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HISTORY FOR READY REFERENCE

FROM THE BEST HISTORIANS, BIOGRAPHERS, SPECIALISTS

THEIR OWN WORDS IN A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF HISTORY

FOR ALL USES, EXTENDING TO ALL COUNTRIES AND SUBJECTS, AND REPRESENTING FOR BOTH READERS AND STUDENTS THE BETTER AND NEWER LITERATURE OF HISTORY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

BY J.N.LARNED

WITH NUMEROUS HISTORICAL MAPS FROM ORIGINAL STUDIES AND DRAWINGS BY ALAN C. REILEY

IN FIVE VOLUMES

VOLUME II-EL DORADO TO GREAVES

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. THE C. A. NICHOLS CO., PUBLISHERS

MDCCCXCV

LIST OF MAPS.

Map of Europe at the close of the Tenth Century, ... To follow page 1020 Map of Europe in 1768, ... To follow page 1086 Four maps of France, A. D. 1154, 1180, 1814 and 1860, ... To follow page 1168 Two maps of Central Europe, A. D. 848 and 888, ... On page 1404 Map of Germany at the Peace of Westphalia, ... To follow page 1486 Maps of Germany, A. D. 1815 and 1866; of the Netherlands, 1880-1889; and of the Zollverein, ... To follow page 1540

LOGICAL OUTLINES, IN COLORS.

English history, ... To follow page 730 French history, ... To follow page 1158 German history, ... To follow page 1428

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES.

The Fifth Century, ... On page 1433 The Sixth Century, ... On page 1434

EL DORADO, The quest of.

"When the Spaniards had conquered and pillaged the civilized empires on the table lands of Mexico, Bogota, and Peru, they began to look round for new scenes of conquest, new sources of wealth; the wildest rumours were received as facts, and the forests and savannas, extending for thousands of square miles to the eastward of the cordilleras of the Andes, were covered, in imagination, with populous kingdoms, and cities filled with gold. The story of El Dorado, of a priest or king smeared with oil and then coated with gold dust, probably originated in a custom which prevailed among the civilized Indians of the plateau of Bogota; but El Dorado was placed, by the credulous adventurers, in a golden city amidst the impenetrable forests of the centre of South America, and, as search after search failed, his position was moved further and further to the eastward, in the direction of Guiana. El Dorado, the phantom god of gold and silver, appeared in many forms. ... The settlers at Quito and in Northern Peru talked of the golden empire of the Omaguas, while those in Cuzco and Charcas dreamt of the wealthy cities of Paytiti and Enim, on the banks of a lake far away, to the eastward of the Andes. These romantic fables, so firmly believed in those old days led to the exploration of vast tracts of country, by the fearless adventurers of the sixteenth century, portions of which have never been traversed since, even to this day. The most famous searches after El Dorado were undertaken from the coast of Venezuela, and the most daring leaders of these wild adventures were German knights."

"There were, along the whole coast of the Spanish Main, rumours of an inland country which abounded with gold. These rumours undoubtedly related to the kingdoms of Bogota and Tunja, now the Nuevo Reyno de Granada. Belalcazar, who was in quest of this country from Quito, Federman, who came from Venezuela, and Gonzalo Ximenez de Quesada, who sought it by way of the River Madalena, and who effected its conquest, met here. But in these countries also there were rumours of a rich land at a distance; similar accounts prevailed in Peru; in Peru they related to the Nuevo Reyno, there they related to Peru; and thus adventurers from both sides were allured to continue the pursuit after the game was taken. An imaginary kingdom was soon shaped out as the object of their quest, and stories concerning it were not more easily invented than believed. It was said that a younger brother of Atabalipa fled, after the destruction of the Incas, took with him the main part of their treasures, and founded a greater empire than that of which his family had been deprived. Sometimes the imaginary Emperor was called the Great Paytite, sometimes the Great Moxo, sometimes the Enim or Great Paru. An impostor at Lima affirmed that he had been in his capital, the city of Manoa, where not fewer than 3,000 workmen were employed in the silversmiths' street; he even produced a map of the country, in which he had marked a hill of gold, another of silver, and a third of salt. ... This imaginary kingdom obtained the name of El Dorado from the fashion of its Lord, which has the merit of being in savage costume. His body was anointed every morning with a certain fragrant gum of great price, and gold dust was then blown upon him, through a tube, till he was covered with it: the whole was washed off at night. This the barbarian thought a more magnificent and costly attire than could be afforded by any other potentate in the world, and hence the Spaniards called him El Dorado, or the Gilded One. A history of all the expeditions which were undertaken for the conquest of his kingdom would form a volume not less interesting than extraordinary."

ELECTORAL COLLEGE, The Germanic: Its rise and constitution. Its secularization and extinction.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1125-1152, and 1347-1493; also, 1801-1803, and 1805-1806.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1876-1877.

ELECTORS, Presidential, of the United States of America.

See PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION.

"Electricity, through its etymology at least, traces its lineage back to Homeric times. In the Odyssey reference is made to the 'necklace hung with bits of amber' presented by the Phoenician traders to the Queen of Syra. Amber was highly prized by the ancients, having been extensively used as an ornamental gem, and many curious theories were suggested as to its origin. Some of these, although mythical, were singularly near the truth, and it is an interesting coincidence that in the well-known myth concerning the ill-fated and rash youth who so narrowly escaped wrecking the solar chariot and the terrestrial sphere, amber, the first known source of electricity, and the thunder-bolts of Jupiter are linked together. It is not unlikely that this substance was indebted, for some of the romance that clung to it through ages, to the fact that when rubbed it attracts light bodies. This property it was known to possess in the earliest times: it is the one single experiment in electricity which has come down to us from the remotest antiquity. ... The power of certain fishes, notably what is known as the 'torpedo,' to produce electricity, was known at an early period, and was commented on by Pliny and Aristotle. ... Up to the sixteenth there seems to have been no attempt to study electrical phenomena in a really scientific manner. Isolated facts which almost thrust themselves upon observers, were noted, and, in common with a host of other natural phenomena, were permitted to stand alone, with no attempt at classification, generalization, or examination through experiment. ... Dr. Gilbert can justly be called the creator of the science of electricity and magnetism. His experiments were prodigious in number, and many of his conclusions were correct and lasting. To him we are indebted for the name 'electricity,' which he bestowed upon the power or property which amber exhibited in attracting light bodies, borrowing the name from the substance itself, in order to define one of its attributes. ... This application of experiment to the study of electricity, begun by Gilbert three hundred years ago, was industriously pursued by those who came after him, and the next two centuries witnessed a rapid development of science. Among the earlier students of this period were the English philosopher, Robert Boyle, and the celebrated burgomaster of Magdeburg, Otto von Guericke. The latter first noted the sound and light accompanying electrical excitation. These were afterwards independently discovered by Dr. Wall, an Englishman, who made the somewhat prophetic observation, 'This light and crackling seems in some degree to represent thunder and lightning.' Sir Isaac Newton made a few experiments in electricity, which he exhibited to the Royal Society. ... Francis Hawksbee was an active and useful contributor to experimental investigation, and he also called attention to the resemblance between the electric spark and lightning. The most ardent student of electricity in the early years of the eighteenth century was Stephen Gray. He performed a multitude of experiments, nearly all of which added something to the rapidly accumulating stock of knowledge, but doubtless his most important contribution was his discovery of the distinction between conductors and non-conductors. ... Some of Gray's papers fell into the hands of Dufay, an officer of the French army, who, after several years' service, had resigned his post to devote himself to scientific pursuits. ... His most important discovery was the existence of two distinct species of electricity, which he named 'vitreous' and 'resinous.' ... A very important advance was made in 1745 in the invention of the Leyden jar or phial. As has so many times happened in the history of scientific discovery, it seems tolerably certain that this interesting device was hit upon by at least three persons, working independently of each other. One Cuneus, a monk named Kleist, and Professor Muschenbroeck, of Leyden, are all accredited with the discovery. ... Sir William Watson perfected it by adding the outside metallic coating, and was by its aid enabled to fire gunpowder and other inflammables."

ELECTRICITY: A. D. 1745-1747. Franklin's identification of Electricity with Lightning.

"In 1745 Mr. Peter Collinson of the Royal Society sent a jar to the Library Society of Philadelphia, with instructions how to use it. This fell into the hands of Benjamin Franklin, who at once began a series of electrical experiments. On March 28, 1747, Franklin began his famous letters to Collinson. ... In these letters he propounded the single-fluid theory of electricity, and referred all electric phenomena to its accumulation in bodies in quantities more than their natural share, or to its being withdrawn from them so as to leave them minus their proper portion." Meantime, numerous experiments with the Leyden jar had convinced Franklin of the identity of lightning and electricity, and he set about the demonstration of the fact. "The account given by Dr. Stuber of Philadelphia, an intimate personal friend of Franklin, and published in one of the earliest editions of the works of the great philosopher, is as follows:--'The plan which he had originally proposed was to erect on some high tower, or other elevated place, a sentry-box, from which should rise a pointed iron rod, insulated by being fixed in a cake of resin. Electrified clouds passing over this would, he conceived, impart to it a portion of their electricity, which would be rendered evident to the senses by sparks being emitted when a key, a knuckle, or other conductor was presented to it. Philadelphia at this time offered no opportunity of trying an experiment of this kind. Whilst Franklin was waiting for the erection of a spire, it occurred to him that he might have more ready access to the region of clouds by means of a common kite. He prepared one by attaching two cross-sticks to a silk handkerchief, which would not suffer so much from the rain as paper. To his upright stick was fixed an iron point. The string was, as usual, of hemp, except the lower end, which was silk. Where the hempen string terminated, a key was fastened. With this apparatus, on the appearance of a thunder-gust approaching, he went into the common, accompanied by his son, to whom alone he communicated his intentions, well knowing the ridicule which, too generally for the interest of science, awaits unsuccessful experiments in philosophy. He placed himself under a shed to avoid the rain. His kite was raised. A thunder-cloud passed over it. No signs of electricity appeared. He almost despaired of success, when suddenly he observed the loose fibres of his string move toward an erect position. He now pressed his knuckle to the key, and received a strong spark. How exquisite must his sensations have been at this moment! On his experiment depended the fate of his theory. Doubt and despair had begun to prevail, when the fact was ascertained in so clear a manner, that even the most incredulous could no longer withhold their assent. Repeated sparks were drawn from the key, a phial was charged, a shock given, and all the experiments made which are usually performed with electricity.' And thus the identity of lightning and electricity was proved. ... Franklin's proposition to erect lightning rods which would convey the lightning to the ground, and so protect the buildings to which they were attached, found abundant opponents. ... Nevertheless, public opinion became settled ... that they did protect buildings. ... Then the philosophers raised a new controversy as to whether the conductors should be blunt or pointed; Franklin, Cavendish, and Watson advocating points, and Wilson blunt ends. ... The logic of experiment, however, showed the advantage of pointed conductors; and people persisted then in preferring them, as they have done ever since."

ELECTRICITY: A. D. 1753-1820. The beginnings of the Electric Telegraph.

ELECTRICITY: A. D. 1786-1800. Discoveries of Galvani and Volta.

Volta's theory, however, though somewhat misleading, did not prevent his making what was probably the greatest step in the science up to this time, in the invention of the Voltaic pile, the first generator of electrical energy by chemical means, and the forerunner of the vast number of types of the modern "battery."

ELECTRICITY: A. D. 1810-1890. The Arc light.

"The earliest instance of applying Electricity to the production of light was in 1810, by Sir Humphrey Davy, who found that when the points of two carbon rods whose other ends were connected by wires with a powerful primary battery were brought into contact, and then drawn a little way apart, the Electric current still continued to jump across the gap, forming what is now termed an Electric Arc. ... Various contrivances have been devised for automatically regulating the position of the two carbons. As early as 1847, a lamp was patented by Staite, in which the carbon rods were fed together by clockwork. ... Similar devices were produced by Foucault and others, but the first really successful arc lamp was Serrin's, patented in 1857, which has not only itself survived until the present day, but has had its main features reproduced in many other lamps. ... The Jablochkoff Candle , in which the arc was formed between the ends of a pair of carbon rods placed side by side, and separated by a layer of insulating material, which slowly consumed as the carbons burnt down, did good service in accustoming the public to the new illuminant. Since then the inventions by Brush, Thomson-Houston, and others have done much to bring about its adoption for lighting large rooms, streets, and spaces out of doors."

ELECTRICITY: A. D. 1820-1825. Oersted, Ampere, and the discovery of the Electro-Magnet.

"There is little chance ... that the discoverer of the magnet, or the discoverer and inventor of the magnetic needle, will ever be known by name, or that even the locality and date of the discovery will ever be determined . ... The magnet and magnetism received their first scientific treatment at the hands of Dr. Gilbert. During the two centuries succeeding the publication of his work, the science of magnetism was much cultivated. ... The development of the science went along parallel with that of the science of electricity ... although the latter was more fruitful in novel discoveries and unexpected applications than the former. It is not to be imagined that the many close resemblances of the two classes of phenomena were allowed to pass unnoticed. ... There was enough resemblance to suggest an intimate relation; and the connecting link was sought for by many eminent philosophers during the last years of the eighteenth and the earlier years of the present century."

"The effect which an electric current, flowing in a wire, can exercise upon a neighbouring compass needle was discovered by Oersted in 1820. This first announcement of the possession of magnetic properties by an electric current was followed speedily by the researches of Ampere, Arago, Davy, and by the devices of several other experimenters, including De la Rive's floating battery and coil, Schweigger's multiplier, Cumming's galvanometer, Faraday's apparatus for rotation of a permanent magnet, Marsh's vibrating pendulum and Barlow's rotating star-wheel. But it was not until 1825 that the electromagnet was invented. Arago announced, on 25th September 1820, that a copper wire uniting the poles of a voltaic cell, and consequently traversed by an electric current, could attract iron filings to itself laterally. In the same communication he described how he had succeeded in communicating permanent magnetism to steel needles laid at right angles to the copper wire, and how, on showing this experiment to Ampere, the latter had suggested that the magnetizing action would be more intense if for the straight copper wire there were substituted one wrapped in a helix, in the centre of which the steel needle might be placed. This suggestion was at once carried out by the two philosophers. 'A copper wire wound in a helix was terminated by two rectilinear portions which could be adapted, at will, to the opposite poles of a powerful horizontal voltaic pile; a steel needle wrapped up in paper was introduced into the helix.' 'Now, after some minutes' sojourn in the helix, the steel needle had received a sufficiently strong dose of magnetism.' Arago then wound upon a little glass tube some short helices, each about 2 1/4 inches long, coiled alternately right-handedly and left-handedly, and found that on introducing into the glass tube a steel wire, he was able to produce 'consequent poles' at the places where the winding was reversed. Amp?re, on October 23rd, 1820, read a memoir, claiming that these facts confirmed his theory of magnetic actions. Davy had, also, in 1820, surrounded with temporary coils of wire the steel needles upon which he was experimenting, and had shown that the flow of electricity around the coil could confer magnetic power upon the steel needles. ... The electromagnet, in the form which can first claim recognition ... was devised by William Sturgeon, and is described by him in the paper which he contributed to the Society of Arts in 1825."

ELECTRICITY: A. D. 1825-1874. The Perfected Telegraph.

"The European philosophers kept on groping. At the end of five years , one of them reached an obstacle which he made up his mind was so entirely insurmountable, that it rendered the electric telegraph an impossibility for all future time. This was Mr. Peter Barlow, fellow of the Royal Society, who had encountered the question whether the lengthening of the conducting wire would produce any effect in diminishing the energy of the current transmitted, and had undertaken to resolve the problem. ... 'I found such a considerable diminution with only 200 feet of wire as at once to convince me of the impracticability of the scheme.' ... The year following the announcement of Barlow's conclusions, a young graduate of the Albany Academy--by name Joseph Henry--was appointed to the professorship of mathematics in that institution. Henry there began the series of scientific investigations which is now historic. ... Up to that time, electro-magnets had been made with a single coil of naked wire wound spirally around the core, with large intervals between the strands. The core was insulated as a whole: the wire was not insulated at all. Professor Schweigger, who had previously invented the multiplying galvanometer, had covered his wires with silk. Henry followed this idea, and, instead of a single coil of wire, used several. ... Barlow had said that the gentle current of the galvanic battery became so weakened, after traversing 200 feet of wire, that it was idle to consider the possibility of making it pass over even a mile of conductor and then affect a magnet. Henry's reply was to point out that the trouble lay in the way Barlow's magnet was made. ... Make the magnet so that the diminished current will exercise its full effect. Instead of using one short coil, through which the current can easily slip, and do nothing, make a coil of many turns; that increases the magnetic field: make it of fine wire, and of higher resistance. And then, to prove the truth of his discovery, Henry put up the first electro-magnetic telegraph ever constructed. In the academy at Albany, in 1831, he suspended 1,060 feet of bell-wire, with a battery at one end and one of his magnets at the other; and he made the magnet attract and release its armature. The armature struck a bell, and so made the signals. Annihilating distance in this way was only one part of Henry's discovery. He had also found, that, to obtain the greatest dynamic effect close at hand, the battery should be composed of a very few cells of large surface, combined with a coil or coils of short coarse wire around the magnet,--conditions just the reverse of those necessary when the magnet was to be worked at a distance. Now, he argued, suppose the magnet with the coarse short coil, and the large-surface battery, be put at the receiving station; and the current coming over the line be used simply to make and break the circuit of that local battery. ... This is the principle of the telegraphic 'relay.' In 1835 Henry worked a telegraph-line in that way at Princeton. And thus the electro-magnetic telegraph was completely invented and demonstrated. There was nothing left to do, but to put up the posts, string the lines, and attach the instruments."

"At last we leave the territory of theory and experiment and come to that of practice. 'The merit of inventing the modern telegraph, and applying it on a large scale for public use, is, beyond all question, due to Professor Morse of the United States.' So writes Sir David Brewster, and the best authorities on the question substantially agree with him. ... Leaving for future consideration Morse's telegraph, which was not introduced until five years after the time when he was impressed with the notion of its feasibility, we may mention the telegraph of Gauss and Weber of G?ttingen. In 1833, they erected a telegraphic wire between the Astronomical and Magnetical Observatory of G?ttingen, and the Physical Cabinet of the University, for the purpose of carrying intelligence from the one locality to the other. To these great philosophers, however, rather the theory than the practice of Electric Telegraphy was indebted. Their apparatus was so improved as to be almost a new invention by Steinheil of Munich, who, in 1837 ... succeeded in sending a current from one end to the other of a wire 36,000 feet in length, the action of which caused two needles to vibrate from side to side, and strike a bell at each movement. To Steinheil the honour is due of having discovered the important and extraordinary fact that the earth might be used as a part of the circuit of an electric current. The introduction of the Electric Telegraph into England dates from the same year as that in which Steinheil's experiments took place. William Fothergill Cooke, a gentleman who held a commission in the Indian army, returned from India on leave of absence, and afterwards, because of his bad health, resigned his commission, and went to Heidelberg to study anatomy. In 1836, Professor M?nke, of Heidelberg, exhibited an electro-telegraphic experiment, 'in which electric currents, passing along a conducting wire, conveyed signals to a distant station by the deflexion of a magnetic needle enclosed in Schweigger's galvanometer or multiplier.' ... Cooke was so struck with this experiment, that he immediately resolved to apply it to purposes of higher utility than the illustration of a lecture. ... In a short time he produced two telegraphs of different construction. When his plans were completed, he came to England, and in February, 1837, having consulted Faraday and Dr. Roget on the construction of the electric-magnet employed in a part of his apparatus, the latter gentleman advised him to apply to Professor Wheatstone. ... The result of the meeting of Cooke and Wheatstone was that they resolved to unite their several discoveries; and in the month of May 1837, they took out their first patent 'for improvements in giving signals and sounding alarms in distant places by means of electric currents transmitted through metallic circuits.' ... By-and-by, as might probably have been anticipated, difficulties arose between Cooke and Wheatstone, as to whom the main credit of introducing the Electric Telegraph into England was due. Mr. Cooke accused Wheatstone of entirely ignoring his claims; and in doing so Mr. Cooke appears to have rather exaggerated his own services. Most will readily agree to the wise words of Mr. Sabine: "It was once a popular fallacy in England that Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone were the original inventors of the Electric Telegraph. The Electric Telegraph had, properly speaking, no inventor; it grew up as we have seen little by little."

"In the latter part of the year 1832, Samuel F. B. Morse, an American artist, while on a voyage from France to the United States, conceived the idea of an electromagnetic telegraph which should consist of the following parts, viz: A single circuit of conductors from some suitable generator of electricity; a system of signs, consisting of dots or points and spaces to represent numerals; a method of causing the electricity to mark or imprint these signs upon a strip or ribbon of paper by the mechanical action of an electro-magnet operating upon the paper by means of a lever, armed at one end with a pen or pencil; and a method of moving the paper ribbon at a uniform rate by means of clock-work to receive the characters. ... In the autumn of the year 1835 he constructed the first rude working model of his invention. ... The first public exhibition ... was on the 2d of September, 1837, on which occasion the marking was successfully effected through one third of a mile of wire. Immediately afterwards a recording instrument was constructed ... which was subsequently employed upon the first experimental line between Washington and Baltimore. This line was constructed in 1843-44 under an appropriation by Congress, and was completed by May of the latter year. On the 27th of that month the first despatch was transmitted from Washington to Baltimore. ... The experimental line was originally constructed with two wires, as Morse was not at that time acquainted with the discovery of Steinheil, that the earth might be used to complete the circuit. Accident, however, soon demonstrated this fact. ... The following year telegraph lines began to be built over other routes. ... In October, 1851, a convention of deputies from the German States of Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, W?rtemberg and Saxony, met at Vienna, for the purpose of establishing a common and uniform telegraphic system, under the name of the German-Austrian Telegraph Union. The various systems of telegraphy then in use were subjected to the most thorough examination and discussion. The convention decided with great unanimity that the Morse system was practically far superior to all others, and it was accordingly adopted. Prof. Steinheil, although himself ... the inventor of a telegraphic system, with a magnanimity that does him high honor, strongly urged upon the convention the adoption of the American system." ... The first of the printing telegraphs was patented in the United States by Royal E. House, in 1846. The Hughes printing telegraph, a remarkable piece of mechanism, was patented by David E. Hughes, of Kentucky, in 1855. A system known as the automatic method, in which the signals representing letters are transmitted over the line through the instrumentality of mechanism, was originated by Alexander Bain of Edinburgh, whose first patents were taken out in 1846. An autographic telegraph, transmitting despatches in the reproduced hand-writing of the sender, was brought out in 1850, by F. C. Bakewell, of London. The same result was afterwards accomplished with variations of method by Charles Cros, of Paris, Abb? Caseli, of Florence, and others; but none of these inventions has been extensively used. "The possibility of making use of a single wire for the simultaneous transmission of two or more communications seems to have first suggested itself to Moses G. Farmer, of Boston, about the year 1852." The problem was first solved with partial success by Dr. Gintl, on the line between Prague and Vienna, in 1853, but more perfectly by Carl Frischen, of Hanover, in the following year. Other inventors followed in the same field, among them Thomas A. Edison, of New Jersey, who was led by his experiments finally, in 1874 to devise a system "which was destined to furnish the basis of the first practical solution of the curious and interesting problem of quadruplex telegraphy."

ELECTRICITY: A. D. 1831-1872. Dynamo Electrical Machines, and Electric Motors.

"The discovery of induction by Faraday, in 1831, gave rise to the construction of magneto-electro machines. The first of such machines that was ever made was probably a machine that never came into practical use, the description of which was given in a letter, signed 'P. M.,' and directed to Faraday, published in the Philosophical Magazine of 2nd August, 1832. We learn from this description that the essential parts of this machine were six horse-shoe magnets attached to a disc, which rotated in front of six coils of wire wound on bobbins." Sept. 3rd, 1832, Pixii constructed a machine in which a single horse-shoe magnet was made to rotate before two soft iron cores, wound with wire. In this machine he introduced the commutator, an essential element in all modern continuous current machines. "Almost at the same time, Ritchie, Saxton, and Clarke constructed similar machines. Clarke's is the best known, and is still popular in the small and portable 'medical' machines so commonly sold. ... A larger machine constructed by St?hrer , on the same plan as Clarke's, but with six coils instead of two, and three compound magnets instead of one. ... The machines, constructed by Nollet and Shepard had still more magnets and coils. Shepard's machine was modified by Van Malderen, and was called the Alliance machine. ... Dr. Werner Siemens, while considering how the inducing effect of the magnet can be most thoroughly utilised, and how to arrange the coils in the most efficient manner for this purpose, was led in 1857 to devise the cylindrical armature. ... Sinsteden in 1851 pointed out that the current of the generator may itself be utilised to exn tot op een hoogte van ongeveer 2000 M. aangetroffen. Bij voorkeur houdt hij zich op in de rietvelden aan de rivieroevers, in ondoordringbare bamboesbosschen en op andere dicht begroeide plaatsen; ook vindt men hem dikwijls te midden van bouwvallen; niet zelden wordt hij op den kap van half verweerde muren en op tempels in liggende houding gezien, soms zelfs drie of vier tegelijk. Bijzonder merkwaardig en, volgens alle berichtgevers, sterker dan bij andere dieren is zijn voorliefde voor vast bepaalde lig- en schuilplaatsen; met groote nauwgezetheid trekt hij altoos en overal naar dezelfde plaatsen terug, al zijn er ook even geschikte in de onmiddellijke nabijheid te vinden. "Het eerste het beste, met lang gras of riet begroeide plekje aan een rivieroever of moerasrand," schrijft Blanford, "de een of andere dichte opeenhooping van tamarisken of eugeni?n in een uitgedroogd rivierbed, dat een dozijn andere, oogenschijnlijk volkomen gelijke kreupelboschjes bevat, een bepaalde hoop rotsblokken, de uitverkorene van honderd soortgelijke op dezelfde heuvelhelling, herbergt jaar in jaar uit denzelfden Tijger. Wanneer bij geval de vaste bewoner van dit plekje door een jager gedood wordt, zal weldra een andere Tijger de vacant geworden plaats in beslag nemen."

De Tijger is geen echt nachtdier. Evenals de meeste Katten zwerft hij op elken tijd van den dag rond, zij het dan ook, dat hij aan de uren kort v??r en kort na zonsondergang de voorkeur geeft. Op plaatsen waar de wilde dieren komen drinken of zoutlekken, op landwegen, woudpaden en dergelijke legt hij zich bij voorkeur in hinderlaag. In het zuidoosten van Siberi? bezoekt hij gedurende den zomer iederen nacht de plaatsen waar het zout aan de oppervlakte van den bodem uitweert, omdat hij, even goed als de daar woonachtige jagers, weet, dat de Herten hier gewoon zijn te komen om zout te likken; daar ontmoet hij dan ook dikwijls jagers, die hetzelfde voornemen hebben als hij. Met uitzondering van de sterkste Zoogdieren, zooals Olifanten, Neushoorndieren, Wilde Buffels en misschien andere Roofdieren, is geen lid zijner klasse veilig voor hem: hij overvalt de grootste, en is ook tevreden met de kleinste. Soms beproeft hij evenwel zijne krachten aan den buitengewoon sterken Wilden Buffel; in den strijd met dit dier, vooral met het mannetje, delft hij echter niet zelden het onderspit; ook door een ouden, goed gewapenden mannetjes-Ever wordt hij, volgens sommige berichtgevers, nu en dan leelijk toegetakeld. Ook vergrijpt hij zich wel eens aan een Beer; bij voorkeur maakt hij echter jacht op Wilde Zwijnen, Herten en Antilopen. In tijd van nood eet hij al wat kruipt en vliegt: bij overstroomingen in Bengalen voedt hij zich met Visschen, Schildpadden, Hagedissen en Krokodillen; Simson vond de maag van een door hem gedooden Tijger met Sprinkhanen volgepropt. Zelfs Kikvorschen worden, naar men zegt, niet door hem versmaad; wanneer gedurende den winter in de noordelijkste gedeelten van zijn verbreidingsgebied het wild schaarsch wordt, gaat hij om zijn honger te stillen op de muizenjacht. Alle dieren hebben dus deugdelijke redenen om wegens hem op hun hoede te zijn.

Gelijk bij ons de Kraaien en allerlei kleine Vogels, de gevederde roovers van de lucht luid schreeuwend vervolgen, zoo laten ook vele dieren in de tropische gewesten zich hooren, als zij den Tijger opmerken. Zij kennen hem, en weten bij ervaring, wat hij op 't oog heeft, als hij begint rond te sluipen. Forsyth en anderen brengen voorbeelden bij van de wijze waarop hun jacht door de hulp van de Apen begunstigd werd. "Eens," zoo verhaalt Forsyth, "werd ik bij het vervolgen van een Tijger, die in een uitgedroogde regengeul liep, uitstekend geholpen door de talrijke Hoelmans, die in het struikgewas langs den oever vruchten plukten. Zoodra zij den Tijger onder zich zagen, snelden zij de eene na den anderen op de naastbijgelegene boomen toe, klommen tot in de hoogste takken, schudden deze hevig, en schimpten en tierden zoo sterk tegen den rustverstoorder in de diepte, dat men ze op grooten afstand hooren kon. Iedere bende bleef leven maken, totdat zij den Tijger uit het gezicht verloren had, en de naastbij wonende hem op dezelfde wijze van uit hare boomkruin begroette, daarna keerde zij bedaard naar den grond terug en ging weer aan het bessen plukken, alsof er niets gebeurd was. Op deze wijze nauwkeurig op de hoogte gehouden van den weg dien de Tijger volgde, kon ik daar, waar de geul een bocht maakte, dwars oversteken, het Roofdier vooruitkomen, en een geschikte standplaats kiezen. Daar kwam hij voor den dag met lange schreden, den staart tusschen de pooten, en zag er precies uit als een van schuld bewuste, nachtelijke moordenaar; zijn geweten was blijkbaar door misdaden bezwaard, want gedurende het gaan keek hij telkens vreesachtig om, en omhoog naar de Apen, alsof hij ze smeeken wilde, toch niet te verraden waarheen hij ging."--Een kogel maakte een einde aan zijn loopbaan.

De stem van den Tijger staat, wat kracht betreft, ver achter bij die van den Leeuw. Gewoonlijk bestaat zij uit een langgerekt, klagend geluid, dat verscheidene malen korter en sneller herhaald wordt. Bovendien brengt hij de zware keelgeluiden "A-o-oeng" voort, die men in alle diergaarden van de meeste groote Katten verneemt, voorts een luid "Ha-oeb" of "Wau," als hij verrast en verschrikt wordt, verder een mokkend geknor, als iemand hem tergt, en een op hoesten gelijkenden, korten schreeuw, die woede te kennen geeft, en dien hij bij den aanval verscheidene malen, schielijk achtereen uitstoot.

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