1891

THE HIRSCH COLONIES

of the conservation of energy, conceived independently by Robert Mayer. As Professor of Physiology and Pathology at Koenigsberg, he determined the rate of transmission of nerve impulses, and in 1851 invented the ophthalmoscope, an instrument of almost incalculable value to oculists. In 1862 appeared his famous work "The Doctrine of Tone Sensations as a Physiological Basis of the Theory of Music," an epoch-making work in which he showed the true nature of sounds. To electricity and hydrodynamics he made noteworthy contributions.

Soon after this came the death of Edward Robert BulwerLytton, the son of the novelist, in November. He had filled diplomatic posts at all the principal European capitals. Under the pseudonym of "Owen Meredith," he published several volumes of verse, the most popular of which, “Lucille," appeared in 1860. In 1876 he was appointed Viceroy of India by the government of Disraeli. This post he resigned in 1880, and was created an earl.

Meanwhile the persecution of the Jews in Russia, initiated in the previous year, began to cause serious disturbances in the financial arrangements of the state. In May the Governor of Moscow suddenly put latent penal laws into action, compelling thousands of Jews to leave the city or suffer imprisonment. The House of Rothschild withdrew from participation in the new Russian Conversion Loan. The town of Starodoub, in the province of Tchnerzigov, which had for some days been the centre of anti-Jewish agitation, was, on the 20th of October, entirely in the hands of the mob. Jewish shopkeepers were plundered, fire was set to stores and houses, and the property destroyed was valued at 4,000,000 rubles. At the same time the failure of the precautionary measures to protect the people from starvation caused a famine. In April Baron Hirsch notified his readiness to contribute the sum of £3,000,000 toward a fund for establishing

CHINESE MASSACRE MISSIONARIES

1891

in Syria and other places colonies for the Jews expelled from Russia. In August he despatched orders to his Argentine agents to purchase land in that country to the value of £2,000,000. But the first Hirsch colony, as it turned out, was established at Woodbine, New Jersey, in September. The farm consisted of over 5,000 acres of land, and comprised workshops for various trades. At Vladorboch the Czarewitch in May laid the first rail of the Great Trans-Siberian Railway from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific.

During the early part of the year, and especially toward summer, influenza prevailed as an epidemic in various cities of the United States. As many as 227 deaths were reported in the course of twenty-four hours in New York. In autumn a serious outbreak of cholera had been reported from eastern Syria and Persia; the deaths, chiefly among the pilgrims, ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 a day.

In China jealousy and hatred of the foreigners developed in this year into mob violence. It took the form of a concerted movement against the foreign missionaries living in the valley of the Yang-tse-Kiang River. A series of massacres occurred during May, September, November, and December.

The southern coast of Nipon was convulsed by a terrible earthquake late in the year. Seventy-five thousand houses were overthrown, numbers of public buildings completely destroyed, and altogether 6,000 persons lost their lives, while thousands were injured.

EVENTS OF 1892

'Anarchistic Outrages in France, Spain, and Italy-Deaths of Müller, Historical Painter, Clarence, Heir-Presumptive of British Throne, Cardinal Manning, Whitman and Whittier, Poets, Renan, Biblical Critic, and Tennyson, Poet-Celebration of Columbus's Discovery of America in America, Spain, and Genoa, Italy-Cleveland Elected President-Argentine Rebels Arrested-In Venezuela the Rebel Crespo Defeats Government Forces-He Captures Caracas-Russia Emancipates Asian Serfs-Prussia Restores Hanover Fortune to Duke of Cumberland-Canon and Pfeiffer Discover Grippe_Bacillus -Death of Dr. Richard Owen, Scientist-French Subdue Dahomey -French Procureur-General Arrests Promoters of Panama Canal Company for Embezzlement.

T

HE epidemic of influenza, commonly called grippe, still swept from Constantinople to San Francisco.

In some cities, notably Vienna and Boston, it affected nearly one-fourth of the population. Anarchistic demonstrations broke out in France, Italy, and Spain. During March and April dynamite outrages were perpetrated at Paris, Liège, Xeres, and at Tarento, in Italy. Hundreds of suspects were arrested and several men, convicted in the courts, were sentenced to death. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurred in southern Europe and Polynesia. Throughout June great alarm was felt in Naples and southern Italy at the continued activity of Mount Vesuvius and of Mount Etna in Sicily. The greatest volcanic eruption of the year was that of Mauna Loa, in the Hawaiian Islands.

Charles Louis Müller, the famous historical painter, died at Paris in January. A pupil of Gros and Cogniet, this artist made a lasting reputation by his ambitious picture "The Roll Call of the Last Victims of the Reign of Terror." This immense canvas, which contained acknowledged portraits, was hailed at the time of its acquisition by the French Government as the foremost historical painting of its time. Janu

DEATHS OF WHITMAN AND WHITTIER

1892

ary 14 occurred the death of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, heir-presumptive to the throne of Great Britain. On the same evening Cardinal Manning died at Westminster. Henry Edward Manning was an archdeacon of the Church of England who took an active part in the Tractarian Movement of 1833, and later (in 1851) went over to the Church of Rome and was ordained a priest. On the death of Cardinal Wiseman, he succeeded him as Archbishop of Westminster, 1865, and ten years afterward was made Cardinal.

In March Walt Whitman, the American poet, died at Camden, New Jersey. In 1856 he published "Leaves of Grass," a collection of poems which attracted immediate at tention in America and England. Whitman's free versification and his unashamed utterances of the verities of life made him an object of ridicule and denunciation throughout America. During the American Civil War the poet devoted himself to the relief of sick and wounded soldiers in the camp hospitals. Vivid impressions of these scenes were given in his "Drum Taps." By the time Whitman died, much of the early feeling against him had subsided, and he was venerated by many as "the good gray poet."

America soon lost another poet of renown by the death of John Greenleaf Whittier. He died at the age of eightyfive, the most popular poet of America after Longfellow. Whittier was a Quaker, born in Massachusetts. While engaged in farm work, at the age of nineteen, he wrote his first poems for the Newburyport "Free Press," published by William Lloyd Garrison. From 1883 he devoted himself to the cause of anti-slavery, writing on the subject for more than thirty years in verse as well as prose.

In October Ernest Renan died at Paris. He was born at Trequier, in Brittany, in 1823. Of French writers during the nineteenth century he was the most erudite. His greatest work was his "History of the Origins of Christianity.'

"ULEVELAND ESPECKOJNOID EPRESIDENT

For this searching study and the conclusions drawn there from he was anathematized by the Curia, and his book was placed on the papal list of forbidden works. Similar op position was raised to his "Jesus," a life of the Saviour, and his "Eistory of the People of Israel," books written in the spirit of modern criticism.

Four days later Lord Tenryson, the Poet Laureate of England, died at Alisworth, near Fazelmere. His early poems excited but scant attention. Not until 1542, when Tennyson came forth with a colection of poems in two volumes, was he recognized as one of the coming poets of England. The death of Tennyson's friend, Arthur Hal lam, in 1850, inspired him to the long-sustained poem, In Memoriam."

It was after the appearance of this poem that Queen Victoria raised Tennyson to the rank of Poet Laureate. He justified his selection by his great "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington," in 1852. Three years later appeared "Maud" and next, in 1855, the first four cantos of the “Idyls of the King" the greatest of all his works.

The diplomatic differences between Italy and the United States, arising out of the murder of Italian subjects in New (Orleans, were satisfactorily settled. The Chinese Exclusion Bill was approved by the Senate on May 12. The four hur dredth anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America was celebrated in October throughout the United States as well as in Genoa and Spain. The twenty-seventh Presidential election was held November 5. Cleveland was elected by 379,025 plurality, the largest yet received by any Presidential candidate. The organization known as the Farmers' Alliance had grown to great strength and had joined issues with the newly formed People's Party or Populists. Owing partly to the wast labor strikes of this year, the People's Party, which had nominated General James B. Weaver of