills near Rossomme, and was pleased to see
+the long lines of English fires illumining the horizon from
+Frischemont to Braine l'Alleud. It seemed to him as if destiny had
+made an appointment with him on a fixed day and was punctual. He
+stopped his horse and remained for some time motionless, looking at
+the lightning and listening to the thunder. The fatalist was heard to
+cast into the night the mysterious <span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span>words, '<i>We are agreed</i>.' Napoleon
+was mistaken; they no longer agreed."</p>
+
+<p>The arena of Waterloo is an undulating plain. Strategically it has the
+shape of an immense harrow. The clevis is on the height called Mont
+St. Jean, where Wellington was posted with the British army. Behind
+that is the village of Waterloo. The right leg of the harrow
+terminates at the hamlet of La Belle Alliance. The left leg is the
+road from Brussels to Nivelles. The cross-bar intersects the right leg
+at La Haie Sainte. The right leg is the highway from Brussels to
+Charleroi. The intersection of the bar with the left leg is near the
+old stone chateau of Hougomont. The battle was fought on the line of
+the cross-bar and in the triangle between it and the clevis.</p>
+
+<p>The conflict began just before noon. The armies engaged were of equal
+strength, numbering about 80,000 men on each side. Napoleon was
+superior in artillery, but Wellington's soldiers had seen longer
+service in the field. They were his veterans from the Peninsular War,
+perhaps the stubbornest fighters in Europe. Napoleon's first plan was
+to double back the allied left on the centre. This involved the
+capture of La Haie Sainte, and, as a strategic corollary, the taking
+of Hougomont. The latter place was first attacked. The field and wood
+were carried, but the chateau was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span>held in the midst of horrid carnage
+by the British.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the afternoon a Prussian division under Billow, about 10,000
+strong, came on the field, and Napoleon had to withdraw a division
+from his centre to repel the oncoming Germans. For two or three hours,
+in the area between La Haie Sainte and Hougomont, the battle raged,
+the lines swaying with uncertain fortune back and forth. La Haie
+Sainte was taken and held by Ney. On the whole, the British lines
+receded. Wellington's attempt to retake La Haie Sainte ended in a
+repulse. Ney, on the counter charge, called on Napoleon for
+reinforcements, and the latter at that moment, changing his plan of
+battle, determined to make the principal charge on the British centre,
+saying, however, "It is an hour too soon." The support which he sent
+to Ney was not as heavy as it should have been, but the Marshal
+concluded that the crisis was at hand, and Napoleon sought to support
+him with Milhaud's cuirassiers and a division of the Middle Guard.
+Under this counter charge the British lines reeled and staggered, but
+still clung desperately to their position. They gave a little, and
+then hung fast and could be moved no farther. In another part of the
+field Durutte carried the allied position of Papelotte, and Lobau
+routed B&uuml;low from Planchenois. At half-past <span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span>four everything seemed to
+portend disaster to the allies and victory to the French.</p>
+
+<p>If the tragedy of Waterloo had been left at that hour to work out its
+own results as between France and England it would appear that the
+latter must have gone to the wall; but destiny had prepared another
+end for the conflict. Waterloo was a point of concentration. Several
+tides had set thither, and some of them had already arrived and broken
+on the rocks. Other tides were rolling in. The British wave had been
+first, and this had now been rolled back by the tide of France. A
+German wave was coming, however, and another French billow, either or
+both of which might break at any moment.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of June 18, at the little town of Wavre, fifteen miles
+southeast of Brussels and about eight or ten miles from Waterloo, a
+battle had been fought between the French contingent under Marshal
+Grouchy and the Prussian division under Thielmann, who commanded the
+left wing of Marshal Bl&uuml;cher's army. That commander had a force of
+fully forty thousand men under him, and was on his way to join his
+forces with those of Wellington on the plateau of Mont St. Jean.
+Grouchy had at this time between thirty and forty thousand men, and
+was under orders from Napoleon to keep in touch with his right wing,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span>watching the Prussians and joining himself to the main army according
+to the emergency.</p>
+
+<p>These two divisions&mdash;Bl&uuml;cher's and Grouchy's&mdash;were <i>sliding along</i>
+toward Waterloo, and on the afternoon of the eighteenth it became one
+of the great questions in the history of this century which would
+first arrive on the field. Napoleon believed that Grouchy was at hand.
+Wellington in his desperation breathed out the wish that either night
+or Bl&uuml;cher would come. The ambiguous result of the principal conflict
+made it more than ever desirable to both of the commanders to gain
+their reinforcements, each before the other. The event showed that the
+arrival of B&uuml;low's contingent was really the signal for the oncoming
+of the whole Prussian army. The French Emperor, however, remained
+confident, and at half-after four he felt warranted in sending a
+preliminary despatch of victory to Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Just at this juncture, however, an uproar was witnessed far to the
+right. The woods seemed to open, and the banners of Bl&uuml;cher shot up in
+the horizon. Grouchy was <i>not</i> on his rear or flank! Napoleon saw at a
+glance that it was then or never. His sun of Austerlitz hung low in
+the west. The British centre must be broken, or the empire which he
+had builded with his genius must pass away like a phantom. He called
+out four battalions of the Middle and six of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> Old Guard. In the
+last fifteen years that Guard had been thrown a hundred times on the
+enemies of France, and never yet repulsed. It deemed itself
+invincible.</p>
+
+<p>At seven o'clock, just as the June sun was sinking to the horizon, the
+bugles sounded and the finest body of horsemen in Europe started to
+its doom on the squares of Wellington. The grim horsemen rode to their
+fate like heroes. The charge rolled on like an avalanche. It plunged
+into the sunken road of O'Hain. It seemed to roll over. It rose from
+the low grounds and broke on the British squares. They reeled under
+the shock, then reformed and stood fast. Around and around those
+immovable lines the soldiers of the Empire beat and beat in vain. It
+was the war of races at its climax. It was the final death-grip of the
+Gaul and the Teuton. The Old Guard recoiled. The wild cry of "<i>La
+Garde recule</i>" was heard above the roar of battle. The crisis of the
+Modern Era broke in blood and smoke, and the past was suddenly
+victorious. The Guard was broken into flying squadrons. Ruin came with
+the counter charge of the British. Ney, glorious in his despair,
+sought to stay the tide. For an hour longer he was a spectacle to gods
+and men. Five horses had been killed under him. He was on foot. He was
+hatless. He clutched the hilt of a broken sword. He was covered with
+dust and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span>blood. But his grim face was set against the victorious
+enemy in the hopeless and heroic struggle to rally his shattered
+columns.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Prussians rushed in from the right. Wellington's Guards
+rose and charged. Havoc came down with the darkness. A single regiment
+of the Old Guard was formed by Napoleon into a last square around
+which to rally the fugitives. The Emperor stood in the midst and
+declared his purpose to die with them. Marshal Soult forced him out of
+the melee, and the famous square, commanded by Cambronne&mdash;flinging his
+profane objurgation into the teeth of the English&mdash;perished with the
+wild cry of "<i>Vive l'Empereur!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Hugo says that the panic of the French admits of an explanation; that
+the disappearance of the great man was necessary for the advent of a
+great age; that in the battle of Waterloo there was more than a storm,
+that is, the bursting of a meteor. "At nightfall," he continues,
+"Bernard and Bertrand seized by the skirt of his coat in a field near
+Genappe a haggard, thoughtful, gloomy man, who, carried so far by the
+current of the rout, had just dismounted, passed the bridle over his
+arm, and was now with wandering eye returning alone to Waterloo. It
+was Napoleon, the immense somnambulist of a shattered dream!"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span></p>
+
+<p>On the spot where French patriotism afterward planted the bronze lion
+to commemorate forever the extinction of the Old Guard of the French
+Empire, and of Napoleon the Great, the traveler from strange lands
+pauses, at the distance of eighty years from the horrible cataclysm,
+and reflects with wonder how within the memory of living men human
+nature could have been raised by the passion of battle to such sublime
+heroism as that displayed in these wheatfields and orchards where the
+Old Guard of France sank into oblivion, but rose to immortal fame.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>SEBASTOPOL.</h3>
+
+<p>In the fall of 1852 Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince President of the
+French Republic, about to become the French Empire, was invited to a
+banquet by the Chamber of Commerce in Bordeaux. He was on his
+triumphal tour through the South of France. At the banquet he spoke,
+saying: "I accept with eagerness the opportunity afforded me by the
+Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce for thanking your great city for its
+cordial reception.... At present the nation surrounds me with its
+sympathies.... To promote the welfare of the country, it is <span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span>not
+necessary to apply new systems, but the chief point above all is to
+produce confidence in the present and security for the future. For
+these reasons it seems France desires a return to the Empire. There is
+one objection to which I must reply. Certain minds seem to entertain a
+dread of war; certain persons say the Empire is only war. But I say
+<i>the Empire is peace</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The last four words of this extract became the motto of the Second
+Empire. Everywhere the Prince President's saying was blown to the
+world. "The Empire is peace" was published in the newspapers, echoed
+on the stage, and preached from the pulpits.</p>
+
+<p>But the Empire was <i>not</i> peace. Just at this time Tennyson wrote his
+poem against France, as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There is a sound of thunder afar,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Storm in the South that darkens the day&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Storm of battle and thunder of war;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Well if it do not roll our way!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Form, form; riflemen, form!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ready, be ready to meet the storm!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In less than a year the storm broke. It broke in Eastern Europe. Of
+the personal forces that brought the breaking, the two principal were
+the Czar Nicholas and the Emperor Louis Napoleon. In 1853 the Czar
+demanded of the Sultan certain guarantees of the rights of the Greek
+Christians in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span>the Turkish provinces. This was refused, and the
+Crimean War broke out on the Danube. The first power in Western Europe
+to support the Sultan was France, while England and Sardinia came hard
+after. There was an alliance of England and France in support of the
+Turkish cause. In the bottom of the difficulty lay this question:
+Whether Russia might now move forward, gain control of the Black Sea,
+overawe the Porte, force her way through the Sea of Marmora into the
+Mediterranean, and thus rectify the mistake of Peter the Great in
+building his capital on the Gulf of Finland. All this and much more
+was called <i>The Eastern Question</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The coast of the Black Sea became the seat of the war that ensued. The
+Russians posted themselves strongly in the Crimea. That peninsula was
+commanded by the famous fortress of Sebastopol, situated at the
+southwestern extremity. On the twenty-fifth of September, 1854, the
+heights of Balaklava, lying south of the fortress, were seized by a
+British division under command of Lord Raglan. In this way the
+Russians were besieged; for the allied fleets had made their way into
+the Black Sea, and the land side of Sebastopol was commanded by
+Balaklava.</p>
+
+<p>The siege that ensued lasted for nearly eleven months, and was one of
+the most <span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span>memorable of modern times. On two occasions the Russians
+sallied forth and gave battle. The first conflict of this kind was on
+the night of the twenty-fifth of October, 1854, at Balaklava. The
+Russian attack on the English and Turks was at first successful, and
+four redoubts were carried by the assailants. At the crisis of the
+battle, however, the British Highlanders came into action, and the
+Russians were repulsed. The latter did not attempt to renew the
+attack, but fell back into their intrenchments. It was at this
+juncture that the famous incident occurred of the Charge of the Light
+Brigade, which was immortalized by Tennyson in his poem.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after the battle of Balaklava occurred another hard
+conflict at the village of Inkerman, at the head of the harbor of
+Sebastopol. On the fifth of November, 1854, a strong force of Russians
+descended from the heights, and were met by the allies on the slope
+opposite the ruins of an ancient town, which occupied the site in the
+times of Strabo. A severe battle ensued, in which the English and
+French were victorious. Many other sorties were made from the
+fortress, but were designed rather to delay the siege than with any
+serious hope of breaking the investment. Sometimes the conflicts,
+though desultory, were severe, taking the proportions of regular
+battles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span> But nothing decisive was effected, until winter closed on
+the scene, and brought upon both the besiegers and the besieged the
+greatest hardships.</p>
+
+<p>The sufferings of the allies, so far away from the source of supplies,
+were at times beyond description. It is doubtful whether any other
+siege of modern times has entailed such cruel privations upon a
+civilized soldiery. At times the combined havoc of hunger, disease and
+cold was seen in its worst work in the allied camps. The genius of
+Elizabeth Butler has seized upon the morning "Roll Call," in the
+Crimean snows of 1855, as the subject of a great painting in which to
+depict the excess of human suffering and devotion&mdash;the acme of English
+heroism in a foreign land.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the allied lines around Sebastopol were considerably
+contracted, and several serious assaults were made on the Russian
+works. On the twenty-third of February the French in front of the
+bastion, called the Malakhoff, assaulted that stronghold with great
+valor, but were unsuccessful. On the eighteenth of the following June
+an attempt was made to carry the Redan, a strong redoubt at the other
+extreme of the Russian defences, but the assailants were again
+repulsed. Then, on the sixteenth of August, followed the bloody battle
+of Tehernaya, in which the Russians made a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span>final effort to raise the
+siege. With a force of 50,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry they threw
+themselves on the allied position, but were beaten back with great
+slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the trenches of the allies had been drawn so near the
+Russian works that there was a fair prospect of carrying the bastions
+by another assault. A terrible bombardment was begun on the fifth, and
+continued to the eighth of September, when both the Redan and the
+Malakhoff were taken by storm. But the struggle was desperate, and the
+losses on both sides immense. The Russians blew up their
+fortifications on the south side of the harbor, and retreated across
+the bay. Nor did they afterward make any serious attempt to regain the
+stronghold which the allies had wrested from them. The victors for
+their part proceeded to destroy the docks, arsenals and shipyards of
+Sebastopol, and, as far as possible, to prevent the future occupancy
+of the place by the Russians as a seat of commerce and war.</p>
+
+<p>The siege and capture of Sebastopol virtually ended the contest,
+though the war lagged during the greater part of the ensuing year. On
+the second of March, 1855, the Czar Nicholas died, and Alexander II.
+came to the throne, predisposed to peace. It was not, however, until
+the thirtieth of March, 1856, that the Treaty of Paris was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span>concluded,
+in which Russia was obliged to yield to the allied powers, among which
+France held the first place.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the Crimean War, and of the siege of Sebastopol in
+particular, has passed into history as one of the great events, of the
+century. The struggles at Balaklava, on the river Alma, at Inkerman,
+and the storming of the Redan and the Malakhoff became the subjects of
+great historical paintings, of poems and of songs, the echoes of which
+are heard to the present day.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>SADOWA.</h3>
+
+<p>From a military point of view, nothing in this century has been more
+brilliantly successful than the campaign of Prussia into Bohemia
+against the Austrians, culminating on the sixth of July, 1866, in the
+great conflict called the battle of Sadowa or K&ouml;niggr&auml;tz&mdash;the one or
+the other from the two towns near which it was fought. The historical
+painter, Wilhelm Camphausen, of the School of D&uuml;sseldorf, has left
+among the art trophies of the world a painting of this battle which is
+as true to the field and the combatants as anything which we recall
+from the sublime leaves of historical art.</p>
+
+<p>The scene represented is the triumphant <span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span>conclusion of the battle. The
+field is wide and stormy. In the centre, riding at full gallop with
+his staff, is King William. Already he is receiving the cheers and
+salutations of victory. By his side are seen the stalwart figures of
+Bismarck, Von Roon, Von Moltke, the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick
+Charles, and many others destined in the ensuing ten years to rise to
+the heights of military fame. To the right of the group of commanders
+charges the column of the Uhlans. The Austrians before are broken, and
+falling into rout. Far to the left and in the distance may be seen the
+half-obscured wrecks of battle.</p>
+
+<p>This conflict proved to be the Waterloo of Austria. It was the climax
+of the Seven Weeks' War. Already the Germans, under the leadership of
+Prussia, were making haste toward empire. The activity and energy
+displayed by the Prussian Government at this juncture were prodigious.
+It was like the days of Frederick the Great come again. The trouble
+with Austria had arisen about the claims of the Duke of Augustenburg
+to the government of Holstein. Bismarck desired that that duchy should
+be disposed of in one manner, while Austria was determined on another.</p>
+
+<p>The German States were drawn into this controversy, and the support of
+Italy was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span>sought by each of the contestants. Prussia held out to
+Italy the temptation of recovering Venice, as the reward of her
+entrance into a Prusso-Italian alliance. This bait was sufficient. The
+smaller German powers, with the exception of Oldenburg, Mecklenburg,
+the Saxon States, and three Free Cities, took their stand with
+Austria, and the German Diet approved of the Austrian demand. It
+looked for the time as though Prussia, with the exception of the aid
+of Italy, was to be left naked to all the winds of hostility. The
+event showed, however, that that great power was now in her element.
+She declared the action of the German Diet to be not only a menace,
+but an act of overt hostilities. This was followed by an immediate
+declaration of war against a foe that had nearly three times her
+numerical strength.</p>
+
+<p>On the fifteenth of June, 1866, King William called upon Saxony,
+Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Nassau to remain neutral in the impending
+conflict, and gave them <i>twelve hours</i> in which to decide! Receiving
+no answer, he ordered the Prussians out of Holstein to seize Hanover.
+This work was accomplished in two days. In another two days
+Hesse-Cassel was occupied by an army from the Rhine, while at the same
+time a third division of the Prussian forces was thrown into Dresden
+and Leipsic. On <span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span>the twenty-seventh of the month, a battle was fought
+with the Hanoverians, in which the latter were at first successful,
+but were soon overpowered and compelled to surrender. George V., King
+of Hanover, fled for refuge to Vienna.</p>
+
+<p>Within two weeks the field in the South was cleared, and the Prussian
+army was turned upon Austria. King William's forces numbered 260,000
+men. They were commanded by the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick
+Charles, Von Moltke, Von Roon and General Bittenfeld. The King in
+person and Bismarck were present with the advance. The impact was more
+than Austria could stand. On the twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth of
+June, Frederick Charles defeated the Austrian advance in four
+indecisive engagements. Count Clam-Gallas, the Austrian general, was
+obliged to fall back on the main body for support.</p>
+
+<p>In these same days the Crown Prince gained several preliminary
+successes over the principal Austrian army under Benedek. Then, on the
+river Bistritz, on the sixth of July, came the great battle of Sadowa.
+The opposing commanders in the beginning of the engagement were
+Frederick Charles and Benedek. The battle began at eight in the
+morning, and raged with the utmost fury until two in the afternoon.
+Thus <span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span>far the Prussians had gained but little advantage; but at that
+hour the powerful division of the Crown Prince, which, like that of
+Bl&uuml;cher at Waterloo, had been delayed by recent rains, appeared on the
+Austrian right. The wing of Benedek's army was soon turned. Bittenfeld
+then broke the left, and under a general advance of the Prussian lines
+the Austrian centre gave way in confusion. The field was quickly
+swept. The overthrow of the Austrian army became a ruinous rout, and
+the out-flashing sun of evening looked upon a demoralized and flying
+host, scattering in all directions before the victorious charges of
+the Prussian cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>The overwhelming victory of the Prussians was not without its rational
+causes. Indeed the antecedents of victory may always be found if all
+the facts of battle are known and analyzed. It remained for the battle
+of Sadowa to demonstrate practically the superiority of the
+needle-gun. This arm had been adopted by the Prussian government and
+was now for the first time on a great scale brought to the crucial
+test. Hitherto the old plan of muzzle-loading had been followed by all
+the nations of Europe and America. In our country the Civil War had
+come almost to its climax before breech-loading was generally
+introduced. Austria had continued to use <span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span>the old muzzle-loading
+muskets. It seems surprising that nations, of whom intelligence and
+self-interest may well be predicated, should continue in such a matter
+as war to employ inefficient weaponry long after a superior arm has
+been invented.</p>
+
+<p>If one might have looked into the gunshop of M. Pauli at Paris in the
+year 1814, he might have seen a gunsmith, twenty-seven years of age,
+plying his trade under the patronage of Napoleon the Great. That
+gunsmith was Johann Nicholas Von. Dreyse, of S&ouml;mmerda, who presently
+became an inventor as well as a smith, and in 1824, having returned to
+his own country, he took a patent for a new percussion method in
+musketry. Three years afterward he invented a needle-gun, retaining
+the muzzle-loading method. He continued his experimentation until
+1836, when he made and patented the first breech-loading needle-gun
+complete. This was done under the patronage of the Prussian
+government. It was not until 1841, however, that this arm began to be
+supplied for Prussian troops, and it was twenty-five years after that
+date before the general adoption of this arm contributed to the rout
+of the Austrians at Sadowa.</p>
+
+<p>The Prussians being armed with needle-guns, were enabled to get the
+double <span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span>advantage of rapid firing by loading in a chamber at the
+breech of the piece, and the equally great advantage of a long range
+and most deadly missile; for in the cartridge of this gun the needle
+runs through the charge, firing it first at the front of the chamber,
+thus securing the whole force of the explosive, which burns backward
+in the enclosed space and expends itself entirely on the projectile.
+Those breech-loading pieces which fire the cartridge by percussion
+against its back end have the disadvantage of the charge burning
+forward, and thus wasting itself partly in the air after the bullet
+has left the muzzle. This difficulty, however, has been overcome in
+recent gunnery, and the needle-gun such as it was in the hands of King
+William's soldiers at Sadowa, must now be regarded as a clumsy and
+obsolete weapon.</p>
+
+<p>The battle of Sadowa was to Francis Joseph the handwriting on the
+wall; but he made vain exertions to save his tottering fabric. Now it
+was that the shadow of a great hand was seen behind the conflict. It
+was the hand of Bismarck. His scheme was the unification of Germany.
+The <span class="smcap">North German Union</span> was formed on the basis of
+Protestantism and the unity of the German race. Already the Empire
+might be seen in the distance.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>CAPTURE OF MEXICO.</h3>
+
+<p>Whatever may be said of the justice of our war with Mexico, no
+criticism can be offered as to the brilliancy of the result. The
+campaign of General Scott against the ancient capital of the Aztecs,
+was almost spectacular; certainly it was heroic.</p>
+
+<p>On the ninth of March, 1847, the General, then nearly sixty-one years
+of age, arrived at Vera Cruz, with an army of 12,000 men. That city
+was taken in about a week, and the way was opened from the coast to
+the capital. The advance began on the eighth of April, and ten days
+afterward the rocky pass of Cerro Gordo was carried by assault. Santa
+Anna barely escaped with his life, leaving behind 3000 prisoners, his
+chest of private papers, and his <i>wooden leg!</i></p>
+
+<p>On the twenty-second of the same month, the strong castle of Perote,
+crowning a peak of the Cordilleras, was taken without resistance. Then
+the sacred city of Puebla was captured. On the seventh of August,
+Scott, with his reduced forces, began his march over the crest of the
+mountains against the city of Mexico. The American army, sweeping over
+the heights, looked down on the valley. Never before had a soldiery in
+a foreign land beheld a grander scene<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span> Clear to the horizon stretched
+a living landscape of green fields, villages, and lakes&mdash;a picture too
+beautiful to be marred with the dreadful enginery of war.</p>
+
+<p>The American army advanced by the way of Ayotla. The route was the
+great national road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. The last fifteen miles
+of the way was occupied with fortifications, both natural and
+artificial, and it seemed impossible to advance directly to the gates
+of the city. The army was accordingly brought around Lake Chalco, and
+thence westward to San Augustine. This place is ten miles from the
+capital. The approach now lay along causeways, across marshes and the
+beds of bygone lakes. At the further end of each causeway, the
+Mexicans had built massive gates. There were almost inaccessible
+positions at Contreras, San Antonio and Molino del Rey. Further on
+toward the city lay the powerful bulwarks of Churubusco and
+Chapultepec. The latter was of great strength, and seemed impregnable.
+These various outposts were held by Santa Anna with a force of fully
+thirty thousand Mexicans.</p>
+
+<p>The first assaults of the Americans were made on the nineteenth of
+August, by Generals Pillow and Twiggs. The line of communications
+between Contreras and Santa Anna's army was cut, and in the darkness
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span>of the following night an assault was made by General Persifer F.
+Smith, who about sunrise carried the place and drove the garrison
+pell-mell. This was the <i>first</i> victory of the memorable twentieth of
+August.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours later, General Worth compelled the evacuation of San
+Antonio. This was the <i>second</i> victory. About the same time, General
+Pillow advanced on Churubusco, and carried one of the heights. The
+position was taken by storm, and the enemy scattered like chaff. This
+was the <i>third</i> triumph. The division of General Twiggs added a
+<i>fourth</i> victory by storming and holding another height of Churubusco,
+while the <i>fifth</i> and last was achieved by General Shields and Pierce,
+who drove back an army of reinforcements under Santa Anna. The
+Mexicans were thus forced back into the fortifications of Chapultepec.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning, the alarm and treachery of the Mexican
+authorities were both strongly exhibited. A deputation came out to
+negotiate; but the intent was merely to gain time for strengthening
+the defences. The terms proposed by the Mexicans were preposterous
+when viewed in the light of the situation. General Scott, who did not
+consider his army vanquished, rejected the proposals with scorn. He,
+however, rested his men until the seventh <span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span>of September before
+renewing hostilities. On the morning of the eighth, General Worth was
+thrown forward to take Molino del Rey and Casa de Mata, which were the
+western defences of Chapultepec. These places were defended by about
+fourteen thousand Mexicans; but the Americans, after losing a fourth
+of their number in the desperate onset, were again victorious. The
+batteries were now turned on Chapultepec itself, and on the thirteenth
+of September that frowning citadel was carried by storm. This exploit
+opened an avenue into the city. Through the San Cosine and Belen gates
+the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at nightfall the soldiers
+of the Union were in the suburbs of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>During the night, Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled
+from the city, but not until they had turned loose from the prisons
+2000 convicts, to fire upon the American army. On the following
+morning, before day-dawn, a deputation came forth from the city to beg
+for mercy. This time the messengers were in earnest; but General
+Scott, wearied with trifling, turned them away with disgust.
+"<i>Forward!</i>" was the order that rang along the American lines at
+sunrise. The war-worn regiments swept into the beautiful streets of
+the famous city, and at seven o'clock the flag of the United States
+floated over the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88"></a>[pg 88]</span>halls of the Montezumas. It was the triumphant
+ending of one of the most brilliant and striking campaigns of modern
+history.</p>
+
+<p>The American army, as compared with the hosts of Mexico, had been but
+a handful. The small force which had left Vera Cruz on the march to
+the capital had lost considerably by battle and disease. Many
+detachments had been posted <i>en route</i> to hold the line of
+communications, and for garrison duty in places taken from the enemy.
+The army had thus dwindled until, after the battles of Churubusco and
+Chapultepec, <i>fewer than six thousand men</i> were left to enter and hold
+the capital.</p>
+
+<p>The invasion had been remarkable in all its particulars. The obstacles
+which had to be overcome seemed insurmountable. There were walled
+cities to be taken, fortified mountain passes to be carried by storm,
+and frowning castles with cannon on the battlements to be assaulted by
+regiments whose valor and impetuosity were their only protection and
+warrant of victory. Yet the campaign was never seriously impeded. No
+foot of ground once taken from the Mexicans was yielded by false
+tactics or lost by battle.</p>
+
+<p>The army which accomplished this marvel, penetrating a far-distant and
+densely peopled country, held by a proud race, claiming to be the
+descendants of Cortes and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span>the Spanish heroes of the sixteenth
+century, and denouncing at the outset the American soldiers as
+"barbarians of the North," was, in large part, an army of
+volunteers&mdash;a citizen soldiery&mdash;which had risen from the States of the
+Union and marched to the Mexican border under the Union flag.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>VICKSBURG.</h3>
+
+<p>The story goes that on a certain occasion some friends of General
+Grant, anxious to make him talk about himself&mdash;something he would
+hardly ever do&mdash;said: "General, at what time in your military career
+did you perceive that you were the coming man&mdash;that you were to have
+the responsibility and fame of the command-in-chief and end the war?"
+For little while the General smoked on, and then said, "<i>After
+Vicksburg!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Certain it is that the star of Grant, long obscured and struggling
+through storm and darkness, never emerged into clear light, rising in
+the ascendant, until after the capture of the stronghold of the
+Confederates on the Mississippi. After that it rose, and rose to the
+zenith.</p>
+
+<p>The position of Vicksburg is hard to understand. The river at this
+place makes a bend to the north and then turns south <span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span>again, leaving a
+delta, or peninsula, on the Louisiana side. Vicksburg occupies a kind
+of shoulder on the Mississippi side. The site is commanding. The river
+flows by the bluffs, as if to acknowledge its subjection to them. From
+the beginning of the war the Confederate authorities recognized the
+vast importance of holding this key to the great inland artery, and
+the Federal Government saw the necessity of clutching it from the
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The mouth of the Mississippi was soon regained by the Government, so
+that there was no serious obstruction as far north as where the
+northern border of Louisiana crosses the river. From the north the
+Federal fleets and land forces made their way along the Tennessee
+border, and then the Arkansas border; but in the middle, between the
+twenty-second and thirty-third parallels, the Confederates got a
+strong grip on the Father of Waters, and would not relinquish their
+hold. Jackson, the capital of the State, was in their power also, and
+from Jackson eastward the great thoroughfare extended into Alabama,
+and thence expanded in its connections into all the Confederacy. From
+Jackson to Vicksburg reached the same line of communications, so that
+here, at Vicksburg, the Confederate power, having its seat in Richmond
+and its energy in the field, reached directly to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> Mississippi
+river, and laid upon that stream a band of iron which the Union must
+break in order to pass.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the situation at the beginning of 1863. General Grant, who
+had been under a cloud since Shiloh, had gradually regained his
+command, and to him fell the task of breaking the Confederate hold on
+the great river. He has himself in his <i>Memoirs</i> told the story of the
+Vicksburg campaign. He managed, by herculean exertions, to get his
+forces below Vicksburg, and then began his campaign from Grand Gulf
+inland toward the line of communication between Jackson and Vicksburg.
+It was some time before the Confederates took the alarm. When they did
+become alarmed about Grant's movements, General J.E. Johnston, who
+commanded at Jackson, and General J.C. Pemberton, who was in command
+at Vicksburg; made the most unwearied efforts to keep open the line of
+communications upon which the safety of Jackson and the success of
+Pemberton depended.</p>
+
+<p>But Grant pressed on in a northwesterly direction until he came upon
+Pemberton in a position which he had chosen at Champion's Hill. Here,
+without doubt, was fought one of the critical battles of the Union
+war. If General Pemberton had been successful, that success would seem
+to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span>have portended the end of Grant's military career. But a different
+fate was reserved for the combatants. Grant's army was strong, and had
+become seasoned by hardship into the veteran condition. His under
+officers&mdash;Logan, McPherson, Hovey, McClernand and A.J. Smith&mdash;were in
+full spirit of battle. The engagement was severely contested. The
+Union army, actually engaged, numbered 15,000, and Pemberton's forces
+were about equal in number; but the latter were disastrously defeated.
+The losses were excessive in proportion to the numbers engaged.</p>
+
+<p>The Confederates now fell back to Big Black river. Their line of
+communication with Jackson was cut. A second battle was fought at Big
+Black River, and then, on the eighteenth of May, the victorious Union
+army surrounded Vicksburg, and the siege was begun. The siege lasted
+forty-seven days, and was marked by heroic resistance on the one side
+and heroic pertinacity on the other, to the degree of making it one of
+the memorable events in the military annals of the world. Gradually
+the Union lines were narrowed around the doomed town. Ever nearer and
+nearer the lines of riflepits were drawn. Day by day the resources of
+the Confederates were reduced. But their defences were strong, and
+their courage for a long time unabated.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span></p>
+
+<p>General Pemberton hoped and expected that an attack on Grant's rear
+would be made in such force as to loosen his grip, and to enable the
+besieged to rise against the besiegers and break through. The
+Confederates, however, had not sufficient forces for such an
+enterprise. General Lee, in the East, had now undertaken the campaign
+of Gettysburg, and the Confederacy was already strained in every
+nerve. General Grant had the way open for supplies and
+re-enforcements. The siege was pressed with the utmost vigor, and
+Pemberton was left to his fate.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, however, two unsuccessful assaults were made on the
+Confederate works. The first of these occurred on the day after the
+investment was completed. It was unsuccessful. The Union army was
+flung back from the impregnable defences in the rear of Vicksburg, and
+great losses were inflicted on them. Grant, however, was undismayed,
+and, still believing that the enemy's line might be broken by assault,
+renewed the attempt in a gallant attack on the twenty-second of May. A
+furious cannonade was kept up for several hours, and then the
+divisions of Sherman, McPherson and McClernand were thrown forward
+upon the earthworks of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>It was here that General McClernand reported to the commander that he
+had gained <span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span>the Confederate intrenchments. General Grant says: "I
+occupied a position from which I thought I could see as well as he
+what took place in his front; and I did not see the success he
+reported. But his request for reinforcements being repeated, I could
+not ignore it, and sent him Quinby's division. Sherman and McPherson
+were both ordered to renew their assaults in favor of McClernand. This
+last attack only served to increase our casualties, without giving any
+benefit whatever." In these attacks large numbers of the Federal
+soldiers had got into the low ground intervening, under the enemy's
+fire, and had to remain in that position until darkness enabled them
+to retire. The Union losses were very heavy, and General Grant, years
+afterward, in composing his <i>Memoirs</i>, referred to this assault and to
+that at Cold Harbor as the two conspicuous mistakes of his military
+career.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was that the regular siege of Vicksburg was undertaken. Toward
+the latter part of June, the Confederates, both soldiers and citizens,
+began to suffer. Houses became untenable. The people sought what
+refuge they might find. Some actually burrowed in the earth. The
+garrison was placed on short rations, and then a condition of
+starvation ensued. Pemberton held out with a resolution worthy of a
+better fate. But at length human endurance could go no <span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span>further. On
+the fourth of July the white flag was hoisted from the Confederate
+works, announcing the end. Generals Grant and Pemberton, with three or
+four attendants each, met between the lines, and the terms of
+capitulation were quickly named and accepted. Vicksburg was
+surrendered. General Pemberton and all his forces, 30,000 strong,
+became prisoners of war.</p>
+
+<p>This was the greatest force ever surrendered in America, though it was
+only about one-sixth of that of Marshal Bazaine and his army at Metz
+seven years afterward. Thousands of small arms, hundreds of cannon,
+and all the remaining ammunition and stores of the Confederates were
+the other fruits of this great Union victory, by which the prospect of
+ultimate success to the Confederacy was either destroyed or long
+postponed, and by which in particular the great central river of the
+United States was permitted once more to flow unvexed from the
+confluence of the Missouri to the Gulf.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>GETTYSBURG.</h3>
+
+<p>The battle of Gettysburg is properly included among the great battles
+of the world. It was the greatest conflict that has thus far occurred
+in America. The losses relative <span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span>to the numbers engaged were not as
+great as those at Antietam, Spottsylvania, and a few other bloody
+struggles of our war; but in the aggregate the losses were greatest.
+Gettysburg was in truth the high tide of the American Civil War. Never
+before and never afterward was there a crisis such as that which broke
+in the dreadful struggle for the mastery of Cemetery Ridge.</p>
+
+<p>The invasion of the Northern States by General Lee had been undertaken
+at the close of the previous summer. That invasion had ended
+disastrously at the battle of Antietam. Once more the Confederate
+commander would make the trial. So well had he been able to beat back
+every invasion of Virginia by the Union forces that he now thought to
+end the war by turning its tide of devastation into Pennsylvania.</p>
+
+<p>Doubtless Lee realized that he was placing everything upon the cast of
+a die. He undertook the campaign with a measure of confidence. He,
+almost as much as Grant, was a taciturn man, not much given to
+revelations of his purposes and hopes. No doubt he was somewhat
+surprised at the successful rising of the Union forces against him.
+Besides the Army of the Potomac, Pennsylvania seemed to rise for the
+emergency.</p>
+
+<p>It has not generally been observed that before the great battle
+General Meade was in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span>a position seriously to threaten the Confederate
+rear. Armies in the field rarely meet each other at the place and time
+expected. There is always something obscure and uncertain in the
+oncoming of the actual conflict. The fact is that General Lee was
+receding somewhat at the time of the crisis. Then it was that he
+determined to fight a great battle, and if successful then march on
+Washington. Should he not be successful, he would keep a way open by
+direct route for retreat into Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>By the first of July, 1863, a situation had been prepared which
+signified a decisive battle with far-reaching consequences to the one
+side or the other, accordingly as victory should incline to this or to
+that. By this date General Reynolds, who commanded the advance line of
+the Union army, met the corresponding line of the Confederates at the
+village of Gettysburg, and the rest followed as if by logical
+necessity.</p>
+
+<p>On July 1 and 2, the great body of the Union and Confederate armies
+came up to the position where battle had already begun between the
+advance divisions and the pressure of the one side upon the other
+became greater and greater with each hour. At the first the
+Confederate impact was strongest. General Reynolds was killed.
+Reinforcements were hurried up on both sides. General Howard, who
+succeeded Reynolds, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span>selected Cemetery Hill, south of the town of
+Gettysburg, and there established the Union line.</p>
+
+<p>General Meade arrived on the field on the afternoon of the first, and
+the two armies were thrown rapidly into position. That of the Federals
+extended in the form of a fishhook from Little Round Top by way of
+Round Top and along Cemetery Ridge through the cemetery itself, by the
+way of the gate, and then bending to the right, formed the bowl of the
+hook, which extended around as far as Culp's Hill and Wolf Creek. The
+ground was elevated and the convexity was toward the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>By nightfall of the first, both armies were in state of readiness for
+the conflict. The Union army was on the defensive. It was sufficient
+that it should hold its ground and repel all assault. The Confederates
+must advance and carry the Federal position in order to succeed. How
+this should be done was not agreed on by the Confederate commanders.
+General Lee formed a plan of direct assault; but General Longstreet
+was of opinion that a movement of the army to the Union left flank
+would be preferable, and that by that method the flank might be turned
+and the position of Meade carried with less loss and much less hazard.</p>
+
+<p>Longstreet, however, did not oppose the views of his commander to the
+extent of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span>thwarting his purpose or weakening the plan adopted. On the
+second of July the battle began in earnest about noon. The
+Confederates advanced against the Union centre and left, and at a
+later hour a strenuous and partly successful attack was made on the
+Federal right. But complete success was not attained by Lee in any
+part of the field. About sundown the Confederates gained considerable
+advantage against Slocum, who held the line along Wolf Hill and Rock
+Creek; and on the Union left a terrible struggle occurred for the
+possession of Great and Little Round Top. In this part of the field
+the fighting continued until six o'clock in the evening; but the
+critical positions still remained in the hands of the Federals.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre the contest was waged for the mastery of Cemetery Hill,
+which was the key to the Union position. Here were planted batteries
+with an aggregate of eighty guns, and here, though the assaults of the
+Confederates were desperate and long continued, the integrity of the
+Federal line was preserved till nightfall. The fighting along a front
+of nearly five miles in extent continued in a desultory manner until
+about ten o'clock on the July night, when the firing for the most part
+ceased, leaving the two armies in virtually the same position which
+they had occupied the day before.</p>
+
+<p>This signified, however, that thus far the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span>advantage was on the Union
+side; for on that side the battle was defensive. The Confederate army
+had come to a wall, and must break through or suffer defeat. The
+burden of attack rested on the Confederate side; but General Lee did
+not flinch from the necessity. In the darkness of night both he and
+the Union commanders made strenuous preparations for the renewal of
+the struggle on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the third both armies seemed loath to begin the
+conflict. This phenomenon is nearly always witnessed in the case of
+really critical battles. It was so at Waterloo, and so at Gettysburg.
+It seems that in such crises the commanders, well aware of what is to
+come, wait awhile, as though each would permit the other to strike
+first. As a matter of fact, the topmost crest of the Civil War had now
+been reached; and from this hour the one cause or the other must
+decline to the end.</p>
+
+<p>The whole forenoon of the third of July was spent in preparations.
+There was but little fighting, and that little was desultory. At
+midday there seemed to be a lull along the whole line. Just afterward,
+however, General Lee opened from Seminary Ridge with about one hundred
+guns, directing his fire against the Union centre on Cemetery Hill.
+There the counter position was occupied by the American artillery of
+about <span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span>equal strength, under command of General Hunt. The cannonade
+burst out at one o'clock with terrific roar. Nothing like it had ever
+before been seen or heard in the New World. Nothing like it, we
+believe, had ever up to that time been witnessed in Europe. Certainly
+there was no such cannonade at Waterloo. For about an hour and a half
+this tremendous vomit of shot and shell continued. It was the hope of
+General Lee to pound the Union batteries to pieces, and then, while
+horror and death were still supreme in the Union centre, to thrust
+forward an overwhelming mass of his best infantry into the gap, cut
+Meade's army in two, plant the Confederate banner on the crest of the
+Union battle line, and virtually then and there achieve the
+independence of the Confederate States.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that an action of General Hunt, about half-past two,
+flattered Lee with the belief that he had succeeded. Hunt adopted the
+plan of drawing back his batteries over the crest of the hill, for the
+double purpose of cooling his guns that were becoming overheated and
+of saving his supply of ammunition, that was running low. The Union
+fire accordingly slackened and almost ceased for a while. Nor was Lee
+able to discover from his position but what his batteries under
+General Alexander had prevailed. It looked for the moment as though
+the battle <span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span>were lost to Meade, and that victory was in the clutch of
+his antagonist.</p>
+
+<p>Already a Confederate charge of infantry had been prepared. About
+18,000 men, in three divisions, under Armistead, Garnett and
+Pettigrew, and led by General George E. Pickett, of Virginia, had been
+got into readiness for the crisis which had now arrived. Longstreet
+was the corps commander, and through him the order for the charge
+should be given. General Lee had himself made the order, but
+Longstreet seeing, as he believed the inevitable, hesitated and turned
+aside. It was not a refusal to send an army to destruction, but the
+natural hesitation of a really great commander to do what he believed
+was fatal to the Confederate cause. Pickett, however, gave his
+salutation to Longstreet, and presently said: "Sir, I am going to move
+forward!"</p>
+
+<p>Then began the most memorable charge ever witnessed in America. The
+Confederate column was three-fourths of a mile in length. It was
+directed against the Union centre, where it was supposed the
+Confederate fire had done its work. What ensued was the finest
+military spectacle that had been seen in the world since the charge of
+the Old Guard at Waterloo; and the results were alike! The brave men
+who made the onset were mowed down as they crossed rapidly the
+intervening space. Hunt's batteries <span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span>were quickly run back to their
+position, and began to discharge their deadly contents against the
+head of the oncoming column. That column veered somewhat to the right
+as it came. The line staggered, but pressed on. It came within the
+range of the Union musketry. Gaps opened here and there. Armistead,
+who led the advance, saw his forces sink to the earth; but he did not
+waver. Nearer and nearer the column came to the Union line. It
+<i>struck</i> the Union line. There was a momentary melee among the guns,
+and then all was over. Hancock's infantry rose with flash on flash
+from among the rocks by which they were partially protected. The
+Confederates were scattered in broken groups. Retreat was well-nigh
+impossible. The impact of the charge was utterly broken, and the
+Confederate line was blown into rout and ruin. Victory hovered over
+the National army. The Confederate forces staggered away under the
+blow of defeat. Night came down on a broken and virtually hopeless
+cause. The field was covered with the dead and dying. Two thousand
+eight hundred and thirty-four Union soldiers had been killed outright;
+13,709 were wounded, and 6643 were missing, making a total of 23,186
+men. The Confederate loss was never definitely ascertained, but was
+greatly in excess of that of the Federals. The best estimate has been
+fixed at 31,621. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span>grand total of losses in those fatal three days
+thus reached the enormous aggregate of 54,807!</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>SPOTTSYLVANIA.</h3>
+
+<p>A losing cause never showed a braver front than the Confederacy put on
+in the Wilderness. It was a front of iron. A man weaker than Grant
+would have quailed before it. It was virtually the same old rim of
+fire and death that had confronted McClellan, that had consumed Pope,
+that almost destroyed both Hooker and Burnside. Either the Union army
+must go through this barrier of flame and destruction and scatter it
+like brands of fire to right and left, or else the Union could never
+be rebuilded on the foundation of victory.</p>
+
+<p>There was much discussion&mdash;and some doubt&mdash;in the spring of 1864
+whether the Silent Man of Galena, now made Commander-in-chief of the
+Union armies, could pursue his military destiny to a great fame with
+Robert E. Lee for his antagonist. This talk was bruited abroad; Grant
+himself heard it, and had to consider what not a few people were
+saying, namely, that he had had before him in the West as leaders of
+the enemy only such men as Buckner and Beauregard and Pemberton; now
+he must stand <span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span>up face to face with "Old Bobby Lee" and take the blows
+of the great Virginian against whom neither strategy nor force had
+hitherto prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>The Man of Galena did not quail. Neither did he doubt. His pictures of
+this epoch show him with mouth more close shut than ever; but
+otherwise there was no sign. Lee for his part knew that another foeman
+was now come, and if we mistake not he divined that the end of the
+Confederacy, involving the end of his own military career, was not far
+ahead. It is to the credit of his genius that he did not weaken under
+such a situation and despair ere the ordeal came upon him; but on the
+contrary, he planted himself in the Wilderness and awaited the coming
+of the storm.</p>
+
+<p>Let the world know that Grant in entering upon his great campaign, in
+the first days of May, 1864, had to do so against the greatest
+disadvantages. The country south of the Rappahannock was against him.
+The fact of Lee's acting ever on the defensive was against him. The
+woods and the rivers were against him. All Virginia, from the Rapidan
+to Richmond, was a rifle-pit and an earthwork. The Confederates knew
+every hill and ravine as though they were the orchard and the fishing
+creek of their own homes. The battlefield was theirs, to begin with;
+it must be taken from them <span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span>or remain theirs forever. To take a
+battlefield of their own from Virginians has never been a pleasing
+task to those who did it&mdash;or more frequently tried to do it and did
+not!</p>
+
+<p>It remained for Grant and his tremendous Union army to undertake this
+herculean task. He moved into the Wilderness and fought a two-days'
+battle of the greatest severity. The contest of the fifth and sixth of
+May were murderous in character. The National losses in these two days
+in killed, wounded and missing were not less than 14,000; those of the
+Confederates were almost as great. In this struggle General Alexander
+Hays was killed; Generals Getty, Baxter and McAlister were wounded,
+and scores of under-officers, with thousands of brave men, lost their
+lives or limbs. Now it was that Lee is reported to have said to his
+officers, with a serious look on his iron face: "Gentlemen, at last
+the Army of the Potomac has a head."</p>
+
+<p>On the seventh of May there was not much fighting. It is said that in
+the lull Grant's leading commanders thought he would recede, as his
+predecessors had done, and that not a few of them gave it as their
+opinion that he should do so. It is said that when coming to the
+Chancellorsville House, he gave the command, "Forward, by the left
+flank," thus demonstrating his purpose, as he said four days afterward
+in his despatch <span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span>to the government, "to fight it out on that line if
+it took all summer," the soldiers gave a sigh of relief, and many
+began to sing at the prospect of no more retreating. General Sherman
+has recorded his belief that at this juncture Grant best displayed his
+greatness.</p>
+
+<p>With the movement which we have just mentioned, the next stage in the
+campaign would bring both the Union and the Confederate armies to
+Spottsylvania Courthouse. The distance that each had to march to that
+point was about the same. It was at this juncture that the woods in
+which the two armies were moving, Grant to the left and Lee to the
+right, took fire and were burned. When the Union advance came in sight
+of Spottsylvania, Warren, who commanded, found that the place had been
+already occupied by the vigilant enemy. Hancock did not arrive in time
+to make an immediate attack, and Longstreet's corps was able to get
+into position before the pressure of the Union advance could be felt.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture Sheridan, in command of the Federal cavalry, was cut
+loose from the Union army and sent whirling with irresistible speed
+and momentum entirely around the rear of the Confederate army,
+destroying railroads, cutting communication, burning trains and
+liberating prisoners, as far as the very suburbs of Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>The main divisions of the Union army <span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span>came into position before
+Spottsylvania. Hancock had the right wing, and upon his left rested
+Warren. Sedgwick's corps was next in order, while Burnside held the
+left. Just as the commanders were forming their lines and some men at
+a Union battery seemed to shrink from the Confederate sharpshooters,
+Sedgwick went forward to encourage them, saying, "Men, they couldn't
+hit an elephant at that distance." But the next instant he himself
+fell dead! His command of the Sixth Corps was transferred to General
+Wright.</p>
+
+<p>It now remained for Hancock on the extreme right to attack the
+Confederate left. This was done by Barlow's division, but without
+success. This attack and repulse was the real beginning of the battle
+of Spottsylvania. The Confederates in front were strongly intrenched,
+but near the northernmost point of their works what was thought to be
+a weak point in the line was discovered. This point was what is known
+as a <i>salient</i>. The position, however, was in the thick woods, or was
+at any rate concealed by the woods and ravines in front.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the position was discovered and its nature known, a large
+part of Wright's corps was sent against it. The attack was successful.
+The line was carried, and about a thousand men captured in the
+assault. But the reinforcements were not up <span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span>promptly, and the
+assailants were driven back. A second assault ended in the same way.
+This fighting was on the evening of the tenth of May. The battle
+continued into the night, and the event hung dubious.</p>
+
+<p>On the eleventh there was a heavy rain, but during that day General
+Grant, who placed great confidence in General Hancock and his corps,
+moved that brilliant officer to the point of attack before the
+<i>salient</i>. With the early light on the morning of the twelfth, Hancock
+sprang forward to the assault. So sudden and powerful was the charge
+that one-half of the distance had been traversed before the enemy knew
+what was coming. Then the storm burst wildly. The yell arose from one
+side, and the cheer from the other. Hancock's men in great force and
+with invincible courage sprang upon the breast-works, clubbed their
+guns, or went over bayonet foremost. They were met on the other side
+in like manner. The melee that ensued was perhaps the most dreadful
+hand-to-hand conflict of the war. The impetus of the Union attack was
+irresistible. Great numbers were killed on both sides, and the
+Confederates were overpowered.</p>
+
+<p>General Edward Johnson and his division of about four thousand men
+were captured in the angle. General Stuart was also taken. He and
+Hancock had been friends in their student days at West Point. The
+story goes <span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span>that Hancock, recognizing his prisoner, said, "How are
+you, Stuart?" and offered his hand. The hot Confederate answered, "I
+am <i>General</i> Stuart of the Confederate army, and under the
+circumstances I decline to take your hand." Hancock answered, "Under
+any other circumstances I should not have offered it!"</p>
+
+<p>But there was no time for bantering. The very earth round about was in
+the chaos of roaring battle. Hancock had taken twenty guns with their
+horses, and about thirty battle flags. It was a tremendous capture, if
+he could hold his ground. No officer of the Union army ever showed to
+better advantage. The world may well forgive the touch of vanity and
+bluster in the undaunted Hancock, as he sent this despatch to Grant:
+"I have used up Johnson and am going into Hill." He found, however,
+that he should have terrible work even to keep the gain that he had
+made.</p>
+
+<p>Lee no sooner perceived what was done than he threw heavy masses upon
+the position to retake it from the captors. Hancock was now on the
+wrong side of the angle! The Confederates came on during the day in
+five successive charges, the like of which for valor was hardly ever
+witnessed. The contested ground was literally piled with dead. There
+was hand-to-hand fighting. Men bayoneted each other through the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span>crevices of the logs that had been piled up for defences. The storm
+of battle swept back and forth until the salient gained that name of
+"Death Angle" by which it will ever be known. The place became then
+and there the bloodiest spot that ever was washed with human life in
+America. The bushes and trees round about were literally shot away. At
+one point an oak tree, more than eighteen inches in diameter, was
+completely eaten off at the man-level by the bullet storm that beat
+against it. That tree in its fall crushed several men of a South
+Carolina regiment who still stood and fought in the death harvest that
+was going on.</p>
+
+<p>The counter assaults of the Confederates, however, were in vain. They
+inflicted terrible losses, and were themselves mowed down by
+thousands; but they could not and did not retake the angle. Hancock
+and his heroes could not be dislodged. The battle of Spottsylvania
+died away with the night into sullen and awful silence, which was
+broken only by the groans of thousands of wounded men who could not be
+recovered from the bloody earth on which they had fallen. The
+antagonists lay crouching like lions, only a lion's spring apart, and
+neither would suffer the other, even for the sake of their common
+American humanity, to recover his dead.</p>
+
+<p>In the retrospect it seems marvelous that <span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span>within the memories of men
+now living and not yet old, so awful a struggle as that of the Death
+Angle in the Wilderness could have taken place between men of the same
+race and language, born under the flag of the same Republic, and
+cherishing the same sentiments and traditions and hopes.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>APPOMATTOX.</h3>
+
+<p>Appomattox was not a battle, but the end of battles. Fondly do we hope
+that never again shall Americans lift against Americans the avenging
+hand in such a strife! Here at a little court-house, twenty-five miles
+east of Lynchburg, on the ninth of April, 1865, the great tragedy of
+our civil war was brought to a happy end. Here General Robert E. Lee,
+with the broken fragments of his Army of Northern Virginia, was
+brought by the inexorable logic of war to the end of that career which
+he had so bravely followed through four years of battle, much of which
+had shown him to be one of the great commanders of the century.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the downfall of the Confederacy has been many times
+repeated. It has entered into our literature, and is known by heart
+wherever the history of the war is read. Generally, however, this
+story has <span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span>been told as if the narrator approached the event from the
+Union side. We have the pursuit of General Lee from Petersburg
+westward, almost to the spurs of the Alleghanies. We follow in the
+wake. We see the unwearied efforts of the victorious host to close
+around the retreating army which has so long been the bulwark of the
+Confederacy. We hear the summons to surrender, and the answer of "<i>Not
+yet</i>;" but within a day that answer is reversed, and the stern wills
+of Lee and his fellow-commanders yield to the inexorable law of the
+strongest.</p>
+
+<p>Only recently, however, the story has been told with great spirit from
+the Confederate side, by General John B. Gordon, who was at that time
+at the right hand of his commander-in-chief, and who stood by him to
+the last hour. General Gordon's account of the final struggle of the
+Confederate army and of the surrender is so graphic, so full of
+spirit, so warmed with the animation and devotion of a great soldier,
+that we here repeat his account of</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Death Struggle.</span></p>
+
+<p>We always retreated in good order, though always under fire. As we
+retreated we would wheel and fire, or repel a rush, and then stagger
+on to the next hilltop, or vantage ground, where a new fight would be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span>made. And so on through the entire day. At night my men had no rest.
+We marched through the night in order to get a little respite from
+fighting. All night long I would see my poor fellows hobbling along,
+prying wagons or artillery out of the mud, and supplementing the work
+of our broken-down horses. At dawn, though, they would be in line
+ready for battle, and they would fight with the steadiness and valor
+of the Old Guard.</p>
+
+<p>This lasted until the night of the seventh of April. The retreat of
+Lee's army was lit up with the fire and flash of battle, in which my
+brave men moved about like demigods for five days and nights. Then we
+were sent to the front for a rest, and Longstreet was ordered to cover
+the retreating army. On the evening of the eighth, when I had reached
+the front, my scout George brought me two men in Confederate uniform,
+who, he said, he believed to be the enemy, as he had seen them
+counting our men as they filed past. I had the men brought to my
+campfire, and examined them. They made a plausible defence, but George
+was positive they were spies, and I ordered them searched. He failed
+to find anything, when I ordered him to examine their boots. In the
+bottom of one of the boots I found an order from General Grant to
+General Ord, telling him to move by forced marches toward<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> Lynchburg
+and cut off General Lee's retreat. The men then confessed that they
+were spies, and belonged to General Sheridan. They stated that they
+knew that the penalty of their course was death, but asked that I
+should not kill them, as the war could only last a few days longer,
+anyhow. I kept them prisoners, and turned them over to General
+Sheridan after the surrender. I at once sent the information to
+General Lee, and a short time afterward received orders to go to his
+headquarters. That night was held Lee's last council of war. There
+were present General Lee, General Fitzhugh Lee, as head of the
+cavalry, and Pendleton, as chief of the artillery, and myself. General
+Longstreet was, I think, too busily engaged to attend.</p>
+
+<p>General Lee then exhibited to us the correspondence he had had with
+General Grant that day, and asked our opinion of the situation. It
+seemed that surrender was inevitable. The only chance of escape was
+that I could cut a way for the army through the lines in front of me.
+General Lee asked me if I could do this. I replied that I did not know
+what forces were in front of me; that if General Ord had not
+arrived&mdash;as we thought then he had not&mdash;with his heavy masses of
+infantry, I could cut through. I guaranteed that my men would cut a
+way through all the cavalry that could <span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span>be massed in front of them.
+The council finally dissolved with the understanding that the army
+should be surrendered if I discovered the next morning, after feeling
+the enemy's line, that the infantry had arrived in such force that I
+could not cut my way through.</p>
+
+<p>My men were drawn up in the little town of Appomattox that night. I
+still had about four thousand men under me, as the army had been
+divided into two commands and given to General Longstreet and myself.
+Early on the morning of the ninth I prepared for the assault upon the
+enemy's line, and began the last fighting done in Virginia. My men
+rushed forward gamely and broke the line of the enemy and captured two
+pieces of artillery. I was still unable to tell what I was fighting; I
+did not know whether I was striking infantry or dismounted cavalry. I
+only know that my men were driving them back, and were getting further
+and further through. Just then I had a message from General Lee,
+telling me a flag of truce was in existence, leaving it to my
+discretion as to what course to pursue. My men were still pushing
+their way on. I sent at once to hear from General Longstreet, feeling
+that, if he was marching toward me, we might still cut through and
+carry the army forward. I learned that he was about two miles off,
+with his face <span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span>just opposite from mine, fighting for his life. I thus
+saw that the case was hopeless. The further each of us drove the enemy
+the further we drifted apart, and the more exposed we left our wagon
+trains and artillery, which were parked between us. Every line either
+of us broke only opened the gap the wider. I saw plainly that the
+Federals would soon rush in between us, and then there would have been
+no army. I, therefore, determined to send a flag of truce. I called
+Colonel Peyton of my staff to me, and told him that I wanted him to
+carry a flag of truce forward. He replied:</p>
+
+<p>"General, I have no flag of truce."</p>
+
+<p>I told him to get one. He replied:</p>
+
+<p>"General, we have no flag of truce in our command."</p>
+
+<p>Then said I, "Get your handkerchief, put it on a stick, and go
+forward."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no handkerchief, General,"</p>
+
+<p>"Then borrow one and go forward with it."</p>
+
+<p>He tried, and reported to me that there was no handkerchief in my
+staff.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Colonel, use your shirt."</p>
+
+<p>"You see, General, that we all have on flannel shirts."</p>
+
+<p>At last, I believe, we found a man who had a white shirt. He gave it
+to us, and I tore off the back and tail, and, tying this to a stick,
+Colonel Peyton went out toward the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span>enemy's lines. I instructed him
+simply to say to General Sheridan that General Lee had written to me
+that a flag of truce had been sent from his and Grant's headquarters,
+and that he could act as he thought best on this information. In a few
+moments he came back with some one representing General Sheridan. This
+officer said:</p>
+
+<p>"General Sheridan requested me to present his compliments to you, and
+to demand the unconditional surrender of your army."</p>
+
+<p>"Major, you will please return my compliments to General Sheridan, and
+say that I will not surrender."</p>
+
+<p>"But, General, he will annihilate you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am perfectly well aware of my situation. I simply gave General
+Sheridan some information on which he may or may not desire to act."</p>
+
+<p>He went back to his lines, and in a short time General Sheridan came
+forward on an immense horse, and attended by a very large staff. Just
+here an incident occurred that came near having a serious ending. As
+General Sheridan was approaching I noticed one of my sharpshooters
+drawing his rifle down upon him. I at once called to him: "Put down
+your gun, sir; this is a flag of truce." But he simply settled it to
+his shoulder and was drawing a bead on Sheridan, when I leaned forward
+and jerked his gun. He struggled with me, but I finally raised it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> I
+then loosed it, and he started to aim again. I caught it again, when
+he turned his stern, white face, all broken with grief and streaming
+with tears, up to me, and said: "Well, General, then let him keep on
+his own side."</p>
+
+<p>The fighting had continued up to this point. Indeed, after the flag of
+truce, a regiment of my men, who had been fighting their way through
+toward where we were, and who did not know of a flag of truce, fired
+into some of Sheridan's cavalry. This was speedily stopped, however. I
+showed General Sheridan General Lee's note, and he determined to await
+events. He dismounted, and I did the same. Then, for the first time,
+the men seemed to understand what it all meant, and then the poor
+fellows broke down. The men cried like children. Worn, starved and
+bleeding as they were, they would rather have died than have
+surrendered. At one word from me they would have hurled themselves on
+the enemy, and have cut their way through or have fallen to a man with
+their guns in their hands. But I could not permit it. The great drama
+had been played to its end. But men are seldom permitted to look upon
+such a scene as the one presented here. That these men should have
+wept at surrendering so unequal a fight, at being taken out of this
+constant carnage and storm, at being sent back to their families; that
+they <span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span>should have wept at having their starved and wasted forms lifted
+out of the jaws of death and placed once more before their
+hearthstones, was an exhibition of fortitude and patriotism that might
+set an example for all time.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>SEDAN.</h3>
+
+<p class="author">BY VICTOR HUGO.</p>
+
+<p>The Second Empire of the French was pounded to powder in a bowl. This
+is literal, not figurative. To attempt to describe Sedan after Victor
+Hugo has described it for all mankind were a work futile and foolish.
+To Hugo we concede the palm among all writers, ancient and modern, as
+a delineator of battle. His description of the battle of Waterloo will
+outlast the tumulus and the lion which French patriotism has reared on
+the square where the last of the Old Guard perished. His description,
+though not elaborate, is equally graphic and final. He was returning,
+in September, 1871, from his fourth exile. He had been in Belgium in
+banishment for about eighteen years. It is in the "History of a Crime"
+that he tells the story. He says that he was re-entering France by the
+Luxembourg frontier, and had fallen asleep in the coach. Suddenly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span>the
+jolt of the train coming to a standstill awoke him. One of the
+passengers said: "What place is this?" Another answered "Sedan." With
+a shudder, Hugo looked around. He says that to his mind and vision, as
+he gazed out, the paradise was a tomb. Before substituting his words
+for our own, we note only that nearly thirteen months had elapsed
+since Louis Napoleon and his 90,000 men had here been brayed in a
+mortar. Hugo's description of the scene and the event continues as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>The valley was circular and hollow, like the bottom of a crater; the
+winding river resembled a serpent; the hills high, ranged one behind
+the other, surrounded this mysterious spot like a triple line of
+inexorable walls; once there, there is no means of exit. It reminded
+me of the amphitheatres. An indescribable, disquieting vegetation,
+which seemed to be an extension of the Black Forest, overran all the
+heights, and lost itself in the horizon like a huge impenetrable
+snare; the sun shone, the birds sang, carters passed by whistling;
+sheep, lambs and pigeons were scattered about; leaves quivered and
+rustled; the grass, a densely thick grass, was full of flowers. It was
+appalling.</p>
+
+<p>I seemed to see waving over this valley the flashing of the avenging
+angel's sword.</p>
+
+<p>This word "Sedan" had been like a veil abruptly torn aside. The
+landscape had <span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span>become suddenly filled with tragedy. Those shapeless
+eyes which the bark of trees delineates on the trunks were gazing&mdash;at
+what? At something terrible and lost to view.</p>
+
+<p>In truth, that was the place! And at the moment when I was passing by,
+thirteen months all but a few days had elapsed. That was the place
+where the monstrous enterprise of the second of December had burst
+asunder. A fearful shipwreck!</p>
+
+<p>The gloomy pathways of Fate cannot be studied without profound anguish
+of heart.</p>
+
+<p>On the thirty-first of August, 1870, an army was reassembled, and was,
+as it were, massed together under the walls of Sedan, in a place
+called the Givonne Valley. This army was a French army&mdash;twenty-nine
+brigades, fifteen divisions, four army corps&mdash;90,000 men. This army
+was in this place without anyone being able to divine the reason;
+without order, without an object, scattered about&mdash;a species of heap
+of men thrown down there as though with the view of being seized by
+some huge hand.</p>
+
+<p>This army either did not entertain, or appeared not to entertain, for
+the moment any immediate uneasiness. They knew, or at least they
+thought they knew, that the enemy was a long way off. On calculating
+the stages at four leagues daily, it was three days' march distant.
+Nevertheless, toward evening the leaders took some wise strategic
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span>precautions; they protected the army, which rested in the rear on
+Sedan and the Meuse, by two battle fronts, one composed of the Seventh
+Corps, and extending from Floing to Givonne, the other composed of the
+Twelfth Corps, extending from Givonne to Bazeilles; a triangle of
+which the Meuse formed the hypothenuse. The Twelfth Corps, formed of
+the three divisions of Lacretelle, Lartigue and Wolff, ranged on the
+right, with the artillery between the brigades, formed a veritable
+barrier, having Bazeilles and Givonne at each end, and Digny in its
+centre; the two divisions of Petit and Lheritier massed in the rear
+upon two lines supported this barrier. General Lebrun commanded the
+Twelfth Corps. The Seventh Corps, commanded by General Douay, only
+possessed two divisions&mdash;Dumont's division and Gilbert's division&mdash;and
+formed the other battle front, covering the army of Givonne to Floing
+on the side of Illy; this battle front was comparatively weak, too
+open on the side of Givonne, and only protected on the side of the
+Meuse by two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains, and by
+Guyomar's brigade, resting in squares on Floing. Within this triangle
+were encamped the Fifth Corps, commanded by General Wimpfen, and the
+First Corps, commanded by General Ducrot. Michel's cavalry division
+covered the First Corps on the side of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> Digny; the Fifth supported
+itself upon Sedan. Four divisions, each disposed upon two lines&mdash;the
+divisions of Lheritier, Grandchamp, Goze and Conseil-Dumenil&mdash;formed a
+sort of horseshoe, turned toward Sedan, and uniting the first battle
+front with the second. The cavalry division of Ameil and the brigade
+of Fontanges served as a reserve for these four divisions. The whole
+of the artillery was upon the two battle fronts. Two portions of the
+army were in confusion, one to the right of Sedan beyond Balan, the
+other to the left of Sedan, on this side of Iges. Beyond Balan were
+the division of Vassoigne and the brigade of Reboul, on this side of
+Iges were the two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains.</p>
+
+<p>These arrangements indicated a profound feeling of security. In the
+first place, the Emperor Napoleon III. would not have come there if he
+had not been perfectly tranquil. This Givonne Valley is what Napoleon
+I. called a "wash-hand basin." There could not have been a more
+complete enclosure. An army is so much at home there that it is too
+much so; it runs the risk of no longer being able to get out. This
+disquieted some brave and prudent leaders, such as Wimpfen, but they
+were not listened to. If absolutely necessary, said the people of the
+imperial circle, they could always be sure of being able to reach
+Mezieres, and at the worst the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span> Belgian frontier. Was it, however,
+needful to provide for such extreme eventualities? In certain cases
+foresight is almost an offence. They were all of one mind, therefore,
+to be at their ease.</p>
+
+<p>If they had been uneasy they would have cut the bridges of the Meuse,
+but they did not even think of it. To what purpose? The enemy was a
+long way off. The Emperor, who evidently was well informed, affirmed
+it.</p>
+
+<p>The army bivouacked somewhat in confusion, as we have said, and slept
+peaceably throughout this night of August 31, having, whatever might
+happen, or believing that they had, the retreat upon Mezieres open
+behind it. They disdained to take the most ordinary precautions, they
+made no cavalry reconnoissances, they did not even place outposts. A
+German military writer has stated this. Fourteen leagues at least
+separated them from the German army, three days' march; they did not
+exactly know where it was; they believed it scattered, possessing
+little unity, badly informed, led somewhat at random upon several
+points at once, incapable of a movement converging upon one single
+point, like Sedan; they believed that the Crown Prince of Saxony was
+marching on Chalons, and that the Crown Prince of Prussia was marching
+on Metz; they were ignorant of everything <span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span>appertaining to this army,
+its leaders, its plan, its armament, its effective force. Was it still
+following the strategy of Gustavus Adolphus? Was it still following
+the tactics of Frederick II.? No one knew. They felt sure of being at
+Berlin in a few weeks. What nonsense! The Prussian army! They talked
+of this war as of a dream, and of this army as of a phantom....</p>
+
+<p>The masterful description of the great novelist and poet then
+continues in a narrative of the attack and catastrophe:</p>
+
+<p>Bazeilles takes fire, Givonne takes fire, Floing takes fire; the
+battle begins with a furnace. The whole horizon is aflame. The French
+camp is in this crater, stupefied, affrighted, starting up from
+sleeping&mdash;a funereal swarming. A circle of thunder surrounds the army.
+They are encircled by annihilation. This mighty slaughter is carried
+on on all sides simultaneously. The French resist and they are
+terrible, having nothing left but despair. Our cannon, almost all
+old-fashioned and of short range, are at once dismounted by the
+fearful and exact aim of the Prussians. The density of the rain of
+shells upon the valley is so great that "the earth is completely
+furrowed," says an eye-witness, "as though by a rake." How many
+cannon? Eleven hundred at least. Twelve German batteries upon La
+Moncelle alone; the Third and Fourth <i>Abtheilung</i>, an <span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span>awe-striking
+artillery, upon the crests of Givonne, with the Second Horse Battery
+in reserve; opposite Digny ten Saxon and two Wurtemburg batteries; the
+curtain of trees of the wood to the north of Villers-Cernay masks the
+mounted <i>Abtheilung</i>, which is there with the third Heavy Artillery in
+reserve, and from the gloomy copse issues a formidable fire; the
+twenty-four pieces of the First Heavy Artillery are ranged in the
+glade skirting the road from La Moncelle to La Chapelle; the battery
+of the Royal Guard sets fire to the Garenne Wood; the shells and the
+balls riddle Suchy, Francheval, Fouro-Saint-Remy, and the valley
+between Heibes and Givonne; and the third and fourth rank of cannon
+extend without break of continuity as far as the Calvary of Illy, the
+extreme point of the horizon. The German soldiers, seated or lying
+before the batteries, watch the artillery at work. The French soldiers
+fall and die. Amongst the bodies which cover the plain there is one,
+the body of an officer, on which they will find, after the battle, a
+sealed note containing this order, signed Napoleon: "To-day, September
+1, rest for the whole army."</p>
+
+<p>The gallant Thirty-fifth of the Line almost entirely disappears under
+the overwhelming shower of shells; the brave Marine Infantry holds at
+bay for a moment the Saxons, joined by the Bavarians, but outflanked
+on every <span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128"></a>[pg 128]</span>side draws back; all the admirable cavalry of the
+Margueritte division hurled against the German infantry halts and
+sinks down midway, "annihilated," says the Prussian report, "by
+well-aimed and cool firing." This field of carnage has three outlets,
+all three barred: the Bouillon road by the Prussian Guard, the
+Carignan road by the Bavarians, the Mezieres road by the
+Wurtemburgers. The French have not thought of barricading the railway
+viaduct; three German battalions have occupied it during the night.
+Two isolated houses on the Balan road could be made the pivot of a
+long resistance, but the Germans are there. The wood from Monvilliers
+to Bazeilles, but the French have been forestalled; they find the
+Bavarians cutting the underwood with their billhooks. The German army
+moves in one piece, in one absolute unity; the Crown Prince of Saxony
+is on the height of Mairy, whence he surveys the whole action; the
+command oscillates in the French army; at the beginning of the battle,
+at a quarter to six, MacMahon is wounded by the bursting of a shell;
+at seven o'clock Ducrot replaces him; at ten o'clock Wimpfen replaces
+Ducrot. Every instant the wall of fire is drawing closer in, the roll
+of the thunder is continuous, a dismal pulverization of 90,000 men!
+Never before has anything equal to this been seen; never before has an
+army been <span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span>overwhelmed beneath such a downpour of lead and iron! At
+one o'clock all is lost! The regiments fly helter-skelter into Sedan!
+But Sedan begins to burn, Dijonval burns, the ambulances burn, there
+is nothing now possible but to cut their way out. Wimpfen, brave and
+resolute, proposes this to the Emperor. The Third Zouaves, desperate,
+have set the example. Cut off from the rest of the army, they have
+forced a passage and have reached Belgium. A flight of lions!</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, above the disaster, above the huge pile of dead and dying,
+above all this unfortunate heroism, appears disgrace. The white flag
+is hoisted.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>BAZAINE AND METZ.</h3>
+
+<p>A letter of Count Von Moltke has recently been published, showing that
+the question of the conquest of France was under consideration by the
+Count and Bismarck as early as August of 1866. It is demonstrated that
+these two powerful spirits were already preparing, aye, had already
+prepared, to trip the Emperor Louis Napoleon, throwing him and his
+Empire into a common ruin. The letter also proves that the plan of the
+North-German Confederation, under the leadership of Prussia, with
+German unity <span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130"></a>[pg 130]</span>and a German Empire just beyond, was already clearly in
+mind by the far-sighted leaders who surrounded King William in 1866.
+Count Von Moltke shows that it was possible and practicable <i>at that
+date</i>, and within a period of two or three weeks, to throw upon the
+French border so tremendous an army that resistance would be
+impossible. The antecedents of the Franco-Prussian War had been
+clearly thought out by the German masters at a time when Louis
+Napoleon was still tinkering with his quixotical Empire in Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>When the war between France and Germany actually broke out, four years
+later. Germany was prepared, and France was unprepared for the
+conflict. Louis Napoleon did not know that Germany was prepared. He
+actually thought that he could break into the German borders, fight
+his way victoriously to the capital, make his headquarters in Berlin,
+and dictate a peace in the manner of his uncle. It was the most
+fallacious dream that a really astute man ever indulged in. From the
+first day of actual contact with the Germans, the dream of the Emperor
+began to be dissipated. Within five days (August 14-18, 1870,) three
+murderous battles were fought on French soil, the first at Courcelles,
+the next at Vionville, and the third at Gravelotte. In all of these
+the French fought bravely, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span>and in all were defeated disastrously,
+with tremendous losses.</p>
+
+<p>By these great victories, the Germans were able to separate the two
+divisions of the French army. The northern division, under command of
+the Emperor and MacMahon, began to recede toward Sedan, while the more
+powerful army, under Marshal Bazaine, numbering 173,000 men, was
+forced somewhat to the south, and pressed by the division of Prince
+Frederick Charles, until the French, in an evil day, entered the
+fortified town of Metz, and suffered themselves to be helplessly
+cooped up. There was perhaps never another great army so safely and
+hopelessly disposed of!</p>
+
+<p>Metz, after Antwerp, is the strongest fortress in Europe. It is
+situated at the junction of the rivers Seille and Moselle. It is the
+capital of the province of Lorraine, destined to be lost by France and
+gained by Germany in the struggle that was now on. The place was of
+great historical importance. Here the Roman invaders had established
+themselves in the time of the conquest of Gaul. It was called by the
+conquerors, first Mediomatrica, and afterward Divodurum. Its
+importance, on the very crest of the watershed between the Teutonic
+and Gallic races, was noted in the early years of our era, and to the
+present day that importance continues for the same reason as of old.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span>
+Metz is on the line of a conflict of races which has not yet, after so
+many centuries, been finally decided.</p>
+
+<p>The position is one of great strategic importance. But such were the
+military conditions at the end of August, 1870, that to occupy Metz
+with one of the greatest armies of modern times was the most serious
+disaster that could befall the French cause. Bazaine's army was
+needed, not in a fortified town, but <i>in the field</i>. It was a
+tremendous force. The army that Prince Frederick Charles locked up in
+Metz could have marched from Parthia to Spain against the resistance
+of the whole Roman Empire, at the high noon of that imperial power! It
+could have marched from end to end of the Southern Confederacy in the
+palmiest day of that Confederacy, and could not have been seriously
+impeded! And yet this tremendous force was pent up and shut in, as if
+under seal, while King William and the Crown Prince and Bismarck and
+Von Moltke hunted down the French Emperor and his remaining forces,
+brought them to bay, and compelled a surrender.</p>
+
+<p>This was accomplished by the first of September. The Empire of
+Napoleon went to pieces. The Third Republic was instituted. The
+Empress fled with the Prince Imperial to England, while her humbled
+lord was established by his captors at the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span>castle of Wilhelmshohe.
+Republican France found herself in possession of a political chaos
+which could hardly be stilled. She also found herself in possession of
+a splendid army of more than one hundred and seventy thousand men shut
+up helplessly in Metz. The situation was highly dramatic. The Republic
+said that Bazaine should break out, but the Marshal said that he could
+not. What he said was true. The Germans held him fast. But the
+Republic believed, as it still believes, that Bazaine, loyal to the
+fallen Emperor rather than to his country, wished to handle his army
+in such a manner as should compel the restoration of the Empire, under
+the auspices of the German conquerors.</p>
+
+<p>This idea was hateful above all things to the French Republicans.
+September wore away, and more than half of October; but still the
+siege of Metz was not concluded. Vainly did the new Republic of France
+strive to extricate herself. Vainly did she raise new armies. Vainly
+did she look for the escape of Bazaine. Finally, on the twenty-seventh
+of October, that commander surrendered Metz and his army to the
+Germans. It was the most tremendous capitulation known in history.
+Never before was so powerful an army surrendered to an enemy. The
+actual number of French soldiers covered by the capitulation was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span>fully one hundred and seventy thousand! The prostration of France was
+complete, and her humiliation extreme.</p>
+
+<p>Bazaine became the Black Beast of the public imagination. A tribunal
+was organized at Paris, under the presidency of the Duc d'Aumale, son
+of Louis Philippe&mdash;the same who with the Prince de Joinville had been
+on McClellan's staff during the peninsular campaign in our Civil War.
+Before this court Bazaine was haled as a traitor to his country. He
+was tried, convicted and condemned to degradation and death. It was
+only by the most strenuous efforts in his behalf that a commutation of
+the sentence to imprisonment for twenty years was obtained.</p>
+
+<p>The Marshal was accordingly incarcerated in a prison at Cannes,
+whither he was sent in December of 1873, and from which he effected
+his escape in the following August. He succeeded in making his way to
+Madrid, and took up his residence there. He sought assiduously by
+writings and argument and appeal to reverse the judgment of his
+countrymen and of the world with regard to the justice of his
+sentence; but he could not succeed. It is probably true that the
+greatest surrender of military forces known in the history of the
+world was brought about by the preference of the commanding general of
+the conquered army for an Emperor who was already dethroned, as
+against <span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span>a true devotion to his country. There was also in the case a
+measure of incapacity. Bazaine was no match as a military commander
+for the powerful genius of Von Moltke and the persistency of Frederick
+Charles and the more than two hundred thousand resolute Germans who
+surrounded him, and brought him and his army to irretrievable ruin.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2>Astronomical Vistas.</h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE CENTURY OF ASTEROIDS.</h3>
+
+<p>The nineteenth century may be called the Age of the Asteroids. It was
+on <i>the first night</i> of this century that the first asteroid was
+discovered! Through all the former ages, no man on the earth had had
+definite knowledge of the existence of such a body. It was reserved
+for Guiseppe Piazzi, an Italian astronomer at Palermo, to make known
+by actual observation the first member of the planetoid group. If
+human history had the slightest regard for the calendars of
+mankind&mdash;if the eternal verities depended in any measure on the
+almanac or the division of time into this age or that&mdash;we might look
+with wonder on the remarkable coincidence which made the discovery of
+the first asteroid to happen in the first evening twilight of the
+first day of the nineteenth century!</p>
+
+<p>At the close of the eighteenth century, mankind were acquainted with
+all the major planets except Neptune. Uranus, the last of the group,
+was discovered by the Elder Herschel, on the night of the thirteenth
+of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> March, 1781. True, this planet had been seen on twenty different
+occasions, by other observers; but its character had not been
+revealed. Sir William called his new world Georgium Sidus, that is,
+the George Star, in honor of the King of England. The world, however,
+had too much intelligence to allow the transfer of the name of George
+III. from earth to heaven. Such nomenclature would have been unpopular
+in America! The name of the king was happily destined to remain a part
+of terrestrial history!</p>
+
+<p>For a while it was insisted by astronomers and the world at large that
+the new globe, then supposed to bound the solar system on its outer
+circumference, should be called Herschel, in honor of its discoverer.
+But the old system of naming the planets after the deities of
+classical and pagan mythology prevailed; and to the names of Mercury,
+Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, was now added the name Uranus, that is,
+in the language of the Greeks, <i>Heaven</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Piazzi, scanning the zodiac from his observatory in Palermo, in the
+early hours of that first night of the century, noticed a hitherto
+unobserved star, which under higher power proved to be a planet. It
+presented a small irregular disc, and a few additional observations
+showed that it was progressing in the usual manner from west to east.
+For some time such a revelation <span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span>had been expected; but the result did
+not answer to expectation in one particular; for the new body seemed
+to be too insignificant to be called a world. It appeared rather to be
+a great planetary boulder, as if our Mount Shasta had been wrenched
+from the earth and flung into space. Investigation showed that the new
+body was more than a hundred miles in diameter; but this, according to
+planetary estimation, is only the measurement of a clod.</p>
+
+<p>There had been, as we say, expectation of a discovery in the region
+where the first asteroid was found. Kepler had declared his belief
+that in this region of space a new world might be discovered.
+Following this suggestion, the German astronomer Olbers, of Bremen,
+had formed an association of twenty-four observers in different parts
+of Europe, who should divide among themselves the zodiacal band, and
+begin a system of independent scrutiny, either to verify or disprove
+Kepler's hypothesis.</p>
+
+<p>There was another reason also of no small influence tending to the
+same end. Johann Elert Bode, another German astronomer, born in 1747
+and living to 1826, had propounded a mathematical formula known as
+Bode's Law, which led those who accepted it to the belief that a
+planet would be found in what is now known as the asteroidal space.
+Bode's Law, so-called, seems to be <span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span>no real law of planetary
+distribution; and yet the coincidences which are found under the
+application of the law are such as to arouse our interest if not to
+produce a conviction of the truth of the principle involved. Here,
+then, is the mathematical formula, which is known as Bode's Law:</p>
+
+<p>Write from left to right a row of 4's and under these, beginning with
+the second 4, place a geometrical series beginning with 3 and
+increasing by the ratio of 2; add the two columns together, and we
+have a series running 4, 7, 10, etc.; and this row of results has an
+astonishing coincidence, or approximate coincidence with the relative
+distances of the planets from the sun&mdash;thus:</p>
+
+<pre class="note">
+   4  4  4   4   4   4    4   4    4
+      3  6  12  24  48   96 192  384
+  -- -- --  --  --  --  --- ---  ---
+   4  7 10  16  28  52  100 196  388
+</pre>
+
+
+<p>The near agreement of this row of results with the row containing the
+<i>actual</i> relative distances of the planets from the sun may well
+astonish, not only the astronomer, but the common reader. Those
+distances&mdash;making 10 to represent the distance of the earth&mdash;are as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>Mercury, 3.9; Venus, 7.2; Earth, 10; Mars, 15.2; Asteroids, 27.4;
+Jupiter, 52; Saturn, 95.4; Uranus, 192; Neptune, 300.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to Kepler's prediction and the indications of Bode's Law,
+there was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> <i>general</i> reason for thinking that a planetary body of
+some kind should occupy the space between the orbits of Mars and
+Jupiter. The mean distance of Mars from the sun is about 141,500,000
+miles; that of Jupiter, is about 483,000,000 miles. The distance from
+one orbit to the other is therefore about 341,500,000 miles. Conceive
+of an infinite sheet of tin. Mark thereon a centre for the sun.
+Measure out a hundred and forty millions of miles, and with that
+radius strike a circle. From the same centre measure out four hundred
+and eighty-three millions of miles, and with that radius strike a
+circle. Cut out the sheet between the two circles, and the vast space
+left void will indicate the vacant area in the mighty disc of our
+solar system. That this space should be occupied with <i>something</i>
+accords with the plan of nature and the skill of the Builder.</p>
+
+<p>So Olbers and his twenty-three associates began, in the last decade of
+the eighteenth century, to search diligently for the verification of
+Kepler's prediction and the fulfillment of Bode's Law. Oddly enough,
+Piazzi was not one of the twenty-four astronomers who had agreed to
+find the new world. He was exploring the heavens on his own account,
+and in doing so, he found what the others had failed to find, that is,
+the first asteroid.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span></p>
+
+<p>The body discovered answered so little to the hopes of the
+astronomical fraternity that they immediately said within themselves:
+"This is not he; we seek another." So they continued the search, and
+in a little more than a year Olbers himself was rewarded with the
+discovery of the second of the planetoid group. On the twenty-eighth
+of March, 1802, he made his discovery from an upper chamber of his
+dwelling in Bremen, where he had his telescope. On the night in
+question he was scanning the northern part of the constellation of
+Virgo, when the sought-for object was found. This body, like the first
+of its kind, was very small, and was found to be moving from west to
+east in nearly the same orbit as its predecessor.</p>
+
+<p>Here then was something wonderful. Olbers at once advanced the
+hypothesis that probably the two bodies thus discovered were fragments
+of what had been a large planet moving in its orbit through this part
+of the heavens. If so there might be&mdash;and probably were&mdash;others of
+like kind. The search was at once renewed, and on the night of the
+first of September, 1804, the third of the asteroid group was found by
+the astronomer Hardy, of Bremen. The belief that a large planet had
+been disrupted in this region was strengthened, and astronomers
+continued their exploration; but <span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span>two years and a half elapsed before
+another asteroid was found. On the evening of March 29, 1807, the
+diligence of Olbers was rewarded with the discovery of the fourth of
+the group, which like its predecessors, was so small and irregular in
+character as still further to favor the fragmentary theory.</p>
+
+<p>How shall we name the asteroids? Piazzi fell back upon pagan mythology
+for the name of his little world, and called it Ceres, from the Roman
+goddess of corn. Olbers named the second asteroid Pallas; the third
+was called Juno&mdash;whose rank in the Greek and Roman pantheon might have
+suggested one of the major planets as her representative in the skies;
+and the fourth was called Vesta, from the Roman divinity of the
+hearthstone.</p>
+
+<p>Here then there was a pause. Though the zodiac continued to be swept
+by many observers, a period of more than thirty-eight years went by
+before the fifth asteroid was found. The cycle of these discoveries
+strikingly illustrates the general movement of scientific progress.
+First there is a new departure; then a lull, and then a resumption of
+exploration and a finding more fertile than ever. It was on the night
+of the eighth of December, 1845, that the German astronomer Hencke
+discovered the fifth asteroid and named it Astr&aelig;a. After a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span>year and a
+half, namely, on the night of the first of July, 1847, the same
+observer discovered the sixth member of the group, and to this was
+given the name Hebe. On the thirteenth of August in the same year the
+astronomer Hind found the seventh asteroid, and named it Iris. On the
+eighteenth of October following he found the eighth, and this was
+called Flora. Then on the twenty-fifth of April, 1848, came the
+discovery of Metis, by Graham. Nearly a year later the Italian De
+Gasparis found the tenth member of the system, that is, Hygeia. De
+Gasparis soon discovered the eleventh body, which was called
+Parthenope. This was on the eleventh of May, 1850.</p>
+
+<p>Two other asteroids were found in this year; and two in 1851. In the
+following year <i>nine</i> were discovered; and so on from year to year
+down to the present date. Some years have been fruitful in such finds,
+while others have been comparatively barren. In a number of the years,
+only a single asteroid has been added to the list; but in others whole
+groups have been found. Thus in 1861 twelve were discovered; in 1868,
+twelve; in 1875, <i>seventeen</i>; in 1890, fourteen. Not a single year
+since 1846 has passed without the addition of at least one known
+asteroid to the list.</p>
+
+<p>But while the number has thus increased <span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span>to an aggregate at the close
+of 1890 of three hundred and one, many of the tiny wanderers have
+escaped. Some have been rediscovered; and it is possible that some
+have been twice or even three times found and named. The whole family
+perhaps numbers not only hundreds, but thousands; and it can hardly be
+doubted that only the more conspicuous members of the group have ever
+yet been seen by mortal eye.</p>
+
+<p>A considerable space about the centre of the planetary zone between
+Mars and Jupiter is occupied with these multitudinous pigmy worlds
+that follow the one the other in endless flight around the sun. It is
+a sort of planetary shower; and it can hardly be doubted that the
+bodies constituting the flight are graded down in size from larger to
+smaller and still smaller until the fragments are mere blocks and bits
+of world-dust floating in space. Possibly there may be enough of such
+matter to constitute a sort of planetary band that may illumine a
+little (as seen from a distance) the zone where it circulates.</p>
+
+<p>As to the origin of this seemingly fragmentary matter, we know
+nothing, and conjectures are of little use in scientific exposition.
+It may be true that a large planet once occupied the asteroidal space,
+and that the same has been rent by some violence into thousands of
+fragments. It <span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span>may be observed that the period of rotation of the
+inferior planets corresponds in general with that of our earth, while
+the corresponding period of the superior or outside planets is less
+than one-half as great. The forces which produced this difference in
+the period of rotation may have contended for the mastery in that part
+of our solar system where the asteroids are found; and the disruption
+may have resulted from such conflict of forces.</p>
+
+<p>Or again, it may be that a large planet is now in process of formation
+in the asteroidal space. Possibly one of the greater fragments may
+gain in mass by attracting to itself the nearer fragments, and thus
+continue to wax until it shall have swept clean the whole pathway of
+the planetary matter, except such small fragments as may after &aelig;ons of
+time continue to fall upon the master body, as our meteorites now at
+intervals rush into our atmosphere and sometimes reach the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Some astronomers have given and are still giving their almost
+undivided attention to asteroidal investigation. The discoveries have
+been mostly made by a few principal explorers. The astronomer, Palisa,
+from the observatory of Pola and that of Vienna, has found no fewer
+than seventy-five of the whole group. The observer, Peters, at
+Clinton, New York, has found <span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span>forty-eight asteroids; Luther, of
+D&uuml;sseldorf, twenty-four; Watson, of Ann Arbor, twenty-two; Borrelly,
+of Marseilles, fifteen; Goldschmidt, of Paris, fourteen, and Charlois,
+of Nice, fourteen. The English astronomers have found only a few.
+Among such, Hind of London, who has-discovered ten asteroids, is the
+leader.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian, German and American astronomers are first in the interest
+and success which they have shown in this branch of sky-lore. Their
+investigations have made us acquainted with the dim group of little
+worlds performing their unknown part in the vast space between the
+Warrior planet and Jove.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE STORY OF NEPTUNE.</h3>
+
+<p>The discovery of the planet Neptune by Dr. Galle on the twenty-third
+of September, 1846, was one of the most important events in the
+intellectual history of this century. Certainly it was no small thing
+to find a new world. Discoverers on the surface of our globe are
+immortalized by finding new lands in unknown regions. What, therefore,
+should be the fame of him who finds a new world in the depths of
+space? Perhaps the discoverer of an asteroid or <span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span>planetary moon may
+not claim, in the present advanced stage of human knowledge, to rank
+among the flying evangels of history; but he who found the great
+planet third in rank among the worlds of the solar system, a world
+having a mass nearly seventeen times as great as that of our own, may
+well be regarded as one of the immortals.</p>
+
+<p>We have referred the discovery of Neptune to Dr. Johann Gottfried
+Galle, the German astronomer and Professor of Natural Sciences at
+Berlin. But this Dr. Galle was only the <i>eye</i> with which the discovery
+was made. He was a good eye; but the eye, however clear, is only an
+organ of something greater than the eye, and that something in this
+case consisted of two parts. The first part was Urbain Jean Joseph
+Leverrier, the French astronomer, of the Paris Observatory. The other
+part was Professor John Couch Adams, the astronomer of the University
+at Cambridge, England. These two were the thinkers; that is, they
+were, as it were, jointly the great mind of the age, of which Galle
+was the eye.</p>
+
+<p>In getting a clear notion of the discovery of Neptune, several other
+personages are to be considered. One of these is the astronomer Alexis
+Bouvart, of France, who was born in Haute Savoie, in 1767, and died
+in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> June of 1843, three years before Neptune was found. Another
+personage was his nephew, the astronomer E. Bouvart, and a third was
+the noted Prussian, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, Director of the
+Observatory at K&ouml;nigsberg, who was born in 1784, and died on the
+seventeenth of March, 1846, only six months before the discovery of
+our outer planet.</p>
+
+<p>Still another character to be commemorated is the English astronomer
+Professor James Challis, Plumian Professor and Director of the
+Observatory at Cambridge, England. This contributor to the great event
+was born in 1803, and died at Cambridge on the third of December,
+1882. Still another, not to be disregarded, is Dr. T.J. Hussey, of
+Hayes, England, whose mind seems to have been one of the first to
+anticipate the existence of an ultra-Uranian planet. And still again,
+the English astronomer royal, Sir G.B. Airy must be mentioned as a
+contributor to the final result; but he is to be regarded rather as a
+contributor by negation. The great actors in the thing done were
+Leverrier, Adams and Galle. English authors contend strongly for
+placing the names in this order: Adams, Leverrier and Galle.</p>
+
+<p>Suffice it to say that when Uranus was discovered by the elder
+Herschel in 1781, that world was supposed to be the outside <span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span>planet of
+our system. Hitherto the splendid Saturn had marked the uttermost
+excursion of astronomical knowledge as it respected our solar group.
+For about a quarter of a century after Herschel's discovery the world
+rested upon it as a finality. The orbit of Uranus was thought to
+circumscribe the whole. But in the meantime, observations of this
+orbit led to the knowledge that it did not conform in all respects to
+astronomical and mathematical conditions. The orbit showed
+irregularities, disturbances, perturbations, that could not be
+accounted for when all of the known mathematical calculations were
+applied thereto. Uranus was seen to get out of his path. At times he
+would lag a little, and then at other times appear to be accelerated.
+Each year, when the earth would swing around on the Uranian side of
+the sun, the observations were renewed, but always with the result
+that the planet did not seem to conform perfectly to the conditions of
+his orbit. What could be the cause of this seeming disregard of
+mathematical laws?</p>
+
+<p>Astronomers could not accept the supposition that there was any actual
+violation of the known conditions of gravitation. Certainly Uranus was
+following his orbit under the centripetal and centrifugal laws in the
+same manner as the other planets. There must, therefore, be some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150"></a>[pg 150]</span>undiscovered disturbing cause. It had already been noted that in the
+case of the infra-Uranian planets they were swayed somewhat from their
+paths by the mutual influence of one upon the other. This was
+noticeable in particular in the movements of Jupiter, Saturn and
+Uranus. When Saturn, for instance, would be on the same side of the
+sun with Jupiter, it might be noted that the latter was drawn outward
+and the former inward from their prescribed curves. The perturbation
+was greatest when the planets were nearest, together. In like manner
+Uranus did obeisance to both his huge neighbors on the sun's side of
+his orbit. He, too, veered toward them as he passed, and they in turn
+recognized the courtesy by going out of their orbits as they passed.
+What, therefore, should be said of the outswinging movement of Uranus
+from his orbit in that part of his course where no disturbing
+influence was known to exist? Certainly <i>something</i> must be in that
+quarter of space to occasion the perturbation. What was it?</p>
+
+<p>It would appear that the elder Bouvart, the French astronomer referred
+to above, was the first to suggest that the disturbances in the orbit
+of Uranus, throwing that planet from his pathway outward, might be and
+probably were to be explained by the presence in outer space of an
+unknown <span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span>ultra-Uranian planet. Bouvart prepared tables to show the
+perturbations in question, and declared his opinion that they were
+caused by an unknown planet beyond. No observer, however, undertook to
+verify this suggestion or to disprove it. Nor did Bouvart go so far as
+to indicate the particular part of the heavens which should be
+explored in order to find the undiscovered world. His tables, however,
+do show from the perturbations of the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn and
+Uranus that the same are caused by the mutual influence of the planets
+upon one another.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to have remained for Dr. T.J. Hussey, of Hayes, England, to
+suggest the actual discovery of the unknown planet by following the
+clew of the disturbance produced by its presence in a certain field of
+space. Dr. Hussey, in 1834, wrote to Sir George Biddell Airy,
+astronomer royal at Greenwich, suggesting that the perturbation of the
+orbit of Uranus might be used as the clew for the discovery of the
+planet beyond. But Sir George was one of those safe, conservative
+scholars who scorn to follow the suggestions of genius, preferring
+rather to explore only what is known already. He said in answer that
+he doubted if the irregularity in the Uranian orbit was in such a
+state of demonstration as to give any hope of the discovery of the
+disturbing <span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span>cause. He doubted even that there was such irregularity in
+the Uranian orbit. He was of opinion that the observers had been
+mistaken in the alleged detection of perturbations. So the Greenwich
+observatory was not used on the line of exploration suggested by
+Hussey.</p>
+
+<p>Three years afterward, and again in 1842, Sir George received letters
+from the younger Bouvart, again suggesting the possibility and
+probability of discovering the ultra-Uranian planet. These hints were
+strengthened by a letter from Bessel, of K&ouml;nigsberg. But Sir George B.
+Airy refused to be led in the direction of so great a possibility.</p>
+
+<p>It was in 1844 that Professor James Challis, of the Cambridge
+observatory, appealed to Sir George for the privilege of using or
+examining the recorded observations made at Greenwich of the movements
+of Uranus, saying that he wished these tables for a young friend of
+his, Mr. John C. Adams, of Cambridge, who had but recently taken his
+degree in mathematics. Adams was at that date only twenty-five years
+of age. The royal astronomer granted the request, and for about a year
+Adams was engaged in making his calculations. These were completed,
+and in September of 1845, Challis informed Sir George Airy that
+according to the calculations of Adams the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span>perturbations of Uranus
+were due to the influence of an unknown planet beyond.</p>
+
+<p>The young mathematician indicated in his conclusions at what point in
+the heavens the ultra-Uranian world was then traveling, and where it
+might be found. But even these mathematical demonstrations did not
+suffice to influence Sir George in his opinions. He was an Englishman!
+He refused or neglected to take the necessary steps either to verify
+or to disprove the conclusions of Adams. He held in hand the
+mathematical computations of that genius from October of 1845 to June
+of the following year, when the astronomer Leverrier, of Paris,
+published to the world his own tables of computation, proving that the
+disturbances in the orbit of Uranus were due to the influence of a
+planet beyond, and indicating the place where it might be found. There
+was a close agreement between the point indicated by him and that
+already designated by Adams.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that this French publication at last aroused Sir George Airy,
+who now admitted that the calculations of Adams might be correct in
+form and deduction. He accordingly sent word to Professor Challis to
+begin a search for the unknown orb. The latter did begin the work of
+exploration, and presently saw the planet. But he failed to recognize
+it! There it was; but the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>[pg 154]</span>observer passed it over as a fixed star. As
+for Leverrier, he sent his calculations to Dr. Galle, of Berlin; and
+that great observer began his search. On the night of the twenty-third
+of September, 1846, he not only <i>saw</i> but <i>caught</i> the far-off world.
+There it was, disc and all; and a few additional observations
+confirmed the discovery.</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon Sir George Airy broke out with a claim that the discovery
+belonged to Adams. He was able to show that Adams had anticipated
+Leverrier by a few months in his calculations; but the French scholars
+were able to carry the day by showing that Adams' work had been void
+of results. The world went with the French claim. Adams was left to
+enjoy the fame of merit among the learned classes, but the great
+public fixed upon Leverrier as the genius who did the work, and Dr.
+Galle as his eye.</p>
+
+<p>Several remarkable things followed in the train. It was soon
+discovered that both Leverrier and Adams had been favored by chance in
+indicating the field of space where Uranus was found. They had both
+proceeded upon the principle expressed in Bode's Law. This law
+indicated the place of Neptune as 38.8 times the distance of the earth
+from the sun. A verification of the result showed that the new-found
+planet was actually only thirty times as far as the earth from the
+sun. In the case of all the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span>other planets, their distances had been
+remarkably co-incident with the results reached by Bode's Law; but
+Uranus seemed to break that law, or at least to bend it to the point
+of breaking&mdash;a result which has never to this day been explained.</p>
+
+<p>It chanced, however, that at the time when the predictions of
+Leverrier and Adams were sent, the one sent to Galle and the other to
+Challis, Uranus and the earth and the sun were in such relations that
+the departure of the orbit of Uranus from the place indicated by
+Bode's Law did not seriously displace the planet from the position
+which it should theoretically occupy. Thus, after a little searching,
+Challis found the new world, and knew it not; Galle found it and knew
+it, and tethered it to the planetary system, making it fast in the
+recorded knowledge of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>While Daniel O'Connell, the greatest Irishman of the present century,
+despairing of the cause of his country, lay dying in Genoa, and while
+Zachary Taylor, at the head of a handful of American soldiers was
+cooping up the Mexican army in the old town of Monterey, a new world,
+37,000 miles in diameter and seventeen times as great in mass as the
+little world on which we dwell, was found slowly and sublimely making
+its way around the well nigh inconceivable periphery of the solar
+system!</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>EVOLUTION OF THE TELESCOPE.</h3>
+
+<p>The development of telescopic power within the present century is one
+of the most striking examples of intellectual progress and mastery in
+the history of mankind. The first day of the century found us, not,
+indeed, where we were left by Galileo and Copernicus in the knowledge
+of the skies and in our ability to penetrate their depths, but it did
+find us advanced by only moderate stages from the sky-lore of the
+past.</p>
+
+<p>The after half of the eighteenth century presents a history of
+astronomical investigation and deduction which confirmed and amplified
+the preceding knowledge; but that period did not greatly widen the
+field of observation. If the sphere of space which had been explored
+on the first day of January, 1801, could be compared with that which
+is now known and explored by our astronomers, the one sphere would be
+to the other even as an apple to the earth.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to apprehend the tremendous strides which we have made
+in the production of telescopes and the consequent increase in our
+sweep of the heavens. It was only in 1774 that the elder Herschel
+began his work in the construction of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span>reflecting telescopes. These he
+gradually increased in size, until near the close of the century, when
+he produced an instrument which magnified two hundred and twenty-seven
+diameters. In the course of his career he built two hundred
+telescopes, having a seven-foot focus; 150 of ten feet and about
+eighty of twenty feet each.</p>
+
+<p>With these instruments the astronomical work in the last quarter of
+the eighteenth century was mostly performed. The study of the heavens
+at this epoch began to reach out from the planetary system to the
+fixed stars. In this work Herschel led the way. The planet Uranus at
+first bore the name of Herschel, from its discoverer. Sir John
+Herschel, son of Sir William, was born in 1792. All of his
+astronomical work was accomplished in our century. Following the line
+of his father, he used the reflecting telescope, and it was an
+instrument of this kind that he took to his observatory at the Cape of
+Good Hope. Lord Rosse was born in the year 1800. Under his auspices
+the reflecting telescope reached its maximum of power and usefulness.
+His great reflector, built in his own grounds at Birr Castle, Ireland,
+was finished in 1844. This instrument was the marvel of that epoch. It
+had a focal distance of fifty-three feet, and an aperture of six feet.
+With this great telescope its master reached out into the region <span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span>of
+the nebul&aelig;, and began the real work of exploring the sidereal heavens.</p>
+
+<p>In the reflecting telescope, however, there are necessary limitations.
+Before the middle of this century, it was known that the future of
+astronomy depended upon the refracting lens, and not on the speculum.
+The latter, in the hands of the two Herschels and Rosse, had reached
+its utmost limits&mdash;as is shown by the fact that to this day the Rosse
+telescope is the largest of its kind in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the production of refracting telescopes made but slow
+progress. As late as 1836 the largest instrument of this kind in the
+world was the eleven-inch telescope of the observatory at Munich. The
+next in importance was a nine and a half-inch instrument at Dorpat, in
+Russia. This was the telescope through which the astronomer Struve
+made his earlier studies and discoveries. His field of observation was
+for the most part the fixed and double stars. At this time the largest
+instrument in the United States was the five-inch refractor of Yale
+College. Soon afterward, namely, in 1840, the observatory at
+Philadelphia was supplied with a six-inch refracting telescope from
+Munich.</p>
+
+<p>German makers were now in the lead, and it was not long until a Munich
+instrument having a lens of eleven inches <span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span>diameter was imported for
+the Mitchell Observatory on Mount Adams, overlooking Cincinnati. About
+the same time a similar instrument of nine and a half inches aperture
+was imported for the National Observatory at Washington. To this
+period also belongs the construction of the Cambridge Observatory,
+with its fifteen-inch refracting telescope. Another of the same size
+was produced for the Royal Observatory at Pulkova, Russia. This was in
+1839; and that instrument and the telescope at Cambridge were then the
+largest of their kind in the world.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the telescope-making in America properly begins with
+Alvan Clark, Sr., of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. It was in 1846 that
+he produced his first telescope. Of this he made the lens, and such
+was the excellence of his work that he soon became famous, to the
+degree that the importation of foreign telescopes virtually ceased in
+the United States. Nor was it long until foreign orders began to
+arrive for the refracting lenses of Alvan Clark &amp; Sons. The fame of
+this firm went out through all the world, and by the beginning of the
+last quarter of the century the Clark instruments were regarded as the
+finest ever produced.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot here refer to more than a few of the principal products of
+Clark &amp; Sons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> Gradually they extended the width of their lenses,
+gaining with each increase of diameter a rapidly increasing power of
+penetration. At last they produced for the Royal Observatory of
+Pulkova a twenty-seven-inch objective, which was, down to the early
+eighties, the master work of its kind in the world. It was in the
+grinding and polishing of their lenses that the Clarks surpassed all
+men. In the production of the glass castings for the lenses, the
+French have remained the masters. At the glass foundry of Mantois, of
+Paris, the finest and largest discs ever produced in the world are
+cast. But after the castings are made they are sent to America, to be
+made into those wonderful objectives which constitute the glory of the
+apparatus upon which the New Astronomy relies for its achievements.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the year 1887 that the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton,
+of the Coast Range in Southern California, was completed. The lens of
+this instrument is thirty-six inches in diameter. Nor will the reader
+without reflection readily realize the enormous stride which was made
+in telescopy when the makers advanced from the twenty-seven-inch to
+the thirty-six-inch objective. Lenses are to each other in their power
+of collecting light and penetrating apace as the squares of their
+diameters, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span>in the extent of space explored as the cubes of their
+diameters.</p>
+
+<p>The objective of the Pulkova instrument is to that of the Lick
+Observatory as 3 is to 4. The squares are as 9 is to 16, and the cubes
+are as 27 is to 64. This signifies that the depth of space penetrated
+by the Lick instrument is to that of its predecessor as 16 is to 9,
+and that the astronomical sphere resolved by the former is to the
+sphere resolved by the latter as 64 is to 27&mdash;that is, the Lick
+instrument at one bound revealed a universe <i>more than twice as great</i>
+as all that was known before! The human mind at this one bound found
+opportunity to explore and to know a sidereal sphere more than twice
+as extensive as had ever been previously penetrated by the gaze of
+man.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is this all. The ambition of American astronomers and American
+philanthropists has not been content with even the prodigious
+achievement of the Lick telescope. In recent years an observatory has
+been projected in connection with the University of Chicago, which has
+come almost to completion, and which will bear by far the largest
+telescopic instrument in the world. The site selected for the
+observatory is seventy-five miles from the city, on the northern shore
+of Lake Geneva. There is a high ground here, rising sufficiently into
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span>a clear atmosphere, nearly two hundred feet above the level of the
+lake.</p>
+
+<p>The observatory and the great telescope which constitutes its central
+fact are to bear the name of the donor, Mr. Yerkes, of Chicago, who
+has contributed the means for rearing this magnificent adjunct of the
+University. The enterprise contemplated from the first the
+construction of the most powerful telescope ever known. The
+manufacture of the objective, upon which everything depends, was
+assigned to Mr. Alvan G. Clark, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, who
+is the only living representative of the old firm of Alvan Clark &amp;
+Sons.</p>
+
+<p>Alvan G. Clark has inherited much of the genius of his father, though
+it is said that in making the lens of the Lick Observatory the father
+had to be called from his retirement to superintend personally some of
+the more delicate parts of the finishing before which task his sons
+had quailed. But the younger Clark readily agreed to make the Geneva
+lens, under the order of Yerkes, and to produce a perfect objective
+<i>forty inches in diameter</i>! This important work, so critical&mdash;almost
+impossible&mdash;has been successfully accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>The making and the mounting of the Yerkes telescope have been assigned
+to Warner &amp; Swasey, of Cleveland, Ohio, who are recognized as the best
+telescope builders <span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span>in America. The great observatory is approaching
+completion. The instrument itself has been finished, examined,
+accepted by a committee of experts, and declared to fulfill all of the
+conditions of the agreement between the founder and the makers. Thus,
+just north of the boundary line between Illinois and Wisconsin, the
+greatest telescope of the world has been lifted to its dome and
+pointed to the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>The formal opening of the observatory is promised for the summer
+months of 1896. The human mind by this agency has made another stride
+into the depths of infinite space. Another universe is presently to be
+penetrated and revealed. A hollow sphere of space outside of the
+sphere already known is to be added to the already unthinkable
+universe which we inhabit. Every part of the immense observatory and
+of the telescope is of American production, with the single important
+exception of the cast glass disc from which the two principal lenses,
+the one double convex and the other plano-concave, are produced. These
+were cast by Mantois, of Paris, whose superiority to the American
+manufacturers of optical glass is recognized.</p>
+
+<p>It is estimated that the Yerkes telescope will gather three times as
+much light as the twenty-three-inch instrument of the Princeton
+Observatory. It surpasses in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span>same respect the twenty-six-inch
+telescope at the National Observatory in the ratio of two and
+three-eighths to one. It is in the same particular one and four-fifth
+times as powerful as the instrument of the Royal Russian Observatory
+at Pulkova; and it surpasses the great Lick instrument by twenty-three
+per cent.</p>
+
+<p>What the practical results of the study of the skies through this
+monster instrument will be none may predict. Theoretically it is
+capable of bringing the moon to an apparent distance of sixty miles.
+Under favorable circumstances the observer will be able to note the
+characteristics of the lunar landscape with more distinctness than a
+good natural eye can discern the outlines and character of the summit
+of Pike's Peak from Denver. The instrument has sufficient power to
+reveal on the lunar disc any object five hundred feet square. Such a
+thing as a village or even a great single building would be plainly
+discernible.</p>
+
+<p>Professor C.A. Young has recently pointed out the fact that the Yerkes
+telescope, if it meets expectation, will show on the moon's surface
+with much distinctness any such object as the Capitol at Washington.
+It is complained that in America wealth is selfish and self-centred;
+that the millionaire cares only for himself and the increase of his
+already exorbitant estate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> The ambition of such men as Lick of San
+Jose and Yerkes of Chicago, seems to ameliorate the severe judgment of
+mankind respecting the holders of the wealth of the world, and even to
+transform them from their popular character of enemies and misers into
+philanthropists and benefactors.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE NEW ASTRONOMY.</h3>
+
+<p>This century has been conspicuous above all centuries for new things.
+Man has grown into new relations with both nature and thought. He has
+interpreted nearly everything into new phraseology and new forms of
+belief. The scientific world has been revolutionized. Nothing remains
+in its old expression. Chemistry has been phrased anew. The laws of
+heat, light and electricity have been either revised or discovered
+wholly out of the unknown. The concept of universal nature has been so
+translated and reborn that a philosopher coming again out of the
+eighteenth century would fail to understand the thought and speech of
+even the common man.</p>
+
+<p>In no other particular has the change been more marked than with
+respect to the general theory of the planetary and stellar worlds. A
+New Astronomy has come and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" id="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span>taken the place of the old. The very
+rudiments of the science have to be learned as it were in a new
+language, and under the laws and theories of a new philosophy. Nature
+is considered from other points of view, and the general course of
+nature is conceived in a manner wholly different from the beliefs of
+the past.</p>
+
+<p>In a preceding study we have explained the general notion of planetary
+formation according to the views of the last century. The New
+Astronomy presents another theory. Beginning with virtually the same
+notion of the original condition of our world and sun cluster, the new
+view departs widely as to the processes by which the planets were
+formed, and extends much further with respect to the first condition
+and ultimate destiny of our earth. The New Astronomy, like the old,
+begins with a nebular hypothesis. It imagines the matter now composing
+the solar group to have been originally dispersed through the space
+occupied by our system, and to have been in a state of attenuation
+under the influence of high heat. Out of this condition of diffusion
+the solar system has been evolved. The idea is a creation by the
+process of evolution; it is evolution applied to the planets. More
+particularly, the hypothesis is that the worlds of our planetary
+system grew into their present state through a series of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span>stages and
+slow developments extending over &aelig;ons of time.</p>
+
+<p>This is the notion of world-growth substituted for that of
+world-production en masse by the action of centrifugal force and
+discharge from the solar equator. The New Astronomy proposes in this
+respect two points of remarkable difference from the view formerly
+entertained. The first relates to the fixing of the planetary orbits,
+and the other to the process by which the planets have reached their
+present mass and character. The old theory would place a given world
+in its pathway around the sun by a spiral flinging off from the
+central body, and would allow that the aggregate mass of the globe so
+produced was fixed once for all at the beginning. The new theory
+supposes that a given planetary orbit, as for instance that of the
+earth, was marked in the nebula of our system before the system
+existed&mdash;that is, that our orbit had its place in the beginning just
+as it has now; that the orbit was not determined by solar revolution
+and centrifugal action, but that it was mathematically existent in the
+nebular sheet out of which the solar system was produced.</p>
+
+<p>Other lines existed in the same sheet of matter. One of these lines or
+pathways was destined for the orbit of Mercury; another for the orbit
+of Venus. One was for <span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span>the pathway of Mars; another for the belt of
+the asteroids; another for Jupiter; another for Saturn, and still two
+others, far off on the rim, for Uranus and Neptune. The theory
+continues that such are the laws of matter that these orbital lines
+<i>must</i> exist in a disc of fire mist such as that out of which our
+solar universe has been produced. The New Astronomy holds firmly to
+the notion that the orbits of the planets are as much a part of the
+system as the planets themselves, and that both orbit and planet exist
+in virtue of the deep-down mathematical formul&aelig; on which the whole
+material universe is constructed.</p>
+
+<p>Secondly, the New Astronomy differs from the old by a whole horizon in
+the notion of world-production. About the middle of the century the
+theory began to be advanced that the worlds <i>grew</i> by accretion of
+matter; that they grew in the very paths which they now occupy; that
+they began to be with a small aggregation of matter rushing together
+in the line or orbit which the coming planet was to pursue. The
+planetary matter was already revolving in this orbit and in the
+surrounding spaces. It was already floating along in a nebulous
+superheated form capable of condensation by the loss of heat, but in
+particular capable of growth and development by the fall of
+surrounding matter upon the forming globe.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> We must remember that in
+the primordial state the elements of a planet, as for instance our
+earth, were mixed together and held in a state of tenuity ranging all
+the way from solid to highly vaporized forms, and that these elements
+subsequently and by slow adjustment got themselves into something
+approximating their present state.</p>
+
+<p>The New Astronomy contemplates a period when each of the planets was a
+germinal nucleus of matter around which other matter was precipitated,
+thus producing a kind of world-growth or accretion. Thus, for
+instance, our earth may be considered at a time when its entire mass
+would not, according to our measurement, have weighed a hundred
+pounds! It consisted of a nucleus around which extended, through a
+great space, a mass of attenuated planetary matter. The nucleus once
+formed the matter adjacent would precipitate itself by gravitation
+upon the surface of the incipient world. The precipitation would
+proceed as heat was given off into space. It was virtually a process
+of condensation; but the result appeared like growth.</p>
+
+<p>To the senses a planet would seem to be forming itself by accretion;
+and so, indeed, in one sense it was; for the mass constantly
+increased. As the nucleus sped on in the prescribed pathway, it drew
+to itself the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span>surrounding matter, leaving behind it an open channel.
+The orbit was thus cleared of the matter, which was at first merely
+nebular, and afterward both nebular and fragmentary. The growth at the
+first was rapid. With each revolution a larger band of space was swept
+clear of its material. With each passage of the forming globe the
+matter from the adjacent spaces would rush down upon its surface, and
+as the mass of the planet increased the process would be stimulated;
+for gravitation is proportional to the mass. At length a great tubular
+space would be formed, having the orbit of the earth for its centre,
+and in this space the matter was all swept up. The tube enlarged with
+each revolution, until an open way was cut through the nebular disc,
+and then from the one side toward Venus and from the other side toward
+Mars the space widened and widened, until the globe took approximately
+by growth its present mass of matter. The nebulous material was drawn
+out of the inter-planetary space where it was floating, and the shower
+of star dust on the surface of the earth became thinner and less
+frequent. In some parts of the orbit bands or patches of this material
+existed, and the earth in passing through such hands drew down upon
+itself the flying fragments of such matter as it continues to do to
+the present day. What <span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span>are meteoric displays but the residue of the
+primordial showers by which the world was formed?</p>
+
+<p>All this work, according to the New Astronomy, took place while our
+globe was still in a superheated condition. The mass of it had not yet
+settled into permanent form. The water had not yet become water; it
+was steam. The metals had not yet become metals; they were rather the
+vapor of metals. At length they were the liquids of metals, and at
+last the solids. So, also, the rocks were transformed from the
+vaporous through the liquid into the solid form&mdash;all this while the
+globe was in process of condensation. It grew smaller in mathematical
+measurements at the same time that it grew heavier by the accretion of
+matter. At last the surface was formed, and in time that surface was
+sufficiently cooled to allow the vapors around it to condense into
+seas and oceans and rivers. There were ages of superficial
+softness&mdash;vast epochs of mud&mdash;in which the living beings that had now
+appeared wallowed and sprawled.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot trace the world-growth through all its stages but can only
+indicate them as it were in a sketch. The more important thing to be
+noted is the relation of our planet in process of formation to the
+great fact called life. Here the New Astronomy comes in again to
+indicate, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span>theoretically at least, the philosophy of planetary
+evolution. Each planet seems to pass through a vast almost
+inconceivable period in which its condition renders life on its
+surface or in its structure impossible. Heat is at once the favoring
+and the prohibitory condition of life. Without heat life cannot exist;
+with too great heat life cannot exist. With an intermediate and
+moderate degree of heat many forms of animate and inanimate existence
+may be promoted.</p>
+
+<p>These facts tend to show that every world has in its career an
+intermediate period which may be called the epoch of life. Before the
+epoch of life begins there is in the given world no such form of
+existence. There is matter only. Then at a certain stage the epoch of
+life begins. The epoch of life continues for a vast indeterminate
+period. No doubt in some of the worlds an epoch of life has been
+provided ten times as great, possibly a thousand times as great, as in
+other planets. After the epoch of life begins only certain forms of
+existence are for a while possible. Then other and higher forms
+succeed them, and then still higher. Thus the process continues until
+the highest&mdash;that is, the conscious and moral form of existence
+becomes possible, and that highest, that conscious, that moral form of
+being is ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>This is not all. The epoch of life seems <span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span>to be terminable at the
+further extreme by a planetary condition in which life is no longer
+possible. The New Astronomy indicates the coming of a condition in all
+the worlds when life must disappear therefrom and be succeeded by a
+lifeless state of worldhood. This may be called the epoch of
+death&mdash;that is, of world-death. It seems to be almost established by
+investigation and right reason that worlds die. They reach a stage in
+which they are lifeless. They cool down until the waters and gases
+that are on the surface and above the surface recede more and more
+into the surface and then into the interior, until they wholly
+disappear. Cold takes the throne of nature. Universal aridity
+supervenes, and all forms of vegetable and animate existence go away
+to return no more. They dwindle and expire. The conditions that have
+come are virtually conditions of death.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the universe contains within itself, under the Almighty
+supervision, certain arrangements and laws by which the dead world can
+be again cast into the crucible and regenerated by liberation through
+the action of heat into its primordial state once more and go the same
+tremendous round of planet life, we know not. The conception of such a
+process, even the dream or vague possibility of it, is sufficiently
+sublime and fills the mind with a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span>great delight in contemplating the
+possible cycles through which the material universe is passing.</p>
+
+<p>At any rate, we may contemplate the three great stages of world-life
+with which we are already acquainted&mdash;that is, the birth stage, the
+epoch of life and the epoch of death. There is a birth, as also a life
+and a death of planets. Richard A. Proctor, of great fame, on one of
+his last tours of instructive lecturing among our people, had for his
+subject the "Birth and Death of Worlds." The theme was not dissimilar
+to that which has been here presented in outline. The birth, the life
+and the death of worlds! Such is a summary of that almost infinite
+history through which our earth is passing&mdash;the history which the
+globe is <i>making</i> on its way from its nebulous to its final state.</p>
+
+<p>Such, if we mistake not, is the story epitomized&mdash;the life history in
+brief&mdash;of all the worlds of space. They have each in its order and
+kind, an epoch of the beginning, then an epoch of growth and
+evolution, then an epoch of life&mdash;toward which all the preceding
+planet history seems to tend&mdash;and finally an epoch of death which
+must, in the course of infinite time, swallow from sight each planet
+in its turn, or at least reduce each from that condition in which it
+is an arena of animated existence into that <span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span>state where it is a
+frozen and desert clod, still following its wonted path through space,
+still shining with a cold but cheerful face, <i>like our moon</i>, upon the
+silent abysses of the universe.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>WHAT THE WORLDS ARE MADE OF.</h3>
+
+<p>The present century was already well advanced before there was any
+solid ground for the belief that the worlds of space are made of
+analogous or identical materials. It was only with the invention of
+the spectroscope and the analysis of light that the material identity
+of universal nature was proved by methods which could not be doubted.
+The proof came by the spectroscope.</p>
+
+<p>This little instrument, though not famed as is its lordly kinsman the
+telescope, or even regarded with the popular favor of the microscope,
+has nevertheless carried us as far, and, we were about to say, taught
+us as much, as either of the others. It is one thing to see the worlds
+afar, to note them visibly, to describe their outlines, to measure
+their mass and determine their motions. It is another thing to know
+their constitution, the substances of which they are composed, the
+material condition in which they exist and the state of their progress
+in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span>worldhood. The latter work is the task of the spectroscope; and
+right well has it accomplished its mission.</p>
+
+<p>The solar spectrum has been known from the earliest ages. When the
+sun-bow was set on the background of cloud over the diluvial floods,
+the living beings of that age saw a spectrum&mdash;the glorious spectrum of
+rain and shine. Wherever the rays of light have been diffracted under
+given conditions by the agency of water drops, prism of glass or other
+such transparent medium, and the ray has fallen on a suitable screen,
+lo! there has been the beautiful spectrum of light.</p>
+
+<p>The artificial, intentional production of this phenomenon of light has
+long been known, and both novice and scientist have tested and
+improved the methods of getting given results. The child's soap-bubble
+shows it in miniature splendor. The pressure of one wet pane of glass
+against another reveals it. The breakage of nearly all crystalline
+substances brings something of the colored effects of light; but the
+triangular prism of glass, suitably prepared, best of all displays the
+analysis of the sun-beam into the colors of which it is composed.</p>
+
+<p>The spectroscope is the improved instrument by which the diffracting
+prism is best employed in producing the spectrum. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span>reader no doubt
+has seen a spectroscope, and has observed its beautiful work. In this
+place we pass, however, from the instrument of production to the
+spectrum, or analyzed result, as the same is shown on a screen. There
+the pencil of white light falling from the sun is spread out in the
+manner of a fan, presenting on the screen the following arrangement of
+colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.</p>
+
+<p>This order of colors, beginning with red, starts from that side of the
+spectrum which is least bent from the right line in which the white
+ray was traveling. The violet rays are most bent. The red rays are
+thus said to be at the <i>lower</i> edge of the prism, and the violet rays
+at the <i>upper</i> edge. Below the red rays there are now known to be
+certain invisible rays, as of heat and electricity. Above the violet
+rays are other invisible rays, such as the actinic influence. In fact,
+the spectrum, beginning invisibly, passes by way of the visible rays
+to the invisible again. Nor can any scientist in the world say at the
+present time <i>how much</i> is really included in the spread-out fan of
+analyzed sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>Thus much scientists have known for some time. Certain other facts,
+however, in connection with the solar spectrum are of greater
+importance than are its more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178"></a>[pg 178]</span> sensible phenomena. It was in the year
+1802 that the English physicist, William Hyde Wollaston, discovered
+that the solar spectrum is crossed with a large number of <i>dark
+lines</i>. He it was who first mapped these lines and showed their
+relative position. He it was also who discovered the existence of
+invisible rays above the violet. Twelve years afterward Joseph von
+Fraunhofer, of Munich, a German optician of remarkable talents, took
+up the examination of the Wollaston lines, and by his success in the
+investigation succeeded in attracting the attention of the world.</p>
+
+<p>This second stage in scientific discovery is generally that which
+receives the plaudits of mankind. It was so in the case of Fraunhofer.
+His name was given to the dark lines in the solar spectrum, and the
+nomenclature is retained to the present time. They are called the
+"Fraunhofer lines." It was soon discovered that the lines in question
+as produced in the spectrum are due to the presence of gases in the
+producing flame or source of light. It was also discovered that each
+substance in, the process of combustion yields its own line or set of
+lines. These appear at regular intervals in the spectrum. When several
+substances are consumed at the same time; the lines of each appear in
+the spectrum. The result is a <i>system</i> of lines, becoming <span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span>more and
+more complex as the number of elements in the consuming materials is
+increased.</p>
+
+<p>The lines in a narrow spectrum fall so closely together that they
+cannot be critically examined; but when more than one prism is used
+and the spectrum by this means spread out widely, the dark lines are
+made to stand apart. They are then found to number many thousands. We
+speak now of the analysis of sunlight. Experimentation was naturally
+turned, however, to terrestrial gases and solids on fire, and it was
+found that these also produce like series of dark lines in the
+spectrum. Or when the substances are consumed <i>as solids</i>, then the
+spectral effects are reversed, and the lines that would be dark lines
+in the luminous colored spectrum become themselves luminous lines on
+the screen; but these lines hold the same relation in mathematical
+measurement, etc., as do the <i>dark</i> lines in the colored spectrum.</p>
+
+<p>Skillful spectroscopists succeeded in detecting and delineating the
+lines that were peculiar to each substance. By burning such substances
+in flame, they were able to produce the lines, and thus verify
+results. By such experimentation the various lines present in the
+solar spectrum were separated from the complex result, and the
+conclusion was reached that in the burning surface of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180"></a>[pg 180]</span>the sun certain
+substances <i>well known on earth are present</i>; for the lines of those
+substances are shown in the spectrum.</p>
+
+<p>No other known substances would produce the given lines. The
+conclusion is overwhelming that the substances in question are present
+in a gaseous condition in the burning flames of the sun. Down to the
+present time the examination of the sun's atmosphere has shown the
+existence therein of thirty-six known elements. These include sodium,
+potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, cobalt, silver, lead,
+tin, zinc, titanium, aluminium, chromium, silicon, carbon, hydrogen
+and several others.</p>
+
+<p>It was thus established that in the constitution of the sun many of
+the well-known elements of the earth are present. There could be no
+mistake about it. An identity of lines in such a case proved beyond
+dispute the identity of the substance from which such lines are
+derived. The existence of common materials in the central sphere of
+our system and in <i>one</i> of his attendant orbs&mdash;our own&mdash;could not be
+doubted. The discovery of such a fact led by immediate inference to
+the expectation and belief that the <i>other</i> planets were of like
+constitution, or in a word, that the whole solar system was
+essentially composed of identical materials.</p>
+
+<p>As the inquiry proceeded, it was found, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span>however, that the agreement
+in the lines of different spectra was not perfect. Lines would be
+found in the spectrum derived from one source that were not present in
+a spectrum derived from another source. Materials were therefore
+suggested as present in one body that were not present in another.
+Still further inquiry confirmed the belief that while there is a
+general uniformity in the materials of our solar system, the identity
+is not complete in all. An element is found in one part that may not
+be found in another. Hydrogen shows its line in the spectrum derived
+from every heavenly body that has been investigated; but not so
+aluminium or cobalt. Sodium, that is, the salt-producing base, is
+discovered everywhere, but not nickel or arsenium. The result, in a
+word, shows a certain variability in the distribution of solar and
+planetary matter, but a general identity of most.</p>
+
+<p>The question next presented itself as to the character of the luminous
+bodies <i>beyond</i> the solar system. Of what kind of matter are the
+comets? Of what kind are the fixed stars? Of what kind are the nebul&aelig;?
+Could the spectroscope be used in determining also the character of
+the materials in those orbs that we see shining in the depths of
+space? The instrument was turned in answer to these questions to the
+sidereal heavens. No other branch of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span>science has been prosecuted in
+the after half of this century with more zeal and success than has the
+spectroscopic analysis of the fixed stars. These are known by the
+telescope to have the character of suns. The most general fact of the
+visible heavens is the plentiful distribution of suns. They sparkle
+everywhere as the so-called fixed stars. To them the telescope has
+been virtually turned in vain. We say in vain because no single fixed
+star has, we believe, ever been made by aid of the telescope to show a
+disc.</p>
+
+<p>On turning the telescope to a fixed star, its brightness, its
+brilliancy, increases according to the power of the instrument. Coming
+into the field of one of these great suns of space, the telescope
+shows a miraculous dawn spreading and blazing into a glorious sunrise,
+and a sun itself flaming like infinite majesty on the sight; but there
+is no disc&mdash;nothing but a blaze of glory. Thus in a sense the
+telescope has worked in vain on the visible heavens. But not so the
+spectroscope. The latter has done its glorious work. Turning to a
+given fixed star, it shows that the tremendous combustion going on
+therein is virtually the same as that in our own sun. There, too, is
+flaming hydrogen, and there is carbon and oxygen and iron and sodium
+and potassium and many other of the leading elements of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span>what we thus
+know to be universal nature. The suns are all akin; they are
+cousins-german. They are of the same family&mdash;they and their progeny.
+They were born of the same universal fact. They are of the same
+Father! They are builded on the same plan, and they have a common
+destiny. Aye, more, the nebul&aelig; that float far off, swanlike, in the
+infinitudes, are of the same family. The nebul&aelig; may be regarded as the
+mothers of universes. It is out of their bosoms that the life and
+substance of all suns and worlds are drawn! And these, too, are
+composed of the common matter of universal nature. It is the same
+matter that we eat and drink. It is the same that we breathe. It is
+the same that we see aflame in our lamps and grates. It is the same
+that is borne to us in the fragrance of flowers planted on the graves
+of our dead. It is the common hydrogen and carbon and oxygen and
+nitrogen of our earth and its envelope. It is the soda of our bread;
+the potassa of our ashes; the phosphorus of our bones and brain!
+Indeed, the universe throughout is of one form and one substance, and
+there is one Father over all. Sooner or later the concepts of science
+and of religion will come together; and the small agitations and
+conflicts of human thought and hope will pass away in a sublime unity
+of human faith. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span>
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+<h2>Progress in Discovery and Invention.</h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE FIRST STEAMBOAT AND ITS MAKER.</h3>
+
+<p>On the night of the second of July, 1798, a man at a little old tavern
+in Bardstown, Kentucky, committed suicide. If ever there was a
+justifiable case of self-destruction, it was this. No human being is
+permitted to take his own life, but there are instances in which the
+burden of existence becomes well-nigh intolerable. In the case just
+mentioned, the man went to his room and took poison. He was a little
+more than fifty-five years of age, but was prematurely old from the
+hardships to which he had been subjected. He had not a penny. His
+clothes were worn out. A dirty shirt, made of coarse materials, was
+seen through the rags of his coat. His face was haggard, wrinkled,
+written all over with despair, the lines of which not even the
+goodness of death was able to dispel.</p>
+
+<p>The man had seen the Old World and the New, but had never seen
+happiness. He <span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span>had followed his forlorn destiny from his native town
+of South Windsor, Connecticut, where he was born on the twenty-first
+of January, 1743. His body was buried in the graveyard of Bardstown,
+then a frontier village. No one contributed a stone to mark the grave.
+Nor has that duty ever been performed. The spot became
+undistinguishable as time went by, and we believe that there is not a
+man in the world who can point out the place where the body of John
+Fitch was buried. The grave of the inventor of the steamboat, hidden
+away, more obscurely than that of Jean Valjean in the cemetery of
+P&egrave;re-Lachaise, will keep the heroic bones to the last day, when all
+sepulchres of earth shall set free their occupants and the great sea's
+wash cast up its dead!</p>
+
+<p>The life of John Fitch is, we are confident, the saddest chapter in
+human biography. The soul of the man seems from the first to have gone
+forth darkly voyaging, like Poe's raven,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">&mdash;"Whom unmerciful disaster<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Followed fast and followed faster, till his song one burden bore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Till the dirges of his hope the melancholy burden bore,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of 'Nevermore&mdash;nevermore!'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Certainly it was nevermore with him. His early years were made
+miserable by ill-treatment and abuse. His father, a close-fisted
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span>farmer and an elder brother of the same character, converted the
+boyhood life of John Fitch into a long day of grief and humiliation
+and a long night of gloomy dreams. Then at length came an ill-advised
+and ill-starred marriage, which broke under him and left him to wander
+forth in desolation.</p>
+
+<p>He went first from Connecticut to Trenton, N.J., and there in his
+twenty-sixth year began to ply the humble trade of watch-maker. Then
+he became a gunsmith, making arms for the patriots of Seventy-six,
+until what time the British destroyed his shop. Then he was a soldier.
+He suffered the horrors of Valley Forge; and before the conclusion of
+the peace he went abroad in the country as a tinker of clocks and
+watches. His peculiarity of manner and his mendicant character made
+him the butt of neighborhoods. In 1780 he was sent as a
+deputy-surveyor from Virginia into Kentucky, and after nearly two
+years spent in the country between the Kentucky and Green rivers, he
+went back to Philadelphia. On a second journey to the West his party
+was assailed by the Indians at the mouth of the Muskingum, and most
+were killed. But he was taken captive, and remained with the red men
+for nearly a year. But he escaped at last, and got back to a
+Pennsylvania settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Fitch next lived for a year or two in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span>and did approve of the
+invention, he withheld any public endorsement of it.</p>
+
+<p>Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got
+the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation,
+he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the
+work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions
+on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a
+small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the
+means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden.
+The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive
+right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for
+purposes of steam navigation.</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was
+forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars,
+or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and
+the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and
+Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of
+eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling.</p>
+
+<p>He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August,
+1787, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span>and did approve of the invention, he withheld any public
+endorsement of it.</p>
+
+<p>Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got
+the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation,
+he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the
+work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions
+on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a
+small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the
+means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden.
+The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive
+right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for
+purposes of steam navigation.</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was
+forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars,
+or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and
+the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and
+Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of
+eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling.</p>
+
+<p>He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August,
+1787, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span>would have witnessed a memorable thing. The Convention for the
+framing of a Constitution for the United States of America was in
+session. For some time the body had been wearing itself into
+exhaustion over this question and that question which seemed
+impossible of solution. On the day referred to, the convention, on
+invitation, adjourned, and the members, including the Father of his
+country, who was President, went down to the water's edge to see a
+sight. There Fitch's steamboat was to make its trial trip, and there
+the trial trip was made, with entire success.</p>
+
+<p>They who were building the ship of state could but applaud the
+performance of the little steamer that sped away toward Burlington.
+But the applause was of that kind which the wise and conservative folk
+always give to the astonishing thing done by genius. The wise and
+conservative folk look on and smile and praise, but do not commit
+themselves. Most dangerous it is for a politician to commit himself to
+a beneficial enterprise; for the people might oppose it!</p>
+
+<p>The facts here referred to are fully attested in indisputable records.
+There are files of Philadelphia newspapers which contain accounts of
+Fitch's boat. A line of travel and traffic was established between
+Philadelphia and Burlington. There was also a steam ferryboat on the
+Delaware. A <span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span>second boat, called the "Perseverance," was designed for
+the waters of the Mississippi; but this craft was wrecked by a storm,
+and then the patent under which the Ohio river and its confluent
+waters were granted, expired, and the enterprise had to be abandoned.
+On the fourth of September, 1790, the following advertisement of the
+"Pennsylvania Packet" appeared in a Philadelphia paper:</p>
+
+<p>"The Steamboat will set out this morning, at eleven o'clock, for
+Messrs. Gray's Garden, at a quarter of a dollar for each passenger
+thither. It will afterwards ply between Gray's and middle ferry, at
+11d each passenger. To-morrow morning, Sunday, it will set off for
+Burlington at eight o'clock, to return in the afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>This Pennsylvania Packet continued to ply the Delaware for about three
+years. The mechanical construction of the boat was not perfect; and
+shortly after the date to which the above advertisement refers the
+little steamer was ruined by an accident. The story is told by Thomas
+P. Cope, in the seventh volume of Hazard's <i>Register</i>. He says: "I
+often witnessed the performance of the boat in 1788-89-90. It was
+propelled by paddles in the stern, and was constantly getting out of
+order. I saw it when it was returning from a trip to Burlington, from
+whence it was said to have arrived in little <span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span>more than two hours.
+When coming to off Kensington, some part of the machinery broke, and I
+never saw it in motion afterward. I believe it was his [Fitch's] last
+effort. He had, up to that period, been patronized by a few
+stout-hearted individuals, who had subscribed a small capital, in
+shares, I think, of six pounds Pennsylvania currency; but this last
+disaster so staggered their faith and unstrung their nerves, that they
+never again had the hardihood to make other contributions. Indeed,
+they already rendered themselves the subjects of ridicule and derision
+for their temerity and presumption in giving countenance to this wild
+projector and visionary madman. The company thereupon gave up the
+ghost, the boat went to pieces, and Fitch became bankrupt and
+brokenhearted. Often have I seen him stalking about like a troubled
+spectre, with downcast eye and lowering countenance, his coarse,
+soiled linen peeping through the elbows of a tattered garment."</p>
+
+<p>With the breakdown of his enterprise, John Fitch went forth penniless
+into the world. The patent which he received from the United States in
+1791, was of small use. How little can a pauper avail himself of a
+privilege! Presently his patent was burned up, and a year afterward,
+namely in 1793, he went to France. There he would&mdash;according to his
+dream&mdash;find patronage and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span>fame; but on his arrival in the French
+capital he found the Reign of Terror just beginning its work. It was
+not likely that the Revolutionary Tribunal would give heed to an
+American dreamer and his proposition to propel by steam a boat on the
+Seine. However, Fitch went to L'Orient and deposited the plans and
+specifications of his invention with the American consul. Then he
+departed for London.</p>
+
+<p>In the following year a man by the name of Robert Fulton took up his
+residence with the family of Joel Barlow, in Paris. There he devoted
+himself to his art, which was that of a painter. Whoever had passed by
+the corner of Second and Walnut streets, in Philadelphia while Fitch
+was constructing his first steamboat, might have seen a little sign
+carrying these words: "Robert Fulton, Miniature Painter." But now,
+after nearly ten years, he was painting a panorama in France. While
+thus engaged, the American consul at L'Orient showed to Fulton Fitch's
+drawings and specifications for a steamboat. More than this, <i>he
+loaned them to him, and he kept them for several months</i>.</p>
+
+<p>A thrifty man was Robert Fulton; discerning, prudent and capable!
+Meanwhile, poor Fitch, in 1794, returned to America. On the ship he
+worked his way as one of the hands. Getting again to New York he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span>determined to make his way into that region of country where he had
+been a surveyor in 1780. He accordingly set out from New York for
+Kentucky, but not till he had invented, or rather constructed, a
+steamboat, which was driven by <i>a screw propeller</i>! This, in 1796, he
+launched on the Collect Pond, in what is now Lower New York. The boat
+was successful as an experiment; but the people who saw it looked upon
+its operation and upon the thing itself as the product of a crazy
+man's brain.</p>
+
+<p>He who now passes along the streets of the metropolis will come upon a
+vendor of toys, who will drop upon the pavement an artificial
+miniature tortoise, rabbit, rat, or what not, well wound up; and the
+creature will begin to crawl, or dance, or jump, or run, according to
+its nature. The busy, conservative man smiles a superior smile, and
+passes on. It was in such mood that the old New Yorker of 1796
+witnessed the going of Fitch's little screw propeller on the Pond. It
+was a toy of the water.</p>
+
+<p>After this the poor spectre left for the West. The spring of 1798
+found him at Bardstown, with the model of a little three-foot
+steamboat, which he launched on a neighboring stream. There he still
+told his neighbors that the time would come when all rivers and seas
+would be thus navigated. But they heeded not. The spectre became <span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span>more
+spectral. At last, about the beginning of July, in the year just
+named, he gave up the battle, crept into his room at the little old
+tavern, took his poison, and fell into the final sleep.</p>
+
+<p>We shall conclude this sketch of him and his work with one of his own
+sorrowful prophecies: "The day will come," said he in a letter, "when
+some more powerful man will get fame and riches from <i>my</i> invention;
+but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of
+attention." Than this there is, we think, hardly a more pathetic
+passage in the history of the sons of men!</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>TELEGRAPHING BEFORE MORSE.</h3>
+
+<p>There is a great fallacy in the judgment of mankind about the method
+of the coming of new things. People imagine that new things come all
+at once, but they do not. Nothing comes all at once; that is, no
+thing. In the facts of the natural world, that is, among visible
+phenomena of the landscape, the judgment of people is soon corrected.
+There it is seen that everything grows. The growth is sometimes slow
+and sometimes rapid; but everything comes gradually out of its
+antecedents. No tree or shrub or flower ever came immediately.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> No
+living creature on the face of the earth begins by instantaneous
+apparition. The chick gets out of its shell presently, but even that
+takes time. Every living thing comes on by degrees from a germ, and
+the germ is generally microscopic! Nature is, indeed, a marvel!</p>
+
+<p>The facts of human life, whether tangible or intangible, have this
+same method. For example, there has not been an invention known to
+mankind that has not come on in the manner of growth. The antecedents
+of it work on and on in a tentative way, producing first this trial
+result and then that, always approaching the true thing; and even the
+true thing when it comes is not perfect. It is made perfect afterward.
+There was never an instantaneous invention, and there was never a
+complete one! It is doubtful whether there is at the present time a
+single complete, that is perfect or perfected, invention in the world.
+They are all of partial development. They show in their history their
+origin, their growth, their gradual approximation to the perfect form.</p>
+
+<p>All of the marvelous contrivances which, fill the arena of our
+civilization, making it first vital and then vocal, have come by the
+evolutionary process. Every one of them has a history which is more
+and more obscure as we follow it backward to its source. In every
+case, however, there comes <span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span>a time when a given discovery, manifesting
+itself in a given invention, takes a sort of spectacular character,
+and it is then rather suddenly revealed to the consciousness of
+mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Of this general law the telegraph affords a conspicuous example. The
+whole world knows the story of the telegraph of Morse. It was in 1844
+that the work of this great inventor was publicly demonstrated to the
+world. Then it was that the electro-magnetic telegraph in its first
+rude estate began to be used in the transmission of messages and other
+written information.</p>
+
+<p>It has come to pass that "telegraph" means virtually <i>electric</i>
+telegraph. The people of to-day seem to have forgotten that the
+telegraph is not necessarily dependent on the electrical current. They
+have forgotten that back of the Morse invention other means had been
+employed of transmitting information at a distance. They have
+forgotten that it was by the most gradual and tedious process that the
+old telegraphic methods were evolved into the new. Note with wonder
+how this great invention began, and through what stages it passed to
+completion.</p>
+
+<p>There is a natural telegraphy. Whoever stands in an open place and
+calls aloud to his fellow mortal at a distance <i>telegraphs</i> to him. At
+least he telephones to him; that is, <i>sounds</i> to him at a distance.
+The air is the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span>medium, the vocal cords in vibration the source of the
+utterance, and the ear of the one at a distance the audiphonic
+receiver. This sort of telegraphy is original and natural with human
+beings, and it is common to them and the lower animals. All the
+creatures that have vocality use this method. It were hard to say how
+humble is the creeping thing that does not rasp out some kind of a
+message to its fellow insect. Some, like the fireflies, do their
+telegraphing with a lantern which they carry. The very crickets are
+expert in telegraphy, or telephony, which is ultimately the same
+thing.</p>
+
+<p>After transmitted sound the next thing is the visible signal, and this
+has been employed by human beings from the earliest ages in
+transmitting information to a distance. It is a method which will
+perhaps never be wholly abandoned. Observe the surveyors running a
+trial line. Far off is the chain bearer and here is the theodolite.
+The man with the standard watches for the signal of the man with the
+instrument. The language is <i>seen</i> and the message understood, though
+no word is spoken. Here the sunlight is the wire, and the visible
+motion of the hands and arms the letters and words of the message.</p>
+
+<p>The ancients were great users of this method. They employed it in both
+peace and war. They occupied heights and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span>showed signals at great
+distances. The better vision of those days made it possible to catch a
+signal, though far off, and to transmit it to some other station,
+likewise far away. In this manner bright objects were waved by day and
+torches by night. In times of invasion such a method of spreading
+information has been used down to the present age. Nor may we fail to
+note the improved apparatus for this kind of signaling now employed in
+military operations. The soldiers on our frontiers in Arizona, New
+Mexico, and through the mountainous regions further north, are able to
+signal with a true telegraphic language to stations nearly a hundred
+miles away.</p>
+
+<p>Considerable progress was made in telegraphy in the after part of the
+eighteenth century. This progress related to the transmission of
+visible messages through the air. In the time of the French Revolution
+such contrivance occupied the attention of military commanders and of
+governing powers. A certain noted engineer named Chappe invented at
+this epoch a telegraph that might be properly called successful.
+Chappe was the son of the distinguished French astronomer, Jean Chappe
+d'Auteroche, who died at San Lucar, California, in 1769. This elder
+Chappe had previously made a journey into Siberia, and had seen from
+that station the transit of Venus in 1761. Hoping to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span>observe the
+recurring transit, eight years afterward, he went to the coast of our
+then almost unknown California, but died there as stated above.</p>
+
+<p>The younger Chappe, being anxious to serve the Revolution, invented
+his telegraph; but in doing so he subjected himself to the suspicions
+of the more ignorant, and on one notable occasion was brought into a
+strait place&mdash;both he and his invention. The story of this affair is
+given by Carlyle in the second volume of his "French Revolution." One
+knows not whether to smile or weep over the graphic account which the
+crabbed philosopher gives of Chappe and his work in the following
+extract:</p>
+
+<p>"What, for example," says he, "is this that Engineer Chappe is doing
+in the Park of Vincennes? In the Park of Vincennes; and onward, they
+say, in the Park of Lepelletier Saint-Fargeau, the assassinated
+deputy; and still onward to the Heights of Ecouen and farther, he has
+scaffolding set up, has posts driven in; wooden arms with elbow-joints
+are jerking and fugling in the air, in the most rapid mysterious
+manner! Citoyens ran up, suspicious. Yes, O Citoyens, we are
+signaling; it is a device, this, worthy of the Republic; a thing for
+what we will call far-writing without the aid of postbags; in Greek it
+shall be named Telegraph. '<i>Tel&eacute;graph&ecirc; sacre</i>,' answers Citoyenism.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span>
+For writing to Traitors, to Austria?&mdash;and tears it down, Chappe had to
+escape and get a new legislative Decree. Nevertheless he has
+accomplished it, the indefatigable Chappe; this his Far-writer, with
+its wooden arms and elbow-joints, can intelligibly signal; and lines
+of them are set up, to the North Frontiers and elsewhither. On an
+Autumn evening of the Year Two, Far-writer having just written that
+Cond&egrave; Town has surrendered to us, we send from the Tuileries
+Convention-Hall this response in the shape of a Decree: 'The name of
+Cond&egrave; is changed to <i>Nord-Libre</i> (North Free). The Army of the North
+ceases not to merit well of the country.' To the admiration of men!
+For lo! in some half-hour, while the Convention yet debates, there
+arrives this new answer: 'I inform thee (<i>Je t'annonce</i>), Citizen
+President, that the Decree of Convention, ordering change of the name
+Cond&egrave; into North Free; and the other, declaring that the Army of the
+North ceases not to merit well of the country, are transmitted and
+acknowledged by Telegraph. I have instructed my Officer at Lille to
+forward them to North Free by express.' Signed, Chappe."</p>
+
+<p>This successful telegraph of Engineer Chappe was not an electric
+telegraph, but a sunlight telegraph. Is it in reality any more
+wonderful to use the electrical wave <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span>in the transmission of
+intelligible symbols than to use a wave of light? Such seems to have
+been the opinion of mankind; and the coming of the electric telegraph
+was long postponed. The invention was made by slow approaches. In our
+country the notion has prevailed that Morse did all&mdash;that others did
+nothing; but this notion is very erroneous.</p>
+
+<p>We are not to suppose that the Chappe method of telegraphing became
+extinct after its first successful work. Other references to what we
+<i>suppose</i> to be the same instrument are found in the literature of the
+age. The wonder is that more was not written and more accomplished by
+the agency of Chappe's invention. In the fall of the year 1800,
+General Bonaparte, who had been in Egypt and the East, returned to
+Europe and landed at Frejus on his way to Paris, with the dream of
+universal dominion in his head. In the first volume of the <i>Memoirs of
+Napoleon Bonaparte</i>, his secretary M. de Bourrienne, writing of the
+return to France says:</p>
+
+<p>"We arrived in Paris on the 24th Vendemiaire (the sixteenth of
+October). As yet he (Napoleon) knew nothing of what was going on; for
+he had seen neither his wife nor his brothers, who were looking for
+him on the Burgundy Road. The news of our landing at Frejus had
+reached Paris <i>by a</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> <i>telegraphic despatch</i>. Madame Bonaparte, who
+was dining with M. Gohier when that despatch was communicated to him,
+as President of the Directory, immediately set off to meet her
+husband," etc. We should be glad to know in what particular form that
+"telegraphic despatch" was delivered! But such are Bourrienne's words!</p>
+
+<p>To the American reader the name of Karl Friedrich Gauss may have an
+unfamiliar sound. Gauss was already a youth of fourteen when Morse was
+born, though the latter outlived the German mathematician by seventeen
+years. Gauss was a professor of Mathematics at G&ouml;ttingen, where he
+passed nearly the whole of his life. In the early part of the century
+he distinguished himself in astronomy and in other branches of
+physical science. He then became interested in magnetic and electrical
+phenomena, and in 1833, with the assistance of Wilhelm Eduard Weber,
+one of his fellow-professors, who died in 1891, he erected at
+G&ouml;ttingen a magnetic observatory. There he began to experiment with
+the subtle agent which was soon to be placed at the service of
+mankind.</p>
+
+<p>The observatory was constructed without the use of iron, in order that
+the magnetic phenomena might be studied under favorable conditions.
+Humboldt and Arago had previously constructed laboratories without
+using iron&mdash;for iron is the great disturber&mdash;and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span>from them Gauss
+obtained his hint. Weber was also expert in the management of
+magneto-electrical currents. Gauss, with the aid of his co-worker,
+constructed a line of telegraph, and sent signals by the agency of the
+magnetic current to a neighboring town. This was nearly ten years
+before Morse had fully succeeded in like experimentation.</p>
+
+<p>It appears that the German scientists regarded their telegraph as
+simply the tangible expression or apparatus to illustrate scientific
+facts and principles. It was for this reason, we presume, that no
+further headway was made at G&ouml;ttingen in the development of
+telegraphy. It was also for the additional reason that men rarely or
+never accept what is really the first demonstration and
+exemplification of a new departure in scientific knowledge. Such is
+the timidity of the human mind&mdash;such its conservative attachment to
+the known thing and to the old method as against the new&mdash;that it
+prefers to stay in the tumble-down ruin of bygone opinions and
+practices, rather than go up and inhabit the splendid but unfamiliar
+temple of the future.</p>
+
+<p>Gauss and Weber were left with their scientific discovery; and,
+indeed, Morse in the New World of practicality and quick adaptations,
+was about to be rejected and cast out. The sorrows through which he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span>passed need not here be recounted. They are sufficiently sad and
+sufficiently humiliating. His unavailing appeals to the American
+Congress are happily hidden in the rubbish of history, and are
+somewhat dimmed by the intervention of more than half a century. But
+his humiliation was extreme. Smart Congressmen, partisans, the
+ignorant flotsam of conventions and intrigues, heard the philosopher
+with contempt. A few heard him with sympathy; and the opinion in his
+favor grew, as if by the pressure of shame, until he was finally
+supported, and in a midnight hour of an expiring session of Congress,
+or rather in the early morning of the fourth of March, 1843, the
+munificent appropriation of $30,000 was placed at his disposal for the
+construction of an experimental line between Washington and Baltimore.</p>
+
+<p>The one thing was done. A new era of instantaneous communication
+between men and communities at a distance the one from the other was
+opened&mdash;an era which has proved to be an era of light and knowledge.
+Nor may we conclude this sketch without noting the fact that, not a
+few of the members of the House of Representatives who voted the
+pittance for the construction of the first line of actual working
+telegraph in the world, went home to their constituents and were
+ignominiously beaten for re-election&mdash;this <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span>this for the slight
+service which they had rendered to their country and the human race!</p>
+
+<p>When in New York City, turn thou to the west out of Fifth avenue into
+Twenty-second street, to the distance of, perhaps, ten rods, and there
+on a little marble slab set in the wall of a house on the north side
+of the street, read this curious epitaph:</p>
+
+<p>"In this house lived Professor S.F.B, Morse for thirty years and
+died!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE NEW LIGHT OF MEN.</h3>
+
+<p>By the law of nature our existence is divided between daylight and
+darkness. There is evermore the alternate baptism into dawn and night.
+The division of life is not perfect between sunshine and shadow; for
+the sunshine bends around the world on both horizons, and lengthens
+the hemisphere of day by a considerable rim of twilight. To this
+reduction of the darkness we must add moonshine and starlight. But we
+must also subtract the influence of the clouds and other incidental
+conditions of obscuration. After these corrections are made, there is
+for mankind a great band of deep night, wherein no man can work.
+Whoever goes forth at some noon of night, when the sky is wrapped with
+clouds, must realize the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span>utter dependence of our kind upon the light.
+How great is the blessing of that sublime and beautiful fact which the
+blind Milton apostrophizes in the beginning of the Third Book of
+<i>Paradise Lost</i>:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Hail, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or of Eternal co&euml;ternal beam,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And never but in unapproached light<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Bright effluence of bright essence increate!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The rising world of waters dark and deep,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Won from the void and formless infinite."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>How then shall man overcome the darkness? It is one of the problems of
+his existence. He is obliged with each recurring sunset of his life to
+enter the tunnel of inky darkness and make his way through as best he
+may to the morning. What kind of lantern shall he carry as he gropes?</p>
+
+<p>The evolution of artificial light and of the means of producing it
+constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the history of our
+race. Primeval man knew fire. He learned in some way how to kindle
+fire. The lowest barbarian may be defined as a fire-producing animal.
+The cave men of ancient Europe kindled fires in their dark caverns.
+The lake dwellers had fires, both <span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span>on shore and in their huts over the
+water. Wherever there was a fire there was artificial light. The
+primitive barbarian walked around the embers of his fire and saw his
+shadow stretching out into the gloom of the surrounding night.</p>
+
+<p>With the slow oncoming of a better estate, the early philosophers of
+mankind invented lamps. Very rude indeed were the first products in
+this kind of art. Note the character of the lamps that have survived
+to us from the age of stone. Still they are capable of holding oil and
+retaining a wick. Further on we have lamps from the age of bronze, and
+at last from the age of iron. Polite antiquity had its silver lamps,
+its copper lamps, and in a few instances its lamps of gold. The
+palaces of kings were sometimes lighted from golden reservoirs of oil.
+Such may be seen among the relics preserved to us from the
+civilizations of Western Asia. The palace of Priam, if we mistake not,
+had lamps of gold.</p>
+
+<p>The Great Greeks were the makers of beautiful lamps. In the age of the
+Grecian ascendancy the streets of Athens and of some other Hellenic
+cities were lighted by night. The material of such illumination was
+oil derived either from animals or from vegetable products, such as
+the olive. In the forms of Greek lamps we have an example of artistic
+beauty not surpassed or <span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span>equaled in modern time; but the mechanical
+contrivance for producing the light was poor and clumsy.</p>
+
+<p>Rome lighted herself artificially. She had her lamps and her torches
+and her chandeliers, as we see in the relics of Herculaneum and
+Pompeii. A Roman procession by night was not wanting in brilliancy and
+picturesqueness. The quality of the light, however was poor, and there
+was always a cloud of smoke as well as of dust hovering about Roman
+processions and triumphs.</p>
+
+<p>The earlier Middle Ages improved not at all; but with the Renaissance
+there was an added elegance in the apparatus of illumination.
+Chandeliers were made in Italy, notably in Venice, that might rival in
+their elegance anything of the present age. The art of such products
+was superior; but the old barbaric clumsiness was perpetuated in the
+mechanical part. With the rise of scientific investigation under the
+influence of inductive philosophy, all kinds of contrivances for the
+production of artificial light were improved. The ingenuity of man was
+now turned to the mechanical part, and one invention followed another
+with a constant development in the power of illumination.</p>
+
+<p>We can but remember, however, that until the present age many of the
+old forms of illuminating apparatus have been retained. In the ruder
+communities such things may <span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span>still be seen. Civilization in its
+progress from east to west across our continent followed a tallow
+candle. The light of it was seen by night through the window of the
+pioneer's cabin. The old forms of hanging lamps have hardly yet
+disappeared from the advance posts of the marching column. But
+meanwhile, other agencies have been discovered, and other forms of
+apparatus invented, until the branch of knowledge relating to
+illumination has become both a science and an art.</p>
+
+<p>Within the memories of men still living, a great transformation has
+occurred. Animal oils have virtually ceased to be employed as the
+sources of light. The vegetable world is hardly any longer drawn upon
+for its products. Already before the discovery of petroleum and its
+multifarious uses the invention by chemical methods of illuminating
+materials had begun. Many kinds of burning fluid had been introduced.
+The reign of these was short-lived; coal oil came in at the door and
+they flew out at the window. Great was the advantage which seemed to
+come to mankind from the use of kerosene lamps. Those very forms of
+illumination which are now regarded as crude in character and odious
+in use were only a generation ago hailed with delight because of their
+superiority to the former agents of illumination.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span> Thus much may
+suffice for all that precedes the coming of the New Light of men. The
+new light flashes from the electrical glow. The application of
+electricity to purposes of illumination marks an era in human
+progress. The electrical light is, we think, high up among the most
+valuable and striking stages of civilized life in the nineteenth
+century. It is best calculated to affect favorably the welfare of the
+people, especially in great cities. The illumination of a city by
+night, making its streets to be lighted as if by day, is a more
+interesting and important fact in human history than any political
+conflict or mere change of rulers.</p>
+
+<p>About the beginning of the eighth decade of this century the project
+of introducing the electric light for general purposes of illumination
+began to be agitated. It was at once perceived that the advantages of
+such lighting were as many as they were obvious. The light is so
+powerful as to render practicable the performance of many mechanical
+operations as easily by night as by day. Again, the danger of fire
+from illuminating sources is almost wholly obviated by the new system.
+The ease and expedition of all kinds of night employment are greatly
+enhanced. A given amount of illumination can be produced much more
+cheaply by electricity than by any means of gas lighting or ordinary
+combustion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span> Among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of
+electric lighting was the philosopher Gramme, of Paris. In the early
+part of 1875 he successfully lighted his laboratory by means of
+electricity. Soon afterward the foundry of Ducommun &amp; Co., of
+Mulhouse, was similarly lighted. In the course of the following year
+the apparatus for lighting, by means of carbon candles was introduced
+into many of the principal factories of France and other leading
+countries of Europe. It may prove of interest in this connection to
+sketch briefly the principal features of the electric light system,
+and to trace the development of that system in our own and other
+countries.</p>
+
+<p>Lighting by electricity is accomplished in several ways. In general,
+however, the principle by which the result is accomplished is one, and
+depends upon the resistance which the electrical current meets in its
+transmission through various substances. There are no perfect
+conductors of electricity. In proportion as the non-conductive quality
+is prevalent in a substance, especially in a metal, the resistance to
+the passage of electricity is pronounced, and the consequent
+disturbance among the molecular particles of the substance is great.
+Whenever such resistance is encounted in a circuit, the electricity is
+converted into heat, and when the resistance is great, the heat is, in
+turn, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212"></a>[pg 212]</span>converted into light, or rather the heat becomes phenomenal in
+light; that is, the substance which offers the resistance glows with
+the transformed energy of the impeded current. Upon this simple
+principle all the apparatus for the production of electric light is
+produced.</p>
+
+<p>Among the metallic substances, the one best adapted by its low
+conductivity to such resistance and transformation of force, is
+platinum. The high degree of heat necessary to fuse this metal adds to
+its usefulness and availability for the purpose indicated. When an
+electrical current is forced along a platinum wire too small to
+transmit the entire volume, it becomes at once heated&mdash;first to a red,
+and then to a white glow&mdash;and is thus made to send forth a radiance
+like that of the sun. Of the non-metallic elements which offer similar
+resistance, the best is carbon. The infusibility of this substance
+renders it greatly superior to platinum for purposes of the electric
+light.</p>
+
+<p>Near the beginning of the present century it was discovered by Sir
+Humphry Davy that carbon points may be rendered incandescent by means
+of a powerful electrical current. The discovery was fully developed in
+the year 1809, while the philosopher just referred to was
+experimenting with the great battery of the Royal Institution of
+London. He observed&mdash;rather by accident than by <span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span>design or previous
+anticipation&mdash;that a strong volume of electricity passing between two
+bits of wood charcoal produces tremendous heat, and a light like that
+of the sun. It appears, however, that Davy at first regarded the
+phenomenon rather in the nature of an interesting display of force
+than as a suggestion of the possibility of turning night into day.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly three-quarters of a century the discovery made by Sir
+Humphrey lay dormant among the great mass of scientific facts revealed
+in the laboratory. In the course of time, however, the nature of the
+new fact began to be apprehended. The electric lamp in many forms was
+proposed and tried. The scientists, Niardet, Wilde, Brush, Fuller, and
+many others of less note, busied themselves with the work of
+invention. Especially did Gramme and Siemens devote their scientific
+genius to the work of turning to good account the knowledge now fully
+possessed of the transformability of the electric current into light.</p>
+
+<p>The experiments of the last named two distinguished inventors brought
+us to the dawn of the new era in artificial lighting. The Russian
+philosopher, Jablokhkoff, carried the work still further by the
+practical introduction of the carbon candle. Other scientists&mdash;Carre,
+Foucault, Serrin, Rapieff, and Werdermann&mdash;had, at an earlier or later
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214"></a>[pg 214]</span>day, thrown much additional information into the common stock of
+knowledge relative to the illuminating possibilities of electricity.
+Finally, the accumulated materials of science fell into the hands of
+that untutored but remarkably radical inventor, Thomas A. Edison, who
+gave himself with the utmost zeal to the work of removing the
+remaining difficulties in the problem.</p>
+
+<p>Edison began his investigations in this line of invention in September
+of 1878, and in December of the following year gave to the public his
+first formal statement of results. After many experiments with
+platinum, he abandoned that material in favor of the carbon-arc <i>in
+vacuo</i>. The latter is, indeed, the essential feature of the Edison
+light. A small semicircle, or horseshoe, of some substance, such as a
+filament of bamboo reduced to the form of pure carbon, the two ends
+being attached to the poles of the generating-machine, or dynamo, as
+the engine is popularly called, is enclosed in a glass bulb, from
+which the air has been carefully drawn, and is rendered incandescent
+by the passage of an electric current. The other important features of
+Edison's discovery relate to the divisibility of the current, and its
+control and regulation in volume by the operator. These matters were
+fully mastered in the Edison invention, and the apparatus rendered as
+completely <span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span>subject to management as are the other varieties of
+illuminating agencies.</p>
+
+<p>It were vain to speculate upon the future of electric lighting. The
+question of artificial illumination has had much to do with the
+progress of the human race, particularly when aggregated into cities.
+Doubtless the old systems of lighting are destined in time to give
+place altogether to the splendors of the electric glow. The general
+effect of the change upon society must be as marked as it is salutary.
+Darkness, the enemy of good government and morality in great cities,
+will, in great measure, be dispelled by the beneficent agent, over
+which the genius of Davy, Gramme, Brush, Edison, and a host of other
+explorers in the new continents of science has so completely
+triumphed. The ease, happiness, comfort, and welfare of mankind must
+be vastly multiplied, and the future must be reminded, in the glow
+that dispels the night, of that splendid fact that the progress of
+civilization depends, in a large measure, upon a knowledge of Nature's
+laws, and the diffusion of that knowledge among the people.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE TELEPHONE.</h3>
+
+<p>Perhaps no other great invention of man has been within so short a
+period so widely distributed as the telephone. The use of the
+instrument is already co-extensive with civilization. The cost at
+which the instruments are furnished is still so considerable that the
+poor of the world are not able to avail themselves of the invention;
+but in the so-called upper circles of society the use of the telephone
+is virtually universal. It has made its way from the city to the town,
+from the town to the village, from the village to the hamlet, and even
+to the country-side where the millions dwell.</p>
+
+<p>The telephone came by a speedy revelation. It was born of that intense
+scientific activity which is the peculiarity of our age. The
+antecedent knowledge out of which it sprang had existed in various
+forms for a long time. The laws of acoustics were among the first to
+be investigated after a true physical science began to be taught. The
+phenomena of sound are so universal and experimentation in sound
+production so easy, that the governing laws were readily discovered.</p>
+
+<p>Acoustics, we think, foreran somewhat the science of heat, as the
+science of heat preceded that of light. Electricity came <span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span>last. The
+telephone is an instrument belonging not wholly, not chiefly, but only
+in part, to acoustics. It owes its existence to magnetic induction and
+electrical transmission as much as to the mere action of sound. One
+foot of the instrument, so to speak, is acoustics, and the other foot
+electricity. The telephone philosophically considered is an instrument
+for the conversion of a sound-wave into electrical motion, and its
+reconversion into sound at a distance. The sound is, as it were,
+committed to the electrical current and is thus sent to the end of the
+journey, and there discharged with its message. The possibility of
+this result lies first of all in the fact of electrical transmission
+by wire, and in the second place to the mounting of a sound-rider on
+the electrical saddle for an instantaneous journey with important
+despatches!</p>
+
+<p>New results in scientific progress generally seem marvelous. The
+unfamiliar and unexpected thing is always a marvel; but scientifically
+considered, the telephone does not seem so surprising as at first
+view. The atmosphere is a conductor of sound. It is the natural agent
+of transmission, and so far as the natural man is concerned, it is his
+only agent for the transmission of oral utterance. If the unlearned
+man have his attention called to the surprising fact of hearing his
+fellow-man call out to him across <span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span>a field or from far off on the
+prairie, he does not think it marvelous, but only natural. Yet how
+strange it is that one human being can speak to another through the
+intervening space!</p>
+
+<p>It is strange that one should see another at a distance; but seeing
+and hearing at distances are natural functions of living creatures.
+The sunlight is for one sense and the sound-wave is for the other. The
+sound-wave travels on the atmosphere, and preserves its integrity. A
+given sound is produced, and the same sound is heard by some ear at a
+distance. All the people of the world are telephoning to one another;
+for oral speech leaping from the vocal organs of one human being to
+the ear of another is always telephonic. It is only when this
+phenomenon of speech at a distance is taken from the soft wings of the
+air, confined to a wire, and made to fly along the slender thread and
+deliver itself afar in a manner to which the world has hitherto been a
+stranger that the thing done and the apparatus by which it is done
+seem miraculous. Indeed it is a miracle; for <i>miraculum</i> signifies
+wonderful.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the invention of the telephone is easily apprehended.
+The scientific principles on which it depends may be understood
+without difficulty. There is, however, about the instrument and its
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span>action something that is well nigh unbelievable. It is essentially a
+thing contrary to universal experience, if not positively
+inconceivable, that the slight phenomenon of the human voice should
+be, so to speak, <i>picked up</i> by a physical contrivance, carried a
+thousand miles through a thread of wire not a quarter of an inch in
+diameter, and delivered in its integrity to the sense of another
+waiting to receive it! At all events, the history of the telephone,
+belonging so distinctly to our own age, will stand as a reminder to
+after times of the great stride which the human race made in inventive
+skill and scientific progress in the last quarter of the nineteenth
+century.</p>
+
+<p>The telephone, like many similar instruments, was the work of several
+ingenious minds directed at nearly the same time to the same problem.
+The solution, however, must be accredited first of all to Elisha P.
+Gray, of Chicago, and Alexander Graham Bell, of the Massachusetts
+Institute of Technology. It should be mentioned, however, that Amos E.
+Dolbear, of Tufts College, Massachusetts, and Thomas A. Edison, of
+Menlo Park, New Jersey, likewise succeeded in solving the difficulty
+in the way of telephonic communication, and in answering practically
+several of the minor questions that hindered at first the complete
+success of the invention. The telephone is <span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220"></a>[pg 220]</span>an instrument for the
+reproduction of sounds, particularly the sounds of the human voice, by
+the agency of electrical conduction at long distances from the origin
+of the vocal disturbance. Or it may be defined as an instrument for
+the <i>transmission</i> of the sounds referred to by the agencies
+described. Indeed it were hard to say whether in a telephonic message
+we receive a <i>reproduced</i> sound or a <i>transmitted</i> sound. On the
+whole, it is more proper to speak of a reproduction of the original
+sound by transmission of the waves in which that sound is first
+written.</p>
+
+<p>It is now well known that the phenomenon called sound consists of a
+wave agitation communicated through the particles of some medium to
+the organ of hearing. Every particular sound has its own physical
+equivalent in the system of waves in which it is written. The only
+thing, therefore, that is necessary in order to carry a sound in its
+integrity to any distance, is to transmit its physical equivalent, and
+to redeliver that equivalent to some organ of hearing capable of
+receiving it.</p>
+
+<p>Upon these principles the telephone was produced&mdash;created. Every sound
+which falls by impact upon the sheet-iron disk of the instrument
+communicates thereto a sort of tremor. This tremor causes the disk to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span>approach and recede from the magnetic pole placed just behind the
+diaphragm. A current of electricity is thus induced, pulsates along
+the wire to the other end, and is delivered to the metallic disk of
+the second instrument, many miles away, just as it was produced in the
+first. The ear of the hearer receives from the second instrument the
+exact physical equivalent of the sound, or sounds, which were
+delivered against the disk of the first instrument, and thus the
+utterance is received at a distance just as it was given forth.</p>
+
+<p>As already said, the invention of the telephone stands chiefly to the
+credit of Professors Gray and Bell. It should be recorded that as
+early as 1837, the philosopher Page succeeded, by means of
+electro-magnetism, in transmitting <i>musical</i> tones to a distance. It
+was not, however, until 1877 that Professer Bell, in a public lecture
+given at Salem, Mass., astonished his audience, and the whole country
+as well, by receiving and transmitting <i>vocal</i> messages from Boston,
+twenty miles away. Incredulity had no more a place as it respected the
+feasibility of talking to persons at a distance. The experiments of
+Gray at Chicago, a few days later in the same month, were equally
+successful. Messages were distinctly delivered between that city and
+Milwaukee, a distance of eighty-five miles, nor could it be longer
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222"></a>[pg 222]</span>doubted that a new era in the means of communication had come.</p>
+
+<p>The Bell telephone, with its many modifications and improvements, has
+come into rapid use. Within reasonable limits of distance, the new
+method of transmitting intelligence by direct vocal utterance, has
+taken the place of all slower and less convenient means of
+intercommunication. The appearance of the simple instrument has been
+one of the many harbingers of the oncoming better time, when the
+interchange of thought and sentiment between man and man, community
+and community, nation and nation, and race and race shall be the
+preliminary of universal peace in the world and of the good-fellowship
+of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Every such fact as the invention of the telephone, produces a complex
+and almost indescribable result in human society. This result has in
+it, in the first place, a change in the manners and method of the
+individual There is also a change in his sentiments. He whose work in
+life, whatever it may be, is accomplished in touch with the telephone
+will realize that he is in touch with the whole world. This intimacy
+reaches, first, his neighbors and friends. He seems to live henceforth
+in their presence, and in communication with them.</p>
+
+<p>The isolation of the individual life is virtually obliterated by such
+an agency.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223"></a>[pg 223]</span> Solitude disappears before it; for he whose ear is within
+hearing of his instrument, knows not at what moment any one of many
+thousands of people may speak to him. He knows not at what moment
+intelligence of an ever-varying kind may be spoken to him from his own
+community or out of the depths of distance. The mind is thus
+affiliated with an enlarged and ever-present society. These
+considerations do not relate to mere matters of convenience and
+quickness and advantage and safety, but to the larger question of the
+aggregate effect upon the individual.</p>
+
+<p>The effect on the community is of like kind. The community is no
+longer so segregated as it was before. The community is in touch with
+other communities of like character. The conflagration in one town is
+felt in the neighboring towns, if it is not seen. The epidemic of the
+one is the epidemic of many. The sensation of the one community
+diffuses itself instantly into several. The effect is in the
+intellectual life like that of a wave produced on the lake by the
+casting in of a stone. The wave widens and recedes. It may be
+obstructed or unobstructed in its progress. If obstructed, the
+obstructions may be removed. Then the motion of the wave will become
+free and regular. So also on the tide of public thought. The telephone
+is an <span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id="page224"></a>[pg 224]</span>agency <i>for removing mental obstructions</i>, and for the regular
+diffusion of a common thought.</p>
+
+<p>All this, however, is attended with draw-backs. One of these is the
+breaking in on the privacy and seclusion of the individual life.
+Individuality suffers under scientific progress. Great thinking is
+accomplished best in solitude. Emerson has forcibly pointed out the
+advantages which arise in the intellectual life from its isolation and
+seclusion&mdash;from its free and uninterrupted communion with itself.</p>
+
+<p>The convenience&mdash;the physical convenience&mdash;of life is vastly augmented
+by such a contrivance as the telephone. Time is saved and trouble
+obviated. But at the same time the necessity for bodily exercise is
+reduced, and the overgrowth of brain at the expense of body
+encouraged. The fact is that the invention of the telephone and its
+general use, while it has added very greatly to the comfort of life,
+while it has promoted ease and diffused a social sense that needed
+stimulation and development, has at the same time brought in
+conditions that are not wholly favorable to human welfare. More
+largely still, the truth is that the telephone, like every other
+symbol and agency of progress, has brought <i>enlarged
+responsibilities.</i></p>
+
+<p>No man, no community, no people or <span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225"></a>[pg 225]</span>nation can gain an increase of
+power without accepting the accompanying increase of responsibility.
+The moral nature of man is thus involved. Every forward stride of
+scientific invention places upon the life of man, including his bodily
+activity, his mental moods and his spiritual and moral powers, an
+added stress of duty, of energy, and of rectitude in conduct from
+which he may not shrink if he would be the gainer rather than the
+loser. Each discovery and each improved method of employing the
+beneficent forces of the natural world, brings with it a strain upon
+the moral nature of man which, if he stand it, well; but if he stand
+it not, then it shall go ill with him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE MACHINE THAT "TALKS BACK."</h3>
+
+<p>The invention for making nature give an intelligent response may well
+be regarded with wondering interest. The odd, we might say humorous,
+feature of the invention is that nature, being as it were cornered and
+compelled to respond, will answer nothing except <i>to repeat what is
+said in her ear!</i> The phonograph may be defined as a mechanical
+parrot. Unlike the living bird, however, it never makes answers
+malapropos.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span> It never deviates from the original text. The distrust
+which has been justly cherished against the talking bird on account of
+his originality can never be reasonably directed against the
+phonograph!</p>
+
+<p>The possibility of writing sound has been recognized for a century
+past. Since the discovery of the vibratory character of sound, the
+physicist has seen the feasibility of recording the vibration. Nature
+herself has given many hints along this line of experimentation. Long
+ago it was seen that the writing sand sprinkled on the sounding board
+of the piano would under the influence of a chord struck from the keys
+arrange itself in geometrical figures. It was also seen that a discord
+sounded from the key-board would break the figures into chaos and
+confusion. Were not these phenomena sufficient to suggest that sound
+might be written in intelligible characters?</p>
+
+<p>The mind, however, moves slowly from the old to the new. The former
+concept of physical facts and the laws which govern them is not
+readily given up. A great discovery in physical science seems to
+disturb the foundations of nature. It does not really do so; the
+disturbance is not in nature, but in the mind. No endeavor of man, no
+advance of his from some old bivouac to a new camping-ground, affects
+in the least the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227"></a>[pg 227]</span>order of the world. The change, we repeat, is in the
+man, and in the race to which he belongs.</p>
+
+<p>Long and tedious has been the process of getting thought into a
+recorded form. The first method of expressing thought was oral. Long
+before any other method of holding ideas and delivering them to others
+was devised or imagined, speech came. Speech is oral. It is made of
+sound. Oral utterance is no doubt as old as the race itself. It began
+with the first coming of our kind into this sphere. Indeed we now know
+that the rudiments of speech exist in the faculties of the lower
+animals. The studies of Professor Garner have shown conclusively that
+the humble simian folk of the African forest have a speech or
+language. Of this the professor himself has become a student, and he
+claims to have learned at least sixty words of the vocabulary!</p>
+
+<p>Strange it is to note the course which linguistic development has
+taken. At the first, there was a <i>spoken</i> language only. The next
+stage was to get this spoken language recorded, not in <i>audible</i>, but
+in <i>visible</i> symbols. Why should it have been so easy and apparently
+natural for the old races to invent a visible form of speech-writing
+rather than an audible form? Why should the ancients have fallen back
+on the eye rather than the ear as the sense to be instructed? Why
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228"></a>[pg 228]</span>should sight-writing have been invented thousands of years ago, and
+sound-writing postponed until the present day?</p>
+
+<p>In any event, such has been the history of recorded language. The
+early races began as the mother begins with her children; that is,
+with oral speech. But at a certain stage this method was abandoned,
+and teachers came with pictorial symbols of words. They invented
+visible characters to signify words, syllables, sounds. Thus came
+alphabetical writing, syllabic writing, verbal writing, into the
+world. Ever afterward the children of men learned speech first from
+their parents, by oral utterance; but afterward by means of the
+pictorial signs in which human language was recorded.</p>
+
+<p>This method became habitual. The eye was made to be the servant of the
+intellect in learning nearly all that was to be gained from the wisdom
+of the past. It was by the tedious way of crooked marks signifying
+words that ideas were henceforth gleaned out of human lore by all who
+would learn aught from the recorded wisdom of mankind. And yet there
+never was anything essentially absurd or insurmountable in the
+invention of a method of recording speech in audible instead of
+visible symbols.</p>
+
+<p>The phonograph came swiftly after the telephone. The new instrument is
+in a sense the complement of its predecessor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229"></a>[pg 229]</span> Both inventions are
+based upon the same principle in science. The discovery that every
+sound has its physical equivalent in a wave or agitation which affects
+the particles of matter composing the material through which the sound
+is transmitted led almost inevitably to the other discovery of
+<i>catching</i> and <i>retaining</i> that physical equivalent or wave in the
+surface of some body, and to the reproduction of the original sound
+therefrom.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the fundamental principle of the interesting but, thus far,
+little useful instrument known as the phonograph. The same was
+invented by Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, in the year 1877. The
+instrument differs considerably in structure and purpose from the
+<i>Vibrograph</i> and <i>Phonautograph</i> which preceded it. The latter two
+instruments were made simply to <i>write</i> sound vibrations; the former,
+to reproduce <i>audibly</i> the sounds themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The phonograph consists of three principal parts,&mdash;the sender or
+funnel-shaped tube, with its open mouth-piece standing toward the
+operator; the diaphragm and stylus connected therewith, which receives
+the sound spoken into the tube; and thirdly, the revolving cylinder,
+with its sheet-coating of tin-foil laid over the surface of a spiral
+groove to receive the indentations of the point of the stylus. The
+mode of operation <span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span>is very simple. The cylinder is revolved; and the
+point of the stylus, when there is no sound agitation in the funnel or
+mouth-piece, makes a smooth, continuous depression in the tin-foil
+over the spiral groove. But when any sound is thrown into the
+mouth-piece the iron disk or diaphragm is agitated; this agitation is
+carried through the stylus and written in irregular marks, dots, and
+peculiar figures in the tin-foil over the groove.</p>
+
+<p>When the utterance which is to be reproduced has been completed, the
+instrument is stopped, the stylus thrown back from the groove, and the
+cylinder revolved backward to the place of starting. The stylus is
+then returned to its place in the groove, and the cylinder is revolved
+forward at the same rate of rapidity as before. As the point of the
+stylus plays up and down in the indentations and through the figures
+in the tin-foil, produced by its own previous agitation, a quiver
+exactly equivalent to that which was produced by the utterance in the
+mouth-piece is thrown into the air. This agitation is of course the
+exact physical equivalent of the original sound, or, more properly,
+<i>is</i> the sound itself. Thus it is that the phonograph is made to talk,
+to sing, to cry; to utter, in short, any sound sufficiently powerful
+to produce a perceptible tremor in the mouth-piece and diaphragm of
+the instrument.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231"></a>[pg 231]</span></p>
+
+<p>Much progress has been made toward the utilization of the phonograph
+as a practical addition to the civilizing apparatus of our time. It
+may be said, indeed, that all the difficulties in the way of such a
+result have been removed. Mr. Edison has carried forward his work to
+such a degree of perfection that the instrument may be practically
+employed in correspondence and literary composition. The problem has
+been to <i>stereotype</i>, so to speak, the tin-foil record of what has
+been uttered in the mouth-piece, and thus to preserve in a permanent
+form the potency of vanished sounds. Nor does it require a great
+stretch of the imagination to see in the invention of the phonograph
+one of the greatest achievements of the age&mdash;a discovery, indeed,
+which may possibly revolutionize the whole method of learning.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem clear that nature has intended the <i>ear</i>, rather than
+the eye, to be the organ of education. It is manifestly against the
+fitness of things that the eyes of all mankind should be strained,
+weakened, permanently injured in childhood, with the unnatural tasks
+which are imposed upon the delicate organ. It would seem to be more in
+accordance with the nature and capacities of man, and the general
+character of the external world, to reserve the eye for the
+discernment and appreciation of beauty, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id="page232"></a>[pg 232]</span>and to impose upon the ear
+the tedious and hard tasks of education.</p>
+
+<p>The phonograph makes it possible to read by the ear instead of by the
+eye, and it is not beyond the range of probability that the book of
+the future, near or remote, will be written in phonographic plates and
+made to reveal its story directly to the waiting ear, rather than
+through the secondary medium of print to the enfeebled and tired eye
+of the reader.</p>
+
+<p>We hardly venture on prophecy; but we think that he who returns to
+this scene of human activity at the close of the twentieth century
+will find that sound has been substituted for sight in nearly
+everything that relates to recorded information, to learning, and to
+educational work. By that means the organ of hearing will be restored
+to its rightful office. Enlightenment and instruction of all kinds
+will be given by means of phonographic books. The sound-wave will, in
+a word, be substituted for the light-wave as the vehicle of all our
+best information and intercourse. The ear will have habitually taken
+the place of the eye in the principal offices of interest and
+information.</p>
+
+<p>The unnatural method of the book&mdash;the visible book instead of the
+audible book&mdash;will then be done away. Nature, who instructs the child
+by sound, will continue to teach the man in the same manner. All
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span>mothers, from the mother bird to the mother woman, begin the teaching
+of their offspring by sound, by utterance. The mother bird continues
+in this manner; but the mother woman is presently supplanted by a
+teacher who comes in with a printed book filled with crooked marks,
+and would have it that learning must be <i>thus</i> acquired. Instead of
+continuing the natural process of instruction to the complete
+development and information of the mind, an abnormal method has been
+adopted by mankind with many hurtful consequences.</p>
+
+<p>The youth at a certain age is led into the world of science, and there
+dismissed from the mother-method, to acquire, if he can, the painful
+and tedious use of meaningless hieroglyphics. There he must study with
+the eye, learning as best he may the significance of the crooked signs
+which can at the most signify no more than words. How much of human
+energy and life and thought have been thus wasted in the instruction
+of the mind by characters and symbols. The eyes of mankind have, as we
+said, been dimmed and shadowed, and at the same time the faculties
+have been overheated and the equipose of perception and memory
+seriously disturbed by this unnatural process of learning.</p>
+
+<p>Human beings begin the acquirement of knowledge with words, and they
+end with words; but an unnatural civilization has <span class="pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>[pg 234]</span>taught man to walk
+the greater part of his intellectual journey by means of arbitrary
+systems of writing and printing. When the next Columbian Year arrives
+we shall see him untaught (a hard thing withal) and retaught on
+nature's plan of learning. Nature teaches language by sound only.
+Artificiality writes a scrawl. Nature's book is a book of words. Man's
+book is as yet a book of signs and symbols. Nature's book utters
+itself to the ear, and man's book blinds the eyes and overheats the
+imagination. Nature's method is to teach by the ear, and to reserve
+the sight for the discovery and enjoyment of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>The sound-book in some form is coming; and with that the intellectual
+repose of mankind will begin to be restored. The use of the eye for
+the offices of education instead of the stronger ear, has, we think,
+impaired, if it has not destroyed, the equilibrium of the human mind.
+That equilibrium must be restored. The mental diseases and unrest of
+our race are largely attributable to the over-excitement of the
+faculties through ages of too much seeing.</p>
+
+<p>The Age of Hearing is, we think, to be ushered in with the twentieth
+century. The coming of that age will tend to restore the mental
+balance of mankind. Memory, now almost obliterated, will come again.
+The over-heated perceptions will cool. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span>imagination will become
+calm, and the eye itself will recover, we hope, from the injuries, of
+overstrain, and will regain its power and lustre. Man will see once
+more as the eagle sees, and will learn Shakespeare by heart. He will
+remember all knowledge, and will again be able to see, as of old, from
+Sicily to Carthage!</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE EVOLUTION OF THE DYNAMO.</h3>
+
+<p class="author">BY PROFESSOR JOSEPH P. NAYLOR, A.M.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to estimate the influence in modifying and shaping the
+nineteenth century civilization that has resulted from the discovery
+of the dynamo and the production of heavy currents of electricity.
+That it has had great influence is evident without question. The arc
+light for out-of-doors lighting and the incandescent lamp for inside
+has modified all our previous ideas of illumination. Effects in light
+are now produced daily that were beyond imagination twenty years
+since. The trolley and the electromoter have largely solved the
+problem of rapid transit through our crowded cities. Thus larger
+business facilities, suburban homes and cheaper living, cleanliness
+and better sanitary conditions are electrical results.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span></p>
+
+<p>The transmission of energy by the electric current from a central
+plant makes possible many small industries that could not exist
+without it, and gives employment and happiness to hundreds. The art of
+Electro-metallurgy seems but the development of months: yet it already
+employs millions of capital and is adding thousands daily to the
+world's wealth. Steam and wind and tide contribute to the work. Even
+Niagara is being touched by the spirit of the time and sends her
+wasting energy thrilling through the electric wires to turn the wheels
+of many busy factories. It is perhaps not the least remarkable fact in
+connection with this work that it is largely the product of the last
+thirty years, and that it had its very beginning less than seventy
+years since. Edison and Thompson and Brush are honorable household
+names; yet they are still living to produce even greater electric
+marvels. In fact, so rapid and brilliant has been the development that
+in the brilliancy some of the pioneers in the work have been almost
+forgotten, except by the specialist and the student, and it is no
+small part of this sketch to do them honor. The tiny spark of Faraday
+may be lost in the brilliancy of the million-candle-power
+search-light, yet the brilliancy of the search-light but enhances the
+wonder of the discovery of the spark.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237"></a>[pg 237]</span></p>
+
+<p>The discovery of electro-magnetic induction marked the beginning of a
+new era; for in it lay all the possibilities of the future of
+electrical science. Michael Faraday, the third son of a poor English
+blacksmith, was born at Newington, Surrey, England, September 3, 1791.
+His father's health was never the best, and due to the resulting
+straitened circumstances his early education consisted of the merest
+rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. His early life was, no
+doubt, largely spent in the street; but at thirteen he became errand
+boy to a book-seller of London. About a year later he was apprenticed
+to a book binder, with whom he served seven years, learning the trade.</p>
+
+<p>It was while an apprentice that Faraday began reading scientific
+articles on chemistry and physics in the books he was set to bind. He
+also tried to repeat the experiments of which he read. And more, he
+pondered over them long and earnestly, until he saw clearly the
+principles involved in them. It was in these early days of
+experimenting and self-education that the desire to become a
+philosopher was implanted in his mind. He embraced every chance for
+scientific study and caught every opportunity for intellectual
+self-improvement. In the last year of his apprenticeship he was
+enabled through the kindness of a customer at his master's shop, to
+attend a course of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238"></a>[pg 238]</span>four lectures on chemistry, given by Sir Humphry
+Davy at the Royal Institution. This marked the turning point in his
+life. He made careful notes of the lecture, and afterward transcribed
+them neatly into a book and illustrated them with drawings of the
+apparatus used.</p>
+
+<p>After completing his apprenticeship, Faraday began life as a
+journeyman bookbinder. He had, however, as he says, "no taste for
+trade." His love of science became a consuming desire that he sought
+in every way to gratify. Inspired by his longing for scientific
+pursuits, he sent his lecture notes to Sir Humphry Davy, with the
+request that if opportunity offered he would give him employment at
+the Royal Institution. Davy was favorably impressed with the lecture
+report, and sent a kindly reply to the young philosopher. Shortly
+after this a vacancy did happen to occur at the Institution, and upon
+the recommendation of Davy, Faraday was elected to the place. Thus, in
+1813, in the humble capacity of an assistant charged with the simple
+duty of dusting and caring for the apparatus, Michael Faraday began
+the life that was destined to make him the first scientist of the
+world and to bring honor to the Institution which had given him his
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>There is inspiration and encouragement to be found in reading the
+story of Faraday's <span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239"></a>[pg 239]</span>success. He has been called a genius; but his
+genius seems to have largely consisted in persistent industry and the
+habit acquired in those early days of thinking over his experiments
+and reading until he had a clear perception of all there was in them.
+He lived in his work, and loved it. In the fifty busy years that
+followed his installment at the Royal Institution he digged deep into
+nature's secrets, and gave the world many brilliant gems as evidence
+of his industry. But of all his discoveries, <i>electro-magnetic
+induction</i> is the crowning masterpiece and that for which the world
+stands most his debtor.</p>
+
+<p>The principle of conservation of energy, now so well known and
+universally accepted, was then but a vague guess in the minds of the
+more advanced in science. Faraday was among the first to accept the
+new doctrine, and many of his brilliant discoveries were made in his
+effort to prove the truth of these important generalizations. He was
+acquainted with Sturgeon's method of making magnets by sending a
+current of electricity through a wire wound around a bar of iron; and
+he reasoned, if electricity will make a magnet, a magnet ought to make
+electricity. As early as 1821 his note book contains this suggestion:
+"Convert magnetism into electricity." Again and again he attacked the
+problem; but it was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>[pg 240]</span>not until the autumn of 1831 that his efforts to
+solve it were successful. Then in a series of experiments that have
+scarcely ever been equaled in brilliancy and originality, he gave to
+the world the principle on which is based the wonderful development of
+modern electrical science.</p>
+
+<p>The principle is briefly stated. The space, around a wire carrying an
+electric current, or in the neighborhood of a magnet, has a directive
+effect upon a magnetic needle, and is hence called a magnetic field.
+Now if a conductor, or coil of wire, be placed in the field across the
+direction of a magnetic needle, and the field be varied either by
+varying the current or moving the magnet, a current will be developed
+in the conductor. It is impossible at this distance to appreciate the
+interest excited by the announcement of this principle, not only among
+scientists, but also among inventors and those who saw practical
+possibilities for the future; and probably no one more fully
+appreciated its value than Faraday himself. Yet he made no effort to
+develop it further, or even to protect his interest by a patent, as is
+common in these days. He was eminently a scientist, and this was his
+free gift to the world. He said: "I have rather been desirous of
+discovering new facts and relations than of exalting those already
+obtained, being assured the latter would find their full development
+hereafter."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id="page241"></a>[pg 241]</span></p>
+
+<p>Among the first to attempt successfully to exalt the new discovery was
+Pixii, an instrument maker of Paris, in 1832. He wound two coils of
+very fine insulated wire upon the ends of a piece of soft iron, bent
+in a horseshoe form. A permanent horseshoe magnet was then placed with
+poles very close to the ends of the iron in the coils. The field so
+produced was then rapidly varied by revolving the magnet on an axis
+parallel to its length. The soft iron cores of the coils became
+strongly magnetized as the poles of the revolving magnet came opposite
+to them; and their polarity was reversed at each half-revolution of
+the magnet. By this plan currents of considerable intensity and
+alternating in direction at each revolution were induced in the coil.</p>
+
+<p>The ends of the coil were next connected to the external circuit
+through a "commutator." This is a device which is arranged to convert
+the alternating current of the coils into a current of one direction
+in the external circuit, and which in some form is found on all
+direct-current dynamos. Joseph Saxton, an American, improved upon
+Pixii's machine by rotating the coils, or armature as it is called,
+and making the heavier magnet stationary. The essential points of
+construction being worked out, improvements followed rapidly. Dr.
+Werner Siemans, of Berlin, introduced an important <span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span>modification by
+making the revolving armature of a cylinder of soft iron, having a
+groove cut throughout its length on opposite sides. In these grooves a
+wire was wound and the armature was rotated on its axis between the
+poles of several magnets.</p>
+
+<p>In all the earlier machines permanent magnets of steel were used. The
+next important step was to use electro-magnets of soft iron, excited
+by a current flowing through many turns of wire wound around the legs
+of the magnet. These could be made much more strongly magnetic than
+the permanent magnets. The exciting current was at first obtained from
+a small permanent magneto machine; but it was afterward found that the
+machine could be made self-exciting. Soft-iron electro-magnets, after
+being once magnetized, remain slightly magnetic. This will produce a
+weak current in the revolving armature which is turned into the magnet
+coils. The magnets are thus further magnetized, and again react upon
+the armature with greater intensity. In this way a <i>strong</i> current is
+rapidly built up, and after wholly or in part passing around the
+magnet coils to sustain its magnetism, can be carried out into the
+circuit to serve the great variety of purposes to which it is now put.</p>
+
+<p>The essential points in the evolution of the dynamo can here be
+sketched only in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243"></a>[pg 243]</span>broadest outline. Even to catalogue in detail, the
+improvements of Edison and Brush, Gramme and Wheatstone, and a host of
+others who have contributed to the work, would require a volume. One
+fact, however, should ever be kept in mind: Whatever may be the extent
+of the superstructure of electrical science, it is all built upon the
+foundation of electro-magnetic induction laid by Michael Faraday. The
+little "magnetic spark" he first produced, and the trembling of his
+galvanometer-needle, were but signals of the birth of the giant of the
+century.</p>
+
+<p>These are the days of electricity and steel, and a fitting part of the
+intense age in which they exist. That we have as yet seen but a
+partial development of the possibilities of the electrical discovery,
+no one can doubt. The rush of the trolley car, and the blinding flash
+of the electric light, are but challenges thrown out to the future for
+even greater achievements. That they will come no one will question;
+but where is the daring prophet who will hazard a guess as to what
+they will be?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244"></a>[pg 244]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE UNKNOWN RAY AND ENTOGRAPHY.</h3>
+
+<p>It is difficult to name the unknown. In the ancient world all the
+unknown was included in the idea of God. It remained for the
+evangelist to declare that God is a <i>spirit</i>&mdash;thus separating the
+natural forces of the material world from the Supreme Power who is
+from eternity.</p>
+
+<p>This century has been the epoch of investigation into the nature of
+the imponderable forces. Sound and light and heat have been known as
+the principal agents of sensation since the first ages of man-life on
+the earth; but their nature has not been well understood until within
+the memories of men still living. Electricity was also vaguely
+known&mdash;but very indistinctly&mdash;from ancient times. It has remained for
+the scientific investigators of our age to enter into the secret parts
+of nature and lay bare to the understanding many of the hitherto
+unknown facts relating to the imponderable agents.</p>
+
+<p>The laws of heat, of acoustics, of light, have been clearly arranged
+and taught; but they have not been placed beyond the reach of new
+interpretation and possibly not beyond the reach of complete
+revolution and reconstruction. That which has been accepted <span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span>as
+definitely known with regard to these agents has now to be reviewed,
+and possibly to be learned over again from first principles.</p>
+
+<p>As to electricity in its various forms and manifestations, that
+sublime and powerful agent began to be better known just before the
+middle of the century. Since that time there has been almost constant
+progress in the science of this great force, until at the present time
+it is handled, controlled and understood in its phenomena almost as
+easily as water is poured into a vessel, air compressed under a
+piston, or hydrogen made to inflate a balloon.</p>
+
+<p>It has remained, however, for the last half decade of the great
+century to come upon and investigate a hitherto unknown force in
+nature. Certain it is that the new force exists, that it is
+everywhere, that it is a part of the profound agency by which life is
+administered, that its control is possible, and that its probable
+applications are as wonderful&mdash;perhaps more wonderful&mdash;than anything
+ever hitherto discovered by scientific investigation.</p>
+
+<p>It is not unlikely that since the day, or evening, on which Galileo,
+with his little extemporized telescope, out in the garden of the
+Quirinal, at Rome, compelled bigotry to behold the shining horns of
+the crescent Venus, thus opening as if by compulsion <span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>[pg 246]</span>the sublime
+vista of the heavens and bringing in a new concept of the planetary
+and stellar worlds,&mdash;no such other discovery as that of the so-called
+R&ouml;ntgen rays has been made. The results which seem likely to flow from
+this marvelous revelation surpass the human imagination. Let us try in
+a few words to realize the discovery, and define what it is.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the eighth of November, 1895, that Dr. William Konrad
+R&ouml;ntgen, of W&uuml;rzburg, made the discovery which seems likely to
+contribute so much to our knowledge of the mysterious processes of
+nature. On that day Dr. R&ouml;ntgen was working with a Crookes tube in his
+laboratory. This piece of apparatus is well known to students and
+partly known to general readers. It consists of a glass cylinder,
+elongated into tubular form, and hermetically closed at the ends. When
+the tube is made, the air is exhausted as nearly as possible from it,
+and the ends are sealed over a vacuum as perfect as science is able to
+produce. Through the two ends, bits of platinum wire are passed at the
+time of sealing, so that they project a little within and without. The
+interior of the tube is thus a vacuum into which at the two ends
+platinum wires extend. Electrical communication with outside apparatus
+is thus supplied.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span></p>
+
+<p>It has long been known that on the discharge of an electrical current
+into this kind of vacuum peculiar and interesting phenomena are
+produced. The platinum wires at the two ends are connected with the
+positive and negative wires or terminals of an induction coil. When
+this is done, the electrical current discharged into the vacuum seems
+to flash out around the inner surfaces of the tube, in the form of
+light. There are brilliant coruscations from one end to the other of
+the tube. The tips of the platinum wire constituting the inner poles
+glow and seem to flame. That pole which is connected with the positive
+side of the battery is called the <i>anode</i>, or <i>upper</i> pole, and that
+which is connected with the negative, or receptive, side of the
+battery, is called the <i>cathode</i>, or lower pole. It was in his
+experimentation with this apparatus, and in particular in noticing the
+results at the cathode or lower end of the tube, that Professor
+R&ouml;ntgen made his famous discovery. It was for this reason that the
+name of "cathode rays" has been given to the new radiant force; but
+Dr. R&ouml;ntgen himself called the phenomena the X, or unknown, rays.</p>
+
+<p>In the experimentation referred to, R&ouml;ntgen had covered the glass tube
+at the end with a shield of black cardboard. This rendered the glow at
+the cathode pole <span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" id="page248"></a>[pg 248]</span>completely invisible. It chanced that a piece of
+paper treated with platino-barium cyanide for photographic uses was on
+a bench near by. Notwithstanding the fact that the tube was covered
+with an opaque shield, so that no <i>light</i> could be transmitted,
+Professor R&ouml;ntgen noticed that changes in the barium paper were taking
+place, <i>as though</i> it were exposed to the action of light! Black lines
+appeared on the paper, showing that the surface was undergoing
+chemical change from the action of some invisible and hitherto unknown
+force!</p>
+
+<p>This was the moment of discovery. The philosopher began experimenting.
+He repeated what had been accidentally done and was immediately
+convinced that a force, or, as it were, invisible rays were streaming
+from the cathode pole of the tube through the glass, and through a
+substance absolutely opaque, and that these rays were performing their
+work at a distance on the surface of paper that was ordinarily
+sensitive only to the action of light.</p>
+
+<p>Certain it was that <i>something</i> was doing this work. Certain it was
+that it was <i>not light</i>. Highly probable it was that it was not any
+form of <i>electricity</i>, for glass is impermeable to the electrical
+current. Certain it was that it was <i>not sound</i>, for there was no
+noise or atmospheric agitation to produce such a result. In a word, it
+was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span>demonstrated then and there that a hitherto unknown, subtle and
+powerful agent had been discovered, the applications of which might be
+of almost infinite range and interest.</p>
+
+<p>Professor R&ouml;ntgen soon announced his discovery to the Physico-Medical
+Society of W&uuml;rzburg. It was at the December meeting of this body that
+the new stage in human progress was declared. The news was soon
+flashed all over the world, and scientific men in every civilized
+country began at once to experiment with the cathode light&mdash;if light
+that might be called that lighted nothing.</p>
+
+<p>In R&ouml;ntgen's announcement he stated that there had been by the
+scientists Hertz and Lenard, in 1894, certain antecedent discoveries
+from which his own might in some sense be deduced. There was, however,
+a great difference between the discovery made by R&ouml;ntgen and anything
+that had preceded it. His stage of progress in knowledge was this,
+that during the discharge of <i>one</i> kind of rays of force from the
+cathode pole in a Crookes tube <i>another kind</i> of rays are set free,
+which differ totally in their nature and effects from anything
+hitherto known. It is this fact which has indissolubly connected the
+name of Konrad R&ouml;ntgen with that great bound in scientific knowledge
+which seems likely to modify nearly all the other scientific knowledge
+of mankind.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" id="page250"></a>[pg 250]</span></p>
+
+<p>Everywhere, in the first months of 1896, the experimenters went to
+work to verify and apply the discovery of the German philosopher. It
+was at once discerned that the new force, since it would freely
+traverse opaque bodies and produce afterward chemical changes on
+sensitized surfaces similar to those ordinarily produced <i>by</i> light,
+might be used for delineating (we can hardly say <i>photo</i> graphing) the
+interior outlines and structure of opaque bodies!</p>
+
+<p>On this line of experimentation the work at once began, and with
+remarkable success. R&ouml;ntgen himself was the first man in the world to
+obtain, as <i>if</i> by photography, the invisible outline of objects
+through opaque materials. He soon obtained a delineation of the bones
+of a living hand through the flesh, which was only dimly traced in the
+resulting picture. In like manner coins were delineated through the
+leather of pocketbooks. Other objects were pictured through
+intervening plates of metal or boards of wood. The possibility of
+discovering the visible character of invisible things, and even <i>of
+seeing directly through</i> opaque materials into parts where neither
+light nor electricity can penetrate, was fully shown.</p>
+
+<p>The work of picture taking in the interior of bodies and through
+opaque materials was quickly taken up by philosophers in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251"></a>[pg 251]</span> England,
+France and the United States. Almost everywhere the physical
+laboratories witnessed daily this form of experimentation. Swinton, of
+London; Robb, of Trinity College, Dublin; Morton, of New York; Wright,
+of Yale University, and in particular Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park,
+attacked the new problem with scientific zeal, and with startling
+results. It remained for Edison to discover that the new force acted
+in some respects in the manner of <i>sound</i> rather than in the manner of
+<i>light</i>. Thus, for example, he showed that the invisible rays not only
+<i>pass through</i> substances that are opaque to light and non-conductors
+of electricity, but that the invisible rays <i>run around the edges and
+sides</i> of plates, then proceeding on their way somewhat in the manner
+of sound. A sound made on one side of a metallic plate is heard on the
+other side <i>partly</i> by transmission through the plate, and <i>partly</i> by
+going around the edges, by atmospheric transmission. The new force
+rays act in this manner, and Edison is said to have procured pictures
+by means of the invisible agent while it was <i>going around the corner
+</i> of an opaque obstruction!</p>
+
+<p>The pre-eminence of Thomas A. Edison as a scientific explorer and
+inventor depends upon a quality of mind which enables him more easily
+than others&mdash;more distinctly than any others&mdash;to see the touch of each
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252"></a>[pg 252]</span>new discovery with existing conditions, and the application of it to
+the problems of life. Edison catches the premonitory spark struck in
+the darkness by some other master's hammer, and with that kindles a
+conflagration. Though not the discoverer of the R&ouml;ntgen ray, he was
+able, as it would appear, to understand that discovery better even
+than the discoverer. He almost immediately applied the new increment
+of knowledge more successfully, we think, than any contemporary
+scientist. His experimentation led him directly to the discovery of
+the important fact that no photographic apparatus of any kind is
+needed to enable an observer to use the X-rays in the delineation or
+inspection of objects through opaque substances. He said within
+himself: "Why not pass the X-rays through the object to be inspected
+and then convert them into visibility, as if by fluorescence."</p>
+
+<p>This scientific question Edison almost immediately solved.
+Fluorescence is a property which some transparent bodies have of
+producing, either on their surface or within their substance, light
+different in color from that of its origin. This happens, for example,
+when <i>green</i> crystals of fluor spar afford <i>blue</i> reflections of
+light. Glass may be rendered fluorescent, as is seen in the Geisler
+and Crookes tubes. Edison conceived the project of using this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span>phenomenon to get back the invisible rays into visibility.</p>
+
+<p>The substance which he employed was the tungstate of calcium. Taking
+crystals of this chemical compound, he spread the same over a cloth or
+paper screen, and used that screen to catch and convert the invisible
+images carried against it by the X-rays. To his surprise, his
+experiment was completely successful. All that is needed in this case
+is the cathode light, the object to be examined (as for instance the
+hand), and the screen treated with tungstate of calcium. The observer
+looks through the screen, or into it, and sees <i>with the unaided eye</i>
+the invisible interior parts of the object examined, held between the
+screen and the cathode light. The invisible rays take the image of the
+interior parts of an opaque object, and carry that image to the
+screen, where it is reconverted into visibility and delivered to the
+eye of the observer, without the aid of any instrument at all! It is
+on this simple principle that Edison has invented his surgical and
+physiological lamp. The announcement is that with this lamp the
+surgeon may look through the calcium tungstate screen and examine, for
+example, the fractured bones of the hand, and set them perfectly by
+actual inspection of the parts with his eye!</p>
+
+<p>What then <i>is</i> the cathode ray? At the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" id="page254"></a>[pg 254]</span>present time its nature is not
+understood. That it is a form or mode of motion goes with the
+saying&mdash;unless it should be presently shown that all the imponderable
+forces are really <i>material</i> in their nature; that is, that they are
+an inconceivably fine and attenuated form of matter in varying
+manifestations.</p>
+
+<p>The cathode rays are not light. They are not sound. They are not
+electricity or magnetism. They are not heat. They are not any of the
+known forms of force. They seem to be a new transformation of some one
+or more of the known agents. It has long been observed that <i>motion</i>
+is accompanied with <i>sound</i>, and that motion also, if increased,
+becomes manifest in <i>heat</i>. It is known that heat is convertible into
+light, and light into electricity.</p>
+
+<p>It is possible that at the bottom of all these phenomena lies the
+force of gravitation. This force is absolute and universal. All the
+others are partial and limited. All the others, even the newly
+discovered cathode rays, are subject to obstruction by certain forms
+of matter; that is, to them certain forms of matter are opaque. But
+gravitation knows no opacity in the universe. No atom of matter is
+exempt from its sway. It streams through all obstructive media as
+though such media did not exist. It would appear that heat, light,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" id="page255"></a>[pg 255]</span>electricity, sound, the cathode rays, and all other forms of force in
+nature are probably variations, and as it were limited expressions and
+manifestations, of <i>the one supreme force</i> that supports the
+constitution of the physical universe; and that one supreme force is
+<i>gravitation</i>!</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256"></a>[pg 256]</span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2>Stages in Biological Inquiry.</h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>THE NEW INOCULATION.</h3>
+
+<p>Any account of the scientific progress of this century which omits the
+name of Louis Pasteur would be lamentably incomplete. In that part of
+science which relates strictly to human life and the means of
+preserving it, the work of this great man must be placed in the first
+rank. Indeed, we believe that no other stride in biological
+investigation from the beginning of time has been so great in its
+immediate and prospective results as has been the increment
+contributed by Pasteur and his contemporary Koch. The success of these
+two experimental philosophers grew out of the substitution of a new
+theory for one that had hitherto prevailed respecting some of the
+fundamental processes in living matter.</p>
+
+<p>Up to about the close of the third quarter of this century, the belief
+continued to prevail in the possibility of the propagation and
+production of germ life without other germ life to precede it. It was
+held that fermentation is not dependent upon living organisms, and
+that fermentation may be <span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span>excited in substances from which all living
+germs have been excluded. This belief led to the theory of
+<i>abiogenesis</i> so-called&mdash;a term signifying the production of life
+without life to begin with.</p>
+
+<p>The question involved in this theory was hotly debated by philosophers
+and scientists in the Sixties and Seventies. The first great work of
+Pasteur in biological investigation was his successful demonstration
+of the impossibility of spontaneous generation. About 1870, he became
+a careful experimenter with the phenomena of fermentation. As his work
+proceeded, he was more convinced that fermentation can never occur in
+the absence and exclusion of living germs; and this view of the
+deep-down processes in living matter has now been accepted as correct.</p>
+
+<p>The next stage in the work of Pasteur was the discovery that certain
+substances, such as glycerine, are products of fermentation. From this
+foundation firmly established he passed on to consider the phenomena
+of disease. He had been, in the first place, a teacher in a normal
+school at Paris. In 1863, when he was thirty-nine years of age, he was
+a professor of geology. Afterward he had a chair of chemistry at the
+Sorbonne. In 1856 we find him experimenting with light, and after that
+he turned to biological investigations. This led him to the results
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258"></a>[pg 258]</span>mentioned above, and presently to the discovery that the contagious
+and infectious diseases with which men and the lower animals are
+affected are in general the results of processes in the system that
+are nearly analagous to fermentation, and that such diseases are
+therefore traceable ultimately to the existence of living germs.</p>
+
+<p>This view of the case brought Pasteur to a large and general
+investigation of bacteria. The bacterium may be defined as a
+microscopic vegetable organism; or it may be called an <i>animal</i>
+organism; for in the deep-down life of germs there is not much
+difference between vegetable and animal&mdash;perhaps no difference at all.
+The bacterium is generally a jointed rod-like filament of living
+matter, and its native world seems to be any putrefying organic
+substance.</p>
+
+<p>Bacteria are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are widely
+diffused in the natural world, existing independently and also in a
+parasitical way, in connection with larger forms of organic life. They
+multiply with the greatest rapidity. On the whole, the bacterium
+fulfills its vital offices in two ways, or with two results; first,
+<i>fermentation</i>, and secondly, <i>disease</i>.</p>
+
+<p>To this field of inquiry Pasteur devoted himself with the greatest
+assiduity. He began to investigate the diseased tissue of animals, and
+was rewarded with the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span>discovery of the germs from which the disease
+had come. It was found that the bacteria of one disease are different
+from those of another disease, or in a word that the microscopic
+organisms which produce morbid conditions in animals are
+differentiated into genera and species and varieties, in the same
+manner as are the animals, birds and fishes, of the world. A new realm
+of life invisible save by the aid of the microscope, began to be
+explored, and practical results began to follow.</p>
+
+<p>Pasteur at length announced his ability to <i>produce</i> infectious
+diseases by inoculation; and of this his proofs and demonstrations,
+were complete. In the next place he announced his ability to
+<i>counteract</i> the ravages, of certain classes of diseases (those called
+zymotic) by inoculating the animal suffering therefrom with what he
+called an "attenuated" or "domesticated" virus of the given disease.</p>
+
+<p>The matter first came to a practical issue by the inoculation of well
+animals with the attenuated virus. The animals so treated became
+<i>immune</i>; that is, exempt from the infection of the given disease.
+Pasteur gave public demonstrations in the fields near Paris, using the
+disease called splenic fever, and sheep as the subjects of his
+experimentation. The whole civilized world was astonished with the
+results. The tests were <span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span>conducted in such a way as to preclude the
+possibility of error. It was shown, in a word, that by the simple
+process of inoculating well animals with the modified poison the
+infectious disease might be avoided.</p>
+
+<p>It were long to tell the story of the experimentation and discovery
+that now followed. The last quarter of the century has been fruitful
+in the greatest results. The bacilli of one disease after another have
+been discovered, and the means have been invented of defending the
+larger animal life from the ravages of microscopic organisms.</p>
+
+<p>But what is an "attenuated" virus? Pasteur and other scientists have
+shown that by the inoculation of suitable material, such as a piece of
+flesh, with the poison of a given disease, the bacteria on which that
+disease depends rapidly multiply and diffuse themselves through the
+substance. If poison be taken from the <i>first</i> body of infected
+material and carried to <i>another</i>, that other becomes infected; and
+from that the third; from the third the fourth, and so on to the tenth
+generation.</p>
+
+<p>It was noticed, however, that with each transference of the virus to a
+new organic body the bacilli were modified somewhat in form and
+activity. They became, so to speak, less savage. The bacterium which
+at the beginning had been for its savagery a wolf, became in the
+second body a cur; then a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span>hound; then a spaniel; and then a
+diminutive lapdog! The bacteria were thus said to be "domesticated;"
+for the process was similar to the domestication of wild animals into
+tame. The virus was said to be "attenuated;" that is, made thin or
+fine; that is, its poisonous and death-dealing quality, was so reduced
+as to make it comparatively innocuous.</p>
+
+<p>If after the process of attenuation was complete&mdash;if after the
+bacteria were once thoroughly domesticated and the poison produced by
+them be then introduced into a well subject, that subject would indeed
+become diseased, but so mildly diseased as scarcely to be diseased at
+all. In such a case the result was of a kind to be called in popular
+language a mere "touch" of the disease. In such case the severe
+ravages of the malady would be prevented; but the subject would be
+rendered incapable of taking the disease a second time.</p>
+
+<p>On this line of fact and theory Pasteur successfully pressed his work.
+One disease after another was investigated. It was demonstrated in the
+case of both the lower animals and men that a large number of maladies
+and plagues might be completely disarmed of their terrors by the
+process of inoculation. The name of Pasteur became more and more
+famous. The celebrated Pasteur Institute was founded at Paris, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span>under
+the patronage of the French Government, and in some sense under the
+patronage of the whole world. To this establishment diseased subjects
+were taken for treatment, and here experimentation was carried on over
+a wide range of facts.</p>
+
+<p>The value of the results attained can hardly be overestimated. The
+fear which mankind have long entertained on account of plagues and
+epidemics, and the loss which the animal industries of the world have
+sustained, were largely abated. As yet the use of the Pasteur methods
+for the prevention and cure of disease is by no means universal; but
+the knowledge which has come of his investigations and of the results
+of them has diffused itself among all civilized nations, and the
+hygienic condition of almost every community has been most favorably
+affected by the new knowledge which we possess of bacteria and of the
+means of destroying them.</p>
+
+<p>Pasteur, whose recent death has been mourned by the best part of
+mankind, was an explorer and forerunner. His industry in his chosen
+field of investigation was prodigious. When he was already nearly
+seventy years of age, he undertook the investigation of hydrophobia,
+with the purpose of discovering, if he might, the germ of that dreaded
+disease, thus preparing a method for inoculation against it.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span></p>
+
+<p>Hydrophobia is one of the most subtle diseases ever known. So obscure
+and uncertain are its phenomena that many able men have been led to
+doubt the <i>existence</i> of such a disease! The mythological origin of
+the malady in the supposed influence of a dog-star seemed to
+strengthen the view that hydrophobia, as a specific disease, does not
+exist. It is undeniably true that the great majority of the cases of
+so-called rabies are pure myths. Under investigation they melt away
+into nothing but alarm and fiction. However, there appeared to be a
+residue of actual hydrophobia, though the disease as tested by its
+name exists in fancy rather than fact.</p>
+
+<p>In any event, Pasteur began to investigate hydrophobia, and at length
+discovered the bacilli which produce it. At least he found in animals
+affected with rabies, notably in the spinal marrow of such animals,
+minute living organisms, having the form of thread-like animalcul&aelig;,
+with heads at one end. The microscope showed also among these
+thread-like bodies other organisms that were like small circular black
+specks, or disks.</p>
+
+<p>The next step in the work was to test the result by inoculating a well
+animal with these bodies. Pasteur selected rabbits for his
+experimentation. When the experiment was made, the inoculated rabbit
+was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span>presently attacked with the disease, and soon died in spasms. The
+repetition of the experiment was attended with like results.</p>
+
+<p>The philosopher next tried his established method of domesticating, or
+attenuating, the poison. The spinal cord of a rabid dog was obtained,
+and with this the first rabbit was inoculated. In about two weeks it
+took hydrophobia. Hereupon the spinal cord was extracted, and the
+second rabbit was inoculated; then the third; then the fourth, and so
+on. It was observed, however, that at each stage the intensity of the
+disease was in this way strangely increased; but the period of
+inoculation became shorter and shorter.</p>
+
+<p>It was next found that by preserving the spinal cords of the animals
+that had died of the disease&mdash;by preserving them in dry tubes&mdash;the
+poison gradually lost its power. At last the virus seemed to die
+altogether. Then the experiment of inoculating against the disease was
+begun. A dog was first inoculated with dead virus. No result followed.
+Then he was inoculated with stale virus, and then with other virus not
+so stale. It was found that by continuing this process the animal
+might be rendered wholly insusceptible to the disease.</p>
+
+<p>The next step was the human stage of experimentation. It was in July
+of 1885 that Pasteur first employed his method on <span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span>a human subject. A
+boy had been bitten and lacerated by a rabid dog. The inoculation was
+thought to prove successful. Soon afterward some bitten children were
+taken from the United States to Paris, and were treated against the
+expected appearance of hydrophobia. Others came from different parts
+of the continent. Within fourteen months more than two thousand five
+hundred subjects were treated, and it is claimed that the mortality
+from hydrophobia was reduced to a small per cent of what it had been
+before.</p>
+
+<p>It should be said, however, that neither have the results arrived at
+by Pasteur respecting the character of rabies been so clear, nor have
+his experiments on subjects supposed to be poisoned with the disease
+been so successful as in the case of other maladies. It remains,
+nevertheless, to award to Louis Pasteur <i>the first rank</i> among the
+bacteriologists of our day, as well as a first place among the
+philanthropists of the century. Only Robert Koch, of Germany, is to be
+classed in the same list with him.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>KOCH'S BATTLE WITH THE INVISIBLE ENEMY.</h3>
+
+<p>There was a great <i>negative</i> reason for the success of the World's
+Columbian Exposition. The cholera did <span class="smcap">not</span> come! It is quite
+true that there is no <i>if</i> in history; but <span class="smcap">if</span> the cholera had
+come, <span class="smcap">if</span> the plague had broken out in our imperial Chicago,
+what would have become of the Columbian Exposition? Certainly the Man
+of Genoa would have had to seek elsewhere for a great international
+gathering in his honor.</p>
+
+<p>The cholera did not arrive, although it was expected. The antecedent
+conditions of its coming were all present; but it came not. The
+American millions discerned that the dreaded plague was at bay; a
+feeling of security and confidence prevailed; the summer of 1893 went
+by, and not a single case of Asiatic cholera appeared west of the
+Alleghenies. We are not sure that a single case appeared on the
+mainland of North America. And why not?</p>
+
+<p>It was because the increasing knowledge of mankind, reinforced with
+philanthropy and courage, had drawn a line north and south across
+Western Europe, and had said, <i>Thus far and no farther</i>. Indeed, there
+were several lines drawn. The movement of cholera westward from the
+Orient began to be <span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span>obstructed even before it reached Germany. It was
+obstructed in Italy. It was obstructed seriously on the meridian of
+the Rhine. It was obstructed almost finally at the meridian of London.
+It was completely and gloriously obstructed at the harbor of New York.</p>
+
+<p>Civilization has never appeared to a better advantage than in the
+building of her defences against the westward invasion of cholera.
+There have been times within two decades of the present when in the
+countries east of the Red Sea 3000 people have died daily of the
+Asiatic plague. Egypt has been ravaged. The ports of the Mediterranean
+have been successfully invaded. Commerce, reckless of everything
+except her own interests, has taken the infection on shipboard, and
+sailed with it to foreign lands, as though it were a precious cargo!
+Importers, anxious for merchandise, have stood ready to receive the
+plague, and plant it without regard to consequences. But in the midst
+of all this, a new power has arisen in the world, and standing with
+face to the east, has drawn a sword, before the circle of which even
+the spectral shadow of cholera has quailed and gone back! Humanity
+might well break out in rhapsody and jubilee over this great victory.</p>
+
+<p>Among the personal agencies by which cholera has been excluded from
+Europe and America, first and greatest is Dr. Robert<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> Koch, of Berlin.
+He, more than any other one man, has contributed to the glorious
+exemption. Dr. Koch, now by the favor of his Emperor, Baron Koch, is
+one of those heroic spirits who go before the human race exploring the
+route, casting up a highway and gathering out the stones. Thus shall
+the feet of the oncoming millions be not bruised and their shouts of
+joy be not turned to lamentation.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Koch was born at Klausthal, in the Hartz mountains, on the
+eleventh of December, 1843. He is a German of the Germans. In his
+youth he was a student of medicine at G&ouml;ttingen, where at the age of
+twenty-three he took his first degree. He was by nature and from his
+boyhood a devotee of science. For about ten years he practiced his
+profession, but continued his studies with indefatigable zeal. The
+investigations of Pasteur had already filled Europe with applause when
+Koch, following on the same lines of scientific exploration, began to
+enlarge the borders of knowledge. He became a bacteriologist of the
+first rank. He began to investigate the causes and nature of
+contagion; but as late as 1876 his name was still unknown in the
+cyclop&aelig;dias.</p>
+
+<p>Koch was twenty-one years the junior of Pasteur; but his enthusiasm
+and genius now bore him rapidly to a fame as great as <span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span>that of his
+predecessor. His first remarkable achievement was a demonstration of
+the cause and cure of splenic fever in cattle. He showed, just as
+Pasteur had done in similar cases, that the plague in question was due
+to the specific poison of a bacterium, and that the disease might be
+cured by inoculation against it. This he proceeded to do, and the
+demonstration and good work brought him to the attention of the old
+Emperor. Dr. Koch was made a member of the Imperial Board of Health in
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>A greater discovery was already at the door. Dr. Koch began a careful
+investigation into the nature of consumption. His discovery of the
+germ of splenic fever, and that of chicken cholera, as well as the
+general results in this direction in other laboratories of Europe, led
+him to the conjecture that consumption also is a zymotic or bacterial
+disease. His inquiry into this subject began in 1879, and extended to
+March of 1882. On that day, in a paper before the Physiological
+Society of Berlin, he announced the discovery of the <i>tubercle
+bacillus</i>. He was able to demonstrate the existence of the germ of
+consumption, and to describe its methods of life, as well as the
+character of his ravages.</p>
+
+<p>Here then at last was laid bare the true origin of the most fatal
+disease which has ever afflicted mankind. He who has not <span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span>informed
+himself with respect to the almost universal prevalence of consumption
+among the nations of the earth, or taken note of the mortality from
+that dreaded enemy, by which nearly one-sixth of the human race sooner
+or later perishes, will not have realized the awful character of this
+enemy. To attack such a foe, to force him into a corner, even as
+Siegfried did the Grendel in his cavern, was an achievement of which
+the greatest of mankind might well be proud.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery of the bacillus of consumption by no means assured the
+cure of the disease; but it foretokened the time when a cure would be
+found. This prophecy, though it has not yet been clearly fulfilled,
+is, in the closing years of the century, in process of fulfillment.
+The enemy does not readily yield; but such has been the gain in the
+contest that already within the last twenty years the mortality from
+consumption of the lungs has fallen off more than forty per cent! Much
+of this gain has been made by the reviving confidence of human beings
+that sooner or later tuberculosis would be destroyed. Hygiene has done
+its part; and other circumstances have conduced to the same result.
+Though neither Dr. Koch nor any other man living has been able as yet
+positively to meet and vanquish consumption in open battle, yet the
+goblin has in a measure been robbed of his terrors. He is <span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span>no longer
+boastful and victorious over the human race.</p>
+
+<p>After the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, the fame of Robert Koch
+became world-wide. In the following year he was made a privy
+councilor, and was placed in charge of an expedition organized by the
+German government to go into Egypt and India for the investigation of
+the causes of Asiatic cholera. The expedition was engaged in this work
+for nearly a year. Koch pursued his usual careful method of scientific
+experimentation. He exposed himself to the contagion of cholera, but
+his science and fine constitution stood him well in hand, and he
+returned unharmed.</p>
+
+<p>It was in May of 1884 that he was able to announce the discovery of
+the <i>coma bacillus</i>, that is, the bacterium of cholera. Here, again he
+had the enemy at bay. For long ages the Asiatic plague had ravaged the
+countries of the East with little hindrance to its spread or fatality.
+The disease would appear as an epidemic at intervals and sweep all
+before it. The wave of death would roll on westward from country to
+country, until it would subside, as if by exhaustion, in the far west.
+Two or three times within the century cholera had been fatally
+scattered through American cities. It had spread westward along the
+rivers of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and into <span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" id="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span>country
+districts, where villages and hamlets were decimated.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery of Koch was a virtual proclamation that this ruin of
+mankind from the Asiatic plague should cease. The knowledge that the
+disease was due to a living bacterium, that without the germ and the
+spread of the germ the plague could not exist, was a virtual
+announcement that in the civilized countries it should <i>not</i> any
+longer exist.</p>
+
+<p>The discoverer was now set high in the estimation of mankind. Imperial
+Germany best of all countries rewards its benefactors. France is
+fascinated with adventure; Great Britain with slaughter; America with
+bare political battles; but Germany sees the true thing, and rewards
+it. Koch was immediately placed beyond want by his government, and
+titles and honors came without stint.</p>
+
+<p>The Empire would fain have such a man at the seat of power. Dr. Koch
+was, in 1885, made a professor in the University of Berlin. The new
+chair of Hygiene was created for him, and he was made Director of the
+Hygienic Institute. It was in this capacity that armed with influence
+and authority and having the resources of the government virtually at
+his disposal, he directed in the great scientific work by which a
+bulwark against cholera was drawn almost literally across Europe, and
+was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273"></a>[pg 273]</span>defended as if with the mounted soldiery of science and humanity.
+True enough, cholera managed to plant itself in Italy in 1886, and in
+Hamburg in 1892, and the plague was scattered into several German
+towns. But it came to Hamburg by water, not by land. It did there
+during the summer a dreadful work, but the battle was the Waterloo of
+the enemy. Not again while the present order continues will it be
+possible for the dreaded epidemic to get the mastery of a great German
+city.</p>
+
+<p>It was to be anticipated that Dr. Koch's discovery of the tubercle
+bacillus would lead him on to the discovery of a cure for
+tuberculosis. Very naturally his thought on this subject was borne in
+the direction of inoculation. That method had been used by Pasteur and
+by himself in the case of other infectious diseases. Why should it not
+be employed in consumption? If the "domestication," so-called, of the
+virus of splenic fever and the use of the modified poison as an
+antiseptic preventive of the disease was successful, as it had been
+proved to be, why should this not be done with the attenuated virus of
+consumption?</p>
+
+<p>The last five years of the ninth decade were spent by Dr. Koch in
+experimentation on this subject. He found that the tubercular poison
+might be treated in the same manner as the poison of other infectious<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274"></a>[pg 274]</span>
+diseases. He experimented with methods for domesticating the bacillus
+of consumption, and reached successful results. On the fourteenth of
+November, 1890, he published in a German medical magazine at Berlin a
+communication on a possible remedy for tuberculosis. He had prepared a
+sort of lymph suitable for hypodermic injection, and with this had
+experimented on a form of <i>external</i> tuberculosis called lupus. This
+disease is a consumption of the skin and adjacent tissues. It is a
+malady almost as dreadful as consumption of the lungs, but is by no
+means frequent in its occurrence. It is found only at rare intervals
+by the medical practitioner.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Koch had demonstrated that lupus is a true tuberculosis&mdash;that the
+germ which produces it is the same bacillus which produces consumption
+of the lungs. He accordingly directed his effort to cases of lupus,
+treating the patients with hypodermic injections which he had prepared
+from the modified form of the tubercular poison. He was successful in
+the treatment, and was able to announce, to the joy of the world, that
+he had discovered a cure for lupus; and the announcement went so far
+as to express a belief in the salutary character of the remedy in the
+treatment of consumption of the lungs.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Koch, however, with the usual caution <span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id="page275"></a>[pg 275]</span>of the true men of science,
+did not announce his tuberculin, or lymph, as a cure for pulmonary
+consumption. He did not even declare that it was positively a remedy
+for the other forms of tuberculosis, but did announce his cure of
+cases of lupus by the agent which he had prepared. The world, after
+its manner, leaped at conclusions, and the newspapers of two
+continents, in their usual office of disseminating ignorance,
+trumpeted Koch's discovery as the end of tubercular consumption.</p>
+
+<p>In January of 1891, Dr. Koch published to the world the composition of
+his remedy. It consists of a glycerine extract prepared by the
+cultivation of tubercle bacilli. The lymph contains, as it were, the
+poisonous matter resulting from the life and activity of the tubercle
+bacterium. The fluid is used by hypodermic injection, and when so
+administered produces both a general and local reaction. The system is
+powerfully affected. A sense of weariness comes on. The breathing is
+labored. Nausea ensues; and a fever supervenes which lasts for twelve
+or fifteen hours. It is now known that the action of the remedy is not
+directly against the tubercle bacilli, but rather against the affected
+tissue in which they exist. This tissue is destroyed and thrown off by
+the agency of the lymph; being destroyed, it is eliminated and cast
+out, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" id="page276"></a>[pg 276]</span>carrying with it the bacteria on which the disease depends.</p>
+
+<p>The results which have followed the administration of Koch's lymph for
+consumption of the lungs have not met the expectation of the public;
+but something has been accomplished. Ignorant enthusiasm has meanwhile
+subsided, and scientific men in both Europe and America are pressing
+the inquiry in a way which promises in due time the happiest results.</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3>ACHIEVEMENTS IN SURGERY.</h3>
+
+<p>It will not do to disparage the work of the ancients. The old world,
+long since fallen below the horizon of the past, had races of men and
+individuals who might well be compared with the greatest of to-day. In
+a general way, the ancients were great as thinkers and weak as
+scientists. They were great in the fine arts and weak in the practical
+arts. This is true of the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the
+Romans, even of the Aztecs and the Peruvians.</p>
+
+<p>The art work of these old peoples, whether in sculpture, painting or
+poetry, surpassed, if it did not eclipse, corresponding periods of
+modern times. In some of the practical arts the old races were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277"></a>[pg 277]</span>proficient. In architecture, which combines the &aelig;sthetic and
+practical elements, the man of antiquity was at least the equal of the
+man of the present. In one particular art&mdash;a sort of humanitarian
+profession based on natural science and directed to the preservation
+of life&mdash;the ancients had a measure of proficiency. This art was
+surgery. The surgeon was even from the beginning, and he will no doubt
+be even to the end.</p>
+
+<p>The great advance which has been made in surgical science and practice
+is shown in two ways: first, in a great increase of courage, by which
+the surgeon has been led on to the performance of operations that were
+hitherto considered rash, audacious or impossible; and secondly, by
+the immunity which the surgeon has gained in the treatment of wounds
+through the increased knowledge he possesses of putrefaction and the
+means of preventing it. It were hard to say whether the surgeon's
+increase of skill and courage in performing operations has equalled
+his increased skill in the after treatment of wounds.</p>
+
+<p>These improvements have all proceeded from scientific investigation.
+They have come of the application of scientific methods to the
+treatment of surgical diseases. With the investigations of Pasteur and
+the development of the science of bacteriology, it was seen at a
+glance how large an influence <span class="pagenum"><a name="page278" id="page278"></a>[pg 278]</span>such investigation must have in the
+work of the surgeon. The publication of Tyndall's "Essays on the
+Floating Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection,"
+in 1881, gave a great impulse to the new practice; but that practice
+had been already confirmed by the great and original work of Sir
+Joseph Lister, an English surgeon who as early as 1860 had introduced
+the antiseptic method of bandaging.</p>
+
+<p>It is within the last forty years that the greatest marvels of modern
+surgery have been performed. It would seem that no part of the human
+body is now beyond the reach of surgical remedy. Almost every year has
+witnessed some new and daring invasion of the fortress of life with a
+view to saving it. Old opinions with respect to what parts of the
+human economy are really vital have been abolished; and a new concept
+of the relation of life to organism has prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>Until recently it was supposed that the peritoneal cavity and the
+organs contained therein, such as the stomach, the liver, the bowels,
+etc., could not be entered by the surgeon without the certain result
+of death. To do so at the present time is the daily experience in
+almost every great hospital. The complexity of civilization has
+inflicted all manner of hurts on the human body, and the malignity of
+disease has spared <span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span>no part. It was supposed that the cranial cavity
+could not be entered or repaired without producing fatal results. It
+was taken for granted that certain organs could not be touched, much
+less treated capitally, without destroying the subject's life. But one
+exploration has followed another and one successful adventure has been
+succeeded by another still more successful until the surgeon's work is
+at the present time performed within a sphere that was until recently
+supposed to be entirely beyond his reach.</p>
+
+<p>As to the liver, that great organ is freely examined and is treated
+surgically with considerable freedom. This is true also of the
+stomach, which until recently was supposed to be entirely beyond the
+surgeon's touch. Within the last two decades sections of the stomach
+have been made and parts of the organ removed. Not a few cases are
+recorded in which subjects have fully recovered after the removal of a
+part of the stomach. Sections of the intestinal canal have also been
+made with entire success. Several inches of that organ have in some
+cases been entirely removed, with the result of recovery! The spleen
+has been many times removed; but it has been recently noted that a
+decline in health and probably death at a not distant date generally
+follow this operation.</p>
+
+<p>The disease called appendicitis has either <span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" id="page280"></a>[pg 280]</span>in our times become
+wonderfully frequent or else the improved methods of diagnosis have
+made us acquainted with what has long been one of the principal
+maladies of mankind. The <i>appendix vermiformis</i> seems to be a useless
+remnant of anatomical structure transmitted to us from a lower animal
+condition. At least such is the interpretation which scientists
+generally give to this hurtful and dangerous tube-like blind channel
+in connection with the bowels. That it becomes easily inflamed and is
+the occasion of great loss of life can not be doubted. Its removal by
+surgical operation is now regarded as a simple process which even the
+unlearned surgeon, if he be careful and talented, may safely perform.
+The surgical treatment of appendicitis has become so common as to
+attract little or no notice from the profession. Even the country
+neighborhood no longer regards such a piece of surgery as sensational.</p>
+
+<p>The use of surgical means in the cure, that is the removal, of tumors,
+both external and internal, has been greatly extended and perfected.
+The surgeon now carries a quick eye for the tumor and a quick remedy
+for it. In nearly all cases in which it has not become constitutional
+he effects a speedy cure with the knife. The cancerous part is cut
+away. It has been observed that as the recent mortality from
+consumption has <span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>[pg 281]</span>decreased cancerous diseases have become more
+frequently fatal. Whether or not there be anything vicarious in the
+action of these two great maladies we know not; but statistics show
+that since the beginning of Pasteur's discoveries the one disease has
+diminished and the other increased in almost a corresponding ratio.
+Meanwhile, however, surgery has opposed itself not only to cancers but
+to all kinds of tumors, until danger from these sores has been greatly
+lessened. The removal of internal tumors such as the ovarian, is no
+longer, except in complicated and neglected cases, a matter of serious
+import. Such work is performed in almost every country town, and the
+amount of human life thus rescued from impending death is very great.
+The work of lithotomy is not any longer regarded with the dread which
+formerly attended it. In fact, every kind of disease and injury which
+in its own nature is subject to surgical remedy has been disarmed of
+its terror. The eye and the ear and all of the more delicate organs
+have become subject to repair and amendment to a degree that may well
+excite wonder and gratify philanthropy.</p>
+
+<p>But it is not only in the actual processes of surgery that this great
+improvement in human art may be noted. The treatment of wounds with
+respect to their cure by <span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span>preserving them from bacterial and other
+poisons has been so greatly improved that it is now regarded almost as
+a crime to permit suppuration and other horrible processes which were
+formerly supposed to be the necessary concomitants of healing. The
+hospital, whether military or civil, was formerly a scene that might
+well horrify and make sick a visitant. It was putrefaction everywhere.
+It was stench and poisonous effluvia. The conditions were such as to
+make sick if not destroy even those who were well. How then could the
+injured sufferers escape?</p>
+
+<p>It is one of the crowning glories of our time that no such scene now
+exists in any civilized country. No such will ever exist again, unless
+science should lose its grip on the human mind and the civilized life
+subside into barbarism. The surgeon would now be held in ill-repute
+that should permit to any considerable degree the processes of
+putrefaction to take place in a wound of which he has had the care.
+The introduction of antiseptic and aseptic methods has made him a
+master in this respect. The skillful surgeon bids defiance to the
+microbes that hover in swarming millions ravenous for admission to
+every hurt done to the human body. To them a wound is a festival. To
+them a sore is a royal banquet to which through the invisible realm a
+proclamation <span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span>goes forth, "Come ye! Come to the banquet which death is
+preparing out of life!" All this the modern surgeon disappoints with a
+smile and a wave of his hand. The invisible swarms of invading
+animalcul&aelig; are swept back. Not a single bacterium can any longer enter
+the most inviting wound while the surgeon stands ready with drawn
+sword to defend the portals of life.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284"></a>[pg 284]</span></p>
+<h2>Great Religious Movements.</h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<h3 class="sc">Defence on New Lines.</h3>
+
+<p>In a period so intensely active and progressive as the nineteenth
+century has been, in politics, science and literature, it would have
+been surprising if the church had remained inert, wrapped like a mummy
+in the cerements of the past. At the beginning of the century, there
+were voices on all hands loudly proclaiming that it was dead; that it
+was antiquated and obsolete; that it had lost touch with the life of
+the time, that it was a relic of exploded superstition; and as a great
+writer said, had fallen into a godless mechanical condition, standing
+as the lifeless form of a church, a mere case of theories, like the
+carcass of a once swift camel, left withering in the thirst of the
+universal desert. That in certain circles there was ground for such
+reproach is sufficiently proved. Materialism had crept into its
+colleges, sapping away their spiritual life and driving young men
+either into Atheism or into the Roman Catholic Communion. Such
+activity as it had, was in the evangelical circles only<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id="page285"></a>[pg 285]</span> The common
+people still listened eagerly to Wesley's successors and were
+intensely in earnest in the Christian life and work. It was at the top
+that the tree was dying, where the currents of the philosophy of
+Voltaire struck the branches, and where Hume's scorching radicalism
+blighted its leaves. In the universities, and the clubs, not in the
+workshops, was religion scorned and contemned.</p>
+
+<p>There was soon, however, to be a quickening of the dry bones. The
+spirit of the time&mdash;the zeit-geist&mdash;began to move in the Church. It
+was the spirit of investigation, of scientific inquiry, of rigorous
+test. The older preachers and religious authorities still droned about
+the duty of defending the faith "once for all" delivered to the
+saints. In spite of their protests, the younger men would go down into
+the crypt of the Church, and examine the foundations of the building.
+They could not be kept back by authoritative assurances that the
+stones were sound, and were well and truly laid. The hysterical
+protests against the irreverence of examination fell on deaf ears. The
+answer was the simple insistance on investigation. The very reluctance
+to permit it was an indication that it would not bear investigation.</p>
+
+<p>At the opening of the century, this idea, expressed in varying forms,
+was rapidly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286"></a>[pg 286]</span>becoming prevalent. The citadel of the Church was
+assaulted, by some with ferocity, and by others with scorn and
+contempt. The defence was on the old lines of denunciation of the
+wickedness of the assailants, of vituperative epithets, and of the
+assumption of special and divine illumination. The issue of the
+conflict would not have been doubtful, had it been continued with
+these tactics. The Church would have been relegated to the limbo of
+superstition and the hide-bound pedantry of ecclesiasticism, if new
+defenders on new principles had not entered the lists. Reinforcement
+came from a band of philosophic thinkers of whom Wordsworth and
+Coleridge were the pioneers. The influence of both these men was
+underestimated at the time. They appeared weak and ineffective, but
+the ideas to which they gave expression, entered the minds of stronger
+men, who applied them with more vigorous force. The Church, Coleridge
+declared, as Carlyle interprets him, was not dead, but tragically,
+asleep only. It might be aroused and might again become useful, if
+only the right paths were opened. Coleridge could not open the paths,
+he could but vaguely show the depth and volume of the forces pent up
+in the Church; but he insisted that they were there, that eternal
+truth was in Christianity, and that out of it must come <span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span>the light and
+life of the world. As his little band of hearers listened to him, they
+saw the first faint gleams of the light which was to illumine the
+world and make the darkness and degradation of the materialistic
+philosophy an impossibility to the devout mind. Thus he stood at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, as Erasmus stood at the beginning
+of the sixteenth, perceiving and proclaiming the existence of truths
+which others were to apply to the needs of the time.</p>
+
+<p>To ascertain precisely in what form the forces of Christianity existed
+and how they might be applied to nineteenth century life, became early
+in the nineteenth century the problem on which the best thought of the
+time was concentrated. Coleridge's unshaken conviction that it was
+solvable, inspired many with courage. Whately, Arnold, Schleiermacher,
+Bunsen, Ewald, Newman, Hare, Milman, Thirlwall and many others,
+approached it from different directions. The spirit of scientific
+investigation that was in the air was applied with reverent hands, but
+with unsparing resolve to ascertain the exact truth. The investigation
+was no longer confined to dogma; a proof text from the Bible was no
+longer sufficient to close a controversy. The Bible itself must be
+subjected to investigation. This was indeed going to the foundations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" id="page288"></a>[pg 288]</span>
+There was a wild outcry against rationalism and iconoclasm, but the
+search for truth and fact went on. As in a siege, the garrison must
+sometimes destroy with their own hands outworks which cannot be
+successfully defended, and may be made a vantage ground for the enemy,
+so the defenders of Christianity set themselves to the task of finding
+out how much of the current theology was credible and tenable, and how
+much might wisely be abandoned, to insure the safety of the remainder.
+The discoveries of Geology, Astronomy and of Biology could not be
+denied, yet their testimony was contrary to Christian doctrine. "The
+world was made in six natural days," said the old Christian preacher.
+"The world was thousands of years in the making," said the geologist.
+The preacher appealed to his Bible, the geologist appealed to the
+rocks. The issue was fairly joined, and in the early years of the
+century it seemed as if there was no alternative but that of believing
+the Bible and denying science, or believing science and giving up the
+Bible; it seemed impossible to believe both. When the scientific
+theologian ventured to suggest that the word "day," might mean age, or
+period, there was another outcry that the Bible was being surrendered
+to the enemy. But it was realized that the message of the Bible to the
+world was not <span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>[pg 289]</span>scientific, and that its usefulness was not impaired by
+the suggested mode of understanding its record of creation; and
+gradually the surrender was accepted. It is true that to this day
+there are some who will not accept it, as there is at least one
+preacher who insists, on the authority of the Bible, that "the sun do
+move," but the number diminishes in every generation. A beginning was
+made in attaining the true view of the Bible which led further and has
+not yet reached its limits. Having admitted that the Bible was not
+given to teach science the Church has to decide whether it can admit
+the theory of evolution and whether its records of history are
+authoritative. These questions are so fundamental that the strife of
+Calvinism and Arminianism and the question of the double procession of
+the Holy Spirit, which seemed vital to our fathers have faded into
+relative insignificance.</p>
+
+<h3 class="sc">Evangelical Activity.</h3>
+
+<p>While these storms were agitating the upper air, and the thunderous
+echoes reverberated through the mountains, the work on the plain went
+rapidly forward. However the scholars and the theologians might decide
+the questions at issue between them, the working forces were
+profoundly convinced that the Gospel was the great need <span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id="page290"></a>[pg 290]</span>of the world,
+and they put out new energy and applied all the powers of the mind to
+devising new methods for its propagation. The increased facilities of
+travel, the improved means of communication and, above all, the power
+of the printing-press, were all seized and harnessed to service in the
+dissemination of the Gospel. No characteristic of this century is so
+prominent as this intense activity and aggressive energy. From every
+secular movement, the church has taken suggestions for its own
+advancement. Trade-unionism has suggested Christian Endeavor and the
+Evangelical Alliance; the public school system has developed the
+International Lesson system in the Sunday School; the political
+convention has taught the advantages of great religious conferences;
+the principles of military organization have been utilized in the
+Salvation Army. If in some circles religion seems to have been a fight
+over doctrines and theories, in others it has seemed a ceaseless,
+untiring struggle for converts. In no century since the first century
+of the Christian era has the zeal of propagation, with no element of
+proselytism in it, taken so strong a hold of the followers of Christ.
+To translate the Bible into every tongue, to carry the Gospel message
+to every people, and to evangelize the masses at home, prodigious
+efforts have been put forth, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span>enormous sums of money have been
+expended. Mental activity, uncompromising veracity, indefatigable
+energy, have characterized the Church through the century, and its
+closing years show no abatement in any of these characteristics. A
+brief sketch of some of the more prominent of these developments can
+render the fact only more, obvious.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">Bible Revision.</h3>
+
+<p>One of the most important events of the century to the English
+speaking world is the Revision of the Bible. Its full effect is not
+yet felt, as the book which was the product of the Revisers' labors is
+but slowly winning its way into use in the Church and the home. Like
+its predecessor, the Authorized Version now in general use, it has to
+encounter the prejudice which comes from long familiarity with the
+book in use and from the veneration for the phraseology in which the
+precious truths, are expressed. Yet from the beginning of the century
+the need of an improved translation was felt and several persons,
+undertook to supply it, but with very objectionable results. The
+principal bases of the need were serious. One was that many words and
+phrases have in the nineteenth century a meaning entirely different
+from the one they had in the early part of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span>seventeenth century
+when the Authorized Version was issued. One case in point is Mark vi.
+22, in which Salome asks that the head of John the Baptist be given
+her "by and by in a charger." In 1611 the expression by and by meant
+immediately or forthwith, and was a correct translation, while with us
+it means a somewhat indefinite future and is therefore an incorrect
+translation. With the noun, too, the meaning has changed. Our idea of
+a charger is of a war-horse, not of a dish, which the original
+conveys. A second reason for the revision was that there were in the
+libraries in this century several manuscripts of the original, much
+older than those to which the translators of the Authorized Version
+had access when they undertook their work. A third reason was that a
+notable advance had been made in scholarship in the interval, and
+learned men were much better acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek
+idiom than were any of the scholars of the King James period. For
+these three, among other reasons, a revision was necessary, that the
+unlearned reader might have, as nearly as was possible, the exact
+equivalent in English of the words of the Bible writers. The project,
+after being widely discussed for several years, finally took shape in
+England in 1870, when the Convocation of Canterbury appointed two
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293"></a>[pg 293]</span>committees to undertake the work. The ablest scholars in Hebrew and
+Greek literature in the country were assigned to the committees, of
+which one was engaged on the Old, and the other on the New Testament.
+They were empowered to call to their aid similar committees in
+America, who might work simultaneously with them. Stringent
+instructions were given to them to avoid making changes where they
+were not clearly needed for the accuracy of translation, and to
+preserve the idiom of the Authorized Version. Only with these
+safeguards and with not a little reluctance, the commission was
+issued. One hundred and one scholars on both sides of the Atlantic
+took part in the work. The committees commenced their labors early in
+1871. On May 17, 1881, the Revised New Testament was issued, and on
+May 21, 1885, the Revised Old Testament was in the hands of the
+public. All that scholarship, strenuous labor and exhaustive research
+could do to give a faithful translation had been done within the
+somewhat narrow and conservative limits under which the revisers were
+commissioned.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">Bibles By The Million.</h3>
+
+<p>With this improvement, there was at the same time a marked impetus in
+Bible circulation. The nineteenth century has been <span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>[pg 294]</span>eminently a
+Bible-reading and a Bible-studying period. In no previous century have
+efforts on so gigantic a scale been made to put the Book in the hands
+of every one who could read it. The price was brought so low by the
+decrease in the cost of production, that the very poorest could
+possess a copy. The British and Foreign Bible Society, founded in
+1804, and the American Bible Society, founded in 1816, have largely
+contributed to this result. Both societies were organized to issue the
+Bible without note or comment, and both have faithfully labored to
+promote its circulation. In spite of all that has been said against
+the Book and in spite of the fact that so large a number of persons
+must have been supplied, the circulation has increased from year to
+year. In the year ending March, 1896, the American Society alone
+issued 1,750,000 copies, and the British two and a half million.
+During its existence the American Society has sent out over sixty-one
+million copies and the British Society over one hundred and forty
+millions. The work of translation has kept pace with the demand. At
+the beginning of the century the Bible had been translated, in whole
+or in part, into thirty-eight languages. It is now translated into
+three hundred and eighty-one, and translators are engaged on nearly a
+hundred others. Nor <span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id="page295"></a>[pg 295]</span>must it be supposed that the supply was in excess
+of the demand. There is abundant evidence of the desire of the public
+to possess the Word of God. One fact alone is a conspicuous proof of
+this demand. In 1892 the proprietor of the <i>Christian Herald</i> of New
+York offered an Oxford Teacher's Bible as a premium with his journal.
+The offer was accepted with such avidity that edition after edition
+was exhausted, and it has been renewed every year since with increased
+demand. Through this journal alone, by this means, over three hundred
+and two thousand copies have been put into the hands of the people
+during the past five years.</p>
+
+<p>With the increase in the circulation of the Word of God there has been
+a costly and thorough effort to gain new light on its pages. Never
+before have labor and money been expended so lavishly in endeavors to
+learn from exploration and research, historical facts which would
+contribute to an intelligent understanding of its history and
+literature. In 1865 a society called the Palestine Exploration Society
+was organized for the special purpose of thoroughly examining the Holy
+Land, investigating and identifying ancient sites and making exact
+maps of the country. In twenty-seven years the society, though working
+with the utmost economy, expended<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>[pg 296]</span> $425,000. The result of its labors
+has been to let a flood of light on the ancient places and the ancient
+customs of its people, explaining many allusions in the sacred
+history, poetry and prophecy that were previously dark. The Egypt
+Exploration Fund has also added materially to our knowledge of that
+country which is associated with the early history of the Chosen
+People. But the most valuable aid to Bible study came from the
+discovery of the Assyrian Royal Library, a series of clay tablets and
+cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were deciphered by
+Mr. George Smith of the British Museum. From these and from the
+records on the monuments of Egypt historical information has been
+derived of inestimable value in the study of the Bible.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">A Great Missionary Era.</h3>
+
+<p>One of the most prominent characteristics of the Church of Christ in
+this century has been its phenomenal missionary activity. Its zeal in
+this cause, the devotion and courage of its missionaries and the
+amount of money expended have had no parallel in the previous history
+of the Church. Already a beginning had been made when the century
+dawned. In 1701 King William III. of England had granted a charter to
+the Society for the Propagation of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span> Gospel in Foreign Parts. In
+1714 Frederick IV. of Denmark established a College of Missions and
+two Danish missionaries were laboring in India. In 1721 the famous
+Danish missionary, Hans Egede, began a work in Greenland. In 1732 the
+Moravian missionaries, Dober and Nitschmann, went to St. Thomas, and
+in the following year the Moravian Church sent missionaries to
+Labrador, the West Indies, South America, South Africa and India. But
+it was not until the last decade of the eighteenth century that the
+spirit which was to distinguish the next century really manifested
+itself. In 1792 the devotion and consecration of William Carey led to
+the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society, and in the following
+year he sailed for India as its first missionary.</p>
+
+<p>In 1795 the London Missionary Society was organized, a missionary ship
+was purchased and the first band of missionaries sailed for the South
+Sea Islands. Two years later, another party sailed for South Africa,
+among whom were the veterans, Vanderkemp and Kitchener. Two Scottish
+societies were founded in 1796 and a Dutch Society in 1797. In the
+closing year of the century the famous Church Missionary Society was
+formed in the Church of England. Thus the nineteenth century opened
+with organizations for work in existence and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span>pioneers few in number,
+but intensely in earnest in several fields of labor.</p>
+
+<p>The first quarter of the century witnessed the advent of new agencies,
+as well as a multiplication of forces. The American Board of
+Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in 1810, the English
+Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1814, the American Baptist in 1814, the
+American Methodist in 1819, the American Protestant Episcopal in 1820,
+and the Berlin and Paris Missionary Societies in 1824. Thus, in the
+comparatively short space of thirty-two years, thirteen societies had
+been organized by the various denominations here and in Europe, each
+of which was destined to grow to proportions little contemplated by
+their founders. Since that time the great China Inland Mission and
+other undenominational societies have been founded and are sending out
+men and women in large numbers to the heathen world. Besides these,
+there have been societies of special workers which have done valuable
+service in aiding the missionary societies, such as the medical
+missionaries, the Zenana Missionaries and the university and students'
+volunteer movements. Statistics recently compiled show that the number
+of central stations in heathen lands occupied by Protestant
+missionaries in 1896 was 5055, with out-stations to the number of
+17,813. There <span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id="page299"></a>[pg 299]</span>are now thirty-seven missionary societies in this
+country alone which have sent out 3512 missionaries. A library of
+volumes would be needed to give even a sketch of the results of the
+labors of these devoted men and women. The Church holds their names in
+holy reverence. Many of them have attained the crown of martyrdom, and
+a still greater number have fallen victims to the severities of
+uncongenial climates. Every heathen land has now associated with it
+the name of valiant soldiers of the Cross, who have given their lives
+to add it to their Master's, kingdom. In India among many others,
+there have been Carey, Duff, Martyn, Marshman and Ward. In China,
+Morrison, Milne, Taylor, John Talmage and Griffith John. In Africa,
+Moffat, Livingstone, Hannington and Vanderkemp. In the South Seas,
+Williams, Logan and Paton, while Judson of Burmah and a host of noble
+men and women in every clime, have toiled and suffered, not counting
+their lives dear unto them, that they might preach to the heathen the
+unsearchable riches of Christ.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">Preaching To Heathen At Home.</h3>
+
+<p>The zeal for the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen, has been
+paralleled by the efforts put forth for the evangelization of the
+people in nominally Christian lands. In this enterprise the front rank
+on both <span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300"></a>[pg 300]</span>sides of the Atlantic has been occupied by the Methodist
+Church. Its system of itinerary, relieving its ministers in part from
+exhausting study, and so giving them time and opportunity for pastoral
+work and aggressive evangelistic effort, its welcome of lay assistance
+in pulpit service and its system of drill and inspection in the
+class-meeting, have all combined to develop its working resources and
+increase its aggressive power. The fact that there are now in the
+world over thirty million Methodists of various kinds, makes it
+difficult to realize that when the century began, John Wesley had been
+dead only nine years. This century consequently has witnessed the
+growth and development of that mighty organization from the seed sown
+by that one consecrated man and his helpers. It is doubtful whether in
+politics or society there is any fact of the century so remarkable as
+this. The Church Wesley founded has split into sections in this land
+and in England, but the divisions are one at heart, and the name of
+Methodist is the common precious possession of them all. A great
+writer has contended with much force that the world at this day knows
+no such unifier of nationalities and societies as the Methodist
+Church. When the young man leaves the parental roof of a Methodist
+family for some distant city, or some foreign land, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id="page301"></a>[pg 301]</span>pangs of
+anxiety are alleviated by the knowledge that wherever he may be, there
+will be some Methodist Church where he will find friends, and some
+Methodist class-leader who will look after his most important
+interests. The magnificent Methodist organization, unequalled outside
+the Roman Catholic Church, has developed within the century, and its
+aggressive forces have been felt throughout Christendom. All the
+denominations have received an impetus from its abundant energy and
+each in its measure has caught the contagion of its activities. In
+country districts, in the great cities and in foreign lands, its
+representatives, loyal to their Church and the principles of its
+founder, are pressing forward in self-denial and apostolic fervor
+foremost everywhere in the van of the Christian army.</p>
+
+<p>Kindred with the Methodist in its enthusiasm and still more highly
+organized, is the youngest of all the religious organizations&mdash;the
+Salvation Army. In its origin, a daughter of the Methodist Church,
+with a strong resemblance in spirit and purpose and methods to its
+mother, the Salvation Army has a mission peculiarly its own. It too
+has grown with a rapidity unexampled in the religious history of other
+centuries. More than one quarter of the century had passed when
+William Booth first saw the light, more than half the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span>century had
+passed before he had begun to give his life to his Master's service.
+From 1857 to 1859 he was simply a Methodist minister, at an
+unimportant town, appointed by his conference, sparsely paid, and
+certain to be removed to another sphere at the end of his term. In
+1865, he and his devoted wife resigned home and income and dependence
+on conference for support, and went to London. They settled in the
+poorest and most degraded district of the city, and began to preach in
+tents, in cellars, in deserted saloons, under railroad arches, in
+factories and in any place which could be had for nothing, or at a low
+rental. The people gathered in multitudes wherever Mr. Booth and his
+wife preached, veritable heathen, many of them, who knew nothing of
+the Bible and had never attended a religious service in their lives.
+Converts were numerous and they were required to testify to the change
+in their souls and their lives and to become missionaries in their
+turn. In 1870 an old market was purchased in the densest centre of
+poverty in London and was made the headquarters of the Mission. Bands
+of men and women were sent out to hold meetings, sing hymns and "give
+their testimony" in the open-air, in saloons, or any resort where an
+audience could be gathered. These bands were busy every night in a
+hundred wretched districts of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span>the great city, and at every stand,
+some poor forlorn creatures would be gathered in and encouraged to
+begin a new life in faith in Christ. Some method of organization
+became necessary, and was eventually devised. The perfect obedience
+and confidence manifested everywhere to the man who directed the
+movement, and the entire dependence of every worker on him for
+guidance and support, may have suggested the military system. However
+that may be, the military organization was adopted, and a perfect
+system framed with the aid of Railton Smith, and a few other clever
+organizers who were attracted to Mr. Booth's side by the novelty of
+his methods, and his marvelous success. In the spring of 1878, the
+plans were all matured and the new movement became a compact and
+powerful religious force. Since that time it has spread throughout
+England, into several European lands, to the United States, and
+Canada, to India, Australia and South Africa. Its autocratic character
+has been steadfastly maintained. General Booth has retained absolute
+control of every officer in his service and has the management of the
+enormous income of the army. Occasionally there has been mutiny which
+has been overcome by tact or prompt discipline, and not until this
+year (1896), when General Booth's son, Ballington, who was his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page304" id="page304"></a>[pg 304]</span>representative in the United States, resigned rather than be removed
+from his command, has there been any formidable defiance of the
+supreme and despotic government of the world-wide organization. The
+methods of the Army are unconventional and are shocking to staid,
+respectable members of churches, but criticism is out of place in any
+method which will redeem the masses in the numbers won by the
+Salvation Army.</p>
+
+<h3 class="sc">Churches Drawing Together.</h3>
+
+<p>A notable characteristic of the religious life of the century,
+especially in the latter half of it, has been a desire manifested in
+various quarters, and in different ways, for union among the
+denominations. That organic union could be attained, no practical man
+could hope. Uniformity could not be expected, even if it could be
+proved to be desirable, but friendly association was possible, and
+there were many who contended that there ought to be a recognition of
+brotherhood and comradeship, which might issue in some attempt at
+co-operation. This was the conviction of many prominent preachers and
+laymen on both sides of the Atlantic, early in the century. And truly
+the condition of the world and of society was of a character to force
+such a conviction on the minds of intelligent men. Infidelity was
+rampant, and intemperance, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span>gambling, unchastity, and other forms of
+vice were practiced with unblushing effrontery. On the other side, the
+churches, which should have been waging war on all ungodliness, were
+fighting each other, contending about the questions on which they
+differed, and exhausting their strength in internecine conflict. Was
+it not time, men were asking, that the forces that were on the side of
+godliness united in opposition to evil? After long discussion, and
+some opposition, this feeling took practical shape in the Evangelical
+Alliance. At a meeting held in London in 1846 eight hundred
+representatives of fifty denominations were assembled. It was found
+that however widely they differed on questions of doctrine and church
+government, there was practical agreement on a large number of vital
+subjects, such as the need of religious education, the observance of
+the Lord's Day, and the evil influence of infidelity. An organization
+was effected, on the principles of federation, to secure united action
+on subjects on which all were agreed, and this organization has been
+maintained to the present time. Branches have been formed in
+twenty-seven different lands, each dealing with matters peculiarly
+affecting the community in which it operates, and by correspondence,
+and periodical international conferences, keeping in touch <span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id="page306"></a>[pg 306]</span>with each
+other. Its usefulness has been proved in the success of its efforts to
+secure tolerance in several lands, where men were being persecuted for
+conscience' sake, though much still remains to be done on this line.
+Perhaps the most conspicuous result of its work is the general
+observance throughout Christendom of the first complete week of every
+year as a week of prayer. The proposal for such an observance was made
+in 1858. Since that time the Alliance has issued every year a list of
+subjects which are common objects of desire to all Evangelical
+Christians. On each day of the week, prayer is now offered in every
+land for the special blessing which is suggested as the topic for the
+day.</p>
+
+<p>From the same spirit of Christian brotherhood which took shape in the
+Evangelical Alliance, came at later dates other movements which are
+yet in their infancy. One of these is the Reunion Conference which
+meets annually at Grindelwald in Switzerland. Its object is to find a
+basis for organic union of the Protestant Episcopal Church with
+Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and other evangelical
+denominations. The meetings have been hitherto remarkably harmonious,
+and suggestions of mutual concessions have been made which have been
+favorably considered. A less ambitious, and therefore more hopeful
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span>movement of like spirit, is that of the Municipal or Civic Church.
+Its aim is the organization of a federative council of the churches of
+a city, or of sections of a city, for united effort in social reform,
+benevolent enterprise and Christian government. It proposes to
+substitute local co-operation for the existing union on denominational
+lines, or to add the one to the other. It would unite the Methodist,
+Baptist, Congregational and other churches in a city, or district, in
+a movement to restrict the increase of saloons, to insist on the
+enforcement of laws against immorality and to promote the moral and
+spiritual welfare of the community. The united voice of the Christians
+of a city uttered by a council, in which all are represented, would
+unquestionably exercise an influence more potent than is now exerted
+by separate action. To these movements must be added another which has
+been launched under the name of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity.
+This is a fraternity of members of churches and members of no church,
+who yet accept Christ as their leader and obey the two cardinal
+precepts of Christianity&mdash;love to God and love to man. Its object is
+to promote brotherly feeling among Christians and a sense of
+comradeship among men of different creeds. All these movements are an
+indication of the spirit of the time. As <span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span>one of the leaders has said,
+their aim is not so much to remove the fences which divide the
+denominations, as to lower them sufficiently to enable those who are
+within them to shake hands over them. In no previous century since the
+disintegrating tendency began to manifest itself, has this spirit of
+brotherly recognition of essential unity been so general, or has taken
+a shape so hopeful of practical beneficence.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">Organized Activities.</h3>
+
+<p>Effective influence to the same end has been set in motion,
+incidentally, by an organization which was originated for a different
+purpose. This is the Christian Endeavor Society, which is one of the
+latest of the important religious movements of the century. It was
+primarily designed to promote spiritual development among young
+people. It had its birth in 1881 in a Congregational Church at
+Portland, Me. Dr. Francis E. Clark, the pastor of the church, had a
+number of young people around him who had recently made public
+profession of faith in Christ and pledged themselves to His service.
+Precisely what that implied, may not have been definitely understood
+by any of them. As every pastor is aware, the period immediately
+following such a profession is a critical time in the life of every
+young convert. In the college or the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309"></a>[pg 309]</span>office, or the store, the youth
+comes in contact with people who have made no profession of the kind,
+and he is apt to ask himself, and to be asked, in what way he differs
+from them. The early enthusiasm of his new relation to the Church is
+liable to decline, and he may become doubtful whether any radical
+change has taken place in him. He does not realize that he is at the
+beginning of a period of growth, a gradual process, which is to be
+lifelong. Taking his conception of personal religion from the sermons
+he has heard and the appeals that have been made to him, he has a
+tendency to regard conversion as an experience complete and final, an
+occult mysterious transformation, effected in a moment and concluded.
+Disappointment is inevitable, and when non-Christian influences are
+Strong, there is a probability of his drifting into indifference. Dr.
+Clark was aware of this fact, as other pastors were, by sad
+experience, and he sought means to remedy it. Some plan was needed
+which would help the young convert and teach him how to apply his
+religion to his daily life, to make it an active influence, instead of
+a past experience. The plan Dr. Clark adopted was of an association of
+young people in his Church, who should meet weekly for prayer and
+mutual encouragement and helpfulness, with so much of an <span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id="page310"></a>[pg 310]</span>aggressive
+quality as to exert an influence over young people outside its
+membership. The plan succeeded. The religious force in the soul, so
+liable to become latent, became active, and the young converts made
+rapid progress. Dr. Clark explained his experiment to other pastors,
+who tried it with like results. The remedy for a widespread defect was
+found. It was adopted on all hands and by all evangelical
+denominations. It spread from church to church, from town to town and
+into foreign lands. Annual conventions of these Christian Endeavor
+Societies were held, at which forty or fifty thousand young people,
+representing societies in all sections of the country with an
+aggregate membership of about two million souls, were present to
+recount their experience and pledge themselves anew to the service.
+The basis of their association was made so broad that Christians of
+every denomination could heartily unite in its profession of faith.
+Thus, in addition to the primary design, a basis of Christian
+inter-denominational union was incidentally discovered, and the
+Methodist and the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist and Episcopalian
+found themselves united in a common bond for a common purpose. The
+movement in these present years shows no signs of decrease, but is
+still growing in numbers, power and influence, and promises to be <span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311"></a>[pg 311]</span>one
+of the most potent factors of religious life which springing up in
+this century will go on to influence the next.</p>
+
+<p>The idea of association and combination in religious life, of which
+Christian Endeavor is the most extensive illustration, has been
+embodied during the century in other forms. Springing directly from
+the Christian Endeavor Society, are the Epworth League in the
+Methodist Church, and the Baptist Young People's Union in the Baptist
+communion. The two organizations are practically identical in
+principle and purpose with the Christian Endeavor Society and differ
+from it only in the absence of the inter-denominational character. The
+heads of the Methodist Church apprehended danger to their young people
+in their being members of a society not under direct Methodist control
+and feared that they might eventually be lost to Methodism. The
+Baptists, on the other hand, were not concerned on the question of
+control, but feared that the association of their young people with
+the young people of other churches might lead them to think lightly of
+the peculiar rite which separates them from other denominations, and
+to diminish its importance in their esteem. Both denominations
+therefore organized societies of the same kind, to keep their young
+people within the denominational fold.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id="page312"></a>[pg 312]</span></p>
+
+<p>Another organization which has attained large membership and has
+become international, is that of the King's Daughters. As its name
+indicates, it was primarily intended for women, though as it extended,
+it added as an adjunct a membership for men as King's Sons. It also
+was inter-denominational in character, and its objects were more
+directly identified with the philanthropic side of the religious life
+than were those of the societies previously mentioned. It originated
+in a meeting of ten ladies, held in New York, in 1886, at which plans
+were discussed for aiding the poor, the unfortunate and the distressed
+in mind, body or soul. They were all Christian ladies who recognized
+the duty of ministering in Christ's name to those who were in need and
+so fulfilling His injunction of kindly service. The plan finally
+adopted was to organize circles of ten members each, who should be
+pledged to use their opportunities, as far as they were able, for
+Christian ministration. Each member agreed to wear, as a badge of the
+Order, a small silver Maltese Cross, bearing the initials, I.H.N.,
+representing the motto, "In His Name." Every circle was to be left
+free to apply the principle of service as it saw fit, or as special
+circumstances might suggest, and all the circles to be under the
+direction and limited control of a central <span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>[pg 313]</span>council. The plan,
+subsequently modified as experience suggested, was widely adopted. The
+circles have worked in a variety of ways, visiting hospitals and
+prisons, making garments for the poor, raising funds for the needy,
+aiding the churches and rendering service in various ways in which
+kindly Christian women are so effective.</p>
+
+<p>Still another form of combination in Christian work has distinguished
+this century. In 1844 George Williams, a London dry goods merchant
+employing a large number of young men, made an effort to provide them
+with a species of Christian club. His own experience as a young man
+fresh from a country home, suddenly inducted into the temptations of
+city life, suggested to him the kind of help such young men needed. A
+Christian friend in a great city to help a new-comer, to find him
+wholesome amusement in the evenings, and to put him on his guard
+against the pitfalls that were set for his unwary feet, might, Mr.
+Williams was convinced, save many a young man from ruin. To provide
+them with such friends and to furnish a place of meeting for reading,
+converse and amusement, was the problem the kindly Christian man
+attempted to solve. Out of his effort grew the institution we know as
+the Young Men's Christian Association, which has its <span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg 314]</span>mission in
+nearly every large town in this country and in England. The young man
+of this century can go into no considerable town without finding a
+commodious hall, with well-equipped library and reading-room,
+generally with a gymnasium attached, and with a host of young men
+ready to make his acquaintance and surround him with Christian
+influences. In many towns, the institution has developed from the
+purely religious enterprise into a many-sided effort to give practical
+educational training and to attract young men to it by the help it
+renders them in secular pursuits. The institution as it now exists,
+must be counted as one of the most beneficent in its far-reaching
+influence that the century has produced.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">Humanitarian Work.</h3>
+
+<p>Kindred in spirit, but differing essentially in operation, is the
+institution, peculiarly a product of nineteenth century religion,
+which we know as the Social or College Settlement. Though it does not
+claim a distinctively religious character, its principles are so
+thoroughly identical with Christianity, that no survey of the
+religious life of the century would be complete without a recognition
+of it. It is the spirit that brought the Founder of Christianity to
+the earth, to live a lowly life among men, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span>which inspires the Social
+Settlement. It is generally an unostentatious house in some crowded
+neighborhood, where the people are poor and life is hard. In the house
+are a number of college-bred men, or women, who come in relays and
+live there for a week or a month or longer. They do no missionary
+work, do not preach, or denounce, or instruct their neighbors, but
+they live among them a cleanly, helpful, friendly life, welcoming them
+cordially as visitors, advising them if advice is sought, rendering
+help in difficulties and being neighborly in the best sense of the
+word. There are concerts in the house, exhibitions of pictures,
+children's parties and amusements of various kinds to which all the
+neighbors are welcome. Charity is no part of the Settlement's
+programme. It does not give, but it extends a brotherly hand, and in a
+spirit of friendship and equality seeks to do a brother's part in
+brightening lowly lives. Hundreds of such institutions are in
+operation on both sides the Atlantic. To the credit of this century be
+it said that it has seen in these institutions the Parable of the Good
+Samaritan made a living fact in intelligent organization.</p>
+
+<p>Tending directly toward the same object, is the religious enterprise
+now commonly known as the Institutional Church. It is a distinct gain
+to the church if the people <span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg 316]</span>in its vicinity discover that it is
+anxious to help them to a better and happier life in this world, as
+well as guiding them to happiness in the next. The Divine Founder of
+Christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need
+saving, as well as souls, and some of His followers are following His
+example. Their churches do not stand closed and silent from Sunday to
+Sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of
+practical helpfulness. Temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing
+meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of
+helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their
+home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are
+finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual
+contact with them and devising means to supply them. The critics say
+this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among
+the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in
+their welfare.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">The Sunday School.</h3>
+
+<p>Of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most
+extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be
+mentioned. Though this century did not see the birth of the Sunday
+School, it <span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg 317]</span>has witnessed its wonderful development. In June, 1784,
+Robert Raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the
+religious instruction of children on the Lord's Day, and before the
+close of the year, John Wesley wrote that he found Sunday Schools
+springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight:
+"Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who
+knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians?"
+Within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into
+the Sunday Schools. So much had already been done before the beginning
+of the century. But even then men did not realize whereunto the
+movement was destined to grow. Probably no enterprise has really
+exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the
+time. Children have entered the schools, passed through their grades,
+have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have
+followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves
+to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the Sunday
+School was unknown. The organization of Sunday School Unions, the
+introduction of the International Lesson System, and the City, State
+and National Conventions are all the developments of this century. The
+thought that a million and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span>a half of Sunday School teachers are now
+engaged in every clime, Sunday by Sunday, in teaching the children and
+young people the truths of Christianity is enough to fill the mind of
+the Christian with thankfulness and hope.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sc">Pulpit And Press.</h3>
+
+<p>It would be beyond the scope of an article of this character to
+attempt to recall the names of the eminent preachers of the century.
+It has been singularly rich in men of eloquence, depth of thought and
+high culture. A few, however, are distinguished among the noble army
+by the phenomenal character of their work. Of these probably no name
+is so widely known as that of Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D. One of the
+most remarkable phenomena of the religious world in this century, is
+the fact that every week one preacher should address an audience
+numbered by millions. The fact is unprecedented. Of all classes of
+readers, the number of those who read sermons is considered the
+smallest, yet this century has produced a preacher whose sermons
+command a public larger than that of a fascinating novelist. For
+thirty years the newspapers have been publishing Dr. Talmage's sermons
+in every city of his own land, in every English-speaking land and in
+many foreign lands where they are <span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span>translated for publication. It is a
+significant fact, which should gratify every Christian, that the man
+whose words reach regularly and surely the largest audience in the
+world should be a preacher of the Gospel.</p>
+
+<p>To no man in any walk of life, whether politician, editor or author,
+has the opportunity of impressing his thoughts on his generation that
+Dr. Talmage enjoys been given in such fulness. Next in extent of
+influence, and with a like faculty of reaching immense and widely
+scattered masses of people, was the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a
+preacher of singularly homely power, Calvinistic in theology,
+epigrammatic in style, and with an earnest evangelical spirit which
+had a powerful influence on both hearers and readers. His sermons,
+like those of Dr. Talmage, were read in every land and were
+instrumental in conversions wherever they went. Strongly resembling
+Mr. Spurgeon in his strong evangelicalism, as well as in homely
+eloquence, is Mr. D.L. Moody. During this century probably no man has
+addressed so large a number of people. In this country and in England
+such audiences have thronged the buildings in which he preached as no
+other orator has ever addressed on religious subjects, and the
+influence of his words is demonstrated by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg 320]</span>thousands who through
+his appeals have been led to Christ.</p>
+
+<p>We are nearing the end of the century. Looking back over the events in
+the religious world which have marked its history, one characteristic
+is prominent above all others. It is the operation of the force to
+which an eminent writer has given the name of "spiritual dynamics."
+The world does not need a dogma, or a creed, so much as it needs
+power. It needs power to live right, to do right, to love God and man,
+to pity the fallen, to relieve the needy, the power of being good, of
+leading a spiritual life. This power it finds in Christ and the whole
+tendency of the religious life of the century is to get back to him.
+Conduct rather than creed, love rather than theology, have been the
+watchwords of the church. The spirit of Christ, His teachings, His
+character, His example, are the centre of attraction which holds His
+church together and endues it with the power which shall yet subdue
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century, by
+Various, Edited by John Clark Ridpath
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century
+       Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: John Clark Ridpath
+
+Release Date: May 14, 2005  [eBook #15824]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH
+CENTURY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Richard J. Shiffer, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+NOTABLE EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
+
+Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World,
+in a Series of Short Studies
+
+Compiled and Edited by
+
+JOHN CLARK RIDPATH
+
+Published by
+The Christian Herald,
+Louis Klopsch, Proprietor,
+Bible House, New York.
+
+1896
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This little volume constitutes one number of the Christian Herald
+Library series for 1896-97. The title indicates the scope and purpose
+of the work. Of heavy reading the reader of to-day no doubt has a
+sufficiency. Of light reading, that straw-and-chaff literature that
+fills the air until the senses are confused with the whirlwind and
+dust of it, he has a sufficiency also. Of that intermediate kind of
+reading which is neither so heavy with erudition as to weigh us down
+nor so light with the flying folly of prejudice as to make us
+distracted with its dust, there is perhaps too little. The thoughtful
+and improving passage for the unoccupied half hour of him who hurries
+through these closing years of the century does not abound, but is
+rather wanting in the intellectual provision of the age.
+
+Let this volume serve to supply, in part at least, the want for brief
+readings on important subjects. Herein a number of topics have been
+chosen from the progress of the century and made the subjects of as
+many brief studies that may be realized in a few minutes' reading and
+remembered for long. Certainly there is no attempt to make these short
+stories exhaustive, but only to make them hintful of larger readings
+and more thoughtful and patient inquiry.
+
+The Editor is fully aware of the very large circulation and wide
+reading to which this little volume will soon be subjected. For this
+reason he has taken proper pains to make the work of such merit as may
+justly recommend it to the thoughtful as well as the transient and
+unthoughtful reader. It cannot, we think, prove to be a wholly
+profitless task to offer these different studies, gathered from the
+highways and byways of the great century, to the thousands of good and
+busy people into whose hands the volume will fall. To all such the
+Editor hopes that it may carry a measure of profit as well as a
+message of peace.
+
+J.C.R.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  [All articles not otherwise designated are by the Editor.]
+
+
+  CRISES IN CIVIL SOCIETY.
+                                                     PAGE.
+
+  Brumaire--The Overthrow Of The French Directory,      9
+  How the Son of Equality Became King of France,       14
+  The Coup d'Etat of 1851,                             19
+  The Chartist Agitation in England,                   23
+  The Abolition of Human Bondage,                      27
+  The Peril of Our Centennial Year,                    35
+  The Double Fete in France and Germany,               40
+
+
+  GREAT BATTLES.
+
+  Trafalgar,                                           44
+  Campaign of Austerlitz,                              50
+  "Friedland--1807",                                   55
+  Under the Russian Snows,                             59
+  Waterloo,                                            63
+  Sebastopol,                                          71
+  Sadowa,                                              77
+  Capture of Mexico,                                   84
+  Vicksburg,                                           89
+  Gettysburg,                                          95
+  Spottsylvania,                                      104
+  Appomattox,                                         112
+  Sedan, by Victor Hugo,                              118
+  Bazaine and Metz,                                   129
+
+
+  ASTRONOMICAL VISTAS.
+
+  The Century of the Asteroids,                       136
+  The Story of Neptune,                               146
+  Evolution of the Telescope,                         156
+  The New Astronomy,                                  165
+  What the Worlds Are Made Of,                        175
+
+
+  PROGRESS IN DISCOVERY AND INVENTION.
+
+  The First Steamboat and its Maker,                  184
+  Telegraphing before Morse,                          196
+  The New Light of Men,                               205
+  The Telephone,                                      216
+  The Machine That Talks Back,                        225
+  Evolution of the Dynamo, by Professor Joseph
+        P. Naylor,                                    235
+  The Unknown Ray and Entography,                     244
+
+  STAGES IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY.
+
+  The New Inoculation,                                256
+  Koch's Battle with the Invisible Enemy,             266
+  Achievements in Surgery,                            276
+  GREAT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.
+  BY B.J. FERNIE, PH.D.
+
+  Defence on New Lines,                               284
+  Evangelical Activity,                               289
+  Bible Revision,                                     291
+  Bibles by the Million,                              293
+  A Great Missionary Era,                             296
+  Preaching to Heathen at Home,                       299
+  Churches Drawing Together,                          304
+  Organized Activities,                               308
+  Humanitarian Work,                                  314
+  The Sunday School,                                  316
+  Pulpit and Press,                                   318
+
+
+
+
+Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century.
+
+
+
+
+Crises in Civil Society.
+
+
+BRUMAIRE.
+
+THE OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH DIRECTORY.
+
+The eighteenth century went out with the French Directory, and the
+nineteenth came in with the Consulate. The coincidence of dates is not
+exact by a year and a month and twenty-one days. But history does not
+pay much attention to almanacs. In general our century arose with the
+French Consulate. The Consulate was the most conspicuous political
+fact of Europe in the year 1801; and the Consulate came in with
+_Brumaire_.
+
+"Brumaire" is one of the extraordinary names invented by the
+French Revolutionists. The word, according to Carlyle, means
+_Fogarious_--that is, Fog month. In the French Republican calendar,
+devised by the astronomer Romme, in 1792, Brumaire began on the
+twenty-second day of October and ended on the twentieth day of
+November. It remained for Brumaire, and the eighteenth day of
+Brumaire, of the year VIII, to extinguish the plural executive which
+the French democrats had created under the name of a _Directory_, and
+to substitute therefor the One Man that was coming.
+
+The Directory was a Council of Five. It was a sort of five-headed
+presidency; and each head was the head of a Jacobin. One of the heads
+was called Barras. One was called Carnot. Another was called
+Barthelemy. Another was Roger Ducos; another was the Abbe Sieyes. That
+was the greatest head of them all. The heads were much mixed, though
+the body was one. In such a body cross counsels were always uppermost,
+and there was a want of decision and force in the government.
+
+This condition of the Executive Department led to the deplorable
+reverses which overtook the French armies during the absence of
+General Bonaparte in Egypt. Thiers says that the Directorial Republic
+exhibited at this time a scene of distressing confusion. He adds: "The
+Directory gave up guillotining; it only transported. It ceased to
+force people to take assignats upon pain of death; but it paid nobody.
+Our soldiers, without arms and without bread, were beaten instead of
+being victorious."
+
+The ambition of Napoleon found in this situation a fitting
+opportunity. The legislative branch of the government consisted of a
+Senate, or Council of Ancients, and a Council of Five Hundred. The
+latter constituted the popular branch. Of this body Lucien Bonaparte,
+brother of the general, was president. Hardly had Napoleon arrived in
+the capital on his return from Egypt when a conspiracy was formed by
+him with Sieyes, Lucien and others of revolutionary disposition, to do
+away by a _coup_ with the too democratic system, and to replace it
+with a stronger and more centralized order. The Council of Ancients
+was to be brought around by the influence of Sieyes. To Lucien
+Bonaparte the more difficult task was assigned of controlling and
+revolutionizing the Assembly. As for Napoleon, Sieyes procured for him
+the command of the military forces of Paris; and by another decree the
+sittings of the two legislative bodies were transferred to St. Cloud.
+
+The eighteenth Brumaire of the Year VIII, corresponding to the ninth
+of November, 1799, was fixed as the day for the revolution. By that
+date soldiers to the number of 10,000 men had been collected in the
+gardens of the Tuileries. There they were reviewed by General
+Bonaparte and the leading officers of his command. He read to the
+soldiers the decree which had just been issued under the authority of
+the Council of the Ancients. This included the order for the removal
+of the legislative body to St. Cloud, and for his own command. He was
+entrusted with the execution of the order of the Council, and all of
+the military forces in Paris were put at his disposal. In these hours
+of the day there were all manner of preparation. That a conspiracy
+existed was manifest to everybody. That General Bonaparte was reaching
+for the supreme authority could hardly be doubted. His secretary thus
+writes of him on the morning of the great day.
+
+"I was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the
+eighteenth Brumaire, and, on my arrival, I found a great number of
+generals and officers assembled. I entered Bonaparte's chamber, and
+found him already up--a thing rather unusual with him. At this moment
+he was as calm as on the approach of a battle. In a few moments Joseph
+and Bernadotte arrived. I was surprised to see Bernadotte in plain
+clothes, and I stepped up to him and said in a low voice: 'General,
+everyone here except you and I is in uniform.' 'Why should I be in
+uniform?' said he. Bonaparte, turning quickly to him, said: 'How is
+this? You are not in uniform.' 'I never am on a morning when I am not
+on duty,' replied Bernadotte. 'You will be on duty presently,' said
+the general!"
+
+To Napoleon the crisis was an epoch of fate. The first thing was to be
+the resignation of Sieyes, Barras and Ducos, which--coming suddenly on
+the appointed morning--broke up the Directory. Bonaparte then put out
+his hand as commander of the troops. Too late the Republicans of the
+Council of Five Hundred felt the earthquake swelling under their feet.
+Napoleon appeared at the bar of the Assembly, and attempted a rambling
+and incoherent justification for what was going on. A motion was made
+to outlaw him; but the soldiers rushed in, and the refractory members
+were seized and expelled. A few who were in the revolution remained,
+and to the number of fifty voted a decree making Sieyes, Bonaparte and
+Ducos provisional _Consuls_, thus conferring on them the supreme
+executive power of the State. By nightfall the business was
+accomplished, and the man of Ajaccio slept in the palace of the
+Tuileries. He had said to his secretary, Bourriene, on that morning,
+"We shall sleep to-night in the Tuileries--or in prison."
+
+The new order was immediately made organic. There could be no question
+when Three Consuls were appointed and Bonaparte one of the number,
+which of the three would be _First_ Consul. He would be that himself;
+the other two might be the ciphers which should make his unit 100. The
+new system was defined as the "Provisionary Consulate;" but this form
+was only transitional. The managers of the _coup_ went rapidly forward
+to make it permanent. The Constitution of the Year III gave place
+quickly to the Constitution of the Year VIII, which provided for an
+executive government, under the name of the CONSULATE. Nominally the
+Consulate was to be an executive committee of three, but really an
+executive committee of _one_--with two associates. The three men
+chosen were Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean Jacques Cambaceres and Charles
+Francois Lebrun. On Christmas day, 1799, Napoleon was made FIRST
+CONSUL; and that signified the beginning of a new order, destined to
+endure for sixteen and a half years, and to end at Waterloo. The old
+century was dying and the new was ready to arise out of its ashes.
+
+
+HOW THE SON OF EQUALITY BECAME KING OF FRANCE.
+
+The French Revolution spared not anything that stood in its way. The
+royal houses were in its way, and they went down before the blast.
+Thus did the House of Bourbon, and thus did also the House of Orleans.
+The latter branch, however, sought by its living representatives to
+compromise with the storm. The Orleans princes have always had a touch
+of liberalism to which the members of the Bourbon branch were
+strangers.
+
+At the outbreak of the Revolution, Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of
+Orleans, fraternized with the popular party, threw away his princely
+title and named himself Philippe Egalite; that is, as we should say,
+Mr. _Equality_ Philip. In this character he participated in the
+National Assembly until he fell under distrust, and in despite of his
+defence and protestations--in spite of the fact that he had voted for
+the death of his cousin the king--was seized, condemned and
+guillotined.
+
+This Equality Philip left as his representative in the world a son who
+was twenty years old when his father was executed. The son was that
+Louis Philippe who, under his surname of _Roi Citoyen_, or "Citizen
+King," was destined after extraordinary vicissitudes to hold the
+sceptre of France for eighteen years. Young Louis Philippe was a
+soldier in the republican armies. That might well have saved him from
+persecution; but his princely blood could not be excused. He was by
+birth the Duke of Valois, and by succession the Duke of Chartres. As
+a boy, eight years of age, he had received for his governess the
+celebrated Madame de Genlis, who remained faithful to him in all his
+misfortunes. At eighteen he became a dragoon in the Vendome Regiment,
+and in 1792 he fought valiantly under Kellermann and Dumouriez at
+Valmy and Jemappes. Then followed the treason, or defection, of
+Dumouriez; but young Louis remained with the army for two years
+longer, when, being proscribed, he went into exile, finding refuge
+with other suspected officers and many refugees in Switzerland.
+
+Thither Dumouriez himself had gone. Of the flight of young Louis,
+Carlyle says: "Brave young Egalite reaches Switzerland and the Genlis
+Cottage; with a strong crabstick in his hand, a strong heart in his
+body: his Princedom is now reduced to _that_ Egalite the father sat
+playing whist, in his Palais Egalite, at Paris, on the sixth day of
+this same month of April, when a catchpole entered. Citoyen Egalite is
+wanted at the Convention Committee!" What the committee wanted with
+Equality Philip and what they did with him has been stated above.
+
+Consider then that the Napoleonic era has at last set in blood.
+Consider that the Restoration, with the reigns of Louis XVIII. and
+Charles X., has gone by. Consider that the "Three Days of July,"
+1830, have witnessed a bloodless revolution in Paris, in which the
+House of Bourbon was finally overthrown and blown away. On the second
+of August, Charles X. gave over the hopeless struggle and abdicated in
+favor of his son. But the Chamber of Deputies and the people of France
+had now wearied of Bourbonism in _all_ of its forms, and the nation
+was determined to have a king of its own choosing.
+
+The Chamber set about the work of selecting a new ruler for France. At
+this juncture, Thiers and Mignet again asserted their strength and
+influence by nominating for the throne Louis Philippe, Duke of
+Orleans, representative of what is known as the Younger Branch of the
+Bourbon dynasty. The prince himself was not loath to present himself
+at the crisis, and to offer his services to the nation. In so doing,
+he was favored greatly by his character and antecedents. At the first,
+the Chamber voted to place him at the head of the kingdom with the
+title of _Lieutenant-General_. The prince accepted his election, met
+the Chamber of Deputies and members of the Provisional Government at
+the Hotel de Ville, and there solemnly pledged himself to the most
+liberal principles of administration. His accession to power in his
+military relations was hailed with great delight by the Parisians, who
+waved the tri-color flag before him as he came, and shouted to their
+heart's content.
+
+At this stage of the revolution the representatives of the overthrown
+House and of the Old Royalty sought assiduously to obtain from Louis
+Philippe a recognition of the young Count de Chambord, under the title
+of Henry V. But the Duke of Orleans was too wily a politician to be
+caught in such a snare. He at first suppressed that part of the letter
+of abdication signed by Charles and Angouleme in which reference was
+made to the succession of the Duke of Berry's son; but a knowledge of
+that clause was presently disseminated in the city, and the tumult
+broke out anew.
+
+Then it was that a great mob, rolling out of Paris in the direction of
+the Hotel Rambouillet, gave the signal of flight to Charles and those
+who had adhered to the toppling fortunes of his house. The Chamber of
+Deputies proceeded quickly to undo the despotic acts of the late king,
+and then elected Louis Philippe king, not of _France_, but of the
+_French_. The new sovereign received 219 out of 252 votes in the
+Deputies. His elevation to power was one of the most striking examples
+of personal vicissitudes which has ever been afforded by the princes
+and rulers of modern times.
+
+
+THE COUP D'ETAT OF 1851.
+
+With the overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848, what is known as the
+Second Republic, was established in France. On the tenth of December,
+in that year, a president was elected in the American manner for a
+term of four years. To the astonishment of the whole world, the man so
+elected was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who had since the downfall of
+Napoleon been prisoner, exile and adventurer by turns. In the course
+of President Louis Napoleon's administration, matters came to such a
+pass between him and the National Assembly that one or the other must
+go to the wall.
+
+In the early winter of 1851, a crisis came on which broke in a
+marvelous manner in the event called the Coup d'Etat. The President
+made up his mind to conquer the Assembly by force. He planned what is
+known in modern history by pre-eminence the stroke. He, and those whom
+he trusted, made their arrangements secretly, silently, that the
+"stroke" should fall on the night of the second of December. On that
+evening the President held a gay reception in the palace of the
+Elysee, and after his guests had retired, the scheme was perfected for
+immediate execution.
+
+During the night seventy-eight of the leading members of the
+Opposition were seized at their own houses and taken to prison. The
+representatives of the people were hurried through the streets, and
+suddenly immured where their voices could be no longer heard. At the
+same time a strong force of soldiers was stationed near the Tuileries.
+The offices of the liberal newspapers were seized and closed, and the
+Government printing presses were employed all night in printing the
+proclamation with which the walls of the city were covered before
+morning. With the coming of daylight, Paris awoke and read:
+
+1. The National Assembly is dissolved;
+
+2. Universal suffrage is re-established;
+
+3. The Elective Colleges are summoned to meet on December 21;
+
+4. Paris is in a state of siege.
+
+By the side of this proclamation was posted the President's address to
+the people. He proposed the election of a president for ten years. He
+referred the army to the neglect which it had received at the hands of
+former governments, and promised that the soldiery of France should
+rewin its ancient renown.
+
+As soon as those members of the Assembly who had not been arrested
+could realize the thing which was done, they ran together and
+attempted to stay the tide of revolution by passing a vote deposing
+the President from office. But the effort was futile. A republican
+insurrection, under the leadership of Victor Hugo and a few other
+distinguished Liberals, broke out in the city. But there was in the
+nature of the case no concert of action, no resources behind the
+insurrection, and no military leadership. General Canrobert,
+Commandant of the Guards, soon put down the revolt in blood. Order was
+speedily restored throughout Paris, and the victory of the President
+was complete. It only remained to submit his usurpation to the
+judgment of the people, and the decision in that case could, under
+existing conditions, hardly be a matter of doubt.
+
+In accordance with the President's proclamation, a popular election
+was held throughout France, on the twentieth and twenty-first of
+December, at which the Coup d'Etat was signally vindicated. Louis
+Napoleon was triumphantly elected President, for a period of ten
+years. Out of eight millions of votes, fewer than one million were
+cast against him. He immediately entered upon office, backed by this
+tremendous majority, and became Dictator of France. In January of
+1852, sharp on the heels of the revolution which he had effected, he
+promulgated a new constitution. The instrument was based upon that of
+1789, and possessed but few clauses to which any right-minded lover
+of free institutions could object. On the twenty-eighth of March,
+Napoleon resigned the dictatorship, which he had held since the Coup
+d'Etat, and resumed the office of President of the Republic.
+
+It was not long, however, until the _After That_ began to appear.
+Already in the summer and autumn of 1852 it became evident that the
+_Empire_ was to be re-established. In the season of the vintage the
+President made a tour of the country, and was received with cries of
+_Vive L'Empereur_! In his addresses, particularly in that which he
+delivered at Bordeaux, the sentiment of Empire was cautiously offered
+to the people. The consummation was soon reached. On the seventh of
+November, 1852, a vote was passed by the French Senate for the
+re-establishment of the imperial order, and for the submission of the
+proposed measure to a popular vote.
+
+The event showed conclusively that the French nation, as then
+constituted, was Bonapartist to the core. Louis Napoleon was almost
+unanimously elected to the imperial dignity. Of the eight millions of
+suffrages of France, only a few scattering thousands were recorded in
+the negative. Thus, in a blaze of glory that might well have satisfied
+the ambition of the First Bonaparte, did he, who, only twelve years
+before at Boulogne, had tried most ridiculously to excite a paltry
+rebellion by the display of a pet-eagle to his followers, mount the
+Imperial throne of France with the title of Napoleon III.
+
+
+THE CHARTIST AGITATION IN ENGLAND.
+
+One of the most important political movements of the present century
+was the Chartist agitation in Great Britain. This agitation began in
+1838. It was an effort of the under man in England to gain his rights.
+In the retrospect, it seems to us astonishing that such rights as
+those that were then claimed by the common people of England should
+ever have been denied to the citizens of any free country. The period
+covered by the excitement was about ten years in duration, and during
+that period great and salutary reforms were effected, but they were
+not thorough, and to this day the under man in Great Britain is mocked
+with the _semblance_ of political liberty, the _substance_ of which he
+does not enjoy; the same is true in America.
+
+The name _Chartist_ arose from an article called the "People's
+Charter," which was prepared by the famous Daniel O'Connell. The
+document contained six propositions, follows:
+
+(1) We demand Universal Suffrage--by which was meant rather Manhood
+Suffrage than what is now known as universal suffrage, meaning the
+ballot in the hands of both sexes. This the Chartists did not demand.
+
+(2) We demand an Annual Parliament--by which was meant the election of
+a new House of Commons each year by the people.
+
+(3) We demand the right to Vote by Ballot--by which was meant the
+right of the people to employ a _secret_ ballot at the elections
+instead of the method _viva voce_.
+
+(4) We demand the abolition of the Property Qualification now
+requisite as a condition of eligibility to Membership in the House of
+Commons.
+
+(5) We demand that the Members of Parliament shall be paid a salary
+for their services.
+
+(6) We demand the Division of the Country into Equal Electoral
+Districts--by which was meant an equality of _population_, as against
+mere territorial extent.
+
+To the reader of to-day it must appear a matter of astonishment that
+the representatives of the working classes of Great Britain should
+have been called upon, at a time within the memory of men still
+living, to advance and advocate political principles so self-evident
+and common-sense as those declared in the Charter, and his wonder must
+be raised to amazement when he is told that the whole governing power
+of Great Britain, the King, the Ministry, the House of Lords, the
+House of Commons, the Tories as a party, the Whigs as a party,
+and--all party divisions aside--the great Middle Class of Englishmen
+set themselves in horrified antagonism to the Charter and its
+advocates, as though the former were the most incendiary document in
+the world and the latter a rabble of radicals gathered from the
+purlieus of the French Revolution.
+
+The reason for the outbreak of the Chartist reform was the fact that
+the Reform Bill of 1832 had proved a signal failure. For six years the
+English Middle Classes had sought by the agency of that act to gain
+their rights, but they had sought in vain. The people now began to
+follow popular leaders, who always arise under such conditions. One of
+these, by the name of Thorn, a bankrupt brewer and half madman, who
+called himself Sir William Courtenay, appeared in Canterbury. He said
+that he was a Knight of Malta and King of Jerusalem--this when he was
+only a knight of malt and a king of shreds and patches. Delusion broke
+out on every hand. One great leader was Feargus O'Connor. Another was
+Thomas Cooper, a poet, and a third was the orator Henry Vincent,
+afterward well known in America.
+
+The agitation for reform spread far and wide. The people seemed to be
+about to rise _en masse_. The powers of British society were shaken
+and alarmed. The authorities put out their hands and the Chartist
+meetings in many places were broken up. The leading spirits were
+seized and thrown into prison for nothing. Three of the agitators were
+sent to the penal colonies, for no other offence than the delivery of
+democratic speeches. For several years the movement was in abeyance,
+but in 1848, in the month of April, the agitation broke out afresh and
+rose to a formidable climax. A great meeting was appointed for the
+Kensington common, and there, on the tenth of the month just named, a
+monster demonstration was held. A petition had meanwhile been drawn
+up, praying for reform, and was _signed by nearly two million
+Englishmen_!
+
+After this the Chartist agitation ebbed away. The movement was said to
+be a failure; but it failed, not because of the political principles
+on which it was founded, but because those principles had in the
+meantime been acknowledged and applied. At least three of the six
+articles of the Chartist charter were soon adopted by Parliament. The
+principle of Manhood Suffrage is virtually a part of the English
+Constitution. The right of voting by Secret Ballot, deposited in a
+ballot-box, has also been acknowledged as a part of the _modus
+operandi_ of all British elections. In like manner the Property
+Qualification formerly imposed on candidates for Parliament, against
+which the Chartists so vehemently and justly declaimed, has long since
+been abolished.
+
+
+THE ABOLITION OF HUMAN BONDAGE.
+
+Certainly no greater deed of philanthropy has been accomplished by
+mankind than the extinction of human servitude. True, that horrible
+relic of antiquity has not yet been wholly obliterated from the world,
+but the nineteenth century has dealt upon it such staggering and fatal
+blows as have driven it from all the high places of civilization and
+made it crouch in obscure corners and unenlightened regions on the
+outskirts of paganism. Slavery has not indeed been extinguished; but
+it is scotched, and must expire. According to the tendency of things,
+the sun in his course at the middle of the twentieth century will
+hardly light the hovel of a single slave!
+
+The opening of the modern era found slavery universally distributed.
+There was perhaps at the middle of the eighteenth century not a
+single non-slave-holding race or nation on the globe! All were alike
+brutalized by the influences and traditions of the ancient system. All
+were familiar with it--aye, they were nursed by it; for it has been
+one of the strange aspects of human life that the children of the free
+have been nursed by the mothers of the enslaved. All races, we repeat,
+were alike poisoned with the venom of the serpent. Thus poisoned were
+France and Germany. Thus poisoned was England; and thus also our
+colonies. Time was, even down to the dawn of the Revolution, when
+every American colony was slave-holding. Time was when the system was
+taught in the schools and preached in the pulpits of all the civilized
+world.
+
+It was about the Revolutionary epoch, that is, the last quarter of the
+eighteenth century, when the conscience of men began to be active on
+the subject of human bondage. We think that the disposition to
+recognize the wickedness and impolity of slavery was a part of the
+general movement which came on in civilization, tending to
+revolutionize not only the political but the social and ethical
+condition of mankind. We know well that in our own country, when our
+political institutions were in process of formation slavery was
+courageously challenged. It was not challenged more audaciously in
+the Northern than in the Southern colonies. Some of the latter, as,
+for example, Georgia, had at the first excluded slavery as a thing
+intolerable to freedom and righteousness. The leading men of the old
+Southern States at the close of the last century nearly all repudiated
+slavery in principle. They admitted it only in practice and because it
+was a part of their inheritance. The patriots, both North and South,
+were averse not only to the extension of the area of bondage, but to
+the existence of it as a fact.
+
+Washington was at heart an anti-slavery man. He wished in his heavy
+but wholly patriotic way as heartily as Lincoln wished that all men
+might enjoy the blessings of freedom. Jefferson was almost radical on
+the question. Though he did not heartily believe in an overruling
+Providence, he felt the need of one when he considered the afflictive
+system of slavery with which his State and country were encumbered. He
+said that considering it he trembled when he remembered that God is
+just.
+
+Meanwhile the unprofitableness of slavery in the Northern colonies had
+co-operated with the conscience of Puritanism to engender a sentiment
+against slavery in that part of the Union. So, although the
+institution was tolerated in the Constitution and even had guarantees
+thrown around it, it was, nevertheless, disfavored in our fundamental
+law. One may readily see how the patriots labored with this portentous
+question. Already in Great Britain an anti-slavery sentiment had
+appeared. There were anti-slavery leaders, statesmen, philosophers and
+philanthropists. By the terms of the Constitution the slave _trade_
+should cease in the year 1808. Sad to reflect that the inventive
+genius of man and the prodigality of nature in her gifts of cotton,
+sugar and rice to the old South should have produced a reaction in
+favor of slavery so great as to fasten it more strongly than ever upon
+our country.
+
+The fact is, that to all human seeming at the middle of our century
+American slavery seemed to be more firmly established than ever
+before. Neither the outcry of the Northern abolitionists nor the
+appeals of Southern patriots such as Henry Clay, availed to check the
+pro-slavery disposition in fully one-half the Union, or to abate the
+covert favor with which the institution was regarded in nearly all the
+other half.
+
+Meanwhile, however, slavery was suffering and expiring in nearly all
+parts of Europe. England began her battle against it even before the
+beginning of the century. The work of the philanthropists, begun as
+far back as 1786-87, when the Quakers, under the leadership of
+Clarkson and Sharpe, began to cry out against the atrocity of human
+bondage, now reached the public authorities, and ministers found it
+necessary to take heed of what the people were saying and doing. Both
+Pitt and Fox became abolitionists before the close of the eighteenth
+century. The first attack was against the slave _trade_. Bills for the
+abolition of this trade were passed in 1793-94 by the House of
+Commons, but were rejected by the Peers. In 1804 another act was
+passed; but this also was rejected by the Lords. So too, the bill of
+1805! The agitation continued during 1806; and in 1807, just after the
+death of Fox, the slave trade _was_ abolished in Great Britain.
+
+The abolitionists went straight ahead, however, to attack slavery
+itself. The Anti-slavery Society was founded. Clarkson and Wilberforce
+and Buxton became the evangels of a new order that was seen far off.
+It was not, however, until the great reform agitation of 1832 that the
+government really took up the question of the abolition of slavery.
+The bill for this purpose was introduced in the House of Commons on
+the twenty-third of April, 1833. The process of abolition was to be
+_gradual_. The masters were to be _compensated_. There were to be
+periods of apprenticeship, after which freedom should supervene.
+Twenty million pounds were to be appropriated from the national
+treasury to pay the expenses of the abolition process.
+
+It was on the seventh of August, 1833, that this bill was adopted by
+the House of Commons. Two weeks afterward the House of Lords assented,
+and on the twenty-eighth of August the royal assent was given. The
+emancipation, however, was set for the first of August, 1834; and this
+is the date from which the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and
+her dependencies may be said to have occurred. In some parts, however,
+the actual process of extinguishing slavery lagged. It was not until
+1843 that the 12,000,000 of slaves under British control in the empire
+were emancipated.
+
+The virtual extinction of human slavery in the present century,
+presents a peculiar ethnical study. Among the Latin races, the French
+were the first to move for emancipation. It appears that the infusion
+of Gallic blood, as well as the large influence of the Frankish
+nations in the production of the modern French, has given to that
+people a bias in favor of liberty. All the other Latin races have
+lagged behind; but, France foreran even Great Britain in the work of
+abolition. Scarcely had the great Revolution of 1789 got under way,
+until an act of abolition conceding freedom to all men without regard
+to race or color was adopted by the National Assembly.
+
+It was on the fifteenth of May, 1791, that this great act was passed.
+One of the darkest aspects of the character of Napoleon I. was the
+favor which he showed to the project of restoring slavery in the
+French colonies. But that project was in vain. The blow of freedom
+once struck produced its everlasting results. Though slavery lingered
+for nearly a half century in some of the French colonies, it survived
+there only because of the revolutions in the home government which
+prevented its final extinction. Acts were passed for the utter
+extirpation of the system during the reign of Louis Philippe, and
+again in the time of the Second Republic.
+
+Meanwhile, the northern nations proceeded with the work of abolition.
+In Sweden slavery ceased in 1847. In the following year Denmark passed
+an Act of Emancipation. But the Netherlands did not follow in the good
+work until the year 1860. The Spaniards and Portuguese have been among
+the last to cling to the system of human servitude. In the outlying
+possessions of Spain, in Spanish America and elsewhere, the
+institution still maintains a precarious existence. In Brazil it was
+not abolished until 1871. In the Mohammedan countries it still exists,
+and may even be said to flourish. In Russia serfdom was abolished in
+1863. He who at that date looked abroad over the world, might see the
+pillars of human bondage shaken, and falling in every part of the
+habitable globe which had been reclaimed by civilization.
+
+In the meantime, Great Britain, in her usual aggressive way, had
+established an anti-slavery propaganda, from which strong influences
+extended in every direction. Her Anti-slavery Society re-established
+itself in the United States. Abolition candidates for the presidency
+began to be heard of and to be voted for at every quadrennial
+election. Such was Birney in 1844. Such (strange to say) was Martin
+Van Buren in 1848. Such four years afterward was John P. Hale, of New
+Hampshire, and such in 1856, as the storm came on, was John C.
+Fremont.
+
+The political history of the United States shows at this epoch an
+astounding growth of anti-slavery sentiment; and this expanding force
+culminated in the election of Lincoln. Great, indeed, was the change
+which had already swept over the landscape of American thought and
+purpose since the despised Birney, in 1844, received only a few
+thousand votes in the whole United States. Now the Rail-splitter had
+come! The tocsin of war sounded. The Union was rent. War with its
+flames of fire and streams of blood devastated the Republic. But the
+bow of promise was set on the dark background of the receding storm.
+American slavery was swept into oblivion, and the end of the third
+quarter of the century saw such a condition established in both the
+New World and the Old, as made the restoration of human bondage
+forever impossible.
+
+Not until the present order of civilization shall be destroyed will
+man be permitted again to hold his fellow-man in servitude. The chain
+that was said "to follow the mother," making all her offspring to be
+slaves; the manacles and fetters with which the weak were bound and
+committed to the mercies of heartless traders; all of the insignia and
+apparatus of the old atrocious system of bondage, have been heaped
+together and cast out with the rubbish and offal of the civilized life
+into the valley of Gehenna. There the whole shall be burned with
+unquenchable fire! Then the smoke, arising for a season, shall be
+swept away, and nothing but a green earth and a blue sky shall remain
+for the emancipated race of man.
+
+
+THE PERIL OF OUR CENTENNIAL YEAR.
+
+Americans are likely to dwell for a long time upon the glories of our
+Centennial of Independence. The year 1876 came and went, and left its
+impress on the world. Our great Exposition at Philadelphia was
+happily devised. We celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of our
+independence, and invited all nations, _including Great Britain_, to
+join us in the festival. The Exposition was successful in a high
+degree. The nation was at its best. The warrior President who had led
+her armies to victory announced the opening and the close. Great
+things were seen. One or two great orations were pronounced, and in
+particular a great Centennial poem was contributed by that gifted son
+of genius, Sidney Lanier, of Georgia. Nor do we refrain from
+repeating, after twenty years, one of his poetic passages:
+
+    "Long as thine Art shall love true love;
+      Long as thy Science truth shall know;
+    Long as thine Eagle harms no Dove;
+      Long as thy Law by law shall grow;
+    Long as thy God is God above,
+      Thy brother every man below,
+    So long, dear Land of all my love,
+      Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow!"
+
+With the autumnal frost the great Exposition was concluded; and with
+that autumnal frost came a peril the like of which our nation had not
+hitherto encountered. The presidential election was held, and ended in
+a disputed presidency. We had agreed since the beginning of the
+century that ours should be a government by party. Against this
+policy Washington had contended stoutly; but after the death of the
+Father of his Country, the policy prevailed--as it has continued to
+prevail more and more to the present day.
+
+In 1876 a Democratic reaction came on against the long-dominant
+Republican party, and Samuel J. Tilden, candidate of the Democracy,
+secured a _popular_ majority. The _electoral_ majority remained in
+dispute. Both parties claimed the victory. The election was so evenly
+balanced in its results--there had been so much irregularity in the
+voting and subsequent electoral proceedings in the States of Florida,
+Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon, and the powers of Congress over
+the votes of such States were so vaguely defined under existing
+legislation--that no certain declaration of the result could be made.
+The public mind was confounded with perplexity and excitement, and
+there began to be heard the threatenings of civil war.
+
+Perhaps the nation did not realize the danger; but the danger was
+present, and threatened to be overwhelming. The Republican party in
+possession of the Government was not willing to lose its advantage,
+and the Democratic party, declaring its majority to be rightful, was
+ready to rise in insurrection. As to the facts in the case, neither
+Samuel J. Tilden nor General R.B. Hayes was clearly elected to the
+presidency. The Democrats had carried two or three States by the
+persuasion of shotguns, and the Republicans with the aid of electoral
+commissions had counted in the electoral votes of a State or two which
+they did not carry at all. The excitement increased with the approach
+of winter, and it was proposed in a leading Democratic journal of the
+West that a hundred thousand Democrats should rise and march unarmed
+on Washington City, there to influence the decision of the disputed
+question.
+
+When Congress convened in December, the whole question of the disputed
+presidency came at once before that body for settlement. The situation
+was seriously complicated by the political complexion of the Senate
+and the House of Representatives. In the former body the Republicans
+had a majority sufficient to control its action, while in the House
+the Democratic majority was still more decisive and equally willful.
+
+At length the necessity of doing _something_ became imperative. The
+great merchants and manufacturers of the country and the boards of
+trade in the principal cities grew clamorous for a peaceable
+adjustment of the difficulty. The spirit of compromise gained ground,
+and it was agreed to refer the disputed election returns to a joint
+high commission, to consist of five members chosen from the United
+States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from
+the Supreme Court.
+
+The judgment of this tribunal was to be final. The commission was
+accordingly constituted. The disputed returns were sent, State by
+State, to the High Court for decision. That body was itself divided
+politically, and _every member decided each question according to his
+politics_. The Republicans had seven votes in the court, the Democrats
+seven votes, and one vote, that of Judge Joseph P. Bradley, was said
+to be independent. But Judge Bradley was a Republican in his political
+antecedents, and whenever a question came to a close issue, he decided
+with his party.
+
+On the second of March, only three days before the time for the
+inauguration, a final decision was reached. The Republican candidates
+were declared elected _by one electoral vote_ over Tilden and
+Hendricks. Mr. Tilden had himself counseled peace and acquiescence.
+The decision was sullenly accepted by the Democrats, and the most
+dangerous political crisis in American history passed harmlessly by
+without violence or bloodshed. No patriot will care to see such a
+crisis come again.
+
+
+THE DOUBLE FETE IN FRANCE AND GERMANY.
+
+The Third Republic of France has passed its twenty-fifth anniversary,
+and the German Empire has just celebrated its semi-jubilee. The French
+held their fete in September of 1895, and on the eighteenth of the
+following January all the Fatherland shouted greetings to the grandson
+of old Wilhelm the Kaiser. The Gaul and the Teuton have thus agreed to
+be happy coincidently; but for very different reasons! The Gaul has
+his Republic and the Teuton his Empire. Side by side on the map lie
+the two great powers, representing in their history and present aspect
+one of the strongest contrasts to be found in human annals.
+
+What the German Empire is we may permit the Emperor himself, in his
+recent anniversary address, to explain. His speech shows that Germany,
+of all civilized nations, has gone furthest in the direction of
+unqualified imperialism. The utterances of Emperor William surpass the
+speeches of the Czar himself, in avowing all the pretensions and
+fictions of monarchy in the Middle Ages. The Hohenzollern potentate
+openly makes the pretence of governing his subjects by rights and
+prerogatives in nowise derived from the people, but wholly derived
+from himself and his grandfather. Why should Germany be an Empire and
+France a Republic? How could such an amazing historical result come
+into the world? The French Republic and the new Empire of Germany were
+not made by generals and kings and politicians in 1870-71. Indeed,
+nothing is made by the strutters who are designated with such titles.
+The two great powers having their centres at Berlin and Paris have
+their roots as deep down as the subsoil of the ages. They grew out of
+antecedents older than the Crusades, older than Charlemagne, older
+than Augustus and the Christ. They came by law--even if the result
+_has_ surprised the expectation of mankind.
+
+When Caesar made his conquest of Europe, he found the country north of
+the Alps in the possession of two races--both Aryan. These two races
+were as unlike then as they are now. The Gauls west of the Rhine were
+proper material for the reception of Roman rule; but the Germans
+beyond the Rhine were not receptive of any rule but their own. The
+Gallic races became Romanized. Gaul was a part of the Roman Empire and
+reasoning from the facts, we should have expected the Gaulish nations
+to develop into the imperial form.
+
+For like reason we should expect the Teutonic races to develop into
+the greatest democracy of the modern world. Contrary to this double
+expectation, we have a French Republic and a German Empire. In 1870
+the Gallic race became suddenly democratic, and at the same time the
+Germans became the greatest imperialists among civilized mankind! The
+German Empire has arisen where we should have expected a democracy;
+and the French Republic has arisen where we should have expected an
+Empire.
+
+The illogical Empire lies alongside of the illogical Republic. They
+have a line of demarkation which, though drawn on the map, is not
+drawn on the ground. The great antagonistic facts touch each other
+through a long line of territorial extent, but the ethnic diversity
+does not permit political union. The Teuton and the Gaul continue to
+touch, but they are not one, and cannot be. Two neighbors living
+between Verdun and Metz are only a quarter of a mile apart. They
+cultivate their grounds in the same manner, raise the same fruits,
+have vines growing on the two sides of the same trellis. They speak
+the same language, exchange gossip and poultry; but their children do
+not go to the same school! One of them is a French democrat; the
+other, a German imperialist!
+
+The reason for this reversal of expectation, by which the anticipated
+institutions of France are found in Germany and those of Germany in
+France, is this: It seems to be a law of human progress that mankind
+moves forward by reactions against its own preceding conditions; that
+is, Progress disappoints History _by doing the other thing_! The
+French race has done the other thing; and so has the German race! They
+who should have been logically the imperialists of Western Europe are
+the republicans and democrats. They who should have been logically the
+democrats and republicans of Europe--who should have converted
+Germania into the greatest democracy of the world--have accepted
+instead the most absolute empire. The phrase "German _Empire_" is, we
+think, the greatest paradox of modern history; and the phrase "French
+_Republic_" is another like it. But history has decreed it so; and the
+reason is that human progress works out its highest results by doing
+the other thing!
+
+But this philosophical speculation or interpretation does not trouble
+either the French or the Germans. They both seem to rejoice at what
+has come to pass, and do not trouble themselves about the logistics of
+history. They celebrate their quarter centennials, the one for the
+Republic, and the other for the Empire, with profound enthusiasm,
+shouting, _Vive_ for the one and _Hoch_ for the other with an
+impulsive patriotism that has come down to them with the blood of
+their respective races from before the Christian era!
+
+
+
+
+Great Battles.
+
+
+TRAFALGAR.
+
+Lord Byron in his celebrated apostrophe to the ocean could hardly omit
+a reference to the most destructive conflict of naval warfare within
+the present century. In one of his supreme stanzas he reserves
+Trafalgar for the climax:
+
+    "The armaments which thunderstrike the walls
+      Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake
+    And monarchs tremble in their capitals,
+      The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make
+      Their clay creator the vain title take
+    Of lord of thee and arbiter of war,--
+      These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake,
+    They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar
+    Alike the Armada's pride or spoils of Trafalgar."
+
+The battle of Trafalgar, preceding by forty-two days the battle of
+Austerlitz, holds the same relation to British ascendancy on the ocean
+that Napoleon's victory over the Emperors Alexander and Francis held
+to the French ascendancy on Continental Europe. Henceforth Great
+Britain, according to her national hymn, "ruled the wave;" henceforth,
+until after Waterloo, France ruled the land. Up to this date, namely,
+1805, French ambition had reached as far as the dominion of the sea.
+It appears that Napoleon himself had no genius for naval warfare, but
+his ambition included the ocean; coincidently with his accession to
+the Imperial throne a great fleet was prepared and placed under
+command of Admiral Villeneuve for the recovery of the Mediterranean.
+
+This fleet was destined in the first place for a possible invasion of
+England, but fate and Providence had reserved for the armament another
+service. At the same time the British fleet, to the number of
+twenty-seven ships of the line and four frigates, was brought to a
+high stage of proficiency and discipline, and placed under command of
+Lord Horatio Nelson. His second in command was Admiral Collingwood,
+who succeeded him after his death. The French fleet was increased to
+thirty-three ships of the line and five frigates, the addition being
+the Spanish contingent under Admirals Gravina and Alava. The Spanish
+vessels joined Villeneuve from Cadiz about the middle of May. The plan
+of the French commander was to rally a great squadron, cross the
+Atlantic to the West Indies, return as if bearing down on Europe, and
+raise the blockades at Ferrol, Rochefort and Brest.
+
+As soon as it was known, however, that Nelson was abroad, his
+antagonist became wary and all of his movements were marked with
+caution. Meanwhile Lord Nelson sought for the allied-fleet on the
+Mediterranean, but found it not. He then passed through the Straits of
+Gibraltar and sailed for the coast of South America; but before
+reaching his destination he learned that the Spanish fleet had sailed
+for Europe again. Nelson followed, but did not fall in with the enemy.
+Villeneuve, gaining knowledge of the movements of the English admiral,
+and disregarding the instructions of Napoleon, withdrew from Ferrol to
+the south and put in at Cadiz. It was here that Nelson, so to speak,
+brought the allied fleet to bay.
+
+On the southern coast of Spain, between Cadiz and Gibraltar, the Cape
+of Trafalgar projects into the Atlantic. In the autumn Nelson's fleet
+beat southward into this part of the seas, and it was here that the
+battle was fought. The rival commanders were eager for a meeting, and
+each foresaw that the contest was likely to be decisive. Each admiral
+had behind him a long list of naval achievements, and each to his own
+nation was greatly endeared.
+
+Nelson had, on the first of August, 1798, destroyed the French fleet
+in the bay of Aboukir. In 1800 he had been raised to the peerage. In
+1801 he had bombarded Copenhagen; and for that doubtful achievement
+had been made a viscount. One of his arms was gone, and he was
+covered with the scars of battle. Villeneuve had also a well-earned
+reputation. Could he but add to his previous services the defeat of
+Nelson, his fame would be established for all time.
+
+It was on the twenty-first of October, 1805, that the combined
+squadrons of France and Spain on the one side, and the fleet of Great
+Britain on the other, came face to face off the Cape of Trafalgar. The
+rocks of Gibraltar might be seen in the distance. The sea was calm and
+the sky clear. The combatants discerned in advance the greatness of
+the event that was at hand.
+
+The conflict that ensued ranks among the great naval battles of the
+world. Lord Nelson, with all his heroism, was a vain man, capable of
+spectacular display. He clad himself in the insignia of the many
+orders to which he belonged, and might be conspicuously seen from the
+decks of the French ships. In fact, he seemed to court death almost as
+much as he strove for victory. In the beginning of the engagement he
+displayed from his pennon, where it might be read by the whole fleet,
+this signal: "England expects every man to do his duty."
+
+On the display of this signal the British fleet rang with cheers. The
+shouting was heard as far as the opposing Armada. The tradition goes
+that Villeneuve said on hearing the shouts of the British marines:
+"The battle it lost already." The admirals of the allied fleet
+arranged their vessels in parallel lines, so that each ship of the
+rear line should break the space between two of the advanced line.
+This arrangement enabled all the ships to fire at once, and it was the
+purpose of Villeneuve to hold his vessels in this form so that the
+British squadron might gain no advantage from manoeuvring.
+
+Nelson's arrangement, however, was quite different. His plan was to
+attack at two points and break through the Armada, throwing the ships
+into confusion right and left. This brought his own vessels into the
+arrangement of two harrows, each pointing the apex against the
+designated vessels of the opposing squadron. One of the harrows was to
+be led by Collingwood in his ship called the "Royal Sovereign." Nelson
+led his column in his flagship the "Victory." The preliminaries of the
+battle extended to noon, and then the British attack was begun by
+Collingwood, who bore down on the two opposing vessels, the "Santa
+Anna" and the "Fougeux." Nelson also sailed to the attack in the
+"Victory" and broke through the enemy's line between the "Redoubtable"
+and the "Santissima Trinidad." The "Victory" in passing poured
+terrible broad-sides into both vessels.
+
+It seems that both the British admirals in going into battle outsailed
+somewhat their supporting ships; but these soon came into action and
+the battle line of the allied fleet was fatally broken at both points.
+All the vessels were soon engaged, and the rear line of Villeneuve
+gave way as well as the first. Nevertheless, the battle continued
+furiously for about two hours. The "Santissima Trinidad" was at that
+time the largest warship and the most formidable that had ever been
+built. The "Redoubtable" was only second in strength and equipment.
+Five or six others were men-of-war of the heaviest draught and metal.
+The French and Spanish soldiers fought bravely, going into the battle
+with flying streamers and answering shouts.
+
+Nelson, utterly fearless, seems to have had a premonition of his fate.
+He had made a hasty codicil to his will, and entered the struggle to
+conquer or die. Both fates were reserved for him. From the beginning
+of the battle the French and Spanish ships suffered terribly from the
+British fire; but they also inflicted heavy losses on their
+assailants. Here and there a French vessel was shattered and fell out
+of the fight. Nelson was struck with a ball, but refused to go below.
+Again he was hit in the shoulder by a musketeer from the masts of the
+"Redoubtable" and fell to the deck. "They have done for me at last,
+Hardy," said he to Sir Thomas Hardy, captain of the ship. He was
+carried below by the officers, and as he lay bleeding the news was
+brought to him that already _fifteen_ of the enemy's ships had
+surrendered. "That is well," said the dying hero; "but I had bargained
+for twenty." Then his thoughts turned to Lady Hamilton, to whom he was
+devoted. "Take care of Lady Hamilton, Hardy; take care of poor Lady
+Hamilton," said he, as the death dew dampened his brow. He then
+embraced the captain and expired.
+
+The victory of the British fleet was complete. The allies lost
+nineteen ships. Admiral Gravina was killed, and Villeneuve was taken
+prisoner. He never reacted from the mortification of his defeat, but
+lingered until the following year, when he despaired of life and hope
+and committed suicide. Nelson, in the midst of a pageant hitherto
+unsurpassed, was buried in St. Paul's. The battle of Trafalgar passed
+into history as the first and greatest naval conflict of the century.
+
+
+CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ.
+
+The first four years of the present century were a lull before a
+tempest. These years covered on our side of the sea the administration
+of the elder Adams. In Europe they corresponded to the period of the
+transformation of the Consulate into the French Umpire. This change
+was rapidly and easily effected. The star of Napoleon emerged from the
+chaos and the cloud and rose rapidly to the zenith. But the mood of
+the age was war, war. Could Europe in these first years have foreseen
+the awful struggles that were just before, then Europe might well have
+shuddered.
+
+Now it was that the ascendancy of the Corsican brought in a reign of
+violence and blood. Napoleon became the trampler of vineyards. His
+armies made Europe into mire. England--agreeing at Amiens not to
+fight--fought. Pitt, now in the last year of his life, used all of his
+resources to bring about a league against France. He persuaded
+Alexander of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Gustavus of Sweden--all
+easy dupes of a greater than themselves--to make a new coalition. He
+tried to induce Frederick William of Prussia to join his fortunes with
+the rest; but the last-named monarch was for the time restrained by
+the weakness of prudence. The agents of Napoleon held out to the king
+suggestions of the restoration of Hanover to Prussia. But Austria and
+Russia and Sweden pressed forward confidently to overthrow the new
+French Empire. That Empire, they said, should not see the end of the
+first year of its creation!
+
+The Austrians were first in the field. The Russians, under Kutusoff,
+came on into Pomerania from the east. Out of Sweden, with a large
+army, came down Gustavus, the Don Quixote of the north, to crush
+Bernadotte, who held Hanover. Napoleon for his part sprang forth for
+the campaign of Austerlitz, perhaps the most brilliant military
+episode in the history of mankind. With incredible facility he threw
+forward to the Rhine an army of 180,000 men. His policy was--as
+always--to overcome the allies in detail.
+
+On the twenty-fourth of September, the Emperor left Paris. The Empress
+and Talleyrand went with him as far as Strasburg. On the second of
+October, hostilities began at Guntzburg. Four days afterward the
+French army crossed the Danube. On the eighth of the month, Murat won
+the battle of Wertingen, capturing Count Auffenberg, with 2000
+prisoners. On the tenth the French had Augsburg, and on the twelfth,
+Munich. On the fourteenth Soult triumphed at Memingen, capturing a
+corps of 6000 Austrians; and on the same day Ney literally overran the
+territory which was soon to become his Duchy of Elchingen. Napoleon
+out-generaled the main division of the enemy at Ulm. The Austrians,
+under General Mack, 33,000 strong, were cooped up in the town and, on
+the seventeenth of October, forced to capitulate. Eight
+field-marshals and generals, including the Prince Lichtenstein and
+Generals Klenau and Fresnel, were made prisoners. "Soldiers of the
+Grand Army," said Napoleon, "we have finished the campaign in a
+fortnight!"
+
+On the day of the capitulation of Ulm, Massena in Italy drove back the
+army of the Archduke Charles. The Austrians to this date, in a period
+of twenty days, had lost by battle and capture fully fifty thousand
+men! On the twenty-seventh of October, the French army crossed the
+Inn. Saltzburg and Braunau were taken. In Italy, Massena, on the
+thirtieth, won the battle of Caldiero, and took 5000 prisoners. The
+French closed toward the Austrian capital. On the thirteenth of
+November, Napoleon, having obtained possession of the bridges of the
+Danube, entered Vienna. He established himself in the imperial palace
+of Schonbrunn. The Austrian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire--which
+was its shadowy penumbra--seemed to vanish like ghosts before him.
+
+Out of Pomerania into Moravia, to the plain of Olmutz, the great
+Russian army under the Czar and Kutusoff, came roaring. There they
+were united with a heavy division of the Austrians, under the Emperor
+Francis. The latter had fled from his capital, and staked his last
+fortunes on a battle in the field. The allied army was 80,000 strong.
+Napoleon, with 60,000 men, commanded by Soult, Lannes, Murat and
+Bernadotte, advanced rapidly from the direction of Vienna, as far as
+Brunn, and there awaited the onset.
+
+Just beyond this town, at Austerlitz, the French were arranged in a
+semicircle, with the convex front toward the allies, who occupied the
+outer arc on a range of heights. Such was the situation on the night
+of December 1, 1805. The morrow will be the first anniversary of our
+coronation in Notre Dame--a glorious day for battle!
+
+With the morning of the second, Napoleon could scarcely restrain his
+ardor. The enthusiasm of the army knew no bounds. On the night before,
+the Emperor, in his gray coat, had gone the circle of the camps, and
+the soldiers, extemporizing straw torches to light the way, ran before
+him. Looking eagerly through the gray dawn, he saw the enemy badly
+arranged, or moving dangerously in broken masses under the cover of a
+Moravian fog. Presently the fog lifted, and the sun burst out in
+splendor. The onset of the French was irresistible. The allied centre
+was pierced. The Austrian and Russian emperors with their armies were
+sent flying in utter rout and panic from the field. Thirty thousand
+Russians and Austrians were killed, wounded and taken. Alexander
+barely escaped capture. Before sunset the Third Coalition was broken
+into fragments and blown away. At the conference between Napoleon and
+Francis, two days afterward, at the Mill of Sar-Uschitz, some of the
+French officers overheard the father of Maria Louisa lie to her future
+husband, thus: "I promise not to fight you any more."
+
+
+"FRIEDLAND--1807."
+
+Whoever visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, New
+York, is likely to pause before a great historical painting by Jean
+Louis Ernest Meissonier. The picture is entitled "Friedland--1807."
+There goes a critical opinion that, though common fame would have
+Austerlitz to be the greatest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the palm
+ought really to be given to Friedland. At any rate, the martial
+splendor of that day has been caught by the vision and brush of
+Meissonier, and delivered, in what is probably the most splendid
+painting in America, to the immortality of art.
+
+Let us note the great movements that preceded the climax of Friedland.
+In the summer of 1806, the historical conditions in Europe favored a
+general peace. Pitt was dead, and Fox agreed with Napoleon that a
+peace might now be secured by the restoration of Hanover to England.
+Suddenly, however, on the thirteenth of September, 1806, Fox died, and
+by the incoming of Lauderdale the whole complexion was changed.
+Toryism again ran rampant. The Anglo-Russo-Prussian intrigue was
+renewed, and the rash Frederick William sent a peremptory challenge to
+Napoleon to get himself out of Germany.
+
+The Emperor had in truth agreed to withdraw his forces, but the Czar
+Alexander had also agreed to relinquish certain vantage grounds which
+he held--and had not done it. Therefore Napoleon's army corps would
+remain in Germany. Frederick William suddenly declared war, and in a
+month after the death of Fox, Napoleon concentrated in Saxe-Weimar an
+army of a hundred thousand men. Then, on the fourteenth of October,
+1806, was fought the dreadful battle of Jena, in which the Prussians
+lost 12,000 in killed and wounded, and 15,000 prisoners. On the same
+day, Davout fell upon a division of 50,000 under the Duke of Brunswick
+and Frederick William in person, and won another signal victory which
+cost the Germans about ten thousand men.
+
+Prussia was utterly overwhelmed by the disaster. Her fortresses were
+surrendered without resistance, and Napoleon, in less than a
+fortnight, occupied Berlin. On the twenty-first of November, he issued
+from that city his celebrated Berlin decree, declaring the British
+Islands in a state of blockade, and interdicting all correspondence
+and trade with England! The property of British subjects, under a wide
+schedule of liabilities, was declared contraband of war.
+
+Meanwhile the aid promised to Prussia by the Czar had been too slow
+for the lightning that struck at Jena. The oncoming Russians reached
+the Vistula, but were forced back by the victorious French, who took
+possession of Warsaw. There the Emperor established his winter
+quarters, and remained for nearly three months, engaged in the
+preparation of new plans of conquest and new schemes for the
+pacification of Europe.
+
+After Jena, Prussia, though crushed, remained belligerent. Her
+shattered forces drew off to the borders, and were joined by the
+Russians in East Prussia. The campaign of 1807 opened here. On the
+eighth of February, the French army, about 70,000 strong, advanced
+against the allies, commanded by Benningsen and Lestocq. At the town
+of Eylau, about twenty miles from Koenigsberg, a great but indecisive
+battle was fought, in which each army suffered a loss of nearly
+eighteen thousand men. The Russians and Prussians fell back about four
+miles to Friedland, and both armies were reinforced, the French to
+about eighty thousand, and the allies to approximately the same
+number.
+
+Here for a season the two great camps were pitched against each other.
+The shock of Eylau and the inclemency of the spring, no less than the
+political complications that thickened on every horizon, held back the
+military movements until the beginning of summer. But at length the
+crisis came. On the fourteenth of June was fought the great battle of
+Friedland and the allied army was virtually destroyed. The loss of the
+Russians and Prussians was more than twenty-five thousand men, while
+the French loss was not quite eight thousand. Napoleon commanded in
+person, and his triumph was prodigious.
+
+Let not the visitor to the Metropolitan Museum fail to look long and
+attentively on the picture of the scene which represents the beginning
+of the battle on the side of the French. There on a slight elevation,
+in the wheatfield of June, sitting on his white horse, with his
+triangular hat lifted in silent salutation, surrounded by the princes
+and marshals of his Empire, sits the sardonic somnambulist, while
+before him on the left the Cuirassiers of the Guard, on their
+tremendous horses gathered out of Normandy, plunging at full gallop,
+bearing down through the broken wheat, with buglers in the van and
+sabers flashing high and bearded mouths wide open with yellings that
+resound through the world till now, charge wildly, irresistibly onward
+against the unseen enemy, reckless alike of life and death, but
+choosing rather death if only the marble face but smile!
+
+
+UNDER THE RUSSIAN SNOWS.
+
+The first empire of France was buried between the Niemen and Moscow.
+The funeral was attended by vultures and Cossacks.
+
+It was on the twenty-fourth of June, 1812, that Napoleon began the
+invasion of Russia. The dividing line was the River Niemen. The
+inhabitants fell back before him. He had not advanced far when he
+encountered a new commander, with whom he was unfamiliar. It was
+Field-Marshal Nature. Marshal Nature had an army that the Old Guard
+had never confronted. His herald was Frost, and his aid-de-camp was
+Zero. One of his army corps was Snow. His bellowing artillery was
+charged with Lithuanian tempests. Hail was his grape and shrapnel. The
+Emperor of the French had never studied Marshal Nature's tactics--not
+even in the Alps.
+
+The Russian summer was as midwinter to the soldiers of France and
+Spain and Italy. Some of the invading divisions could hardly advance
+at all. The howling storms made impassable the ungraded roads; the
+1200 guns of the Grand Army sank into the mire. Horse-life and
+man-life fell and perished in the sleet of the mock-summer that raged
+along the watershed between the Dwina and the Dnieper.
+
+The Russians under Kutusoff fell back to Smolensko. There on the
+sixteenth of August they fought and were defeated with a loss of
+nearly twelve thousand men. The way was thus opened as far as the
+Moskwa. At that place on the seventh of September Kutusoff a second
+time gave battle, at the village of Borodino. This was one of the most
+murderous conflicts of modern times. A thousand cannon vomited death
+all day. Under the smoke a quarter of a million of men struggled like
+tigers. At nightfall the French had the field. The defeated Russians
+hung sullenly around the arena where they had left more than 40,000 of
+their dead and wounded. The Frence losses were almost equally
+appalling. "Sire," said Marshal Ney, "we would better withdraw and
+reform." "_Thou_ advise a retreat, Michel?" said the marble head, as
+it turned to the Bulldog of Battles.
+
+Kutusoff abandoned Moscow. The inhabitants receded with him to the
+great plains eastward. On the fifteenth of September, Napoleon entered
+the ancient capital. The streets were as a necropolis. All was
+silence. The conqueror took up his residence in the old palace of the
+Czars. Here he would spend the winter in luxurious quarters. Here he
+would extemporize theatres, and here he would issue edicts as from
+Berlin and Milan. Lo, out of the Bazaar, near the Kremlin, bursts a
+volume of flame! The surrounding region is lighted with the glare.
+Moscow is on fire in a thousand places. The equinoctial gales fan the
+flame. For five days there is the roar of universal combustion. Then
+it subsides. But Moscow is a blackened ruin. Napoleon tries in vain to
+open negotiations with the Czar; but Alexander and Kutusoff will not
+hear. The French are left to enjoy the ashes of a burnt-up Russian
+city.
+
+Already winter was at hand. The snow was falling. The soldier of
+fortune had at last found his destiny. On the nineteenth of October,
+he left Moscow, and the retreat of the Grand Army began toward the
+Niemen. Had the retreat been unimpeded, that army might have made its
+way back to France with comparatively trifling losses. Indeed the fame
+of having burnt the old capital of the Czars might have satisfied the
+conqueror with his expedition. But no sooner did he recede than the
+Cossacks arose on every hand, and assailed the fugitives. The soldiers
+of the West and South dropped and perished by thousands along the
+frozen roads. The ice-darts in their sides were sharper than Russian
+bayonets. A hundred and twenty thousand men rolled back horridly
+across the hostile world. The bridges of the Beresina break down under
+the retreating army, and in the following spring, when the ice-gorges
+go down the river, 12,000 dead Frenchmen shall be washed up from the
+floods!
+
+There is constant battle on flank and rear. All stragglers perish. The
+army dwindles away. It is almost destroyed. Ney brings up the rear
+guard, wasted to a handful. At the passage of the Niemen, soiled with
+dirt, blackened with smoke, without insignia, with only drawn sword,
+and facing backward toward the hated region, the "Bravest of the
+Brave" crosses the bridge. He is the last man to save himself from the
+indescribable horrors of the Campaign of Russia.
+
+The remnants of the Grand Army dragged themselves along until they
+found refuge in Koenigsberg. Napoleon had gone ahead toward France.
+After Moscow he took a sledge, and sped away across the snow-covered
+wastes of Poland, on his solitary journey to Paris. There is a
+painting of this scene by the Slavic artist Kowalski, which
+represents the three black horses abreast, galloping with all speed
+with the Emperor's sledge across the cheerless world which he
+traversed. He came to his own capital unannounced. None knew of his
+arrival until the next day. At four o'clock in the morning of that
+day, some one entered his office at the Tuileries, and found him with
+his war-map of Europe spread out on the floor before him. He was
+planning another campaign! In doing so, he could hardly forget that
+the Grand Army of his glory was under the Russian snows!
+
+
+WATERLOO.
+
+One battle in this century rises in fame above all other conflicts of
+the ages. It is Waterloo.
+
+It was on the night of the seventeenth of June, 1815, that the British
+and French armies, drawing near each other on the borders of Belgium,
+encamped, the one near the little village of Waterloo and the other at
+La Belle Alliance. They were close together. A modern fieldpiece could
+easily throw a shell from Napoleon's headquarters over La Haie Sainte
+to Mont St. Jean, and far beyond into the forest. During the afternoon
+of the seventeenth, and the greater part of the night, there was a
+heavy fall of rain. On the following morning the ground was muddy.
+The Emperor, viewing the situation, was unwilling to precipitate the
+battle until his artillery might deploy over a dry field.
+
+As to the temper of the Emperor, that was good. Hugo says of him:
+"From the morning his impenetrability had been smiling, and on June
+18, 1815, this profound soul, coated with granite, was radiant. The
+man who had been sombre at Austerlitz was gay at Waterloo. The
+greatest predestined men offer these contradictions; for our joys are
+a shadow and the supreme smile belongs to God.
+
+"'Caesar laughs, Pompey will weep,' the legionaries of the Fulminatrix
+legion used to say. On this occasion Pompey was not destined to weep,
+but it is certain that Caesar laughed.
+
+"At one o'clock in the morning, amid the rain and storm, he had
+explored with Bertrand the hills near Rossomme, and was pleased to see
+the long lines of English fires illumining the horizon from
+Frischemont to Braine l'Alleud. It seemed to him as if destiny had
+made an appointment with him on a fixed day and was punctual. He
+stopped his horse and remained for some time motionless, looking at
+the lightning and listening to the thunder. The fatalist was heard to
+cast into the night the mysterious words, '_We are agreed_.' Napoleon
+was mistaken; they no longer agreed."
+
+The arena of Waterloo is an undulating plain. Strategically it has the
+shape of an immense harrow. The clevis is on the height called Mont
+St. Jean, where Wellington was posted with the British army. Behind
+that is the village of Waterloo. The right leg of the harrow
+terminates at the hamlet of La Belle Alliance. The left leg is the
+road from Brussels to Nivelles. The cross-bar intersects the right leg
+at La Haie Sainte. The right leg is the highway from Brussels to
+Charleroi. The intersection of the bar with the left leg is near the
+old stone chateau of Hougomont. The battle was fought on the line of
+the cross-bar and in the triangle between it and the clevis.
+
+The conflict began just before noon. The armies engaged were of equal
+strength, numbering about 80,000 men on each side. Napoleon was
+superior in artillery, but Wellington's soldiers had seen longer
+service in the field. They were his veterans from the Peninsular War,
+perhaps the stubbornest fighters in Europe. Napoleon's first plan was
+to double back the allied left on the centre. This involved the
+capture of La Haie Sainte, and, as a strategic corollary, the taking
+of Hougomont. The latter place was first attacked. The field and wood
+were carried, but the chateau was held in the midst of horrid carnage
+by the British.
+
+Early in the afternoon a Prussian division under Billow, about 10,000
+strong, came on the field, and Napoleon had to withdraw a division
+from his centre to repel the oncoming Germans. For two or three hours,
+in the area between La Haie Sainte and Hougomont, the battle raged,
+the lines swaying with uncertain fortune back and forth. La Haie
+Sainte was taken and held by Ney. On the whole, the British lines
+receded. Wellington's attempt to retake La Haie Sainte ended in a
+repulse. Ney, on the counter charge, called on Napoleon for
+reinforcements, and the latter at that moment, changing his plan of
+battle, determined to make the principal charge on the British centre,
+saying, however, "It is an hour too soon." The support which he sent
+to Ney was not as heavy as it should have been, but the Marshal
+concluded that the crisis was at hand, and Napoleon sought to support
+him with Milhaud's cuirassiers and a division of the Middle Guard.
+Under this counter charge the British lines reeled and staggered, but
+still clung desperately to their position. They gave a little, and
+then hung fast and could be moved no farther. In another part of the
+field Durutte carried the allied position of Papelotte, and Lobau
+routed Buelow from Planchenois. At half-past four everything seemed to
+portend disaster to the allies and victory to the French.
+
+If the tragedy of Waterloo had been left at that hour to work out its
+own results as between France and England it would appear that the
+latter must have gone to the wall; but destiny had prepared another
+end for the conflict. Waterloo was a point of concentration. Several
+tides had set thither, and some of them had already arrived and broken
+on the rocks. Other tides were rolling in. The British wave had been
+first, and this had now been rolled back by the tide of France. A
+German wave was coming, however, and another French billow, either or
+both of which might break at any moment.
+
+On the morning of June 18, at the little town of Wavre, fifteen miles
+southeast of Brussels and about eight or ten miles from Waterloo, a
+battle had been fought between the French contingent under Marshal
+Grouchy and the Prussian division under Thielmann, who commanded the
+left wing of Marshal Bluecher's army. That commander had a force of
+fully forty thousand men under him, and was on his way to join his
+forces with those of Wellington on the plateau of Mont St. Jean.
+Grouchy had at this time between thirty and forty thousand men, and
+was under orders from Napoleon to keep in touch with his right wing,
+watching the Prussians and joining himself to the main army according
+to the emergency.
+
+These two divisions--Bluecher's and Grouchy's--were _sliding along_
+toward Waterloo, and on the afternoon of the eighteenth it became one
+of the great questions in the history of this century which would
+first arrive on the field. Napoleon believed that Grouchy was at hand.
+Wellington in his desperation breathed out the wish that either night
+or Bluecher would come. The ambiguous result of the principal conflict
+made it more than ever desirable to both of the commanders to gain
+their reinforcements, each before the other. The event showed that the
+arrival of Buelow's contingent was really the signal for the oncoming
+of the whole Prussian army. The French Emperor, however, remained
+confident, and at half-after four he felt warranted in sending a
+preliminary despatch of victory to Paris.
+
+Just at this juncture, however, an uproar was witnessed far to the
+right. The woods seemed to open, and the banners of Bluecher shot up in
+the horizon. Grouchy was _not_ on his rear or flank! Napoleon saw at a
+glance that it was then or never. His sun of Austerlitz hung low in
+the west. The British centre must be broken, or the empire which he
+had builded with his genius must pass away like a phantom. He called
+out four battalions of the Middle and six of the Old Guard. In the
+last fifteen years that Guard had been thrown a hundred times on the
+enemies of France, and never yet repulsed. It deemed itself
+invincible.
+
+At seven o'clock, just as the June sun was sinking to the horizon, the
+bugles sounded and the finest body of horsemen in Europe started to
+its doom on the squares of Wellington. The grim horsemen rode to their
+fate like heroes. The charge rolled on like an avalanche. It plunged
+into the sunken road of O'Hain. It seemed to roll over. It rose from
+the low grounds and broke on the British squares. They reeled under
+the shock, then reformed and stood fast. Around and around those
+immovable lines the soldiers of the Empire beat and beat in vain. It
+was the war of races at its climax. It was the final death-grip of the
+Gaul and the Teuton. The Old Guard recoiled. The wild cry of "_La
+Garde recule_" was heard above the roar of battle. The crisis of the
+Modern Era broke in blood and smoke, and the past was suddenly
+victorious. The Guard was broken into flying squadrons. Ruin came with
+the counter charge of the British. Ney, glorious in his despair,
+sought to stay the tide. For an hour longer he was a spectacle to gods
+and men. Five horses had been killed under him. He was on foot. He was
+hatless. He clutched the hilt of a broken sword. He was covered with
+dust and blood. But his grim face was set against the victorious
+enemy in the hopeless and heroic struggle to rally his shattered
+columns.
+
+Meanwhile the Prussians rushed in from the right. Wellington's Guards
+rose and charged. Havoc came down with the darkness. A single regiment
+of the Old Guard was formed by Napoleon into a last square around
+which to rally the fugitives. The Emperor stood in the midst and
+declared his purpose to die with them. Marshal Soult forced him out of
+the melee, and the famous square, commanded by Cambronne--flinging his
+profane objurgation into the teeth of the English--perished with the
+wild cry of "_Vive l'Empereur!_"
+
+Hugo says that the panic of the French admits of an explanation; that
+the disappearance of the great man was necessary for the advent of a
+great age; that in the battle of Waterloo there was more than a storm,
+that is, the bursting of a meteor. "At nightfall," he continues,
+"Bernard and Bertrand seized by the skirt of his coat in a field near
+Genappe a haggard, thoughtful, gloomy man, who, carried so far by the
+current of the rout, had just dismounted, passed the bridle over his
+arm, and was now with wandering eye returning alone to Waterloo. It
+was Napoleon, the immense somnambulist of a shattered dream!"
+
+On the spot where French patriotism afterward planted the bronze lion
+to commemorate forever the extinction of the Old Guard of the French
+Empire, and of Napoleon the Great, the traveler from strange lands
+pauses, at the distance of eighty years from the horrible cataclysm,
+and reflects with wonder how within the memory of living men human
+nature could have been raised by the passion of battle to such sublime
+heroism as that displayed in these wheatfields and orchards where the
+Old Guard of France sank into oblivion, but rose to immortal fame.
+
+
+SEBASTOPOL.
+
+In the fall of 1852 Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince President of the
+French Republic, about to become the French Empire, was invited to a
+banquet by the Chamber of Commerce in Bordeaux. He was on his
+triumphal tour through the South of France. At the banquet he spoke,
+saying: "I accept with eagerness the opportunity afforded me by the
+Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce for thanking your great city for its
+cordial reception.... At present the nation surrounds me with its
+sympathies.... To promote the welfare of the country, it is not
+necessary to apply new systems, but the chief point above all is to
+produce confidence in the present and security for the future. For
+these reasons it seems France desires a return to the Empire. There is
+one objection to which I must reply. Certain minds seem to entertain a
+dread of war; certain persons say the Empire is only war. But I say
+_the Empire is peace_."
+
+The last four words of this extract became the motto of the Second
+Empire. Everywhere the Prince President's saying was blown to the
+world. "The Empire is peace" was published in the newspapers, echoed
+on the stage, and preached from the pulpits.
+
+But the Empire was _not_ peace. Just at this time Tennyson wrote his
+poem against France, as follows:
+
+    "There is a sound of thunder afar,
+      Storm in the South that darkens the day--
+    Storm of battle and thunder of war;
+      Well if it do not roll our way!
+    Form, form; riflemen, form!
+    Ready, be ready to meet the storm!"
+
+In less than a year the storm broke. It broke in Eastern Europe. Of
+the personal forces that brought the breaking, the two principal were
+the Czar Nicholas and the Emperor Louis Napoleon. In 1853 the Czar
+demanded of the Sultan certain guarantees of the rights of the Greek
+Christians in the Turkish provinces. This was refused, and the
+Crimean War broke out on the Danube. The first power in Western Europe
+to support the Sultan was France, while England and Sardinia came hard
+after. There was an alliance of England and France in support of the
+Turkish cause. In the bottom of the difficulty lay this question:
+Whether Russia might now move forward, gain control of the Black Sea,
+overawe the Porte, force her way through the Sea of Marmora into the
+Mediterranean, and thus rectify the mistake of Peter the Great in
+building his capital on the Gulf of Finland. All this and much more
+was called _The Eastern Question_.
+
+The coast of the Black Sea became the seat of the war that ensued. The
+Russians posted themselves strongly in the Crimea. That peninsula was
+commanded by the famous fortress of Sebastopol, situated at the
+southwestern extremity. On the twenty-fifth of September, 1854, the
+heights of Balaklava, lying south of the fortress, were seized by a
+British division under command of Lord Raglan. In this way the
+Russians were besieged; for the allied fleets had made their way into
+the Black Sea, and the land side of Sebastopol was commanded by
+Balaklava.
+
+The siege that ensued lasted for nearly eleven months, and was one of
+the most memorable of modern times. On two occasions the Russians
+sallied forth and gave battle. The first conflict of this kind was on
+the night of the twenty-fifth of October, 1854, at Balaklava. The
+Russian attack on the English and Turks was at first successful, and
+four redoubts were carried by the assailants. At the crisis of the
+battle, however, the British Highlanders came into action, and the
+Russians were repulsed. The latter did not attempt to renew the
+attack, but fell back into their intrenchments. It was at this
+juncture that the famous incident occurred of the Charge of the Light
+Brigade, which was immortalized by Tennyson in his poem.
+
+A few days after the battle of Balaklava occurred another hard
+conflict at the village of Inkerman, at the head of the harbor of
+Sebastopol. On the fifth of November, 1854, a strong force of Russians
+descended from the heights, and were met by the allies on the slope
+opposite the ruins of an ancient town, which occupied the site in the
+times of Strabo. A severe battle ensued, in which the English and
+French were victorious. Many other sorties were made from the
+fortress, but were designed rather to delay the siege than with any
+serious hope of breaking the investment. Sometimes the conflicts,
+though desultory, were severe, taking the proportions of regular
+battles. But nothing decisive was effected, until winter closed on
+the scene, and brought upon both the besiegers and the besieged the
+greatest hardships.
+
+The sufferings of the allies, so far away from the source of supplies,
+were at times beyond description. It is doubtful whether any other
+siege of modern times has entailed such cruel privations upon a
+civilized soldiery. At times the combined havoc of hunger, disease and
+cold was seen in its worst work in the allied camps. The genius of
+Elizabeth Butler has seized upon the morning "Roll Call," in the
+Crimean snows of 1855, as the subject of a great painting in which to
+depict the excess of human suffering and devotion--the acme of English
+heroism in a foreign land.
+
+Meanwhile, the allied lines around Sebastopol were considerably
+contracted, and several serious assaults were made on the Russian
+works. On the twenty-third of February the French in front of the
+bastion, called the Malakhoff, assaulted that stronghold with great
+valor, but were unsuccessful. On the eighteenth of the following June
+an attempt was made to carry the Redan, a strong redoubt at the other
+extreme of the Russian defences, but the assailants were again
+repulsed. Then, on the sixteenth of August, followed the bloody battle
+of Tehernaya, in which the Russians made a final effort to raise the
+siege. With a force of 50,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry they threw
+themselves on the allied position, but were beaten back with great
+slaughter.
+
+In the meantime, the trenches of the allies had been drawn so near the
+Russian works that there was a fair prospect of carrying the bastions
+by another assault. A terrible bombardment was begun on the fifth, and
+continued to the eighth of September, when both the Redan and the
+Malakhoff were taken by storm. But the struggle was desperate, and the
+losses on both sides immense. The Russians blew up their
+fortifications on the south side of the harbor, and retreated across
+the bay. Nor did they afterward make any serious attempt to regain the
+stronghold which the allies had wrested from them. The victors for
+their part proceeded to destroy the docks, arsenals and shipyards of
+Sebastopol, and, as far as possible, to prevent the future occupancy
+of the place by the Russians as a seat of commerce and war.
+
+The siege and capture of Sebastopol virtually ended the contest,
+though the war lagged during the greater part of the ensuing year. On
+the second of March, 1855, the Czar Nicholas died, and Alexander II.
+came to the throne, predisposed to peace. It was not, however, until
+the thirtieth of March, 1856, that the Treaty of Paris was concluded,
+in which Russia was obliged to yield to the allied powers, among which
+France held the first place.
+
+The story of the Crimean War, and of the siege of Sebastopol in
+particular, has passed into history as one of the great events, of the
+century. The struggles at Balaklava, on the river Alma, at Inkerman,
+and the storming of the Redan and the Malakhoff became the subjects of
+great historical paintings, of poems and of songs, the echoes of which
+are heard to the present day.
+
+
+SADOWA.
+
+From a military point of view, nothing in this century has been more
+brilliantly successful than the campaign of Prussia into Bohemia
+against the Austrians, culminating on the sixth of July, 1866, in the
+great conflict called the battle of Sadowa or Koeniggraetz--the one or
+the other from the two towns near which it was fought. The historical
+painter, Wilhelm Camphausen, of the School of Duesseldorf, has left
+among the art trophies of the world a painting of this battle which is
+as true to the field and the combatants as anything which we recall
+from the sublime leaves of historical art.
+
+The scene represented is the triumphant conclusion of the battle. The
+field is wide and stormy. In the centre, riding at full gallop with
+his staff, is King William. Already he is receiving the cheers and
+salutations of victory. By his side are seen the stalwart figures of
+Bismarck, Von Roon, Von Moltke, the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick
+Charles, and many others destined in the ensuing ten years to rise to
+the heights of military fame. To the right of the group of commanders
+charges the column of the Uhlans. The Austrians before are broken, and
+falling into rout. Far to the left and in the distance may be seen the
+half-obscured wrecks of battle.
+
+This conflict proved to be the Waterloo of Austria. It was the climax
+of the Seven Weeks' War. Already the Germans, under the leadership of
+Prussia, were making haste toward empire. The activity and energy
+displayed by the Prussian Government at this juncture were prodigious.
+It was like the days of Frederick the Great come again. The trouble
+with Austria had arisen about the claims of the Duke of Augustenburg
+to the government of Holstein. Bismarck desired that that duchy should
+be disposed of in one manner, while Austria was determined on another.
+
+The German States were drawn into this controversy, and the support of
+Italy was sought by each of the contestants. Prussia held out to
+Italy the temptation of recovering Venice, as the reward of her
+entrance into a Prusso-Italian alliance. This bait was sufficient. The
+smaller German powers, with the exception of Oldenburg, Mecklenburg,
+the Saxon States, and three Free Cities, took their stand with
+Austria, and the German Diet approved of the Austrian demand. It
+looked for the time as though Prussia, with the exception of the aid
+of Italy, was to be left naked to all the winds of hostility. The
+event showed, however, that that great power was now in her element.
+She declared the action of the German Diet to be not only a menace,
+but an act of overt hostilities. This was followed by an immediate
+declaration of war against a foe that had nearly three times her
+numerical strength.
+
+On the fifteenth of June, 1866, King William called upon Saxony,
+Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Nassau to remain neutral in the impending
+conflict, and gave them _twelve hours_ in which to decide! Receiving
+no answer, he ordered the Prussians out of Holstein to seize Hanover.
+This work was accomplished in two days. In another two days
+Hesse-Cassel was occupied by an army from the Rhine, while at the same
+time a third division of the Prussian forces was thrown into Dresden
+and Leipsic. On the twenty-seventh of the month, a battle was fought
+with the Hanoverians, in which the latter were at first successful,
+but were soon overpowered and compelled to surrender. George V., King
+of Hanover, fled for refuge to Vienna.
+
+Within two weeks the field in the South was cleared, and the Prussian
+army was turned upon Austria. King William's forces numbered 260,000
+men. They were commanded by the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick
+Charles, Von Moltke, Von Roon and General Bittenfeld. The King in
+person and Bismarck were present with the advance. The impact was more
+than Austria could stand. On the twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth of
+June, Frederick Charles defeated the Austrian advance in four
+indecisive engagements. Count Clam-Gallas, the Austrian general, was
+obliged to fall back on the main body for support.
+
+In these same days the Crown Prince gained several preliminary
+successes over the principal Austrian army under Benedek. Then, on the
+river Bistritz, on the sixth of July, came the great battle of Sadowa.
+The opposing commanders in the beginning of the engagement were
+Frederick Charles and Benedek. The battle began at eight in the
+morning, and raged with the utmost fury until two in the afternoon.
+Thus far the Prussians had gained but little advantage; but at that
+hour the powerful division of the Crown Prince, which, like that of
+Bluecher at Waterloo, had been delayed by recent rains, appeared on the
+Austrian right. The wing of Benedek's army was soon turned. Bittenfeld
+then broke the left, and under a general advance of the Prussian lines
+the Austrian centre gave way in confusion. The field was quickly
+swept. The overthrow of the Austrian army became a ruinous rout, and
+the out-flashing sun of evening looked upon a demoralized and flying
+host, scattering in all directions before the victorious charges of
+the Prussian cavalry.
+
+The overwhelming victory of the Prussians was not without its rational
+causes. Indeed the antecedents of victory may always be found if all
+the facts of battle are known and analyzed. It remained for the battle
+of Sadowa to demonstrate practically the superiority of the
+needle-gun. This arm had been adopted by the Prussian government and
+was now for the first time on a great scale brought to the crucial
+test. Hitherto the old plan of muzzle-loading had been followed by all
+the nations of Europe and America. In our country the Civil War had
+come almost to its climax before breech-loading was generally
+introduced. Austria had continued to use the old muzzle-loading
+muskets. It seems surprising that nations, of whom intelligence and
+self-interest may well be predicated, should continue in such a matter
+as war to employ inefficient weaponry long after a superior arm has
+been invented.
+
+If one might have looked into the gunshop of M. Pauli at Paris in the
+year 1814, he might have seen a gunsmith, twenty-seven years of age,
+plying his trade under the patronage of Napoleon the Great. That
+gunsmith was Johann Nicholas Von. Dreyse, of Soemmerda, who presently
+became an inventor as well as a smith, and in 1824, having returned to
+his own country, he took a patent for a new percussion method in
+musketry. Three years afterward he invented a needle-gun, retaining
+the muzzle-loading method. He continued his experimentation until
+1836, when he made and patented the first breech-loading needle-gun
+complete. This was done under the patronage of the Prussian
+government. It was not until 1841, however, that this arm began to be
+supplied for Prussian troops, and it was twenty-five years after that
+date before the general adoption of this arm contributed to the rout
+of the Austrians at Sadowa.
+
+The Prussians being armed with needle-guns, were enabled to get the
+double advantage of rapid firing by loading in a chamber at the
+breech of the piece, and the equally great advantage of a long range
+and most deadly missile; for in the cartridge of this gun the needle
+runs through the charge, firing it first at the front of the chamber,
+thus securing the whole force of the explosive, which burns backward
+in the enclosed space and expends itself entirely on the projectile.
+Those breech-loading pieces which fire the cartridge by percussion
+against its back end have the disadvantage of the charge burning
+forward, and thus wasting itself partly in the air after the bullet
+has left the muzzle. This difficulty, however, has been overcome in
+recent gunnery, and the needle-gun such as it was in the hands of King
+William's soldiers at Sadowa, must now be regarded as a clumsy and
+obsolete weapon.
+
+The battle of Sadowa was to Francis Joseph the handwriting on the
+wall; but he made vain exertions to save his tottering fabric. Now it
+was that the shadow of a great hand was seen behind the conflict. It
+was the hand of Bismarck. His scheme was the unification of Germany.
+The NORTH GERMAN UNION was formed on the basis of Protestantism and
+the unity of the German race. Already the Empire might be seen in the
+distance.
+
+
+CAPTURE OF MEXICO.
+
+Whatever may be said of the justice of our war with Mexico, no
+criticism can be offered as to the brilliancy of the result. The
+campaign of General Scott against the ancient capital of the Aztecs,
+was almost spectacular; certainly it was heroic.
+
+On the ninth of March, 1847, the General, then nearly sixty-one years
+of age, arrived at Vera Cruz, with an army of 12,000 men. That city
+was taken in about a week, and the way was opened from the coast to
+the capital. The advance began on the eighth of April, and ten days
+afterward the rocky pass of Cerro Gordo was carried by assault. Santa
+Anna barely escaped with his life, leaving behind 3000 prisoners, his
+chest of private papers, and his _wooden leg!_
+
+On the twenty-second of the same month, the strong castle of Perote,
+crowning a peak of the Cordilleras, was taken without resistance. Then
+the sacred city of Puebla was captured. On the seventh of August,
+Scott, with his reduced forces, began his march over the crest of the
+mountains against the city of Mexico. The American army, sweeping over
+the heights, looked down on the valley. Never before had a soldiery in
+a foreign land beheld a grander scene Clear to the horizon stretched
+a living landscape of green fields, villages, and lakes--a picture too
+beautiful to be marred with the dreadful enginery of war.
+
+The American army advanced by the way of Ayotla. The route was the
+great national road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. The last fifteen miles
+of the way was occupied with fortifications, both natural and
+artificial, and it seemed impossible to advance directly to the gates
+of the city. The army was accordingly brought around Lake Chalco, and
+thence westward to San Augustine. This place is ten miles from the
+capital. The approach now lay along causeways, across marshes and the
+beds of bygone lakes. At the further end of each causeway, the
+Mexicans had built massive gates. There were almost inaccessible
+positions at Contreras, San Antonio and Molino del Rey. Further on
+toward the city lay the powerful bulwarks of Churubusco and
+Chapultepec. The latter was of great strength, and seemed impregnable.
+These various outposts were held by Santa Anna with a force of fully
+thirty thousand Mexicans.
+
+The first assaults of the Americans were made on the nineteenth of
+August, by Generals Pillow and Twiggs. The line of communications
+between Contreras and Santa Anna's army was cut, and in the darkness
+of the following night an assault was made by General Persifer F.
+Smith, who about sunrise carried the place and drove the garrison
+pell-mell. This was the _first_ victory of the memorable twentieth of
+August.
+
+A few hours later, General Worth compelled the evacuation of San
+Antonio. This was the _second_ victory. About the same time, General
+Pillow advanced on Churubusco, and carried one of the heights. The
+position was taken by storm, and the enemy scattered like chaff. This
+was the _third_ triumph. The division of General Twiggs added a
+_fourth_ victory by storming and holding another height of Churubusco,
+while the _fifth_ and last was achieved by General Shields and Pierce,
+who drove back an army of reinforcements under Santa Anna. The
+Mexicans were thus forced back into the fortifications of Chapultepec.
+
+On the following morning, the alarm and treachery of the Mexican
+authorities were both strongly exhibited. A deputation came out to
+negotiate; but the intent was merely to gain time for strengthening
+the defences. The terms proposed by the Mexicans were preposterous
+when viewed in the light of the situation. General Scott, who did not
+consider his army vanquished, rejected the proposals with scorn. He,
+however, rested his men until the seventh of September before
+renewing hostilities. On the morning of the eighth, General Worth was
+thrown forward to take Molino del Rey and Casa de Mata, which were the
+western defences of Chapultepec. These places were defended by about
+fourteen thousand Mexicans; but the Americans, after losing a fourth
+of their number in the desperate onset, were again victorious. The
+batteries were now turned on Chapultepec itself, and on the thirteenth
+of September that frowning citadel was carried by storm. This exploit
+opened an avenue into the city. Through the San Cosine and Belen gates
+the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at nightfall the soldiers
+of the Union were in the suburbs of Mexico.
+
+During the night, Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled
+from the city, but not until they had turned loose from the prisons
+2000 convicts, to fire upon the American army. On the following
+morning, before day-dawn, a deputation came forth from the city to beg
+for mercy. This time the messengers were in earnest; but General
+Scott, wearied with trifling, turned them away with disgust.
+"_Forward!_" was the order that rang along the American lines at
+sunrise. The war-worn regiments swept into the beautiful streets of
+the famous city, and at seven o'clock the flag of the United States
+floated over the halls of the Montezumas. It was the triumphant
+ending of one of the most brilliant and striking campaigns of modern
+history.
+
+The American army, as compared with the hosts of Mexico, had been but
+a handful. The small force which had left Vera Cruz on the march to
+the capital had lost considerably by battle and disease. Many
+detachments had been posted _en route_ to hold the line of
+communications, and for garrison duty in places taken from the enemy.
+The army had thus dwindled until, after the battles of Churubusco and
+Chapultepec, _fewer than six thousand men_ were left to enter and hold
+the capital.
+
+The invasion had been remarkable in all its particulars. The obstacles
+which had to be overcome seemed insurmountable. There were walled
+cities to be taken, fortified mountain passes to be carried by storm,
+and frowning castles with cannon on the battlements to be assaulted by
+regiments whose valor and impetuosity were their only protection and
+warrant of victory. Yet the campaign was never seriously impeded. No
+foot of ground once taken from the Mexicans was yielded by false
+tactics or lost by battle.
+
+The army which accomplished this marvel, penetrating a far-distant and
+densely peopled country, held by a proud race, claiming to be the
+descendants of Cortes and the Spanish heroes of the sixteenth
+century, and denouncing at the outset the American soldiers as
+"barbarians of the North," was, in large part, an army of
+volunteers--a citizen soldiery--which had risen from the States of the
+Union and marched to the Mexican border under the Union flag.
+
+
+VICKSBURG.
+
+The story goes that on a certain occasion some friends of General
+Grant, anxious to make him talk about himself--something he would
+hardly ever do--said: "General, at what time in your military career
+did you perceive that you were the coming man--that you were to have
+the responsibility and fame of the command-in-chief and end the war?"
+For little while the General smoked on, and then said, "_After
+Vicksburg!_"
+
+Certain it is that the star of Grant, long obscured and struggling
+through storm and darkness, never emerged into clear light, rising in
+the ascendant, until after the capture of the stronghold of the
+Confederates on the Mississippi. After that it rose, and rose to the
+zenith.
+
+The position of Vicksburg is hard to understand. The river at this
+place makes a bend to the north and then turns south again, leaving a
+delta, or peninsula, on the Louisiana side. Vicksburg occupies a kind
+of shoulder on the Mississippi side. The site is commanding. The river
+flows by the bluffs, as if to acknowledge its subjection to them. From
+the beginning of the war the Confederate authorities recognized the
+vast importance of holding this key to the great inland artery, and
+the Federal Government saw the necessity of clutching it from the
+enemy.
+
+The mouth of the Mississippi was soon regained by the Government, so
+that there was no serious obstruction as far north as where the
+northern border of Louisiana crosses the river. From the north the
+Federal fleets and land forces made their way along the Tennessee
+border, and then the Arkansas border; but in the middle, between the
+twenty-second and thirty-third parallels, the Confederates got a
+strong grip on the Father of Waters, and would not relinquish their
+hold. Jackson, the capital of the State, was in their power also, and
+from Jackson eastward the great thoroughfare extended into Alabama,
+and thence expanded in its connections into all the Confederacy. From
+Jackson to Vicksburg reached the same line of communications, so that
+here, at Vicksburg, the Confederate power, having its seat in Richmond
+and its energy in the field, reached directly to the Mississippi
+river, and laid upon that stream a band of iron which the Union must
+break in order to pass.
+
+Such was the situation at the beginning of 1863. General Grant, who
+had been under a cloud since Shiloh, had gradually regained his
+command, and to him fell the task of breaking the Confederate hold on
+the great river. He has himself in his _Memoirs_ told the story of the
+Vicksburg campaign. He managed, by herculean exertions, to get his
+forces below Vicksburg, and then began his campaign from Grand Gulf
+inland toward the line of communication between Jackson and Vicksburg.
+It was some time before the Confederates took the alarm. When they did
+become alarmed about Grant's movements, General J.E. Johnston, who
+commanded at Jackson, and General J.C. Pemberton, who was in command
+at Vicksburg; made the most unwearied efforts to keep open the line of
+communications upon which the safety of Jackson and the success of
+Pemberton depended.
+
+But Grant pressed on in a northwesterly direction until he came upon
+Pemberton in a position which he had chosen at Champion's Hill. Here,
+without doubt, was fought one of the critical battles of the Union
+war. If General Pemberton had been successful, that success would seem
+to have portended the end of Grant's military career. But a different
+fate was reserved for the combatants. Grant's army was strong, and had
+become seasoned by hardship into the veteran condition. His under
+officers--Logan, McPherson, Hovey, McClernand and A.J. Smith--were in
+full spirit of battle. The engagement was severely contested. The
+Union army, actually engaged, numbered 15,000, and Pemberton's forces
+were about equal in number; but the latter were disastrously defeated.
+The losses were excessive in proportion to the numbers engaged.
+
+The Confederates now fell back to Big Black river. Their line of
+communication with Jackson was cut. A second battle was fought at Big
+Black River, and then, on the eighteenth of May, the victorious Union
+army surrounded Vicksburg, and the siege was begun. The siege lasted
+forty-seven days, and was marked by heroic resistance on the one side
+and heroic pertinacity on the other, to the degree of making it one of
+the memorable events in the military annals of the world. Gradually
+the Union lines were narrowed around the doomed town. Ever nearer and
+nearer the lines of riflepits were drawn. Day by day the resources of
+the Confederates were reduced. But their defences were strong, and
+their courage for a long time unabated.
+
+General Pemberton hoped and expected that an attack on Grant's rear
+would be made in such force as to loosen his grip, and to enable
+the besieged to rise against the besiegers and break through. The
+Confederates, however, had not sufficient forces for such an
+enterprise. General Lee, in the East, had now undertaken the
+campaign of Gettysburg, and the Confederacy was already strained
+in every nerve. General Grant had the way open for supplies and
+re-enforcements. The siege was pressed with the utmost vigor, and
+Pemberton was left to his fate.
+
+Meanwhile, however, two unsuccessful assaults were made on the
+Confederate works. The first of these occurred on the day after the
+investment was completed. It was unsuccessful. The Union army was
+flung back from the impregnable defences in the rear of Vicksburg, and
+great losses were inflicted on them. Grant, however, was undismayed,
+and, still believing that the enemy's line might be broken by assault,
+renewed the attempt in a gallant attack on the twenty-second of May. A
+furious cannonade was kept up for several hours, and then the
+divisions of Sherman, McPherson and McClernand were thrown forward
+upon the earthworks of the enemy.
+
+It was here that General McClernand reported to the commander that he
+had gained the Confederate intrenchments. General Grant says: "I
+occupied a position from which I thought I could see as well as he
+what took place in his front; and I did not see the success he
+reported. But his request for reinforcements being repeated, I could
+not ignore it, and sent him Quinby's division. Sherman and McPherson
+were both ordered to renew their assaults in favor of McClernand. This
+last attack only served to increase our casualties, without giving any
+benefit whatever." In these attacks large numbers of the Federal
+soldiers had got into the low ground intervening, under the enemy's
+fire, and had to remain in that position until darkness enabled them
+to retire. The Union losses were very heavy, and General Grant, years
+afterward, in composing his _Memoirs_, referred to this assault and to
+that at Cold Harbor as the two conspicuous mistakes of his military
+career.
+
+Now it was that the regular siege of Vicksburg was undertaken. Toward
+the latter part of June, the Confederates, both soldiers and citizens,
+began to suffer. Houses became untenable. The people sought what
+refuge they might find. Some actually burrowed in the earth. The
+garrison was placed on short rations, and then a condition of
+starvation ensued. Pemberton held out with a resolution worthy of a
+better fate. But at length human endurance could go no further. On
+the fourth of July the white flag was hoisted from the Confederate
+works, announcing the end. Generals Grant and Pemberton, with three or
+four attendants each, met between the lines, and the terms of
+capitulation were quickly named and accepted. Vicksburg was
+surrendered. General Pemberton and all his forces, 30,000 strong,
+became prisoners of war.
+
+This was the greatest force ever surrendered in America, though it was
+only about one-sixth of that of Marshal Bazaine and his army at Metz
+seven years afterward. Thousands of small arms, hundreds of cannon,
+and all the remaining ammunition and stores of the Confederates were
+the other fruits of this great Union victory, by which the prospect of
+ultimate success to the Confederacy was either destroyed or long
+postponed, and by which in particular the great central river of the
+United States was permitted once more to flow unvexed from the
+confluence of the Missouri to the Gulf.
+
+
+GETTYSBURG.
+
+The battle of Gettysburg is properly included among the great battles
+of the world. It was the greatest conflict that has thus far occurred
+in America. The losses relative to the numbers engaged were not as
+great as those at Antietam, Spottsylvania, and a few other bloody
+struggles of our war; but in the aggregate the losses were greatest.
+Gettysburg was in truth the high tide of the American Civil War. Never
+before and never afterward was there a crisis such as that which broke
+in the dreadful struggle for the mastery of Cemetery Ridge.
+
+The invasion of the Northern States by General Lee had been undertaken
+at the close of the previous summer. That invasion had ended
+disastrously at the battle of Antietam. Once more the Confederate
+commander would make the trial. So well had he been able to beat back
+every invasion of Virginia by the Union forces that he now thought to
+end the war by turning its tide of devastation into Pennsylvania.
+
+Doubtless Lee realized that he was placing everything upon the cast of
+a die. He undertook the campaign with a measure of confidence. He,
+almost as much as Grant, was a taciturn man, not much given to
+revelations of his purposes and hopes. No doubt he was somewhat
+surprised at the successful rising of the Union forces against him.
+Besides the Army of the Potomac, Pennsylvania seemed to rise for the
+emergency.
+
+It has not generally been observed that before the great battle
+General Meade was in a position seriously to threaten the Confederate
+rear. Armies in the field rarely meet each other at the place and time
+expected. There is always something obscure and uncertain in the
+oncoming of the actual conflict. The fact is that General Lee was
+receding somewhat at the time of the crisis. Then it was that he
+determined to fight a great battle, and if successful then march on
+Washington. Should he not be successful, he would keep a way open by
+direct route for retreat into Virginia.
+
+By the first of July, 1863, a situation had been prepared which
+signified a decisive battle with far-reaching consequences to the one
+side or the other, accordingly as victory should incline to this or to
+that. By this date General Reynolds, who commanded the advance line of
+the Union army, met the corresponding line of the Confederates at the
+village of Gettysburg, and the rest followed as if by logical
+necessity.
+
+On July 1 and 2, the great body of the Union and Confederate armies
+came up to the position where battle had already begun between the
+advance divisions and the pressure of the one side upon the other
+became greater and greater with each hour. At the first the
+Confederate impact was strongest. General Reynolds was killed.
+Reinforcements were hurried up on both sides. General Howard, who
+succeeded Reynolds, selected Cemetery Hill, south of the town of
+Gettysburg, and there established the Union line.
+
+General Meade arrived on the field on the afternoon of the first, and
+the two armies were thrown rapidly into position. That of the Federals
+extended in the form of a fishhook from Little Round Top by way of
+Round Top and along Cemetery Ridge through the cemetery itself, by the
+way of the gate, and then bending to the right, formed the bowl of the
+hook, which extended around as far as Culp's Hill and Wolf Creek. The
+ground was elevated and the convexity was toward the enemy.
+
+By nightfall of the first, both armies were in state of readiness for
+the conflict. The Union army was on the defensive. It was sufficient
+that it should hold its ground and repel all assault. The Confederates
+must advance and carry the Federal position in order to succeed. How
+this should be done was not agreed on by the Confederate commanders.
+General Lee formed a plan of direct assault; but General Longstreet
+was of opinion that a movement of the army to the Union left flank
+would be preferable, and that by that method the flank might be turned
+and the position of Meade carried with less loss and much less hazard.
+
+Longstreet, however, did not oppose the views of his commander to the
+extent of thwarting his purpose or weakening the plan adopted. On the
+second of July the battle began in earnest about noon. The
+Confederates advanced against the Union centre and left, and at a
+later hour a strenuous and partly successful attack was made on the
+Federal right. But complete success was not attained by Lee in any
+part of the field. About sundown the Confederates gained considerable
+advantage against Slocum, who held the line along Wolf Hill and Rock
+Creek; and on the Union left a terrible struggle occurred for the
+possession of Great and Little Round Top. In this part of the field
+the fighting continued until six o'clock in the evening; but the
+critical positions still remained in the hands of the Federals.
+
+In the centre the contest was waged for the mastery of Cemetery Hill,
+which was the key to the Union position. Here were planted batteries
+with an aggregate of eighty guns, and here, though the assaults of the
+Confederates were desperate and long continued, the integrity of the
+Federal line was preserved till nightfall. The fighting along a front
+of nearly five miles in extent continued in a desultory manner until
+about ten o'clock on the July night, when the firing for the most part
+ceased, leaving the two armies in virtually the same position which
+they had occupied the day before.
+
+This signified, however, that thus far the advantage was on the Union
+side; for on that side the battle was defensive. The Confederate army
+had come to a wall, and must break through or suffer defeat. The
+burden of attack rested on the Confederate side; but General Lee did
+not flinch from the necessity. In the darkness of night both he and
+the Union commanders made strenuous preparations for the renewal of
+the struggle on the morrow.
+
+On the morning of the third both armies seemed loath to begin the
+conflict. This phenomenon is nearly always witnessed in the case of
+really critical battles. It was so at Waterloo, and so at Gettysburg.
+It seems that in such crises the commanders, well aware of what is to
+come, wait awhile, as though each would permit the other to strike
+first. As a matter of fact, the topmost crest of the Civil War had now
+been reached; and from this hour the one cause or the other must
+decline to the end.
+
+The whole forenoon of the third of July was spent in preparations.
+There was but little fighting, and that little was desultory. At
+midday there seemed to be a lull along the whole line. Just afterward,
+however, General Lee opened from Seminary Ridge with about one hundred
+guns, directing his fire against the Union centre on Cemetery Hill.
+There the counter position was occupied by the American artillery of
+about equal strength, under command of General Hunt. The cannonade
+burst out at one o'clock with terrific roar. Nothing like it had ever
+before been seen or heard in the New World. Nothing like it, we
+believe, had ever up to that time been witnessed in Europe. Certainly
+there was no such cannonade at Waterloo. For about an hour and a half
+this tremendous vomit of shot and shell continued. It was the hope of
+General Lee to pound the Union batteries to pieces, and then, while
+horror and death were still supreme in the Union centre, to thrust
+forward an overwhelming mass of his best infantry into the gap, cut
+Meade's army in two, plant the Confederate banner on the crest of the
+Union battle line, and virtually then and there achieve the
+independence of the Confederate States.
+
+It seems that an action of General Hunt, about half-past two,
+flattered Lee with the belief that he had succeeded. Hunt adopted the
+plan of drawing back his batteries over the crest of the hill, for the
+double purpose of cooling his guns that were becoming overheated and
+of saving his supply of ammunition, that was running low. The Union
+fire accordingly slackened and almost ceased for a while. Nor was Lee
+able to discover from his position but what his batteries under
+General Alexander had prevailed. It looked for the moment as though
+the battle were lost to Meade, and that victory was in the clutch of
+his antagonist.
+
+Already a Confederate charge of infantry had been prepared. About
+18,000 men, in three divisions, under Armistead, Garnett and
+Pettigrew, and led by General George E. Pickett, of Virginia, had been
+got into readiness for the crisis which had now arrived. Longstreet
+was the corps commander, and through him the order for the charge
+should be given. General Lee had himself made the order, but
+Longstreet seeing, as he believed the inevitable, hesitated and turned
+aside. It was not a refusal to send an army to destruction, but the
+natural hesitation of a really great commander to do what he believed
+was fatal to the Confederate cause. Pickett, however, gave his
+salutation to Longstreet, and presently said: "Sir, I am going to move
+forward!"
+
+Then began the most memorable charge ever witnessed in America. The
+Confederate column was three-fourths of a mile in length. It was
+directed against the Union centre, where it was supposed the
+Confederate fire had done its work. What ensued was the finest
+military spectacle that had been seen in the world since the charge of
+the Old Guard at Waterloo; and the results were alike! The brave men
+who made the onset were mowed down as they crossed rapidly the
+intervening space. Hunt's batteries were quickly run back to their
+position, and began to discharge their deadly contents against the
+head of the oncoming column. That column veered somewhat to the right
+as it came. The line staggered, but pressed on. It came within the
+range of the Union musketry. Gaps opened here and there. Armistead,
+who led the advance, saw his forces sink to the earth; but he did not
+waver. Nearer and nearer the column came to the Union line. It
+_struck_ the Union line. There was a momentary melee among the guns,
+and then all was over. Hancock's infantry rose with flash on flash
+from among the rocks by which they were partially protected. The
+Confederates were scattered in broken groups. Retreat was well-nigh
+impossible. The impact of the charge was utterly broken, and the
+Confederate line was blown into rout and ruin. Victory hovered over
+the National army. The Confederate forces staggered away under the
+blow of defeat. Night came down on a broken and virtually hopeless
+cause. The field was covered with the dead and dying. Two thousand
+eight hundred and thirty-four Union soldiers had been killed outright;
+13,709 were wounded, and 6643 were missing, making a total of 23,186
+men. The Confederate loss was never definitely ascertained, but was
+greatly in excess of that of the Federals. The best estimate has been
+fixed at 31,621. The grand total of losses in those fatal three days
+thus reached the enormous aggregate of 54,807!
+
+
+SPOTTSYLVANIA.
+
+A losing cause never showed a braver front than the Confederacy put on
+in the Wilderness. It was a front of iron. A man weaker than Grant
+would have quailed before it. It was virtually the same old rim of
+fire and death that had confronted McClellan, that had consumed Pope,
+that almost destroyed both Hooker and Burnside. Either the Union army
+must go through this barrier of flame and destruction and scatter it
+like brands of fire to right and left, or else the Union could never
+be rebuilded on the foundation of victory.
+
+There was much discussion--and some doubt--in the spring of 1864
+whether the Silent Man of Galena, now made Commander-in-chief of the
+Union armies, could pursue his military destiny to a great fame with
+Robert E. Lee for his antagonist. This talk was bruited abroad; Grant
+himself heard it, and had to consider what not a few people were
+saying, namely, that he had had before him in the West as leaders of
+the enemy only such men as Buckner and Beauregard and Pemberton; now
+he must stand up face to face with "Old Bobby Lee" and take the blows
+of the great Virginian against whom neither strategy nor force had
+hitherto prevailed.
+
+The Man of Galena did not quail. Neither did he doubt. His pictures of
+this epoch show him with mouth more close shut than ever; but
+otherwise there was no sign. Lee for his part knew that another foeman
+was now come, and if we mistake not he divined that the end of the
+Confederacy, involving the end of his own military career, was not far
+ahead. It is to the credit of his genius that he did not weaken under
+such a situation and despair ere the ordeal came upon him; but on the
+contrary, he planted himself in the Wilderness and awaited the coming
+of the storm.
+
+Let the world know that Grant in entering upon his great campaign, in
+the first days of May, 1864, had to do so against the greatest
+disadvantages. The country south of the Rappahannock was against him.
+The fact of Lee's acting ever on the defensive was against him. The
+woods and the rivers were against him. All Virginia, from the Rapidan
+to Richmond, was a rifle-pit and an earthwork. The Confederates knew
+every hill and ravine as though they were the orchard and the fishing
+creek of their own homes. The battlefield was theirs, to begin with;
+it must be taken from them or remain theirs forever. To take a
+battlefield of their own from Virginians has never been a pleasing
+task to those who did it--or more frequently tried to do it and did
+not!
+
+It remained for Grant and his tremendous Union army to undertake this
+herculean task. He moved into the Wilderness and fought a two-days'
+battle of the greatest severity. The contest of the fifth and sixth of
+May were murderous in character. The National losses in these two days
+in killed, wounded and missing were not less than 14,000; those of the
+Confederates were almost as great. In this struggle General Alexander
+Hays was killed; Generals Getty, Baxter and McAlister were wounded,
+and scores of under-officers, with thousands of brave men, lost their
+lives or limbs. Now it was that Lee is reported to have said to his
+officers, with a serious look on his iron face: "Gentlemen, at last
+the Army of the Potomac has a head."
+
+On the seventh of May there was not much fighting. It is said that in
+the lull Grant's leading commanders thought he would recede, as his
+predecessors had done, and that not a few of them gave it as their
+opinion that he should do so. It is said that when coming to the
+Chancellorsville House, he gave the command, "Forward, by the left
+flank," thus demonstrating his purpose, as he said four days afterward
+in his despatch to the government, "to fight it out on that line if
+it took all summer," the soldiers gave a sigh of relief, and many
+began to sing at the prospect of no more retreating. General Sherman
+has recorded his belief that at this juncture Grant best displayed his
+greatness.
+
+With the movement which we have just mentioned, the next stage in the
+campaign would bring both the Union and the Confederate armies to
+Spottsylvania Courthouse. The distance that each had to march to that
+point was about the same. It was at this juncture that the woods in
+which the two armies were moving, Grant to the left and Lee to the
+right, took fire and were burned. When the Union advance came in sight
+of Spottsylvania, Warren, who commanded, found that the place had been
+already occupied by the vigilant enemy. Hancock did not arrive in time
+to make an immediate attack, and Longstreet's corps was able to get
+into position before the pressure of the Union advance could be felt.
+
+At this juncture Sheridan, in command of the Federal cavalry, was cut
+loose from the Union army and sent whirling with irresistible speed
+and momentum entirely around the rear of the Confederate army,
+destroying railroads, cutting communication, burning trains and
+liberating prisoners, as far as the very suburbs of Richmond.
+
+The main divisions of the Union army came into position before
+Spottsylvania. Hancock had the right wing, and upon his left rested
+Warren. Sedgwick's corps was next in order, while Burnside held the
+left. Just as the commanders were forming their lines and some men at
+a Union battery seemed to shrink from the Confederate sharpshooters,
+Sedgwick went forward to encourage them, saying, "Men, they couldn't
+hit an elephant at that distance." But the next instant he himself
+fell dead! His command of the Sixth Corps was transferred to General
+Wright.
+
+It now remained for Hancock on the extreme right to attack the
+Confederate left. This was done by Barlow's division, but without
+success. This attack and repulse was the real beginning of the battle
+of Spottsylvania. The Confederates in front were strongly intrenched,
+but near the northernmost point of their works what was thought to be
+a weak point in the line was discovered. This point was what is known
+as a _salient_. The position, however, was in the thick woods, or was
+at any rate concealed by the woods and ravines in front.
+
+As soon as the position was discovered and its nature known, a large
+part of Wright's corps was sent against it. The attack was successful.
+The line was carried, and about a thousand men captured in the
+assault. But the reinforcements were not up promptly, and the
+assailants were driven back. A second assault ended in the same way.
+This fighting was on the evening of the tenth of May. The battle
+continued into the night, and the event hung dubious.
+
+On the eleventh there was a heavy rain, but during that day General
+Grant, who placed great confidence in General Hancock and his corps,
+moved that brilliant officer to the point of attack before the
+_salient_. With the early light on the morning of the twelfth, Hancock
+sprang forward to the assault. So sudden and powerful was the charge
+that one-half of the distance had been traversed before the enemy knew
+what was coming. Then the storm burst wildly. The yell arose from one
+side, and the cheer from the other. Hancock's men in great force and
+with invincible courage sprang upon the breast-works, clubbed their
+guns, or went over bayonet foremost. They were met on the other side
+in like manner. The melee that ensued was perhaps the most dreadful
+hand-to-hand conflict of the war. The impetus of the Union attack was
+irresistible. Great numbers were killed on both sides, and the
+Confederates were overpowered.
+
+General Edward Johnson and his division of about four thousand men
+were captured in the angle. General Stuart was also taken. He and
+Hancock had been friends in their student days at West Point. The
+story goes that Hancock, recognizing his prisoner, said, "How are
+you, Stuart?" and offered his hand. The hot Confederate answered, "I
+am _General_ Stuart of the Confederate army, and under the
+circumstances I decline to take your hand." Hancock answered, "Under
+any other circumstances I should not have offered it!"
+
+But there was no time for bantering. The very earth round about was in
+the chaos of roaring battle. Hancock had taken twenty guns with their
+horses, and about thirty battle flags. It was a tremendous capture, if
+he could hold his ground. No officer of the Union army ever showed to
+better advantage. The world may well forgive the touch of vanity and
+bluster in the undaunted Hancock, as he sent this despatch to Grant:
+"I have used up Johnson and am going into Hill." He found, however,
+that he should have terrible work even to keep the gain that he had
+made.
+
+Lee no sooner perceived what was done than he threw heavy masses upon
+the position to retake it from the captors. Hancock was now on the
+wrong side of the angle! The Confederates came on during the day in
+five successive charges, the like of which for valor was hardly ever
+witnessed. The contested ground was literally piled with dead. There
+was hand-to-hand fighting. Men bayoneted each other through the
+crevices of the logs that had been piled up for defences. The storm
+of battle swept back and forth until the salient gained that name of
+"Death Angle" by which it will ever be known. The place became then
+and there the bloodiest spot that ever was washed with human life in
+America. The bushes and trees round about were literally shot away. At
+one point an oak tree, more than eighteen inches in diameter, was
+completely eaten off at the man-level by the bullet storm that beat
+against it. That tree in its fall crushed several men of a South
+Carolina regiment who still stood and fought in the death harvest that
+was going on.
+
+The counter assaults of the Confederates, however, were in vain. They
+inflicted terrible losses, and were themselves mowed down by
+thousands; but they could not and did not retake the angle. Hancock
+and his heroes could not be dislodged. The battle of Spottsylvania
+died away with the night into sullen and awful silence, which was
+broken only by the groans of thousands of wounded men who could not be
+recovered from the bloody earth on which they had fallen. The
+antagonists lay crouching like lions, only a lion's spring apart, and
+neither would suffer the other, even for the sake of their common
+American humanity, to recover his dead.
+
+In the retrospect it seems marvelous that within the memories of men
+now living and not yet old, so awful a struggle as that of the Death
+Angle in the Wilderness could have taken place between men of the same
+race and language, born under the flag of the same Republic, and
+cherishing the same sentiments and traditions and hopes.
+
+
+APPOMATTOX.
+
+Appomattox was not a battle, but the end of battles. Fondly do we hope
+that never again shall Americans lift against Americans the avenging
+hand in such a strife! Here at a little court-house, twenty-five miles
+east of Lynchburg, on the ninth of April, 1865, the great tragedy of
+our civil war was brought to a happy end. Here General Robert E. Lee,
+with the broken fragments of his Army of Northern Virginia, was
+brought by the inexorable logic of war to the end of that career which
+he had so bravely followed through four years of battle, much of which
+had shown him to be one of the great commanders of the century.
+
+The story of the downfall of the Confederacy has been many times
+repeated. It has entered into our literature, and is known by heart
+wherever the history of the war is read. Generally, however, this
+story has been told as if the narrator approached the event from the
+Union side. We have the pursuit of General Lee from Petersburg
+westward, almost to the spurs of the Alleghanies. We follow in the
+wake. We see the unwearied efforts of the victorious host to close
+around the retreating army which has so long been the bulwark of the
+Confederacy. We hear the summons to surrender, and the answer of "_Not
+yet_;" but within a day that answer is reversed, and the stern wills
+of Lee and his fellow-commanders yield to the inexorable law of the
+strongest.
+
+Only recently, however, the story has been told with great spirit from
+the Confederate side, by General John B. Gordon, who was at that time
+at the right hand of his commander-in-chief, and who stood by him to
+the last hour. General Gordon's account of the final struggle of the
+Confederate army and of the surrender is so graphic, so full of
+spirit, so warmed with the animation and devotion of a great soldier,
+that we here repeat his account of
+
+THE DEATH STRUGGLE.
+
+We always retreated in good order, though always under fire. As we
+retreated we would wheel and fire, or repel a rush, and then stagger
+on to the next hilltop, or vantage ground, where a new fight would be
+made. And so on through the entire day. At night my men had no rest.
+We marched through the night in order to get a little respite from
+fighting. All night long I would see my poor fellows hobbling along,
+prying wagons or artillery out of the mud, and supplementing the work
+of our broken-down horses. At dawn, though, they would be in line
+ready for battle, and they would fight with the steadiness and valor
+of the Old Guard.
+
+This lasted until the night of the seventh of April. The retreat of
+Lee's army was lit up with the fire and flash of battle, in which my
+brave men moved about like demigods for five days and nights. Then we
+were sent to the front for a rest, and Longstreet was ordered to cover
+the retreating army. On the evening of the eighth, when I had reached
+the front, my scout George brought me two men in Confederate uniform,
+who, he said, he believed to be the enemy, as he had seen them
+counting our men as they filed past. I had the men brought to my
+campfire, and examined them. They made a plausible defence, but George
+was positive they were spies, and I ordered them searched. He failed
+to find anything, when I ordered him to examine their boots. In the
+bottom of one of the boots I found an order from General Grant to
+General Ord, telling him to move by forced marches toward Lynchburg
+and cut off General Lee's retreat. The men then confessed that they
+were spies, and belonged to General Sheridan. They stated that they
+knew that the penalty of their course was death, but asked that I
+should not kill them, as the war could only last a few days longer,
+anyhow. I kept them prisoners, and turned them over to General
+Sheridan after the surrender. I at once sent the information to
+General Lee, and a short time afterward received orders to go to his
+headquarters. That night was held Lee's last council of war. There
+were present General Lee, General Fitzhugh Lee, as head of the
+cavalry, and Pendleton, as chief of the artillery, and myself. General
+Longstreet was, I think, too busily engaged to attend.
+
+General Lee then exhibited to us the correspondence he had had with
+General Grant that day, and asked our opinion of the situation. It
+seemed that surrender was inevitable. The only chance of escape was
+that I could cut a way for the army through the lines in front of me.
+General Lee asked me if I could do this. I replied that I did not know
+what forces were in front of me; that if General Ord had not
+arrived--as we thought then he had not--with his heavy masses of
+infantry, I could cut through. I guaranteed that my men would cut a
+way through all the cavalry that could be massed in front of them.
+The council finally dissolved with the understanding that the army
+should be surrendered if I discovered the next morning, after feeling
+the enemy's line, that the infantry had arrived in such force that I
+could not cut my way through.
+
+My men were drawn up in the little town of Appomattox that night. I
+still had about four thousand men under me, as the army had been
+divided into two commands and given to General Longstreet and myself.
+Early on the morning of the ninth I prepared for the assault upon the
+enemy's line, and began the last fighting done in Virginia. My men
+rushed forward gamely and broke the line of the enemy and captured two
+pieces of artillery. I was still unable to tell what I was fighting; I
+did not know whether I was striking infantry or dismounted cavalry. I
+only know that my men were driving them back, and were getting further
+and further through. Just then I had a message from General Lee,
+telling me a flag of truce was in existence, leaving it to my
+discretion as to what course to pursue. My men were still pushing
+their way on. I sent at once to hear from General Longstreet, feeling
+that, if he was marching toward me, we might still cut through and
+carry the army forward. I learned that he was about two miles off,
+with his face just opposite from mine, fighting for his life. I thus
+saw that the case was hopeless. The further each of us drove the enemy
+the further we drifted apart, and the more exposed we left our wagon
+trains and artillery, which were parked between us. Every line either
+of us broke only opened the gap the wider. I saw plainly that the
+Federals would soon rush in between us, and then there would have been
+no army. I, therefore, determined to send a flag of truce. I called
+Colonel Peyton of my staff to me, and told him that I wanted him to
+carry a flag of truce forward. He replied:
+
+"General, I have no flag of truce."
+
+I told him to get one. He replied:
+
+"General, we have no flag of truce in our command."
+
+Then said I, "Get your handkerchief, put it on a stick, and go
+forward."
+
+"I have no handkerchief, General,"
+
+"Then borrow one and go forward with it."
+
+He tried, and reported to me that there was no handkerchief in my
+staff.
+
+"Then, Colonel, use your shirt."
+
+"You see, General, that we all have on flannel shirts."
+
+At last, I believe, we found a man who had a white shirt. He gave it
+to us, and I tore off the back and tail, and, tying this to a stick,
+Colonel Peyton went out toward the enemy's lines. I instructed him
+simply to say to General Sheridan that General Lee had written to me
+that a flag of truce had been sent from his and Grant's headquarters,
+and that he could act as he thought best on this information. In a few
+moments he came back with some one representing General Sheridan. This
+officer said:
+
+"General Sheridan requested me to present his compliments to you, and
+to demand the unconditional surrender of your army."
+
+"Major, you will please return my compliments to General Sheridan, and
+say that I will not surrender."
+
+"But, General, he will annihilate you."
+
+"I am perfectly well aware of my situation. I simply gave General
+Sheridan some information on which he may or may not desire to act."
+
+He went back to his lines, and in a short time General Sheridan came
+forward on an immense horse, and attended by a very large staff. Just
+here an incident occurred that came near having a serious ending. As
+General Sheridan was approaching I noticed one of my sharpshooters
+drawing his rifle down upon him. I at once called to him: "Put down
+your gun, sir; this is a flag of truce." But he simply settled it to
+his shoulder and was drawing a bead on Sheridan, when I leaned forward
+and jerked his gun. He struggled with me, but I finally raised it. I
+then loosed it, and he started to aim again. I caught it again, when
+he turned his stern, white face, all broken with grief and streaming
+with tears, up to me, and said: "Well, General, then let him keep on
+his own side."
+
+The fighting had continued up to this point. Indeed, after the flag of
+truce, a regiment of my men, who had been fighting their way through
+toward where we were, and who did not know of a flag of truce, fired
+into some of Sheridan's cavalry. This was speedily stopped, however. I
+showed General Sheridan General Lee's note, and he determined to await
+events. He dismounted, and I did the same. Then, for the first time,
+the men seemed to understand what it all meant, and then the poor
+fellows broke down. The men cried like children. Worn, starved and
+bleeding as they were, they would rather have died than have
+surrendered. At one word from me they would have hurled themselves on
+the enemy, and have cut their way through or have fallen to a man with
+their guns in their hands. But I could not permit it. The great drama
+had been played to its end. But men are seldom permitted to look upon
+such a scene as the one presented here. That these men should have
+wept at surrendering so unequal a fight, at being taken out of this
+constant carnage and storm, at being sent back to their families; that
+they should have wept at having their starved and wasted forms lifted
+out of the jaws of death and placed once more before their
+hearthstones, was an exhibition of fortitude and patriotism that might
+set an example for all time.
+
+
+SEDAN.
+
+BY VICTOR HUGO.
+
+The Second Empire of the French was pounded to powder in a bowl. This
+is literal, not figurative. To attempt to describe Sedan after Victor
+Hugo has described it for all mankind were a work futile and foolish.
+To Hugo we concede the palm among all writers, ancient and modern, as
+a delineator of battle. His description of the battle of Waterloo will
+outlast the tumulus and the lion which French patriotism has reared on
+the square where the last of the Old Guard perished. His description,
+though not elaborate, is equally graphic and final. He was returning,
+in September, 1871, from his fourth exile. He had been in Belgium in
+banishment for about eighteen years. It is in the "History of a Crime"
+that he tells the story. He says that he was re-entering France by the
+Luxembourg frontier, and had fallen asleep in the coach. Suddenly the
+jolt of the train coming to a standstill awoke him. One of the
+passengers said: "What place is this?" Another answered "Sedan." With
+a shudder, Hugo looked around. He says that to his mind and vision, as
+he gazed out, the paradise was a tomb. Before substituting his words
+for our own, we note only that nearly thirteen months had elapsed
+since Louis Napoleon and his 90,000 men had here been brayed in a
+mortar. Hugo's description of the scene and the event continues as
+follows:
+
+The valley was circular and hollow, like the bottom of a crater; the
+winding river resembled a serpent; the hills high, ranged one behind
+the other, surrounded this mysterious spot like a triple line of
+inexorable walls; once there, there is no means of exit. It reminded
+me of the amphitheatres. An indescribable, disquieting vegetation,
+which seemed to be an extension of the Black Forest, overran all the
+heights, and lost itself in the horizon like a huge impenetrable
+snare; the sun shone, the birds sang, carters passed by whistling;
+sheep, lambs and pigeons were scattered about; leaves quivered and
+rustled; the grass, a densely thick grass, was full of flowers. It was
+appalling.
+
+I seemed to see waving over this valley the flashing of the avenging
+angel's sword.
+
+This word "Sedan" had been like a veil abruptly torn aside. The
+landscape had become suddenly filled with tragedy. Those shapeless
+eyes which the bark of trees delineates on the trunks were gazing--at
+what? At something terrible and lost to view.
+
+In truth, that was the place! And at the moment when I was passing by,
+thirteen months all but a few days had elapsed. That was the place
+where the monstrous enterprise of the second of December had burst
+asunder. A fearful shipwreck!
+
+The gloomy pathways of Fate cannot be studied without profound anguish
+of heart.
+
+On the thirty-first of August, 1870, an army was reassembled, and was,
+as it were, massed together under the walls of Sedan, in a place
+called the Givonne Valley. This army was a French army--twenty-nine
+brigades, fifteen divisions, four army corps--90,000 men. This army
+was in this place without anyone being able to divine the reason;
+without order, without an object, scattered about--a species of heap
+of men thrown down there as though with the view of being seized by
+some huge hand.
+
+This army either did not entertain, or appeared not to entertain, for
+the moment any immediate uneasiness. They knew, or at least they
+thought they knew, that the enemy was a long way off. On calculating
+the stages at four leagues daily, it was three days' march distant.
+Nevertheless, toward evening the leaders took some wise strategic
+precautions; they protected the army, which rested in the rear on
+Sedan and the Meuse, by two battle fronts, one composed of the Seventh
+Corps, and extending from Floing to Givonne, the other composed of the
+Twelfth Corps, extending from Givonne to Bazeilles; a triangle of
+which the Meuse formed the hypothenuse. The Twelfth Corps, formed of
+the three divisions of Lacretelle, Lartigue and Wolff, ranged on the
+right, with the artillery between the brigades, formed a veritable
+barrier, having Bazeilles and Givonne at each end, and Digny in its
+centre; the two divisions of Petit and Lheritier massed in the rear
+upon two lines supported this barrier. General Lebrun commanded the
+Twelfth Corps. The Seventh Corps, commanded by General Douay, only
+possessed two divisions--Dumont's division and Gilbert's division--and
+formed the other battle front, covering the army of Givonne to Floing
+on the side of Illy; this battle front was comparatively weak, too
+open on the side of Givonne, and only protected on the side of the
+Meuse by two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains, and by
+Guyomar's brigade, resting in squares on Floing. Within this triangle
+were encamped the Fifth Corps, commanded by General Wimpfen, and the
+First Corps, commanded by General Ducrot. Michel's cavalry division
+covered the First Corps on the side of Digny; the Fifth supported
+itself upon Sedan. Four divisions, each disposed upon two lines--the
+divisions of Lheritier, Grandchamp, Goze and Conseil-Dumenil--formed a
+sort of horseshoe, turned toward Sedan, and uniting the first battle
+front with the second. The cavalry division of Ameil and the brigade
+of Fontanges served as a reserve for these four divisions. The whole
+of the artillery was upon the two battle fronts. Two portions of the
+army were in confusion, one to the right of Sedan beyond Balan, the
+other to the left of Sedan, on this side of Iges. Beyond Balan were
+the division of Vassoigne and the brigade of Reboul, on this side of
+Iges were the two cavalry divisions of Margueritte and Bonnemains.
+
+These arrangements indicated a profound feeling of security. In the
+first place, the Emperor Napoleon III. would not have come there if he
+had not been perfectly tranquil. This Givonne Valley is what Napoleon
+I. called a "wash-hand basin." There could not have been a more
+complete enclosure. An army is so much at home there that it is too
+much so; it runs the risk of no longer being able to get out. This
+disquieted some brave and prudent leaders, such as Wimpfen, but they
+were not listened to. If absolutely necessary, said the people of the
+imperial circle, they could always be sure of being able to reach
+Mezieres, and at the worst the Belgian frontier. Was it, however,
+needful to provide for such extreme eventualities? In certain cases
+foresight is almost an offence. They were all of one mind, therefore,
+to be at their ease.
+
+If they had been uneasy they would have cut the bridges of the Meuse,
+but they did not even think of it. To what purpose? The enemy was a
+long way off. The Emperor, who evidently was well informed, affirmed
+it.
+
+The army bivouacked somewhat in confusion, as we have said, and slept
+peaceably throughout this night of August 31, having, whatever might
+happen, or believing that they had, the retreat upon Mezieres open
+behind it. They disdained to take the most ordinary precautions, they
+made no cavalry reconnoissances, they did not even place outposts. A
+German military writer has stated this. Fourteen leagues at least
+separated them from the German army, three days' march; they did not
+exactly know where it was; they believed it scattered, possessing
+little unity, badly informed, led somewhat at random upon several
+points at once, incapable of a movement converging upon one single
+point, like Sedan; they believed that the Crown Prince of Saxony was
+marching on Chalons, and that the Crown Prince of Prussia was marching
+on Metz; they were ignorant of everything appertaining to this army,
+its leaders, its plan, its armament, its effective force. Was it still
+following the strategy of Gustavus Adolphus? Was it still following
+the tactics of Frederick II.? No one knew. They felt sure of being at
+Berlin in a few weeks. What nonsense! The Prussian army! They talked
+of this war as of a dream, and of this army as of a phantom....
+
+The masterful description of the great novelist and poet then
+continues in a narrative of the attack and catastrophe:
+
+Bazeilles takes fire, Givonne takes fire, Floing takes fire; the
+battle begins with a furnace. The whole horizon is aflame. The French
+camp is in this crater, stupefied, affrighted, starting up from
+sleeping--a funereal swarming. A circle of thunder surrounds the army.
+They are encircled by annihilation. This mighty slaughter is carried
+on on all sides simultaneously. The French resist and they are
+terrible, having nothing left but despair. Our cannon, almost all
+old-fashioned and of short range, are at once dismounted by the
+fearful and exact aim of the Prussians. The density of the rain of
+shells upon the valley is so great that "the earth is completely
+furrowed," says an eye-witness, "as though by a rake." How many
+cannon? Eleven hundred at least. Twelve German batteries upon La
+Moncelle alone; the Third and Fourth _Abtheilung_, an awe-striking
+artillery, upon the crests of Givonne, with the Second Horse Battery
+in reserve; opposite Digny ten Saxon and two Wurtemburg batteries; the
+curtain of trees of the wood to the north of Villers-Cernay masks the
+mounted _Abtheilung_, which is there with the third Heavy Artillery in
+reserve, and from the gloomy copse issues a formidable fire; the
+twenty-four pieces of the First Heavy Artillery are ranged in the
+glade skirting the road from La Moncelle to La Chapelle; the battery
+of the Royal Guard sets fire to the Garenne Wood; the shells and the
+balls riddle Suchy, Francheval, Fouro-Saint-Remy, and the valley
+between Heibes and Givonne; and the third and fourth rank of cannon
+extend without break of continuity as far as the Calvary of Illy, the
+extreme point of the horizon. The German soldiers, seated or lying
+before the batteries, watch the artillery at work. The French soldiers
+fall and die. Amongst the bodies which cover the plain there is one,
+the body of an officer, on which they will find, after the battle, a
+sealed note containing this order, signed Napoleon: "To-day, September
+1, rest for the whole army."
+
+The gallant Thirty-fifth of the Line almost entirely disappears under
+the overwhelming shower of shells; the brave Marine Infantry holds at
+bay for a moment the Saxons, joined by the Bavarians, but outflanked
+on every side draws back; all the admirable cavalry of the
+Margueritte division hurled against the German infantry halts and
+sinks down midway, "annihilated," says the Prussian report, "by
+well-aimed and cool firing." This field of carnage has three outlets,
+all three barred: the Bouillon road by the Prussian Guard, the
+Carignan road by the Bavarians, the Mezieres road by the
+Wurtemburgers. The French have not thought of barricading the railway
+viaduct; three German battalions have occupied it during the night.
+Two isolated houses on the Balan road could be made the pivot of a
+long resistance, but the Germans are there. The wood from Monvilliers
+to Bazeilles, but the French have been forestalled; they find the
+Bavarians cutting the underwood with their billhooks. The German army
+moves in one piece, in one absolute unity; the Crown Prince of Saxony
+is on the height of Mairy, whence he surveys the whole action; the
+command oscillates in the French army; at the beginning of the battle,
+at a quarter to six, MacMahon is wounded by the bursting of a shell;
+at seven o'clock Ducrot replaces him; at ten o'clock Wimpfen replaces
+Ducrot. Every instant the wall of fire is drawing closer in, the roll
+of the thunder is continuous, a dismal pulverization of 90,000 men!
+Never before has anything equal to this been seen; never before has an
+army been overwhelmed beneath such a downpour of lead and iron! At
+one o'clock all is lost! The regiments fly helter-skelter into Sedan!
+But Sedan begins to burn, Dijonval burns, the ambulances burn, there
+is nothing now possible but to cut their way out. Wimpfen, brave and
+resolute, proposes this to the Emperor. The Third Zouaves, desperate,
+have set the example. Cut off from the rest of the army, they have
+forced a passage and have reached Belgium. A flight of lions!
+
+Suddenly, above the disaster, above the huge pile of dead and dying,
+above all this unfortunate heroism, appears disgrace. The white flag
+is hoisted.
+
+
+BAZAINE AND METZ.
+
+A letter of Count Von Moltke has recently been published, showing that
+the question of the conquest of France was under consideration by the
+Count and Bismarck as early as August of 1866. It is demonstrated that
+these two powerful spirits were already preparing, aye, had already
+prepared, to trip the Emperor Louis Napoleon, throwing him and his
+Empire into a common ruin. The letter also proves that the plan of the
+North-German Confederation, under the leadership of Prussia, with
+German unity and a German Empire just beyond, was already clearly in
+mind by the far-sighted leaders who surrounded King William in 1866.
+Count Von Moltke shows that it was possible and practicable _at that
+date_, and within a period of two or three weeks, to throw upon the
+French border so tremendous an army that resistance would be
+impossible. The antecedents of the Franco-Prussian War had been
+clearly thought out by the German masters at a time when Louis
+Napoleon was still tinkering with his quixotical Empire in Mexico.
+
+When the war between France and Germany actually broke out, four years
+later. Germany was prepared, and France was unprepared for the
+conflict. Louis Napoleon did not know that Germany was prepared. He
+actually thought that he could break into the German borders, fight
+his way victoriously to the capital, make his headquarters in Berlin,
+and dictate a peace in the manner of his uncle. It was the most
+fallacious dream that a really astute man ever indulged in. From the
+first day of actual contact with the Germans, the dream of the Emperor
+began to be dissipated. Within five days (August 14-18, 1870,) three
+murderous battles were fought on French soil, the first at Courcelles,
+the next at Vionville, and the third at Gravelotte. In all of these
+the French fought bravely, and in all were defeated disastrously,
+with tremendous losses.
+
+By these great victories, the Germans were able to separate the two
+divisions of the French army. The northern division, under command of
+the Emperor and MacMahon, began to recede toward Sedan, while the more
+powerful army, under Marshal Bazaine, numbering 173,000 men, was
+forced somewhat to the south, and pressed by the division of Prince
+Frederick Charles, until the French, in an evil day, entered the
+fortified town of Metz, and suffered themselves to be helplessly
+cooped up. There was perhaps never another great army so safely and
+hopelessly disposed of!
+
+Metz, after Antwerp, is the strongest fortress in Europe. It is
+situated at the junction of the rivers Seille and Moselle. It is the
+capital of the province of Lorraine, destined to be lost by France and
+gained by Germany in the struggle that was now on. The place was of
+great historical importance. Here the Roman invaders had established
+themselves in the time of the conquest of Gaul. It was called by the
+conquerors, first Mediomatrica, and afterward Divodurum. Its
+importance, on the very crest of the watershed between the Teutonic
+and Gallic races, was noted in the early years of our era, and to the
+present day that importance continues for the same reason as of old.
+Metz is on the line of a conflict of races which has not yet, after so
+many centuries, been finally decided.
+
+The position is one of great strategic importance. But such were the
+military conditions at the end of August, 1870, that to occupy Metz
+with one of the greatest armies of modern times was the most serious
+disaster that could befall the French cause. Bazaine's army was
+needed, not in a fortified town, but _in the field_. It was a
+tremendous force. The army that Prince Frederick Charles locked up in
+Metz could have marched from Parthia to Spain against the resistance
+of the whole Roman Empire, at the high noon of that imperial power! It
+could have marched from end to end of the Southern Confederacy in the
+palmiest day of that Confederacy, and could not have been seriously
+impeded! And yet this tremendous force was pent up and shut in, as if
+under seal, while King William and the Crown Prince and Bismarck and
+Von Moltke hunted down the French Emperor and his remaining forces,
+brought them to bay, and compelled a surrender.
+
+This was accomplished by the first of September. The Empire of
+Napoleon went to pieces. The Third Republic was instituted. The
+Empress fled with the Prince Imperial to England, while her humbled
+lord was established by his captors at the castle of Wilhelmshohe.
+Republican France found herself in possession of a political chaos
+which could hardly be stilled. She also found herself in possession of
+a splendid army of more than one hundred and seventy thousand men shut
+up helplessly in Metz. The situation was highly dramatic. The Republic
+said that Bazaine should break out, but the Marshal said that he could
+not. What he said was true. The Germans held him fast. But the
+Republic believed, as it still believes, that Bazaine, loyal to the
+fallen Emperor rather than to his country, wished to handle his army
+in such a manner as should compel the restoration of the Empire, under
+the auspices of the German conquerors.
+
+This idea was hateful above all things to the French Republicans.
+September wore away, and more than half of October; but still the
+siege of Metz was not concluded. Vainly did the new Republic of France
+strive to extricate herself. Vainly did she raise new armies. Vainly
+did she look for the escape of Bazaine. Finally, on the twenty-seventh
+of October, that commander surrendered Metz and his army to the
+Germans. It was the most tremendous capitulation known in history.
+Never before was so powerful an army surrendered to an enemy. The
+actual number of French soldiers covered by the capitulation was
+fully one hundred and seventy thousand! The prostration of France was
+complete, and her humiliation extreme.
+
+Bazaine became the Black Beast of the public imagination. A tribunal
+was organized at Paris, under the presidency of the Duc d'Aumale, son
+of Louis Philippe--the same who with the Prince de Joinville had been
+on McClellan's staff during the peninsular campaign in our Civil War.
+Before this court Bazaine was haled as a traitor to his country. He
+was tried, convicted and condemned to degradation and death. It was
+only by the most strenuous efforts in his behalf that a commutation of
+the sentence to imprisonment for twenty years was obtained.
+
+The Marshal was accordingly incarcerated in a prison at Cannes,
+whither he was sent in December of 1873, and from which he effected
+his escape in the following August. He succeeded in making his way to
+Madrid, and took up his residence there. He sought assiduously by
+writings and argument and appeal to reverse the judgment of his
+countrymen and of the world with regard to the justice of his
+sentence; but he could not succeed. It is probably true that the
+greatest surrender of military forces known in the history of the
+world was brought about by the preference of the commanding general of
+the conquered army for an Emperor who was already dethroned, as
+against a true devotion to his country. There was also in the case a
+measure of incapacity. Bazaine was no match as a military commander
+for the powerful genius of Von Moltke and the persistency of Frederick
+Charles and the more than two hundred thousand resolute Germans who
+surrounded him, and brought him and his army to irretrievable ruin.
+
+
+
+
+Astronomical Vistas.
+
+
+THE CENTURY OF ASTEROIDS.
+
+The nineteenth century may be called the Age of the Asteroids. It was
+on _the first night_ of this century that the first asteroid was
+discovered! Through all the former ages, no man on the earth had had
+definite knowledge of the existence of such a body. It was reserved
+for Guiseppe Piazzi, an Italian astronomer at Palermo, to make known
+by actual observation the first member of the planetoid group. If
+human history had the slightest regard for the calendars of
+mankind--if the eternal verities depended in any measure on the
+almanac or the division of time into this age or that--we might look
+with wonder on the remarkable coincidence which made the discovery of
+the first asteroid to happen in the first evening twilight of the
+first day of the nineteenth century!
+
+At the close of the eighteenth century, mankind were acquainted with
+all the major planets except Neptune. Uranus, the last of the group,
+was discovered by the Elder Herschel, on the night of the thirteenth
+of March, 1781. True, this planet had been seen on twenty different
+occasions, by other observers; but its character had not been
+revealed. Sir William called his new world Georgium Sidus, that is,
+the George Star, in honor of the King of England. The world, however,
+had too much intelligence to allow the transfer of the name of George
+III. from earth to heaven. Such nomenclature would have been unpopular
+in America! The name of the king was happily destined to remain a part
+of terrestrial history!
+
+For a while it was insisted by astronomers and the world at large that
+the new globe, then supposed to bound the solar system on its outer
+circumference, should be called Herschel, in honor of its discoverer.
+But the old system of naming the planets after the deities of
+classical and pagan mythology prevailed; and to the names of Mercury,
+Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, was now added the name Uranus, that is,
+in the language of the Greeks, _Heaven_.
+
+Piazzi, scanning the zodiac from his observatory in Palermo, in the
+early hours of that first night of the century, noticed a hitherto
+unobserved star, which under higher power proved to be a planet. It
+presented a small irregular disc, and a few additional observations
+showed that it was progressing in the usual manner from west to east.
+For some time such a revelation had been expected; but the result did
+not answer to expectation in one particular; for the new body seemed
+to be too insignificant to be called a world. It appeared rather to be
+a great planetary boulder, as if our Mount Shasta had been wrenched
+from the earth and flung into space. Investigation showed that the new
+body was more than a hundred miles in diameter; but this, according to
+planetary estimation, is only the measurement of a clod.
+
+There had been, as we say, expectation of a discovery in the region
+where the first asteroid was found. Kepler had declared his belief
+that in this region of space a new world might be discovered.
+Following this suggestion, the German astronomer Olbers, of Bremen,
+had formed an association of twenty-four observers in different parts
+of Europe, who should divide among themselves the zodiacal band, and
+begin a system of independent scrutiny, either to verify or disprove
+Kepler's hypothesis.
+
+There was another reason also of no small influence tending to the
+same end. Johann Elert Bode, another German astronomer, born in 1747
+and living to 1826, had propounded a mathematical formula known as
+Bode's Law, which led those who accepted it to the belief that a
+planet would be found in what is now known as the asteroidal space.
+Bode's Law, so-called, seems to be no real law of planetary
+distribution; and yet the coincidences which are found under the
+application of the law are such as to arouse our interest if not to
+produce a conviction of the truth of the principle involved. Here,
+then, is the mathematical formula, which is known as Bode's Law:
+
+Write from left to right a row of 4's and under these, beginning with
+the second 4, place a geometrical series beginning with 3 and
+increasing by the ratio of 2; add the two columns together, and we
+have a series running 4, 7, 10, etc.; and this row of results has an
+astonishing coincidence, or approximate coincidence with the relative
+distances of the planets from the sun--thus:
+
+   4  4  4   4   4   4    4   4    4
+      3  6  12  24  48   96 192  384
+  -- -- --  --  --  --  --- ---  ---
+   4  7 10  16  28  52  100 196  388
+
+The near agreement of this row of results with the row containing the
+_actual_ relative distances of the planets from the sun may well
+astonish, not only the astronomer, but the common reader. Those
+distances--making 10 to represent the distance of the earth--are as
+follows:
+
+Mercury, 3.9; Venus, 7.2; Earth, 10; Mars, 15.2; Asteroids, 27.4;
+Jupiter, 52; Saturn, 95.4; Uranus, 192; Neptune, 300.
+
+In addition to Kepler's prediction and the indications of Bode's Law,
+there was a _general_ reason for thinking that a planetary body of
+some kind should occupy the space between the orbits of Mars and
+Jupiter. The mean distance of Mars from the sun is about 141,500,000
+miles; that of Jupiter, is about 483,000,000 miles. The distance from
+one orbit to the other is therefore about 341,500,000 miles. Conceive
+of an infinite sheet of tin. Mark thereon a centre for the sun.
+Measure out a hundred and forty millions of miles, and with that
+radius strike a circle. From the same centre measure out four hundred
+and eighty-three millions of miles, and with that radius strike a
+circle. Cut out the sheet between the two circles, and the vast space
+left void will indicate the vacant area in the mighty disc of our
+solar system. That this space should be occupied with _something_
+accords with the plan of nature and the skill of the Builder.
+
+So Olbers and his twenty-three associates began, in the last decade of
+the eighteenth century, to search diligently for the verification of
+Kepler's prediction and the fulfillment of Bode's Law. Oddly enough,
+Piazzi was not one of the twenty-four astronomers who had agreed to
+find the new world. He was exploring the heavens on his own account,
+and in doing so, he found what the others had failed to find, that is,
+the first asteroid.
+
+The body discovered answered so little to the hopes of the
+astronomical fraternity that they immediately said within themselves:
+"This is not he; we seek another." So they continued the search, and
+in a little more than a year Olbers himself was rewarded with the
+discovery of the second of the planetoid group. On the twenty-eighth
+of March, 1802, he made his discovery from an upper chamber of his
+dwelling in Bremen, where he had his telescope. On the night in
+question he was scanning the northern part of the constellation of
+Virgo, when the sought-for object was found. This body, like the first
+of its kind, was very small, and was found to be moving from west to
+east in nearly the same orbit as its predecessor.
+
+Here then was something wonderful. Olbers at once advanced the
+hypothesis that probably the two bodies thus discovered were fragments
+of what had been a large planet moving in its orbit through this part
+of the heavens. If so there might be--and probably were--others of
+like kind. The search was at once renewed, and on the night of the
+first of September, 1804, the third of the asteroid group was found by
+the astronomer Hardy, of Bremen. The belief that a large planet had
+been disrupted in this region was strengthened, and astronomers
+continued their exploration; but two years and a half elapsed before
+another asteroid was found. On the evening of March 29, 1807, the
+diligence of Olbers was rewarded with the discovery of the fourth of
+the group, which like its predecessors, was so small and irregular in
+character as still further to favor the fragmentary theory.
+
+How shall we name the asteroids? Piazzi fell back upon pagan mythology
+for the name of his little world, and called it Ceres, from the Roman
+goddess of corn. Olbers named the second asteroid Pallas; the third
+was called Juno--whose rank in the Greek and Roman pantheon might have
+suggested one of the major planets as her representative in the skies;
+and the fourth was called Vesta, from the Roman divinity of the
+hearthstone.
+
+Here then there was a pause. Though the zodiac continued to be swept
+by many observers, a period of more than thirty-eight years went by
+before the fifth asteroid was found. The cycle of these discoveries
+strikingly illustrates the general movement of scientific progress.
+First there is a new departure; then a lull, and then a resumption of
+exploration and a finding more fertile than ever. It was on the night
+of the eighth of December, 1845, that the German astronomer Hencke
+discovered the fifth asteroid and named it Astraea. After a year and a
+half, namely, on the night of the first of July, 1847, the same
+observer discovered the sixth member of the group, and to this was
+given the name Hebe. On the thirteenth of August in the same year the
+astronomer Hind found the seventh asteroid, and named it Iris. On the
+eighteenth of October following he found the eighth, and this was
+called Flora. Then on the twenty-fifth of April, 1848, came the
+discovery of Metis, by Graham. Nearly a year later the Italian De
+Gasparis found the tenth member of the system, that is, Hygeia. De
+Gasparis soon discovered the eleventh body, which was called
+Parthenope. This was on the eleventh of May, 1850.
+
+Two other asteroids were found in this year; and two in 1851. In the
+following year _nine_ were discovered; and so on from year to year
+down to the present date. Some years have been fruitful in such finds,
+while others have been comparatively barren. In a number of the years,
+only a single asteroid has been added to the list; but in others whole
+groups have been found. Thus in 1861 twelve were discovered; in 1868,
+twelve; in 1875, _seventeen_; in 1890, fourteen. Not a single year
+since 1846 has passed without the addition of at least one known
+asteroid to the list.
+
+But while the number has thus increased to an aggregate at the close
+of 1890 of three hundred and one, many of the tiny wanderers have
+escaped. Some have been rediscovered; and it is possible that some
+have been twice or even three times found and named. The whole family
+perhaps numbers not only hundreds, but thousands; and it can hardly be
+doubted that only the more conspicuous members of the group have ever
+yet been seen by mortal eye.
+
+A considerable space about the centre of the planetary zone between
+Mars and Jupiter is occupied with these multitudinous pigmy worlds
+that follow the one the other in endless flight around the sun. It is
+a sort of planetary shower; and it can hardly be doubted that the
+bodies constituting the flight are graded down in size from larger to
+smaller and still smaller until the fragments are mere blocks and bits
+of world-dust floating in space. Possibly there may be enough of such
+matter to constitute a sort of planetary band that may illumine a
+little (as seen from a distance) the zone where it circulates.
+
+As to the origin of this seemingly fragmentary matter, we know
+nothing, and conjectures are of little use in scientific exposition.
+It may be true that a large planet once occupied the asteroidal space,
+and that the same has been rent by some violence into thousands of
+fragments. It may be observed that the period of rotation of the
+inferior planets corresponds in general with that of our earth, while
+the corresponding period of the superior or outside planets is less
+than one-half as great. The forces which produced this difference in
+the period of rotation may have contended for the mastery in that part
+of our solar system where the asteroids are found; and the disruption
+may have resulted from such conflict of forces.
+
+Or again, it may be that a large planet is now in process of formation
+in the asteroidal space. Possibly one of the greater fragments may
+gain in mass by attracting to itself the nearer fragments, and thus
+continue to wax until it shall have swept clean the whole pathway of
+the planetary matter, except such small fragments as may after aeons of
+time continue to fall upon the master body, as our meteorites now at
+intervals rush into our atmosphere and sometimes reach the earth.
+
+Some astronomers have given and are still giving their almost
+undivided attention to asteroidal investigation. The discoveries have
+been mostly made by a few principal explorers. The astronomer, Palisa,
+from the observatory of Pola and that of Vienna, has found no fewer
+than seventy-five of the whole group. The observer, Peters, at
+Clinton, New York, has found forty-eight asteroids; Luther, of
+Duesseldorf, twenty-four; Watson, of Ann Arbor, twenty-two; Borrelly,
+of Marseilles, fifteen; Goldschmidt, of Paris, fourteen, and Charlois,
+of Nice, fourteen. The English astronomers have found only a few.
+Among such, Hind of London, who has-discovered ten asteroids, is the
+leader.
+
+The Italian, German and American astronomers are first in the interest
+and success which they have shown in this branch of sky-lore. Their
+investigations have made us acquainted with the dim group of little
+worlds performing their unknown part in the vast space between the
+Warrior planet and Jove.
+
+
+THE STORY OF NEPTUNE.
+
+The discovery of the planet Neptune by Dr. Galle on the twenty-third
+of September, 1846, was one of the most important events in the
+intellectual history of this century. Certainly it was no small thing
+to find a new world. Discoverers on the surface of our globe are
+immortalized by finding new lands in unknown regions. What, therefore,
+should be the fame of him who finds a new world in the depths of
+space? Perhaps the discoverer of an asteroid or planetary moon may
+not claim, in the present advanced stage of human knowledge, to rank
+among the flying evangels of history; but he who found the great
+planet third in rank among the worlds of the solar system, a world
+having a mass nearly seventeen times as great as that of our own, may
+well be regarded as one of the immortals.
+
+We have referred the discovery of Neptune to Dr. Johann Gottfried
+Galle, the German astronomer and Professor of Natural Sciences at
+Berlin. But this Dr. Galle was only the _eye_ with which the discovery
+was made. He was a good eye; but the eye, however clear, is only an
+organ of something greater than the eye, and that something in this
+case consisted of two parts. The first part was Urbain Jean Joseph
+Leverrier, the French astronomer, of the Paris Observatory. The other
+part was Professor John Couch Adams, the astronomer of the University
+at Cambridge, England. These two were the thinkers; that is, they
+were, as it were, jointly the great mind of the age, of which Galle
+was the eye.
+
+In getting a clear notion of the discovery of Neptune, several other
+personages are to be considered. One of these is the astronomer Alexis
+Bouvart, of France, who was born in Haute Savoie, in 1767, and died
+in June of 1843, three years before Neptune was found. Another
+personage was his nephew, the astronomer E. Bouvart, and a third was
+the noted Prussian, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, Director of the
+Observatory at Koenigsberg, who was born in 1784, and died on the
+seventeenth of March, 1846, only six months before the discovery of
+our outer planet.
+
+Still another character to be commemorated is the English astronomer
+Professor James Challis, Plumian Professor and Director of the
+Observatory at Cambridge, England. This contributor to the great event
+was born in 1803, and died at Cambridge on the third of December,
+1882. Still another, not to be disregarded, is Dr. T.J. Hussey, of
+Hayes, England, whose mind seems to have been one of the first to
+anticipate the existence of an ultra-Uranian planet. And still again,
+the English astronomer royal, Sir G.B. Airy must be mentioned as a
+contributor to the final result; but he is to be regarded rather as a
+contributor by negation. The great actors in the thing done were
+Leverrier, Adams and Galle. English authors contend strongly for
+placing the names in this order: Adams, Leverrier and Galle.
+
+Suffice it to say that when Uranus was discovered by the elder
+Herschel in 1781, that world was supposed to be the outside planet of
+our system. Hitherto the splendid Saturn had marked the uttermost
+excursion of astronomical knowledge as it respected our solar group.
+For about a quarter of a century after Herschel's discovery the world
+rested upon it as a finality. The orbit of Uranus was thought to
+circumscribe the whole. But in the meantime, observations of this
+orbit led to the knowledge that it did not conform in all respects to
+astronomical and mathematical conditions. The orbit showed
+irregularities, disturbances, perturbations, that could not be
+accounted for when all of the known mathematical calculations were
+applied thereto. Uranus was seen to get out of his path. At times he
+would lag a little, and then at other times appear to be accelerated.
+Each year, when the earth would swing around on the Uranian side of
+the sun, the observations were renewed, but always with the result
+that the planet did not seem to conform perfectly to the conditions of
+his orbit. What could be the cause of this seeming disregard of
+mathematical laws?
+
+Astronomers could not accept the supposition that there was any actual
+violation of the known conditions of gravitation. Certainly Uranus was
+following his orbit under the centripetal and centrifugal laws in the
+same manner as the other planets. There must, therefore, be some
+undiscovered disturbing cause. It had already been noted that in the
+case of the infra-Uranian planets they were swayed somewhat from their
+paths by the mutual influence of one upon the other. This was
+noticeable in particular in the movements of Jupiter, Saturn and
+Uranus. When Saturn, for instance, would be on the same side of the
+sun with Jupiter, it might be noted that the latter was drawn outward
+and the former inward from their prescribed curves. The perturbation
+was greatest when the planets were nearest, together. In like manner
+Uranus did obeisance to both his huge neighbors on the sun's side of
+his orbit. He, too, veered toward them as he passed, and they in turn
+recognized the courtesy by going out of their orbits as they passed.
+What, therefore, should be said of the outswinging movement of Uranus
+from his orbit in that part of his course where no disturbing
+influence was known to exist? Certainly _something_ must be in that
+quarter of space to occasion the perturbation. What was it?
+
+It would appear that the elder Bouvart, the French astronomer referred
+to above, was the first to suggest that the disturbances in the orbit
+of Uranus, throwing that planet from his pathway outward, might be and
+probably were to be explained by the presence in outer space of an
+unknown ultra-Uranian planet. Bouvart prepared tables to show the
+perturbations in question, and declared his opinion that they were
+caused by an unknown planet beyond. No observer, however, undertook to
+verify this suggestion or to disprove it. Nor did Bouvart go so far as
+to indicate the particular part of the heavens which should be
+explored in order to find the undiscovered world. His tables, however,
+do show from the perturbations of the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn and
+Uranus that the same are caused by the mutual influence of the planets
+upon one another.
+
+It seems to have remained for Dr. T.J. Hussey, of Hayes, England, to
+suggest the actual discovery of the unknown planet by following the
+clew of the disturbance produced by its presence in a certain field of
+space. Dr. Hussey, in 1834, wrote to Sir George Biddell Airy,
+astronomer royal at Greenwich, suggesting that the perturbation of the
+orbit of Uranus might be used as the clew for the discovery of the
+planet beyond. But Sir George was one of those safe, conservative
+scholars who scorn to follow the suggestions of genius, preferring
+rather to explore only what is known already. He said in answer that
+he doubted if the irregularity in the Uranian orbit was in such a
+state of demonstration as to give any hope of the discovery of the
+disturbing cause. He doubted even that there was such irregularity in
+the Uranian orbit. He was of opinion that the observers had been
+mistaken in the alleged detection of perturbations. So the Greenwich
+observatory was not used on the line of exploration suggested by
+Hussey.
+
+Three years afterward, and again in 1842, Sir George received letters
+from the younger Bouvart, again suggesting the possibility and
+probability of discovering the ultra-Uranian planet. These hints were
+strengthened by a letter from Bessel, of Koenigsberg. But Sir George B.
+Airy refused to be led in the direction of so great a possibility.
+
+It was in 1844 that Professor James Challis, of the Cambridge
+observatory, appealed to Sir George for the privilege of using or
+examining the recorded observations made at Greenwich of the movements
+of Uranus, saying that he wished these tables for a young friend of
+his, Mr. John C. Adams, of Cambridge, who had but recently taken his
+degree in mathematics. Adams was at that date only twenty-five years
+of age. The royal astronomer granted the request, and for about a year
+Adams was engaged in making his calculations. These were completed,
+and in September of 1845, Challis informed Sir George Airy that
+according to the calculations of Adams the perturbations of Uranus
+were due to the influence of an unknown planet beyond.
+
+The young mathematician indicated in his conclusions at what point in
+the heavens the ultra-Uranian world was then traveling, and where it
+might be found. But even these mathematical demonstrations did not
+suffice to influence Sir George in his opinions. He was an Englishman!
+He refused or neglected to take the necessary steps either to verify
+or to disprove the conclusions of Adams. He held in hand the
+mathematical computations of that genius from October of 1845 to June
+of the following year, when the astronomer Leverrier, of Paris,
+published to the world his own tables of computation, proving that the
+disturbances in the orbit of Uranus were due to the influence of a
+planet beyond, and indicating the place where it might be found. There
+was a close agreement between the point indicated by him and that
+already designated by Adams.
+
+It seems that this French publication at last aroused Sir George Airy,
+who now admitted that the calculations of Adams might be correct in
+form and deduction. He accordingly sent word to Professor Challis to
+begin a search for the unknown orb. The latter did begin the work of
+exploration, and presently saw the planet. But he failed to recognize
+it! There it was; but the observer passed it over as a fixed star. As
+for Leverrier, he sent his calculations to Dr. Galle, of Berlin; and
+that great observer began his search. On the night of the twenty-third
+of September, 1846, he not only _saw_ but _caught_ the far-off world.
+There it was, disc and all; and a few additional observations
+confirmed the discovery.
+
+Hereupon Sir George Airy broke out with a claim that the discovery
+belonged to Adams. He was able to show that Adams had anticipated
+Leverrier by a few months in his calculations; but the French scholars
+were able to carry the day by showing that Adams' work had been void
+of results. The world went with the French claim. Adams was left to
+enjoy the fame of merit among the learned classes, but the great
+public fixed upon Leverrier as the genius who did the work, and Dr.
+Galle as his eye.
+
+Several remarkable things followed in the train. It was soon
+discovered that both Leverrier and Adams had been favored by chance in
+indicating the field of space where Uranus was found. They had both
+proceeded upon the principle expressed in Bode's Law. This law
+indicated the place of Neptune as 38.8 times the distance of the earth
+from the sun. A verification of the result showed that the new-found
+planet was actually only thirty times as far as the earth from the
+sun. In the case of all the other planets, their distances had been
+remarkably co-incident with the results reached by Bode's Law; but
+Uranus seemed to break that law, or at least to bend it to the point
+of breaking--a result which has never to this day been explained.
+
+It chanced, however, that at the time when the predictions of
+Leverrier and Adams were sent, the one sent to Galle and the other to
+Challis, Uranus and the earth and the sun were in such relations that
+the departure of the orbit of Uranus from the place indicated by
+Bode's Law did not seriously displace the planet from the position
+which it should theoretically occupy. Thus, after a little searching,
+Challis found the new world, and knew it not; Galle found it and knew
+it, and tethered it to the planetary system, making it fast in the
+recorded knowledge of mankind.
+
+While Daniel O'Connell, the greatest Irishman of the present century,
+despairing of the cause of his country, lay dying in Genoa, and while
+Zachary Taylor, at the head of a handful of American soldiers was
+cooping up the Mexican army in the old town of Monterey, a new world,
+37,000 miles in diameter and seventeen times as great in mass as the
+little world on which we dwell, was found slowly and sublimely making
+its way around the well nigh inconceivable periphery of the solar
+system!
+
+
+EVOLUTION OF THE TELESCOPE.
+
+The development of telescopic power within the present century is one
+of the most striking examples of intellectual progress and mastery in
+the history of mankind. The first day of the century found us, not,
+indeed, where we were left by Galileo and Copernicus in the knowledge
+of the skies and in our ability to penetrate their depths, but it did
+find us advanced by only moderate stages from the sky-lore of the
+past.
+
+The after half of the eighteenth century presents a history of
+astronomical investigation and deduction which confirmed and amplified
+the preceding knowledge; but that period did not greatly widen the
+field of observation. If the sphere of space which had been explored
+on the first day of January, 1801, could be compared with that which
+is now known and explored by our astronomers, the one sphere would be
+to the other even as an apple to the earth.
+
+It is difficult to apprehend the tremendous strides which we have made
+in the production of telescopes and the consequent increase in our
+sweep of the heavens. It was only in 1774 that the elder Herschel
+began his work in the construction of reflecting telescopes. These he
+gradually increased in size, until near the close of the century, when
+he produced an instrument which magnified two hundred and twenty-seven
+diameters. In the course of his career he built two hundred
+telescopes, having a seven-foot focus; 150 of ten feet and about
+eighty of twenty feet each.
+
+With these instruments the astronomical work in the last quarter of
+the eighteenth century was mostly performed. The study of the heavens
+at this epoch began to reach out from the planetary system to the
+fixed stars. In this work Herschel led the way. The planet Uranus at
+first bore the name of Herschel, from its discoverer. Sir John
+Herschel, son of Sir William, was born in 1792. All of his
+astronomical work was accomplished in our century. Following the line
+of his father, he used the reflecting telescope, and it was an
+instrument of this kind that he took to his observatory at the Cape of
+Good Hope. Lord Rosse was born in the year 1800. Under his auspices
+the reflecting telescope reached its maximum of power and usefulness.
+His great reflector, built in his own grounds at Birr Castle, Ireland,
+was finished in 1844. This instrument was the marvel of that epoch. It
+had a focal distance of fifty-three feet, and an aperture of six feet.
+With this great telescope its master reached out into the region of
+the nebulae, and began the real work of exploring the sidereal heavens.
+
+In the reflecting telescope, however, there are necessary limitations.
+Before the middle of this century, it was known that the future of
+astronomy depended upon the refracting lens, and not on the speculum.
+The latter, in the hands of the two Herschels and Rosse, had reached
+its utmost limits--as is shown by the fact that to this day the Rosse
+telescope is the largest of its kind in the world.
+
+Meanwhile the production of refracting telescopes made but slow
+progress. As late as 1836 the largest instrument of this kind in the
+world was the eleven-inch telescope of the observatory at Munich. The
+next in importance was a nine and a half-inch instrument at Dorpat, in
+Russia. This was the telescope through which the astronomer Struve
+made his earlier studies and discoveries. His field of observation was
+for the most part the fixed and double stars. At this time the largest
+instrument in the United States was the five-inch refractor of Yale
+College. Soon afterward, namely, in 1840, the observatory at
+Philadelphia was supplied with a six-inch refracting telescope from
+Munich.
+
+German makers were now in the lead, and it was not long until a Munich
+instrument having a lens of eleven inches diameter was imported for
+the Mitchell Observatory on Mount Adams, overlooking Cincinnati. About
+the same time a similar instrument of nine and a half inches aperture
+was imported for the National Observatory at Washington. To this
+period also belongs the construction of the Cambridge Observatory,
+with its fifteen-inch refracting telescope. Another of the same size
+was produced for the Royal Observatory at Pulkova, Russia. This was in
+1839; and that instrument and the telescope at Cambridge were then the
+largest of their kind in the world.
+
+The history of the telescope-making in America properly begins with
+Alvan Clark, Sr., of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. It was in 1846 that
+he produced his first telescope. Of this he made the lens, and such
+was the excellence of his work that he soon became famous, to the
+degree that the importation of foreign telescopes virtually ceased in
+the United States. Nor was it long until foreign orders began to
+arrive for the refracting lenses of Alvan Clark & Sons. The fame of
+this firm went out through all the world, and by the beginning of the
+last quarter of the century the Clark instruments were regarded as the
+finest ever produced.
+
+We cannot here refer to more than a few of the principal products of
+Clark & Sons. Gradually they extended the width of their lenses,
+gaining with each increase of diameter a rapidly increasing power of
+penetration. At last they produced for the Royal Observatory of
+Pulkova a twenty-seven-inch objective, which was, down to the early
+eighties, the master work of its kind in the world. It was in the
+grinding and polishing of their lenses that the Clarks surpassed all
+men. In the production of the glass castings for the lenses, the
+French have remained the masters. At the glass foundry of Mantois, of
+Paris, the finest and largest discs ever produced in the world are
+cast. But after the castings are made they are sent to America, to be
+made into those wonderful objectives which constitute the glory of the
+apparatus upon which the New Astronomy relies for its achievements.
+
+It was in the year 1887 that the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton,
+of the Coast Range in Southern California, was completed. The lens of
+this instrument is thirty-six inches in diameter. Nor will the reader
+without reflection readily realize the enormous stride which was made
+in telescopy when the makers advanced from the twenty-seven-inch to
+the thirty-six-inch objective. Lenses are to each other in their power
+of collecting light and penetrating apace as the squares of their
+diameters, and in the extent of space explored as the cubes of their
+diameters.
+
+The objective of the Pulkova instrument is to that of the Lick
+Observatory as 3 is to 4. The squares are as 9 is to 16, and the cubes
+are as 27 is to 64. This signifies that the depth of space penetrated
+by the Lick instrument is to that of its predecessor as 16 is to 9,
+and that the astronomical sphere resolved by the former is to the
+sphere resolved by the latter as 64 is to 27--that is, the Lick
+instrument at one bound revealed a universe _more than twice as great_
+as all that was known before! The human mind at this one bound found
+opportunity to explore and to know a sidereal sphere more than twice
+as extensive as had ever been previously penetrated by the gaze of
+man.
+
+Nor is this all. The ambition of American astronomers and American
+philanthropists has not been content with even the prodigious
+achievement of the Lick telescope. In recent years an observatory has
+been projected in connection with the University of Chicago, which has
+come almost to completion, and which will bear by far the largest
+telescopic instrument in the world. The site selected for the
+observatory is seventy-five miles from the city, on the northern shore
+of Lake Geneva. There is a high ground here, rising sufficiently into
+a clear atmosphere, nearly two hundred feet above the level of the
+lake.
+
+The observatory and the great telescope which constitutes its central
+fact are to bear the name of the donor, Mr. Yerkes, of Chicago, who
+has contributed the means for rearing this magnificent adjunct of the
+University. The enterprise contemplated from the first the
+construction of the most powerful telescope ever known. The
+manufacture of the objective, upon which everything depends, was
+assigned to Mr. Alvan G. Clark, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, who
+is the only living representative of the old firm of Alvan Clark &
+Sons.
+
+Alvan G. Clark has inherited much of the genius of his father, though
+it is said that in making the lens of the Lick Observatory the father
+had to be called from his retirement to superintend personally some of
+the more delicate parts of the finishing before which task his sons
+had quailed. But the younger Clark readily agreed to make the Geneva
+lens, under the order of Yerkes, and to produce a perfect objective
+_forty inches in diameter_! This important work, so critical--almost
+impossible--has been successfully accomplished.
+
+The making and the mounting of the Yerkes telescope have been assigned
+to Warner & Swasey, of Cleveland, Ohio, who are recognized as the best
+telescope builders in America. The great observatory is approaching
+completion. The instrument itself has been finished, examined,
+accepted by a committee of experts, and declared to fulfill all of the
+conditions of the agreement between the founder and the makers. Thus,
+just north of the boundary line between Illinois and Wisconsin, the
+greatest telescope of the world has been lifted to its dome and
+pointed to the heavens.
+
+The formal opening of the observatory is promised for the summer
+months of 1896. The human mind by this agency has made another stride
+into the depths of infinite space. Another universe is presently to be
+penetrated and revealed. A hollow sphere of space outside of the
+sphere already known is to be added to the already unthinkable
+universe which we inhabit. Every part of the immense observatory and
+of the telescope is of American production, with the single important
+exception of the cast glass disc from which the two principal lenses,
+the one double convex and the other plano-concave, are produced. These
+were cast by Mantois, of Paris, whose superiority to the American
+manufacturers of optical glass is recognized.
+
+It is estimated that the Yerkes telescope will gather three times as
+much light as the twenty-three-inch instrument of the Princeton
+Observatory. It surpasses in the same respect the twenty-six-inch
+telescope at the National Observatory in the ratio of two and
+three-eighths to one. It is in the same particular one and four-fifth
+times as powerful as the instrument of the Royal Russian Observatory
+at Pulkova; and it surpasses the great Lick instrument by twenty-three
+per cent.
+
+What the practical results of the study of the skies through this
+monster instrument will be none may predict. Theoretically it is
+capable of bringing the moon to an apparent distance of sixty miles.
+Under favorable circumstances the observer will be able to note the
+characteristics of the lunar landscape with more distinctness than a
+good natural eye can discern the outlines and character of the summit
+of Pike's Peak from Denver. The instrument has sufficient power to
+reveal on the lunar disc any object five hundred feet square. Such a
+thing as a village or even a great single building would be plainly
+discernible.
+
+Professor C.A. Young has recently pointed out the fact that the Yerkes
+telescope, if it meets expectation, will show on the moon's surface
+with much distinctness any such object as the Capitol at Washington.
+It is complained that in America wealth is selfish and self-centred;
+that the millionaire cares only for himself and the increase of his
+already exorbitant estate. The ambition of such men as Lick of San
+Jose and Yerkes of Chicago, seems to ameliorate the severe judgment of
+mankind respecting the holders of the wealth of the world, and even to
+transform them from their popular character of enemies and misers into
+philanthropists and benefactors.
+
+
+THE NEW ASTRONOMY.
+
+This century has been conspicuous above all centuries for new things.
+Man has grown into new relations with both nature and thought. He has
+interpreted nearly everything into new phraseology and new forms of
+belief. The scientific world has been revolutionized. Nothing remains
+in its old expression. Chemistry has been phrased anew. The laws of
+heat, light and electricity have been either revised or discovered
+wholly out of the unknown. The concept of universal nature has been so
+translated and reborn that a philosopher coming again out of the
+eighteenth century would fail to understand the thought and speech of
+even the common man.
+
+In no other particular has the change been more marked than with
+respect to the general theory of the planetary and stellar worlds. A
+New Astronomy has come and taken the place of the old. The very
+rudiments of the science have to be learned as it were in a new
+language, and under the laws and theories of a new philosophy. Nature
+is considered from other points of view, and the general course of
+nature is conceived in a manner wholly different from the beliefs of
+the past.
+
+In a preceding study we have explained the general notion of planetary
+formation according to the views of the last century. The New
+Astronomy presents another theory. Beginning with virtually the same
+notion of the original condition of our world and sun cluster, the new
+view departs widely as to the processes by which the planets were
+formed, and extends much further with respect to the first condition
+and ultimate destiny of our earth. The New Astronomy, like the old,
+begins with a nebular hypothesis. It imagines the matter now composing
+the solar group to have been originally dispersed through the space
+occupied by our system, and to have been in a state of attenuation
+under the influence of high heat. Out of this condition of diffusion
+the solar system has been evolved. The idea is a creation by the
+process of evolution; it is evolution applied to the planets. More
+particularly, the hypothesis is that the worlds of our planetary
+system grew into their present state through a series of stages and
+slow developments extending over aeons of time.
+
+This is the notion of world-growth substituted for that of
+world-production en masse by the action of centrifugal force and
+discharge from the solar equator. The New Astronomy proposes in this
+respect two points of remarkable difference from the view formerly
+entertained. The first relates to the fixing of the planetary orbits,
+and the other to the process by which the planets have reached their
+present mass and character. The old theory would place a given world
+in its pathway around the sun by a spiral flinging off from the
+central body, and would allow that the aggregate mass of the globe so
+produced was fixed once for all at the beginning. The new theory
+supposes that a given planetary orbit, as for instance that of the
+earth, was marked in the nebula of our system before the system
+existed--that is, that our orbit had its place in the beginning just
+as it has now; that the orbit was not determined by solar revolution
+and centrifugal action, but that it was mathematically existent in the
+nebular sheet out of which the solar system was produced.
+
+Other lines existed in the same sheet of matter. One of these lines or
+pathways was destined for the orbit of Mercury; another for the orbit
+of Venus. One was for the pathway of Mars; another for the belt of
+the asteroids; another for Jupiter; another for Saturn, and still two
+others, far off on the rim, for Uranus and Neptune. The theory
+continues that such are the laws of matter that these orbital lines
+_must_ exist in a disc of fire mist such as that out of which our
+solar universe has been produced. The New Astronomy holds firmly to
+the notion that the orbits of the planets are as much a part of the
+system as the planets themselves, and that both orbit and planet exist
+in virtue of the deep-down mathematical formulae on which the whole
+material universe is constructed.
+
+Secondly, the New Astronomy differs from the old by a whole horizon in
+the notion of world-production. About the middle of the century the
+theory began to be advanced that the worlds _grew_ by accretion of
+matter; that they grew in the very paths which they now occupy; that
+they began to be with a small aggregation of matter rushing together
+in the line or orbit which the coming planet was to pursue. The
+planetary matter was already revolving in this orbit and in the
+surrounding spaces. It was already floating along in a nebulous
+superheated form capable of condensation by the loss of heat, but in
+particular capable of growth and development by the fall of
+surrounding matter upon the forming globe. We must remember that in
+the primordial state the elements of a planet, as for instance our
+earth, were mixed together and held in a state of tenuity ranging all
+the way from solid to highly vaporized forms, and that these elements
+subsequently and by slow adjustment got themselves into something
+approximating their present state.
+
+The New Astronomy contemplates a period when each of the planets was a
+germinal nucleus of matter around which other matter was precipitated,
+thus producing a kind of world-growth or accretion. Thus, for
+instance, our earth may be considered at a time when its entire mass
+would not, according to our measurement, have weighed a hundred
+pounds! It consisted of a nucleus around which extended, through a
+great space, a mass of attenuated planetary matter. The nucleus once
+formed the matter adjacent would precipitate itself by gravitation
+upon the surface of the incipient world. The precipitation would
+proceed as heat was given off into space. It was virtually a process
+of condensation; but the result appeared like growth.
+
+To the senses a planet would seem to be forming itself by accretion;
+and so, indeed, in one sense it was; for the mass constantly
+increased. As the nucleus sped on in the prescribed pathway, it drew
+to itself the surrounding matter, leaving behind it an open channel.
+The orbit was thus cleared of the matter, which was at first merely
+nebular, and afterward both nebular and fragmentary. The growth at the
+first was rapid. With each revolution a larger band of space was swept
+clear of its material. With each passage of the forming globe the
+matter from the adjacent spaces would rush down upon its surface, and
+as the mass of the planet increased the process would be stimulated;
+for gravitation is proportional to the mass. At length a great tubular
+space would be formed, having the orbit of the earth for its centre,
+and in this space the matter was all swept up. The tube enlarged with
+each revolution, until an open way was cut through the nebular disc,
+and then from the one side toward Venus and from the other side toward
+Mars the space widened and widened, until the globe took approximately
+by growth its present mass of matter. The nebulous material was drawn
+out of the inter-planetary space where it was floating, and the shower
+of star dust on the surface of the earth became thinner and less
+frequent. In some parts of the orbit bands or patches of this material
+existed, and the earth in passing through such hands drew down upon
+itself the flying fragments of such matter as it continues to do to
+the present day. What are meteoric displays but the residue of the
+primordial showers by which the world was formed?
+
+All this work, according to the New Astronomy, took place while our
+globe was still in a superheated condition. The mass of it had not yet
+settled into permanent form. The water had not yet become water; it
+was steam. The metals had not yet become metals; they were rather the
+vapor of metals. At length they were the liquids of metals, and at
+last the solids. So, also, the rocks were transformed from the
+vaporous through the liquid into the solid form--all this while the
+globe was in process of condensation. It grew smaller in mathematical
+measurements at the same time that it grew heavier by the accretion of
+matter. At last the surface was formed, and in time that surface was
+sufficiently cooled to allow the vapors around it to condense into
+seas and oceans and rivers. There were ages of superficial
+softness--vast epochs of mud--in which the living beings that had now
+appeared wallowed and sprawled.
+
+We cannot trace the world-growth through all its stages but can only
+indicate them as it were in a sketch. The more important thing to be
+noted is the relation of our planet in process of formation to the
+great fact called life. Here the New Astronomy comes in again to
+indicate, theoretically at least, the philosophy of planetary
+evolution. Each planet seems to pass through a vast almost
+inconceivable period in which its condition renders life on its
+surface or in its structure impossible. Heat is at once the favoring
+and the prohibitory condition of life. Without heat life cannot exist;
+with too great heat life cannot exist. With an intermediate and
+moderate degree of heat many forms of animate and inanimate existence
+may be promoted.
+
+These facts tend to show that every world has in its career an
+intermediate period which may be called the epoch of life. Before the
+epoch of life begins there is in the given world no such form of
+existence. There is matter only. Then at a certain stage the epoch of
+life begins. The epoch of life continues for a vast indeterminate
+period. No doubt in some of the worlds an epoch of life has been
+provided ten times as great, possibly a thousand times as great, as in
+other planets. After the epoch of life begins only certain forms of
+existence are for a while possible. Then other and higher forms
+succeed them, and then still higher. Thus the process continues until
+the highest--that is, the conscious and moral form of existence
+becomes possible, and that highest, that conscious, that moral form of
+being is ourselves.
+
+This is not all. The epoch of life seems to be terminable at the
+further extreme by a planetary condition in which life is no longer
+possible. The New Astronomy indicates the coming of a condition in all
+the worlds when life must disappear therefrom and be succeeded by a
+lifeless state of worldhood. This may be called the epoch of
+death--that is, of world-death. It seems to be almost established by
+investigation and right reason that worlds die. They reach a stage in
+which they are lifeless. They cool down until the waters and gases
+that are on the surface and above the surface recede more and more
+into the surface and then into the interior, until they wholly
+disappear. Cold takes the throne of nature. Universal aridity
+supervenes, and all forms of vegetable and animate existence go away
+to return no more. They dwindle and expire. The conditions that have
+come are virtually conditions of death.
+
+Whether the universe contains within itself, under the Almighty
+supervision, certain arrangements and laws by which the dead world can
+be again cast into the crucible and regenerated by liberation through
+the action of heat into its primordial state once more and go the same
+tremendous round of planet life, we know not. The conception of such a
+process, even the dream or vague possibility of it, is sufficiently
+sublime and fills the mind with a great delight in contemplating the
+possible cycles through which the material universe is passing.
+
+At any rate, we may contemplate the three great stages of world-life
+with which we are already acquainted--that is, the birth stage, the
+epoch of life and the epoch of death. There is a birth, as also a life
+and a death of planets. Richard A. Proctor, of great fame, on one of
+his last tours of instructive lecturing among our people, had for his
+subject the "Birth and Death of Worlds." The theme was not dissimilar
+to that which has been here presented in outline. The birth, the life
+and the death of worlds! Such is a summary of that almost infinite
+history through which our earth is passing--the history which the
+globe is _making_ on its way from its nebulous to its final state.
+
+Such, if we mistake not, is the story epitomized--the life history in
+brief--of all the worlds of space. They have each in its order and
+kind, an epoch of the beginning, then an epoch of growth and
+evolution, then an epoch of life--toward which all the preceding
+planet history seems to tend--and finally an epoch of death which
+must, in the course of infinite time, swallow from sight each planet
+in its turn, or at least reduce each from that condition in which it
+is an arena of animated existence into that state where it is a
+frozen and desert clod, still following its wonted path through space,
+still shining with a cold but cheerful face, _like our moon_, upon the
+silent abysses of the universe.
+
+
+WHAT THE WORLDS ARE MADE OF.
+
+The present century was already well advanced before there was any
+solid ground for the belief that the worlds of space are made of
+analogous or identical materials. It was only with the invention of
+the spectroscope and the analysis of light that the material identity
+of universal nature was proved by methods which could not be doubted.
+The proof came by the spectroscope.
+
+This little instrument, though not famed as is its lordly kinsman the
+telescope, or even regarded with the popular favor of the microscope,
+has nevertheless carried us as far, and, we were about to say, taught
+us as much, as either of the others. It is one thing to see the worlds
+afar, to note them visibly, to describe their outlines, to measure
+their mass and determine their motions. It is another thing to know
+their constitution, the substances of which they are composed, the
+material condition in which they exist and the state of their progress
+in worldhood. The latter work is the task of the spectroscope; and
+right well has it accomplished its mission.
+
+The solar spectrum has been known from the earliest ages. When the
+sun-bow was set on the background of cloud over the diluvial floods,
+the living beings of that age saw a spectrum--the glorious spectrum of
+rain and shine. Wherever the rays of light have been diffracted under
+given conditions by the agency of water drops, prism of glass or other
+such transparent medium, and the ray has fallen on a suitable screen,
+lo! there has been the beautiful spectrum of light.
+
+The artificial, intentional production of this phenomenon of light has
+long been known, and both novice and scientist have tested and
+improved the methods of getting given results. The child's soap-bubble
+shows it in miniature splendor. The pressure of one wet pane of glass
+against another reveals it. The breakage of nearly all crystalline
+substances brings something of the colored effects of light; but the
+triangular prism of glass, suitably prepared, best of all displays the
+analysis of the sun-beam into the colors of which it is composed.
+
+The spectroscope is the improved instrument by which the diffracting
+prism is best employed in producing the spectrum. The reader no doubt
+has seen a spectroscope, and has observed its beautiful work. In this
+place we pass, however, from the instrument of production to the
+spectrum, or analyzed result, as the same is shown on a screen. There
+the pencil of white light falling from the sun is spread out in the
+manner of a fan, presenting on the screen the following arrangement of
+colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
+
+This order of colors, beginning with red, starts from that side of the
+spectrum which is least bent from the right line in which the white
+ray was traveling. The violet rays are most bent. The red rays are
+thus said to be at the _lower_ edge of the prism, and the violet rays
+at the _upper_ edge. Below the red rays there are now known to be
+certain invisible rays, as of heat and electricity. Above the violet
+rays are other invisible rays, such as the actinic influence. In fact,
+the spectrum, beginning invisibly, passes by way of the visible rays
+to the invisible again. Nor can any scientist in the world say at the
+present time _how much_ is really included in the spread-out fan of
+analyzed sunlight.
+
+Thus much scientists have known for some time. Certain other facts,
+however, in connection with the solar spectrum are of greater
+importance than are its more sensible phenomena. It was in the year
+1802 that the English physicist, William Hyde Wollaston, discovered
+that the solar spectrum is crossed with a large number of _dark
+lines_. He it was who first mapped these lines and showed their
+relative position. He it was also who discovered the existence of
+invisible rays above the violet. Twelve years afterward Joseph von
+Fraunhofer, of Munich, a German optician of remarkable talents, took
+up the examination of the Wollaston lines, and by his success in the
+investigation succeeded in attracting the attention of the world.
+
+This second stage in scientific discovery is generally that which
+receives the plaudits of mankind. It was so in the case of Fraunhofer.
+His name was given to the dark lines in the solar spectrum, and the
+nomenclature is retained to the present time. They are called the
+"Fraunhofer lines." It was soon discovered that the lines in question
+as produced in the spectrum are due to the presence of gases in the
+producing flame or source of light. It was also discovered that each
+substance in, the process of combustion yields its own line or set of
+lines. These appear at regular intervals in the spectrum. When several
+substances are consumed at the same time; the lines of each appear in
+the spectrum. The result is a _system_ of lines, becoming more and
+more complex as the number of elements in the consuming materials is
+increased.
+
+The lines in a narrow spectrum fall so closely together that they
+cannot be critically examined; but when more than one prism is used
+and the spectrum by this means spread out widely, the dark lines are
+made to stand apart. They are then found to number many thousands. We
+speak now of the analysis of sunlight. Experimentation was naturally
+turned, however, to terrestrial gases and solids on fire, and it was
+found that these also produce like series of dark lines in the
+spectrum. Or when the substances are consumed _as solids_, then the
+spectral effects are reversed, and the lines that would be dark lines
+in the luminous colored spectrum become themselves luminous lines on
+the screen; but these lines hold the same relation in mathematical
+measurement, etc., as do the _dark_ lines in the colored spectrum.
+
+Skillful spectroscopists succeeded in detecting and delineating the
+lines that were peculiar to each substance. By burning such substances
+in flame, they were able to produce the lines, and thus verify
+results. By such experimentation the various lines present in the
+solar spectrum were separated from the complex result, and the
+conclusion was reached that in the burning surface of the sun certain
+substances _well known on earth are present_; for the lines of those
+substances are shown in the spectrum.
+
+No other known substances would produce the given lines. The
+conclusion is overwhelming that the substances in question are present
+in a gaseous condition in the burning flames of the sun. Down to the
+present time the examination of the sun's atmosphere has shown the
+existence therein of thirty-six known elements. These include sodium,
+potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, cobalt, silver, lead,
+tin, zinc, titanium, aluminium, chromium, silicon, carbon, hydrogen
+and several others.
+
+It was thus established that in the constitution of the sun many of
+the well-known elements of the earth are present. There could be no
+mistake about it. An identity of lines in such a case proved beyond
+dispute the identity of the substance from which such lines are
+derived. The existence of common materials in the central sphere of
+our system and in _one_ of his attendant orbs--our own--could not be
+doubted. The discovery of such a fact led by immediate inference to
+the expectation and belief that the _other_ planets were of like
+constitution, or in a word, that the whole solar system was
+essentially composed of identical materials.
+
+As the inquiry proceeded, it was found, however, that the agreement
+in the lines of different spectra was not perfect. Lines would be
+found in the spectrum derived from one source that were not present in
+a spectrum derived from another source. Materials were therefore
+suggested as present in one body that were not present in another.
+Still further inquiry confirmed the belief that while there is a
+general uniformity in the materials of our solar system, the identity
+is not complete in all. An element is found in one part that may not
+be found in another. Hydrogen shows its line in the spectrum derived
+from every heavenly body that has been investigated; but not so
+aluminium or cobalt. Sodium, that is, the salt-producing base, is
+discovered everywhere, but not nickel or arsenium. The result, in a
+word, shows a certain variability in the distribution of solar and
+planetary matter, but a general identity of most.
+
+The question next presented itself as to the character of the luminous
+bodies _beyond_ the solar system. Of what kind of matter are the
+comets? Of what kind are the fixed stars? Of what kind are the nebulae?
+Could the spectroscope be used in determining also the character of
+the materials in those orbs that we see shining in the depths of
+space? The instrument was turned in answer to these questions to the
+sidereal heavens. No other branch of science has been prosecuted in
+the after half of this century with more zeal and success than has the
+spectroscopic analysis of the fixed stars. These are known by the
+telescope to have the character of suns. The most general fact of the
+visible heavens is the plentiful distribution of suns. They sparkle
+everywhere as the so-called fixed stars. To them the telescope has
+been virtually turned in vain. We say in vain because no single fixed
+star has, we believe, ever been made by aid of the telescope to show a
+disc.
+
+On turning the telescope to a fixed star, its brightness, its
+brilliancy, increases according to the power of the instrument. Coming
+into the field of one of these great suns of space, the telescope
+shows a miraculous dawn spreading and blazing into a glorious sunrise,
+and a sun itself flaming like infinite majesty on the sight; but there
+is no disc--nothing but a blaze of glory. Thus in a sense the
+telescope has worked in vain on the visible heavens. But not so the
+spectroscope. The latter has done its glorious work. Turning to a
+given fixed star, it shows that the tremendous combustion going on
+therein is virtually the same as that in our own sun. There, too, is
+flaming hydrogen, and there is carbon and oxygen and iron and sodium
+and potassium and many other of the leading elements of what we thus
+know to be universal nature. The suns are all akin; they are
+cousins-german. They are of the same family--they and their progeny.
+They were born of the same universal fact. They are of the same
+Father! They are builded on the same plan, and they have a common
+destiny. Aye, more, the nebulae that float far off, swanlike, in the
+infinitudes, are of the same family. The nebulae may be regarded as the
+mothers of universes. It is out of their bosoms that the life and
+substance of all suns and worlds are drawn! And these, too, are
+composed of the common matter of universal nature. It is the same
+matter that we eat and drink. It is the same that we breathe. It is
+the same that we see aflame in our lamps and grates. It is the same
+that is borne to us in the fragrance of flowers planted on the graves
+of our dead. It is the common hydrogen and carbon and oxygen and
+nitrogen of our earth and its envelope. It is the soda of our bread;
+the potassa of our ashes; the phosphorus of our bones and brain!
+Indeed, the universe throughout is of one form and one substance, and
+there is one Father over all. Sooner or later the concepts of science
+and of religion will come together; and the small agitations and
+conflicts of human thought and hope will pass away in a sublime unity
+of human faith.
+
+
+
+
+Progress in Discovery and Invention.
+
+
+THE FIRST STEAMBOAT AND ITS MAKER.
+
+On the night of the second of July, 1798, a man at a little old tavern
+in Bardstown, Kentucky, committed suicide. If ever there was a
+justifiable case of self-destruction, it was this. No human being is
+permitted to take his own life, but there are instances in which the
+burden of existence becomes well-nigh intolerable. In the case just
+mentioned, the man went to his room and took poison. He was a little
+more than fifty-five years of age, but was prematurely old from the
+hardships to which he had been subjected. He had not a penny. His
+clothes were worn out. A dirty shirt, made of coarse materials, was
+seen through the rags of his coat. His face was haggard, wrinkled,
+written all over with despair, the lines of which not even the
+goodness of death was able to dispel.
+
+The man had seen the Old World and the New, but had never seen
+happiness. He had followed his forlorn destiny from his native town
+of South Windsor, Connecticut, where he was born on the twenty-first
+of January, 1743. His body was buried in the graveyard of Bardstown,
+then a frontier village. No one contributed a stone to mark the
+grave. Nor has that duty ever been performed. The spot became
+undistinguishable as time went by, and we believe that there is not a
+man in the world who can point out the place where the body of John
+Fitch was buried. The grave of the inventor of the steamboat, hidden
+away, more obscurely than that of Jean Valjean in the cemetery of
+Pere-Lachaise, will keep the heroic bones to the last day, when all
+sepulchres of earth shall set free their occupants and the great sea's
+wash cast up its dead!
+
+The life of John Fitch is, we are confident, the saddest chapter in
+human biography. The soul of the man seems from the first to have gone
+forth darkly voyaging, like Poe's raven,
+
+                               --"Whom unmerciful disaster
+    Followed fast and followed faster, till his song one burden bore,
+    Till the dirges of his hope the melancholy burden bore,--
+    Of 'Nevermore--nevermore!'"
+
+Certainly it was nevermore with him. His early years were made
+miserable by ill-treatment and abuse. His father, a close-fisted
+farmer and an elder brother of the same character, converted the
+boyhood life of John Fitch into a long day of grief and humiliation
+and a long night of gloomy dreams. Then at length came an ill-advised
+and ill-starred marriage, which broke under him and left him to wander
+forth in desolation.
+
+He went first from Connecticut to Trenton, N.J., and there in his
+twenty-sixth year began to ply the humble trade of watch-maker. Then
+he became a gunsmith, making arms for the patriots of Seventy-six,
+until what time the British destroyed his shop. Then he was a soldier.
+He suffered the horrors of Valley Forge; and before the conclusion of
+the peace he went abroad in the country as a tinker of clocks and
+watches. His peculiarity of manner and his mendicant character made
+him the butt of neighborhoods. In 1780 he was sent as a
+deputy-surveyor from Virginia into Kentucky, and after nearly two
+years spent in the country between the Kentucky and Green rivers, he
+went back to Philadelphia. On a second journey to the West his party
+was assailed by the Indians at the mouth of the Muskingum, and most
+were killed. But he was taken captive, and remained with the red men
+for nearly a year. But he escaped at last, and got back to a
+Pennsylvania settlement.
+
+Fitch next lived for a year or two in and did approve of the
+invention, he withheld any public endorsement of it.
+
+Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got
+the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation,
+he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the
+work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions
+on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a
+small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the
+means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden.
+The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive
+right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for
+purposes of steam navigation.
+
+Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was
+forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars,
+or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and
+the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and
+Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of
+eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling.
+
+He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August,
+1787, and did approve of the invention, he withheld any public
+endorsement of it.
+
+Month after month went by, and no helping hand was extended. Fitch got
+the reputation of being a crazy man. To save himself from starvation,
+he made a map of the territory Northwest of the river Ohio, doing the
+work of the engraving with his own hand, and printing the impressions
+on a cider-press! Early in 1787 he succeeded in the formation of a
+small company; and this company supplied, or agreed to supply, the
+means requisite for the building of a steamboat sixty tons' burden.
+The inventor also secured patents from New Jersey, New York,
+Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, granting to him the exclusive
+right to use the waters of those States for fourteen years for
+purposes of steam navigation.
+
+Hereupon a boat was built and launched in the Delaware. It was
+forty-five feet in length and twelve feet beam. There were six oars,
+or paddles on each side. The engine had a twelve-inch cylinder, and
+the route of service contemplated was between Philadelphia and
+Burlington. The inventor agreed that his boat should make a rate of
+eight miles an hour, and the charge for passage should be a shilling.
+
+He who might have been in Philadelphia on the twenty-second of August,
+1787, would have witnessed a memorable thing. The Convention for the
+framing of a Constitution for the United States of America was in
+session. For some time the body had been wearing itself into
+exhaustion over this question and that question which seemed
+impossible of solution. On the day referred to, the convention, on
+invitation, adjourned, and the members, including the Father of his
+country, who was President, went down to the water's edge to see a
+sight. There Fitch's steamboat was to make its trial trip, and there
+the trial trip was made, with entire success.
+
+They who were building the ship of state could but applaud the
+performance of the little steamer that sped away toward Burlington.
+But the applause was of that kind which the wise and conservative folk
+always give to the astonishing thing done by genius. The wise and
+conservative folk look on and smile and praise, but do not commit
+themselves. Most dangerous it is for a politician to commit himself to
+a beneficial enterprise; for the people might oppose it!
+
+The facts here referred to are fully attested in indisputable records.
+There are files of Philadelphia newspapers which contain accounts of
+Fitch's boat. A line of travel and traffic was established between
+Philadelphia and Burlington. There was also a steam ferryboat on the
+Delaware. A second boat, called the "Perseverance," was designed for
+the waters of the Mississippi; but this craft was wrecked by a storm,
+and then the patent under which the Ohio river and its confluent
+waters were granted, expired, and the enterprise had to be abandoned.
+On the fourth of September, 1790, the following advertisement of the
+"Pennsylvania Packet" appeared in a Philadelphia paper:
+
+"The Steamboat will set out this morning, at eleven o'clock, for
+Messrs. Gray's Garden, at a quarter of a dollar for each passenger
+thither. It will afterwards ply between Gray's and middle ferry, at
+11d each passenger. To-morrow morning, Sunday, it will set off for
+Burlington at eight o'clock, to return in the afternoon."
+
+This Pennsylvania Packet continued to ply the Delaware for about three
+years. The mechanical construction of the boat was not perfect; and
+shortly after the date to which the above advertisement refers the
+little steamer was ruined by an accident. The story is told by Thomas
+P. Cope, in the seventh volume of Hazard's _Register_. He says: "I
+often witnessed the performance of the boat in 1788-89-90. It was
+propelled by paddles in the stern, and was constantly getting out of
+order. I saw it when it was returning from a trip to Burlington, from
+whence it was said to have arrived in little more than two hours.
+When coming to off Kensington, some part of the machinery broke, and I
+never saw it in motion afterward. I believe it was his [Fitch's] last
+effort. He had, up to that period, been patronized by a few
+stout-hearted individuals, who had subscribed a small capital, in
+shares, I think, of six pounds Pennsylvania currency; but this last
+disaster so staggered their faith and unstrung their nerves, that they
+never again had the hardihood to make other contributions. Indeed,
+they already rendered themselves the subjects of ridicule and derision
+for their temerity and presumption in giving countenance to this wild
+projector and visionary madman. The company thereupon gave up the
+ghost, the boat went to pieces, and Fitch became bankrupt and
+brokenhearted. Often have I seen him stalking about like a troubled
+spectre, with downcast eye and lowering countenance, his coarse,
+soiled linen peeping through the elbows of a tattered garment."
+
+With the breakdown of his enterprise, John Fitch went forth penniless
+into the world. The patent which he received from the United States in
+1791, was of small use. How little can a pauper avail himself of a
+privilege! Presently his patent was burned up, and a year afterward,
+namely in 1793, he went to France. There he would--according to his
+dream--find patronage and fame; but on his arrival in the French
+capital he found the Reign of Terror just beginning its work. It was
+not likely that the Revolutionary Tribunal would give heed to an
+American dreamer and his proposition to propel by steam a boat on the
+Seine. However, Fitch went to L'Orient and deposited the plans and
+specifications of his invention with the American consul. Then he
+departed for London.
+
+In the following year a man by the name of Robert Fulton took up his
+residence with the family of Joel Barlow, in Paris. There he devoted
+himself to his art, which was that of a painter. Whoever had passed by
+the corner of Second and Walnut streets, in Philadelphia while Fitch
+was constructing his first steamboat, might have seen a little sign
+carrying these words: "Robert Fulton, Miniature Painter." But now,
+after nearly ten years, he was painting a panorama in France. While
+thus engaged, the American consul at L'Orient showed to Fulton Fitch's
+drawings and specifications for a steamboat. More than this, _he
+loaned them to him, and he kept them for several months_.
+
+A thrifty man was Robert Fulton; discerning, prudent and capable!
+Meanwhile, poor Fitch, in 1794, returned to America. On the ship he
+worked his way as one of the hands. Getting again to New York he
+determined to make his way into that region of country where he had
+been a surveyor in 1780. He accordingly set out from New York for
+Kentucky, but not till he had invented, or rather constructed, a
+steamboat, which was driven by _a screw propeller_! This, in 1796, he
+launched on the Collect Pond, in what is now Lower New York. The boat
+was successful as an experiment; but the people who saw it looked upon
+its operation and upon the thing itself as the product of a crazy
+man's brain.
+
+He who now passes along the streets of the metropolis will come upon a
+vendor of toys, who will drop upon the pavement an artificial
+miniature tortoise, rabbit, rat, or what not, well wound up; and the
+creature will begin to crawl, or dance, or jump, or run, according to
+its nature. The busy, conservative man smiles a superior smile, and
+passes on. It was in such mood that the old New Yorker of 1796
+witnessed the going of Fitch's little screw propeller on the Pond. It
+was a toy of the water.
+
+After this the poor spectre left for the West. The spring of 1798
+found him at Bardstown, with the model of a little three-foot
+steamboat, which he launched on a neighboring stream. There he still
+told his neighbors that the time would come when all rivers and seas
+would be thus navigated. But they heeded not. The spectre became more
+spectral. At last, about the beginning of July, in the year just
+named, he gave up the battle, crept into his room at the little old
+tavern, took his poison, and fell into the final sleep.
+
+We shall conclude this sketch of him and his work with one of his own
+sorrowful prophecies: "The day will come," said he in a letter, "when
+some more powerful man will get fame and riches from _my_ invention;
+but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of
+attention." Than this there is, we think, hardly a more pathetic
+passage in the history of the sons of men!
+
+
+TELEGRAPHING BEFORE MORSE.
+
+There is a great fallacy in the judgment of mankind about the method
+of the coming of new things. People imagine that new things come all
+at once, but they do not. Nothing comes all at once; that is, no
+thing. In the facts of the natural world, that is, among visible
+phenomena of the landscape, the judgment of people is soon corrected.
+There it is seen that everything grows. The growth is sometimes slow
+and sometimes rapid; but everything comes gradually out of its
+antecedents. No tree or shrub or flower ever came immediately. No
+living creature on the face of the earth begins by instantaneous
+apparition. The chick gets out of its shell presently, but even that
+takes time. Every living thing comes on by degrees from a germ, and
+the germ is generally microscopic! Nature is, indeed, a marvel!
+
+The facts of human life, whether tangible or intangible, have this
+same method. For example, there has not been an invention known to
+mankind that has not come on in the manner of growth. The antecedents
+of it work on and on in a tentative way, producing first this trial
+result and then that, always approaching the true thing; and even the
+true thing when it comes is not perfect. It is made perfect afterward.
+There was never an instantaneous invention, and there was never a
+complete one! It is doubtful whether there is at the present time a
+single complete, that is perfect or perfected, invention in the world.
+They are all of partial development. They show in their history their
+origin, their growth, their gradual approximation to the perfect form.
+
+All of the marvelous contrivances which, fill the arena of our
+civilization, making it first vital and then vocal, have come by the
+evolutionary process. Every one of them has a history which is more
+and more obscure as we follow it backward to its source. In every
+case, however, there comes a time when a given discovery, manifesting
+itself in a given invention, takes a sort of spectacular character,
+and it is then rather suddenly revealed to the consciousness of
+mankind.
+
+Of this general law the telegraph affords a conspicuous example. The
+whole world knows the story of the telegraph of Morse. It was in 1844
+that the work of this great inventor was publicly demonstrated to the
+world. Then it was that the electro-magnetic telegraph in its first
+rude estate began to be used in the transmission of messages and other
+written information.
+
+It has come to pass that "telegraph" means virtually _electric_
+telegraph. The people of to-day seem to have forgotten that the
+telegraph is not necessarily dependent on the electrical current. They
+have forgotten that back of the Morse invention other means had been
+employed of transmitting information at a distance. They have
+forgotten that it was by the most gradual and tedious process that the
+old telegraphic methods were evolved into the new. Note with wonder
+how this great invention began, and through what stages it passed to
+completion.
+
+There is a natural telegraphy. Whoever stands in an open place and
+calls aloud to his fellow mortal at a distance _telegraphs_ to him. At
+least he telephones to him; that is, _sounds_ to him at a distance.
+The air is the medium, the vocal cords in vibration the source of the
+utterance, and the ear of the one at a distance the audiphonic
+receiver. This sort of telegraphy is original and natural with human
+beings, and it is common to them and the lower animals. All the
+creatures that have vocality use this method. It were hard to say how
+humble is the creeping thing that does not rasp out some kind of a
+message to its fellow insect. Some, like the fireflies, do their
+telegraphing with a lantern which they carry. The very crickets are
+expert in telegraphy, or telephony, which is ultimately the same
+thing.
+
+After transmitted sound the next thing is the visible signal, and this
+has been employed by human beings from the earliest ages in
+transmitting information to a distance. It is a method which will
+perhaps never be wholly abandoned. Observe the surveyors running a
+trial line. Far off is the chain bearer and here is the theodolite.
+The man with the standard watches for the signal of the man with the
+instrument. The language is _seen_ and the message understood, though
+no word is spoken. Here the sunlight is the wire, and the visible
+motion of the hands and arms the letters and words of the message.
+
+The ancients were great users of this method. They employed it in both
+peace and war. They occupied heights and showed signals at great
+distances. The better vision of those days made it possible to catch a
+signal, though far off, and to transmit it to some other station,
+likewise far away. In this manner bright objects were waved by day and
+torches by night. In times of invasion such a method of spreading
+information has been used down to the present age. Nor may we fail to
+note the improved apparatus for this kind of signaling now employed in
+military operations. The soldiers on our frontiers in Arizona, New
+Mexico, and through the mountainous regions further north, are able to
+signal with a true telegraphic language to stations nearly a hundred
+miles away.
+
+Considerable progress was made in telegraphy in the after part of the
+eighteenth century. This progress related to the transmission of
+visible messages through the air. In the time of the French Revolution
+such contrivance occupied the attention of military commanders and of
+governing powers. A certain noted engineer named Chappe invented at
+this epoch a telegraph that might be properly called successful.
+Chappe was the son of the distinguished French astronomer, Jean Chappe
+d'Auteroche, who died at San Lucar, California, in 1769. This elder
+Chappe had previously made a journey into Siberia, and had seen from
+that station the transit of Venus in 1761. Hoping to observe the
+recurring transit, eight years afterward, he went to the coast of our
+then almost unknown California, but died there as stated above.
+
+The younger Chappe, being anxious to serve the Revolution, invented
+his telegraph; but in doing so he subjected himself to the suspicions
+of the more ignorant, and on one notable occasion was brought into a
+strait place--both he and his invention. The story of this affair is
+given by Carlyle in the second volume of his "French Revolution." One
+knows not whether to smile or weep over the graphic account which the
+crabbed philosopher gives of Chappe and his work in the following
+extract:
+
+"What, for example," says he, "is this that Engineer Chappe is doing
+in the Park of Vincennes? In the Park of Vincennes; and onward, they
+say, in the Park of Lepelletier Saint-Fargeau, the assassinated
+deputy; and still onward to the Heights of Ecouen and farther, he has
+scaffolding set up, has posts driven in; wooden arms with elbow-joints
+are jerking and fugling in the air, in the most rapid mysterious
+manner! Citoyens ran up, suspicious. Yes, O Citoyens, we are
+signaling; it is a device, this, worthy of the Republic; a thing for
+what we will call far-writing without the aid of postbags; in Greek it
+shall be named Telegraph. '_Telegraphe sacre_,' answers Citoyenism.
+For writing to Traitors, to Austria?--and tears it down, Chappe had to
+escape and get a new legislative Decree. Nevertheless he has
+accomplished it, the indefatigable Chappe; this his Far-writer, with
+its wooden arms and elbow-joints, can intelligibly signal; and lines
+of them are set up, to the North Frontiers and elsewhither. On an
+Autumn evening of the Year Two, Far-writer having just written that
+Conde Town has surrendered to us, we send from the Tuileries
+Convention-Hall this response in the shape of a Decree: 'The name of
+Conde is changed to _Nord-Libre_ (North Free). The Army of the North
+ceases not to merit well of the country.' To the admiration of men!
+For lo! in some half-hour, while the Convention yet debates, there
+arrives this new answer: 'I inform thee (_Je t'annonce_), Citizen
+President, that the Decree of Convention, ordering change of the name
+Conde into North Free; and the other, declaring that the Army of the
+North ceases not to merit well of the country, are transmitted and
+acknowledged by Telegraph. I have instructed my Officer at Lille to
+forward them to North Free by express.' Signed, Chappe."
+
+This successful telegraph of Engineer Chappe was not an electric
+telegraph, but a sunlight telegraph. Is it in reality any more
+wonderful to use the electrical wave in the transmission of
+intelligible symbols than to use a wave of light? Such seems to have
+been the opinion of mankind; and the coming of the electric telegraph
+was long postponed. The invention was made by slow approaches. In our
+country the notion has prevailed that Morse did all--that others did
+nothing; but this notion is very erroneous.
+
+We are not to suppose that the Chappe method of telegraphing became
+extinct after its first successful work. Other references to what we
+_suppose_ to be the same instrument are found in the literature of the
+age. The wonder is that more was not written and more accomplished by
+the agency of Chappe's invention. In the fall of the year 1800,
+General Bonaparte, who had been in Egypt and the East, returned to
+Europe and landed at Frejus on his way to Paris, with the dream of
+universal dominion in his head. In the first volume of the _Memoirs of
+Napoleon Bonaparte_, his secretary M. de Bourrienne, writing of the
+return to France says:
+
+"We arrived in Paris on the 24th Vendemiaire (the sixteenth of
+October). As yet he (Napoleon) knew nothing of what was going on; for
+he had seen neither his wife nor his brothers, who were looking for
+him on the Burgundy Road. The news of our landing at Frejus had
+reached Paris _by a_ _telegraphic despatch_. Madame Bonaparte, who
+was dining with M. Gohier when that despatch was communicated to him,
+as President of the Directory, immediately set off to meet her
+husband," etc. We should be glad to know in what particular form that
+"telegraphic despatch" was delivered! But such are Bourrienne's words!
+
+To the American reader the name of Karl Friedrich Gauss may have an
+unfamiliar sound. Gauss was already a youth of fourteen when Morse was
+born, though the latter outlived the German mathematician by seventeen
+years. Gauss was a professor of Mathematics at Goettingen, where he
+passed nearly the whole of his life. In the early part of the century
+he distinguished himself in astronomy and in other branches of
+physical science. He then became interested in magnetic and electrical
+phenomena, and in 1833, with the assistance of Wilhelm Eduard Weber,
+one of his fellow-professors, who died in 1891, he erected at
+Goettingen a magnetic observatory. There he began to experiment with
+the subtle agent which was soon to be placed at the service of
+mankind.
+
+The observatory was constructed without the use of iron, in order that
+the magnetic phenomena might be studied under favorable conditions.
+Humboldt and Arago had previously constructed laboratories without
+using iron--for iron is the great disturber--and from them Gauss
+obtained his hint. Weber was also expert in the management of
+magneto-electrical currents. Gauss, with the aid of his co-worker,
+constructed a line of telegraph, and sent signals by the agency of the
+magnetic current to a neighboring town. This was nearly ten years
+before Morse had fully succeeded in like experimentation.
+
+It appears that the German scientists regarded their telegraph as
+simply the tangible expression or apparatus to illustrate scientific
+facts and principles. It was for this reason, we presume, that no
+further headway was made at Goettingen in the development of
+telegraphy. It was also for the additional reason that men rarely or
+never accept what is really the first demonstration and
+exemplification of a new departure in scientific knowledge. Such is
+the timidity of the human mind--such its conservative attachment to
+the known thing and to the old method as against the new--that it
+prefers to stay in the tumble-down ruin of bygone opinions and
+practices, rather than go up and inhabit the splendid but unfamiliar
+temple of the future.
+
+Gauss and Weber were left with their scientific discovery; and,
+indeed, Morse in the New World of practicality and quick adaptations,
+was about to be rejected and cast out. The sorrows through which he
+passed need not here be recounted. They are sufficiently sad and
+sufficiently humiliating. His unavailing appeals to the American
+Congress are happily hidden in the rubbish of history, and are
+somewhat dimmed by the intervention of more than half a century. But
+his humiliation was extreme. Smart Congressmen, partisans, the
+ignorant flotsam of conventions and intrigues, heard the philosopher
+with contempt. A few heard him with sympathy; and the opinion in his
+favor grew, as if by the pressure of shame, until he was finally
+supported, and in a midnight hour of an expiring session of Congress,
+or rather in the early morning of the fourth of March, 1843, the
+munificent appropriation of $30,000 was placed at his disposal for the
+construction of an experimental line between Washington and Baltimore.
+
+The one thing was done. A new era of instantaneous communication
+between men and communities at a distance the one from the other was
+opened--an era which has proved to be an era of light and knowledge.
+Nor may we conclude this sketch without noting the fact that, not a
+few of the members of the House of Representatives who voted the
+pittance for the construction of the first line of actual working
+telegraph in the world, went home to their constituents and were
+ignominiously beaten for re-election--this this for the slight
+service which they had rendered to their country and the human race!
+
+When in New York City, turn thou to the west out of Fifth avenue into
+Twenty-second street, to the distance of, perhaps, ten rods, and there
+on a little marble slab set in the wall of a house on the north side
+of the street, read this curious epitaph:
+
+"In this house lived Professor S.F.B, Morse for thirty years and
+died!"
+
+
+THE NEW LIGHT OF MEN.
+
+By the law of nature our existence is divided between daylight and
+darkness. There is evermore the alternate baptism into dawn and night.
+The division of life is not perfect between sunshine and shadow; for
+the sunshine bends around the world on both horizons, and lengthens
+the hemisphere of day by a considerable rim of twilight. To this
+reduction of the darkness we must add moonshine and starlight. But we
+must also subtract the influence of the clouds and other incidental
+conditions of obscuration. After these corrections are made, there is
+for mankind a great band of deep night, wherein no man can work.
+Whoever goes forth at some noon of night, when the sky is wrapped with
+clouds, must realize the utter dependence of our kind upon the light.
+How great is the blessing of that sublime and beautiful fact which the
+blind Milton apostrophizes in the beginning of the Third Book of
+_Paradise Lost_:
+
+    "Hail, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born!
+    Or of Eternal coeternal beam,
+    May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,
+    And never but in unapproached light
+    Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
+    Bright effluence of bright essence increate!
+    Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream,
+    Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
+    Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice
+    Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
+    The rising world of waters dark and deep,
+    Won from the void and formless infinite."
+
+How then shall man overcome the darkness? It is one of the problems of
+his existence. He is obliged with each recurring sunset of his life to
+enter the tunnel of inky darkness and make his way through as best he
+may to the morning. What kind of lantern shall he carry as he gropes?
+
+The evolution of artificial light and of the means of producing it
+constitutes one of the most interesting chapters in the history of our
+race. Primeval man knew fire. He learned in some way how to kindle
+fire. The lowest barbarian may be defined as a fire-producing animal.
+The cave men of ancient Europe kindled fires in their dark caverns.
+The lake dwellers had fires, both on shore and in their huts over the
+water. Wherever there was a fire there was artificial light. The
+primitive barbarian walked around the embers of his fire and saw his
+shadow stretching out into the gloom of the surrounding night.
+
+With the slow oncoming of a better estate, the early philosophers of
+mankind invented lamps. Very rude indeed were the first products in
+this kind of art. Note the character of the lamps that have survived
+to us from the age of stone. Still they are capable of holding oil and
+retaining a wick. Further on we have lamps from the age of bronze, and
+at last from the age of iron. Polite antiquity had its silver lamps,
+its copper lamps, and in a few instances its lamps of gold. The
+palaces of kings were sometimes lighted from golden reservoirs of oil.
+Such may be seen among the relics preserved to us from the
+civilizations of Western Asia. The palace of Priam, if we mistake not,
+had lamps of gold.
+
+The Great Greeks were the makers of beautiful lamps. In the age of the
+Grecian ascendancy the streets of Athens and of some other Hellenic
+cities were lighted by night. The material of such illumination was
+oil derived either from animals or from vegetable products, such as
+the olive. In the forms of Greek lamps we have an example of artistic
+beauty not surpassed or equaled in modern time; but the mechanical
+contrivance for producing the light was poor and clumsy.
+
+Rome lighted herself artificially. She had her lamps and her torches
+and her chandeliers, as we see in the relics of Herculaneum and
+Pompeii. A Roman procession by night was not wanting in brilliancy and
+picturesqueness. The quality of the light, however was poor, and there
+was always a cloud of smoke as well as of dust hovering about Roman
+processions and triumphs.
+
+The earlier Middle Ages improved not at all; but with the Renaissance
+there was an added elegance in the apparatus of illumination.
+Chandeliers were made in Italy, notably in Venice, that might rival in
+their elegance anything of the present age. The art of such products
+was superior; but the old barbaric clumsiness was perpetuated in the
+mechanical part. With the rise of scientific investigation under the
+influence of inductive philosophy, all kinds of contrivances for the
+production of artificial light were improved. The ingenuity of man was
+now turned to the mechanical part, and one invention followed another
+with a constant development in the power of illumination.
+
+We can but remember, however, that until the present age many of the
+old forms of illuminating apparatus have been retained. In the ruder
+communities such things may still be seen. Civilization in its
+progress from east to west across our continent followed a tallow
+candle. The light of it was seen by night through the window of the
+pioneer's cabin. The old forms of hanging lamps have hardly yet
+disappeared from the advance posts of the marching column. But
+meanwhile, other agencies have been discovered, and other forms of
+apparatus invented, until the branch of knowledge relating to
+illumination has become both a science and an art.
+
+Within the memories of men still living, a great transformation has
+occurred. Animal oils have virtually ceased to be employed as the
+sources of light. The vegetable world is hardly any longer drawn upon
+for its products. Already before the discovery of petroleum and its
+multifarious uses the invention by chemical methods of illuminating
+materials had begun. Many kinds of burning fluid had been introduced.
+The reign of these was short-lived; coal oil came in at the door and
+they flew out at the window. Great was the advantage which seemed to
+come to mankind from the use of kerosene lamps. Those very forms of
+illumination which are now regarded as crude in character and odious
+in use were only a generation ago hailed with delight because of their
+superiority to the former agents of illumination. Thus much may
+suffice for all that precedes the coming of the New Light of men. The
+new light flashes from the electrical glow. The application of
+electricity to purposes of illumination marks an era in human
+progress. The electrical light is, we think, high up among the most
+valuable and striking stages of civilized life in the nineteenth
+century. It is best calculated to affect favorably the welfare of the
+people, especially in great cities. The illumination of a city by
+night, making its streets to be lighted as if by day, is a more
+interesting and important fact in human history than any political
+conflict or mere change of rulers.
+
+About the beginning of the eighth decade of this century the project
+of introducing the electric light for general purposes of illumination
+began to be agitated. It was at once perceived that the advantages of
+such lighting were as many as they were obvious. The light is so
+powerful as to render practicable the performance of many mechanical
+operations as easily by night as by day. Again, the danger of fire
+from illuminating sources is almost wholly obviated by the new system.
+The ease and expedition of all kinds of night employment are greatly
+enhanced. A given amount of illumination can be produced much more
+cheaply by electricity than by any means of gas lighting or ordinary
+combustion. Among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of
+electric lighting was the philosopher Gramme, of Paris. In the early
+part of 1875 he successfully lighted his laboratory by means of
+electricity. Soon afterward the foundry of Ducommun & Co., of
+Mulhouse, was similarly lighted. In the course of the following year
+the apparatus for lighting, by means of carbon candles was introduced
+into many of the principal factories of France and other leading
+countries of Europe. It may prove of interest in this connection to
+sketch briefly the principal features of the electric light system,
+and to trace the development of that system in our own and other
+countries.
+
+Lighting by electricity is accomplished in several ways. In general,
+however, the principle by which the result is accomplished is one, and
+depends upon the resistance which the electrical current meets in its
+transmission through various substances. There are no perfect
+conductors of electricity. In proportion as the non-conductive quality
+is prevalent in a substance, especially in a metal, the resistance to
+the passage of electricity is pronounced, and the consequent
+disturbance among the molecular particles of the substance is great.
+Whenever such resistance is encounted in a circuit, the electricity is
+converted into heat, and when the resistance is great, the heat is, in
+turn, converted into light, or rather the heat becomes phenomenal in
+light; that is, the substance which offers the resistance glows with
+the transformed energy of the impeded current. Upon this simple
+principle all the apparatus for the production of electric light is
+produced.
+
+Among the metallic substances, the one best adapted by its low
+conductivity to such resistance and transformation of force, is
+platinum. The high degree of heat necessary to fuse this metal adds to
+its usefulness and availability for the purpose indicated. When an
+electrical current is forced along a platinum wire too small to
+transmit the entire volume, it becomes at once heated--first to a red,
+and then to a white glow--and is thus made to send forth a radiance
+like that of the sun. Of the non-metallic elements which offer similar
+resistance, the best is carbon. The infusibility of this substance
+renders it greatly superior to platinum for purposes of the electric
+light.
+
+Near the beginning of the present century it was discovered by Sir
+Humphry Davy that carbon points may be rendered incandescent by means
+of a powerful electrical current. The discovery was fully developed in
+the year 1809, while the philosopher just referred to was
+experimenting with the great battery of the Royal Institution of
+London. He observed--rather by accident than by design or previous
+anticipation--that a strong volume of electricity passing between two
+bits of wood charcoal produces tremendous heat, and a light like that
+of the sun. It appears, however, that Davy at first regarded the
+phenomenon rather in the nature of an interesting display of force
+than as a suggestion of the possibility of turning night into day.
+
+For nearly three-quarters of a century the discovery made by Sir
+Humphrey lay dormant among the great mass of scientific facts revealed
+in the laboratory. In the course of time, however, the nature of the
+new fact began to be apprehended. The electric lamp in many forms was
+proposed and tried. The scientists, Niardet, Wilde, Brush, Fuller, and
+many others of less note, busied themselves with the work of
+invention. Especially did Gramme and Siemens devote their scientific
+genius to the work of turning to good account the knowledge now fully
+possessed of the transformability of the electric current into light.
+
+The experiments of the last named two distinguished inventors brought
+us to the dawn of the new era in artificial lighting. The Russian
+philosopher, Jablokhkoff, carried the work still further by the
+practical introduction of the carbon candle. Other scientists--Carre,
+Foucault, Serrin, Rapieff, and Werdermann--had, at an earlier or later
+day, thrown much additional information into the common stock of
+knowledge relative to the illuminating possibilities of electricity.
+Finally, the accumulated materials of science fell into the hands of
+that untutored but remarkably radical inventor, Thomas A. Edison, who
+gave himself with the utmost zeal to the work of removing the
+remaining difficulties in the problem.
+
+Edison began his investigations in this line of invention in September
+of 1878, and in December of the following year gave to the public his
+first formal statement of results. After many experiments with
+platinum, he abandoned that material in favor of the carbon-arc _in
+vacuo_. The latter is, indeed, the essential feature of the Edison
+light. A small semicircle, or horseshoe, of some substance, such as a
+filament of bamboo reduced to the form of pure carbon, the two ends
+being attached to the poles of the generating-machine, or dynamo, as
+the engine is popularly called, is enclosed in a glass bulb, from
+which the air has been carefully drawn, and is rendered incandescent
+by the passage of an electric current. The other important features of
+Edison's discovery relate to the divisibility of the current, and its
+control and regulation in volume by the operator. These matters were
+fully mastered in the Edison invention, and the apparatus rendered as
+completely subject to management as are the other varieties of
+illuminating agencies.
+
+It were vain to speculate upon the future of electric lighting. The
+question of artificial illumination has had much to do with the
+progress of the human race, particularly when aggregated into cities.
+Doubtless the old systems of lighting are destined in time to give
+place altogether to the splendors of the electric glow. The general
+effect of the change upon society must be as marked as it is salutary.
+Darkness, the enemy of good government and morality in great cities,
+will, in great measure, be dispelled by the beneficent agent, over
+which the genius of Davy, Gramme, Brush, Edison, and a host of other
+explorers in the new continents of science has so completely
+triumphed. The ease, happiness, comfort, and welfare of mankind must
+be vastly multiplied, and the future must be reminded, in the glow
+that dispels the night, of that splendid fact that the progress of
+civilization depends, in a large measure, upon a knowledge of Nature's
+laws, and the diffusion of that knowledge among the people.
+
+
+THE TELEPHONE.
+
+Perhaps no other great invention of man has been within so short a
+period so widely distributed as the telephone. The use of the
+instrument is already co-extensive with civilization. The cost at
+which the instruments are furnished is still so considerable that the
+poor of the world are not able to avail themselves of the invention;
+but in the so-called upper circles of society the use of the telephone
+is virtually universal. It has made its way from the city to the town,
+from the town to the village, from the village to the hamlet, and even
+to the country-side where the millions dwell.
+
+The telephone came by a speedy revelation. It was born of that intense
+scientific activity which is the peculiarity of our age. The
+antecedent knowledge out of which it sprang had existed in various
+forms for a long time. The laws of acoustics were among the first to
+be investigated after a true physical science began to be taught. The
+phenomena of sound are so universal and experimentation in sound
+production so easy, that the governing laws were readily discovered.
+
+Acoustics, we think, foreran somewhat the science of heat, as the
+science of heat preceded that of light. Electricity came last. The
+telephone is an instrument belonging not wholly, not chiefly, but only
+in part, to acoustics. It owes its existence to magnetic induction and
+electrical transmission as much as to the mere action of sound. One
+foot of the instrument, so to speak, is acoustics, and the other foot
+electricity. The telephone philosophically considered is an instrument
+for the conversion of a sound-wave into electrical motion, and its
+reconversion into sound at a distance. The sound is, as it were,
+committed to the electrical current and is thus sent to the end of the
+journey, and there discharged with its message. The possibility of
+this result lies first of all in the fact of electrical transmission
+by wire, and in the second place to the mounting of a sound-rider on
+the electrical saddle for an instantaneous journey with important
+despatches!
+
+New results in scientific progress generally seem marvelous. The
+unfamiliar and unexpected thing is always a marvel; but scientifically
+considered, the telephone does not seem so surprising as at first
+view. The atmosphere is a conductor of sound. It is the natural agent
+of transmission, and so far as the natural man is concerned, it is his
+only agent for the transmission of oral utterance. If the unlearned
+man have his attention called to the surprising fact of hearing his
+fellow-man call out to him across a field or from far off on the
+prairie, he does not think it marvelous, but only natural. Yet how
+strange it is that one human being can speak to another through the
+intervening space!
+
+It is strange that one should see another at a distance; but seeing
+and hearing at distances are natural functions of living creatures.
+The sunlight is for one sense and the sound-wave is for the other. The
+sound-wave travels on the atmosphere, and preserves its integrity. A
+given sound is produced, and the same sound is heard by some ear at a
+distance. All the people of the world are telephoning to one another;
+for oral speech leaping from the vocal organs of one human being to
+the ear of another is always telephonic. It is only when this
+phenomenon of speech at a distance is taken from the soft wings of the
+air, confined to a wire, and made to fly along the slender thread and
+deliver itself afar in a manner to which the world has hitherto been a
+stranger that the thing done and the apparatus by which it is done
+seem miraculous. Indeed it is a miracle; for _miraculum_ signifies
+wonderful.
+
+The history of the invention of the telephone is easily apprehended.
+The scientific principles on which it depends may be understood
+without difficulty. There is, however, about the instrument and its
+action something that is well nigh unbelievable. It is essentially a
+thing contrary to universal experience, if not positively
+inconceivable, that the slight phenomenon of the human voice should
+be, so to speak, _picked up_ by a physical contrivance, carried a
+thousand miles through a thread of wire not a quarter of an inch in
+diameter, and delivered in its integrity to the sense of another
+waiting to receive it! At all events, the history of the telephone,
+belonging so distinctly to our own age, will stand as a reminder to
+after times of the great stride which the human race made in inventive
+skill and scientific progress in the last quarter of the nineteenth
+century.
+
+The telephone, like many similar instruments, was the work of several
+ingenious minds directed at nearly the same time to the same problem.
+The solution, however, must be accredited first of all to Elisha P.
+Gray, of Chicago, and Alexander Graham Bell, of the Massachusetts
+Institute of Technology. It should be mentioned, however, that Amos E.
+Dolbear, of Tufts College, Massachusetts, and Thomas A. Edison, of
+Menlo Park, New Jersey, likewise succeeded in solving the difficulty
+in the way of telephonic communication, and in answering practically
+several of the minor questions that hindered at first the complete
+success of the invention. The telephone is an instrument for the
+reproduction of sounds, particularly the sounds of the human voice, by
+the agency of electrical conduction at long distances from the origin
+of the vocal disturbance. Or it may be defined as an instrument for
+the _transmission_ of the sounds referred to by the agencies
+described. Indeed it were hard to say whether in a telephonic message
+we receive a _reproduced_ sound or a _transmitted_ sound. On the
+whole, it is more proper to speak of a reproduction of the original
+sound by transmission of the waves in which that sound is first
+written.
+
+It is now well known that the phenomenon called sound consists of a
+wave agitation communicated through the particles of some medium to
+the organ of hearing. Every particular sound has its own physical
+equivalent in the system of waves in which it is written. The only
+thing, therefore, that is necessary in order to carry a sound in its
+integrity to any distance, is to transmit its physical equivalent, and
+to redeliver that equivalent to some organ of hearing capable of
+receiving it.
+
+Upon these principles the telephone was produced--created. Every sound
+which falls by impact upon the sheet-iron disk of the instrument
+communicates thereto a sort of tremor. This tremor causes the disk to
+approach and recede from the magnetic pole placed just behind the
+diaphragm. A current of electricity is thus induced, pulsates along
+the wire to the other end, and is delivered to the metallic disk of
+the second instrument, many miles away, just as it was produced in the
+first. The ear of the hearer receives from the second instrument the
+exact physical equivalent of the sound, or sounds, which were
+delivered against the disk of the first instrument, and thus the
+utterance is received at a distance just as it was given forth.
+
+As already said, the invention of the telephone stands chiefly to the
+credit of Professors Gray and Bell. It should be recorded that as
+early as 1837, the philosopher Page succeeded, by means of
+electro-magnetism, in transmitting _musical_ tones to a distance. It
+was not, however, until 1877 that Professer Bell, in a public lecture
+given at Salem, Mass., astonished his audience, and the whole country
+as well, by receiving and transmitting _vocal_ messages from Boston,
+twenty miles away. Incredulity had no more a place as it respected the
+feasibility of talking to persons at a distance. The experiments of
+Gray at Chicago, a few days later in the same month, were equally
+successful. Messages were distinctly delivered between that city and
+Milwaukee, a distance of eighty-five miles, nor could it be longer
+doubted that a new era in the means of communication had come.
+
+The Bell telephone, with its many modifications and improvements, has
+come into rapid use. Within reasonable limits of distance, the new
+method of transmitting intelligence by direct vocal utterance, has
+taken the place of all slower and less convenient means of
+intercommunication. The appearance of the simple instrument has been
+one of the many harbingers of the oncoming better time, when the
+interchange of thought and sentiment between man and man, community
+and community, nation and nation, and race and race shall be the
+preliminary of universal peace in the world and of the good-fellowship
+of mankind.
+
+Every such fact as the invention of the telephone, produces a complex
+and almost indescribable result in human society. This result has in
+it, in the first place, a change in the manners and method of the
+individual There is also a change in his sentiments. He whose work in
+life, whatever it may be, is accomplished in touch with the telephone
+will realize that he is in touch with the whole world. This intimacy
+reaches, first, his neighbors and friends. He seems to live henceforth
+in their presence, and in communication with them.
+
+The isolation of the individual life is virtually obliterated by such
+an agency. Solitude disappears before it; for he whose ear is within
+hearing of his instrument, knows not at what moment any one of many
+thousands of people may speak to him. He knows not at what moment
+intelligence of an ever-varying kind may be spoken to him from his own
+community or out of the depths of distance. The mind is thus
+affiliated with an enlarged and ever-present society. These
+considerations do not relate to mere matters of convenience and
+quickness and advantage and safety, but to the larger question of the
+aggregate effect upon the individual.
+
+The effect on the community is of like kind. The community is no
+longer so segregated as it was before. The community is in touch with
+other communities of like character. The conflagration in one town is
+felt in the neighboring towns, if it is not seen. The epidemic of the
+one is the epidemic of many. The sensation of the one community
+diffuses itself instantly into several. The effect is in the
+intellectual life like that of a wave produced on the lake by the
+casting in of a stone. The wave widens and recedes. It may be
+obstructed or unobstructed in its progress. If obstructed, the
+obstructions may be removed. Then the motion of the wave will become
+free and regular. So also on the tide of public thought. The telephone
+is an agency _for removing mental obstructions_, and for the regular
+diffusion of a common thought.
+
+All this, however, is attended with draw-backs. One of these is the
+breaking in on the privacy and seclusion of the individual life.
+Individuality suffers under scientific progress. Great thinking is
+accomplished best in solitude. Emerson has forcibly pointed out the
+advantages which arise in the intellectual life from its isolation and
+seclusion--from its free and uninterrupted communion with itself.
+
+The convenience--the physical convenience--of life is vastly augmented
+by such a contrivance as the telephone. Time is saved and trouble
+obviated. But at the same time the necessity for bodily exercise is
+reduced, and the overgrowth of brain at the expense of body encouraged.
+The fact is that the invention of the telephone and its general use,
+while it has added very greatly to the comfort of life, while it has
+promoted ease and diffused a social sense that needed stimulation and
+development, has at the same time brought in conditions that are not
+wholly favorable to human welfare. More largely still, the truth is
+that the telephone, like every other symbol and agency of progress,
+has brought _enlarged responsibilities._
+
+No man, no community, no people or nation can gain an increase of
+power without accepting the accompanying increase of responsibility.
+The moral nature of man is thus involved. Every forward stride of
+scientific invention places upon the life of man, including his bodily
+activity, his mental moods and his spiritual and moral powers, an
+added stress of duty, of energy, and of rectitude in conduct from
+which he may not shrink if he would be the gainer rather than the
+loser. Each discovery and each improved method of employing the
+beneficent forces of the natural world, brings with it a strain upon
+the moral nature of man which, if he stand it, well; but if he stand
+it not, then it shall go ill with him.
+
+
+THE MACHINE THAT "TALKS BACK."
+
+The invention for making nature give an intelligent response may well
+be regarded with wondering interest. The odd, we might say humorous,
+feature of the invention is that nature, being as it were cornered and
+compelled to respond, will answer nothing except _to repeat what is
+said in her ear!_ The phonograph may be defined as a mechanical
+parrot. Unlike the living bird, however, it never makes answers
+malapropos. It never deviates from the original text. The distrust
+which has been justly cherished against the talking bird on account of
+his originality can never be reasonably directed against the
+phonograph!
+
+The possibility of writing sound has been recognized for a century
+past. Since the discovery of the vibratory character of sound, the
+physicist has seen the feasibility of recording the vibration. Nature
+herself has given many hints along this line of experimentation. Long
+ago it was seen that the writing sand sprinkled on the sounding board
+of the piano would under the influence of a chord struck from the keys
+arrange itself in geometrical figures. It was also seen that a discord
+sounded from the key-board would break the figures into chaos and
+confusion. Were not these phenomena sufficient to suggest that sound
+might be written in intelligible characters?
+
+The mind, however, moves slowly from the old to the new. The former
+concept of physical facts and the laws which govern them is not
+readily given up. A great discovery in physical science seems to
+disturb the foundations of nature. It does not really do so; the
+disturbance is not in nature, but in the mind. No endeavor of man, no
+advance of his from some old bivouac to a new camping-ground, affects
+in the least the order of the world. The change, we repeat, is in the
+man, and in the race to which he belongs.
+
+Long and tedious has been the process of getting thought into a
+recorded form. The first method of expressing thought was oral. Long
+before any other method of holding ideas and delivering them to others
+was devised or imagined, speech came. Speech is oral. It is made of
+sound. Oral utterance is no doubt as old as the race itself. It began
+with the first coming of our kind into this sphere. Indeed we now know
+that the rudiments of speech exist in the faculties of the lower
+animals. The studies of Professor Garner have shown conclusively that
+the humble simian folk of the African forest have a speech or
+language. Of this the professor himself has become a student, and he
+claims to have learned at least sixty words of the vocabulary!
+
+Strange it is to note the course which linguistic development has
+taken. At the first, there was a _spoken_ language only. The next
+stage was to get this spoken language recorded, not in _audible_, but
+in _visible_ symbols. Why should it have been so easy and apparently
+natural for the old races to invent a visible form of speech-writing
+rather than an audible form? Why should the ancients have fallen back
+on the eye rather than the ear as the sense to be instructed? Why
+should sight-writing have been invented thousands of years ago, and
+sound-writing postponed until the present day?
+
+In any event, such has been the history of recorded language. The
+early races began as the mother begins with her children; that is,
+with oral speech. But at a certain stage this method was abandoned,
+and teachers came with pictorial symbols of words. They invented
+visible characters to signify words, syllables, sounds. Thus came
+alphabetical writing, syllabic writing, verbal writing, into the
+world. Ever afterward the children of men learned speech first from
+their parents, by oral utterance; but afterward by means of the
+pictorial signs in which human language was recorded.
+
+This method became habitual. The eye was made to be the servant of the
+intellect in learning nearly all that was to be gained from the wisdom
+of the past. It was by the tedious way of crooked marks signifying
+words that ideas were henceforth gleaned out of human lore by all who
+would learn aught from the recorded wisdom of mankind. And yet there
+never was anything essentially absurd or insurmountable in the
+invention of a method of recording speech in audible instead of
+visible symbols.
+
+The phonograph came swiftly after the telephone. The new instrument is
+in a sense the complement of its predecessor. Both inventions are
+based upon the same principle in science. The discovery that every
+sound has its physical equivalent in a wave or agitation which affects
+the particles of matter composing the material through which the sound
+is transmitted led almost inevitably to the other discovery of
+_catching_ and _retaining_ that physical equivalent or wave in the
+surface of some body, and to the reproduction of the original sound
+therefrom.
+
+Such is the fundamental principle of the interesting but, thus far,
+little useful instrument known as the phonograph. The same was
+invented by Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, in the year 1877. The
+instrument differs considerably in structure and purpose from the
+_Vibrograph_ and _Phonautograph_ which preceded it. The latter two
+instruments were made simply to _write_ sound vibrations; the former,
+to reproduce _audibly_ the sounds themselves.
+
+The phonograph consists of three principal parts,--the sender or
+funnel-shaped tube, with its open mouth-piece standing toward the
+operator; the diaphragm and stylus connected therewith, which receives
+the sound spoken into the tube; and thirdly, the revolving cylinder,
+with its sheet-coating of tin-foil laid over the surface of a spiral
+groove to receive the indentations of the point of the stylus. The
+mode of operation is very simple. The cylinder is revolved; and the
+point of the stylus, when there is no sound agitation in the funnel or
+mouth-piece, makes a smooth, continuous depression in the tin-foil
+over the spiral groove. But when any sound is thrown into the
+mouth-piece the iron disk or diaphragm is agitated; this agitation is
+carried through the stylus and written in irregular marks, dots, and
+peculiar figures in the tin-foil over the groove.
+
+When the utterance which is to be reproduced has been completed, the
+instrument is stopped, the stylus thrown back from the groove, and the
+cylinder revolved backward to the place of starting. The stylus is
+then returned to its place in the groove, and the cylinder is revolved
+forward at the same rate of rapidity as before. As the point of the
+stylus plays up and down in the indentations and through the figures
+in the tin-foil, produced by its own previous agitation, a quiver
+exactly equivalent to that which was produced by the utterance in the
+mouth-piece is thrown into the air. This agitation is of course the
+exact physical equivalent of the original sound, or, more properly,
+_is_ the sound itself. Thus it is that the phonograph is made to talk,
+to sing, to cry; to utter, in short, any sound sufficiently powerful
+to produce a perceptible tremor in the mouth-piece and diaphragm of
+the instrument.
+
+Much progress has been made toward the utilization of the phonograph
+as a practical addition to the civilizing apparatus of our time. It
+may be said, indeed, that all the difficulties in the way of such a
+result have been removed. Mr. Edison has carried forward his work to
+such a degree of perfection that the instrument may be practically
+employed in correspondence and literary composition. The problem has
+been to _stereotype_, so to speak, the tin-foil record of what has
+been uttered in the mouth-piece, and thus to preserve in a permanent
+form the potency of vanished sounds. Nor does it require a great
+stretch of the imagination to see in the invention of the phonograph
+one of the greatest achievements of the age--a discovery, indeed,
+which may possibly revolutionize the whole method of learning.
+
+It would seem clear that nature has intended the _ear_, rather than
+the eye, to be the organ of education. It is manifestly against the
+fitness of things that the eyes of all mankind should be strained,
+weakened, permanently injured in childhood, with the unnatural tasks
+which are imposed upon the delicate organ. It would seem to be more in
+accordance with the nature and capacities of man, and the general
+character of the external world, to reserve the eye for the
+discernment and appreciation of beauty, and to impose upon the ear
+the tedious and hard tasks of education.
+
+The phonograph makes it possible to read by the ear instead of by the
+eye, and it is not beyond the range of probability that the book of
+the future, near or remote, will be written in phonographic plates and
+made to reveal its story directly to the waiting ear, rather than
+through the secondary medium of print to the enfeebled and tired eye
+of the reader.
+
+We hardly venture on prophecy; but we think that he who returns to
+this scene of human activity at the close of the twentieth century
+will find that sound has been substituted for sight in nearly
+everything that relates to recorded information, to learning, and to
+educational work. By that means the organ of hearing will be restored
+to its rightful office. Enlightenment and instruction of all kinds
+will be given by means of phonographic books. The sound-wave will, in
+a word, be substituted for the light-wave as the vehicle of all our
+best information and intercourse. The ear will have habitually taken
+the place of the eye in the principal offices of interest and
+information.
+
+The unnatural method of the book--the visible book instead of the
+audible book--will then be done away. Nature, who instructs the child
+by sound, will continue to teach the man in the same manner. All
+mothers, from the mother bird to the mother woman, begin the teaching
+of their offspring by sound, by utterance. The mother bird continues
+in this manner; but the mother woman is presently supplanted by a
+teacher who comes in with a printed book filled with crooked marks,
+and would have it that learning must be _thus_ acquired. Instead of
+continuing the natural process of instruction to the complete
+development and information of the mind, an abnormal method has been
+adopted by mankind with many hurtful consequences.
+
+The youth at a certain age is led into the world of science, and there
+dismissed from the mother-method, to acquire, if he can, the painful
+and tedious use of meaningless hieroglyphics. There he must study with
+the eye, learning as best he may the significance of the crooked signs
+which can at the most signify no more than words. How much of human
+energy and life and thought have been thus wasted in the instruction
+of the mind by characters and symbols. The eyes of mankind have, as we
+said, been dimmed and shadowed, and at the same time the faculties
+have been overheated and the equipose of perception and memory
+seriously disturbed by this unnatural process of learning.
+
+Human beings begin the acquirement of knowledge with words, and they
+end with words; but an unnatural civilization has taught man to walk
+the greater part of his intellectual journey by means of arbitrary
+systems of writing and printing. When the next Columbian Year arrives
+we shall see him untaught (a hard thing withal) and retaught on
+nature's plan of learning. Nature teaches language by sound only.
+Artificiality writes a scrawl. Nature's book is a book of words. Man's
+book is as yet a book of signs and symbols. Nature's book utters
+itself to the ear, and man's book blinds the eyes and overheats the
+imagination. Nature's method is to teach by the ear, and to reserve
+the sight for the discovery and enjoyment of beauty.
+
+The sound-book in some form is coming; and with that the intellectual
+repose of mankind will begin to be restored. The use of the eye for
+the offices of education instead of the stronger ear, has, we think,
+impaired, if it has not destroyed, the equilibrium of the human mind.
+That equilibrium must be restored. The mental diseases and unrest of
+our race are largely attributable to the over-excitement of the
+faculties through ages of too much seeing.
+
+The Age of Hearing is, we think, to be ushered in with the twentieth
+century. The coming of that age will tend to restore the mental
+balance of mankind. Memory, now almost obliterated, will come again.
+The over-heated perceptions will cool. The imagination will become
+calm, and the eye itself will recover, we hope, from the injuries, of
+overstrain, and will regain its power and lustre. Man will see once
+more as the eagle sees, and will learn Shakespeare by heart. He will
+remember all knowledge, and will again be able to see, as of old, from
+Sicily to Carthage!
+
+
+THE EVOLUTION OF THE DYNAMO.
+
+BY PROFESSOR JOSEPH P. NAYLOR, A.M.
+
+It is difficult to estimate the influence in modifying and shaping the
+nineteenth century civilization that has resulted from the discovery
+of the dynamo and the production of heavy currents of electricity.
+That it has had great influence is evident without question. The arc
+light for out-of-doors lighting and the incandescent lamp for inside
+has modified all our previous ideas of illumination. Effects in light
+are now produced daily that were beyond imagination twenty years
+since. The trolley and the electromoter have largely solved the
+problem of rapid transit through our crowded cities. Thus larger
+business facilities, suburban homes and cheaper living, cleanliness
+and better sanitary conditions are electrical results.
+
+The transmission of energy by the electric current from a central
+plant makes possible many small industries that could not exist
+without it, and gives employment and happiness to hundreds. The art of
+Electro-metallurgy seems but the development of months: yet it already
+employs millions of capital and is adding thousands daily to the
+world's wealth. Steam and wind and tide contribute to the work. Even
+Niagara is being touched by the spirit of the time and sends her
+wasting energy thrilling through the electric wires to turn the wheels
+of many busy factories. It is perhaps not the least remarkable fact in
+connection with this work that it is largely the product of the last
+thirty years, and that it had its very beginning less than seventy
+years since. Edison and Thompson and Brush are honorable household
+names; yet they are still living to produce even greater electric
+marvels. In fact, so rapid and brilliant has been the development that
+in the brilliancy some of the pioneers in the work have been almost
+forgotten, except by the specialist and the student, and it is no
+small part of this sketch to do them honor. The tiny spark of Faraday
+may be lost in the brilliancy of the million-candle-power
+search-light, yet the brilliancy of the search-light but enhances the
+wonder of the discovery of the spark.
+
+The discovery of electro-magnetic induction marked the beginning of a
+new era; for in it lay all the possibilities of the future of
+electrical science. Michael Faraday, the third son of a poor English
+blacksmith, was born at Newington, Surrey, England, September 3, 1791.
+His father's health was never the best, and due to the resulting
+straitened circumstances his early education consisted of the merest
+rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. His early life was, no
+doubt, largely spent in the street; but at thirteen he became errand
+boy to a book-seller of London. About a year later he was apprenticed
+to a book binder, with whom he served seven years, learning the trade.
+
+It was while an apprentice that Faraday began reading scientific
+articles on chemistry and physics in the books he was set to bind. He
+also tried to repeat the experiments of which he read. And more, he
+pondered over them long and earnestly, until he saw clearly the
+principles involved in them. It was in these early days of
+experimenting and self-education that the desire to become a
+philosopher was implanted in his mind. He embraced every chance for
+scientific study and caught every opportunity for intellectual
+self-improvement. In the last year of his apprenticeship he was
+enabled through the kindness of a customer at his master's shop, to
+attend a course of four lectures on chemistry, given by Sir Humphry
+Davy at the Royal Institution. This marked the turning point in his
+life. He made careful notes of the lecture, and afterward transcribed
+them neatly into a book and illustrated them with drawings of the
+apparatus used.
+
+After completing his apprenticeship, Faraday began life as a
+journeyman bookbinder. He had, however, as he says, "no taste for
+trade." His love of science became a consuming desire that he sought
+in every way to gratify. Inspired by his longing for scientific
+pursuits, he sent his lecture notes to Sir Humphry Davy, with the
+request that if opportunity offered he would give him employment at
+the Royal Institution. Davy was favorably impressed with the lecture
+report, and sent a kindly reply to the young philosopher. Shortly
+after this a vacancy did happen to occur at the Institution, and upon
+the recommendation of Davy, Faraday was elected to the place. Thus, in
+1813, in the humble capacity of an assistant charged with the simple
+duty of dusting and caring for the apparatus, Michael Faraday began
+the life that was destined to make him the first scientist of the
+world and to bring honor to the Institution which had given him his
+opportunity.
+
+There is inspiration and encouragement to be found in reading the
+story of Faraday's success. He has been called a genius; but his
+genius seems to have largely consisted in persistent industry and the
+habit acquired in those early days of thinking over his experiments
+and reading until he had a clear perception of all there was in them.
+He lived in his work, and loved it. In the fifty busy years that
+followed his installment at the Royal Institution he digged deep into
+nature's secrets, and gave the world many brilliant gems as evidence
+of his industry. But of all his discoveries, _electro-magnetic
+induction_ is the crowning masterpiece and that for which the world
+stands most his debtor.
+
+The principle of conservation of energy, now so well known and
+universally accepted, was then but a vague guess in the minds of the
+more advanced in science. Faraday was among the first to accept the
+new doctrine, and many of his brilliant discoveries were made in his
+effort to prove the truth of these important generalizations. He was
+acquainted with Sturgeon's method of making magnets by sending a
+current of electricity through a wire wound around a bar of iron; and
+he reasoned, if electricity will make a magnet, a magnet ought to make
+electricity. As early as 1821 his note book contains this suggestion:
+"Convert magnetism into electricity." Again and again he attacked the
+problem; but it was not until the autumn of 1831 that his efforts to
+solve it were successful. Then in a series of experiments that have
+scarcely ever been equaled in brilliancy and originality, he gave to
+the world the principle on which is based the wonderful development of
+modern electrical science.
+
+The principle is briefly stated. The space, around a wire carrying an
+electric current, or in the neighborhood of a magnet, has a directive
+effect upon a magnetic needle, and is hence called a magnetic field.
+Now if a conductor, or coil of wire, be placed in the field across the
+direction of a magnetic needle, and the field be varied either by
+varying the current or moving the magnet, a current will be developed
+in the conductor. It is impossible at this distance to appreciate the
+interest excited by the announcement of this principle, not only among
+scientists, but also among inventors and those who saw practical
+possibilities for the future; and probably no one more fully
+appreciated its value than Faraday himself. Yet he made no effort to
+develop it further, or even to protect his interest by a patent, as is
+common in these days. He was eminently a scientist, and this was his
+free gift to the world. He said: "I have rather been desirous of
+discovering new facts and relations than of exalting those already
+obtained, being assured the latter would find their full development
+hereafter."
+
+Among the first to attempt successfully to exalt the new discovery was
+Pixii, an instrument maker of Paris, in 1832. He wound two coils of
+very fine insulated wire upon the ends of a piece of soft iron, bent
+in a horseshoe form. A permanent horseshoe magnet was then placed with
+poles very close to the ends of the iron in the coils. The field so
+produced was then rapidly varied by revolving the magnet on an axis
+parallel to its length. The soft iron cores of the coils became
+strongly magnetized as the poles of the revolving magnet came opposite
+to them; and their polarity was reversed at each half-revolution of
+the magnet. By this plan currents of considerable intensity and
+alternating in direction at each revolution were induced in the coil.
+
+The ends of the coil were next connected to the external circuit
+through a "commutator." This is a device which is arranged to convert
+the alternating current of the coils into a current of one direction
+in the external circuit, and which in some form is found on all
+direct-current dynamos. Joseph Saxton, an American, improved upon
+Pixii's machine by rotating the coils, or armature as it is called,
+and making the heavier magnet stationary. The essential points of
+construction being worked out, improvements followed rapidly. Dr.
+Werner Siemans, of Berlin, introduced an important modification by
+making the revolving armature of a cylinder of soft iron, having a
+groove cut throughout its length on opposite sides. In these grooves a
+wire was wound and the armature was rotated on its axis between the
+poles of several magnets.
+
+In all the earlier machines permanent magnets of steel were used. The
+next important step was to use electro-magnets of soft iron, excited
+by a current flowing through many turns of wire wound around the legs
+of the magnet. These could be made much more strongly magnetic than
+the permanent magnets. The exciting current was at first obtained from
+a small permanent magneto machine; but it was afterward found that the
+machine could be made self-exciting. Soft-iron electro-magnets, after
+being once magnetized, remain slightly magnetic. This will produce a
+weak current in the revolving armature which is turned into the magnet
+coils. The magnets are thus further magnetized, and again react upon
+the armature with greater intensity. In this way a _strong_ current is
+rapidly built up, and after wholly or in part passing around the
+magnet coils to sustain its magnetism, can be carried out into the
+circuit to serve the great variety of purposes to which it is now put.
+
+The essential points in the evolution of the dynamo can here be
+sketched only in broadest outline. Even to catalogue in detail, the
+improvements of Edison and Brush, Gramme and Wheatstone, and a host of
+others who have contributed to the work, would require a volume. One
+fact, however, should ever be kept in mind: Whatever may be the extent
+of the superstructure of electrical science, it is all built upon the
+foundation of electro-magnetic induction laid by Michael Faraday. The
+little "magnetic spark" he first produced, and the trembling of his
+galvanometer-needle, were but signals of the birth of the giant of the
+century.
+
+These are the days of electricity and steel, and a fitting part of the
+intense age in which they exist. That we have as yet seen but a
+partial development of the possibilities of the electrical discovery,
+no one can doubt. The rush of the trolley car, and the blinding flash
+of the electric light, are but challenges thrown out to the future for
+even greater achievements. That they will come no one will question;
+but where is the daring prophet who will hazard a guess as to what
+they will be?
+
+
+THE UNKNOWN RAY AND ENTOGRAPHY.
+
+It is difficult to name the unknown. In the ancient world all the
+unknown was included in the idea of God. It remained for the
+evangelist to declare that God is a _spirit_--thus separating the
+natural forces of the material world from the Supreme Power who is
+from eternity.
+
+This century has been the epoch of investigation into the nature of
+the imponderable forces. Sound and light and heat have been known as
+the principal agents of sensation since the first ages of man-life on
+the earth; but their nature has not been well understood until within
+the memories of men still living. Electricity was also vaguely
+known--but very indistinctly--from ancient times. It has remained for
+the scientific investigators of our age to enter into the secret parts
+of nature and lay bare to the understanding many of the hitherto
+unknown facts relating to the imponderable agents.
+
+The laws of heat, of acoustics, of light, have been clearly arranged
+and taught; but they have not been placed beyond the reach of new
+interpretation and possibly not beyond the reach of complete
+revolution and reconstruction. That which has been accepted as
+definitely known with regard to these agents has now to be reviewed,
+and possibly to be learned over again from first principles.
+
+As to electricity in its various forms and manifestations, that
+sublime and powerful agent began to be better known just before the
+middle of the century. Since that time there has been almost constant
+progress in the science of this great force, until at the present time
+it is handled, controlled and understood in its phenomena almost as
+easily as water is poured into a vessel, air compressed under a
+piston, or hydrogen made to inflate a balloon.
+
+It has remained, however, for the last half decade of the great
+century to come upon and investigate a hitherto unknown force in
+nature. Certain it is that the new force exists, that it is
+everywhere, that it is a part of the profound agency by which life is
+administered, that its control is possible, and that its probable
+applications are as wonderful--perhaps more wonderful--than anything
+ever hitherto discovered by scientific investigation.
+
+It is not unlikely that since the day, or evening, on which Galileo,
+with his little extemporized telescope, out in the garden of the
+Quirinal, at Rome, compelled bigotry to behold the shining horns of
+the crescent Venus, thus opening as if by compulsion the sublime
+vista of the heavens and bringing in a new concept of the planetary
+and stellar worlds,--no such other discovery as that of the so-called
+Roentgen rays has been made. The results which seem likely to flow from
+this marvelous revelation surpass the human imagination. Let us try in
+a few words to realize the discovery, and define what it is.
+
+It was on the eighth of November, 1895, that Dr. William Konrad
+Roentgen, of Wuerzburg, made the discovery which seems likely to
+contribute so much to our knowledge of the mysterious processes of
+nature. On that day Dr. Roentgen was working with a Crookes tube in his
+laboratory. This piece of apparatus is well known to students and
+partly known to general readers. It consists of a glass cylinder,
+elongated into tubular form, and hermetically closed at the ends. When
+the tube is made, the air is exhausted as nearly as possible from it,
+and the ends are sealed over a vacuum as perfect as science is able to
+produce. Through the two ends, bits of platinum wire are passed at the
+time of sealing, so that they project a little within and without. The
+interior of the tube is thus a vacuum into which at the two ends
+platinum wires extend. Electrical communication with outside apparatus
+is thus supplied.
+
+It has long been known that on the discharge of an electrical current
+into this kind of vacuum peculiar and interesting phenomena are
+produced. The platinum wires at the two ends are connected with the
+positive and negative wires or terminals of an induction coil. When
+this is done, the electrical current discharged into the vacuum seems
+to flash out around the inner surfaces of the tube, in the form of
+light. There are brilliant coruscations from one end to the other of
+the tube. The tips of the platinum wire constituting the inner poles
+glow and seem to flame. That pole which is connected with the positive
+side of the battery is called the _anode_, or _upper_ pole, and that
+which is connected with the negative, or receptive, side of the
+battery, is called the _cathode_, or lower pole. It was in his
+experimentation with this apparatus, and in particular in noticing the
+results at the cathode or lower end of the tube, that Professor
+Roentgen made his famous discovery. It was for this reason that the
+name of "cathode rays" has been given to the new radiant force; but
+Dr. Roentgen himself called the phenomena the X, or unknown, rays.
+
+In the experimentation referred to, Roentgen had covered the glass tube
+at the end with a shield of black cardboard. This rendered the glow at
+the cathode pole completely invisible. It chanced that a piece of
+paper treated with platino-barium cyanide for photographic uses was on
+a bench near by. Notwithstanding the fact that the tube was covered
+with an opaque shield, so that no _light_ could be transmitted,
+Professor Roentgen noticed that changes in the barium paper were taking
+place, _as though_ it were exposed to the action of light! Black lines
+appeared on the paper, showing that the surface was undergoing
+chemical change from the action of some invisible and hitherto unknown
+force!
+
+This was the moment of discovery. The philosopher began experimenting.
+He repeated what had been accidentally done and was immediately
+convinced that a force, or, as it were, invisible rays were streaming
+from the cathode pole of the tube through the glass, and through a
+substance absolutely opaque, and that these rays were performing their
+work at a distance on the surface of paper that was ordinarily
+sensitive only to the action of light.
+
+Certain it was that _something_ was doing this work. Certain it was
+that it was _not light_. Highly probable it was that it was not any
+form of _electricity_, for glass is impermeable to the electrical
+current. Certain it was that it was _not sound_, for there was no
+noise or atmospheric agitation to produce such a result. In a word, it
+was demonstrated then and there that a hitherto unknown, subtle and
+powerful agent had been discovered, the applications of which might be
+of almost infinite range and interest.
+
+Professor Roentgen soon announced his discovery to the Physico-Medical
+Society of Wuerzburg. It was at the December meeting of this body that
+the new stage in human progress was declared. The news was soon
+flashed all over the world, and scientific men in every civilized
+country began at once to experiment with the cathode light--if light
+that might be called that lighted nothing.
+
+In Roentgen's announcement he stated that there had been by the
+scientists Hertz and Lenard, in 1894, certain antecedent discoveries
+from which his own might in some sense be deduced. There was, however,
+a great difference between the discovery made by Roentgen and anything
+that had preceded it. His stage of progress in knowledge was this,
+that during the discharge of _one_ kind of rays of force from the
+cathode pole in a Crookes tube _another kind_ of rays are set free,
+which differ totally in their nature and effects from anything
+hitherto known. It is this fact which has indissolubly connected the
+name of Konrad Roentgen with that great bound in scientific knowledge
+which seems likely to modify nearly all the other scientific knowledge
+of mankind.
+
+Everywhere, in the first months of 1896, the experimenters went to
+work to verify and apply the discovery of the German philosopher. It
+was at once discerned that the new force, since it would freely
+traverse opaque bodies and produce afterward chemical changes on
+sensitized surfaces similar to those ordinarily produced _by_ light,
+might be used for delineating (we can hardly say _photo_ graphing) the
+interior outlines and structure of opaque bodies!
+
+On this line of experimentation the work at once began, and with
+remarkable success. Roentgen himself was the first man in the world to
+obtain, as _if_ by photography, the invisible outline of objects
+through opaque materials. He soon obtained a delineation of the bones
+of a living hand through the flesh, which was only dimly traced in the
+resulting picture. In like manner coins were delineated through the
+leather of pocketbooks. Other objects were pictured through
+intervening plates of metal or boards of wood. The possibility of
+discovering the visible character of invisible things, and even _of
+seeing directly through_ opaque materials into parts where neither
+light nor electricity can penetrate, was fully shown.
+
+The work of picture taking in the interior of bodies and through
+opaque materials was quickly taken up by philosophers in England,
+France and the United States. Almost everywhere the physical
+laboratories witnessed daily this form of experimentation. Swinton, of
+London; Robb, of Trinity College, Dublin; Morton, of New York; Wright,
+of Yale University, and in particular Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park,
+attacked the new problem with scientific zeal, and with startling
+results. It remained for Edison to discover that the new force acted
+in some respects in the manner of _sound_ rather than in the manner of
+_light_. Thus, for example, he showed that the invisible rays not only
+_pass through_ substances that are opaque to light and non-conductors
+of electricity, but that the invisible rays _run around the edges and
+sides_ of plates, then proceeding on their way somewhat in the manner
+of sound. A sound made on one side of a metallic plate is heard on the
+other side _partly_ by transmission through the plate, and _partly_ by
+going around the edges, by atmospheric transmission. The new force
+rays act in this manner, and Edison is said to have procured pictures
+by means of the invisible agent while it was _going around the corner
+_ of an opaque obstruction!
+
+The pre-eminence of Thomas A. Edison as a scientific explorer and
+inventor depends upon a quality of mind which enables him more easily
+than others--more distinctly than any others--to see the touch of each
+new discovery with existing conditions, and the application of it to
+the problems of life. Edison catches the premonitory spark struck in
+the darkness by some other master's hammer, and with that kindles a
+conflagration. Though not the discoverer of the Roentgen ray, he was
+able, as it would appear, to understand that discovery better even
+than the discoverer. He almost immediately applied the new increment
+of knowledge more successfully, we think, than any contemporary
+scientist. His experimentation led him directly to the discovery of
+the important fact that no photographic apparatus of any kind is
+needed to enable an observer to use the X-rays in the delineation or
+inspection of objects through opaque substances. He said within
+himself: "Why not pass the X-rays through the object to be inspected
+and then convert them into visibility, as if by fluorescence."
+
+This scientific question Edison almost immediately solved.
+Fluorescence is a property which some transparent bodies have of
+producing, either on their surface or within their substance, light
+different in color from that of its origin. This happens, for example,
+when _green_ crystals of fluor spar afford _blue_ reflections of
+light. Glass may be rendered fluorescent, as is seen in the Geisler
+and Crookes tubes. Edison conceived the project of using this
+phenomenon to get back the invisible rays into visibility.
+
+The substance which he employed was the tungstate of calcium. Taking
+crystals of this chemical compound, he spread the same over a cloth or
+paper screen, and used that screen to catch and convert the invisible
+images carried against it by the X-rays. To his surprise, his
+experiment was completely successful. All that is needed in this case
+is the cathode light, the object to be examined (as for instance the
+hand), and the screen treated with tungstate of calcium. The observer
+looks through the screen, or into it, and sees _with the unaided eye_
+the invisible interior parts of the object examined, held between the
+screen and the cathode light. The invisible rays take the image of the
+interior parts of an opaque object, and carry that image to the
+screen, where it is reconverted into visibility and delivered to the
+eye of the observer, without the aid of any instrument at all! It is
+on this simple principle that Edison has invented his surgical and
+physiological lamp. The announcement is that with this lamp the
+surgeon may look through the calcium tungstate screen and examine, for
+example, the fractured bones of the hand, and set them perfectly by
+actual inspection of the parts with his eye!
+
+What then _is_ the cathode ray? At the present time its nature is not
+understood. That it is a form or mode of motion goes with the
+saying--unless it should be presently shown that all the imponderable
+forces are really _material_ in their nature; that is, that they are
+an inconceivably fine and attenuated form of matter in varying
+manifestations.
+
+The cathode rays are not light. They are not sound. They are not
+electricity or magnetism. They are not heat. They are not any of the
+known forms of force. They seem to be a new transformation of some one
+or more of the known agents. It has long been observed that _motion_
+is accompanied with _sound_, and that motion also, if increased,
+becomes manifest in _heat_. It is known that heat is convertible into
+light, and light into electricity.
+
+It is possible that at the bottom of all these phenomena lies the
+force of gravitation. This force is absolute and universal. All the
+others are partial and limited. All the others, even the newly
+discovered cathode rays, are subject to obstruction by certain forms
+of matter; that is, to them certain forms of matter are opaque. But
+gravitation knows no opacity in the universe. No atom of matter is
+exempt from its sway. It streams through all obstructive media as
+though such media did not exist. It would appear that heat, light,
+electricity, sound, the cathode rays, and all other forms of force in
+nature are probably variations, and as it were limited expressions and
+manifestations, of _the one supreme force_ that supports the
+constitution of the physical universe; and that one supreme force is
+_gravitation_!
+
+
+
+
+Stages in Biological Inquiry.
+
+
+THE NEW INOCULATION.
+
+Any account of the scientific progress of this century which omits the
+name of Louis Pasteur would be lamentably incomplete. In that part of
+science which relates strictly to human life and the means of
+preserving it, the work of this great man must be placed in the first
+rank. Indeed, we believe that no other stride in biological
+investigation from the beginning of time has been so great in its
+immediate and prospective results as has been the increment
+contributed by Pasteur and his contemporary Koch. The success of these
+two experimental philosophers grew out of the substitution of a new
+theory for one that had hitherto prevailed respecting some of the
+fundamental processes in living matter.
+
+Up to about the close of the third quarter of this century, the belief
+continued to prevail in the possibility of the propagation and
+production of germ life without other germ life to precede it. It was
+held that fermentation is not dependent upon living organisms, and
+that fermentation may be excited in substances from which all living
+germs have been excluded. This belief led to the theory of
+_abiogenesis_ so-called--a term signifying the production of life
+without life to begin with.
+
+The question involved in this theory was hotly debated by philosophers
+and scientists in the Sixties and Seventies. The first great work of
+Pasteur in biological investigation was his successful demonstration
+of the impossibility of spontaneous generation. About 1870, he became
+a careful experimenter with the phenomena of fermentation. As his work
+proceeded, he was more convinced that fermentation can never occur in
+the absence and exclusion of living germs; and this view of the
+deep-down processes in living matter has now been accepted as correct.
+
+The next stage in the work of Pasteur was the discovery that certain
+substances, such as glycerine, are products of fermentation. From this
+foundation firmly established he passed on to consider the phenomena
+of disease. He had been, in the first place, a teacher in a normal
+school at Paris. In 1863, when he was thirty-nine years of age, he was
+a professor of geology. Afterward he had a chair of chemistry at the
+Sorbonne. In 1856 we find him experimenting with light, and after that
+he turned to biological investigations. This led him to the results
+mentioned above, and presently to the discovery that the contagious
+and infectious diseases with which men and the lower animals are
+affected are in general the results of processes in the system that
+are nearly analagous to fermentation, and that such diseases are
+therefore traceable ultimately to the existence of living germs.
+
+This view of the case brought Pasteur to a large and general
+investigation of bacteria. The bacterium may be defined as a
+microscopic vegetable organism; or it may be called an _animal_
+organism; for in the deep-down life of germs there is not much
+difference between vegetable and animal--perhaps no difference at all.
+The bacterium is generally a jointed rod-like filament of living
+matter, and its native world seems to be any putrefying organic
+substance.
+
+Bacteria are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are widely
+diffused in the natural world, existing independently and also in a
+parasitical way, in connection with larger forms of organic life. They
+multiply with the greatest rapidity. On the whole, the bacterium
+fulfills its vital offices in two ways, or with two results; first,
+_fermentation_, and secondly, _disease_.
+
+To this field of inquiry Pasteur devoted himself with the greatest
+assiduity. He began to investigate the diseased tissue of animals, and
+was rewarded with the discovery of the germs from which the disease
+had come. It was found that the bacteria of one disease are different
+from those of another disease, or in a word that the microscopic
+organisms which produce morbid conditions in animals are
+differentiated into genera and species and varieties, in the same
+manner as are the animals, birds and fishes, of the world. A new realm
+of life invisible save by the aid of the microscope, began to be
+explored, and practical results began to follow.
+
+Pasteur at length announced his ability to _produce_ infectious
+diseases by inoculation; and of this his proofs and demonstrations,
+were complete. In the next place he announced his ability to
+_counteract_ the ravages, of certain classes of diseases (those called
+zymotic) by inoculating the animal suffering therefrom with what he
+called an "attenuated" or "domesticated" virus of the given disease.
+
+The matter first came to a practical issue by the inoculation of well
+animals with the attenuated virus. The animals so treated became
+_immune_; that is, exempt from the infection of the given disease.
+Pasteur gave public demonstrations in the fields near Paris, using the
+disease called splenic fever, and sheep as the subjects of his
+experimentation. The whole civilized world was astonished with the
+results. The tests were conducted in such a way as to preclude the
+possibility of error. It was shown, in a word, that by the simple
+process of inoculating well animals with the modified poison the
+infectious disease might be avoided.
+
+It were long to tell the story of the experimentation and discovery
+that now followed. The last quarter of the century has been fruitful
+in the greatest results. The bacilli of one disease after another have
+been discovered, and the means have been invented of defending the
+larger animal life from the ravages of microscopic organisms.
+
+But what is an "attenuated" virus? Pasteur and other scientists have
+shown that by the inoculation of suitable material, such as a piece of
+flesh, with the poison of a given disease, the bacteria on which that
+disease depends rapidly multiply and diffuse themselves through the
+substance. If poison be taken from the _first_ body of infected
+material and carried to _another_, that other becomes infected; and
+from that the third; from the third the fourth, and so on to the tenth
+generation.
+
+It was noticed, however, that with each transference of the virus to a
+new organic body the bacilli were modified somewhat in form and
+activity. They became, so to speak, less savage. The bacterium which
+at the beginning had been for its savagery a wolf, became in the
+second body a cur; then a hound; then a spaniel; and then a
+diminutive lapdog! The bacteria were thus said to be "domesticated;"
+for the process was similar to the domestication of wild animals into
+tame. The virus was said to be "attenuated;" that is, made thin or
+fine; that is, its poisonous and death-dealing quality, was so reduced
+as to make it comparatively innocuous.
+
+If after the process of attenuation was complete--if after the
+bacteria were once thoroughly domesticated and the poison produced by
+them be then introduced into a well subject, that subject would indeed
+become diseased, but so mildly diseased as scarcely to be diseased at
+all. In such a case the result was of a kind to be called in popular
+language a mere "touch" of the disease. In such case the severe
+ravages of the malady would be prevented; but the subject would be
+rendered incapable of taking the disease a second time.
+
+On this line of fact and theory Pasteur successfully pressed his work.
+One disease after another was investigated. It was demonstrated in the
+case of both the lower animals and men that a large number of maladies
+and plagues might be completely disarmed of their terrors by the
+process of inoculation. The name of Pasteur became more and more
+famous. The celebrated Pasteur Institute was founded at Paris, under
+the patronage of the French Government, and in some sense under the
+patronage of the whole world. To this establishment diseased subjects
+were taken for treatment, and here experimentation was carried on over
+a wide range of facts.
+
+The value of the results attained can hardly be overestimated. The
+fear which mankind have long entertained on account of plagues and
+epidemics, and the loss which the animal industries of the world have
+sustained, were largely abated. As yet the use of the Pasteur methods
+for the prevention and cure of disease is by no means universal; but
+the knowledge which has come of his investigations and of the results
+of them has diffused itself among all civilized nations, and the
+hygienic condition of almost every community has been most favorably
+affected by the new knowledge which we possess of bacteria and of the
+means of destroying them.
+
+Pasteur, whose recent death has been mourned by the best part of
+mankind, was an explorer and forerunner. His industry in his chosen
+field of investigation was prodigious. When he was already nearly
+seventy years of age, he undertook the investigation of hydrophobia,
+with the purpose of discovering, if he might, the germ of that dreaded
+disease, thus preparing a method for inoculation against it.
+
+Hydrophobia is one of the most subtle diseases ever known. So obscure
+and uncertain are its phenomena that many able men have been led to
+doubt the _existence_ of such a disease! The mythological origin of
+the malady in the supposed influence of a dog-star seemed to
+strengthen the view that hydrophobia, as a specific disease, does not
+exist. It is undeniably true that the great majority of the cases of
+so-called rabies are pure myths. Under investigation they melt away
+into nothing but alarm and fiction. However, there appeared to be a
+residue of actual hydrophobia, though the disease as tested by its
+name exists in fancy rather than fact.
+
+In any event, Pasteur began to investigate hydrophobia, and at length
+discovered the bacilli which produce it. At least he found in animals
+affected with rabies, notably in the spinal marrow of such animals,
+minute living organisms, having the form of thread-like animalculae,
+with heads at one end. The microscope showed also among these
+thread-like bodies other organisms that were like small circular black
+specks, or disks.
+
+The next step in the work was to test the result by inoculating a well
+animal with these bodies. Pasteur selected rabbits for his
+experimentation. When the experiment was made, the inoculated rabbit
+was presently attacked with the disease, and soon died in spasms. The
+repetition of the experiment was attended with like results.
+
+The philosopher next tried his established method of domesticating, or
+attenuating, the poison. The spinal cord of a rabid dog was obtained,
+and with this the first rabbit was inoculated. In about two weeks it
+took hydrophobia. Hereupon the spinal cord was extracted, and the
+second rabbit was inoculated; then the third; then the fourth, and so
+on. It was observed, however, that at each stage the intensity of the
+disease was in this way strangely increased; but the period of
+inoculation became shorter and shorter.
+
+It was next found that by preserving the spinal cords of the animals
+that had died of the disease--by preserving them in dry tubes--the
+poison gradually lost its power. At last the virus seemed to die
+altogether. Then the experiment of inoculating against the disease was
+begun. A dog was first inoculated with dead virus. No result followed.
+Then he was inoculated with stale virus, and then with other virus not
+so stale. It was found that by continuing this process the animal
+might be rendered wholly insusceptible to the disease.
+
+The next step was the human stage of experimentation. It was in July
+of 1885 that Pasteur first employed his method on a human subject. A
+boy had been bitten and lacerated by a rabid dog. The inoculation was
+thought to prove successful. Soon afterward some bitten children were
+taken from the United States to Paris, and were treated against the
+expected appearance of hydrophobia. Others came from different parts
+of the continent. Within fourteen months more than two thousand five
+hundred subjects were treated, and it is claimed that the mortality
+from hydrophobia was reduced to a small per cent of what it had been
+before.
+
+It should be said, however, that neither have the results arrived at
+by Pasteur respecting the character of rabies been so clear, nor have
+his experiments on subjects supposed to be poisoned with the disease
+been so successful as in the case of other maladies. It remains,
+nevertheless, to award to Louis Pasteur _the first rank_ among the
+bacteriologists of our day, as well as a first place among the
+philanthropists of the century. Only Robert Koch, of Germany, is to be
+classed in the same list with him.
+
+
+KOCH'S BATTLE WITH THE INVISIBLE ENEMY.
+
+There was a great _negative_ reason for the success of the World's
+Columbian Exposition. The cholera did NOT come! It is quite
+true that there is no _if_ in history; but IF the cholera had
+come, IF the plague had broken out in our imperial Chicago,
+what would have become of the Columbian Exposition? Certainly the Man
+of Genoa would have had to seek elsewhere for a great international
+gathering in his honor.
+
+The cholera did not arrive, although it was expected. The antecedent
+conditions of its coming were all present; but it came not. The
+American millions discerned that the dreaded plague was at bay; a
+feeling of security and confidence prevailed; the summer of 1893 went
+by, and not a single case of Asiatic cholera appeared west of the
+Alleghenies. We are not sure that a single case appeared on the
+mainland of North America. And why not?
+
+It was because the increasing knowledge of mankind, reinforced with
+philanthropy and courage, had drawn a line north and south across
+Western Europe, and had said, _Thus far and no farther_. Indeed, there
+were several lines drawn. The movement of cholera westward from the
+Orient began to be obstructed even before it reached Germany. It was
+obstructed in Italy. It was obstructed seriously on the meridian of
+the Rhine. It was obstructed almost finally at the meridian of London.
+It was completely and gloriously obstructed at the harbor of New York.
+
+Civilization has never appeared to a better advantage than in the
+building of her defences against the westward invasion of cholera.
+There have been times within two decades of the present when in the
+countries east of the Red Sea 3000 people have died daily of the
+Asiatic plague. Egypt has been ravaged. The ports of the Mediterranean
+have been successfully invaded. Commerce, reckless of everything
+except her own interests, has taken the infection on shipboard, and
+sailed with it to foreign lands, as though it were a precious cargo!
+Importers, anxious for merchandise, have stood ready to receive the
+plague, and plant it without regard to consequences. But in the midst
+of all this, a new power has arisen in the world, and standing with
+face to the east, has drawn a sword, before the circle of which even
+the spectral shadow of cholera has quailed and gone back! Humanity
+might well break out in rhapsody and jubilee over this great victory.
+
+Among the personal agencies by which cholera has been excluded from
+Europe and America, first and greatest is Dr. Robert Koch, of Berlin.
+He, more than any other one man, has contributed to the glorious
+exemption. Dr. Koch, now by the favor of his Emperor, Baron Koch, is
+one of those heroic spirits who go before the human race exploring the
+route, casting up a highway and gathering out the stones. Thus shall
+the feet of the oncoming millions be not bruised and their shouts of
+joy be not turned to lamentation.
+
+Robert Koch was born at Klausthal, in the Hartz mountains, on the
+eleventh of December, 1843. He is a German of the Germans. In his
+youth he was a student of medicine at Goettingen, where at the age of
+twenty-three he took his first degree. He was by nature and from his
+boyhood a devotee of science. For about ten years he practiced his
+profession, but continued his studies with indefatigable zeal. The
+investigations of Pasteur had already filled Europe with applause when
+Koch, following on the same lines of scientific exploration, began to
+enlarge the borders of knowledge. He became a bacteriologist of the
+first rank. He began to investigate the causes and nature of
+contagion; but as late as 1876 his name was still unknown in the
+cyclopaedias.
+
+Koch was twenty-one years the junior of Pasteur; but his enthusiasm
+and genius now bore him rapidly to a fame as great as that of his
+predecessor. His first remarkable achievement was a demonstration of
+the cause and cure of splenic fever in cattle. He showed, just as
+Pasteur had done in similar cases, that the plague in question was due
+to the specific poison of a bacterium, and that the disease might be
+cured by inoculation against it. This he proceeded to do, and the
+demonstration and good work brought him to the attention of the old
+Emperor. Dr. Koch was made a member of the Imperial Board of Health in
+Berlin.
+
+A greater discovery was already at the door. Dr. Koch began a careful
+investigation into the nature of consumption. His discovery of the
+germ of splenic fever, and that of chicken cholera, as well as the
+general results in this direction in other laboratories of Europe, led
+him to the conjecture that consumption also is a zymotic or bacterial
+disease. His inquiry into this subject began in 1879, and extended to
+March of 1882. On that day, in a paper before the Physiological
+Society of Berlin, he announced the discovery of the _tubercle
+bacillus_. He was able to demonstrate the existence of the germ of
+consumption, and to describe its methods of life, as well as the
+character of his ravages.
+
+Here then at last was laid bare the true origin of the most fatal
+disease which has ever afflicted mankind. He who has not informed
+himself with respect to the almost universal prevalence of consumption
+among the nations of the earth, or taken note of the mortality from
+that dreaded enemy, by which nearly one-sixth of the human race sooner
+or later perishes, will not have realized the awful character of this
+enemy. To attack such a foe, to force him into a corner, even as
+Siegfried did the Grendel in his cavern, was an achievement of which
+the greatest of mankind might well be proud.
+
+The discovery of the bacillus of consumption by no means assured the
+cure of the disease; but it foretokened the time when a cure would be
+found. This prophecy, though it has not yet been clearly fulfilled,
+is, in the closing years of the century, in process of fulfillment.
+The enemy does not readily yield; but such has been the gain in the
+contest that already within the last twenty years the mortality from
+consumption of the lungs has fallen off more than forty per cent! Much
+of this gain has been made by the reviving confidence of human beings
+that sooner or later tuberculosis would be destroyed. Hygiene has done
+its part; and other circumstances have conduced to the same result.
+Though neither Dr. Koch nor any other man living has been able as yet
+positively to meet and vanquish consumption in open battle, yet the
+goblin has in a measure been robbed of his terrors. He is no longer
+boastful and victorious over the human race.
+
+After the discovery of the tubercle bacillus, the fame of Robert Koch
+became world-wide. In the following year he was made a privy
+councilor, and was placed in charge of an expedition organized by the
+German government to go into Egypt and India for the investigation of
+the causes of Asiatic cholera. The expedition was engaged in this work
+for nearly a year. Koch pursued his usual careful method of scientific
+experimentation. He exposed himself to the contagion of cholera, but
+his science and fine constitution stood him well in hand, and he
+returned unharmed.
+
+It was in May of 1884 that he was able to announce the discovery of
+the _coma bacillus_, that is, the bacterium of cholera. Here, again he
+had the enemy at bay. For long ages the Asiatic plague had ravaged the
+countries of the East with little hindrance to its spread or fatality.
+The disease would appear as an epidemic at intervals and sweep all
+before it. The wave of death would roll on westward from country to
+country, until it would subside, as if by exhaustion, in the far west.
+Two or three times within the century cholera had been fatally
+scattered through American cities. It had spread westward along the
+rivers of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and into country
+districts, where villages and hamlets were decimated.
+
+The discovery of Koch was a virtual proclamation that this ruin of
+mankind from the Asiatic plague should cease. The knowledge that the
+disease was due to a living bacterium, that without the germ and the
+spread of the germ the plague could not exist, was a virtual
+announcement that in the civilized countries it should _not_ any
+longer exist.
+
+The discoverer was now set high in the estimation of mankind. Imperial
+Germany best of all countries rewards its benefactors. France is
+fascinated with adventure; Great Britain with slaughter; America with
+bare political battles; but Germany sees the true thing, and rewards
+it. Koch was immediately placed beyond want by his government, and
+titles and honors came without stint.
+
+The Empire would fain have such a man at the seat of power. Dr. Koch
+was, in 1885, made a professor in the University of Berlin. The new
+chair of Hygiene was created for him, and he was made Director of the
+Hygienic Institute. It was in this capacity that armed with influence
+and authority and having the resources of the government virtually at
+his disposal, he directed in the great scientific work by which a
+bulwark against cholera was drawn almost literally across Europe, and
+was defended as if with the mounted soldiery of science and humanity.
+True enough, cholera managed to plant itself in Italy in 1886, and in
+Hamburg in 1892, and the plague was scattered into several German
+towns. But it came to Hamburg by water, not by land. It did there
+during the summer a dreadful work, but the battle was the Waterloo of
+the enemy. Not again while the present order continues will it be
+possible for the dreaded epidemic to get the mastery of a great German
+city.
+
+It was to be anticipated that Dr. Koch's discovery of the tubercle
+bacillus would lead him on to the discovery of a cure for
+tuberculosis. Very naturally his thought on this subject was borne in
+the direction of inoculation. That method had been used by Pasteur and
+by himself in the case of other infectious diseases. Why should it not
+be employed in consumption? If the "domestication," so-called, of the
+virus of splenic fever and the use of the modified poison as an
+antiseptic preventive of the disease was successful, as it had been
+proved to be, why should this not be done with the attenuated virus of
+consumption?
+
+The last five years of the ninth decade were spent by Dr. Koch in
+experimentation on this subject. He found that the tubercular poison
+might be treated in the same manner as the poison of other infectious
+diseases. He experimented with methods for domesticating the bacillus
+of consumption, and reached successful results. On the fourteenth of
+November, 1890, he published in a German medical magazine at Berlin a
+communication on a possible remedy for tuberculosis. He had prepared a
+sort of lymph suitable for hypodermic injection, and with this had
+experimented on a form of _external_ tuberculosis called lupus. This
+disease is a consumption of the skin and adjacent tissues. It is a
+malady almost as dreadful as consumption of the lungs, but is by no
+means frequent in its occurrence. It is found only at rare intervals
+by the medical practitioner.
+
+Dr. Koch had demonstrated that lupus is a true tuberculosis--that the
+germ which produces it is the same bacillus which produces consumption
+of the lungs. He accordingly directed his effort to cases of lupus,
+treating the patients with hypodermic injections which he had prepared
+from the modified form of the tubercular poison. He was successful in
+the treatment, and was able to announce, to the joy of the world, that
+he had discovered a cure for lupus; and the announcement went so far
+as to express a belief in the salutary character of the remedy in the
+treatment of consumption of the lungs.
+
+Dr. Koch, however, with the usual caution of the true men of science,
+did not announce his tuberculin, or lymph, as a cure for pulmonary
+consumption. He did not even declare that it was positively a remedy
+for the other forms of tuberculosis, but did announce his cure of
+cases of lupus by the agent which he had prepared. The world, after
+its manner, leaped at conclusions, and the newspapers of two
+continents, in their usual office of disseminating ignorance,
+trumpeted Koch's discovery as the end of tubercular consumption.
+
+In January of 1891, Dr. Koch published to the world the composition of
+his remedy. It consists of a glycerine extract prepared by the
+cultivation of tubercle bacilli. The lymph contains, as it were, the
+poisonous matter resulting from the life and activity of the tubercle
+bacterium. The fluid is used by hypodermic injection, and when so
+administered produces both a general and local reaction. The system is
+powerfully affected. A sense of weariness comes on. The breathing is
+labored. Nausea ensues; and a fever supervenes which lasts for twelve
+or fifteen hours. It is now known that the action of the remedy is not
+directly against the tubercle bacilli, but rather against the affected
+tissue in which they exist. This tissue is destroyed and thrown off by
+the agency of the lymph; being destroyed, it is eliminated and cast
+out, carrying with it the bacteria on which the disease depends.
+
+The results which have followed the administration of Koch's lymph for
+consumption of the lungs have not met the expectation of the public;
+but something has been accomplished. Ignorant enthusiasm has meanwhile
+subsided, and scientific men in both Europe and America are pressing
+the inquiry in a way which promises in due time the happiest results.
+
+
+ACHIEVEMENTS IN SURGERY.
+
+It will not do to disparage the work of the ancients. The old world,
+long since fallen below the horizon of the past, had races of men and
+individuals who might well be compared with the greatest of to-day. In
+a general way, the ancients were great as thinkers and weak as
+scientists. They were great in the fine arts and weak in the practical
+arts. This is true of the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the
+Romans, even of the Aztecs and the Peruvians.
+
+The art work of these old peoples, whether in sculpture, painting or
+poetry, surpassed, if it did not eclipse, corresponding periods of
+modern times. In some of the practical arts the old races were
+proficient. In architecture, which combines the aesthetic and
+practical elements, the man of antiquity was at least the equal of the
+man of the present. In one particular art--a sort of humanitarian
+profession based on natural science and directed to the preservation
+of life--the ancients had a measure of proficiency. This art was
+surgery. The surgeon was even from the beginning, and he will no doubt
+be even to the end.
+
+The great advance which has been made in surgical science and practice
+is shown in two ways: first, in a great increase of courage, by which
+the surgeon has been led on to the performance of operations that were
+hitherto considered rash, audacious or impossible; and secondly, by
+the immunity which the surgeon has gained in the treatment of wounds
+through the increased knowledge he possesses of putrefaction and the
+means of preventing it. It were hard to say whether the surgeon's
+increase of skill and courage in performing operations has equalled
+his increased skill in the after treatment of wounds.
+
+These improvements have all proceeded from scientific investigation.
+They have come of the application of scientific methods to the
+treatment of surgical diseases. With the investigations of Pasteur and
+the development of the science of bacteriology, it was seen at a
+glance how large an influence such investigation must have in the
+work of the surgeon. The publication of Tyndall's "Essays on the
+Floating Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection,"
+in 1881, gave a great impulse to the new practice; but that practice
+had been already confirmed by the great and original work of Sir
+Joseph Lister, an English surgeon who as early as 1860 had introduced
+the antiseptic method of bandaging.
+
+It is within the last forty years that the greatest marvels of modern
+surgery have been performed. It would seem that no part of the human
+body is now beyond the reach of surgical remedy. Almost every year has
+witnessed some new and daring invasion of the fortress of life with a
+view to saving it. Old opinions with respect to what parts of the
+human economy are really vital have been abolished; and a new concept
+of the relation of life to organism has prevailed.
+
+Until recently it was supposed that the peritoneal cavity and the
+organs contained therein, such as the stomach, the liver, the bowels,
+etc., could not be entered by the surgeon without the certain result
+of death. To do so at the present time is the daily experience in
+almost every great hospital. The complexity of civilization has
+inflicted all manner of hurts on the human body, and the malignity of
+disease has spared no part. It was supposed that the cranial cavity
+could not be entered or repaired without producing fatal results. It
+was taken for granted that certain organs could not be touched, much
+less treated capitally, without destroying the subject's life. But one
+exploration has followed another and one successful adventure has been
+succeeded by another still more successful until the surgeon's work is
+at the present time performed within a sphere that was until recently
+supposed to be entirely beyond his reach.
+
+As to the liver, that great organ is freely examined and is treated
+surgically with considerable freedom. This is true also of the
+stomach, which until recently was supposed to be entirely beyond the
+surgeon's touch. Within the last two decades sections of the stomach
+have been made and parts of the organ removed. Not a few cases are
+recorded in which subjects have fully recovered after the removal of a
+part of the stomach. Sections of the intestinal canal have also been
+made with entire success. Several inches of that organ have in some
+cases been entirely removed, with the result of recovery! The spleen
+has been many times removed; but it has been recently noted that a
+decline in health and probably death at a not distant date generally
+follow this operation.
+
+The disease called appendicitis has either in our times become
+wonderfully frequent or else the improved methods of diagnosis have
+made us acquainted with what has long been one of the principal
+maladies of mankind. The _appendix vermiformis_ seems to be a useless
+remnant of anatomical structure transmitted to us from a lower animal
+condition. At least such is the interpretation which scientists
+generally give to this hurtful and dangerous tube-like blind channel
+in connection with the bowels. That it becomes easily inflamed and is
+the occasion of great loss of life can not be doubted. Its removal by
+surgical operation is now regarded as a simple process which even the
+unlearned surgeon, if he be careful and talented, may safely perform.
+The surgical treatment of appendicitis has become so common as to
+attract little or no notice from the profession. Even the country
+neighborhood no longer regards such a piece of surgery as sensational.
+
+The use of surgical means in the cure, that is the removal, of tumors,
+both external and internal, has been greatly extended and perfected.
+The surgeon now carries a quick eye for the tumor and a quick remedy
+for it. In nearly all cases in which it has not become constitutional
+he effects a speedy cure with the knife. The cancerous part is cut
+away. It has been observed that as the recent mortality from
+consumption has decreased cancerous diseases have become more
+frequently fatal. Whether or not there be anything vicarious in the
+action of these two great maladies we know not; but statistics show
+that since the beginning of Pasteur's discoveries the one disease has
+diminished and the other increased in almost a corresponding ratio.
+Meanwhile, however, surgery has opposed itself not only to cancers but
+to all kinds of tumors, until danger from these sores has been greatly
+lessened. The removal of internal tumors such as the ovarian, is no
+longer, except in complicated and neglected cases, a matter of serious
+import. Such work is performed in almost every country town, and the
+amount of human life thus rescued from impending death is very great.
+The work of lithotomy is not any longer regarded with the dread which
+formerly attended it. In fact, every kind of disease and injury which
+in its own nature is subject to surgical remedy has been disarmed of
+its terror. The eye and the ear and all of the more delicate organs
+have become subject to repair and amendment to a degree that may well
+excite wonder and gratify philanthropy.
+
+But it is not only in the actual processes of surgery that this great
+improvement in human art may be noted. The treatment of wounds with
+respect to their cure by preserving them from bacterial and other
+poisons has been so greatly improved that it is now regarded almost as
+a crime to permit suppuration and other horrible processes which were
+formerly supposed to be the necessary concomitants of healing. The
+hospital, whether military or civil, was formerly a scene that might
+well horrify and make sick a visitant. It was putrefaction everywhere.
+It was stench and poisonous effluvia. The conditions were such as to
+make sick if not destroy even those who were well. How then could the
+injured sufferers escape?
+
+It is one of the crowning glories of our time that no such scene now
+exists in any civilized country. No such will ever exist again, unless
+science should lose its grip on the human mind and the civilized life
+subside into barbarism. The surgeon would now be held in ill-repute
+that should permit to any considerable degree the processes of
+putrefaction to take place in a wound of which he has had the care.
+The introduction of antiseptic and aseptic methods has made him a
+master in this respect. The skillful surgeon bids defiance to the
+microbes that hover in swarming millions ravenous for admission to
+every hurt done to the human body. To them a wound is a festival. To
+them a sore is a royal banquet to which through the invisible realm a
+proclamation goes forth, "Come ye! Come to the banquet which death is
+preparing out of life!" All this the modern surgeon disappoints with a
+smile and a wave of his hand. The invisible swarms of invading
+animalculae are swept back. Not a single bacterium can any longer enter
+the most inviting wound while the surgeon stands ready with drawn
+sword to defend the portals of life.
+
+
+
+
+Great Religious Movements.
+
+
+DEFENCE ON NEW LINES.
+
+In a period so intensely active and progressive as the nineteenth
+century has been, in politics, science and literature, it would have
+been surprising if the church had remained inert, wrapped like a mummy
+in the cerements of the past. At the beginning of the century, there
+were voices on all hands loudly proclaiming that it was dead; that it
+was antiquated and obsolete; that it had lost touch with the life of
+the time, that it was a relic of exploded superstition; and as a great
+writer said, had fallen into a godless mechanical condition, standing
+as the lifeless form of a church, a mere case of theories, like the
+carcass of a once swift camel, left withering in the thirst of the
+universal desert. That in certain circles there was ground for such
+reproach is sufficiently proved. Materialism had crept into its
+colleges, sapping away their spiritual life and driving young men
+either into Atheism or into the Roman Catholic Communion. Such
+activity as it had, was in the evangelical circles only The common
+people still listened eagerly to Wesley's successors and were
+intensely in earnest in the Christian life and work. It was at the top
+that the tree was dying, where the currents of the philosophy of
+Voltaire struck the branches, and where Hume's scorching radicalism
+blighted its leaves. In the universities, and the clubs, not in the
+workshops, was religion scorned and contemned.
+
+There was soon, however, to be a quickening of the dry bones. The
+spirit of the time--the zeit-geist--began to move in the Church. It
+was the spirit of investigation, of scientific inquiry, of rigorous
+test. The older preachers and religious authorities still droned about
+the duty of defending the faith "once for all" delivered to the
+saints. In spite of their protests, the younger men would go down into
+the crypt of the Church, and examine the foundations of the building.
+They could not be kept back by authoritative assurances that the
+stones were sound, and were well and truly laid. The hysterical
+protests against the irreverence of examination fell on deaf ears. The
+answer was the simple insistance on investigation. The very reluctance
+to permit it was an indication that it would not bear investigation.
+
+At the opening of the century, this idea, expressed in varying forms,
+was rapidly becoming prevalent. The citadel of the Church was
+assaulted, by some with ferocity, and by others with scorn and
+contempt. The defence was on the old lines of denunciation of the
+wickedness of the assailants, of vituperative epithets, and of the
+assumption of special and divine illumination. The issue of the
+conflict would not have been doubtful, had it been continued with
+these tactics. The Church would have been relegated to the limbo of
+superstition and the hide-bound pedantry of ecclesiasticism, if new
+defenders on new principles had not entered the lists. Reinforcement
+came from a band of philosophic thinkers of whom Wordsworth and
+Coleridge were the pioneers. The influence of both these men was
+underestimated at the time. They appeared weak and ineffective, but
+the ideas to which they gave expression, entered the minds of stronger
+men, who applied them with more vigorous force. The Church, Coleridge
+declared, as Carlyle interprets him, was not dead, but tragically,
+asleep only. It might be aroused and might again become useful, if
+only the right paths were opened. Coleridge could not open the paths,
+he could but vaguely show the depth and volume of the forces pent up
+in the Church; but he insisted that they were there, that eternal
+truth was in Christianity, and that out of it must come the light and
+life of the world. As his little band of hearers listened to him, they
+saw the first faint gleams of the light which was to illumine the
+world and make the darkness and degradation of the materialistic
+philosophy an impossibility to the devout mind. Thus he stood at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, as Erasmus stood at the beginning
+of the sixteenth, perceiving and proclaiming the existence of truths
+which others were to apply to the needs of the time.
+
+To ascertain precisely in what form the forces of Christianity existed
+and how they might be applied to nineteenth century life, became early
+in the nineteenth century the problem on which the best thought of the
+time was concentrated. Coleridge's unshaken conviction that it was
+solvable, inspired many with courage. Whately, Arnold, Schleiermacher,
+Bunsen, Ewald, Newman, Hare, Milman, Thirlwall and many others,
+approached it from different directions. The spirit of scientific
+investigation that was in the air was applied with reverent hands, but
+with unsparing resolve to ascertain the exact truth. The investigation
+was no longer confined to dogma; a proof text from the Bible was no
+longer sufficient to close a controversy. The Bible itself must be
+subjected to investigation. This was indeed going to the foundations.
+There was a wild outcry against rationalism and iconoclasm, but the
+search for truth and fact went on. As in a siege, the garrison must
+sometimes destroy with their own hands outworks which cannot be
+successfully defended, and may be made a vantage ground for the enemy,
+so the defenders of Christianity set themselves to the task of finding
+out how much of the current theology was credible and tenable, and how
+much might wisely be abandoned, to insure the safety of the remainder.
+The discoveries of Geology, Astronomy and of Biology could not be
+denied, yet their testimony was contrary to Christian doctrine. "The
+world was made in six natural days," said the old Christian preacher.
+"The world was thousands of years in the making," said the geologist.
+The preacher appealed to his Bible, the geologist appealed to the
+rocks. The issue was fairly joined, and in the early years of the
+century it seemed as if there was no alternative but that of believing
+the Bible and denying science, or believing science and giving up the
+Bible; it seemed impossible to believe both. When the scientific
+theologian ventured to suggest that the word "day," might mean age, or
+period, there was another outcry that the Bible was being surrendered
+to the enemy. But it was realized that the message of the Bible to the
+world was not scientific, and that its usefulness was not impaired by
+the suggested mode of understanding its record of creation; and
+gradually the surrender was accepted. It is true that to this day
+there are some who will not accept it, as there is at least one
+preacher who insists, on the authority of the Bible, that "the sun do
+move," but the number diminishes in every generation. A beginning was
+made in attaining the true view of the Bible which led further and has
+not yet reached its limits. Having admitted that the Bible was not
+given to teach science the Church has to decide whether it can admit
+the theory of evolution and whether its records of history are
+authoritative. These questions are so fundamental that the strife of
+Calvinism and Arminianism and the question of the double procession of
+the Holy Spirit, which seemed vital to our fathers have faded into
+relative insignificance.
+
+EVANGELICAL ACTIVITY.
+
+While these storms were agitating the upper air, and the thunderous
+echoes reverberated through the mountains, the work on the plain went
+rapidly forward. However the scholars and the theologians might decide
+the questions at issue between them, the working forces were
+profoundly convinced that the Gospel was the great need of the world,
+and they put out new energy and applied all the powers of the mind to
+devising new methods for its propagation. The increased facilities of
+travel, the improved means of communication and, above all, the power
+of the printing-press, were all seized and harnessed to service in the
+dissemination of the Gospel. No characteristic of this century is so
+prominent as this intense activity and aggressive energy. From every
+secular movement, the church has taken suggestions for its own
+advancement. Trade-unionism has suggested Christian Endeavor and the
+Evangelical Alliance; the public school system has developed the
+International Lesson system in the Sunday School; the political
+convention has taught the advantages of great religious conferences;
+the principles of military organization have been utilized in the
+Salvation Army. If in some circles religion seems to have been a fight
+over doctrines and theories, in others it has seemed a ceaseless,
+untiring struggle for converts. In no century since the first century
+of the Christian era has the zeal of propagation, with no element of
+proselytism in it, taken so strong a hold of the followers of Christ.
+To translate the Bible into every tongue, to carry the Gospel message
+to every people, and to evangelize the masses at home, prodigious
+efforts have been put forth, and enormous sums of money have been
+expended. Mental activity, uncompromising veracity, indefatigable
+energy, have characterized the Church through the century, and its
+closing years show no abatement in any of these characteristics. A
+brief sketch of some of the more prominent of these developments can
+render the fact only more, obvious.
+
+
+BIBLE REVISION.
+
+One of the most important events of the century to the English
+speaking world is the Revision of the Bible. Its full effect is not
+yet felt, as the book which was the product of the Revisers' labors is
+but slowly winning its way into use in the Church and the home. Like
+its predecessor, the Authorized Version now in general use, it has to
+encounter the prejudice which comes from long familiarity with the
+book in use and from the veneration for the phraseology in which the
+precious truths, are expressed. Yet from the beginning of the century
+the need of an improved translation was felt and several persons,
+undertook to supply it, but with very objectionable results. The
+principal bases of the need were serious. One was that many words and
+phrases have in the nineteenth century a meaning entirely different
+from the one they had in the early part of the seventeenth century
+when the Authorized Version was issued. One case in point is Mark vi.
+22, in which Salome asks that the head of John the Baptist be given
+her "by and by in a charger." In 1611 the expression by and by meant
+immediately or forthwith, and was a correct translation, while with us
+it means a somewhat indefinite future and is therefore an incorrect
+translation. With the noun, too, the meaning has changed. Our idea of
+a charger is of a war-horse, not of a dish, which the original
+conveys. A second reason for the revision was that there were in the
+libraries in this century several manuscripts of the original, much
+older than those to which the translators of the Authorized Version
+had access when they undertook their work. A third reason was that a
+notable advance had been made in scholarship in the interval, and
+learned men were much better acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek
+idiom than were any of the scholars of the King James period. For
+these three, among other reasons, a revision was necessary, that the
+unlearned reader might have, as nearly as was possible, the exact
+equivalent in English of the words of the Bible writers. The project,
+after being widely discussed for several years, finally took shape in
+England in 1870, when the Convocation of Canterbury appointed two
+committees to undertake the work. The ablest scholars in Hebrew and
+Greek literature in the country were assigned to the committees, of
+which one was engaged on the Old, and the other on the New Testament.
+They were empowered to call to their aid similar committees in
+America, who might work simultaneously with them. Stringent
+instructions were given to them to avoid making changes where they
+were not clearly needed for the accuracy of translation, and to
+preserve the idiom of the Authorized Version. Only with these
+safeguards and with not a little reluctance, the commission was
+issued. One hundred and one scholars on both sides of the Atlantic
+took part in the work. The committees commenced their labors early in
+1871. On May 17, 1881, the Revised New Testament was issued, and on
+May 21, 1885, the Revised Old Testament was in the hands of the
+public. All that scholarship, strenuous labor and exhaustive research
+could do to give a faithful translation had been done within the
+somewhat narrow and conservative limits under which the revisers were
+commissioned.
+
+
+BIBLES BY THE MILLION.
+
+With this improvement, there was at the same time a marked impetus in
+Bible circulation. The nineteenth century has been eminently a
+Bible-reading and a Bible-studying period. In no previous century have
+efforts on so gigantic a scale been made to put the Book in the hands
+of every one who could read it. The price was brought so low by the
+decrease in the cost of production, that the very poorest could
+possess a copy. The British and Foreign Bible Society, founded in
+1804, and the American Bible Society, founded in 1816, have largely
+contributed to this result. Both societies were organized to issue the
+Bible without note or comment, and both have faithfully labored to
+promote its circulation. In spite of all that has been said against
+the Book and in spite of the fact that so large a number of persons
+must have been supplied, the circulation has increased from year to
+year. In the year ending March, 1896, the American Society alone
+issued 1,750,000 copies, and the British two and a half million.
+During its existence the American Society has sent out over sixty-one
+million copies and the British Society over one hundred and forty
+millions. The work of translation has kept pace with the demand. At
+the beginning of the century the Bible had been translated, in whole
+or in part, into thirty-eight languages. It is now translated into
+three hundred and eighty-one, and translators are engaged on nearly a
+hundred others. Nor must it be supposed that the supply was in excess
+of the demand. There is abundant evidence of the desire of the public
+to possess the Word of God. One fact alone is a conspicuous proof of
+this demand. In 1892 the proprietor of the _Christian Herald_ of New
+York offered an Oxford Teacher's Bible as a premium with his journal.
+The offer was accepted with such avidity that edition after edition
+was exhausted, and it has been renewed every year since with increased
+demand. Through this journal alone, by this means, over three hundred
+and two thousand copies have been put into the hands of the people
+during the past five years.
+
+With the increase in the circulation of the Word of God there has been
+a costly and thorough effort to gain new light on its pages. Never
+before have labor and money been expended so lavishly in endeavors to
+learn from exploration and research, historical facts which would
+contribute to an intelligent understanding of its history and
+literature. In 1865 a society called the Palestine Exploration Society
+was organized for the special purpose of thoroughly examining the Holy
+Land, investigating and identifying ancient sites and making exact
+maps of the country. In twenty-seven years the society, though working
+with the utmost economy, expended $425,000. The result of its labors
+has been to let a flood of light on the ancient places and the ancient
+customs of its people, explaining many allusions in the sacred
+history, poetry and prophecy that were previously dark. The Egypt
+Exploration Fund has also added materially to our knowledge of that
+country which is associated with the early history of the Chosen
+People. But the most valuable aid to Bible study came from the
+discovery of the Assyrian Royal Library, a series of clay tablets and
+cylinders covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were deciphered by
+Mr. George Smith of the British Museum. From these and from the
+records on the monuments of Egypt historical information has been
+derived of inestimable value in the study of the Bible.
+
+
+A GREAT MISSIONARY ERA.
+
+One of the most prominent characteristics of the Church of Christ in
+this century has been its phenomenal missionary activity. Its zeal in
+this cause, the devotion and courage of its missionaries and the
+amount of money expended have had no parallel in the previous history
+of the Church. Already a beginning had been made when the century
+dawned. In 1701 King William III. of England had granted a charter to
+the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In
+1714 Frederick IV. of Denmark established a College of Missions and
+two Danish missionaries were laboring in India. In 1721 the famous
+Danish missionary, Hans Egede, began a work in Greenland. In 1732 the
+Moravian missionaries, Dober and Nitschmann, went to St. Thomas, and
+in the following year the Moravian Church sent missionaries to
+Labrador, the West Indies, South America, South Africa and India. But
+it was not until the last decade of the eighteenth century that the
+spirit which was to distinguish the next century really manifested
+itself. In 1792 the devotion and consecration of William Carey led to
+the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society, and in the following
+year he sailed for India as its first missionary.
+
+In 1795 the London Missionary Society was organized, a missionary ship
+was purchased and the first band of missionaries sailed for the South
+Sea Islands. Two years later, another party sailed for South Africa,
+among whom were the veterans, Vanderkemp and Kitchener. Two Scottish
+societies were founded in 1796 and a Dutch Society in 1797. In the
+closing year of the century the famous Church Missionary Society was
+formed in the Church of England. Thus the nineteenth century opened
+with organizations for work in existence and pioneers few in number,
+but intensely in earnest in several fields of labor.
+
+The first quarter of the century witnessed the advent of new agencies,
+as well as a multiplication of forces. The American Board of
+Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in 1810, the English
+Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1814, the American Baptist in 1814, the
+American Methodist in 1819, the American Protestant Episcopal in 1820,
+and the Berlin and Paris Missionary Societies in 1824. Thus, in the
+comparatively short space of thirty-two years, thirteen societies had
+been organized by the various denominations here and in Europe, each
+of which was destined to grow to proportions little contemplated by
+their founders. Since that time the great China Inland Mission and
+other undenominational societies have been founded and are sending out
+men and women in large numbers to the heathen world. Besides these,
+there have been societies of special workers which have done valuable
+service in aiding the missionary societies, such as the medical
+missionaries, the Zenana Missionaries and the university and students'
+volunteer movements. Statistics recently compiled show that the number
+of central stations in heathen lands occupied by Protestant
+missionaries in 1896 was 5055, with out-stations to the number of
+17,813. There are now thirty-seven missionary societies in this
+country alone which have sent out 3512 missionaries. A library of
+volumes would be needed to give even a sketch of the results of the
+labors of these devoted men and women. The Church holds their names in
+holy reverence. Many of them have attained the crown of martyrdom, and
+a still greater number have fallen victims to the severities of
+uncongenial climates. Every heathen land has now associated with it
+the name of valiant soldiers of the Cross, who have given their lives
+to add it to their Master's, kingdom. In India among many others,
+there have been Carey, Duff, Martyn, Marshman and Ward. In China,
+Morrison, Milne, Taylor, John Talmage and Griffith John. In Africa,
+Moffat, Livingstone, Hannington and Vanderkemp. In the South Seas,
+Williams, Logan and Paton, while Judson of Burmah and a host of noble
+men and women in every clime, have toiled and suffered, not counting
+their lives dear unto them, that they might preach to the heathen the
+unsearchable riches of Christ.
+
+
+PREACHING TO HEATHEN AT HOME.
+
+The zeal for the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen, has been
+paralleled by the efforts put forth for the evangelization of the
+people in nominally Christian lands. In this enterprise the front rank
+on both sides of the Atlantic has been occupied by the Methodist
+Church. Its system of itinerary, relieving its ministers in part from
+exhausting study, and so giving them time and opportunity for pastoral
+work and aggressive evangelistic effort, its welcome of lay assistance
+in pulpit service and its system of drill and inspection in the
+class-meeting, have all combined to develop its working resources and
+increase its aggressive power. The fact that there are now in the
+world over thirty million Methodists of various kinds, makes it
+difficult to realize that when the century began, John Wesley had been
+dead only nine years. This century consequently has witnessed the
+growth and development of that mighty organization from the seed sown
+by that one consecrated man and his helpers. It is doubtful whether in
+politics or society there is any fact of the century so remarkable as
+this. The Church Wesley founded has split into sections in this land
+and in England, but the divisions are one at heart, and the name of
+Methodist is the common precious possession of them all. A great
+writer has contended with much force that the world at this day knows
+no such unifier of nationalities and societies as the Methodist
+Church. When the young man leaves the parental roof of a Methodist
+family for some distant city, or some foreign land, the pangs of
+anxiety are alleviated by the knowledge that wherever he may be, there
+will be some Methodist Church where he will find friends, and some
+Methodist class-leader who will look after his most important
+interests. The magnificent Methodist organization, unequalled outside
+the Roman Catholic Church, has developed within the century, and its
+aggressive forces have been felt throughout Christendom. All the
+denominations have received an impetus from its abundant energy and
+each in its measure has caught the contagion of its activities. In
+country districts, in the great cities and in foreign lands, its
+representatives, loyal to their Church and the principles of its
+founder, are pressing forward in self-denial and apostolic fervor
+foremost everywhere in the van of the Christian army.
+
+Kindred with the Methodist in its enthusiasm and still more highly
+organized, is the youngest of all the religious organizations--the
+Salvation Army. In its origin, a daughter of the Methodist Church,
+with a strong resemblance in spirit and purpose and methods to its
+mother, the Salvation Army has a mission peculiarly its own. It too
+has grown with a rapidity unexampled in the religious history of other
+centuries. More than one quarter of the century had passed when
+William Booth first saw the light, more than half the century had
+passed before he had begun to give his life to his Master's service.
+From 1857 to 1859 he was simply a Methodist minister, at an
+unimportant town, appointed by his conference, sparsely paid, and
+certain to be removed to another sphere at the end of his term. In
+1865, he and his devoted wife resigned home and income and dependence
+on conference for support, and went to London. They settled in the
+poorest and most degraded district of the city, and began to preach in
+tents, in cellars, in deserted saloons, under railroad arches, in
+factories and in any place which could be had for nothing, or at a low
+rental. The people gathered in multitudes wherever Mr. Booth and his
+wife preached, veritable heathen, many of them, who knew nothing of
+the Bible and had never attended a religious service in their lives.
+Converts were numerous and they were required to testify to the change
+in their souls and their lives and to become missionaries in their
+turn. In 1870 an old market was purchased in the densest centre of
+poverty in London and was made the headquarters of the Mission. Bands
+of men and women were sent out to hold meetings, sing hymns and "give
+their testimony" in the open-air, in saloons, or any resort where an
+audience could be gathered. These bands were busy every night in a
+hundred wretched districts of the great city, and at every stand,
+some poor forlorn creatures would be gathered in and encouraged to
+begin a new life in faith in Christ. Some method of organization
+became necessary, and was eventually devised. The perfect obedience
+and confidence manifested everywhere to the man who directed the
+movement, and the entire dependence of every worker on him for
+guidance and support, may have suggested the military system. However
+that may be, the military organization was adopted, and a perfect
+system framed with the aid of Railton Smith, and a few other clever
+organizers who were attracted to Mr. Booth's side by the novelty of
+his methods, and his marvelous success. In the spring of 1878, the
+plans were all matured and the new movement became a compact and
+powerful religious force. Since that time it has spread throughout
+England, into several European lands, to the United States, and
+Canada, to India, Australia and South Africa. Its autocratic character
+has been steadfastly maintained. General Booth has retained absolute
+control of every officer in his service and has the management of the
+enormous income of the army. Occasionally there has been mutiny which
+has been overcome by tact or prompt discipline, and not until this
+year (1896), when General Booth's son, Ballington, who was his
+representative in the United States, resigned rather than be removed
+from his command, has there been any formidable defiance of the
+supreme and despotic government of the world-wide organization. The
+methods of the Army are unconventional and are shocking to staid,
+respectable members of churches, but criticism is out of place in any
+method which will redeem the masses in the numbers won by the
+Salvation Army.
+
+CHURCHES DRAWING TOGETHER.
+
+A notable characteristic of the religious life of the century,
+especially in the latter half of it, has been a desire manifested in
+various quarters, and in different ways, for union among the
+denominations. That organic union could be attained, no practical man
+could hope. Uniformity could not be expected, even if it could be
+proved to be desirable, but friendly association was possible, and
+there were many who contended that there ought to be a recognition of
+brotherhood and comradeship, which might issue in some attempt at
+co-operation. This was the conviction of many prominent preachers and
+laymen on both sides of the Atlantic, early in the century. And truly
+the condition of the world and of society was of a character to force
+such a conviction on the minds of intelligent men. Infidelity was
+rampant, and intemperance, gambling, unchastity, and other forms of
+vice were practiced with unblushing effrontery. On the other side, the
+churches, which should have been waging war on all ungodliness, were
+fighting each other, contending about the questions on which they
+differed, and exhausting their strength in internecine conflict. Was
+it not time, men were asking, that the forces that were on the side of
+godliness united in opposition to evil? After long discussion, and
+some opposition, this feeling took practical shape in the Evangelical
+Alliance. At a meeting held in London in 1846 eight hundred
+representatives of fifty denominations were assembled. It was found
+that however widely they differed on questions of doctrine and church
+government, there was practical agreement on a large number of vital
+subjects, such as the need of religious education, the observance of
+the Lord's Day, and the evil influence of infidelity. An organization
+was effected, on the principles of federation, to secure united action
+on subjects on which all were agreed, and this organization has been
+maintained to the present time. Branches have been formed in
+twenty-seven different lands, each dealing with matters peculiarly
+affecting the community in which it operates, and by correspondence,
+and periodical international conferences, keeping in touch with each
+other. Its usefulness has been proved in the success of its efforts to
+secure tolerance in several lands, where men were being persecuted for
+conscience' sake, though much still remains to be done on this line.
+Perhaps the most conspicuous result of its work is the general
+observance throughout Christendom of the first complete week of every
+year as a week of prayer. The proposal for such an observance was made
+in 1858. Since that time the Alliance has issued every year a list of
+subjects which are common objects of desire to all Evangelical
+Christians. On each day of the week, prayer is now offered in every
+land for the special blessing which is suggested as the topic for the
+day.
+
+From the same spirit of Christian brotherhood which took shape in the
+Evangelical Alliance, came at later dates other movements which are
+yet in their infancy. One of these is the Reunion Conference which
+meets annually at Grindelwald in Switzerland. Its object is to find a
+basis for organic union of the Protestant Episcopal Church with
+Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and other evangelical
+denominations. The meetings have been hitherto remarkably harmonious,
+and suggestions of mutual concessions have been made which have been
+favorably considered. A less ambitious, and therefore more hopeful
+movement of like spirit, is that of the Municipal or Civic Church.
+Its aim is the organization of a federative council of the churches of
+a city, or of sections of a city, for united effort in social reform,
+benevolent enterprise and Christian government. It proposes to
+substitute local co-operation for the existing union on denominational
+lines, or to add the one to the other. It would unite the Methodist,
+Baptist, Congregational and other churches in a city, or district, in
+a movement to restrict the increase of saloons, to insist on the
+enforcement of laws against immorality and to promote the moral and
+spiritual welfare of the community. The united voice of the Christians
+of a city uttered by a council, in which all are represented, would
+unquestionably exercise an influence more potent than is now exerted
+by separate action. To these movements must be added another which has
+been launched under the name of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity.
+This is a fraternity of members of churches and members of no church,
+who yet accept Christ as their leader and obey the two cardinal
+precepts of Christianity--love to God and love to man. Its object is
+to promote brotherly feeling among Christians and a sense of
+comradeship among men of different creeds. All these movements are an
+indication of the spirit of the time. As one of the leaders has said,
+their aim is not so much to remove the fences which divide the
+denominations, as to lower them sufficiently to enable those who are
+within them to shake hands over them. In no previous century since the
+disintegrating tendency began to manifest itself, has this spirit of
+brotherly recognition of essential unity been so general, or has taken
+a shape so hopeful of practical beneficence.
+
+
+ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES.
+
+Effective influence to the same end has been set in motion,
+incidentally, by an organization which was originated for a different
+purpose. This is the Christian Endeavor Society, which is one of the
+latest of the important religious movements of the century. It was
+primarily designed to promote spiritual development among young
+people. It had its birth in 1881 in a Congregational Church at
+Portland, Me. Dr. Francis E. Clark, the pastor of the church, had a
+number of young people around him who had recently made public
+profession of faith in Christ and pledged themselves to His service.
+Precisely what that implied, may not have been definitely understood
+by any of them. As every pastor is aware, the period immediately
+following such a profession is a critical time in the life of every
+young convert. In the college or the office, or the store, the youth
+comes in contact with people who have made no profession of the kind,
+and he is apt to ask himself, and to be asked, in what way he differs
+from them. The early enthusiasm of his new relation to the Church is
+liable to decline, and he may become doubtful whether any radical
+change has taken place in him. He does not realize that he is at the
+beginning of a period of growth, a gradual process, which is to be
+lifelong. Taking his conception of personal religion from the sermons
+he has heard and the appeals that have been made to him, he has a
+tendency to regard conversion as an experience complete and final, an
+occult mysterious transformation, effected in a moment and concluded.
+Disappointment is inevitable, and when non-Christian influences are
+Strong, there is a probability of his drifting into indifference. Dr.
+Clark was aware of this fact, as other pastors were, by sad
+experience, and he sought means to remedy it. Some plan was needed
+which would help the young convert and teach him how to apply his
+religion to his daily life, to make it an active influence, instead of
+a past experience. The plan Dr. Clark adopted was of an association of
+young people in his Church, who should meet weekly for prayer and
+mutual encouragement and helpfulness, with so much of an aggressive
+quality as to exert an influence over young people outside its
+membership. The plan succeeded. The religious force in the soul, so
+liable to become latent, became active, and the young converts made
+rapid progress. Dr. Clark explained his experiment to other pastors,
+who tried it with like results. The remedy for a widespread defect was
+found. It was adopted on all hands and by all evangelical
+denominations. It spread from church to church, from town to town and
+into foreign lands. Annual conventions of these Christian Endeavor
+Societies were held, at which forty or fifty thousand young people,
+representing societies in all sections of the country with an
+aggregate membership of about two million souls, were present to
+recount their experience and pledge themselves anew to the service.
+The basis of their association was made so broad that Christians of
+every denomination could heartily unite in its profession of faith.
+Thus, in addition to the primary design, a basis of Christian
+inter-denominational union was incidentally discovered, and the
+Methodist and the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist and Episcopalian
+found themselves united in a common bond for a common purpose. The
+movement in these present years shows no signs of decrease, but is
+still growing in numbers, power and influence, and promises to be one
+of the most potent factors of religious life which springing up in
+this century will go on to influence the next.
+
+The idea of association and combination in religious life, of which
+Christian Endeavor is the most extensive illustration, has been
+embodied during the century in other forms. Springing directly from
+the Christian Endeavor Society, are the Epworth League in the
+Methodist Church, and the Baptist Young People's Union in the Baptist
+communion. The two organizations are practically identical in
+principle and purpose with the Christian Endeavor Society and differ
+from it only in the absence of the inter-denominational character. The
+heads of the Methodist Church apprehended danger to their young people
+in their being members of a society not under direct Methodist control
+and feared that they might eventually be lost to Methodism. The
+Baptists, on the other hand, were not concerned on the question of
+control, but feared that the association of their young people with
+the young people of other churches might lead them to think lightly of
+the peculiar rite which separates them from other denominations, and
+to diminish its importance in their esteem. Both denominations
+therefore organized societies of the same kind, to keep their young
+people within the denominational fold.
+
+Another organization which has attained large membership and has
+become international, is that of the King's Daughters. As its name
+indicates, it was primarily intended for women, though as it extended,
+it added as an adjunct a membership for men as King's Sons. It also
+was inter-denominational in character, and its objects were more
+directly identified with the philanthropic side of the religious life
+than were those of the societies previously mentioned. It originated
+in a meeting of ten ladies, held in New York, in 1886, at which plans
+were discussed for aiding the poor, the unfortunate and the distressed
+in mind, body or soul. They were all Christian ladies who recognized
+the duty of ministering in Christ's name to those who were in need and
+so fulfilling His injunction of kindly service. The plan finally
+adopted was to organize circles of ten members each, who should be
+pledged to use their opportunities, as far as they were able, for
+Christian ministration. Each member agreed to wear, as a badge of the
+Order, a small silver Maltese Cross, bearing the initials, I.H.N.,
+representing the motto, "In His Name." Every circle was to be left
+free to apply the principle of service as it saw fit, or as special
+circumstances might suggest, and all the circles to be under the
+direction and limited control of a central council. The plan,
+subsequently modified as experience suggested, was widely adopted. The
+circles have worked in a variety of ways, visiting hospitals and
+prisons, making garments for the poor, raising funds for the needy,
+aiding the churches and rendering service in various ways in which
+kindly Christian women are so effective.
+
+Still another form of combination in Christian work has distinguished
+this century. In 1844 George Williams, a London dry goods merchant
+employing a large number of young men, made an effort to provide them
+with a species of Christian club. His own experience as a young man
+fresh from a country home, suddenly inducted into the temptations of
+city life, suggested to him the kind of help such young men needed. A
+Christian friend in a great city to help a new-comer, to find him
+wholesome amusement in the evenings, and to put him on his guard
+against the pitfalls that were set for his unwary feet, might, Mr.
+Williams was convinced, save many a young man from ruin. To provide
+them with such friends and to furnish a place of meeting for reading,
+converse and amusement, was the problem the kindly Christian man
+attempted to solve. Out of his effort grew the institution we know as
+the Young Men's Christian Association, which has its mission in
+nearly every large town in this country and in England. The young man
+of this century can go into no considerable town without finding a
+commodious hall, with well-equipped library and reading-room,
+generally with a gymnasium attached, and with a host of young men
+ready to make his acquaintance and surround him with Christian
+influences. In many towns, the institution has developed from the
+purely religious enterprise into a many-sided effort to give practical
+educational training and to attract young men to it by the help it
+renders them in secular pursuits. The institution as it now exists,
+must be counted as one of the most beneficent in its far-reaching
+influence that the century has produced.
+
+
+HUMANITARIAN WORK.
+
+Kindred in spirit, but differing essentially in operation, is the
+institution, peculiarly a product of nineteenth century religion,
+which we know as the Social or College Settlement. Though it does not
+claim a distinctively religious character, its principles are so
+thoroughly identical with Christianity, that no survey of the
+religious life of the century would be complete without a recognition
+of it. It is the spirit that brought the Founder of Christianity to
+the earth, to live a lowly life among men, which inspires the Social
+Settlement. It is generally an unostentatious house in some crowded
+neighborhood, where the people are poor and life is hard. In the house
+are a number of college-bred men, or women, who come in relays and
+live there for a week or a month or longer. They do no missionary
+work, do not preach, or denounce, or instruct their neighbors, but
+they live among them a cleanly, helpful, friendly life, welcoming them
+cordially as visitors, advising them if advice is sought, rendering
+help in difficulties and being neighborly in the best sense of the
+word. There are concerts in the house, exhibitions of pictures,
+children's parties and amusements of various kinds to which all the
+neighbors are welcome. Charity is no part of the Settlement's
+programme. It does not give, but it extends a brotherly hand, and in a
+spirit of friendship and equality seeks to do a brother's part in
+brightening lowly lives. Hundreds of such institutions are in
+operation on both sides the Atlantic. To the credit of this century be
+it said that it has seen in these institutions the Parable of the Good
+Samaritan made a living fact in intelligent organization.
+
+Tending directly toward the same object, is the religious enterprise
+now commonly known as the Institutional Church. It is a distinct gain
+to the church if the people in its vicinity discover that it is
+anxious to help them to a better and happier life in this world, as
+well as guiding them to happiness in the next. The Divine Founder of
+Christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need
+saving, as well as souls, and some of His followers are following His
+example. Their churches do not stand closed and silent from Sunday to
+Sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of
+practical helpfulness. Temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing
+meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of
+helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their
+home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are
+finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual
+contact with them and devising means to supply them. The critics say
+this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among
+the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in
+their welfare.
+
+
+THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
+
+Of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most
+extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be
+mentioned. Though this century did not see the birth of the Sunday
+School, it has witnessed its wonderful development. In June, 1784,
+Robert Raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the
+religious instruction of children on the Lord's Day, and before the
+close of the year, John Wesley wrote that he found Sunday Schools
+springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight:
+"Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who
+knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians?"
+Within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into
+the Sunday Schools. So much had already been done before the beginning
+of the century. But even then men did not realize whereunto the
+movement was destined to grow. Probably no enterprise has really
+exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the
+time. Children have entered the schools, passed through their grades,
+have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have
+followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves
+to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the Sunday
+School was unknown. The organization of Sunday School Unions, the
+introduction of the International Lesson System, and the City, State
+and National Conventions are all the developments of this century. The
+thought that a million and a half of Sunday School teachers are now
+engaged in every clime, Sunday by Sunday, in teaching the children and
+young people the truths of Christianity is enough to fill the mind of
+the Christian with thankfulness and hope.
+
+
+PULPIT AND PRESS.
+
+It would be beyond the scope of an article of this character to
+attempt to recall the names of the eminent preachers of the century.
+It has been singularly rich in men of eloquence, depth of thought and
+high culture. A few, however, are distinguished among the noble army
+by the phenomenal character of their work. Of these probably no name
+is so widely known as that of Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D. One of the
+most remarkable phenomena of the religious world in this century, is
+the fact that every week one preacher should address an audience
+numbered by millions. The fact is unprecedented. Of all classes of
+readers, the number of those who read sermons is considered the
+smallest, yet this century has produced a preacher whose sermons
+command a public larger than that of a fascinating novelist. For
+thirty years the newspapers have been publishing Dr. Talmage's sermons
+in every city of his own land, in every English-speaking land and in
+many foreign lands where they are translated for publication. It is a
+significant fact, which should gratify every Christian, that the man
+whose words reach regularly and surely the largest audience in the
+world should be a preacher of the Gospel.
+
+To no man in any walk of life, whether politician, editor or author,
+has the opportunity of impressing his thoughts on his generation that
+Dr. Talmage enjoys been given in such fulness. Next in extent of
+influence, and with a like faculty of reaching immense and widely
+scattered masses of people, was the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a
+preacher of singularly homely power, Calvinistic in theology,
+epigrammatic in style, and with an earnest evangelical spirit which
+had a powerful influence on both hearers and readers. His sermons,
+like those of Dr. Talmage, were read in every land and were
+instrumental in conversions wherever they went. Strongly resembling
+Mr. Spurgeon in his strong evangelicalism, as well as in homely
+eloquence, is Mr. D.L. Moody. During this century probably no man has
+addressed so large a number of people. In this country and in England
+such audiences have thronged the buildings in which he preached as no
+other orator has ever addressed on religious subjects, and the
+influence of his words is demonstrated by the thousands who through
+his appeals have been led to Christ.
+
+We are nearing the end of the century. Looking back over the events in
+the religious world which have marked its history, one characteristic
+is prominent above all others. It is the operation of the force to
+which an eminent writer has given the name of "spiritual dynamics."
+The world does not need a dogma, or a creed, so much as it needs
+power. It needs power to live right, to do right, to love God and man,
+to pity the fallen, to relieve the needy, the power of being good, of
+leading a spiritual life. This power it finds in Christ and the whole
+tendency of the religious life of the century is to get back to him.
+Conduct rather than creed, love rather than theology, have been the
+watchwords of the church. The spirit of Christ, His teachings, His
+character, His example, are the centre of attraction which holds His
+church together and endues it with the power which shall yet subdue
+the world.
+
+
+
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