The list of C. L. S. C. graduates of the class of ’83 is published in this number of The Chautauquan—1300 strong. The states represented are California, Maine, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Maryland, Iowa, Illinois, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Kansas, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Connecticut, Missouri, District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Dakota, Kentucky. Canada is also represented, and in far-away China there is one graduate. The members are from thirteen different denominations: Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopal, Baptist, Christian, United Presbyterian, Reformed, Unitarian, Universalist, Friends, Roman Catholics, Seven Day Baptists. In its ranks are teachers, housekeepers, ministers, lawyers, clerks, students, mechanics, farmers, merchants, dressmakers, milliners, music teachers and stenographers.
The presidential campaign for 1884 was opened in December by the Republican National Committee fixing June as the time, and Chicago as the place for holding the National Convention. Chautauqua was discussed as a proper place for this convention to meet. The Graphic, of New York, furnished a number of good illustrations of the hotels, steamboats, and lines of railroads with which the Lake is favored, but these attractions were not strong enough—the atmosphere of the place is not the kind political conventions breathe. To be sure, President Grant and President Garfield both honored themselves and Chautauqua by visiting the Assembly, but a national political convention, even of the Republican type, would find “water, water, everywhere,” and nothing stronger to drink. Chautauqua is dead as a place for holding a national political convention.
James Russell Lowell, our Minister to England, enjoys so excellent a reputation in that country, that people who ought to know better, are beginning to talk about his “Un-Americanism.” It is a foolish business. Mr. Lowell is an American of the Americans. But Americanism does not consist in a capacity for getting the ill-will of foreigners, or in abusing them when one lives abroad. Mr. Lowell worthily represents the people of the United States among the English people, and the honors paid to him in choosing him to unveil the statue of Fielding, and electing him Rector of the University of Glasgow, are honors paid to this nation. There is no place for the petty jealousy of his growing popularity in England. It is a thing to be proud of. The author of the “Biglow Papers” will always be known on both sides of the ocean as a Yankee of the Yankees.
Somebody has said of the “House of Representatives,” “it is too big for business, too big for harmony, too big for economy, too big for any practical purpose whatever,” and the prospect is that it will be larger, rather than smaller. Speaker Carlisle found it almost unwieldy when he organized the four hundred and one members into committees. We venture the assertion that no officer in the United States Government in his official capacity passes through a more trying ordeal than the Speaker of the House. He must face his work every day of the session, in the hall where he presides; and as for ambition and jealousy, tact and skill in manipulation, the representatives of the people are so well along in all these things that to ask one man to appoint this company to places on committees, and then to legislate for the people, is too much. A new method of appointing committees ought to be adopted.
Mr George Ticknor Curtis has rendered the American public a valuable service in his two volumes on the life of James Buchanan, published by the Harper Brothers. If this material had been precipitated upon the public mind in the dark days of the civil war, it would have been as fuel to the flame of public passion, or if it had come to light even during the years immediately after the war, the result would have been much the same. Mr. Buchanan’s task during the last days of his administration was a hard one. He was expected to both wait and to be in a hurry in discharging his duties as President; besides, it required more than human sagacity to determine what would be the wisest course for his administration to pursue. The time when he vacated the White House, and Mr. Lincoln went into it, makes a joint in American history which must be studied as with a microscope, if the student would reach a correct judgment of the men who acted and the events that transpired. The correspondence which passed between Mr. Buchanan and several members of his old cabinet, after he retired to private life is like the glare of an electric light turned on those turbulent times. By these letters one can read his way out of the heretofore inexplicable darkness of those caverns of history.
John Brown, of Ossawatomie fame, has been glorified in poetry and song. There has been a bewitching charm about his name to a multitude of people, and the events of the past decade have contributed largely to this spell. As we settle back into our normal condition and study the naked facts of his history, we are led to wonder how the man exerted such a tremendous influence over his countrymen. If it be true that Sherman, Doyles and Wilkinson, with others, whom Brown and his men murdered, had entered into a conspiracy to destroy the Browns, this did not justify John Brown and his men for murdering them in cold blood. Not even in warfare would such heartless butchery be defensible. It may yet appear that the endorsement which the American people gave to John Brown, and the glory they have attached to his memory were unworthily bestowed, and that the people were misled. The close study of American history as made between 1858 and 1865 may put a new face on many of our biographical and national stories of men and events.
John Pender, a member of the English Parliament, compliments the Western Union Telegraph Company, in a speech on the government assuming control of telegraph lines, in these words: “I have thought it desirable to refer to my visit to America, and say something about the Western Union system, because it is a system which is, probably, in its efficiency, only to be compared with our own system in England, which is worked by the Government, with this difference, that being worked as a private enterprise, and being stimulated more or less by competition, I think the Western Union has shown greater results during the last ten years than our system has under government management. I think the science of electricity has received more encouragement and been more developed, and the reduction of rates has, during that time, also been greater in America than in England; and, altogether, I think it would be well if our Government took a leaf out of the book of the Western Union Company.”
December the sixteenth was John G. Whittier’s birthday. He is now seventy-six years old. In Haverhill, Massachusetts, a thrifty manufacturing town, Mr. Whittier spent his boyhood, in a lonely farm house half hidden by oak woods, with no other house in sight of it. He says, on stormy nights
The London (England) Chronicle speaks the following sensible words concerning the new honor conferred on Tennyson: “It will seem very strange for us to have to think of Alfred Tennyson as Lord Tennyson, and he is too aged, and his life-impression too decidedly fixed, for the changed name to get established. Just as we speak of Shakspere, and Wordsworth, and Bulwer Lytton, and Browning, so we shall think and speak of Tennyson. A poet’s proper crown is not a peerage, but a nation’s admiration and love, and the world’s uplifting by his words of trust and hope, his visions of the perfect, the beautiful, and the true, his subtle readings of human hearts and motives. England, and the English speaking races of the world, crowned Tennyson long ago, and the peerage crown seems but a little thing, only needing a passing word.”
Among the many “happy ideas” hit upon in connection with the C. L. S. C., that of Memorial Days deserves prominent place and mention. Several of these days are named for men whose genius and literary greatness have received the world’s recognition. These days are not memorials to the cold letters that spell the names of Milton, Addison, and Shakspere, but to genius and greatness in literature as represented by them. And the design is not to keep in memory a mere literal sign, a name, but to pay our homage to the literary or other merit with which the name is associated. And this with the ulterior view of kindling aspirations and inspirations in our own minds and hearts.
Seventy-five million dollars are invested in the rubber business of this country, of which $30,000,000 are in the boot and shoe manufacture. The annual products are $250,000,000, made by 15,000 persons at 120 factories. Thirty thousand tons of raw rubber are used each year. The forests along the equator, which Humboldt declared inexhaustible, are dwindling, and the rapid increase of cost of rubber (from 50 cents to $1.25 per lb. in six years) is leading to search for cheaper substitutes.
The Rev. Dr. John Hall says: “The churches of New York cost $3,000,000 per year; the amusements $7,000,000; the city government $13,000,000. It is not an extravagant demand that the churches should have more money.”
Ella A. Giles, in The Nation, furnishes a description of a seminary for colored girls in Atlanta, Ga., under the auspices of the Baptist Home Missionary Society. Here is a testimony she jotted down in one of their meetings: “Dis chile didn’t do no teachin’ in vacation,” said a big mulatto woman, with great pomposity. “’Twan’t ’cos she didn’t know ’nuff, ’xactly, nor ’cos there wasn’t heaps dat needed to be teached. On every side ignorant niggers is as thick as flies. But my preferment was doin’ suthin’ else fur my blessed Savior. Needn’t think I didn’t work for Jesus, my young sisters. I tell ye I worked mighty hard! I visited heaps o’ sick niggers, an’ I ’low I wan’t lazy. Don’t win ye no crown jes to go an’ look at sick folks, unless ye do suthin’ fur um. I feel like as if my stomach was light and freed from bile, ’cos I nussed the sick, an’ puttin my shoulder to the wheel, didn’t look back like Lot’s wife and turn unto a pillow of salt, but minded my blessed Lord an’ Savior an’ visited the sick—fur to please Jesus. I likes dis yeah school. Laws! I’s mo’n fifty years ole or thar-’bouts, an’ till I kum yeah I nebber know’d dat workin’ fur Christ meant nussin’ sick folks an’ goin’ to see the widowers an’ childless in affliction, an’ keepin’ unspotted from de world.”
One cold day in December, from the City Hall steps in New York City, the Rev. Henry Kimball gave away two cheeses, cut in pound chunks, two barrels of crackers, a barrel of turnips, a barrel of hominy done up in brown paper pound packages, and five bags of Indian meal. One hundred and twenty women, seventy little girls, and a colored man came to get their baskets filled. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
At a meeting of naturalists held recently in New York, Prof. D. Cope, of Philadelphia, alluded to the small provision that is made for original research in this country, and the stress that is on almost all original investigators to throw themselves away as teachers in order to gain a livelihood. It is important that we have original investigation in science, but capitalists must furnish the money to defray the expenses. But because a man or woman turns to teaching rather than investigation, they do not throw themselves away. Teaching is as high and honorable a calling as investigating nature’s laws.
A new feature lately introduced in the public schools of New Haven is called “newspaper geography.” The pupils are in turn required to find on the map places referred to in the paper.
The South Carolina Legislature has passed a bill declaring unlawful all contracts for the sale of articles for future delivery. Speculation in cotton never received a harder blow than this. If some of our legislatures in northern states, say New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, should adopt such a law, and then enforce it, what a torpedo it would be among speculators in oil and grain, and stocks of all kinds.
One of the students in the University of Berlin, Germany, is 69 years of age. The aged members of the C. L. S. C. find themselves in the fashion. Our motto is a good one: “Never be discouraged,” not even in old age.
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union celebrated its tenth anniversary on December 23. We are told that this organization numbers 100,000 members, and that they are scattered all over the land. Here we find the cause of the stir and hubbub in the country on the temperance question. It began in the Ohio crusade, among the women. They used prayer and religious songs and earnest entreaties, flavored with the spirit of Christianity, and they have won; yes, they have won the grandest victory of which mention is made in history for temperance and our unfortunate fellow men. Celebrate the return of the anniversary of the crusade. Do it with songs and shouts of joy, and continue to work till the end.
We find the following summary of an interview with Whittier in the Sun: “Whittier said that Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow, and himself had always been friends. There were no jealousies, and each took a pride in the work and successes of the others. They would exchange notes upon their productions, and if one saw a kindly notice of the other it was always cut out and sent to him. Hawthorne was by the others regarded as the greatest master of the English language. Whittier describes himself as unlike any of the rest, for he never had any method. When he felt like it he wrote, and neither had the health nor the patience to revise his work afterward. It usually went as it was originally completed. Emerson wrote with great care, and would not only revise his manuscript carefully, but frequently reword the whole on the proof sheets. Longfellow, too, was a very careful writer. He would lay his work by and then revise it. He would often consult with his friends about his productions before they were given to the world. ‘I was not so fortunate,’ says the Quaker poet. ‘I have lived mostly a secluded life, with little patience to draw upon, and only a few friends for associates. What writing I have done has been for the love of it. I have ever been timid of what I have penned. It is really a marvel to me that I have gathered any literary reputation from my productions.’”
So large a number of the complete sets of The Chautauquan for 1880-1881 have been received by us that we withdraw the offer made in the January issue of the magazine.
The prospect is good that we shall have erected at Chautauqua in the spring about six new cottages, to be used by the School of Languages. They will be located on the new land recently purchased by the Association. This will introduce public buildings on that part of the grounds, and make the lots for private cottages more desirable. The outlook on the Lake from this point is one of the finest to be found between Jamestown and Mayville.
P. 177.—“Diomedes,” diˈo-meˌdes. A legendary hero of the Trojan war—second in bravery to Achilles. Much space is devoted by Homer in the Iliad to his exploits. He was a favorite of Minerva, and from her received the gift of immortality. In his combats with the Trojans he spared neither gods nor men, if Minerva assisted him. For this reason Minerva speaks to him:
P. 179.—“Clemens of Alexandria.” One of the early Christian fathers, who lived at the close of the second and beginning of the third centuries. Educated in the heathen philosophy, he was converted to Christianity, and became a presbyter in the church. Clemens wrote much, using the scientific methods of the philosophers in his exposition of the doctrines of Christianity. His principal themes were exhortations to the heathen to abandon idolatry, and treatises on Christian and Greek literature.
“Minucius Felix,” Marcus. A native of Africa, but he came to Rome, where he successfully practiced law until he was converted. He is said to have been renowned for his eloquence. His most important work for Christianity was Octavius, a dialogue between a Christian and a heathen upon the merits of their respective religions.
P. 187.—“Reductio ad absurdum.” Reducing to an absurdity.
P. 189.—“Petrifaction,” pĕtˌri-făcˈtion. Turning into stone of an animal or vegetable substance.
P. 199.—“Zeleucus,” ze-leuˈcus. A law-giver among the Locrians (see Grecian History), who lived about 660 B. C. His laws were eminently severe, but were observed by his people for a long time. Zeleucus is said to have come to his death because a transgressor of one of his own laws. He had decreed that no one should enter the senate house armed, on a penalty of death. In a time of great excitement in war Zeleucus broke the decree. It was remarked to him, and immediately he fell on his sword, in vindication of the law.
P. 222.—“Daguerreotype,” da-gĕrˈo-tīp. So called from Daguerre, the discoverer of this method of taking pictures.
P. 230.—“Permit me to write the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes her laws.” The idea is said to have originated with Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, who wrote: “I knew a very wise man that believed that if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who made the laws of a nation.”
P. 241.—“Modus operandi.” Manner of operation.
“Die.” The piece of metal on which is cut a device to impress on coins, medals, etc.
P. 254. “Socinian.” Lælius Socinus was an Italian theologian (1525-1562). His study led him to doubt certain doctrines, among them that of the Trinity. His nephew, Faustus, who by his skeptical spirit had made himself very obnoxious to the church, decided in 1574 to become a religious reformer, and from the manuscripts of his uncle he elaborated what was called the Socinian system. The negations of the system include: The Trinity, the deity of Christ, the personality of the devil, the native and total depravity of man, the atonement and eternal punishment. It affirms that Christ was a divinely appointed man, and that in the imitation of his virtues we find our salvation. The American Cyclopædia says of the former use of this term: “The name Socinian, which is so often given to those who hold Unitarian opinions as a term of reproach, was for a century the honorable designation of a powerful and numerous religious body in Poland, Hungary and Transylvania.… The Racovian catechism, so called from its place of publication (Raków, in Poland), compiled mainly from the writings of Socinus, is still the text-book of faith and worship in many Hungarian and Transylvanian churches.” Unitarianism is now the term applied to the doctrines of Socinianism.
P. 258.—Translation of Latin in foot-note: The constant presence of Christ in the heart brings pleasant communion, gracious consolation, much peace.
P. 260.—“Subjectively.” By “moral light revealed subjectively” is meant the light or truth which is natural, or in the mind of every subject or thinker, and opposed to the light which comes objectively, or through an object, as, in this case, the light which comes from the Bible. Subjective and objective are terms of mental philosophy, of common use, and applied generally to certainty or truth. “Objective certainty,” says Watts, “is when the thing is true in itself; subjective when we are certain of the truth of it. The one is in things, the other in our minds.”
P. 266.—“Logos,” loˈgos. The word, literally. In ancient thought it had two significations, one philosophical, where it meant the reason, or that principle which regulates the affairs of the world; the other theological, referring, as in the Gospel of St. John, to a distinct person which both creates and redeems; here it is applied to man’s reason.
P. 273.—“Lacon.” The author of Lacon was Caleb Colton, an English writer, born in 1780. He was educated at Cambridge and received a vicarage in 1818, but soon became so dissipated as to utterly ruin his prospects. He was obliged to flee to America on account of debts incurred in gambling, but afterward went to France, where in 1832 he committed suicide. “Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words,” is a collection of maxims, and is best known of his writings.
P. 19.—“Navvy.” Short for navigator, formerly slang, but now a recognized term applied to those employed in excavating canals, making dykes and like work.
“Longshoremen.” Said to be abbreviated from along shore men. “The Slang Dictionary” says that all people who get their livings by the side of the Thames below bridges are called Long Shore folk. The particular class to which Mr. Blaikie refers is that of laborers employed about wharves.
P. 25.—“Tom Brown of Rugby.” The hero of the story, “Tom Brown’s School Days,” by Thomas Hughes.
“Hares and Hounds.” A game sometimes called “paper hunt.” A team of any number of players is formed, from which one is chosen as the hare. To him is given a start of a few minutes called “law.” He starts off with a bag of cut paper called “scent,” which he scatters as he runs. When “law” is up the hounds or remainder of the team start in pursuit, following “scent” as closely as possible. The game continues until the hare is run to the ground or the players baffled.
P. 27.—“Turners.” During the time that Napoleon controlled Prussia Friedrich Jahn, a German patriot, conceived the idea of forming schools in which the young men should be trained in gymnastic exercises and in patriotic sentiments, in order that eventually they might drive the French from the country. These schools were called Turnvereine. The first one was established in 1811, and when in 1813 the country was called to arms, the Turners rendered signal service. Though for a time prohibited in Germany, they were afterward reorganized and have been introduced into various countries.
P. 41.—“Tantalus.” A character of Greek mythology, who, having given offense to the gods, was punished in the lower world by confinement in a river where the water always recedes from his lips, and the branches over his head, laden with fruit, withdraw from his hand.
P. 50.—“La Ligne.” The line.
“Dumas,” düˌmäˈ. French novelist and dramatist. (1803-1870.)
P. 53.—“Sebastian Fenzi,” se-băsˈtian fentˈse.
P. 62.—“Nathalie,” nâ-ta-lēˈ; “Farini,” fâ-rēˈnē.
P. 81.—“Periauger,” pĕrˈi-auˌger. One of several forms of the word pirogue. A kind of canoe formed out of a tree trunk.
P. 85.—“Choate,” chote. (1799-1859.) Choate was sixty years of age when he died, instead of fifty-five.
P. 86.—“O’Connell.” (1775-1847.) The Irish statesman.
P. 87.—“Brougham.” See The Chautauquan for November.
“Canning.” (1770-1827.) A British statesman.
P. 135.—“Double-first.” In the English universities one who wins the highest honors in both the classics and mathematics is said to win “a double-first.”
P. 136.—“Mazzini,” mät-seeˈnee. (1805-1872.) An Italian patriot and revolutionist. He early devoted himself to bringing about the unity of Italy, then divided and oppressed by Austria. In 1831 he was banished, thereupon he formed a political organization to secure the liberty of Italy and union of the states. In every way he worked to gain his ends. In 1849 he assisted Garibaldi in his struggles for Italy’s freedom, and later directed an insurrection in northern Italy. Mazzini was the author of several works. Carlyle says of him: “I have had the honor to know M. Mazzini for a series of years, and I can, with great freedom, testify to all men that he, if I have ever seen one such, is a man of genius and virtue—a man of sterling veracity, humanity and nobleness of mind.”
P. 147.—“Bowdoin,” boˈdwin.
P. 156.—“Thwart.” A nautical term applied to the bench of a boat, on which the rowers sit.
P. 176.—“Palmerston,” pāmˈer-ston. (1784-1865.) Prime minister of England.
“Thiers,” te-erˈ. (1797-1877.) French statesman and historian.
P. 193.—“Adipose tissue,” adˈi-pōse. The fatty matter distributed through the cellular tissues of the body.
P. 251, c. 1.—“Lutzen,” lŭtˈsen. A small town of Prussian Saxony, near Leipsic. The battle between Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein took place November 16, 1632. Napoleon defeated the allied Prussians and Russians here in 1813.
“Treaty of Passau,” pâsˈsow. A town of Bavaria, at the confluence of the Inn and Danube. This treaty was concluded in 1552 between Charles V., of Germany, and Maurice, of Saxony. It guaranteed religious freedom to the German Protestants until a diet should be summoned to arrive at a new settlement. In 1555 this diet was summoned at Augsburg, where peace was made and the princes left free to establish the Lutheran or Catholic faith.
“Pusillanimity,” pū-sil-la-nĭmˈi-ty. Weakness; cowardice.
P. 251, c. 2.—“Brabant,” brâ-bântˈ. One of the ancient divisions of the Netherlands, lying south of Holland.
“Aix-la-Chapelle,” aiks-lă-shă-pel. Called in German, Aachen; situated in Rhenish Prussia. This treaty was made in 1668. Louis gained by the war several strong towns in the Netherlands.
“Stahremberg,” stahˈrem-berg. This was the second invasion of Vienna by the Turks. It occurred in 1683.
“Sobieski,” sō-bi-ĕsˈki. (1629?-1696.) A Pole, educated in Paris. The Cossacks having risen against the Polish government he joined the army and so distinguished himself that he was given the chief command. The Turks invading the country, Sobieski made a record which caused him to be elected king upon the death of the monarch then ruling. His victory at Vienna freed all Europe from the fear of the Turks, and Sobieski was called the savior of christendom. His last years were embittered by civil and domestic troubles.
“Ryswick,” rizeˈwik.
“Spanish Succession.” By the death of Charles II., of Spain, the house then on the throne became extinct. His two brothers in-law, Louis XIV., of France, and Leopold I., of Austria, both claimed the throne for princes of their families. Charles in a second will had appointed Philip, the grandson of Louis XIV., as his successor, but Germany, England and Holland contested the will. The war lasted thirteen years. The allies gained several victories, but Philip secured the throne, although obliged to give up several provinces.
“Blenheim,” blĕnˈheīm. A village of Bavaria on the Danube. This battle took place August 13, 1704.
“Duke of Marlborough.” He commanded the English forces, while Prince Eugene led the Austrians.
“Frederick the Great.” (1712-1786.) During the forty-six years of his reign Frederick waged three important wars—the first and second Silesian wars and the Seven Years’ war. The cause of each was his claim to the province of Silesia. After the close of the third, in 1763, Frederick devoted himself to the restoration and improvement of his country. It is said that at his death he left to his nephew and successor, “a surplus of $50,000,000, an army of 220,000 men, a territory increased by nearly 30,000 square miles, and an industrious, intelligent and happy population of 6,000,000.”
P. 252, c. 1.—“Jena,” jēˈna, or yāˈnä; “Auerstädt,” öuˈer-stät.
“Rhine-Bund.” The confederation of the Rhine.
“Deutscher-Bund.” The German Confederation.
P. 252, c. 2.—“Zollverein,” zŏllˈver-eīn. A commercial league formed in Germany for the purpose of establishing a uniform rate of customs.
“Versailles,” ver-sailzˈ.
“Wallenstein,” vâlˈlen-stine. (1583-1634.) An Austrian general.
“Cuirassier,” kwē-ras-sērˈ.
P. 253, c. 1.—“Croats.” Inhabitants of Croatia, a province of Austro-Hungary.
“Gefreyter,” ga-friˈter. Corporal.
“Saxe-Lauenberg,” sax lowˈen-boorg. A German duchy.
“Saxe Weimar,” sax vīˈmar.
P. 253, c. 1.—“Humboldt.” (1769-1859.) Humboldt has been one of the most expert and far reaching scientists of modern times. His love for research led him to explorations early in life. In 1790 he travelled through the principal countries of Europe, afterward publishing the discoveries made by him on this journey. After this, for some years he was employed in mining enterprises. In 1829 he joined an expedition to the Ural and Altai mountains. In 1799 Humboldt went to South America; on this journey he made extensive observations in various departments of science. The latter part of his life was spent at the Prussian court.
P. 253, c. 2.—“Orinoco,” Oˌrĭ-noˈco. Said to mean coiling snakes.
“Heine.” (1799-1856.) Heine was of Jewish parentage, but abandoned his religion and adopted the Lutheran. His first book on his travels in Italy was very successful. After this followed his first book of songs, which contained many pieces of rare beauty. It filled all Germany with enthusiasm. Heine spent his last years in great suffering, a victim to spinal disease.
P. 254, c. 1.—“Candide,” kŏnˈdēd. The hero of a novel bearing the same name, by Voltaire.
“Eldorado,” ĕl-do-rāˈdō. The gilded land. A name given to a land abounding in gold and other rich products. The Spanish conquerors of South America first applied the name to a region in South America which they reported to be filled with riches of every variety.
P. 254, c. 2.—“Dight,” dīt. To deck; to dress.
“Schleiermacher,” schleīˈer-mä-ker. (1768-1834.) One of the most influential theologians of modern times. His first published work, “Discourses on Religion,” startled all Germany. After this followed many volumes of sermons and religious writings which won him favor. In 1802 he became court preacher, and two years later went into the university at Halle as a preacher and professor; afterward he became a pastor at Berlin.
“Dialectician,” dī-a-lek-tĭshˈan. One who is versed in logic.
“Romanticism,” ro-mănˈti-cĭsm. Romantic, fantastic, or unnatural ideas or feelings.
P. 255, c. 1.—“Schopenhauer,” shoˈpen-howˌer. (1788-1860.) He studied in the German universities, and afterward devoted himself to philosophical studies. His works on the will are the best known.
“Zoöphytes,” zōˈo-fit. “Mollusca,” mol-lŭsˈca. “Annelida,” an-nĕlˈi-da; “Arachnida,” a-răchˈni-da. “Crustacea,” krus-tāˈshe-a; “Pisces,” pīsˈsēz; “Reptilia,” rep-tilˈi-a; “Aves,” āˈvēs; “Mammalia,” mam-māˈli-a.
P. 255, c. 2.—“Bellum omnium contra omnes.” War of all against all.
P. 255, c. 2.—“Foraminifera,” fo-rămˌi-nĭfˈe-ra.
P. 257, c. 1.—“Hot Springs.” These are in reality Artesian wells, the water rising from great depths. In some places the warm water is utilized, as in Würtemberg, where manufactories are warmed by the water sent through them in pipes. The water is usually pure and the temperature quite uniform. Among the most famous examples of hot springs are those of Arkansas—fifty-seven in number—those of Virginia, and the geysers of Iceland.
“Wells of Bath.” Bath is the chief town of Somersetshire, England, and takes its name from its baths. The springs which furnish these are four in number, and discharge nearly 200,000 gallons of water a day.
Many interesting examples of changes in level might be noted. Scotland in less than an hundred years has been raised from 15 to 20 feet. As distinctly have the coast lines been traced, says Hugh Miller, as “between two contiguous steps of a stair, covered the one by a patch of brown, the other by a patch of green, in the pattern of the stair-carpet.” In Norway and Sweden a rising has been proven to be going on in the northern part, and a sinking in the southern part.
P. 259, c. 2.—“Cervantes,” cer-vânˈtēs, sä-a-veˈdrä. (1547-1616.) A Spanish author. The work referred to is “Don Quixote.” Of it a writer in the American Cyclopædia says: “In this work Cervantes hit the vulnerable point of his age. The common sense of the world had long rebelled against the mummeries of knight errantry, and the foolish books that still spoke of chivalry of which not a vestige remained. People who had smiled when the idea presented itself to their minds, burst out in laughter when Cervantes gave it the finishing stroke.” Beside “Don Quixote,” Cervantes wrote several satires, dramas and stories.
“Knight-errantry,” nītˈ ĕr-rant-re. The character, manners and adventures of wandering knights.
“Butler,” Samuel. (1612-1680.) An English poet. He led an uneventful life, being employed at different times as amanuensis or secretary to men of high standing. When fifty-one years of age he wrote Hudibras, his “fine satire.” The hero, Sir Hudibras, is said to have been drawn from Sir Samuel Luke, a Puritan officer. The poem ridicules by satire and exaggeration the actions, severity, morals and dress of the Puritans. It was never entirely finished. Butler was very popular with Charles II., and his court for a time, but finally died in poverty.
P. 260, c. 1.—“Inhibition,” ĭn-he-bĭshˈun. Restraint, hinderance.
“Judicature,” jūˈdi-ca-tūre. The administration of justice.
P. 260, c. 2.—“Common-law.” According to the American Cyclopædia, common-law in the United States means the entire English law, including even the foreign elements intermingled with it, in distinction from the civil law generally received among European nations, and from the canon law, except so far as adopted in the ecclesiastical courts of England. Burrill defines it as “the unwritten law, or that body of customs, rules and maxims which have acquired their binding power and the force of law, in consequence of long usage, recognized by judicial decisions, and not by reason of statutes now extant.” Of its origin, Sir Matthew Hale says it is as “undiscoverable as the head of the Nile.”
“Norman-French.” The language of Normandy, a former northwestern province of France. By the Norman conquest (1066) Norman French became the language of the court and of equity in England.
The “Readings in Art” are compiled and condensed from “Architecture, Classic and Early Christian,” by T. R. Smith and G. Slater.
P. 262, c. 1.—“Archaic.” Old; ancient; characterized by antiquity or obsoleteness.
“Mausoleums,” mau-so-lēˈums. A tomb or monument. From Mausoleus, king of Caria, to whom Artemisia, his widow, erected a stately monument.
“Votive offerings.” From Latin votum—a vow. A tablet, picture, or anything dedicated by the vow of the worshipers. “Additional embellishments of flowers and votive garlands.”—Motley.
“Doric.” There are several different accounts of the origin of the Doric order. It is stated that Dorus, a king of Achaia, built a temple in Argos, and this was found by chance to be in that manner which we call Doric. Some say the arrangement of the order was that of a primitive log hut. It is so called from Doris. Beside the Doric temples mentioned here there are fragments of this style of architecture to be seen in the temple of Theseus at Athens, in the Propylæa on the Acropolis, in the temple of Zeus at Olympia, and in various other localities in Greece and southern Italy. The form of the Doric building was the same as in the Ionic and Corinthian.
“Ictinus,” ic-tiˈnus. He was the architect of several Doric temples; the Parthenon, the temple of Apollo at Phigalia, and the one at Eleusis. No details of his life are known.
“Rock.” This rock is the Acropolis.
“Entablature,” “cella,” “pediment.” See notes in The Chautauquan for November.
“Flat pitch.” A roof that has less than the usual elevation in the center.
P. 262, c. 2.—“Stylobate,” styˈlo-bāte. Literally a basement to a column. It is synonymous with pedestal, but is applied to an uninterrupted and unbroken base, while pedestal is an insulated support.
“Entasis,” ĕnˈta-sĭs. A gentle, almost imperceptible swelling of the shaft of a column.
“Ionic.” This style of architecture was so called from Ionia, where it took its rise. Its origin is not certain. A writer says: “The explanation of Vitruvius is that the Ionian colonists, on building a temple to Diana, wished to find some new manner that was beautiful. Following the method which they had pursued with the Doric (proportioning the column according to the dimensions of a man), they imparted to this the delicacy of the female figure.” The distinctive feature in the three orders is the capital of the column. In the Doric this is very simple; a curved moulding, round like the shaft, is surmounted by a large square block or abacus. In the Ionic the capital has two scroll-like ornaments, called volutes. There are more mouldings used, and the proportions are more slender. Asia Minor contains numerous remains of Ionic architecture. The Erectheium at Athens is the best known. The temple of Diana was included among the seven wonders of the world, as was the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, another Ionic temple recently discovered.
“Vestiges.” Latin, Vestigium. Marks of the foot on the earth. Tracks, traces, signs. “What vestiges of liberty or propriety have they left.”—Burke.
“Corinthian.” Vitruvius says of this order that it was arranged “to represent the delicacy of a young girl whose age renders her figure more pleasing and more susceptible of ornaments which may enhance her natural beauty.” The Corinthian capital is the most ornamented of the three orders. It is generally formed of various arrangements of acanthus leaves, and is much larger and more showy than the others. The monument of Lysicrates at Athens is the best example of this style.
“Cyclopean,” cy-clo-pēˈan. Pertaining to a class of giants, who had but one eye in the middle of the forehead. They were said to inhabit Sicily, and to be assistants in the workshops of Vulcan, fabled to be under Mt. Etna.
P. 263, c. 1.—“Jupiter Capitolinus.” This temple was built in the early days of Rome, and is said to have derived its name from the builders discovering, during the excavation, a freshly bleeding head (caput). According to the interpretation of the sages this sign indicated that the place should become the head of the world. The temple was dedicated to Jupiter as king of the gods. From it the hill on which it was situated took its name of the Capitoline.
“Appian Way.” The way or road from Rome to Brundusium, constructed partly by Appius Claudius, B. C. 313.
“Q. Metellus Macedonicus,” me-telˈlus măc-e-dŏnˈi-cus.
“Roman.” In the ground plan of Roman architecture there is a great difference from the Egyptian and Greek styles. The first employed the ellipse, the circle, the octagon, and combinations of these various forms in their plan, while the rectangle was the almost inevitable form in the two latter. Instead of the massive blocks of stone of former buildings, the Romans used small stones cemented with a cement of extraordinary power. They could build anywhere and of anything. The roofs were arched and in domes; the openings almost invariably arches; the columns and ornaments were generally varieties of Greek styles.
“Tetra style.” Having a portico of four columns in front. Tetra is the Greek word for four.
“Vitruvius,” vi-trūˈvi-us. See notes in The Chautauquan for October.
“Pseudo peripteral,” sūˈdō pe-rĭpˈte-ral. A peripteral temple had a single row of columns all around it. The variation of the style which existed in this temple led to its being called pseudo, or falsely peripteral.
“Maison Carrée,” mā-zong kăr-rā. The Square House, as the name signifies, is a beautiful Corinthian temple, of rectangular form. The temple was built when all France was under the rule of Rome. Although the Square House was injured in the wars of the middle ages, it has been restored, and is now used as a museum.
“Nimes,” neem. A city of France, about sixty miles northwest of Marseilles.
“Baalbec,” bâlˈbek.
P. 263, c. 2.—“Flavian.” The emperor Vespasian, who began the Colosseum, belonged to the house of Flavius, hence the name.
“Esquiline,” esˈqui-line; “Cœlian,” cœˈli-an.
“Pantheon,” pan-theˈon. Meaning all the gods. “In the year B. C. 27, on the occasion of the victory of Actium, when universal peace was declared, the great edifice was dedicated to all the gods, and figures of these in gold, in silver, in bronze, and in precious marbles were placed in niches within it, and hence the name Pantheon.” It is now a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin and All Saints, and is called the Rotunda.
P. 264, c. 1.—“Santa Sophia.” The church was not dedicated to a saint, but to the spirit of wisdom (sophia is the Greek for wisdom), the second person in the Trinity.
“Procopius.” See notes on “Greek History” in The Chautauquan for November.
“San Vitale,” san ve-tâˈlā.
P. 264, c. 2.—“Vaudois,” vō-dwâ. A religious denomination called sometimes the Waldenses, founded in the twelfth century, in Italy.
P. 265, c. 1.—“Nautilus,” nâuˈti-lŭs. A mollusk having a coiled univalve shell of many chambers. As the animal grows new chambers are continually formed, and the parts vacated are partitioned off into air-tight chambers by thin, smooth plates.
P. 265, c. 2.—“Triton,” trīˈton. A marine deity in Greek mythology, having the form of a man above, and of a fish below, and bearing a conch-shell trumpet.
P. 266, c. 1.—“Antennæ,” an-tĕnˈnæ. A projection on the head of an insect; a feeler.
“Vernier,” vërˈni-er. A small movable scale, sliding along the fixed scale of an instrument, and subdividing its divisions into more minute parts.
P. 267, c. 2.—“Esquimaux,” ĕsˈke-mō; “Algonquins,” al-gonˈkins; “Iroquois,” ĭr-o-kwoizˈ; “Mobillians,” mo-beelˈli-ans; “Dacotas,” da-koˈtas.
P. 268, c. 1.—“Erickson,” ĕrˈik-son; “Terra incognita,” unknown land.
P. 268, c. 2.—“Amerigo Vespucci,” â-mā-rēˈgo ves-pootˈche; “Ponce de Leon,” poneˈdā lā-oanˈ; “Fernando Cortes,” fer-nanˈdo kor-tĕsˈ; “Tabasco,” ta-băsˈco; “Montezumas,” mon-te-zuˈma.