Quotes4study

The preceding statistics and remarks, as well as the supplementary tables at the end of this article, indicate that the British fishing industry has enjoyed a period of unexampled prosperity. The community at large has benefited by the more plentiful supply, and the merchant by the general lowering of prices at the ports of landing (see Tables I.-IV. at end). But it is to be noted that this wave of prosperity, as on previous occasions, has been attained by the application of increased and more powerful means of capture and by the exploitation of new fishing grounds in distant waters, and not by any increase, natural or artificial, in the productivity of the home waters,--unless perhaps the abundance of herrings is to be ascribed to the destruction of their enemies by trawling. British fisheries are still pursued as a form of hunting rather than of husbandry. In 1892 the Iceland and Bay of Biscay trawling banks were discovered, in 1898 the Faroe banks, in 1905 rich plaice grounds in the White Sea. In 1905 one-half of the cod and a quarter of the haddock and plaice landed at east coast ports of England were caught in waters beyond the North Sea. Entry: A

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre"     1910-1911

The first foreign merchants of whom we read, carrying goods and bags of silver from one distant region to another, were the southern Arabs, reputed descendants of Ishmael and Esau. The first notable navigators and maritime carriers of goods were the Phoenicians. In the commerce of the ante-Christian ages the Jews do not appear to have performed any conspicuous part. Both the agricultural and the theocratic constitution of their society were unfavourable to a vigorous prosecution of foreign trade. In such traffic as they had with other nations they were served on their eastern borders by Arabian merchants, and on the west and south by the Phoenician shippers. The abundance of gold, silver and other precious commodities gathered from distant parts, of which we read in the days of greatest Hebrew prosperity, has more the character of spoils of war and tributes of dependent states than the conquest by free exchange of their domestic produce and manufacture. It was not until the Jews were scattered by foreign invasions, and finally cast into the world by the destruction of Jerusalem, that they began to develop those commercial qualities for which they have since been famous. Entry: COMMERCE

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 7 "Columbus" to "Condottiere"     1910-1911

_The Jurassic Belt._--The Jurassic belt is occupied by the counties of Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford, Northampton, Huntingdon, Rutland, Lincoln and the North Riding of Yorkshire. The rocks of the belt may be divided into two main groups: the Lias beds, which come next to the Triassic plain, and the Oolitic beds. Each group is made up of an alternation of soft marls or clays and hard limestones or sandstones. The low escarpments of the harder beds of the Lias are the real, though often scarcely perceptible, boundary between the Triassic plain and the Jurassic belt. They run along the right bank of the Trent in its northward course to the Humber, and similarly direct the course of the Avon southward to the Severn. The great feature of the region is the long line of the Oolitic escarpment, formed in different places by the edges of different beds of rock. The escarpment runs north from Portland Island on the English Channel, curves north-eastward as the Cotteswold Hills, rising abruptly from the Severn plain to heights of over 1000 ft.; it sinks to insignificance in the Midland counties, is again clearly marked in Lincolnshire, and rises in the North Yorkshire moors to its maximum height of over 1500 ft. Steep towards the west, where it overlooks the low Lias plain as the Oolitic escarpment, the land falls very gently in slopes of Oxford Clay towards the Cretaceous escarpments on the south and east. Throughout its whole extent it yields valuable building-stone, and in the Yorkshire moors the great abundance of iron ore has created the prosperity of Middlesbrough, on the plain below. The Lias plain is rich grazing country, the Oxford Clay forms valuable agricultural land, yielding heavy crops of wheat. The towns of the belt are comparatively small, not one attains a population of 75,000, and the favourite site is on the Lias plain below the great escarpment. They are for the most part typical rural market-towns, the manufactures, where such exist, being usually of agricultural machinery, or woollen and leather goods. Bath, Gloucester, Oxford, Northampton, Bedford, Rugby, Lincoln and Scarborough are amongst the chief. North of the gap in the low escarpment in which the town of Lincoln centres, a close fringe of villages borders the escarpment on the west; and throughout the belt the alternations of clay and hard rock are reflected in the grouping of population. Entry: II

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 4 "England" to "English Finance"     1910-1911

BOTHWELL, a town of Lanarkshire, Scotland. Pop. of town (1901) 3015; of parish (1901) 45,905. The town lies on the right bank of the Clyde, 9 m. E. S. E. of Glasgow by the North British and Caledonian railways. Owing to its pleasant situation it has become a residential quarter of Glasgow. The choir of the old Gothic church of 1398 (restored at the end of the 19th century) forms a portion of the parish church. Joanna Baillie, the poetess, was born in the manse, and a memorial has been erected in her honour. The river is crossed by a suspension bridge as well as the bridge near which, on the 22nd of June 1679, was fought the battle of Bothwell Bridge between the Royalists, under the duke of Monmouth, and the Covenanters, in which the latter lost 500 men and 1000 prisoners. Adjoining this bridge, on the level north-eastern bank, is the castle that once belonged to James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh (fl. 1566-1580), the assassin of the regent Murray; and near the present farmhouse the South Calder is spanned by a Roman bridge. The picturesque ruins of Bothwell Castle occupy a conspicuous position on the side of the river, which here takes the bold sweep famed in Scottish song as Bothwell bank. The fortress belonged to Sir Andrew Moray, who fell at Stirling in 1297, and passed by marriage to the Douglases. The lordship was bestowed in 1487 on Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Lord Hailes, 1st earl of Bothwell, who resigned it in 1491 in favour of Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Angus. It thus reverted to the Douglases and now belongs to the earl of Home, a descendant. The castle is a fine example of Gothic, and mainly consists of a great oblong quadrangle, flanked on the south side by circular towers. At the east end are the remains of the chapel. A dungeon bears the nickname of "Wallace's Beef Barrel." The unpretending mansion near by was built by Archibald Douglas, 1st earl of Forfar (1653-1712). The parish of Bothwell contains several flourishing towns and villages, all owing their prosperity to the abundance of coal, iron and oil-shale. The principal places, most of which have stations on the North British or Caledonian railway or both, are Bothwell Park, Carfin, Chapelhall, Bellshill (pop. 8786), Holytown, Mossend, Newarthill, Uddingston (pop. 7463), Clydesdale, Hamilton Palace, Colliery Rows and Tennochside. Entry: BOTHWELL

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John"     1910-1911

CORNU COPIAE, later CORNUCOPIA ("horn of plenty"), a horn; generally twisted, filled with fruit and flowers, or an ornament representing it. It was used as a symbol of prosperity and abundance, and hence in works of art it is placed in the hands of Plutus, Fortuna and similar divinities (for the mythological account see AMALTHEIA). The symbol probably originated in the practice of using the horns of oxen and goats as drinking-cups; hence the _rhyton_ (drinking-horn) is often confounded with the _cornu copiae_. For its representation in works of art, in which it is very common, especially in those belonging to the Roman period, see article in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire des Antiquités_. Entry: CORNU

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 4 "Coquelin" to "Costume"     1910-1911

LIPPE, a principality of Germany and constituent state of the German empire, bounded N.W., W. and S. by the Prussian province of Westphalia and N.E. and E. by the Prussian provinces of Hanover and Hesse-Nassau and the principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont. It also possesses three small enclaves--Kappel and Lipperode in Westphalia and Grevenhagen near Höxter. The area is 469 sq. m., and the population (1905) 145,610, showing a density of 125 to the sq. m. The greater part of the surface is hilly, and in the S. and W., where the Teutoburger Wald practically forms its physical boundary, mountainous. The chief rivers are the Weser, which crosses the north extremity of the principality, and its affluents, the Werre, Exter, Kalle and Emmer. The Lippe, which gives its name to the country, is a purely Westphalian river and does not touch the principality at any point. The forests of Lippe, among the finest in Germany, produce abundance of excellent timber. They occupy 28% of the whole area, and consist mostly of deciduous trees, beech preponderating. The valleys contain a considerable amount of good arable land, the tillage of which employs the greater part of the inhabitants. Small farms, the larger proportion of which are under 2½ acres, are numerous, and their yield shows a high degree of prosperity among the peasant farmers. The principal crops are potatoes, beetroot (for sugar), hay, rye, oats, wheat and barley. Cattle, sheep and swine are also reared, and the "Senner" breed of horses, in the stud farm at Lopshorn, is celebrated. The industries are small and consist mainly in the manufacture of starch, paper, sugar, tobacco, and in weaving and brewing. Lemgo is famous for its meerschaum pipes and Salzuflen for its brine-springs, producing annually about 1500 tons of salt, which is mostly exported. Each year, in spring, about 15,000 brickmakers leave the principality and journey to other countries, Hungary, Sweden and Russia, to return home in the late autumn. Entry: LIPPE

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 6 "Lightfoot, Joseph" to "Liquidation"     1910-1911

KIOTO (KYOTO), the former capital of Japan, in the province of Yamashiro, in 35° 01´ N., 135° 46´ E. Pop. (1903), 379,404. The Kamo-gawa, upon which it stands, is a mere rivulet in ordinary times, trickling through a wide bed of pebbles; but the city is traversed by several aqueducts, and was connected with Lake Biwa in 1890 by a canal 6(7/8) m. long, which carries an abundance of water for manufacturing purposes, brings the great lake and the city into navigable communication, and forms with the Kamo-gawa canal and the Kamo-gawa itself a through route to Osaka, from which Kioto is 25 m. distant by rail. Founded in the year 793, Kioto remained the capital of the empire during nearly eleven centuries. The emperor Kwammu, when he selected this remarkably picturesque spot for the residence of his court, caused the city to be laid out with mathematical accuracy, after the model of the Tang dynasty's capital in China. Its area, 3 m. by 3½, was intersected by 18 principal thoroughfares, 9 running due north and south, and 9 due east and west, the two systems being connected at intervals by minor streets. At the middle of the northern face stood the palace, its enclosure covering three-quarters of a square mile, and from it to the centre of the south face ran an avenue 283 ft. wide and 3½ m. long. Conflagrations and subsequent reconstructions modified the regularity of this plan, but much of it still remains, and its story is perpetuated in the nomenclature of the streets. In its days of greatest prosperity Kioto contained only half a million inhabitants, thus never even approximating to the size of the Tokugawa metropolis, Yedo, or the Hojo capital Kamakura. The emperor Kwammu called it Heian-jo, or the "city of peace," when he made it the seat of government; but the people knew it as Miyako, or Kyoto, terms both of which signify "capital," and in modern times it is often spoken of as Saikyo, or western capital, in opposition to Tokyo, or eastern capital. Having been so long the imperial, intellectual, political and artistic metropolis of the realm, the city abounds with evidences of its unique career. Magnificent temples and shrines, grand monuments of architectural and artistic skill, beautiful gardens, gorgeous festivals, and numerous _ateliers_ where the traditions of Japanese art are obeyed with attractive results, offer to the foreign visitor a fund of interest. Clear water ripples everywhere through the city, and to this water Kioto owes something of its importance, for nowhere else in Japan can fabrics be bleached so white or dyed in such brilliant colours. The people, like their neighbours of Osaka, are full of manufacturing energy. Not only do they preserve, amid all the progress of the age, their old-time eminence as producers of the finest porcelain, faience, embroidery, brocades, bronze, _cloisonné_ enamel, fans, toys and metal-work of all kinds, but they have also adapted themselves to the foreign market, and weave and dye quantities of silk fabrics, for which a large and constantly growing demand is found in Europe and America. Nowhere else can be traced with equal clearness the part played in Japanese civilization by Buddhism, with its magnificent paraphernalia and imposing ceremonial spectacles; nowhere else, side by side with this luxurious factor, can be witnessed in more striking juxtaposition the austere purity and severe simplicity of the Shinto cult; and nowhere else can be more intelligently observed the fine faculty of the Japanese for utilizing, emphasizing and enhancing the beauties of nature. The citizens' dwellings and the shops, on the other hand, are insignificant and even sombre in appearance, their exterior conveying no idea of the pretty chambers within or of the tastefully laid-out grounds upon which they open behind. Kioto is celebrated equally for its cherry and azalea blossoms in the spring, and for the colours of its autumn foliage. Entry: KIOTO

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 7 "Kelly, Edward" to "Kite"     1910-1911

Immense herds of swine are bred and constitute a great source of support to the inhabitants, not only supplying them with food, but also forming a great article of export to other provinces--the pork, bacon and hams being in high esteem. The beech, oak and chestnut woods afford an abundance of food for swine, and there are numerous plantations of olive, cork and fruit trees, but a far greater area of forest has been destroyed. For an account of commerce, mining, communications, &c., in Spanish Estremadura, with a list of the chief towns, see CÁCERES and BADAJOZ. In character and physical type, the people of this region are less easily classified than those of other Spanish provinces. They lack the endurance and energy of the Galicians, the independent and enterprising spirit of the Asturians, Basques and Catalans, the culture of the Castilians and Andalusians. Their failure to develop a distinctive local type of character and civilization is perhaps due to the adverse economic history of their country. The two great waterways which form the natural outlet for Estremaduran commerce flow to the Atlantic through a foreign and, for centuries, a hostile territory. Like other parts of Spain, Estremadura suffered severely from the expulsion of the Jews and Moors (1492-1610), while the compensating treasure, derived during the same period from Spanish America, never reached a province so remote at once from the sea and from the chief centres of national life. Although Cortes (1485-1547), the conqueror of Mexico and Pizarro (c. 1471-1541), the conqueror of Peru, were both born in Estremadura, their exploits, far from bringing prosperity to their native province, only encouraged the emigration of its best inhabitants. Heavy taxation and harsh land-laws prevented any recovery, while the felling of the forests reduced many fertile areas to waste land, and rendered worse a climate already unfavourable to agriculture. Few countries leave upon the mind of the traveller a deeper impression of hopeless poverty. Entry: 2

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics"     1910-1911

JALISCO, XALISCO, or GUADALAJARA, a Pacific coast state of Mexico, of very irregular shape, bounded, beginning on the N., by the territory of Tepic and the states of Durango, Zacatecas, Aguas Calientes, Guanajuato, Michoacán, and Colima. Pop. (1900), 1,153,891. Area, 31,846 sq. m. Jalisco is traversed from N.N.W. to S.S.E. by the Sierra Madre, locally known as the Sierra de Nayarit and Sierra de Jalisco, which divides the state into a low heavily forested coastal plain and a high plateau region, part of the great Anáhuac table-land, with an average elevation of about 5000 ft., broken by spurs and flanking ranges of moderate height. The sierra region is largely volcanic and earthquakes are frequent; in the S. are the active volcanoes of Colima (12,750 ft.) and the Nevado de Colima (14,363 ft.). The _tierra caliente_ zone of the coast is tropical, humid, and unfavourable to Europeans, while the inland plateaus vary from subtropical to temperate and are generally drier and healthful. The greater part of the state is drained by the Rio Grande de Lerma (called the Santiago on its lower course) and its tributaries, chief of which is the Rio Verde. Lakes are numerous; the largest are the Chapala, about 80 m. long by 10 to 35 m. wide, which is considered one of the most beautiful inland sheets of water in Mexico, the Sayula and the Magdalena, noted for their abundance of fish. The agricultural products of Jalisco include Indian corn, wheat and beans on the uplands, and sugar-cane, cotton, rice, indigo and tobacco in the warmer districts. Rubber and palm oil are natural forest products of the coastal zone. Stock-raising is an important occupation in some of the more elevated districts. The mineral resources include silver, gold, cinnabar, copper, bismuth, and various precious stones. There are reduction works of the old-fashioned type and some manufactures, including cotton and woollen goods, pottery, refined sugar and leather. The commercial activities of the state contribute much to its prosperity. There is a large percentage of Indians and mestizos in the population. The capital is Guadalajara, and other important towns with their populations in 1900 (unless otherwise stated) are: Zapotlanejo (20,275), 21 m. E. by N. of Guadalajara; Ciudad Guzmán (17,374 in 1895), 60 m. N.E. of Colima; Lagos (14,716 in 1895), a mining town 100 m. E.N.E. of Guadalajara on the Mexican Central railway; Tamazula (8783 in 1895); Sayula (7883); Autlán (7715); Teocaltiche (8881); Ameca (7212 in 1895), in a fertile agricultural region on the western slopes of the sierras; Cocula (7090 in 1895); and Zacoalco (6516). Jalisco was first invaded by the Spaniards about 1526 and was soon afterwards conquered by Nuño de Guzman. It once formed part of the reyno of Nueva Galicia, which also included Aguas Calientes and Zacatecas. In 1889 its area was much reduced by a subdivision of its coastal zone, which was set apart as the territory of Tepic. Entry: JALISCO

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 2 "Jacobites" to "Japan" (part)     1910-1911

Drones (or male bees) are more or less numerous in hives according to the skill of the bee-keeper in limiting their production. It is admitted by those best able to judge that the proportion of about a hundred drones in each hive is conducive to the prosperity of the colony, but beyond that number they are worse than useless, being non-producers and heavy consumers. Thus in times of scarcity, which are not infrequent during the early part of the season, they become a heavy tax upon the food-supply of the colony at the critical period when brood-rearing is accelerated by an abundance of stores, while shortness of food means a falling-off in egg-production. The modern bee-keeper, therefore, allows just so much drone comb in the hive as will produce a sufficient number of drones to ensure queen-mating, while affording to the bees the satisfaction of dwelling in a home equipped according to natural conditions, and containing all the elements necessary to bee-life. The action of the bees themselves makes this point clear, for when the season of mating is past the drone is no longer needed, the providing of winter stores taking first place in the economy of the hive. So long as honey is being gathered in plenty drones are tolerated, but no sooner does the honey harvest show signs of being over than they are mercilessly killed and cast out of the hive by the workers, after a brief idle life of about four months' duration. Thus the "lazy yawning drone," as Shakespeare puts it, has a short shrift when his usefulness to the community is ended. Entry: A

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 5 "Bedlam" to "Benson, George"     1910-1911

Of Law's writings the most important for the comprehension of the "system" is his _Money and Trade Considered_. In this work he says that national power and wealth consist in numbers of people, and magazines of home and foreign goods. These depend on trade, and that on money, of which a greater quantity employs more people; but credit, if the credit have a circulation, has all the beneficial effects of money. To create and increase instruments of credit is the function of a bank. Let such be created then, and let its notes be only given in return for land sold or pledged. Such a currency would supply the nation with abundance of money; and it would have many advantages, which Law points out in detail, over silver. The bank or commission was to be a government institution, and its profits were to be spent in encouraging the export and manufacture of the nation. A very evident error lies at the root of the "system." Money is not the result but the cause of wealth, he thought. To increase it then must be beneficial, and the best way is by a properly secured paper currency. This is the motive force; but it is to be applied in a particular way. Law had a profound belief in the omnipotence of government. He saw the evils of minor monopolies, and of private farming of taxes. He proposed to centre foreign trade and internal finance in one huge monopoly managed by the state for the people, and carrying on business through a plentiful supply of paper money. He did not see that trade and commerce are best left to private enterprise, and that such a scheme would simply result in the profits of speculators and favourites. The "system" was never so far developed as to exhibit its inherent faults. The madness of speculators ruined the plan when only its foundations were laid. One part indeed might have been saved. The bank was not necessarily bound to the company, and had its note-issue been retrenched it might have become a permanent institution. As Thiers points out, the edict of the 5th of March 1720, which made the shares convertible into notes, ruined the bank without saving the company. The shares had risen to an unnatural height, and they should have been allowed to fall to their natural level. Perhaps Law felt this to be impossible. He had friends at court whose interests were involved in the shares, and he had enemies eager for his overthrow. It was necessary to succeed completely or not at all; so Law, a gambler to the core, risked and lost everything. Notwithstanding the faults of the "system," its author was a financial genius of the first order. He had the errors of his time; but he propounded many truths as to the nature of currency and banking then unknown to his contemporaries. The marvellous skill which he displayed in adapting the theory of the "system" to the actual condition of things in France, and in carrying out the various financial transactions rendered necessary by its development, is absolutely without parallel. His profound self-confidence and belief in the truth of his own theories were the reasons alike of his success and his ruin. He never hesitated to employ the whole force of a despotic government for the definite ends which he saw before him. He left France poorer than he entered it, yet he was not perceptibly changed by his sudden transitions of fortune. Montesquieu visited him at Venice after his fall, and has left a description of him touched with a certain pathos. Law, he tells us, was still the same in character, perpetually planning and scheming, and, though in poverty, revolving vast projects to restore himself to power, and France to commercial prosperity. Entry: LAW

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 3 "Latin Language" to "Lefebvre, François-Joseph"     1910-1911

In dealing with money, he refutes the Mercantile School, which had tended to confound it with wealth. "Money," said Hume, "is none of the wheels of trade; it is the oil which renders the motion of the wheels more smooth and easy." "Money and commodities are the real strength of any community." From the internal, as distinct from the international, aspect, the absolute quantity of money, supposed as of fixed amount, in a country, is of no consequence, while a quantity larger than is required for the interchange of commodities is injurious, as tending to raise prices and to drive foreigners from the home markets. It is only _during the period of acquisition_ of money, and before the rise in prices, that the accumulation of precious metals is advantageous. This principle is perhaps Hume's most important economic discovery (cf. F. A. Walker's _Money in its Relations to Trade and Industry_, London, 1880, p. 84 sqq.). He goes on to show that the variations of prices are due solely to money and commodities in circulation. Further, it is a misconception to regard as injurious the passage of money into foreign countries. "A government," he says, "has great reason to preserve with care its _people_ and its _manufactures_; its _money_ it may safely trust to the course of human affairs without fear or jealousy." Dealing with the phenomena of interest, he exposes the old fallacy that the rate depends upon the amount of money in a country; low interest does not follow on abundance of money. The reduction in the rate of interest must, in general, result from "the increase of industry and frugality, of arts and commerce." In connexion with this he emphasizes a too generally neglected factor in economic phenomena, "the constant and insatiable desire of the mind for exercise and employment." "Interest," he says in general, "is the barometer of the state, and its lowness an almost infallible sign of prosperity," arising, as it does, from increased trade, frugality in the merchant class, and the consequent rise of new lenders: low interest and low profits mutually forward each other. In the matter of free trade and protection he compromises. He says on the one hand, "not only as a man, but as a British subject I pray for the flourishing commerce of Germany, Spain, Italy and even France itself," and condemns "the numerous bars, obstructions and imposts which all nations of Europe, and none more than England, have put upon trade." On the other hand, he approves of a protective tax on German linen in favour of home manufactures, and of a tax on brandy as encouraging the sale of rum and so supporting our southern colonies. Indeed it has been fairly observed that Hume retains an attitude of refined mercantilism. With regard to taxation he takes very definite views. The best taxes, he says, are those levied on consumption, especially on luxuries, for these are least heavily felt. He denies that all taxes fall finally on the land. Superior frugality and industry on the part of the artisan will enable him to pay taxes without mechanically raising the price of labour. Here, as in other points, he differs entirely from the physiocrats, and his criticism of contemporary French views are, as a whole, in accordance with received modern opinion. For the modern expedient of raising money for national emergencies by way of loan he has a profound distrust. He was convinced that what is bad for the individual credit must be bad for the state also. A national debt, he maintains, enriches the capital at the expense of the provinces; further, it creates a leisured class of stockholders, and possesses all the disadvantages of paper credit. "Either the nation must destroy public credit, or public credit will destroy the nation." To sum up, it may be said that Hume enunciated the principle that "everything in the world is purchased by labour, and our passions are the only causes of labour"; and further, that, in analysing the complex phenomena of commerce, he is superior sometimes to Adam Smith in that he never forgets that the ultimate causes of economic change are the "customs and manners" of the people, and that the solution of problems is to be sought in the elementary factors of industry. Entry: 2

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 8 "Hudson River" to "Hurstmonceaux"     1910-1911

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