Chapter XIX: , page 276 (2)

"We have already made considerable progress in the task of
discovering what the structure of electricity is. We have
known for some time that of one kind of electricity—the
negative—and a very interesting one it is. We know that
negative electricity is made up of units all of which are of
the same kind; that these units are exceedingly small compared
with even the smallest atom. … The size of these corpuscles is
on an altogether different scale from that of atoms; the
Volume of a corpuscle bears to that of the atom about the same
relation as that of a speck of dust to the Volume of this
room. Under suitable conditions they move at enormous speeds,
which approach in some instances the velocity of light. The
discovery of these corpuscles is an interesting example of the
way Nature responds to the demands made upon her by
mathematicians. Some years before the discovery of corpuscles
it had been shown by a mathematical investigation that the
mass of a body must be increased by a charge of electricity.
This increase, however, is greater for small bodies than for
large ones, and even bodies as small as atoms are hopelessly
too large to show any appreciable effect; thus the result
seemed entirely academic. After a time corpuscles were
discovered, and these are so much smaller than the atom that
the increase in mass due to the charge becomes not merely
appreciable, but so great that, as the experiments of Kaufmann
and Bucherer have shown, the whole of the mass of the
corpuscle arises from its charge.

"We know a great deal about negative electricity; what do we
know about positive electricity? Is positive electricity
molecular in structure? Is it made up into units, each unit
carrying a charge equal in magnitude though opposite in sign
to that carried by a corpuscle? … The investigations made on
the unit of positive electricity show that it is of quite a
different kind from the unit of negative; the mass of the
negative unit is exceedingly small compared with any atom; the
only positive units that up to the present have been detected
are quite comparable in mass with the mass of an atom of
hydrogen; in fact they seem equal to it. This makes it more
difficult to be certain that the unit of positive electricity
has been isolated, for we have to be on our guard against its
being a much smaller body attached to the hydrogen atoms which
happen to be present in the vessel. … At present the smallest
positive electrified particles of which we have direct
experimental evidence have masses comparable with that of an
atom of hydrogen.

"A knowledge of the mass and size of the two units of
electricity, the positive and the negative, would give us the
material for constructing what may be called a molecular
theory of electricity, and would be a starting point for a
theory of the structure of matter; for the most natural view
to take, as a provisional hypothesis, is that matter is just a
collection of positive and negative units of electricity, and
that the forces which hold atoms and molecules together, the
properties which differentiate one kind of matter from
another, all have their origin in the electrical forces
exerted by positive and negative units of electricity, grouped
together in different ways in the atoms of the different
elements. As it would seem that the units of positive and
negative electricity are of very different sizes, we must
regard matter as a mixture containing systems of very
different types, one type corresponding to the small
corpuscle, the other to the large positive unit. Since the
energy associated with a given charge is greater the smaller
the body on which the charge is concentrated, the energy
stored up in the negative corpuscles will be far greater than
that stored up by the positive. The amount of energy which is
stored up in ordinary matter in the form of the electrostatic
potential energy of its corpuscles is, I think, not generally
realized. … This energy is fortunately kept fast bound by the
corpuscles; if at any time an appreciable fraction were to get
free the earth would explode and become a gaseous nebula. The
matter of which I have been speaking so far is the material
which builds up the earth, the sun, and the stars, the matter
studied by the chemist, and which he can represent by a
formula; this matter occupies, however, but an insignificant
fraction of the universe; it forms but minute islands in the
great ocean of the ether, the substance with which the whole
universe is filled.

{606}

"The ether is not a fantastic creation of the speculative
philosopher; it is as essential to us as the air we breathe.
For we must remember that we on this earth are not living on
our own resources; we are dependent from minute to minute upon
what we are getting from the sun, and the gifts of the sun are
conveyed to us by the ether. It is to the sun that we owe not
merely night and day, springtime and harvest, but it is the
energy of the sun, stored up in coal, in waterfalls, in food,
that practically does all the work of the world. … On the
electro-magnetic theory of light, now universally accepted,
the energy streaming to the earth travels through the ether in
electric waves; thus practically the whole of the energy at
our disposal has at one time or another been electrical
energy. The ether must, then, be the seat of electrical and
magnetic forces. We know, thanks to the genius of Clerk
Maxwell, the founder and inspirer of modern electrical theory,
the equations which express the relation between these forces,
and although for some purposes these are all we require, yet
they do not tell us very much about the nature of the ether.

"Let us consider some of the facts known about the ether. When
light falls on a body and is absorbed by it, the body is
pushed forward in the direction in which the light is
travelling, and if the body is free to move it is set in
motion by the light. Now it is a fundamental principle of
dynamics that when a body is set moving in a certain
direction, or, to use the language of dynamics, acquires
momentum in that direction, some other mass must lose the same
amount of momentum; in other words, the amount of momentum in
the universe is constant. Thus, when the body is pushed
forward by the light, some other system must have lost the
momentum the body acquires, and the only other system
available is the wave of light falling on the body; hence we
conclude that there must have been momentum in the wave in the
direction in which it is travelling. Momentum, however,
implies mass in motion. We conclude, then, that in the ether
through which the wave is moving there is mass moving with the
velocity of light. The experiments made on the pressure due to
light enable us to calculate this mass. …

"The place where the density of the ether carried along by an
electric field rises to its highest value is close to a
corpuscle, for round the corpuscles are by far the strongest
electric fields of which we have any knowledge. We know the
mass of the corpuscle, we know from Kaufmann’s experiments
that this arises entirely from the electric charge, and is
therefore due to the ether carried along with the corpuscle by
the lines of force attached to it. … Around the corpuscle
ether must have an extravagant density; whether the density is
as great as this in other places depends upon whether the
ether is compressible or not. If it is compressible, then it
may be condensed round the corpuscles, and there have an
abnormally great density; if it is not compressible, then the
density in free space cannot be less than the number I have
just mentioned. With respect to this point we must remember
that the forces acting on the ether close to the corpuscle are
prodigious. … I do not know at present of any effect which
would enable us to determine whether ether is compressible or
not. And although at first sight the idea that we are immersed
in a medium almost infinitely denser than lead might seem
inconceivable, it is not so if we remember that in all
probability matter is composed mainly of holes. We may, in
fact, regard matter as possessing a bird-cage kind of
structure in which the Volume of the ether disturbed by the
wires when the structure is moved is infinitesimal in
comparison with the Volume enclosed by them. If we do this, no
difficulty arises from the great density of the ether; all we
have to do is to increase the distance between the wires in
proportion as we increase the density of the ether."

Some English journals, in discussing Sir Joseph Thomson’s
address at Winnipeg, spoke doubtingly of its scientific
soundness, regarding it as too speculative, representing
conclusions in advance of what physical science had obtained a
real warrant to draw. These newspaper critics were called
sharply to account by Sir Oliver Lodge, and told that they
were suspicious of Sir Joseph’s statements only because they
knew nothing of the data on which he founded them.

In a magazine article of the previous year, Sir Oliver Lodge
had already traversed part of the ground covered by the
impressive review of Sir Joseph Thomson. In that article he
said of the present conception of the ether of space, as
accepted among the leaders of physical science:

"When a steel spring is bent or distorted, what is it that is
really strained? Not the atoms—the atoms are only displaced;
it is the connecting links that are strained—the connecting
medium—the ether. Distortion of a spring is really distortion
of the ether. All strain exists in the ether. Matter can only
be moved. Contact does not exist between the atoms of matter
as we know them; it is doubtful if a piece of matter ever
touches another piece, any more than a comet touches the sun
when it appears to rebound from it; but the atoms are
connected, as the planets, the comets and the sun are
connected, by a continuous _plenum_ without break or
discontinuity of any kind. Matter acts on matter solely
through the ether. But whether matter is a thing utterly
distinct and separate from the ether, or whether it is a
specifically modified portion of it—modified in such a way as
to be susceptible of locomotion, and yet continuous with all
the rest of the ether,—which can be said to extend everywhere,
far beyond the bounds of the modified and tangible portion
called matter—are questions demanding, and I may say in
process of receiving, answers.

"Every such answer involves some view of the universal, and
possibly infinite, uniform, omnipresent connecting medium, the
ether of space."

_Oliver Lodge,
The Ether of Space
(North American Review, May, 1908)._

[Transcriber's Note: The Michelson-Morley experiment 21
years earlier had cast doubt on the ether concept.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70888]

SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Radium and Radio-activity:
The Discovery by Professor and Madame Curie.
The Light it throws on many Scientific Problems.
Faraday’s Prophetic Anticipation.
The Dissolution of Atoms.

"In his first treatise on the X-rays, Röntgen [see in Volume
VI.] drew attention to the fact that they proceeded from those
parts of the Röntgen tubes where the glass, under the
influence of the impinging cathode rays, showed the most
fluorescence. It therefore seemed possible that the existence
of these mysterious rays was in some way dependent on
previously acquired fluorescence, and many physicists tried to
ascertain with the well-known Balmain dyes, which become
luminous after exposure to the light, if results could be
obtained resembling those with a Röntgen tube.

{607}

"Similar attempts by the French physicist, Henri Becquerel,
were crowned with success in an unexpected direction. He
exposed a uranium salt to the light, and then placing it in a
dark room on a photographic plate covered with opaque paper he
demonstrated the action of these rays on the plate through the
paper, thin sheets of metal, etc. But the supposed and
sought-for relation of the rays to the previous fluorescence
was not evident, for Becquerel obtained precisely the same
results with preparations of uranium which had not only not
been previously exposed directly to the light, but had
purposely been kept some time in darkness and could therefore
display no stored-up luminescence. He had, however, discovered
the uranium or Becquerel rays. …

"At Becquerel’s suggestion Madame Curie undertook a systematic
investigation of all the chemical elements and established the
fact that with none of them, excepting uranium and thorium,
could an appreciable effect indicating rays be obtained with
her apparatus. On the other hand, she found that many of the
minerals investigated showed noticeable action in this
direction. The fact that a few of them, the uranium
pitchblende, for example, from Joachimsthal, Bohemia, emitted
rays three or four times stronger than those of pure uranium,
and which could not therefore be announced as uranium rays,
led her to suppose that in the pitchblende itself, apart from
the uranium, there must exist a still more powerful
radioactive substance. It is a matter of record how, in this
research, which might serve as a model for such work, she and
her husband, so soon afterwards to lose his life by a
deplorable accident, succeeded in tracing this supposed
substance more and more accurately, and finally in obtaining
it pure. Madame Curie thus became the discoverer of radium, a
new element possessed of wonderful, of fabulous qualities.

"Besides Madame Curie no other investigator but Professor
Braunschweig, so far as I know, has yet succeeded in obtaining
pure radium."

_Franz Himstedt,
Radioactivity (Annual Report, Smithsonian Institution,
1905-1906, pages 117-118)._

"The phenomena of radio-activity revive interest in the
prophetic views of Michael Faraday. In 1816, when he was but
twenty-four years of age, he delivered a lecture at the Royal
Institution in London on Radiant Matter. In the course of his
remarks there occurs this passage:—‘If we now conceive a
change as far beyond vaporization as that is above fluidity,
and then take into account the proportional increased extent
of alteration as the changes arise, we shall perhaps, if we
can form any conception at all, not fall short of radiant
matter; and as in the last conversion many qualities were
lost, so here also many more would disappear. It was the
opinion of Newton, and of many other distinguished
philosophers, that this conversion was possible, and
continually going on in the processes of nature, and they
found that the idea would bear without injury the applications
of mathematical reasoning—as regards heat, for instance. If
assumed, we must also assume the simplicity of matter; for it
would follow that all the variety of substances with which we
are acquainted could be converted into one of three kinds of
radiant matter; which again may differ from each other only in
the size of their particles or their form. The properties of
known bodies would then be supposed to arise from the varied
arrangements of their ultimate atoms, and belong to substances
only as long as their compound nature existed; and thus
variety of matter and variety of properties would be found
co-essential.’"

George Iles,
Inventors at Work,
pages 204-205 (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York).

"An ascertained commercial value of £4 per milligramme
(equivalent to £114,000 per ounce) has been placed upon radium
by a contract just entered into between the British
Metalliferous Mines (Limited) and Lord Iveagh and Sir Ernest
Cassel for the supply of 7½ grammes (rather more than a
quarter of an ounce) of pure radium bromide. This very large
order for radium will be supplied from the above named
company’s mine near Grampound Road in Cornwall."

_London Times, June 21, 1909._

SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Mono-Rail Gyroscopic System.

A mechanical invention not yet developed, but which seems more
than likely to count among the most important of the next few
years, is that known as the Brennan mono-rail system, which
balances cars and trains of cars on a single rail by use of
the principle of the gyroscope. It was first exhibited by its
English inventor, Mr. Louis Brennan, in model form, before the
Royal Society, in 1907, and won so much confidence in its
possibilities that the British War Office and the India Office
gave financial assistance to meet the cost of the long
experiments that were necessary for adapting the system to
service on a large practical scale. The result of these
experiments was exhibited in public trials at New Brompton,
England, and, subsequently, at New York, in the later part of
1909. The following account of the exhibition at New Brompton
was given by _The Times_:

"The car with which the test runs were carried out is 40 ft.
in length and 10 ft. in width; its weight is 22 tons, and it
is designed for a load of 10 to 15 tons. The weight of the
gyroscopes, of which there are two, is 1½ tons, each having a
diameter of 3 ft. 6 in. The speed of rotation is 3,000 r. p.
m., or considerably less than it was in the 6 ft. model
exhibited before the Royal Society. It would be possible for
the car to obtain the necessary power by collecting current
from an overhead wire with a consequent saving of weight, but
in the present example the motive power is provided by two
Wolseley petrol engines, one of 80 h. p., and the other of 20
h. p., driving two direct-current shunt-wound motors of the
Siemens type. It is not necessary that the car should be
propelled electrically, and steam or other motive power could
be employed; but in any case it would be necessary to spin the
gyroscopes electrically, this method being ideal for the
purpose. The air is exhausted from the gyroscope cases, the
pressure in them being equivalent to from ½ in. to 5/8 in. of
mercury. It is hoped in future installations to design the
gyroscopes for higher speeds, and in that case it would be
possible to reduce the size and weight of the equipment. In
this first car the gyroscopes run in the vertical plane, but
that is merely for convenience, the essential feature being
that the trunnions should be at right angles to the track. …

{608}

"Several experimental trips were made on the factory circular
track as well as on the straight, and the car travelled with
remarkable steadiness throughout. It is not likely that the
Brennan mono-rail will find any wide field of application in
this country, but there would appear to be great advantages in
the system for mountain railways in India and elsewhere, and,
indeed, it seems suitable for adoption in any country where
new railways are being planned. The inventor lays stress on
the absolute safety of the system at speeds ranging up to
about 150 miles per hour."

SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Sanitary.

See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.

SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Submarine Signal Bells.

In May, 1909, it was announced from Washington that "the
Government, recognizing the substantial service rendered to
shipping by submarine bells, has decided to extend their
installation from time to time to light vessels and stations
on both coasts and upon the great lakes. At present forty-six
of the light vessels are thus equipped, and the signals which
they send out are of undoubted aid to deep-water navigation.
Canada, England, Germany, Holland, France, Sweden, and Denmark
are following suit. The bells operate during fogs and at night
and the sound waves emitted by the bell under water have been
known to travel as far as twenty-seven miles. These sound
waves are picked up by the receiving microphones on board
ships, and by the code signal of each station the vessel’s
navigator is able to tell where he is."

See (in this Volume) above,
ELECTRICAL: WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY:
THE CRY THAT BROUGHT HELP.

SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Turbine Steam Engine.
Its Successful Development.
First Use on Ocean Steamers.
The "Lusitania" and "Mauretania."

"For a long time and well into the nineteenth century, water
was lifted by pistons moving in cylindrical pumps. Meantime
the turbine grew steadily in favor as a water motor, arriving
at last at high efficiency. This gave designers a hint to
reverse the turbine and use it as a water lifter or pump: this
machine, duly built, with a continuous instead of an
intermittent motion, showed much better results than the
old-fashioned pump. The turbine-pump is accordingly adopted
for many large waterworks, deep mines and similar
installations. This advance from to-and-fro to rotary action
extended irresistibly to steam as a motive power. It was clear
that if steam could be employed in a turbine somewhat as water
is, much of the complexity and loss inherent in reciprocating
engines would be brushed aside. A pioneer inventor in this
field was Gustave Patrich De Laval, of Stockholm, who
constructed his first steam turbine along the familiar lines
of the Barker mill. Steam is so light that for its utmost
utilization as a jet a velocity of about 2,000 feet a second
is required, a rate which no material is strong enough to
allow. De Laval by using the most tenacious metal for his
turbines is able to give their swiftest parts a speed of as
much as 1400 feet a second. His apparatus is cheap, simple and
efficient; it is limited to about 300 horse-power. Its chief
feature is its divergent nozzle, which permits the outflowing
steam to expand fully with all the effect realized in a steam
cylinder provided with expansion valve gear. Another device of
De Laval which makes his turbine a safe and desirable prime
mover is the flexible shaft which has a little, self-righting
play under the extreme pace of its rotation.

"Of direct action turbines the De Laval is the chief; of
compound turbines, in which the steam is expanded in
successive stages, the first and most widely adopted was
invented by the Honourable Charles A. Parsons of
Newcastle-on-Tyne. … In 1894 Mr. Parsons launched his
Turbinia, the first steamer to be driven by a turbine. Her
record was so gratifying that a succession of vessels,
similarly equipped, were year by year built for excursion
lines, for transit across the British Channel, for the British
Royal Navy, and for mercantile marine service. The
thirty-fifth of these ships, the _Victorian_ of the Allan
Line, was the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 18, 1905. She was followed by the
_Virginian_ of the same line which arrived at Quebec, May
8, 1905. Not long afterward the Cunard Company sent from
Liverpool to New York the _Carmania_ equipped with steam
turbines, and in every other respect like the Caronia of the
same owners, which is driven by reciprocating engines of the
best model. Thus far the comparison between these two ships is
in favor of the Carmania. The new monster Cunarders, the
_Lusitania_ and the _Mauretania_, each of 70,000
horse power, are to be propelled by steam turbines. The
principal reasons for this preference are thus given by
Professor Carl C. Thomas:—Decreased cost of operation as
regards fuel, labor, oil, and repairs. Vibration due to
machinery is avoided. Less weight of machinery and coal to be
carried, resulting in greater speed. Greater simplicity of
machinery in construction and operation, causing less
liability to accident and breakdown. Smaller and more deeply
immersed propellers, decreasing the tendency of the machinery
to race in rough weather. Lower centre of gravity of the
machinery as a whole, and increased headroom above the
machinery. According to recent reports, decreased first cost
of machinery."

_George Iles,
Inventors at Work,
pages 452-456
(Doubleday, Page & Co., New York)._

In August, 1908, the _Lusitania_ made the voyage from
Queenstown to New York in 4 days and 15 hours; again in
February, 1909, in 4 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes. In
September, 1909, the _Mauretania_ crossed from New York
to Queenstown in 4 days, 13 hours and 41 minutes.

SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Washington Memorial Institution.
Extension of the Usefulness of Scientific Work in Departments
of the Government.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901.

SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Nobel Prizes.

See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
See also
EARTHQUAKES.

----------SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: End--------

----------SCOTLAND: Start--------

SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901 (March).
Census.

According to the returns of the decennial enumeration made on
the night of the 31st of March, 1901, the population of
Scotland that day, "including those in the Royal Navy, and
belonging to the Mercantile shipping in Scottish Ports or on
Scottish waters, number 4,472,000 persons, of whom 2,173,151
are males, and 2,298,849 females.

"When compared with the corresponding population as enumerated
at the Census of 1891, a total increase of 446,353 is found to
have occurred; the male increase being 230,434, and the female
215,919.
{609}
The percentage rate of increase of both sexes during the
decennial period is 11.09—that of the males being 11.86, and
of the females 10.37. The corresponding total rate of increase
during the preceding decennium, 1881-1891, was 7.77 per cent.
… The rate at the present Census for Scotland is, with the
exception of that at 1881, the highest since the decennial
period 1821-1831. …

"In 19 Counties an increase in the population has taken place,
in 14 a decrease. The highest rate of increase—both sexes
combined—is in Linlithgow, 24.4 per cent.; followed by Lanark
with an increase of 21.1 per cent.; Stirling with one of 20.6
per cent.; Renfrew with one of 16.5 per cent.; Dumbarton with
one of 16.2 per cent.; Kincardine with one of 15.3 per cent.;
Fife with one of 15.0 per cent. The greatest falling off
occurs in Berwick, 4.6 per cent.; in Orkney, 5.7 per cent.; in
Roxburgh, 8.8 per cent.; in Caithness 8.9 per cent.; in
Wigtown, 9.4 per cent.; and in Selkirk 15.8 percent. Inverness
stands almost as it was, having increased but 0.1 per cent.,
and the minimum rate of falling off as to population is in
Banff, 0.3 per cent., and Argyll, 0.6 per cent. …

"Among the larger Burghs the increase of population varies not
a little. Thus, in Motherwell, which heads the list, the
increase during the decennial period 1891-1901, is at the rate
of 62.5 per cent. Partick follows with a rate of increase of
48.6 per cent.; Wishaw with one of 36.8 percent.; Hamilton
with one of 31.8 per cent.; Kirkcaldy with one of 25.5
percent.; Falkirk with one of 24.3 per cent.; Govan with one
of 24.2 per cent.; Coatbridge with one of 21.3 per cent.;
Aberdeen with one of 22.9 per cent.; Kilmarnock with one of
20.1 per cent.; Paisley with one of 19.5 per cent.; Airdrie
with one of 16.5 per cent.; Glasgow with one of 15.5 per
cent.; Ayr with one of 15.1 per cent.; Edinburgh with one of
14.8 per cent.; Dunfermline with one of 14.1 percent.; Leith
with one of 12.6 per cent.; Inverness with one of 10.3 per
cent.; Perth with one of 9.9 per cent.; Greenock with one of
7.4 per cent.; and Dundee with one of 4.5 percent.; while
Arbroath indicates a decrease at the rate of 1.9 per cent."

_Preliminary Report to Parliament._

The division of population between town districts and rural
districts is shown in the following table:

Groups of Districts. Males. Females. Total.

Town Districts 1,404,382 1,520,698 2,925,080
(Pop. 2,000 and upwards)

Mainland-Rural Districts 479,009 495,172 974,841

Insular-Rural Districts 58,666 67,060 125,726

Total 1,942,717 2,082,930 4,025,647

SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901.
Mr. Carnegie’s great Gift to Universities and Students.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901.

SCOTLAND: A. D. 1904-1905.
Decision of the House of Lords against the Union, in 1900,
of the Free Church with the United Presbyterian.
All Property given to the Opposing Remnant.

"In 1900, the United Free Church was formed by the union of
the majority of the Free Church with the entire body of the
United Presbyterians, …

See, in Volume VI. of this work,
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1900)

A new organisation placed in the field of Church politics in
Scotland almost equals in respect of numbers and resources to
the Established Church. The small minority opposed to this
union inside the Free Church seceded, held some of the
churches and manses by force, defying authority to the extent,
in one instance, of a month’s imprisonment, and retained the
denomination of ‘The Free Church of Scotland.’ As their
fathers left a ‘vitiated’ Establishment on purpose to preserve
the freedom and purity of the National Church, so they refused to
enter the new union, in order, by standing out, to save the
principles, doctrines, and purposes identified with the
Disruption of 1843. This minority of not more than
twenty-seven ministers and as many congregations, mostly
located in fastnesses beyond the Grampians, is now the Free
Church of Scotland, with Presbytery, Assembly, Moderator—in
short, with the offices and institutions, on a condensed
scale, which are essential in Presbyterian polity. These few
determined people claim to be the faithful remnant of the
Disruptionists. Like Milton’s Abdiel, ‘unshaken, unseduced,
unterrified,’ nor moved to ‘swerve from truth’ or ‘change
their constant mind,’ they claim to have kept their loyalty,
their love, their zeal in the cause of the Disruption through
all the temptations of an age in thought Pyrrhonist, in
morality lax, and in religion Latitudinarian. On the
assumption that they alone were the Free Church, they invoked
the aid of the Civil Courts in their defence. The Court of
Session—both the Ordinary and the Inner Courts—decided in
favour of the United Free Church. Home-made law could not
satisfy the minority, and, on appeal, the House of Lords
reversed the judgment of the Court of Session, declaring the
remnant to be the Free Church of Scotland, and finding that
the United Free Church was a modern composite body which, on
the evidence of its ambidextrous and Latitudinarian
constitution, had abandoned the fundamental doctrines and
principles held by the Disruptionists. In consequence of this
decision, the property of the Free Church, as it existed prior
to the union of 1900, now belongs to the remnant of the
Disruptionists.

"From the side of the losing United Free Church a bitter cry
has arisen against this finality in law. The decision is
formally accepted, yet denounced as unjust and incompetent, as
denying toleration and the right to change its creed to an
autonomous body; and there are murmurs about of the necessity
of an appeal to Parliament. … It seems the rankest injustice
to transfer more than one million in invested funds, nearly a
thousand church buildings, three superior colleges devoted to
the training of Divinity students (one in Edinburgh, another
in Glasgow, and a third in Aberdeen), the magnificent Assembly
Hall in Edinburgh, with the offices attached, probably also
much property in foreign missions, from the United Free Church
to this remnant of Disruptionists, the custodians of the dying
embers of Obscurantism in Scotland."

_J. M. Sloan,
The Scottish Free Church
(Fortnightly Review, September, 1904)._

{610}

To consider the situation created by the decision of the House
of Lords, a Royal Commission was appointed, which investigated
all the questions involved and reported its findings in April,
1905. In the judgment of the Commission, the Free Church (the
"Wee Frees," as that body was now commonly dubbed) had neither
the numbers nor the resources for putting to their proper use
the enormous endowment which it claimed. At the same time
there would be no justice in delivering those endowments
unconditionally to the United Free Church. It was recommended,
accordingly, that a Commission be constituted by Act of
Parliament to take charge of the whole property and funds
involved, and to arrange for the allocation of the same, to
the end of securing "adequate provision for the due
performance of the purposes for which the funds were raised
and the trusts on which they are held." A Bill in accordance
with this recommendation was passed during the next session of
Parliament.

On the request of the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland, the same Act enabled the Church to change the
formula of subscription required from its ministers, under the
Act of 1693, so that, on being ordained, a minister shall only
make a "declaration of his faith in the sum and substance of
the doctrine of the Reformed Churches therein contained,
according to such formula as may from time to time be
prescribed by the General Assembly."

SCOTLAND: A. D. 1904-1909.
Peace followed by Threatened Conflict in
the Coal Mining Industry.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: SCOTLAND.

SCOTLAND: A. D. 1909.
Working of the Old Age Pensions Act.

See (in this Volume)
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF: PENSIONS.

----------SCOTLAND: End--------

SCOTT, James Brown:
Technical Delegate to the Second Peace Conference.

See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.

SCOTT, Captain K. T.:
Commander of Antarctic Expedition.

See (in this Volume)
POLAR EXPLORATION.

SEAL FISHERY NEGOTIATIONS.

"Negotiations for an international conference to consider and
reach an arrangement providing for the preservation and
protection of the fur seals in the North Pacific are in
progress with the governments of Great Britain, Japan, and
Russia. The attitude of the governments interested leads me to
hope for a satisfactory settlement of this question as the
ultimate outcome of the negotiations."

_Message of the President of the United States to Congress,
December 6, 1909._

SEATTLE: A. D. 1909.
The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.

"The fair at Seattle," said _The World's Work_ of August,
1909, "is beautiful; that goes without saying, for the best of
man’s art is fitted to the best of Nature’s workmanship to
make a balanced and blended picture never excelled in the long
list of great exhibitions. But better than that, the fair at
Seattle is a definite commercial lesson—and lessons in
commerce last forever. Primarily, the fair is teaching the
people of the United States to know the Pacific coast;
secondarily, it is teaching them a little of Alaska, a little
of Japan, and a little of the Philippines. And the distinctive
feature of this particular fair is the determined effort to
make those lessons true." This seems to describe the
impression which the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition made
generally on the visitors who went to it with an intelligent
purpose in going. It gave them what they went to see, with
fidelity, with fulness, and in most attractive forms of
display. Like its Northwestern predecessor, at Portland, four
years before, it was an almost startling revelation of the
possibilities of planting and ripening in cities, states, and
their social institutions, that lie within trivial spaces of
time in this wonderful present age.

The Exposition was on the grounds of Washington University,
and seven of the principal buildings erected for it were of
permanent construction and remain for the use of the
University. Again, as at Portland, the most interesting of
these buildings architecturally was that for the forestry
exhibit, built of logs and other timber in a state as nearly
natural as it could be kept.

The Exposition was open from June 1st until October 16, and
registered about 3,740,000 visitors.

SEBAHEDDIN.

See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).

SECTARIAN SCHOOL QUESTION.

See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903;
also
CANADA: A. D. 1905.

SEDDON, Richard J.: Prime Minister of New Zealand.
His Death.

See (in this Volume)
NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1906-1909.

SEGNATURA, The.

See (in this Volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1908.

SEIYU-KAI.

See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1902 (August); 1903 (June), and 1909.

SELFRIDGE, Lieutenant T. E.

See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: AERONAUTICS.

SENATORS, United States:
Proposed Election by Direct Popular Vote.

See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES SENATORS.

SENEGAMBIA: A. D. 1904.
Cession of a portion of territory by England to France.

See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904 (APRIL).

SENUSSIA,
SENOUSSI:
The Pan-Islamic Movement in Africa.
Sidi Mahomed bin Ali es Senussia and his Sect.
His Doctrine and its Aim.

"We have recently heard, principally apropos of the
disturbances in Egypt, a considerable amount concerning
Pan-Islamism. Taking into consideration how much has been
written on this subject, it is surprising to find how little
has been said concerning one of the principal organisations
for the propagation of Pan-Islamism. I refer to the sect known
as Senussia. … At this present moment there is throughout
Africa very general discontent among the native population,
not only in Mohammedan countries, but universally over the
length and breadth of the entire continent. …

"It is a comparatively easy matter to so influence any warlike
Moslem people to religious enthusiasm that they are instantly
ready in arms to strike a blow for the faith. But the most
significant and sinister symptom of this anti-Christian
crusade is that the message carried by the Senussia agents is,
‘Wait, for the time is not yet ripe. Rest now, but when the
hour arrives, rise, slay, and spare not.’ Taking into
consideration the fact that the Senussia sect was founded in
1835, that its rise has been enormously rapid, and that its
propaganda has been actively and diligently preached in
British possessions for many years past, with scarcely one
definite item of intelligence concerning it being known, it
shows clearly that the motive power and organising
intelligence must be something considerably above the average.
…

{611}

"The sect was founded in 1835 by Sidi Mahomed bin Ali es
Senussia, otherwise known as Sheikh Senussi, an Algerian Arab
born near Mostaganem towards the end of the Turkish dominion.
A lineal descendant of the prophet Mahomed, he first gained a
reputation for sanctity at Fez. He then proceeded to Mecca,
where he commenced preaching. However his success, which was
remarkably rapid, caused great local jealousy and he had
perforce to fly to Egypt. He started a zawia or monastery at
Alexandria, but being excommunicated by the Sheikh el Islam at
Cairo, he was again compelled to seek safety in flight. This
time he fled across the Lybian desert to Jebel el Akhdar near
Benghazi on the north coast, where he again established a
zawia, and in a short time had obtained a considerable
following. There he lived and preached, and died in 1859 or
1860, having firmly established the Senussia sect. He was
succeeded by his son Mahomed.

"The doctrine preached by the Sheikh Senussi, and which still
comprises the doctrines and aims of his disciples, was as
follows: To free the Mahommedan religion from the many abuses
which have crept into it. To restore, under one universal
leader, the former purity of faith. Finally, and most
especially, to free all Moslem countries, more particularly
those in Africa, from the dominion of the infidel."

_H. A. Wilson,
The Moslem Menace
(Nineteenth Century, September, 1907)._

"The growth of the Senoussi has been one of the most striking
developments of modern Islam. They have adopted an active
missionary policy and have spread southwards through heathen
Africa, while their organization has been framed with the idea
of including and coordinating all existing brotherhoods. The
Senoussi have established in all countries where the Moslem is
governed by an alien race a system of occult government side
by side, and coinciding in its boundaries, with the state
administration. This occult government exists in Algeria,
Egypt, and India, and its emissaries are at work in Nigeria.
The Senoussi now include within their brotherhood practically
all the Sunnis, that is the majority of Moslems in Arabia,
Turkey, North Africa, Turkestan, Afghanistan and East Asia.
The Shiites, who predominate in Persia, are alone prevented by
their conception of orthodoxy from being Senoussi.

"The Senoussi had their headquarters at Djarboub, but some
twenty years ago it was decided to send their official
representative to Constantinople, and the venerable Mokkadem
who occupies this position is even more powerful in councils
than the Sheik ul Islam, who, nominated by the Sultan,
occupies in the hierarchy the place of Expounder of the Law,
second only to that of the Caliph, the ‘Shadow of God on
Earth.’"

_A. R. Colquhoun,
Pan-Islam
(North American Review, June, 1906)._

See, also, in Volume VI., page 835.

SERGIUS, Grand Duke,
Assassination of.

See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.

SERVIA.

See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: SERVIA.

SEVASTOPOL:
Riot and Naval Mutiny.

See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).

SHACKLETON, LIEUTENANT ERNEST H.:
Antarctic Explorations.

See (in this Volume)
POLAR EXPLORATION.

SHA-HO, BATTLE OF THE.

See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (SEPTEMBER-MARCH).

SHANGHAI: A. D. 1902.
Withdrawal of Foreign Troops.

See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1902.

SHANGHAI: A. D. 1905.
Boycott of Americans and American Goods.

See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.

SHANGHAI: A. D. 1909.
International Opium Commission.

See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.

SHAW, LESLIE M.:
Secretary of the Treasury.

See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1905, and 1905-1909.

SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM, The:
His Authority and Function at Constantinople.

See (in this Volume)
SENUSSIA.

SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM, The:
His Part in the Turkish Constitutional Revolution.

See (in this Volume)
TURKEY; A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER), and after.

SHEMSI PASHA,
Assassination of.

See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).

SHERIAT, The.

See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).

SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT, of 1890.

See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1890-1902.

SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT, of 1890.
Action of National Civic Federation on its Amendment.

See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.

SHERMAN, James S.:
Elected Vice-President of the United States.

See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908 (APRIL-NOVEMBER).

SHEVKET PASHA, Mahmud:
Commander of the Turkish Constitutional Forces.

See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).

SHIPBUILDING AGREEMENT (BRITISH) OF 1908, THE.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1908.

SHIPPING COMBINATION, North Atlantic.

See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: INTERNATIONAL.

SHIRÉ HIGHLANDS:
Their Suitability for European Colonization.

See (in this Volume)
AFRICA.

SHIRTWAIST-MAKERS’ STRIKE, THE.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909-1910.

SHONTS, Theodore P.:
Chairman of the Panama Canal Commission.

See (in this Volume)
PANAMA CANAL: A. D. 1905-1909.

SHOOA-ES-SULTANEH.

See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.

SHORT BALLOT REFORM.

See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: UNITED STATES.

SIA-GU-SHAN HILL, CAPTURE OF.

See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (May-January).

SIAM: A. D. 1902.
Treaty with France.

By a fresh treaty with Siam, secured in October, 1902, France
won from that kingdom another piece of territory to add to her
Indo-China domain. The new acquisition is between the Rolnos
and Piek Kompong Tiam rivers, on the Great Lake. In return
France restores the port of Chantabun, which she has held for
a long time without right, and which she agreed to restore in
1899.

See (in Volume VI.)
SIAM.

{612}

SIAM: A. D. 1904.
Declaration of England and France touching Influence in Siam.

See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904 (APRIL).

SIAM: A. D. 1905.
Suppression of Gambling and Edict for
the Extinction of Slavery.

An official notification of the suppression of gambling and a
royal edict decreeing the abolition of the last remnants of
slavery in the Kingdom of Siam were communicated to the
American Government, through its Minister at Bangkok, in March
and April, 1905. In part, the former stated:

"His Majesty has long been impressed by the fact that although
the revenue derived from gambling is an important factor in
the finances of the Kingdom the evils resulting therefrom are
much greater than the benefits. People expend in gambling not
only their own wealth but the wealth of others. They devote to
gambling time during which they should be attending to their
work. Under present conditions large sums of money which come
into the hands of the gambling farmers are sent out of the
kingdom. Gambling is also responsible for much of the crime
that is committed. The abolition of gambling would, therefore,
not only result in an improvement in the morals of the people
and in increased industry, but money now expended therein
would remain in circulation within the country, thereby adding
to the wealth of the community. In order, however, to replace
the loss of the revenue derived from gambling, some taxes must
be increased and new taxes devised. In the increase of certain
of these taxes it will be necessary to enter upon negotiations
with foreign powers. Gambling cannot, therefore, be suppressed
at once, but must be gradually abolished. His Majesty,
therefore, has been pleased to order the abolition of gambling
within the period of three years."

The decree concerning slavery opens thus:

"Although slavery in our realm is very different from slavery
as it has existed in many other countries—most slaves being
persons who have become so voluntarily and not by force and
the powers of the master over the slaves being strictly
limited—yet we have always considered that the institution,
even in this modified form, is an impediment to the progress
of our country. We have, therefore, from the commencement of
our reign, taken steps, by the enactment of laws and
otherwise, for the abolition of slavery. … We now deem it time
to take more sweeping measures which will gradually result in
the entire disappearance of slavery from Siam." Accordingly, a
law is decreed as follows: "All children born of parents who
are slaves shall be free without the execution of the
condition stated in the law of Pee Chau. No person now free
can be made a slave. If any person now a slave shall hereafter
become free he cannot thereafter again become a slave.
Wherever any person is now held a debt slave, the master shall
credit upon the principal of the debt for which he is held a
slave the sum of four (4) tieals for each month after the 1st
of April, 124, provided that no credit shall be allowed for
any time during which the slave may desert his master. If a
slave changes his master, no increase shall be made in the
debt for which he is actually held."

SIAM: A. D. 1909.
Treaty with Great Britain, Ceding three States
in the Malay Peninsula.

By a treaty with Siam, signed on the 10th of March, 1909,
Great Britain added 15,000 square miles to her dominion in the
Malay Peninsula. Siam renounced, in favour of Great Britain,
her suzerain rights over the native States of Kelantan,
Trengganu, and Kedah, and perhaps other districts, in the
Peninsula. In return the British Government consented to
certain modifications in the extra-territorial rights enjoyed
by British subjects in Siam. The Government of the Federated
Malay States will advance to Siam the capital, about
£4,000,000, required for the construction of railways in
Southern Siam, by which it is hoped that direct railway
communication will soon be established between Bangkok and
Singapore. Kelantan lies 374 miles distant from Singapore and
about 500 from Bangkok, on the shore of the China Sea. It is a
purely Malay State under the rule of a Rajah, who has not,
like his predecessors, adopted the higher title of Sultan, but
who claims to be an independent Sovereign, though he has been
compelled to acknowledge the King of Siam as his suzerain.
This condition of affairs has led to the transfer of his
allegiance, very much, it is said, against his wish.

SIENKIEWICZ, HENRY K.

See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.

SIFTON, CLIFFORD: CANADIAN MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR.
How he started the "American Invasion"
of the Canadian Northwest.

See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1896-1909.

SIGANANDA.

See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: NATAL: A. D. 1906-1907.

SILVER:
Suspension of Free Coinage in Mexico.

See (in this Volume)
MEXICO: A. D. 1904-1905.

SILVER EXCHANGE, WITH THE ORIENT.

See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE: ASIA: A. D. 1909.

SIMON, GENERAL ANTOINE:
President of Haiti.

See (in this Volume)
HAITI: A. D. 1908.

SIMPLON TUNNEL.

See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1903.

SINHA, Satyendra Prasanna:
Appointment as a Member of the Executive Council
of the Viceroy of India.

See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1908-1909.

SINN FEIN, THE.

See (in this Volume)
IRELAND: A. D. 1905.

SIOUX INDIANS:
Colony in Nicaragua.

See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA: NICARAGUA.

SIPAHDAR, The.

See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.

SIPIAGIN, M.:
Assassination of.

See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.

SLAVERY:
In Portuguese Africa.

See (in this Volume)
AFRICA: PORTUGUESE: A. D. 1905-1908.

SLAVERY:
Abolition in Siam.

See (in this Volume)
SIAM: A. D. 1909.

SLAVERY:
Legal, but not Practical Ending in Zanzibar.

See (in this Volume)
ZANZIBAR: A. D. 1905.

SLEEPING SICKNESS.

See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.

SLOCUM, CONSUL-GENERAL C. R.:
Report on Affairs in the Congo State.

See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.

"SLOCUM," BURNING OF THE.

See (in this Volume)
"GENERAL SLOCUM."

SMALL HOLDINGS ACT.

See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1908.

{613}

SMIRNOFF, GENERAL.

See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST).

SMITH, CHARLES E.:
Postmaster-General.

See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1905.

SMITH, GOLDWIN:
On Discontent in India.

See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1907-1909.

SMITH, CONSUL-GENERAL JAMES A.:
Report on Affairs in the Congo State.

See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.

SMITH, JAMES F.:
Governor-General of the Philippine Islands.

See (in this Volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1906-1907.

SYNDER, R. M.:
Municipal "Boodler" of St. Louis.

See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: ST. LOUIS.

SOCIAL BETTERMENT: ENGLAND: A. D. 1909.
The Housing and Town-Planning Act.

A Housing and Town Planning Bill, brought over from the
previous session of Parliament, was introduced anew in April,
1909, by Mr. John Burns, President of the Local Government
Board. It passed the Commons and went in November to the
Lords, who gave it amendments which were thought to have
brought it to wreck. The House of Commons would not accept
them; but many in both Houses were keenly anxious for
legislation on the subject, and private negotiation brought
about a compromise of their differences, securing the
enactment in a fairly satisfactory form.

The first part of the Act aims at improving the dwelling
accommodation of the working classes, both by making it
obligatory on all local authorities to provide new housing
where required, and also by elaborate provisions for sanitary
inspection. Every county council is required to appoint a
public health and housing committee and also a medical officer
of health, who shall devote his whole time to the supervision
of the county area. Almost all working class dwellings in the
country are covered by provisions ensuring that they shall be
kept fit for human habitation throughout their tenancy.
Enlarged powers of compulsory purchase, of closing and of
demolition are also conferred upon local authorities or their
authorized agents.

The provisions of the Act relating to town-planning are
commended by _The Times_ as marking "a new departure in
legislation in this country. Hitherto new centres of
population have been allowed to grow up, and existing urban
areas have been allowed to expand, without control or
prevision. The result has too often been that the haphazard
development of land in the vicinity of urban centres has
produced slums, prevented the orderly growth of towns, and
involved enormous expenditure in clearing sites, widening
streets, and providing necessary open spaces. The Bill aims at
securing in the future sanitary conditions, amenity, and
convenience by enabling schemes to be made under which
building land will be developed with due regard to future
requirements. With this end in view the Local Government Board
are empowered to authorize local authorities to prepare town
planning schemes in connexion with land likely to be used for
building purposes, or to adopt any such schemes proposed by
owners of land. The schemes are to have effect, however, only
if approved by the Local Government Board. The Bill provides
for the payment of compensation to any person whose property
is injuriously affected by the making of a town planning
scheme, and, on the other hand, the local authority is
empowered to recover from any person whose land is increased
in value by the making of the scheme a proportion of the
amount of that increase."

In anticipation of the passage of this important Act, a party
of eighty representatives of municipalities and other bodies
in Great Britain who would be concerned in its administration
passed the Easter holidays of 1909 in some of the German
cities which are most famous for the manner in which they have
dealt with the problems of town-growth. The four cities
selected were Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Wiesbaden,
each of which has formulated its own way of dealing with the
problem and offers a different point of view.

SOCIAL BETTERMENT: PRUSSIA: A. D. 1905.
A Government Bureau of Charities.

In 1905 a law passed by the Prussian Diet created a national
Charity Bureau, the duties of which are stated as follows:

(1) To follow the development of charity work and keep the
government informed of this development;

(2) to advise the state of conditions which justify change in
existing laws or the passing of new laws, or which suggest
change in government methods;

(3) to draw up opinions and make proposals which will help in
framing laws for the benefit of the people;

(4) to take general control of relief stations in case of
great calamities.

It will also be the duty of the department

(1) to establish relations between different charity
organizations, suggest improvements in the methods of these
organizations, and economize the forces of the various bodies;